The Meat Feast at Geumho Station
Kim Dokja and her companions stared blankly at the scene before them. Or rather, they stared because they couldn't believe what they were seeing.
Sizzle—!
"……What exactly are you doing right now?"
"Huh? Grilling meat."
"A-and you're eating that all by yourself?"
"Of course. It's my dinner."
While everyone else was making do with two convenience-store sandwich halves for dinner, this lunatic was grilling meat for himself alone.
At some point—no one had seen him pull it out—Park Jinwoo had set a grill pan over a portable gas burner and was cooking pork belly. Kim Dokja and the rest of the group stared at him, or more accurately, glared daggers at him.
A number of Constellations are flustered by the sudden mukbang.
Constellations who enjoy cooking carefully observe Incarnation Park Jinwoo's meat-grilling technique.
Once the pork belly on the grill had cooked to a decent doneness, Park Jinwoo gave a slight nod, pulled bean sprouts and kimchi out of thin air, and tossed them onto the pan to cook alongside the meat.
Gulp…!
The sight of pork belly, bean sprouts, and kimchi sizzling to a golden brown on the hot grill made Yoo Sangah, Lee Hyunsung, Jung Heewon, and Lee Gilyoung—who hadn't eaten a proper meal in days—swallow hard and stare fixedly at the food cooking on the pan.
Kim Dokja herself felt her mouth fill with saliva at the deliciously browning pork belly, bean sprouts, and kimchi, but thanks to Park Jinwoo having fed her reasonably well during their four days together inside the ichthyosaur's stomach, she at least managed not to wear the same ravenous expression as the others.
Park Jinwoo casually ignored the drooling stares of Yoo Sangah, Lee Hyunsung, Jung Heewon, Lee Gilyoung, and Kim Dokja as he lifted a piece of fully cooked pork belly with his chopsticks.
"Ah, right… I forgot the oil sauce."
With that, he set the chopsticks-held pork belly back on the grill and pulled a small dish from midair. Into it he mixed salt, pepper, and sesame oil purchased from the General Shop, stirring until everything blended together, then picked up the pork belly once more.
"Hoo… hoo…."
He blew on the steaming meat to cool it, dipped it generously in the oil sauce, and popped it into his mouth.
"Mmm~ Perfectly grilled."
Several Constellations who skipped dinner swallow hard at Incarnation Park Jinwoo's mukbang.
The Constellations have sponsored Incarnation Park Jinwoo with 1,000 Coins.
Park Jinwoo had simply been enjoying his pork belly, but the moment the Constellations' sponsorship came through, a blissful expression settled on his face and he began properly digging into the meat, bean sprouts, and grilled kimchi. Watching him with unblinking intensity, Yoo Sangah finally seemed unable to restrain her appetite any longer. She approached him and spoke up.
"U-um…. Jinwoo-ssi?"
"Hm? What is it, Sangah-ssi?"
"W-well, I was wondering if I could have just one bite…."
"Ah, so Sangah-ssi wants some too."
"Yes, yes! I want to eat meat…!"
"Hey! That's not fair, Sangah-ssi!"
"B-but how am I supposed to hold back when there's meat, Heewon-ssi…!"
At Park Jinwoo's question about whether she wanted meat, Yoo Sangah's eyes sparkled as she nodded vigorously again and again. Watching this, Jung Heewon—who had somehow been left behind while Yoo Sangah went over to freeload meat off Park Jinwoo—called her out for being shameless.
Yoo Sangah, privately feeling a twinge of guilt at Jung Heewon's words, offered something that wasn't quite an excuse.
She really does love meat, doesn't she, Sangah-ssi.
Even granting that she hadn't eaten properly for days, to walk right up and ask for meat so directly… Yoo Sangah seemed to be the type with a surprisingly robust appetite, contrary to appearances.
Or more precisely—was she just that crazy about meat? Even in the webtoon, she'd pretended to faint just to get at the stem of the Yanaspleta that supposedly tasted like chuck flap, only to give up halfway through the act and snatch the meat for herself.
"Normally I'd charge thirty Coins for the meat, but… I've caused Sangah-ssi some trouble before, so just for now, how about a special rate of twenty Coins per serving?"
"Three servings of pork belly, please!"
"Yes, three servings of pork belly coming right up. Just a moment!"
The instant Park Jinwoo finished speaking, Yoo Sangah boldly ordered three servings. She immediately pressed her index finger to his and transferred sixty Coins.
Watching Yoo Sangah coolly send him sixty Coins, Park Jinwoo purchased three servings of pork belly from the General Shop, arranged them on a white plate, and handed them over.
For reference, pork belly cost five Coins per serving at the General Shop—but he had charged Yoo Sangah twenty Coins per serving.
Sorry, Sangah-ssi. But getting scammed is on you.
Yoo Sangah, who had no idea she'd just paid fifteen Coins more per serving than the actual price, simply gazed at her three portions of pork belly with a look of pure happiness.
"Here, Sangah-ssi. Use these to grill and eat your meat."
"Jinwoo-ssi… thank you so much! I'll dig in!"
Park Jinwoo handed Yoo Sangah the gas burner, the grill pan, tongs, chopsticks, bean sprouts, kimchi, oil sauce, and some fat trimmings for greasing the pan.
Yoo Sangah thanked him again, said she'd enjoy the meal, and immediately set the grill pan on the gas burner to wait for it to heat up.
Once the pan was hot, she thoroughly greased it with the fat trimmings, then carefully lifted the pork belly—purchased at twenty Coins a serving—with the tongs and laid it on the grill.
Sizzle—!
"Ah, I can't take it anymore. I want meat too."
"M-me too…."
Having watched Yoo Sangah pay Coins to Park Jinwoo, buy meat, and start grilling it, Jung Heewon and Lee Hyunsung could no longer endure the aroma of cooking meat filling the platform. They approached Park Jinwoo, paid the same twenty Coins per serving for three portions of pork belly each, sat down beside Yoo Sangah, and the three of them began grilling and eating together.
"N-noona…."
"Haa… Fine, no choice. Let's go, Gilyoung."
Kim Dokja stared hollowly at her comrades, who had left her and Lee Gilyoung behind to start grilling meat by themselves—until she felt someone carefully tugging at her pants. Looking down, she found Lee Gilyoung gazing up at her with a pitiful expression.
Faced with that look, Kim Dokja sighed, muttered that there was no helping it, and led Lee Gilyoung over to Park Jinwoo with a defeated expression.
"Dokja-ssi wants pork belly too?"
"Yes. Some of us are making do with sandwiches for dinner while someone else is grilling meat all alone—it made me want meat as well."
"Haha, I don't know who that someone is, but how could anyone leave their comrades behind and grill meat just for themselves? What a shameless friend!"
"Right? Almost like the person standing right in front of me. Truly shameless."
Kim Dokja half-lidded her eyes and shot Park Jinwoo a sidelong glare. At that look, Park Jinwoo cleared his throat and hastily turned to Lee Gilyoung.
"Ahem! Ahem! S-so Gilyoung came because he wants pork belly too?"
"Yes, I want pork belly too. Two servings for forty Coins, right? Here."
"Hmm…. Never mind. Just take it."
When Lee Gilyoung held out his index finger asking for only two servings, Park Jinwoo wore a slightly awkward expression, thought for a moment, then gave the boy two free servings of pork belly.
"Huh? But I haven't paid any Coins yet."
"You already gave me thirty Coins for the chocolate bars. I'll just count that as the pork belly money."
"But… I should still give you ten more Coins…."
"Go, before I snatch that back."
"……Thank you, hyung."
Constellations of the Absolute Good faction are moved by Incarnation Park Jinwoo's good deed.
The Constellations have sponsored Incarnation Park Jinwoo with 500 Coins.
When Park Jinwoo made a genuine gesture of snatching the plate of pork belly from Lee Gilyoung's hands, the boy bowed his head in thanks and scrambled off to join the others who were already grilling and eating.
"Heh heh, Gilyoung really is still just a kid."
"At Gilyoung's age, of course he'd love meat."
"True enough. Well then, Jinwoo-ssi—three servings of pork belly for me as well."
"Yes, three servings of pork belly. That'll be sixty Coins, please."
"You're really going to charge me? After I saved your life?"
"That's that, and this is this. Sixty Coins for three servings of pork belly, Customer Kim Dokja."
"Tch, fine. Here's sixty Coins."
"Thank you, suck— ahem, valued customer! Please come again!"
"Did you just call me a sucker…."
Kim Dokja eyed Park Jinwoo with deep suspicion for calling her a sucker, while Park Jinwoo desperately avoided her gaze. She glared at him a moment longer, then sighed and went to join the others already grilling meat, finding a suitable spot to sit and cook alongside them.
"M-meat…."
"Mom, I want meat too…."
"…Just hold on a little longer, Dayoung. Okay? Once this is over, Mom will go home and grill you some meat…."
The people of the Marginalized Group gazed pitifully at Kim Dokja's party as they began grilling meat in earnest inside the platform—or more precisely, at the golden-brown meat sizzling on the grill pans.
"Damn it…. Some people get to grill meat while we're stuck choking down these scraps of bread…."
"Hey, in this situation, even this is something to be grateful for. Just bear with it and eat…."
The Mainstream Group watched Kim Dokja's party grilling meat with the same pitiful longing as the Marginalized Group.
They ate better than the Marginalized Group, relatively speaking—but comparing the meager scraps of bread currently in their mouths to the pork belly Kim Dokja's party was eating made their own situation feel only marginally better. In the end, they weren't well-off either. They muttered bitterly to themselves and silently stuffed bread into their mouths, swallowing their resentment.
"Hmm……."
Park Jinwoo carefully observed both the Mainstream Group and the Marginalized Group. A faint smile touched his lips, and with his gaze fixed on them, he began to speak.
"Alright, alright! For a mere twenty Coins, you get one serving of pork belly! No—given what I did the moment I arrived here, as an apology, anyone who buys right now gets a special discount of five Coins off. Just fifteen Coins for one serving of pork belly!"
"I only accept Coins, and you'll have to grill the pork belly yourselves! And for paying customers only, I'll lend you a gas burner, grill pan, chopsticks, forks, and so on free of charge!"
"Fifteen Coins for one serving of pork belly…?"
"We can eat meat for just fifteen Coins?"
Park Jinwoo's voice carried across the subway platform, and the people inside began murmuring among themselves as they looked his way.
"I-is it really true we can eat meat for fifteen Coins?"
"Of course! Ah, do you know how Coin transactions work?"
"Y-yes, I know. Th-then… one serving of pork belly, please."
"Yes, fifteen Coins received. Here's one serving of pork belly!"
While everyone was still murmuring and watching each other for cues, one man approached Park Jinwoo, paid fifteen Coins, and bought a single serving of pork belly.
Park Jinwoo handed the man a gas burner, grill pan, and the rest of the gear. The man immediately found a suitable spot, sat down, and began grilling his pork belly. Watching him, the others finally snapped under the crushing weight of their hunger and rushed toward Park Jinwoo in a frenzy.
"Ah, screw it! Hey! Two servings of pork belly for me too!"
"M-me too, just one serving!"
"Three servings for me!!"
"I was first! Give me five servings!!"
"I'll take ten servings, please."
Faced with a crowd behaving almost like the zombie horde, Park Jinwoo flinched for a second—but the thought of selling pork belly and raking in Coins put a capitalist smile on his face as he accepted their payments and handed over the meat.
Exclusive Skill Shop User has increased in skill level!
"Keheheheh…! Ahahahahahaha!!!"
Ha! Making Coins is ridiculously easy, isn't it? Right, Constellations?