Main Quest, This Bullshit # 3
Main Quest, This Bullshit # 3
"Seriously, this is awkward."
I sorted through the stack, and it was fifty meal tickets. Fifty. Did Leona seriously just burn 1.5 million won on the spot because she saw an undernourished kid?
How many tonkatsu does that even buy?
She's a goddamn incredible Archangel.
"Wow."
They said she's a noble young lady from a prestigious European family, and she really is generous. Handing this over just like that. Praise the Kainus Family. Her family belongs to Mister Dominators, right—the high-ranking Awakened group that rules Europe?
No idea what those guys actually do, but they've gotta be a good bunch. Yep. Absolutely. My affinity for Europe is spiking hard. Europe, the land that produced Leona, must be a beautiful country.
Starting today, I shall never cease singing of Leona's kind heart. I'll compose lyrics and music and send them to her every night.
"Meal ticket..."
It's warm.
Holding it, I can feel Leona's warm heart.
This temperature, yeah.
It's like being in the field at minus forty wind chill, four nights and five days of cold-weather training, trying to sleep outside. The warmth of eight hand warmers combined inside a sleeping bag. That kind of warmth.
I should give them back.
Still, flat-out refusing everything would be disrespectful to Leona's kindness. So I'll take two—the one I was supposed to get and one more as a gesture. Just two. Return the rest.
"Heh heh heh."
Ah, fuck, still feels nice getting them, though. Anyway, break's over. I headed straight back to the field.
"Geun-cheol? Did something happen with Leona?"
"Oh. Si-hoo."
Si-hoo spotted me and walked over.
"Leona came running back by herself... she looked like she was crying. What on earth happened?"
Si-hoo stared at me with an odd expression.
"No, seriously, look at this."
"Huh?"
I showed the stack of meal tickets right away.
"M-Meal tickets?! What is all that?!"
"Exactly. Leona, that angel of a girl, called me an undernourished kid and just gave them to me. I was completely shocked."
"She gave you all of those?!"
"Yeah. But it's way too many. I have to return them. Where's Leona? Ah. There she is."
I spotted Leona with her arms crossed, head turned the other way. She saw me and turned her head on purpose. Doesn't want me to see the tears, huh? An angel's tears... Angel tears are precious.
I tapped the stack of tickets against my palm and walked over.
"Hey. Archangel. Take these back."
"I don't care! Get lost! You undernourished kid! Just go eat somewhere out of my sight!"
Look at this tsundere!
"No, hey. This is way too many. I appreciate the thought. But taking this much isn't right. Still, I can't completely reject your kind heart, so I'll take one. Thank you. Take the rest."
I shook the stack of tickets while expressing my gratitude.
"Shut up and just buy food with those...! Sniff! Th-This hopelessly absurd boy breadwinner, how dare you try to refuse my generosity! I won't allow it! Hmph! Get lost!"
"Hey, you!"
Leona shouted that, reached back and flicked her hair with a swish, then click-clacked away to avoid me.
"Taking these makes me more uncomfortable, damn it!"
"Do you, Kim Geun-cheol, even have the luxury of being uncomfortable right now?! Fill that starving stomach first, then be uncomfortable! You malnourished Geun-cheol!!!"
Seriously, she thinks I'm a beggar!
Well, I am a beggar!
"This saint-like girl...!"
I've seriously never met a girl like this in my life!
Ah, what the hell do I do!
At this rate I'm never gonna be able to return them!
"Class is starting! Kim Geun-cheol! And Leona! Cut the flirting and get back to your spots!"
"Who's flirting with that undernourished freak!"
"My heart could never touch Angel Leona, Instructor! It's a tragedy! Compared to me, she's far too pure and good!"
"What a goddamn circus... Kim Geun-cheol."
This burning passion can only be released through training!
* * *
Class ended, and lunchtime arrived. The meal ticket incident happened, but I decided to hold onto them without using them and give them back later.
"Right now, it's time to enjoy the buffet, Si-hoo!"
"Geun-cheol, your voice is way too loud...!"
"Let's go eat!"
"Please, just be quieter, Geun-cheol!"
"You think I'm capable of being quiet right now? We're going to a thirty-thousand-won buffet. Are you being serious? Do you not understand the human heart?"
They say a king doesn't know the hearts of the people—Si-hoo is exactly like that.
"No human could act like this... you're not human, are you? You bastard, you're a Faculty. A Faculty, right? The parasitic alien from that movie?"
"How long are you going to keep spouting nonsense!"
"Anyway, let's move fast. Shit, if we don't hurry, the starving bastards are gonna devour everything in the buffet."
I ate a very light breakfast specifically for today.
No compromises.
"Let's go, Si-hoo. I'll guide you today."
"I already know the way even without a guide."
"It's about the vibe, man. The vibe."
I dragged Si-hoo across the bridge of dreams. Every path to the buffet felt like a magnificent bridge out of legend.
And the place we arrived at.
"A palace. I have opened the gates of the palace."
"Please stop with the narration...!"
"What I felt the moment I opened them. Honestly... overwhelming despair."
"Why despair again!"
"That."
This world.
"It's the despair of realizing. Only now... have I come to know this world. Have I really been living... without knowing a world like this existed?"
But after despair comes hope.
Because every dish in this buffet was entirely mine.
—Shk.
I grabbed a plate and got in line immediately.
"Geun-cheol?!"
—Streaming.
"I was already fucking weeping."
"Stop crying while doing the narration, please...! Heh, heheh! I-I can't hold back my laughter anymore!"
"Tch, you bastard. You really don't get romance."
Of course.
Si-hoo isn't what I need to focus on right now.
It's the food spread out before me.
"Dongpo pork. Lion's head meatballs. Yu xiang shredded pork. They've set up Chinese for the first stretch? The aroma and color are both flawless. And it looks freshly made."
"They say everything's prepared the same day."
"That tracks. But chicken-skin dumplings tossed in chili sauce? That's incredible. And gan-pung eggplant plus mapo tofu... amazing."
I scooped up food like a man possessed. Here's Chinese, there's Japanese. Over there is Western and Korean, and they even have dessert? Wait, what's this Eastern European section? It's separate from the Western station?
This is a thirty-thousand-won buffet?
"Beef noodle soup, get."
I secured a bowl of beef noodle soup first. Loaded my plate with only Chinese dishes. Then I moved straight to the dessert station and grabbed mini cakes, cookies, a brownie, and a drink.
Immediately moved to a table.
"Si-hoo, for the love of god, stop picking and come sit next to me already...!"
"Geun-cheol. I get that you're happy, but please calm down."
"Hurry!"
"Fine, fine. Stop nagging."
Si-hoo filled a plate and came to sit beside me. And I—I plunged my spoon deep into the bowl and tasted the beef noodle soup first.
The words that escaped me.
Just one.
"Delicious."
I followed it up with a mouthful of noodles, then picked up a piece of gan-pung eggplant and some yu xiang shredded pork.
"Sniff...! It's truly, truly an overwhelming flavor...!"
"Heh heh heh. It really is good, though. Just watching you makes me happy. Now then... let me dig in too. Nom."
Si-hoo took a bite of guo bao rou, and I launched into my meal in earnest. It was a truly sublime and beautiful ritual. Yes... a sacrament. A sacrament. If someone painted me right now, it would surely be a masterpiece.
"You hero cadets."
Food from heaven itself.
All these cadets here.
Have eaten this every single day, like it's nothing.
"That very meal... is why you are heroes."
And Leona casually bestowed this kind of food on me. Thinking about it, Leona was no longer an Archangel... What's above that? Yeah. A goddess.
"Leona is a goddess."
"Pfft!"
"To grant me the right to eat this."
"Koff! Hrk...! Mm, mhm. She does seem nice."
"Yeah. Incredibly nice."
I'm genuinely moved.
Anyway.
While we were eating.
—Click-clack.
A familiar shoe sound from over there!
"Meal Ticket Archangel Leona!"
"Kim Geun-cheol...!"
Leona called my name and walked straight over.
"Hmm, you've filled your plate quite neatly with Chinese? Most people just pile stuff on randomly at a buffet. You picked a theme rather well."
"You gave me a precious opportunity. I have to eat it perfectly. Can't waste it."
"Hmph. Well, at least you get it. Anyway, seeing you eat puts my mind at ease. Go on, fill that starving stomach while savoring your gratitude toward the Kainus Family. You undernourished Kim Geun-cheol."
Leona said that and started to turn away.
"Wait!"
"Yes?"
"Hey! Come over here and sit next to me!"
"Excuse me?"
"I got to enjoy this feast thanks to you, so obviously I should treat you."
—Slide.
I pushed the plate of desserts toward Leona.
"Here, eat all of these. Shit, I'll treat you to all of it. These are all premium desserts. Come on, dig in. Here's a fork. And you can have anything in this buffet today. I'll allow it."
"Good grief, the nerve! Talking about treating someone at a buffet, seriously! I can just go fill a plate myself, you know?!"
"Hey. Don't be like that. I'm treating you, so just accept it."
"Treating, my ass!"
"Then just sit next to me?"
"Hmph! I already have company!"
She does?
"Company... you mean, like a limited liability company?"
"You wanna fucking die, Kim Geun-cheol?! Do you want another meal ticket bombardment?!"
"Ah! Sorry! Sorry! Don't give me more! That'll make things way worse!"
If I get more than this, it'll be a real problem! I'd have to stash unusable tickets in my inventory—it's basically sealing off an inventory slot!
"Just cut me some slack and take back the tickets! I'm trying to return them!"
"Kim Geun-cheol, I'll decide whether to take them back based on your behavior, so just eat! Hmph!"
Leona let out another hmph, her hair flowing as she spun around!
—Click-clack!
That damn click-clacking!
"Hoo."
She really is a genuinely kind girl.
"Hey, Si-hoo."
I turned to speak to Si-hoo, but—
"Oh, right. Kim Geun-cheol."
Leona, who'd been walking away, spun back around to speak to me.
"What? Changed your mind about being treated?"
"Want me to treat you to a tray upside the head, Kim Geun-cheol? You know what tray karaoke is?"
"You know that too?!"
"If you don't want a tray to the skull, stop making those lame jokes! Honestly, it's infuriating...! Anyway!"
She has something to say?
"Um, just now. Before I came in here, I ran into Ryu Cheon-hwi?"
What?
She met Ryu Cheon-hwi?
"And?"
"He suddenly called me over. So I went, figuring I'd give him a piece of my mind about school violence while I was at it, and I asked why he called. For some reason, he started talking about you, Kim Geun-cheol."
About me?
"Wh-What? A revenge threat?"
"No, nothing like that. He asked what you'd received earlier during the break that made you so happy."
"Meal tickets."
"Yes. So I told him. He listened to my answer and then just walked off."
"What's that about?"
"Who knows?"
Is he digging for personal info on me?
"Anyway, I've delivered the message. Bye."
"Oh... yeah."
This is getting more and more concerning.
"Geun-cheol."
Si-hoo called my name.
"Huh? What?"
"It'll get cold. Hurry up and eat."
"Heh heh heh, yeah."
"You've gotten really close with Leona, huh?"
"She seems to get along with everyone. Kind-hearted."
"..."
More importantly, these lion's head meatballs—is this what they're actually supposed to taste like? This is real cooking, on a completely different level from the stuff they served in school lunches. Shit, I thought lion's head meatballs were basically just three-minute meatballs. But this is cuisine.
"Yo! Scream Man! Eating in the cafeteria today, huh!"
"Ken, you bastard. You here to eat too?"
I looked and saw other classmates behind Ken. Classmates whose faces I knew but not their names. Ken's friends, I guess.
Then those guys stared at me and—
"Kim Geun-cheol?"
—they called me.
"Who're you? Just sit down for now."
"What? Do you know me?"
"We're in the same class. I know your face. More importantly, what's with the 'Kim Geun-cheol' when we haven't even met? 'Kim Geun-cheol.' You a construction worker or something?"
"It's your nickname, man... heh heh!"
The guy and Ken sat across from me without hesitation.
"No, you know, the cramp thing during that class."
"Ah."
"Every time I see it, I swear. God. Keh heh heh! I mean, who gets a cramp like that. I seriously thought you were insane."
"I thought you'd lost your mind from the pain."
"And then the Me-owwww! What was that!"
"If you get a cramp, you call a cat."
At that—
"What?! Ha, hahahaha! A cat! He called a cat! Are you crazy?!"
"Hrk...! You really are Scream Man!"
"Wait, Geun-cheol? Th-That's why you made the cat noise?! Pfft, pffahaha!"
They all cracked up.