The Meal Loses Its Flavor
I had asked him what mistake I had made and what he wanted me to bring to make amends.
Sunwoo answered me without hesitation.
Hyewon had to come up with an answer.
“If it’s a mistake…”
She didn’t even need to think twice.
From beginning to end, it had been a mistake—there was no other word for it.
She had known it herself.
If she continued like this, something was bound to go wrong.
Sunwoo had personally come to warn her. If that was the case, she should have stopped long ago.
But there had been no choice. It had been inevitable.
The eldest son had looked down on her.
The youngest had kept pushing to take her place.
Caught between the two, struggling to keep even the barest qualification as heir, Hyewon had done everything she could.
In the tiny gap that had opened up, the moment of weakness, she had gambled everything she could afford.
And she had won.
A small fan club for Nature had been born.
The official Nature website had been created.
Stage performance requests had come in.
Most importantly, she had succeeded in etching the three letters “Nature” into the world.
High risk always brought high reward.
According to that formula, she had finally earned the return.
Of course, she had pushed everyone too hard in the process, but that had been agreed upon from the very beginning, hadn’t it?
She had received consent at the start.
She had upheld her duty as president.
She had had Harin and Ayeong manage their conditions.
She had invested in cars, dorms, and convenience facilities with profits far exceeding what she had taken out.
On paper, it should have been a loss, yet as president she had given Nature her absolute best.
And Nature, in return for her heart, had succeeded on stage to the very end.
“......Hnnngh.”
That was why she couldn’t understand.
Hyewon could never understand how someone didn’t know the king’s heart.
From the outside, everything had looked perfect.
An exhausting schedule, but backed by passion, spirit, and youth, it had succeeded.
Then came the enormous reward. A magnificent success story.
Even so, Sunwoo had said it.
Hyewon.
She had made a mistake, and she should reflect on it and present something to apologize for.
And the only thing Hyewon could do about it was…
[To send money like this, you really do see me as a whore who only cares about cash! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“Sunwoo oppa?! !”
Money… didn’t work?
Hyewon’s mind began to fog.
…
…
…
She had shortchanged them on labor.
So she had offered the value of the reward as apology.
“Why…?”
But it had been refused.
This was strange. She only felt that it was strange.
It had worked in school back then…?
Maybe the amount had been too small. She had raised the figure by one zero, but the answer remained the same.
[I see, you really do think I’ll bend for money! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“Aniiiiiiii…”
Money wasn’t the issue.
Then what was it?
“That’s right! Party! You never had a party!”
When the job ended, everyone should have let loose and drunk together!
So she had offered him a party and promised to apologize then.
[I see, you’re an alcoholic drowning in alcohol! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“......…”
Refused.
“…Shall I give you overtime?”
She had sent a stimulant.
[I see, you’re a completely weak, empty sack of rice! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“Damn it.”
What was she supposed to do?
She had almost yelled it into the phone, but she had forced herself to stay quiet.
“There must be… there must be something…”
When the problem broke, the rule was to go back to the beginning.
She had remembered her academy days and searched for the answer.
“Return to your original self? It really is hard to say things like that.”
She had sent the instant ramen she loved so much back then.
Return to your original self.
To that, Sunwoo—rather than Seung-wook—had replied.
[Now I see you’re just an ordinary, unremarkable person like the street vendors in the market! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“GYAHHHHHH!!! !”
Ordinary?
No. Really, really important, right?
‘Could this be…?’
Clothes.
That’s right—clothes!
If she sent him a perfectly tailored suit to show how much she valued Sunwoo oppa…
[From the start, you see me as something you can throw away anytime! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“Fuck, oppa!”
It was done.
She was coming.
She was really coming, no more playing around!
[You mean you want to defile me personally! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“........ ah.”
She hung up.
Even the next day, her mind refused to settle.
So after leaving him alone for about three days,
“Phone call from oppa…?”
Sunwoo oppa had called her first.
Maybe he had some hint for her?
[Now you don’t even remember me! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! !”
What the hell was she supposed to do?!
What did she want?!
From her?!
“What the… ugh… hiiiing…”
She had no idea.
She really had no idea.
What had she done wrong so badly…
‘…I did do it.’
She had ignored Sunwoo oppa’s warning that he would fire the producer and kept forcing the work.
She was now receiving the full penalty for it.
“......Maybe.”
He had said he would quit as producer.
Then yes. The path was finally visible.
“Make peace with the end and start over.”
She had sent the original contract document.
If she tore that up, the contract with the producer would end.
And with that ending would begin their return—together—as members of Nature once more—
[Finally you’ve listened to me! Now that there’s nothing left to regret, what’s the point in living anymore!]
“Damn you.”
[You fucking bastard. You’re insulting me with pity! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“…I’m sorry. I’m sorry!”
[Sarcasm! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“Fuck!”
Thud!
She hurled the phone.
The call dropped immediately.
“Hii! Hiiing!…… pahaaa…”
She collapsed onto the chair.
The chair creaked and groaned, and a deep breath came from the bottom of her chest.
‘……What the hell is this.’
Was she supposed to cut ties completely?
When she hadn’t called him, he had called her and given her a hint.
So perhaps she had what he wanted, and if she gave it to him, everything would return to the way it was.
But the problem was she had no idea what the answer to that problem was.
In the end, staring blankly at the ceiling while breathing, someone knocked on the door and entered.
“Um… President? Is the instructor…”
“…………”
“……Excuse me.”
“Just a moment.”
“Ne?”
She grabbed Harin as she tried to leave.
‘I can’t do this.’
Her sense of direction had completely vanished.
So she targeted the other side.
“Harin. Could you do me a favor?”
“Ne? A favor…?”
This time it would be what she sent.
“To Sunwoo oppa… please go to the producer’s house.”
“???”
She was sending Harin to Nature.
She would probably be sent back.
But at least it would be better than her going herself and facing him directly.
And if Nature reminded him of something even slightly and he felt a tiny bit of pity, that would be good too.
“Please ask the producer quietly what she wants from me and what kind of reward she desires.”
“Ah… lately you’ve been sending all sorts of things…”
“…Please. I really need it.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
The instructor had been uneasy since Sunwoo hadn’t shown up for over a week.
Harin left the office with eyes full of determination.
About an hour later.
[You stupid fool who’s fallen into debauchery! What’s the point in living anymore!]
“…oppa.”
The same answer, perhaps what she had expected all along.
Hyewon quietly held her heart and asked Sunwoo through the phone.
“Are you enjoying yourself right now?”
[Halfway there?]
“I really did everything wrong. Can’t you forgive me?”
[Even if you don’t know what you did wrong, you apologize like that! Me──]
“─If you say that one more time, I’ll really cry, okay?”
[……Were you that frustrated?]
“Yes.”
She wished he would just tell her the answer already.
Sunwoo still didn’t answer and simply hung up, saying something like “Keep working hard.”
“Haahaaaaa…”
What the hell did she want?
She hugged her head and leaned back in the chair.
The next day.
“……Haaaa?”
Nature wasn’t even coming to the training center anymore.
***
“Did you sleep well? No discomfort?”
“Yes… I slept much better than I expected.”
“You slept on a good bed? It’s not as fluffy as the dorm bed, but you still sleep better.”
“……Hie? Already morning…?”
Nature looked better.
I finished preparing breakfast and sat down.
“Eat first.”
“It’s soybean soup? Did the instructor make it?”
“It tastes good… I want to drink it every day…”
“So you want to drink soybean soup every day… eh hehe… ehhehehe…”
Because it was a strange environment, Su-jin looked a little off, but overall she didn’t seem bad.
I thought that was fine and told Nature, still holding the bowls.
“The instructor is disappointed in all of you.”
“………………”
The atmosphere turned icy in an instant.
Hmm. Had she intuited the future?
I smiled and spoke to Harin.
“You know the reason, don’t you?”
“……Yes.”
She probably had no words left.
After all, Nitto had become the electric pussy, and the electric cat was now a regular pussy cat.
“You didn’t listen no matter how much I said, and you demanded even more. When I raised my voice to maintain discipline, you started refusing summons too?”
“Uuuuuu…”
The worst state imaginable.
This was all the result of overdoing it.
‘If they were warriors or mages, I could understand, but…’
Spirit contractors weren’t awakened who used their own power fundamentally.
They merely borrowed the power of spirits and others.
Warriors and mages could recover with rest after overdoing it, but spirit contractors caused trouble in their relationship with the spirits…
A skilled spirit contractor might be able to manage, but a rookie who overdid it would end up like this—normal.
‘The only saving grace is that the kids are still in low rank.’
The younger something is, the simpler it is.
Spirits were the same.
Because they weren’t strong-willed enough to become higher spirits, she had been able to persuade them so easily.
“If you really want to discard the spirit contractor part and just be idols, that’s fine.”
“…………”
The three of them were silent.
No, more precisely:
“Instructor. Another bowl.”
It was quiet all of a sudden.
Yunhwa was focused on eating.
Honestly, Yunhwa was fine. No major problems overall.
Her technique was the lowest among them, but she had been in the dungeon a little.
“Anyway, once things settle a bit, we’ll start training again, so keep that in mind.”
“Wa-wait a minute? The instructor quit being producer…”
“Ah. That’s true. The producer did quit.”
But quitting as producer doesn’t mean quitting as instructor, does it?
“If there were no ties at all, I could understand, but once you’ve touched it, you finish it. That’s the NTR Party’s belief.”
Well, by now everything had gone to hell anyway.
But in the end, this and that were things to be put off until Hyewon regained her senses.
I sat back down and picked up the spoon.
─Dding♬
“Hm?”
At the perfect moment, the phone rang.
I glanced at it.
[Onari]
“…Give me a moment, you guys?”
I picked up the phone and went into the room.
“So… you’re at the police station right now?”
My meal suddenly lost all flavor.
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