What Happened During the Group Project (3)
The day we went to Itaewon.
"Nuna! Over here!"
I spotted Soyeon noona, who'd arrived first, and walked over to her. But something seemed off. I hadn't mistaken her for someone else, had I?
"Soyeon noona?"
"Yeah. Cheol-jin, you made it?"
"It really is you. I thought I had the wrong person for a second."
Soyeon noona's outfit was a little different from usual.
A form-fitting black turtleneck and jeans accentuated her figure.
The thin silver coin necklace she'd layered over it, along with a brown belt, served as accent pieces.
The beige trench coat she wore as outerwear suited her perfectly. It contrasted with her usual casual style, making her look even more refined.
"You really dressed up. I'd have thought you were going to a photoshoot."
"Is it too much? But we are going to film something. And we're going to Itaewon, after all."
"...You're right, actually. Now that I think about it, I might have dressed a little too sloppily."
I was wearing a black hoodie and wide gray pants. Over that, I'd just thrown on a gray flight jacket.
Truth be told, in my own way, I had put some effort into this outfit. Since I was still losing weight, I had practically no clothes besides my workout gear. And I didn't know much about men's fashion anyway.
'If anything, I knew a fair bit about women's fashion.'
Since I mainly drew illustrations of female characters, I prided myself on having some expertise in women's fashion. Men, on the other hand, I hardly ever drew, so I was clueless.
"Shall we get going?"
"Let's."
We exchanged an awkward glance, then set off.
How can I put this? Our outfits were completely mismatched.
*
Once we arrived in Itaewon, we took out the panels we'd prepared in advance and wandered the streets.
The panels had illustrations of Korean foods foreigners were likely to enjoy—starting with samgyeopsal, then jjimdak, tteokbokki, and so on—divided into sections. The plan was to have people place stickers on the foods they wanted and survey their preferences.
For a small gift, we'd prepared seasoned seaweed.
This was something I'd learned while researching: apparently, foreigners love seaweed that much. It's considered a health food, tastes good, and people eat it as a snack. I'd heard it's actually something tourists buy in bulk to take home when they visit Korea.
"By the way, nuna, do you know how to speak English?"
"Uh... a little? I can't really hold a conversation, but simple surveys should be fine. I put together a script with all the necessary phrases."
"Okay. Then let's set the panel up on one side, and I'll film you, nuna."
"You know we have to swap later, right? Both of us need to appear in the video."
"Ugh. I'll try."
I was already worried. Talking to Koreans was hard enough, but I had to converse in English with unfamiliar foreigners.
But we'd already come all the way to Itaewon. There was no turning back now.
First, I'd watch Soyeon noona and learn from her.
*
The interviews went more smoothly than expected. Smoothly enough to make my worries feel ridiculous.
"Oh, I know little bit Korean. Rittle bit."
There were quite a few people who knew some Korean.
"I try them all!"
"Jjimdak. My favorite!"
Best of all, a lot of foreigners participated enthusiastically.
"Present? Thank you, I love seaweed!"
The seasoned seaweed we'd prepared as a small gift was also well-received. People tore open the packets and ate them on the spot. It seemed true that foreigners ate seaweed as a snack, not just as a side dish for rice.
There was one awkward situation.
A Japanese man grabbed Soyeon noona's wrist and tried to lead her away, claiming he needed directions.
どこに行くの？ 私が教えてあげる.
When I peeled his hand off and spoke to him in Japanese, he fled as if running away. It was obvious at a glance—he'd been pretending to ask for directions while hitting on her.
I clicked my tongue at his retreating figure.
Why the hell would you grab her wrist and make a scene?
Damn little runt.
...I was glad I had a big build. Honestly, I had zero confidence in a fight.
Soyeon noona asked with a startled expression.
"Cheol-jin, you know how to speak Japanese?"
"Not really well, just a little."
"Hmm. Anyway, thank you. I was kind of flustered when he suddenly grabbed me, but you saved me."
"It was nothing."
Honestly, wouldn't she have been fine if I'd just stayed put anyway? I'd caught the look on her face turning momentarily murderous. If it had come to a fight... nuna probably would've won?
Anyway, Soyeon noona and I took turns conducting interviews with foreigners, filming each other with the camcorder.
One slightly curious thing: the gender ratio of the foreigners who responded changed depending on who was asking.
When Soyeon noona approached people, men were more receptive. When I approached, women responded more often than men.
So it really is more effective when someone of the opposite sex approaches? Well, in Soyeon noona's case, plenty of women responded to her too, so maybe not.
In any case, more foreigners participated actively than we'd expected, so our project wrapped up quickly. All 100 stickers we'd prepared had been used up.
"I never thought we'd actually use all of these."
"Seriously. If I'd known, I'd have prepared more seaweed too."
Since we'd naturally assumed we wouldn't use all the stickers, we hadn't matched the quantity of seaweed. We'd just bought two packs of around 32 each. Honestly, I hadn't expected we'd run short on seaweed either.
"Anyway, we got plenty of footage thanks to that. I'll edit it quickly and send it over."
"I'll prepare the PPT presentation. I think it'll be perfect if we explain with the PPT first, show the video, then wrap up."
"Think we can get an A+ with this?"
"Of course. No other team will have prepared this well. Good work."
Soyeon noona spoke with a relieved expression. She'd been worrying a lot, so I was glad we could finish the interviews without incident.
"Now let's go eat dinner. My treat!"
The sun had already set.
Soyeon noona hummed a tune, looking pleased, as she walked along.
*
The restaurant Soyeon noona chose was a well-known rice straw-grilled pork belly place in Itaewon.
She'd picked well.
As if she'd scouted out the best spots beforehand, the meat quality was excellent and the side dishes were delicious too.
"This is amazing, though."
"Sure looks like it. You're eating like crazy."
"I've been eating nothing but chicken tits for a while now......"
How many chicken breasts had I slaughtered in the name of dieting? If I ever ended up in hell, I'd probably be greeted by a mob of breastless chickens.
But when Soyeon noona heard that, she threw out a weird joke.
"Tits... isn't that word a little too lewd?"
"Huh?"
I thought I'd misheard. When I blinked and stared at her, Soyeon noona averted her gaze.
"Laugh a little. You're embarrassing the person who made the joke."
"I'll laugh if it's funny. Nuna, your sense of humor is a total flop."
"What? Hey, you're paying for your own food."
"Bwahahahaha! Oh god, my stomach!"
"Too late!"
Her face, genuinely flushed with embarrassment, was kind of cute. At first, I'd only thought of her as a scary nuna.
I suppose having just the two of us do a project meant for five had brought us a lot closer. A strange sort of camaraderie had developed, so to speak.
We resumed eating, chatting about trivial things. Having such good food for the first time in a while made my mouth run wild; it was hard to keep myself in check.
"Ah, I need to lose weight, though. This is so delicious it's a problem."
"One day won't hurt."
"One day becomes two, and two becomes three. Still gonna eat, though."
"Then just eat. Don't feel burdened, you can order more. Freshmen are supposed to leech off their seniors anyway."
"Then gratefully!"
Just as I was about to inhale more meat, my phone vibrated. The screen said Areum.
"Ah, excuse me for a moment, I need to take this call."
I excused myself and picked it up.
"Uh, Areum."
- Are you out?
"Yeah. Why?"
- When are you coming back?
"Probably gonna be late?"
- Ugh, why! I came over to your place to hang out! Come back quick!
"Sorry. I'm in Itaewon right now, so I can't."
- Ah crap! Why are you in Itaewon! I want to have sex! I haven't done it in a whole week!
"Hey, hey! You're too loud!"
Horrified, I glanced at Soyeon noona's reaction. Her voice was so loud it seemed like everything must have leaked out of the phone.
'She heard.'
Her expression confirmed it. Her face had turned bright red and she was avoiding my eyes. She picked up a piece of meat and ate it as if she'd heard nothing, but she'd definitely heard.
- Sexxxxx!
"You crazy bitch."
- This is all your fault for not satisfying me anyway! Pathetic dick!
"Excuse me? Who's pathetic?"
If sex had winners and losers, I was on a winning streak. If we really had to assign patheticness, then obviously Areum was the one with the pathetic pussy. Just last week she'd come over saying she wanted to do deulbak, and I'd thoroughly put her in her place—and now she was saying this.
"I'm hanging up."
- Wh-what, are you sulking?
Her voice sounded slightly anxious for some reason.
I lowered my voice and said,
"It's not that. I'm with Soyeon noona right now. I came to Itaewon for the group project too."
- Ahh, Pop Culture Theory?
"Yeah. I'll contact you later."
- Tch. I'll just ask someone else to play with me. You'll regret this. Areum is setting off to find a new dick!
"Well, well. Good luck with that."
For all her constant sex-parrot act, Areum did care somewhat about her reputation in the department. The reason she'd seduced me at the freshman gathering was a combination of alcohol and special circumstances anyway.
- What's with that confidence? So annoying!
"Uhuh. Love you too. Hanging up."
Of course, I meant that I liked having sex with Areum. The two of us exchanged wordplay like this all the time.
Ttuk.
I hung up.
Soyeon noona smiled awkwardly and said,
"That was Areum, right? You two get along well as a couple."
"Huh? We're not dating. We aren't going out."
"...Huh?"
Soyeon noona blinked as if asking what I meant by that.
Soon after, with an expression that said she must have misheard, she asked again.
"You're not dating?"
"No. I have no intention of dating. Same for Areum."
I'd once casually asked Areum about it. Why she didn't get a boyfriend when she wanted to gain as much experience as possible while she was young.
But the answer that came back was a sight to behold.
'If I get a boyfriend, I can't do it with you. If we're sexually compatible then great, but... what if we start dating and he turns out to have a small dick?'
Even thinking about it now, it was incredible. I'd been appalled by that American mindset. Judging by that statement, it didn't seem like Areum would be dating anyone until she found true love, or at least until I went to the military.
But this was just a matter between the two of us.
Soyeon noona stared at me with a horrified expression.
"S-so you're not even dating, but you're having outdoor se..."
"Nu-nuna! We're inside the restaurant."
"R-right. Sorry."
"And we agreed not to talk about that. Do you seriously want to have this conversation?"
As they say, a frightened dog barks the loudest. I narrowed my eyes threateningly and asked. If that topic came up, I wouldn't be the only one in trouble—that was the implication I loaded into it.
Naturally, Soyeon noona shook her head vigorously. Then she said this.
"I'm suddenly craving alcohol. Want to drink?"
"...Just one bottle?"
Of course, one bottle became two, and two became three.
The atmosphere grew strange.
The unfamiliar streets of Itaewon.
Delicious food.
The bottles piled up on the table in no time.
And before I knew it, I had Soyeon noona on my back.
"Nuna, nuna? Where's your place? Should I call a taxi?"
"I dunnoooo. I'm tired......"
"I'm even more tired, you know?"
"Just go somewhererrr......"
Soyeon noona said this as she raised a finger.
The place her finger pointed at was.
"...Nuna, you're not actually drunk, are you?"
"Zzzzzz......"
Who sleeps making a "Zzzzzz" sound out loud?
I stopped walking for a moment, conflicted, then ultimately walked into the motel building.