Translator: MarcTempest
Editor: NicoleTempest
Chapter 250
“Ah…”
His voice was so loud that he felt embarrassed and his face turned red in an instant.
“Did you skip lunch?”
I didn’t want to talk about Kang Yu-geon. We had a lot of interactions, but it was different to think of him as a fan, a rival, a colleague, and an employee I had to take care of.
“Uh, yes. The ti was a bit awkward earlier.”
There was not much ti left until dinner. I glanced around and saw a few more guys who seed to be friends with the one who talked to , occupying the bunk beds and gathering together.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you, you’re not a bully, why are you bothering soone who’s just sitting there?”
The student who ca to retorted with an indifferent tone that they threw among themselves.
“Oh, I’m not bothering him. I’m just happy to see him.”
To feed this many boys… I had to prepare twice as much as the Climax kids ate.
Except for Yi-jun, they were mostly light eaters or ate moderately for weight managent, so I couldn’t compare their food intake with ordinary teenagers.
“Is there still so ti left before dinner?”
“Uh, I guess so?”
He looked at with a puzzled expression as if to ask why I was asking that. I got up from my seat with my laptop bag on my shoulder.
“I’ll go ask if I can use the kitchen for a while.”
It wasn’t hard or ti-consuming to make sothing if I had the ingredients.
I knocked on the kitchen door and a volunteer who was taking a break greeted .
“It’s not dinner ti yet. Do you want to co back later?”
I might look like a nuisance. I hesitated for a mont and looked down at the kind-faced volunteer and asked carefully.
“Can I make sothing for myself? I’m confident in cooking because I’ve been working part-ti at a restaurant for a long ti.”
Then the volunteer’s eyes widened as if he heard sothing unexpected and then narrowed again.
“Food? You’re going to make it yourself?”
“Uh, yes. If it’s not possible…”
I trailed off and the volunteer laughed heartily and patted my back.
“You’re a funny kid. It’s the first ti I’ve seen a male student ask to make sothing for himself while I’ve been volunteering here, so I was a bit surprised. Sure, what do you want to make?”
“…!”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a negative reaction. I entered the kitchen through the entrance that the volunteer opened and washed my hands first.
“I’m going to make tteokbokki and kimchi fried rice first, do you have any frozen pork cutlets or cold noodles?”
As I quickly found the cooking utensils of the right size and placed them where I needed them, the volunteer’s expression changed to astonishnt again.
“You’re going to do all that by yourself?”
Well… 20 minutes might be difficult. But if I organized my movents well, it would be possible in 30 minutes.
“Yes. I’m not going to eat it alone, I’m going to share it with the kids in the dormitory.”
Then the volunteer asked with a worried expression.
“The ingredients are all there, so you can use them. But can you do it by yourself?”
It was a question that touched the pride of my 20 years of food service experience. Of course, the volunteer didn’t an to ask that.
“Yes. Just sit down and rest. I’ll do everything.”
I smiled broadly and answered.
“Wow! Did you really make all this yourself?”
Exactly 20 minutes later. I hadn’t had to prepare food for almost 10 people in such a hurry at the restaurant lately, so my hands might have been a bit slow, but I was so motivated by Pilseung’s order earlier that I finished much faster than I expected.
“Yes, it doesn’t take much ti if you have the ingredients.”
It was practically the sa environnt as the restaurant, so the kitchen was optimized for fast cooking. I also shared so with the volunteer and spread it out like a banquet on one side of the cafeteria, and the other students also glanced at this side.
‘I made a lot, so maybe they can co and eat more?’
I cautiously asked the group of students who had talked to .
“I think I made too much, can I share it with the others?”
The food that was served at the right ti like a group al was delicious, but it seed like I had never prepared a snack bar set like this that made my legs bend.
“Well, we’re just getting it for free…”
“It doesn’t matter, right?”
“If you give it to us, we’ll just bow our heads and thank you and eat it.”
They were a bit rough in their speech and behavior, but they weren’t that threatening. Soon, the other students in the cafeteria also ca and scooped up their plates and filled their stomachs.
It wouldn’t have been bad to order delivery, but it took ti to cook there and then deliver it, so I chose to make it myself.
‘They’re eating well.’
It seed like a good decision as the food I prepared quickly revealed the bottom.
They didn’t seem to be very close, and the sound of chewing food in an awkward atmosphere occupied most of the audio.
Suddenly, soone spoke to .
“Excuse .”
“Oh, yes.”
What did he want to ask ? I answered nervously.
“How old are you? It’s awkward to keep using formal language since earlier.”
He looked like he had just entered high school. He probably wanted to talk casually like the other kids if we were the sa age or I was younger.
Well, it wouldn’t matter if I pretended to be an adult since he wouldn’t check my ID anyway, but I didn’t feel the need to lie, so I answered with my current age.
“Nineteen.”
“Oh, you’re older than .”
The atmosphere beca awkward, and I added casually.
“You can talk comfortably. It’s not much of a difference.”
Then he piled on as if he had been waiting for it.
“Really? Then can I talk comfortably?”
“Wow, this is so delicious. Did you make this with what’s in the kitchen?”
“Hey, move the pork feet, I’m eating.”
“What are you talking about? You ate the most. Have so conscience and stop eating.”
As they quickly switched to bickering among themselves, I realized they were just kids.
They all had so reason why they couldn’t go ho, so they were resting here for a while.
I didn’t expect to serve them a al myself, but I was glad that the facility I built was actually helping them.
Then the spark of conversation flew to again.
“By the way, you don’t have to tell if you don’t want to. Why are you here?”
I was surprised by the unexpected question and looked at his face full of curiosity. He blurted out without any malice.
“No, it’s just that you don’t look like a professional runaway. You can cook well and you don’t look like a delinquent. I wonder how you ended up here. The laptop you brought today is also very expensive.”
Then another guy hit his mouth with a chopstick.
“Hey, don’t ask that kind of thing.”
“Why, we’re all curious.”
“Still, there’s sothing called common sense.”
I laughed as I watched them argue among themselves. Well… it wasn’t entirely true, but it wasn’t 100% a lie either.
I composed a sentence in my head and opened my mouth.
“I’m not close with my family. It’s a perfect ho without , but they keep nagging , so I hate being there and it’s uncomfortable.”
That’s how I felt when I first left ho and beca independent. My stepmother who treated like a thorn in her eye, my half-sibling who always tried to beat , my father who saw as a nuisance.
They seed to live happily without , but they weren’t really doing that well.
When I, who was blad for all the discord in the family, disappeared, the quarrels between my father and stepmother increased naturally, and my stepmother’s irritation turned to my half-sibling. It was inevitable.
‘And then they clung to when I succeeded.’
I didn’t care about that family anyway. But that was because I had a lot of scars and beca numb, and ordinary people couldn’t do that.
So I made this place for the kids who couldn’t get help from their families even though they had them.
‘I didn’t expect to stay here myself.’
And I was surrounded by the kids who really needed this place, having a trivial conversation. It was a different feeling.
“I know what you an. They curse you for being annoying when you’re at ho, and then they curse you for leaving when you’re out.”
“I hate it. What do they want to do?”
They all seed to have similar stories, and they kept moving their hands to the plates. Soon, the food disappeared as if it had been washed.
“Ah, I really enjoyed it.”
“What now?”
As they moved the dishes to the rest area one by one, soone shouted after looking at his phone.
“Hey, Jaemun is busking today. Let’s go see.”
I didn’t know who Jaemun was, but it seed like he was performing.
“Oh, that’s today?”
“Yeah. Are you going or not?”
“Of course. Let’s go and troll him from the front row.”
“You’ll get beaten up again.”
They giggled as they showed each other their phone screens, and one of them asked .
“Do you want to co with us? You can get there by taking one bus from here.”
Where? I tilted my head and frowned. The tallest one among them laughed out loud.
“If you need to save your transportation card, I’ll pay for you. You gave sothing delicious.”
What are we going to see? I looked at the screen he handed , and there were kids dressed like idol trainees around the amp.
No… I… I’m not completely uninterested, but I don’t have ti for that. I had to call Yu-geon as soon as the recording was over.
He took my lack of refusal or positive reaction as a weak yes, and he grabbed my arm.
“Co on, don’t back out. Let’s go together, bro!”
I was dragged to a place near where we had hastily perford a busking stage to promote Drink , our previous activity.
‘There must be a lot of amateur shows here.’
Even though people hadn’t fully co out to the streets yet, there were quite a few groups that caught my eye, securing their spots.
They wanted to get the best places, I guess.
“Over here, this way!”
A male student who seed to know the group that brought here waved his hand and shouted at us.
“What’s this? Why are you all coming in a swarm?”
He looked embarrassed as the group teased him.
“Why, are you scared already? How are you going to dance then?”
“Hey, I’m not scared, okay?”
They were really annoying. While they bickered among themselves, the students who looked like a dance crew, wearing matching outfits, started to check their moves.
“It’s going to start soon, so sit in the front.”
“Okay.”
I also sat down in a place that was separated like a seat, and felt a twinge in my heart.
“Is the sound okay?”
“Yeah, it’s connected.”
When I did the stage myself here, I was so afraid that I would die like this that I couldn’t enjoy the stage fully.
It was the sa now, even though I ca here to watch, not to perform.
No, at least then I had so hope that I could live. Now, I just wanted to finish everything as much as I could before I disappeared.
As the bitter thoughts pierced my mind, the first song soon started to play with a thumping beat.
Reviews
All reviews (0)