Ugly Bastards Find Joy Just Looking at Each Other #1
The cafeteria building was larger than the auditorium of an average school. It seemed to be split between the first and second floors. The first floor was a regular school cafeteria, while the second floor housed the high-end restaurant known as ‘Noble.’ A buffet that cost fifty thousand won per meal?
“Whoa, what the hell is all this?”
Stepping into the upscale restaurant, I felt my mind go dizzy at the sight that unfolded before my wide-open eyes. The floors and pillars were made of gleaming marble that reflected my face, and above us hung a chandelier straight out of the first-class section of the Titanic, sparkling brilliantly. Signs labeled 「SEA FOOD」, 「STEAK」, and 「DESSERT」 glowed brightly in each section, stealing my gaze. Every zone was piled high with massive plates overflowing with food. Was this heaven?
“Can I really eat whatever I want?”
When I asked the sociable Geum Taeseong, he gave a vigorous nod. “Of course!” He pulled out a white plate and handed it to me.
Taking the plate, I immediately headed to the steak section and piled five slices of some rib-whatever meat onto it before plopping down at the nearest empty seat.
“How long has it been since I last had beef like this?”
Time to dig in! I sliced off a piece and took a bite. Just as I’d hoped, the beef juices exploded in my mouth with a satisfying burst. This was all thanks to Seo Gaeul’s grace, I suppose. I seriously considered whether it would taste even better dipped in ketchup or thrown into ramen when Geum Taeseong, who had loaded his plate evenly with fried food, rice, and soup, sat down across from me and let out a chuckle.
“I did the exact same thing my first time here—grabbed nothing but meat. I figured a prestigious high school student would be different, but I guess people are all the same.”
“It’s fifty thousand won per meal. If you’re gonna get your money’s worth, meat’s the way to go, right?”
“Honestly, I think so too. But most kids here come from rich families, so they don’t seem to see it that way. Look.”
Geum Taeseong jerked his chin toward the surroundings. Sure enough, everyone was pretending to be refined, filling their trays with salads packed with greens and lettuce.
Idiots. How stupid. If you don’t eat the good meat now, who knows when you’ll get to eat fancy beef again after the world ends?
Completely ignoring everyone else’s stares, I stuffed several slices of steak into my mouth at once. Geum Taeseong burst out laughing.
“Dude, you’re hilarious. That thing you said earlier too.”
“Earlier? What was so funny?”
I chewed on the tender beef while thinking it over, then remembered what I’d passionately argued during the debate, spitting all over the place.
“The part about harvesting organs from death row inmates?”
“…Uh… no, though that too. The part about how people who try hard should get a second chance.”
“Ah─.”
“Look at me. I obviously look like a troublemaker, right? I really was one. Rode motorcycles, smoked cigarettes… I stopped all that after getting into Yeongsago, though.”
As expected, my eye for people was spot on. Geum Taeseong really had been a delinquent.
“The past always follows you around. That’s why starting over isn’t easy. In that sense, Yeongsago is a pretty decent place for a fresh start.”
When Geum Taeseong scanned the restaurant with his sharp eyes, I—now reasonably full—looked around the interior with him. Even though I’d eaten several plates of steak, I’d already more than made back the entry fee for this fancy place. But the real reason I’d come here wasn’t just for the food.
Seo Gaeul. In a student restaurant called ‘Noble,’ that pedigreed rich girl was bound to be eating somewhere in here. So wouldn’t it be fine if I casually, naturally approached her?
“……”
I scanned the area for a while with that thought in mind, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn’t spot that beautiful face.
“Looking for someone?”
“Seo Gaeul.”
“Seo Gaeul? From F-class? Ah, it’s normal to want to meet the famous people when you first get on stage. But from what I know, she doesn’t eat here often. She might’ve come once or twice.”
“What…!?”
Are you serious? I spent my precious fifty thousand points to come here for this?
I was so unfairly pissed that I felt like I was about to foam at the mouth. But!
Who did they think I was? The problem-solving pioneer, the fixer Ha Namjin! I knew exactly what to do in a situation like this.
“Taeseong, wanna get another plate?”
I’d squeeze out every last drop of value from these fifty thousand points—even pull out the restaurant’s pillars if I had to. With that mindset, I stood up to grab another plate, but Geum Taeseong shook his head.
“It’s better not to eat too much. We have practical training in the afternoon, so it’s good to leave some room in your stomach. If you eat until you’re stuffed, you’ll puke while moving around. Cleaning that up is a real pain.”
Practical training? I couldn’t quite picture what they’d be practicing, but Geum Taeseong’s words didn’t sound like nonsense. Probably combat, exploration, or sparring. I couldn’t meet Seo Gaeul, and I couldn’t eat until my stomach burst. Oh well.
I looked around and luckily spotted a plate piled high with individually packaged puddings.
「Baekdang Chocolat Pudding」.
Where had I heard the name ‘Baekdang’ before? What was it again? No, that wasn’t important right now.
“Hey, Taeseong. Keep watch for me.”
“What are you gonna do?”
“I’m gonna snag some pudding! They’re packaged, so it’ll be easy to take!”
“What? Pfft—haha! Dude! You can’t take those! If you get caught, you’re screwed!”
Geum Taeseong cracked up, but he still stood behind me, using his tall frame to block the view of the plate.
Shush, shush—.
I took advantage of the opening and successfully stuffed five puddings into the worn, baggy pockets of my school uniform. Looks like my potato-stealing skills from Kim Jang-dong’s field hadn’t gone anywhere.
“Hey, Namjin. Grab one more for me too. You can at least do that much while I’m keeping watch, right?”
“Okay.”
And so, six puddings ended up filling my pockets. With this, even if I didn’t get to meet Seo Gaeul, could I say I got my money’s worth from Noble? Later I’d have to bring a side-dish container and swipe some meat and kimchi too.
On the way back to the classroom after leaving the cafeteria, Geum Taeseong took one of the puddings from me and spoke.
“Namjin. You thinking of changing seats? The one next to me is empty. It’s at the very front. You can hear the instructor clearly and see the board well. It’s nice.”
What? For a second I doubted my ears. The very front? This punk was a former delinquent—why the hell was he sitting at the front of the class? I had planned to sit in the very back, messing around or sleeping through every lesson. The front row was the worst spot imaginable, like staring directly into Sauron’s flaming eye. Obviously, I refused.
“I like the back.”
“Yeah? Then never mind. You’ve got that girl sitting next to you anyway.”
“That girl? Yeoul?”
“Yeah, Baek Yeoul. You okay sitting next to her?”
Okay sitting next to Baek Yeoul—? What did that mean? Simply put, it implied there were cases where sitting next to her would not be okay. It meant there was some kind of downside.
I vaguely understood that the back seat by the window in high school was a highly coveted spot, like prime real estate for adults. And that seat was empty—?
The more I thought about it, the more suspicious it seemed.
“Didn’t Baek Yeoul tell you herself? Ah, damn. It feels weird saying it myself then.”
“Why? What is it? Tell me.”
“Never mind, it’s fine. I hate talking behind people’s backs.”
This guy, Geum Taeseong. Was he really a former delinquent? His personality was surprisingly manly and cool. In many ways, he was a lot like me. Maybe we could get along well from now on.
“And I think you’ll figure out why I said this pretty soon. Today’s the day we have practical training, after all.”
I’m the type who can’t stand not knowing something if it piques my curiosity. I’d have to ask Ppang-daeng-i directly.
When we returned to the classroom, the kids greeted me.
“Transfer student! How was your first cafeteria meal?”
“I heard you went to Noble?”
“Were you really gonna take your pants off earlier? I was actually gonna take a picture if you did!”
“I really was gonna take them off. I wore my coolest pair of underwear today, so I had confidence.”
Kyahaha—kyak kyak.
I walked past the chattering kids and returned to my seat. Next to me, Ppang-daeng-i was face-down on her desk, snoring away. Had she slept like this the entire lunch break?
“Hey, didn’t you eat? Hey.”
Shuk—. I poked her side with my finger, and Baek Yeoul shot up from her chair like a cat splashed with cold water.
“…Hiiyak!”
Because she made such a loud noise, everyone’s eyes snapped toward us. The problem was that a female student walking nearby got startled by the sound and accidentally threw the cup of water she was holding into the air.
Splash—.
Something hot poured over me from the top of my head down to my chin.
“Guaaaak!”
I was so shocked that I screamed too. It smelled sweet—like lava. I gave it a lick. Oh, it was hot chocolate. Not bad?
“Hey! Hey! Transfer student! Are you okay?”
The girl who dropped the cup pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and wiped my face. Her touch was so gentle it felt pretty nice. She smelled good too, and her nails were painted with cute colors. Her hair was dyed yellow—probably a bit of a party girl?
“You’re completely soaked!”
When was the last time I received this kind of kindness from a girl my age? I was thinking that getting hit with hot chocolate one more time might be worth it when the yellow-haired girl frowned deeply and yelled at Baek Yeoul.
“Hey! Baek Yeoul! Why the hell did you suddenly scream like that!”
“B-but he poked my side…”
“What! You need to be more careful! This is already the umpteenth time! Your concept keeps causing nothing but trouble for everyone!”
“…My side…”
Baek Yeoul pouted, lips pushed out. She looked like she had something to say, but the stares from those around her made her shrink back, and she closed her mouth. It seemed she’d been nagged like this by her classmates quite a few times before.
I’m the guy with 100-level perception who can read the room instantly. I could feel the atmosphere in the class turning icy in a flash. Looks like I needed to step in.
“It’s fine, Youngmi. I didn’t get hurt badly.”
“Really? That’s a relief. But just in case, shouldn’t you go to the infirmary? My hot chocolate was pretty hot. And my name isn’t Youngmi, it’s Kim Jin-i.”
Puhaha—. Everyone laughed. Except for one person who looked like she wanted to cry.
After roughly washing my face in the bathroom and returning to the classroom, the commotion had mostly settled and the mood was calm again. Instead, Baek Yeoul glared at me and grumbled in an extremely tiny voice.
“…Hey! It’s your fault I got yelled at for no reason!”
“I didn’t know you were so ticklish on your sides, Ppang-daeng-i. Should I start calling you Side instead of Ppang-daeng-i from now on?”
Shuk—. I raised my index finger as if to poke her side again. Baek Yeoul flinched violently and covered her side with both hands.
“Get lost…!”
She was having a full-on fit. Honestly, her reactions were pretty entertaining. But if she screamed again it could cause real trouble, so I pulled one of the puddings from my pocket and held it out to her.
“You looked like you skipped lunch, so I woke you up to give you this.”
“Huk, that’s our store’s pudding!”
「Baekdang Chocolat Pudding」.
Thinking about it now, ‘Baekdang’ was the dessert company run by Baek Yeoul’s family.
“It’s chocolate flavor? My favorite…”
Baek Yeoul looked back and forth between me and the pudding with suspicious eyes, but soon tore open the packaging and began scarfing it down with the included spoon. She looked exactly like a hungry raccoon. Why skip lunch then?
“Hey, dieting is fine, but if there’s something you want to eat, eat it while you still can.”
Later, you might not be able to even if you want to. And honestly, that ‘later’ wasn’t even that far off. In just one year, everything would be flipped upside down.
“…Dieting…”
Just as Baek Yeoul finished the pudding and muttered in a tiny voice, the classroom door slid open.
Druk—.
The one-eyed teacher wearing a captain’s insignia entered the room again and shouted.
“Alright, as announced, this afternoon is practical training. Just so you know, today’s training will be a joint session with F-class, so don’t start fighting like last time.”
Afternoon practical training. I didn’t know what it was, but the fact that it was joint with F-class made my ears perk up. F-class meant Seo Gaeul’s class!
The problem came next.
“Today’s training will be done in groups as usual, so form groups of five with people you’re close to right now. Since Namjin transferred in, we have exactly thirty people, so we’ll split evenly into six groups.”
A group project with close friends… for someone who just transferred in today?