A Pair That Suits Each Other Well
“The room here is fine to use.”
“Yeah.”
Nellka showed me around the house.
It was quite spacious.
There were five bedrooms and three bathrooms.
Out of the six staff members, four lived here and worked together.
The kitchen had five gas burners, with an oven installed underneath.
“Can I take a look at the kitchen?”
“Yeah, yeah. Feel free.”
With the homeowner’s permission, I examined the kitchen in detail.
Cooking utensils hung on the wall rack—turners, tongs, ladles.
Dust had accumulated on them up close.
“You don’t cook, do you?”
“I hardly do. I sometimes eat food my parents send over.”
I opened each drawer.
There was one frying pan and two pots—one small and one large.
The large one showed some signs of use.
“How many times have you used this?”
“Um? Ah, that one. It’s for boiling ramen.”
I brushed my finger across the bottom of the pot.
It was slippery.
They hadn’t washed it properly.
“Can I check the fridge too?”
“Yeah. But there’s not much there.”
As Nellka said, the refrigerator held only water, drinks, leftover takeout food, and one kimchi container.
In the freezer, there were some things to eat, but they were all frozen foods—dumplings, hot dogs, and pre-made items ready for the air fryer.
They were all unhealthy for health.
“Nellka.”
“Choi Yeram.”
“Ah, Yeram-ah.”
“What?”
“I think I see something to buy. Let’s go to the mart right away.”
“Eh? Right away? It’s almost lunchtime. Let’s eat first.”
“What’s lunch?”
“Um… Since you came, let’s have jjajangmyeon?”
“Let’s go to the mart first.”
“Eh, yeah. Okay.”
For some reason, she said we were getting chubby together.
They were already at the level of getting plump, and with this diet, they would definitely gain weight.
Everyone except Gwak Hyeona’s manager had their jawlines covered.
At best, Choi Yeram’s was slightly visible but barely.
She would have to stick her head out to show her jawline.
Seeing this figure, I couldn’t help but think they wouldn’t make it.
It had only been about 30 minutes since we arrived at Choi Yeram’s house.
It seemed like I had found something to do.
The place Choi Yeram took me to was a local supermarket, the kind that exists in every neighborhood.
It wasn’t like a large supermarket sign was missing; its scale was so huge it didn’t lose to any other supermarket.
While the car was being parked,
As I was looking at the supermarket exterior from inside the car, Choi Yeram spoke up.
“Even if it’s not a large supermarket, it’s fine, right?”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“That’s a relief. Large supermarkets are hard to get filming cooperation from.”
“Is this place okay?”
“Yeah. I got a free pass from the owner.”
“Oh. You must be pretty close.”
“The money we spend here is enormous. It’s not an exaggeration to say we contributed half of this building.”
I turned my head to look at Choi Yeram.
On her face, which was energetically looking at the supermarket, there was a strange sense of pride.
“Ah… I see.”
“You can get out!”
The parking was finished.
Choi Yeram had an expression as if she wanted to say something more, and she clicked her tongue in disappointment.
“Let’s get out.”
“Yeah.”
I followed Choi Yeram as she got out of the car.
In front of the supermarket.
Choi Yeram, who had pulled a cart, asked,
“What are you buying?”
“Things to eat.”
“You have a lot of things to eat at home. Why?”
“Not convenience foods. Things to cook and eat.”
“Oh. You cook well?”
“Just so-so.”
Answering Choi Yeram’s question, I reached for the cart handle.
But Choi Yeram, pushing the cart, gestured for me to stop, so I couldn’t grab it.
“I’ll pull it, so you just choose.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
I entered the supermarket.
As I had guessed from looking outside, the inside was also spacious.
It was on a scale that rivaled even a typical large supermarket.
After walking for a while, Choi Yeram greeted someone.
“Uncle! Hello!”
“Ah! Yeram-ah is here?”
“Yes! I’m here.”
It was a staff member at the customer center.
Seeing them greet each other warmly, they seemed quite close.
“What are you here to buy?”
“I didn’t come because I needed it; this friend here said he has something to buy.”
Choi Yeram pointed at me with her palm.
It was natural for the gaze to shift to me.
“Hello.”
I greeted the staff member who was looking at me.
“Yes, nice to meet you.”
The staff member who received the greeting looked at me intently and asked Choi Yeram,
“He’s handsome. Is he your boyfriend?”
“Eh?! Ah, no! Just friends. Friends!”
“I was just asking, why are you so flustered?”
“Asking out of the blue like that!”
Choi Yeram shouted with a red face.
Then the staff member smiled wickedly and nodded.
“Yeah. Let’s say that.”
“It’s true!”
“Okay. Go look at the vegetables. I’ll wait for the bachelor. See you later.”
“Yes. Take care.”
After greeting the staff member, I pulled the end of the cart.
Choi Yeram tried to protest, but I took the lead.
“Yeram-ah. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Choi Yeram, who had suddenly become docile, followed while pushing the cart.
From behind, the staff member’s voice came with a smile,
“They suit each other well. Take good care of Yeram-ah!”
“Aigoo, really.”
Choi Yeram followed with her face buried.
When we were far from the customer center, she peeked up and muttered,
“That person is so close to me that he gets like that sometimes.”
“Are you really close?”
“Yeah. I see him often. If I’m upset or something…”
Showing a faint smile to her cautiously asking,
“It’s fine. He’s an interesting person.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. I have to buy this.”
I picked up green chili peppers and spinach from the display and put them in the cart.
While trying not to let my pounding heart be noticed.
They suit each other well.
That meant Choi Yeram and I looked like a couple, didn’t it?
For me, who was worrying about honeymoon destinations just from touching hands, that word was too fatal.
It was good that I pulled the cart and quickly escaped when she was handing it over.
If I had been a little slower, my face would have turned red too.
Annoyed by the staff member’s words, I couldn’t look at Choi Yeram.
I focused on shopping.
Green onions, onions, garlic, red pepper powder, seafood mix, shrimp, pork, chicken breast, various seasonings, etc.
It seemed I had put in everything that looked necessary without thinking.
“Hey… Beomjun-ah?”
“Yeah.”
“A-are you going to eat all of this?”
Two-thirds of the cart was full.
It didn’t seem like I chose that much, but it was already this full.
“Is there rice at home?”
“There’s Haeban.”
“Let’s buy a bag of rice too.”
5kg?
After a moment of hesitation, I picked up the 10kg one.
Thud.
“Isn’t it too much?”
“There are a few people. It’ll be gone in no time.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. Ah, right. Is there an electric rice cooker?”
“Eh? I-is it there?”
Choi Yeram stammered without properly answering, and Gwak Hyeona, who was behind the camera, answered instead.
“Yes. It’s been a while since I used it, but…”
With gratitude for the information, I bowed my head.
Gwak Hyeona nodding her head and receiving the greeting.
She seemed as meticulous as her appearance.
“Is that it?”
“Yeah. Let’s go to checkout.”
Choi Yeram placed the items from the cart on the counter.
In the meantime, I brought boxes, scanned the barcodes, and neatly arranged the delivered items in the boxes.
Later, I brought the cart and put the boxes in it to pack the items.
Three boxes worth.
The amount close to 400,000 won was displayed on the POS screen.
400,000 won was my monthly food expense.
A bit regretful for choosing too much, I took out my wallet.
Then Choi Yeram stopped me.
“Eh? No. I’ll pay.”
“I bought it to eat, so I…”
“Aigoo! Are you trying to make me a bad person? Put the wallet back.”
With Choi Yeram’s forceful tone with furrowed brows, the wallet went back into my pocket.
How did I know I was weak to strong women…
So Choi Yeram paid.
Back to the car, I loaded the boxes into the trunk and returned to Choi Yeram’s house.
I organized the vegetables and meat in the fridge and neatly gathered the seasonings in one place.
After organizing the roughly shopped items, lunchtime was approaching.
“Beomjun-ah, shall I order food? Is there anything you want to eat?”
At Choi Yeram’s words, my head turned sharply.
Order food?
We just shopped?
Staring at her, Choi Yeram flinched.
“Why, why? Aren’t you eating lunch?”
“You said to order? We came to shop to cook and eat.”
“Ah… You weren’t going to eat from dinner? It’s almost lunchtime, and it takes a long time to cook.”
“No. It’ll be quick.”
I answered firmly.
Rice needs to be cooked, so we replaced it with Haeban.
One or two side dishes to eat together would be 10-minute cuts.
Even soup would be enough in 20 minutes.
Since we had to satisfy all kinds of people’s tastes, we would go for heavily seasoned delivery food.
It tasted good, but it wasn’t good for the body.
Looking at the bodies of the staff around us right now.
Some were skinny or had protruding bellies.
This is the result of unbalanced nutrient intake.
There might be a lack of exercise, but the start of health management is diet.
Seeing these bodies, I couldn’t allow delivery food.
“It’ll be done in 30 minutes.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah. I’ll go wash my hands for a bit.”
The sink had only kitchen detergent.
After washing my hands with hand sanitizer in the bathroom, I returned to the kitchen.
I took ingredients from the fridge and placed them on the counter.
To take out the necessary cooking tools, I opened the drawer.
Creak—
None.
Is it here?
Creak—
None here either?
Why are they missing?
As I opened each drawer, sweat started forming on my forehead.
Left, right, bottom, top.
I was sure I had seen them, but they weren’t there.
“Yeram-ah.”
“Eh! What can I help with?”
Creak, thud—
Closing the drawer, she said,
“There’s no knife or cutting board?”
“Eh… Hyeona-ssi?”
“I didn’t buy them from the beginning because there was no need to cook.”
“……”
I ordered them.