137. Is Three Packs of Ramen for Two People a Lot or a Little
137. Is Three Packs of Ramen for Two People a Lot or a Little
***
The next day.
In Serin's house, two women were tossing and turning on the bed.
The two completely different women, one with pure-white hair and one with brown hair, both had their hair in disarray and were frowning from a brutal hangover.
And it was Sua, not the unusually sleep-loving Serin, who came to her senses first.
"Ugh... seriously, my head feels like it's going to split open."
Groaning from the skull-splitting hangover, Sua eventually sat up and looked around with half-lidded eyes.
Feeling like she was in a very unfamiliar space, Sua turned her head blankly before remembering that this was Serin's house.
"Right. This is... Serin's place..."
Still not fully awake, Sua muttered in a low, hoarse voice, holding her head as she recalled the previous night.
In the end, she had talked with Serin about this and that until dawn, then collapsed into sleep. No, she couldn't even properly remember exactly how she had fallen asleep.
She remembered drinking with Serin on the terrace and coming back into the living room, but after that, her memory was hazy, as if it had been cut off. It was surprising enough that she was in bed now.
'Did she move me to the bed?'
Thinking that blankly, Sua tidied the hair clouding her vision and looked at the other woman lying on the rumpled bed.
A woman sleeping soundly, her pure-white silver hair spread wide as if to cover herself with it.
She wasn't wearing any makeup and was simply showing herself in a disheveled state, yet Serin's exposed face was incomprehensible to Sua.
'That's her bare face.'
Her face had a distinctive charm that inspired a purely aesthetic appreciation, and even in sleep there was no real exposure—just the glimpse of a pale wrist or the nape of her neck, which kept drawing Sua's eye for no reason.
As if to say that there was a beauty that stood out more precisely because she was disheveled. Serin was sleeping soundly, as if she shone all on her own.
"Seriously. The world is so... unfair."
Sua, who had been staring blankly at Serin, muttered those words offhandedly.
Sua had never once thought that she fell short in looks, so maybe that was why the feeling hit her even harder now.
Just looking at the sleeping Serin made her think that even most celebrities wouldn't be this pretty.
After staring blankly for several minutes at the surreal sight of her fully made-up face barely competing with someone else's bare face, Sua let out a hollow laugh and pulled the discarded blanket over Serin.
With the splitting hangover still lingering, Sua got up to get some cold water, and in that moment she felt that the inside of the room was unusually bright.
"What time is it... for the room to be this bright?"
Wondering what time it could possibly be, Sua picked up the smartphone lying nearby.
—August 17, Tuesday.
10:53 a.m.
A time approaching 11 a.m. Thinking she had slept a long time, Sua blankly recalled her schedule for the day.
Aside from her personal stream at 7 p.m., she had no plans, so she could stay at Serin's place a little longer. As she was thinking that, one thought suddenly struck her, and her eyes widened as her expression changed abruptly.
'Scrim!'
Sua suddenly remembered that, unlike her, Serin had a scrim with G1 again today.
"Serin!?"
Unlike a moment ago when she had carefully covered Serin with the blanket, Sua now grabbed Serin's body roughly and began shaking her.
As Serin's body shook back and forth, her expression twisted into a deep frown.
"Ugh... why..."
"Serin! Wake up, hurry! You have a scrim today too, remember!?"
Sua kept shaking Serin's body to wake her. Eventually, Serin opened her eyes.
"What... time is it now?"
At Serin's still half-asleep question, Sua continued urgently.
"It's 11! Aren't you late for your scrim? What time does your scrim with G1 start today!?"
"11...? Then it's fine. The scrim... we agreed to meet at 1."
Only when Serin said it was fine did Sua let go, looking greatly relieved.
"Well, that's a relief, but... shouldn't you be getting up soon too?"
Looking at Serin, who was still half-asleep and dazed, Sua urged her to get up, but Serin only gave a small nod.
She nodded, but she didn't actually sit up.
"I'll at least bring you something to drink. Then."
Deciding not to wake her further, Sua left the room first.
Click.
Opening the door and heading to the living room, Sua first downed a glass of cold water to fight the brutal hangover.
Gulp.
The cold water going down her throat made her feel momentarily better, but Sua kept shaking her head at the persistent, vicious hangover.
"Ugh... I need to pace myself from now on."
Then she looked around the brightly lit living room as noon approached.
"Ugh."
All the food they hadn't finished yesterday had been left with lids just thrown over it, and the rest of the living room was in a thoroughly messy state.
That was only natural—they had stayed on the terrace until dawn, gotten completely drunk, and only then come inside, so there was no way they had cleaned up.
"First, I need to throw out all the food."
In the middle of summer, with the food left out for hours, all that food in the living room had to be thrown away.
Trickle.
Taking out another cup and filling it with cold water for Serin, Sua found her hand reaching for her phone without thinking.
"Should I just... call a service?"
Seeing the mess, that was her first thought.
She was already overwhelmed just dealing with the hangover, so when would she ever clean all that up? On top of that, Serin didn't have much time before her scrim.
'Let's just book a same-day service.'
Tap.
And so, Sua very naturally finished booking a same-day cleaning service.
***
Bubble bubble!
Serin, seated in the living-room kitchen, stared at the boiling pot before casually breaking up ramen noodles and dropping them in.
Hsssssh!
At the sound of the shower coming from the bathroom some distance away, Serin blankly swept back her hair and let out a small sigh.
"Hah, my head."
As she boiled ramen to cure the hangover, she genuinely didn't want to do anything at all.
Not getting proper sleep was one thing, and the skull-splitting hangover from last night's heavy drinking was another problem.
All of it piled up one by one, making everything feel like a hassle and leaving her unwilling to do anything.
Then, when the sound of the shower stopped, Serin's hands moved busily as she cooked the ramen.
Contrary to her feeling that everything was a hassle, Serin diligently took out two bowls and set them on the kitchen table, then even set out spoons and chopsticks and carried the pot over to the table.
......
"Serin, how many packs of ramen did you even cook?"
Sua, looking much cleaner after her shower, asked Serin as if to say, what is this?
"I made three."
"No, seriously, Serin. Do you have some kind of bottomless pit in your stomach?"
"Three is a reasonable amount. Why?"
As Serin ladled ramen into her own bowl and asked what was strange about it, Sua laughed in disbelief.
"No, I mean, I really can't eat much. I definitely can't even finish one pack..."
Serin looked at Sua with a very strange expression.
Three packs of ramen for two people.
What was the problem with that?
"Sua, seriously. Don't you eat too little? No, what's wrong with three packs of ramen for two people?"
"Serin, we ate a ton yesterday evening. So when you said hangover food, I naturally assumed we'd share one pack of ramen. And I feel like I've put on a little weight on my arms today."
As Sua said that while fiddling with her arm, Serin laughed as if it were absurd.
"From what I can see, you haven't gained any weight at all?"
To Serin, Sua's body seemed to fall right between slim and skinny, so she couldn't understand why Sua was worried about gaining weight.
"It might not show on the outside right away, but my body feels heavy? I can feel it, okay?"
Watching Sua say something so ridiculous, Serin let out a small laugh and spoke.
"Sua, seriously. If women around the world heard you say that, they'd all curse you out. You're that skinny, and you're worried about gaining weight? You're someone who actually needs to gain some weight, you know?"
"No, if women around the world would all curse me, then what does that make you, Serin!?"
"What, why me?"
I said it without any hesitation, confidently. I burned a lot of energy, so I had no choice but to eat a lot.
Maybe this body had extremely poor fuel efficiency, because even after three weeks of exercising alongside everything else, I had only just now gained a tiny bit more weight. This body barely gained weight no matter how much I ate when I tried to put some on.
While I was thinking that, I felt Sua's gaze on me was very peculiar.
"Sua, why are you looking at me like that?"
"Ugh, I really don't know! Some people can eat whatever they want and not gain weight, right?"
Only when Sua shouted as if she were sulking did Serin finally realize it.
Women in their early twenties... were right at the age when they hated gaining weight.
"No, I didn't mean it like that... I just really hate it when people pick at their food."
"...I don't pick at my food, you know?"
"Really? Well, I like people who eat well. You're like that too, right, Sua?"
Having figured out what to say to get Sua to eat the ramen without complaint, Serin said it—and sure enough.
"Ugh..."
In the end, Sua reluctantly ladled some ramen into her bowl.
"Pfft..."
"Don't... laugh."