The New Year's Guest
Today was New Year's Day.
Yes, the very day of Seollal—the day families were supposed to gather and spend warm, cozy time together.
That was how it should have gone, at least…
"Happy New Year…"
"Yeah, Lua. Happy New Year to you too."
"Thanks for coming over to greet us, Lua."
"No, I'm the one who should be thanking you…"
So why, exactly, was Lua sitting in my house?
I needed to rewind to yesterday.
More precisely, to right after Lua's stream had ended.
Once the broadcast wrapped up, we had fallen into an easy back-and-forth over text while I edited the video. And then Lua dropped a line that completely threw me.
Lua wasn't going to get any tteokguk tomorrow. Her whole family had work.
I already knew both of her parents worked jobs that ignored weekdays and holidays alike, but I hadn't realized it meant she wouldn't even get to spend the holiday with them.
I pictured Lua eating tteokguk alone—or maybe just eating alone, period. The image made my chest ache a little. It felt too lonely to leave her like that.
Maybe that was why I did it.
I invited Lua to my house. Yes—this entire disaster was entirely my own doing.
The second the words left me, I realized what I had just said and scrambled for a way to take it back, but it was already too late.
The faint longing and quiet hope I could feel in her messages wiped every excuse clean out of my head. In the end I just went with the flow and sent the most irresponsible reply possible: Yeah.
And this morning, I told my parents the whole story.
Their reaction?
"Good job."
"Yeah, you did well, son."
They praised me for it. Apparently just not leaving Lua to eat alone on New Year's Day was already more than enough to earn their full approval.
Anyway, that was how I ended up sharing New Year's tteokguk with Lua.
"…Thank you so much for inviting me."
Lua sat on a dining chair, carefully reading the room as my whole family moved around her. We paid it no mind and simply set out the tteokguk along with all the side dishes that went with it. I was the only one sitting beside her, ready to keep her company.
"I'm the one who invited you, remember?"
"But your parents are the ones who said it was okay."
"Well, yeah, that's true."
I nodded, and right on cue my mom started up from the kitchen.
"Thanks to Lua, our son actually studied for once. Doing this much for her is nothing."
"Exactly."
"If she managed to make that Seo Jinwoo hit the books, she's a genuine benefactor."
My brother even chimed in with nonsense like that, and I almost snapped at him—until I saw Lua let out a tiny laugh. Suddenly it didn't seem so bad.
Before long every side dish was on the table and the rest of the family took their seats.
"Well then—let's eat~"
"Let's eat~"
With Dad's pre-meal greeting, we all lifted our spoons and dug into the tteokguk.
Slurp.
Chew, chew.
The rice cakes were wonderfully chewy when eaten with the broth. Personally I preferred mine a little softer and more thoroughly cooked, but this bouncy texture had its own charm, and Mom made excellent tteokguk either way. I ate without a single complaint.
Of course, today my own taste buds weren't the important part.
What mattered was—
"Lua, how is it?"
—Lua's reaction.
She took one spoonful, eyes flying wide, and looked first at me, then straight at my mom.
"It's incredibly delicious…!"
"I'm glad. Try it with the side dishes too. Oh, do you need any gim?"
"I'm fine without the seaweed. There are already so many side dishes."
With that she scooped up more rice cake, took another bite, and started on the banchan. The first thing she reached for was the stir-fried beef sitting right in front of her—the salty-sweet kind you could only get at our house. She seemed to like it so much that after every spoonful of soup she went right back for more beef.
"Pretty good, right?"
She nodded again. At that little nod, Mom's smile turned thoroughly satisfied. I had asked the question partly so Mom would hear it—or see it—and I was quietly relieved it had worked so well.
After swallowing another mouthful of tteokguk, Lua looked at me.
"Jinwoo-ya, this tteokguk is seriously so good."
"Mom's always been a great cook."
"Lua, thank you for enjoying it so much."
"No, thank you for giving me such delicious tteokguk."
She gave a polite little bow and immediately returned to eating. I deboned a piece of fish and held it out to her.
"Try it with the fish too."
"Ah… thanks."
Smiling softly, she ate the fish I had prepared while continuing with her soup, nodding as if to confirm it really was delicious. I had known she would like it—that combination was one of my quiet favorites, after all.
Maybe it was because she kept eating so happily, but Mom's expression only grew more content. From her perspective she had spent roughly twenty years watching nothing but men eat tteokguk; now a pretty girl like Lua was savoring every bite. How could that not look adorable?
"Lua, if you ever have to eat alone again, just come over to our place, okay? Auntie will cook something delicious for you."
"Ah… no, that's okay…! Just today is already enough of an imposition…"
Lua glanced sideways at me and politely refused, but Mom shot the refusal down on the spot.
"Lua, if we converted all the tutoring you've given Jinwoo into money, it would be quite a sum, wouldn't it?"
"…Teaching him helped me study too, you know?"
"Even so, it's still true that we've received more help than we've given, isn't it?"
"Ahaha…"
Apparently out of arguments, Lua just gave a sheepish little laugh while sneaking glances around the table.
"Lua, eat lots~"
After that Mom kept recommending this side dish and that side dish, and Lua gratefully accepted every bit of kindness, happily working her way through the tteokguk and banchan. She really could put it away. Im Lua was an absolute beast when it came to eating well.
"Thank you for the meal…"
"Are you sure you don't want any more?"
"I ate a ton already. Thank you so much."
Lua declined as politely as she could. Mom nodded and looked at me.
"Son, go buy some snacks. Something Lua would like."
"Okay~"
I rose from my seat at a leisurely pace. The moment she saw me get up, Lua scurried straight over.
"I'll come too."
"You will?"
"Yeah. Is that okay?"
There was no reason it wouldn't be, so I nodded.
"Let's go together."
"Okay."
And just like that I found myself heading outside with Lua. We naturally made our way to the convenience store. Inside were everything from brand-new snacks to the usual steady sellers. We stood in front of the shelves and started deliberating.
"What kind of snacks should we get?"
"Hmm…?"
Lua studied the packages, clearly thinking it over. I casually asked her,
"Is there anything you want to eat?"
"Something I want?"
"Yeah. Mom told me to buy things you'd like, so just tell me your preferences and I'll get them."
"Mmm… my preferences… mmmmmm…"
After a moment of serious contemplation she picked out a chocolate snack.
"I think this one's good."
"This? Got it."
I nodded and reached to take the package from her—
Whoosh!
She dodged my hand.
"Lua?"
"I'll buy the snacks."
"You don't have to—"
"I want to buy them."
Faced with that absolute determination, I could only nod. Fair enough—this was Kuroa Lulu we were talking about. She had money. Letting her treat us to this much was fine.
"Then can I pick some snacks too?"
"Of course. You, Auntie, Uncle, and Junwoo-oppa all need one."
Was she seriously planning to buy one for every single person? I thought about my parents' tastes and my brother's and told her, and she calmly picked every one of them without the slightest hesitation.
"Jinwoo-ya, what about you?"
When it was finally just me left, I deliberately chose the cheapest snack I still actually liked.
"I'll take this."
"…Isn't that way too cheap?"
"I like this one, though?"
"What if I told you to pick again?"
That left me without much of a comeback, but I decided to play dumb for a second longer.
"I really do like this one."
"……Pick something better."
One sentence from her and I folded, selecting a mid-priced snack I actually enjoyed. Lua gave a small smile and nodded.
"You should've just done that from the start."
That little expression of hers was faintly annoying—no, that wasn't just my imagination. Even so, the fact that she could treat me this comfortably made me genuinely grateful.
"I'll enjoy it. Thanks."
"No, I'm the one who ate well today. This is just a tiny thank-you."
She smiled and nodded, and I nodded right back—sincerely, and with a truly happy heart.
As a side note, Mom thoroughly scolded me afterward for not buying the snacks myself.
Hey, she makes way more money than I do, okay?