A Lady's Predicament (3)
I sat frozen, unable to so much as twitch a finger, when Yoon Seo-a slowly lifted her chopsticks and spoke.
"Shall I show you something interesting?"
Before I could even answer, she drove the chopsticks straight into the monkey's fully exposed brain. The creature that had been sitting so quietly jerked and convulsed.
"Hic."
At that sight I couldn't hold back—I tried to rise and retreat. But the hands pressing down on both my shoulders kept me pinned firmly in place.
Watching the monkey twitch under Yoon Seo-a's touch with a face full of terror, I heard laughter. Looking up, I found her gazing at me with an expression that said, Finally.
I was finished. Her smile told me I had already lost.
"I thought I'd test how long you could keep up that clumsy imitation of a proper young lady—but it seems something this trivial is enough to strip you bare."
Squelch—the chopsticks that had been stirring the brain pulled free with a sticky sound.
Tremble—the convulsing monkey went limp again, looking much as it had when first brought out.
The sight was so grotesque I couldn't answer her. If not for the hands on my shoulders, I would have fled that instant.
Yoon Seo-a smirked at my rigid face and crooked a finger. One of her followers seated beside her forced a spoon into my hand, gripping it tight—as if to say I must never let go.
I glanced once at the spoon forced into my grip, then looked at Yoon Seo-a. She spoke.
"As I said earlier, this dish was prepared solely for you, Ha-eun. Please don't refuse—I hope you'll finish every last bit."
"...H-how am I supposed to eat this?"
Even dead, the visual would have been hard to stomach—and this monkey was still alive. Hadn't it just twitched reflexively when Yoon Seo-a stirred its brain? A dead creature could never react like that. Whatever measures they'd taken, this seemingly docile monkey was still living.
Eat the brain of a living creature? When I looked at her in disbelief, Yoon Seo-a raised her hand in demonstration.
"How? You scoop it up with that spoon like this—and yum. That's how you eat it."
She mimed scooping something with a spoon and eating it, then beamed a pure, innocent smile. It looked free of any malice—yet to me, it was more terrifying than any other expression.
I wanted nothing more than to flip the table and tell her to eat the damn thing herself. But that was something only possible as a last, last resort. At this stage, trying it would only hand her ammunition.
I exhaled—huu—and carefully composed myself before speaking. But I couldn't hide the tremor in my voice.
"You seem quite familiar with how to eat it. Does that mean you enjoy this dish yourself, Miss Yoon Seo-a?"
"Hardly. How could a young lady like me possibly eat something so barbaric and unsanitary?"
Yoon Seo-a smiled as she addressed me.
"But it seemed to suit you perfectly, Ha-eun, so I prepared it specially. Won't you praise my efforts?"
So she's calling me a savage unfit for a young lady, just in a roundabout way? I smiled silently at that elegant barb. The corners of my mouth, forced upward, quivered in protest.
But I still had to smile. Losing the smile meant admitting I had no composure left—which would only invite her to press harder. Of course, my smile had already cracked once, so this was like locking the barn after the horse was gone. Still, if I didn't at least try, a scream would tear out of me any second.
So this smile wasn't for anyone else's benefit. It was a defense mechanism—to protect myself. That was how I had to see it.
But I couldn't keep smiling my way through forever.
"Come now, try some. Monkey brain is a dish you eat while the monkey is still alive, you know? Wait too long and you won't be able to eat it at all."
I'd rather it be too late. At her urging, I bit my lip and stared at the monkey with its skull pried open. Having already been stirred once, the already nauseating sight was even more horrific. With a trembling hand, I brought the spoon toward the brain.
Refusing to eat wasn't an option. If I said I couldn't, or flipped the table, Yoon Seo-a would almost certainly have her people restrain me and force-feed me. No—that wasn't a hypothetical. Looking at the hands gripping my shoulders right now, it was an imagination that could become reality at any moment.
In the end, the only difference was whether I ate it of my own will or was force-fed. The choice not to eat simply didn't exist.
Squelch—when I stabbed into the brain, the spoon sank in softly. At that dreadful sight and sensation I nearly dropped the spoon, but managed to hold on. The stimulation made the quiet monkey start convulsing as if struck by lightning.
"Ugh, huu…!"
A whimpering moan burst through my clenched teeth. It came from pure instinct, beyond my will. With a violently shaking hand, I lifted the spoon holding a portion of brain.
Staring at that pink mass of protein too grotesque to even describe, I slowly opened my mouth. My teeth chattered against my will, and still the spoon in my trembling hand approached my lips.
I don't want to eat this. Instinct and reason alike screamed it.
But I squeezed my eyes shut and swallowed the spoonful. Squish—the sensation of something being chewed and something flowing out in my mouth turned my mind blank white. An indescribable, horrific taste filled my mouth. I tried somehow to force it down my throat, but it was impossible.
"Ugh…!"
I made a sound as if about to vomit, but I hadn't thrown up yet. With superhuman willpower I clamped my mouth shut and frantically dug through my pocket. I pulled out a plain white handkerchief and brought it to my lips—and the mouth that had been about to erupt opened and emptied its contents.
"Uwek…!"
The unspeakable residue of what had been chewed in my mouth, plus a bit of bright yellow stomach acid. After fouling the pure white cloth and coughing several more times, I finally managed to breathe. Tears welling, I gasped for air for a long while.
"Haa, haa…!"
"Ha-eun. What exactly do you think you're doing?"
Unfazed by my state, Yoon Seo-a spoke in a cold voice. I lifted my head to look at her. The smile she'd worn moments ago was gone—Yoon Seo-a was expressionless. They say a blank face can be more terrifying than an angry one. That was exactly her look now.
With a trembling hand, I wrapped the handkerchief and mumbled.
"...I'm sorry, Miss Yoon Seo-a. But… I simply can't…"
"Can't eat it?"
Instead of answering, I hung my head low. Above me came a disbelieving Ha! of breath, then her voice.
"Chef?"
"Yes, Miss."
Apparently waiting nearby, the chef hurried straight to Yoon Seo-a.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"Pardon?"
"What did you do to the dish that Ha-eun is retching like that?"
At her rebuke, the chef looked awkward.
"There's been a misunderstanding, Miss. This is simply a rejection reaction because it doesn't suit your friend's palate—"
"Chef?"
At Yoon Seo-a's word, the chef mid-excuse snapped her mouth shut. Yoon Seo-a glanced sidelong at her with clear displeasure and spoke.
"So what you're saying is… the chef's abilities only go this far?"
"That's not—"
"My father spoke so highly of you that I made this request… but if this is the result, I suppose I have no choice."
"Ah, Miss?"
"Pack your things, Chef. Return to the hotel you came from."
"What?!"
At Yoon Seo-a's words, the chef's eyes went wide as lanterns. Opening a restaurant at the private Acacia Academy was impossible without considerable skill. And even with skill, without connections it was still more impossible. Entering this place as an outsider was proof of both skill and connections—outside, one could swagger without fear of being outdone.
But that reputation only held if one operated normally, or left when a contract ended. Being mid-contract terminated and driven out was a different story entirely. It meant the end of one's career. A death sentence—never able to return to the industry again. And so the chef dropped to her knees and cried out.
"I-I'm so sorry, Miss! Please, anything but terminating the contract…!"
"Your apology isn't for me. The one who ate and retched is Ha-eun."
At that, the chef's head whipped around. And I, who had been silently catching my breath, also met those eyes filled with desperate emotion.
"I'm so sorry, Miss!"
The chef apologized to me and crawled over on all fours. She came right up behind me and slammed her forehead to the floor, crying out.
"I'll cook it again! So please, show mercy…!"
Knowing why the chef was so desperate, I looked at her with conflicted eyes. Just as being pushed out here meant the end for me, the moment the chef was driven from this place she would no longer be called a chef. Of course she was desperate.
If it had been anything else, I might have agreed—but this was something I simply couldn't do. When body, instinct, and reason all rejected it, what was I supposed to do?
As I deliberately ignored the chef's cries, Yoon Seo-a spoke.
"Or how about this? If Ha-eun eats all of that even now, we'll pretend this never happened."
"I-is that true?!"
"But if, no matter what, Ha-eun still won't eat it—then not only will the contract be terminated… let's just say there will be a much greater penalty."
Penalty. At that word, the chef's face went ashen. Even contract termination alone meant never working in the culinary world again. An additional penalty on top of that… would threaten not just livelihood, but life itself.
"Ah, Miss! Please eat it! I-I'll make a sauce that pairs well with it. So please…!"
Unable even to grab my legs, the chef clung to the chair legs and begged. I covered my face with my hand.
I'm telling you, wanting to doesn't make it possible.
"What will you do, Ha-eun? Lunch period is almost over, you know."
Yoon Seo-a glanced at her watch as if urging a decision, and a sigh escaped me on its own. And my mouth opened of its own accord.
"The sauce—make it extremely intense, please. So strong I can't taste the original flavor at all."
"...! Yes! Understood!"
Like someone who'd found salvation, the chef rose with a voice full of joy and dashed to the kitchen.
"Never pass by those in need. What a model of a proper young lady. I'm so moved I could cry."
Yoon Seo-a mocked me, but I had no room left to care about even that. Damn Yu Ha-eun. This ruined body. With a gloomy face, I stared at the mass of protein that still remained in abundance.
A moment later, the sauce the chef brought was mala sauce. A fierce, nose-stinging spicy smell. With this, the pain in mouth and throat would erase the slimy taste before I could even feel revulsion.
I slowly lifted the spoon. One way or another, this ordeal would end within lunch period. That was the only consolation I could cling to.
Otherwise, I wouldn't survive this moment.