Delicious Galbi
Thump, thump. It had been ages since I'd gone out to eat. I stood at the closet, searching for the outfit that would suit me best for a trip outside. Skirts were out, of course. On a cold day they left everything below the waist freezing, and then there was the nuisance of having to wear tights on top of it.
A chick-yellow hoodie and jeans! Standing before the mirror, I couldn't help admiring my perfect coordination. The girl looking back at me was one utterly adorable little chick — the sort of getup that made anyone who saw it want to tease her.
I twisted this way and that, admiring myself in the glass, and before I knew it Haru and Bora had finished getting ready to go.
"Ah!"
The two of them carried the fragrance of thoroughly grown women. Set beside them, the difference was staggering. I was still at an age where I couldn't exactly radiate feminine charm, but standing next to them I looked like a complete child — the kind of kid who tagged along with her older cousins.
"Hana~ You dress better than I expected!"
Haru clapped at my outfit, delighted as if it were her own achievement, and then, for good measure, lifted her phone and snapped a picture of me. I threw both hands up in a V and played model for her. Photos were memories, pictures you could look back on later, so you had to take plenty while you still could.
Of course, it depended on my mood. My fickle heart wanted pictures some days and hated them on others. Today was a good day — we were going out for galbi — so I let her photograph me without a fight.
"If we drive about ten minutes from here, we should be there."
Bora held up her phone for Haru to see. She was probably showing her the destination. I wanted a look too, but I couldn't reach.
"Bora! I wanna see too~!"
Bora took in the sight of me and smiled.
"It's a secret from Hana!"
"Uuuugh!"
I puffed my cheeks out in protest at her teasing. Seeing me like that, Bora stroked my hair.
"It's better if you go in with something to look forward to. The place has a huge reputation for being delicious."
"Really?"
"Mm. Really~"
Holding on to that anticipation, I got my pounding heart back under control. How good did it have to be for them to talk it up like that? If it turned out to be bad, I was going to be crushingly disappointed. Still, Bora's palate was pretty refined, so the odds of disappointment were low.
"Let's go~"
Haru and Bora each took one of my hands and headed for the elevator. It was evening, and the employees were clocking out. I wanted to say hello, but with both arms caught between Bora and Haru, I couldn't manage it.
Waving goodbye was my routine...
We came down to the lobby and headed for the parking garage. The institute's lot was under construction too. They were probably adding spaces because the staff had grown. In a way, the place was in the middle of a full-blown boom — there wasn't a corner that wasn't being worked on.
Probably because they were making so much money. The institute was old enough that a lot of it had fallen into disrepair. They must have been patching things over for lack of funds until now, and with money finally coming in, they were fixing it properly.
I climbed into Bora's car. The back seat was mine; Haru took the passenger seat. Eyes shining, I looked the car over from one end to the other. Bora seemed to be earning plenty herself. A midsize car at her age... I'd lived as a pedestrian well into my mid-twenties, so the comparison stung all the more.
A car was a money-eating ghost the moment you owned one. You paid the annual vehicle tax, you paid the insurance, and even after all of that, riding it wasn't free. Every time the tank ran low you had to stop at a gas station and fill it up. Add it all together and it came to something like one or two months of an ordinary office worker's salary.
Even so, I'd wanted to drive at least once. I was the proud owner of what people call a drawer license — one of those ordinary kids who enrolled in a driving school the moment high school ended and walked out with a license that never actually got used. There was something cool about being behind the wheel.
I'd even nursed a dream of cruising around in some expensive import, picking up women, showing off on the road now and then. Now that I'd turned into a little girl, it was a dream I could never reach.
With a hearty vrrrrrm, the engine surged and the car slid forward. I pressed myself to the window and studied the world outside. On the way to school I usually slept in the car, so I never really looked around. Little kids were sleepy creatures by nature.
The commute was a bit long, which meant I had to get up early, and I was always a little short on sleep. Back then, school had been right under my nose — ridiculously convenient, a five-minute sprint if I ran. You could even see it from the window at home.
"Hana, you're going to eat a lot today, right?"
Bora spoke to me as she drove. I nodded.
"Yeah! I'm gonna eat until my stomach bursts!"
"You'll get a stomachache doing that."
"Hmph!"
Then I'd just eat until my belly was nice and round, I decided. Chatting with Bora and Haru like that, we arrived at the galbi restaurant. The place had a stately, old-world look, and it was popular enough that only a single space remained in the whole wide lot. A few minutes later and parking would have been a real ordeal.
The car slid neatly into the spot, and the moment I got out I tried to dash inside. But Haru, who knew my habits far too well, caught me by the side. I felt my body, about to launch like a rocket, come to a halt.
Then I rose into the air. In the end I found myself gathered into Haru's arms. She was probably trying to stop me from sprinting around so energetically. I was a perfectly respectable adult, though. I didn't make the kinds of mistakes little kids made.
Still, being carried felt nice, so I magnanimously decided to forgive her. Inside, the place was packed, and the building itself was enormous — big enough that you could have played hide-and-seek in it.
We arrived at a room dressed in elegant traditional hanok style. When the paper-screened door slid open, a table was already perfectly set. An array of side dishes was laid out prettily across it, and a large platter was piled high with mouthwatering galbi.
"Whoa!"
I couldn't help crying out at the sight. To think I'd get to come to a galbi place like this! I was genuinely thrilled. Haru set me gently down, and I dropped to the floor faster than anyone. Haru and Bora hung their coats on the rack in the room.
Once everyone was seated, the grill was lit, and Haru picked up the tongs and started cooking the ribs. I quickly set out chopsticks and spoons from the utensil holder, then poured water into the cups and passed them to Haru and Bora.
"You know, looking at Hana, she really seems like someone who's lived in Korea a long time."
"Right? Where'd you learn to set a table like this? The internet?"
Oh no. I was a being who hadn't even been in this country called Korea for half a year. I'd picked up a few bits of Korean culture, but there was still plenty I hadn't learned, and what I was doing now was something neither Haru nor Bora had ever taught me.
"Yeah! The internet said people like it when you do it this way!"
"Really? Good job, Hana!"
Lucky they didn't dig any deeper. I sighed in relief on the inside, then picked up my chopsticks and stared down the ribs sizzling as they cooked. My stomach was already clamoring for them.
"Hana isn't thinking of getting into a Korean university just because she's so good at studying, is she?"
"Come on, Bora. Hana's still in elementary school."
"But she's this smart! I've never once been first in the whole school the way Hana is."
"She should do what she likes. Her future's wide open anyway! Hana, how about buying a building someday and becoming a landlord?"
Haru looked awfully keen on owning buildings. I kept my eyes locked on the galbi and nodded without thinking. It wasn't an important conversation. If I wanted to make money, I could make as much as I liked. Right now the ribs in front of me mattered far more.
The moment I saw the juices bubbling up, I lifted my chopsticks and stabbed at a piece. Haru shut down my chopstick technique with the tongs.
"Not yet, Hana. Eat it undercooked and you'll get a stomachache."
"Hiiing... I wanna eat it now!"
I mumbled it around the poor chopsticks I'd stuck in my mouth. Some of the galbi sauce had gotten on them, and even that tasted good. If the seasoning was this delicious, the meat was bound to be delicious too. They were making the ribs from A++ hanwoo — real top-grade Korean beef — and I could hardly stand the anticipation.
One strip of these beef ribs was probably worth a whole day's wages at a part-time job.
"Hana, let's eat!"
Seeing that everything was ready, Haru lifted a rib with the tongs, snipped it into bite-sized pieces with the scissors, and spoke.