Repayment
The food court we'd followed Im Lua up to was packed with way too many shops. She scanned them all with a quick sweep and turned to me.
"Food court here? Or that restaurant over there?"
"I'm good anywhere."
"For real?"
"For real."
"Then let's get salad."
The spot she pointed at was a salad place—and no matter what, salad was a hard pass.
"No thanks, sorry."
"Hehe, pick then. Anywhere."
She said anywhere, but it was tough deciding. The food court was loaded with fast food options—pretty much all of it. Head to the actual restaurants, though, and you could get a proper meal. Prices seemed about the same either way.
So...
"...Restaurant side it is."
Yeah, that felt right. For something hearty, that was the move.
"Good call. I was getting hungry anyway."
I watched her smile all relaxed and started strolling alongside her, nice and slow. On the way, I remembered the pizza spot in the food court and decided to tease her.
"But there was pizza in the food court. You sure you don't wanna?"
She lightly kicked my calf in response.
Whack!
"Ow!"
It wasn't my shin, so it didn't hurt, but I hammed it up Hollywood-style anyway. Im Lua ignored my dramatics.
"You think I eat pizza every day?"
"Don't you?"
"No! Rude!"
I chuckled at her reaction and looked up at her. She was pretending to pout, but there was a smile tugging at her lips. Classic Im Lua—just messing with me. We just clicked like that.
We reached the restaurant area, and she started marching off purposefully.
"Where to?"
"Where to? A restaurant."
"Which one? There are tons."
"Hmm~ That one?"
The place she pointed at threw me for a loop.
"...You're serious about salad?"
It was the salad shop. She shot me a playful glare.
"Check what's written on the right."
"Right?"
"The shop to the right."
I finally looked closely at her fingertip and got it. It wasn't salad—it was a gyukatsu place.
"...You loaded?"
"Yeah, way more than you."
"Really?"
No way someone our age had more cash than me unless they were a celeb or athlete. Otherwise? Nah. Especially Im Lua, the total bookworm who just studied. No side hustles there.
Confident as ever, I watched her stride ahead like she was about to prove it.
"Let's go in."
"Sure~"
We stepped into the gyukatsu shop, and the subtle upscale vibe hit me a bit. Im Lua plopped down without a care.
"Over here."
"Got it."
I trailed after her like her pet dog and sat across from her, staring openly.
"...Order on the kiosk."
"Oh, right."
I fiddled with the tabletop kiosk, and surprise—it was cheaper than I thought. Well, cheaper-ish. Unless it was a set, around 13,000 won. Not bad.
"Basic gyukatsu for me. You?"
"...Same."
"No set?"
"Nah."
"Drink?"
"Water's fine."
I kept dodging her pushes for extras. No clue why, but she was dead set on treating me. Sweet, sure, but kinda overwhelming. Grateful, yeah—but this much? Too much for now.
Maybe annoyed by my thriftiness, she threw out a compromise.
"Karaage to share then?"
"That works."
Sharing was fine. So we got two basic gyukatsu and one karaage.
"You know how to eat gyukatsu?"
"Uh... no, first time."
"I'll show you."
She explained: Put it on your personal grill, cook to your liking, eat. Easy.
"How done?"
"Medium to medium-well."
"Huh."
"You?"
"Medium rare."
Medium rare—total Korean average.
"Yours'll take longer."
"Should be fine."
Yeah, probably.
*
Personal grills came first, then the gyukatsu. It looked tastier than expected, but smaller too. That's when it hit me why she'd pushed for more. Not enough for a high school guy.
"Good thing we got extra karaage, right?"
She beamed at me, and ego bruised or not, I had to nod.
"Yeah, smart move."
She struck a victory pose, hand on hip like it was obvious. Kid knew how to rub it in. She had that social spark too—made her few friends all the more surprising. Not that I'd ask outright. That'd be clueless.
"Let's eat."
"Dig in."
We oiled the grills with what looked like pork back fat, slapped on the meat, and got cooking. As it sizzled, she thanked me again.
"Seriously, thanks for today."
"For what? You picked everything, and I learned green onion tips."
She shook her head.
"Shopping alone's boring. Plus... honestly, you pushing the cart helped."
She gave a sheepish smile, like even she knew it sounded forced. To ease her awkwardness, I said,
"I'll cover half the gyukatsu, no worries."
She shook her head fast.
"No way. I'm buying 'cause I want to."
Oh... right... you wanted to treat...
"What?"
What do you mean, what? Why though?
"It's true..."
"Then let me treat you back later. Deal?"
"Huh...?"
No stopping her now. So I tossed out a blank check: payback meal sometime. She'd love that.
She giggled and nodded.
"Yeah, I'll hold you to it."
With that, her medium rare was ready first. Mine took longer for medium-well, but once I started, the taste hit hard—and hunger too. Snapped out of it, and I'd been eating it medium rare-ish.
Maybe I looked pathetic, 'cause she slid me an extra piece.
"Here, have this."
"I'm good—this is plenty. Plus karaage."
"Mine's overdone a bit."
...Can't argue with free meat. Meat's innocent.
Anyway, gyukatsu demolished, karaage gone, I walked her home then headed up to mine. Open run failed, but solid day overall.
...Two days later.
Ding-dong~
Im Lua showed up at our door.
"Jinwoo-ya, the snacks you wanted. Right?"
...Holding the collab snacks I'd been after.
"Yeah, that's them..."
"Enjoy."
"H-Hey, wait—"
She bolted down to the first floor like she was fleeing. Staring at the snacks, joy and embarrassment crashed over me. Thrilled to score the collab pack, mortified that Im Lua bought ones plastered with my oshi VTuber.
She was gone, no salvaging it, so I ripped it open for the photocards.
But...
"...All Lulu."
Eight packs, every single one Lulu. Eight different kinds per VTuber, all Lulu—including the rarest.
Just like that, thanks to my childhood friend's gift, I completed the Lulu photocard set in one go.
...All hail Great Lua. Absolute GOAT.
Gotta have her pull gacha for me next time. Girl's got luck.