Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh.
Park Ji-hoon and Kim Tae-oh.
The moment Ji-hoon's family finished getting ready to go out, we headed outside.
I'd never seen Park Ji-hoon arrive by car, so I was curious what kind of car he drove.
As expected, a genuine silver-spoon household... there was a four-seater spaceship sitting in the garage.
I figured Park Jeong-ho would drive, but Yoo Mi-seon got into the driver's seat like it was the most natural thing in the world.
"Ji-hoon, that's not how you treat a woman."
"Ah! I said no!! She's lying to screw with me!"
Ji-hoon's word choices had gotten incredibly tame in front of his parents.
"Even if that were true! You still shouldn't do it."
"Haa... fine."
I smiled a greasy little smile.
And I tried to whisper in Yoo Mi-seon's ear, but Park Ji-hoon grabbed my clothes and yanked me back down into my seat.
"Kyaak~"
The moment I let out a girlish scream somewhere around a high C, Park Ji-hoon looked freaking mortified.
"You crazy... cut that shit out, seriously..."
My scream and Park Ji-hoon's words made Park Jeong-ho react immediately.
"Ji-hoon... judging by the way you're talking, it looks like you haven't been smacked enough by your father...?"
"Wow... wow... seriously, wow..."
Leaving Ji-hoon with a look of cosmic injustice on his face, we continued our drive.
A bit later, when Yoo Mi-seon got flustered by the black vehicles multiplying around us, I told her.
"What's going on...?"
"Ah~ that's... the security team, the team Ji-hoon's in, Team 7!"
"Aha~ how's Ji-hoon doing there?"
"He's totally doted on, him and his friend Tae-oh."
When Yoo Mi-seon glanced at Ji-hoon through the rearview mirror, Park Ji-hoon, catching her eyes, nodded.
"Well, I honestly have fun~"
"Well, that's a relief~"
Park Jeong-ho had said before that he never liked the idea of his son doing nothing more than scrapping.
Thinking about it, it was pretty understandable that he couldn't wrap his head around Park Ji-hoon, who'd shown overwhelming talent as a pitcher, getting into fights.
Still, thinking I might as well try a conversation, I looked at Park Jeong-ho.
"When Ji-hoon really puts some heat on a pitch, how fast does it clock?"
"Hmm... 99 miles."
"Oh..."
A tremendous speed, sure, but not overwhelmingly fast.
But what I'd seen was definitely beyond that...
"That's the average we measured two years ago."
Two years ago, so...
It was clear that Park Ji-hoon's strength changed practically day by day.
We arrived at the zoo.
Ji-hoon's parents greeted Jong-hyeon; apparently, they'd already gotten acquainted.
I liked animals too, but according to Ji-hoon, Yoo Mi-seon absolutely adored them.
Ji-hoon never let me take pictures of him, but when his mother asked, he posed while making it obvious he didn't want to.
When I got a piggyback ride from Park Ji-hoon and threw up a V, Yoo Mi-seon, who'd been covering her mouth and beaming, snapped the photo.
Park Ji-hoon and I were crouched down, petting a cute rabbit.
"Honestly, rabbit meat is sweet as hell. Right?"
"Wow... my mouth's watering."
"Just give it a rough trim, sprinkle some salt, and throw it over a fire—still delicious."
"I really did eat a ton of it, back in the day."
Yoo Mi-seon, taking pictures of us from a distance...
She had no idea what we were talking about and probably just thought we were petting the rabbit because it was cute.
But not a single animal that Park Ji-hoon and I touched could escape the words and deeds drenched in our appetite.
I was feeling up a mini pig's thigh, and the mini pig, its hind leg seized by me, started trembling.
"Wow, look at that meaty thigh... looks like a pretty good yield."
The small, frail animals seemed to sense something and at some point started avoiding me and Park Ji-hoon.
And nearby, the little kids who'd been listening to our conversation burst into tears.
We wandered around for a while and at some point arrived at the seal zone.
As we passed through the circular tunnel, a seal matched the pace of my footsteps and stared at me with its two big, round eyes.
"These guys, seeing them in person, they're huge, huh? I feel like they were kind of small in videos."
"Think they'd taste good?"
"Knock it off, dumbass. The kids are freaking out."
The little kids who looked like elementary schoolers had already burst into tears listening to our conversation before the seal.
Ji-hoon's parents had gone off separately to see a flower festival, so it was just me and Park Ji-hoon looking around the zoo now.
"Thinking about eating's making me seriously hungry."
"You're a real dumbass... never seen a son of a bitch who gets hungry looking at a seal before."
Looking around, I spotted a little snack stand selling hot bars.
"We're eating soon... wanna just skip it?"
"Nope. I can absolutely demolish those and still eat."
In the end, Park Ji-hoon and I headed to the snack stand, and I paid for seven hot bars.
I took off my mask to eat, and the part-timer who'd recognized me earlier couldn't stop fidgeting.
"Want an autograph?"
"Yes!"
Park Ji-hoon made an impressed sound as I pulled a marker out of my bag.
"Next to you... is that... your boyfriend...?"
"Oh, come on, no way~ it's a pig I'm raising."
"Ah...?"
Leaving the dumbfounded part-timer behind, Park Ji-hoon and I took off.
Park Ji-hoon, watching my reaction as he pulled the last remaining hot bar out of the bag.
"Piss off, help yourself."
"When someone's being generous, you should know how to accept it. You're freaking uptight as hell."
"...?"
"Ahem... sorry."
Without thinking, I'd blurted out Park Ji-hoon's tastes that I'd checked on the computer.
"You were always into that kind of thing? That's creepy."
"...Knock it off."
"Well, you always did love getting beat up, ever since the old days, riiight?"
"Hey!"
I quickly raised a hand and blocked the spray flying out of Park Ji-hoon's mouth.
"Ah fuck... nasty as shit... you wanna die?"
Park Ji-hoon, naturally wiping my hand with a tissue.
"Hey, what about you, you ever done it before, you bastard? Acting all clean and innocent, huh?"
"....."
I just kept walking without a word, and Park Ji-hoon came up beside me and grinned a greasy grin.
"What happened to the person who always had to try whatever she was curious about, from way back when~?"
At some point, Ji-hoon's parents joined us again, and together we walked into a pork rib restaurant.
I called Kang Jong-hyeon over and handed him my card.
"Call everyone in, let's eat together~"
"Understood."
At first, Jong-hyeon had flatly refused under the pretext of protecting me, but once I made it clear I didn't like that, he'd started eating with us lately.
Ji-hoon's parents flipped the meat.
The moment I made a gesture like I was going to do it, they firmly opposed it, so I started eating the grilled meat they gave me.
The real spectacle was that, despite there being only four of us, we were grilling meat at two tables.
If we only used one grill, it couldn't keep up with Ji-hoon's eating speed.
And something I'd felt while eating earlier—Park Jeong-ho was a big eater, too.
Watching the two of them eat, I could only think... yep, definitely father and son.
Hell, Ji-hoon had just scarfed down six hot bars and was still eating like that. I genuinely couldn't understand it.
My mouth was smaller than you'd think, so I started making small lettuce wraps to eat.
"Is it good?"
"Yep."
As I chewed away, Park Ji-hoon grabbed a lettuce wrap, stacked five pieces of freshly cooked meat on it, and sent it straight into his mouth.
Normally I'd have cursed him out and called him a pig bastard. But I couldn't right now, because Park Jeong-ho was similar.
"Your grocery bill must be insane..."
"It does surprise me sometimes..."
They say when Park Ji-hoon puts his mind to eating, he packs away about 3.5 kilograms... roughly six geun...
And Park Jeong-ho, who eats less than that, but still... about 1.5 kilograms.
At current prices, if you're eating samgyeopsal, it's about 6,000 won per 100 grams... just the two of them torch through 300,000 won on samgyeopsal alone.
Thinking that just one meal at home as a family can cost 300,000 won...
That's the level of a fancy dinner out at a high-end restaurant for just me and Dad, the two of us cozy together.
Of course, they're not a family that would worry about money over food, but Ji-hoon's mother looked like she'd cook herself to death.
I couldn't even guess how much cooking she'd done to feed a father and son who ate like that.
There was a reason the food was so delicious.
After a late lunch, we arrived at a filming location.
Among the people there specifically to film Ji-hoon rather than me was a baseball Neotuber.
They said the filming time was 30 minutes, and I sat and chatted with Park Ji-hoon's mother.
Apart from a few people, nobody even looked my way.
The reason being, to them, Park Jeong-ho would be an idol-like figure, and they must have been especially and intensely curious about the veiled Park Ji-hoon.
So they probably just saw me, wearing a mask, as a relative or a girlfriend.
Park Jeong-ho threw first, clocking 92 miles and proving he still had it.
And then, Park Ji-hoon gripping the baseball.
The moment the baseball left Park Ji-hoon's hand...
Shwaaaaak! Boom!
It came out at 100 miles.
In kilometers per hour, that's 160.5 km/h... a speed similar to Park Jeong-ho in his prime.
Everyone watching had their jaws drop...
It was the moment they witnessed a new supernova in the baseball world.
And Ji-hoon, who had no intention of playing baseball, hadn't even thrown with all his strength.
Once the short filming session ended, we headed back toward Park Ji-hoon's house.
We arrived at Park Ji-hoon's house, and while I was playing games with Park Ji-hoon, Ji-hoon's mother, who'd been watching from behind, smiled contentedly.
And the moment the door closed, I kicked off my chair and tried to plant a flying knee kick right into Park Ji-hoon.
"You son of a bitch, you got a death wish?"
"You're the one who died, so why the fuck are you taking it out on me?!"
Park Ji-hoon caught my knee kick, with all my weight behind it, mid-air with one hand.
This bastard was getting stronger at an absurd rate. Something about it wasn't normal.
"Hey, try me at arm wrestling."
"Ehh? You think you can handle it?"
We got down on the spot, right there.
Ji-hoon suddenly rolled up his sleeve, and his arm had gotten thicker than the circumference of my head. Even just his deltoid was wider than the surface area of my face.
Seeing this bastard offer his hand with no handicap, I almost snapped for a second.
"You know my dad even sticks out his pinky when he takes me on, you shithead?"
Of course, I'd never arm-wrestled my dad.
Dad's muscles were mostly for show; I felt like I could beat him even if we just clasped hands normally.
"Wow, you've really turned into a total broad..."
Tzk.
My left-hand taser had a 100% hit rate, so after putting Ji-hoon briefly to sleep right in his arm-wrestling stance, I got into position too.
I slapped Park Ji-hoon across the cheek, and Park Ji-hoon woke up.
"Is it nighttime...? You bitch! I told you not to do that! It makes you stupid!!!"
"Yeah, that was already the level of your birdbrain anyway."
"You're dead... bring it."
Park Ji-hoon stuck out his pinky. I grabbed Park Ji-hoon's pinky and brazenly brought it to my wrist.
Skin tones in stark contrast.
Compared to Park Ji-hoon, my skin is just white.
"Ehh?"
Park Ji-hoon made a face full of dissatisfaction at the sight of me bringing his hand to my wrist.
It really drove home that our muscle fibers were different from ordinary people's...
Sure, my arms are definitely thicker than the average girl's, though not enough to show, but my strength is higher than most men.
It was the same for Kim Tae-oh and Park Ji-hoon.
Compared to Park Ji-hoon's arms and hands, I had thin arms and small hands that looked like they might have peach fuzz, but we went ahead and carried out the match.
Clasp.
"".....""
My arm, not even lasting one second before going over...
And on top of that, I couldn't withstand the force, so my whole body toppled sideways, too.
How should I put it—living as a woman, I'd thought my pride about strength had disappeared by now, but.
Not even lasting one second, really... made me feel pathetic.
"Pfft..."
"You're laughing...?"
".....Sorry."
I flopped onto my back and looked at the ceiling.
Ji-hoon was still weaker than I had been in my old body, but I still found myself laughing.
If I compare my current body to Cho-a...
Honestly, I'm not sure.
Speed about the same, maybe a little lacking in strength...?
But when the adrenaline from excitement starts flowing in this body's head,
I gain an unbelievable speed of thought, reaction speed, and dynamic visual acuity that I can feel myself.
Everything seems infinitely slow, and every single movement of the opponent's muscles is imprinted into my mind.
Honestly, once I enter that state, it does start to get fun...
Lying there staring at the ceiling, Park Ji-hoon turned and lay down too.
"Do I really have to play baseball?"
"Because of college?"
"Yeah."
"I'll talk to Lee Jin-seok."
"...Wow, you really say the most outrageous shit about using backdoor money in the Republic of Korea with absolutely zero shame."
"If you don't like it, quit. Oh, right, but you have to go to the military anyway."
"....."
Park Ji-hoon suddenly went dead quiet, as if I'd poked a sore spot.
"Where you gonna go?"
"...Once a Marine, always a Marine..."
"Dumbass..."
Ji-hoon really did spout dumbass nonsense with impressive consistency.
It seemed like it was about time to eat, so I was about to go help with preparations when a ringtone went off.
"Who is it? Honey! Go see!"
"Alright."
Park Jeong-ho, reacting instantly to Yoo Mi-seon's words, checked the intercom.
"Huh?!"
"What is it?"
"It's Kang In-seong."
"What?!"
Why the hell was Kang In-seong suddenly showing up here?
I heard Yoo Mi-seon's voice saying to absolutely refuse since I was here.
I quickly thought through any connection points between Kang In-seong and Park Jeong-ho, but couldn't come up with any result.
In the end, Park Jeong-ho opened the door to find a flustered Kang In-seong.
"Hello!"
"Uh...uh!? What's all this, and..."
Staff bustled around behind him, filming Park Jeong-ho, and behind Kang In-seong, Aunt Ji-su was there too.
With everyone's eyes fixed on Park Jeong-ho, it seemed like no one had spotted me, but since Aunt Ji-su was there, I knew what kind of shoot this was.
The Please Give Me Food program...
Most likely, they were walking along the streets of Cheongdam-dong and rang a random doorbell, and that happened to be Park Jeong-ho's house...
I approached Park Jeong-ho, who was doing an interview in a room.
With the door closed, they couldn't see me.
I spoke loudly enough for Park Jeong-ho to hear.
"Let's eat together~"
"Is... that alright with you?"
"Yes."
For the sake of the production, I quickly headed toward the kitchen where Yoo Mi-seon was.