Chapter 8
Fortunately, thanks to a mysterious burst of power brought on by my sense of danger, I managed to catch Hyunwoo before he could run away.
“Huff… huff…. Hey! What did you take a picture of…?!”
“No…. I didn't mean to…. More importantly, that outfit….”
“Don't say anything…! It's not like I wanted to wear it.”
I tried to clear things up in advance and prevent any unnecessary misunderstanding, but-
Hyunwoo didn't even listen to me. Instead, he suddenly looked at me with a benevolent gaze and said,
“...Don't worry. I can still be your friend no matter what kind of tastes you have.”
“Ngh…! It's not like that! You saw Haru earlier too!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
I spent the next few minutes vehemently explaining myself, but Hyunwoo seemed to have decided that I really did want to wear clothes like this.
Damn it….
“Haaah… Fine. Give me your phone so I can delete the picture.”
There was nothing I could do about Hyunwoo having already caught me, but at least I could delete the picture and get rid of the evidence.
With that in mind, I tried to snatch his phone, but-
Hyunwoo suddenly raised his phone high above his head.
“...What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
I tried jumping to snatch the phone away.
Hyunwoo kept moving his arm to match me.
...This guy?
“No, I just feel like it would be a waste to delete such a cute picture.”
“C-Cute…?! Gaaah! If I tell you to delete it, then delete it!”
I tried to take Hyunwoo's phone with even more frantic movements than before, but he raised it even higher, and I failed in the end.
...If only I were taller! Ngh!
“...Don't worry. I'll delete it if you grant me one wish.”
“...A wish?”
======
After that, we left the mall and walked to a nearby restaurant specializing in budae-jjigae.
It was a budae-jjigae place known throughout the area for its generous toppings, rich seasoning, and delicious stew.
Naturally, I ditched the one-piece dress and went in wearing an ordinary T-shirt and pants.
“Your one wish is for me to buy you a meal…. You have plenty of money, don't you?”
We came here partly because it was getting close to dinnertime, but also because Hyunwoo had asked me to buy him a meal in exchange for the picture.
“Even when you have plenty of money, food someone else buys always tastes better.”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Food someone else bought always tasted better, and even someone else's ramen always looked more delicious.
Anyway-
“Why are you here, Yoo Haru?”
“Hm? Why?”
Haru was sitting beside me as if it were the most natural thing in the world, getting ready to eat.
“I only came because I heard Seolhwa was treating us today!”
“You really are…. Never mind.”
There were plenty of things I wanted to ask Haru about, but regardless of everything, it was true that Haru had helped me a lot today.
So I could at least buy Haru one meal.
“All right, here's your budae-jjigae. It's hot, so please be careful.”
After we waited a little while, an employee brought out the budae-jjigae and set it on the table.
Then, when they turned on the burner, the budae-jjigae gradually began to boil, turning an increasingly appetizing color.
“It should be done boiling soon, so let's eat.”
At those words, the ladle and chopsticks began moving busily, and the great budae-jjigae raid began.
Hyunwoo went after the broth first with a ladle, apparently planning to mix it with his rice and eat it.
Haru used chopsticks to pick out the ham and sausages, focusing on the meat.
And between those two, I-
“...I can't eat.”
Because of the heat rising from the budae-jjigae, I couldn't eat even a single spoonful.
On top of that, the steam from the boiling stew was beginning to make me feel a little worse.
I felt like I could force it into my mouth if I really tried, but for some reason, I felt as though my whole body would melt the moment I ate it, so I gave up.
To think I couldn't eat something this delicious….
Tears welled up in my eyes from the sheer unfairness of it.
“Seolhwa, what's wrong?”
“You were like that this morning, too…. You've really become sensitive to heat.”
Seeing me sitting there without eating, the two of them stopped eating as well and began to worry about me.
“Sensitive to heat? I'm sorry…. I shouldn't have suggested we come here for budae-jjigae.”
After hearing about what being a Snow Woman had done to my constitution, Hyunwoo apologized with an extremely guilty expression.
“No…. I didn't know I'd react like this either, so it's okay….”
It was only my second day as a Snow Woman.
I was still completely clueless about my own body, so I had no right to blame someone else for not knowing either.
That aside, watching someone else eat while I sat there on an empty stomach was doing serious damage to me mentally.
I'm hungryyy…. I should've ordered something too….
“Hmm…. I had an idea.”
Just then, Haru, who had been quietly thinking beside me, spoke up.
“Couldn't we cool it down with the same breath that froze the cake yesterday and then eat it?”
“Freeze it?”
Haru came up with an ingenious suggestion.
The idea was to use the icy wind that had unconsciously escaped me yesterday to freeze the budae-jjigae so I could eat it.
That would definitely let me eat it, but….
“...Do you really want to eat budae-jjigae with chunks of ice floating in it?”
“...No. Sorry.”
In the end, the two of them finished the budae-jjigae, while I could only drink Coke and watch them.
...I'm hungry.
======
Once the two of them had finished the budae-jjigae and I had finished my cold Coke, I headed to the register to pay, but-
“Um…. It says you've exceeded your limit?”
“...What?”
My card limit stood in the way, and I couldn't complete the payment.
W-Wait…. That's strange. There should definitely still be money on my debit card….
Sensing something was wrong, I immediately opened my banking app and checked my transaction history.
I found that only 6,000 won remained in my account.
...Why?
“...Even if I did buy some clothes and things, I should still have had a little money left…. Ah.”
That's when I remembered.
I remembered how I'd gone crazy over a limited-time gacha and blown a bunch of money a few days ago.
“I must have been insane…. How much did I spend back then….”
“Excuse me, do you have another card…?”
“Ah…. J-Just a moment….”
I said that to buy myself a little time, then racked my brain as hard as I could, trying to think of a way out of this situation, but-
I couldn't come up with anything at all.
This is bad…. If I tell them I don't have any money now….
They'll definitely slam me to the floor…! Then they'll shove me into a freezer and make me work as a refrigerator…!
Oh, then I'd be nice and cool, so maybe that would be a good thing?
No, no, no, that's not the point….
For a moment, I must have lost my mind and started spouting nonsense. Get a grip….
Right now, I had to think about how to resolve this situation-
“Please use this to pay.”
“Huh…?”
Just then, someone held out a card beside me and paid in my place.
“You should've told me you had no money beforehand. Then you wouldn't have asked me to buy you dinner.”
It was Lee Hyunwoo.
“Ah…. Th-Thanks….”
“It's fine. You couldn't eat in the first place, so it was only right that we paid.”
Saying that, Hyunwoo coolly paid the bill.
Thank goodness I'm friends with someone like him….
“Come to think of it, I can't delete the picture now. I paid for the meal.”
Correction.
I'm terribly unlucky that this guy is my friend.
“Th-Then I'll buy you something next time…!”
“No, that wouldn't be right when you don't even have money. Instead….”
Hyunwoo closed both eyes and thought deeply.
What on earth was he planning to make me do…?
“...Can I touch your cheek?”
...What?
“...Pervert?”
“It's not like that!”
When I gave him a look of contempt, Hyunwoo panicked and began making excuses.
“Haru touched your cheek yesterday, remember?”
“She did.”
That was when Haru rubbed my cheek for a while after beating me at Mario Kart.
It had only been a day. How could I forget?
“After that, when Haru went home, I got a thirty-minute speech about your cheek.”
“Uegh….”
No, my cheek was definitely soft, but was it really that addictive…?
Curious, I touched my own cheek.
A soft, squishy cheek, like a ball of glutinous rice cake.
...Were they addictive enough to justify that?
“...So I simply became curious about what your cheek felt like. It was pure curiosity, that's all.”
“...You sound like a pure pervert.”
“You held it out for Haru, so why are you treating me differently?”
“No…. It's just that men and women are somehow different….”
“Then I guess it can't be helped. I'll just keep the picture-”
“Aaaah! Fine! I get it! You can touch it, okay?!”
To think he was blackmailing me with the picture just to get at my cheek….
This was the first time I'd ever seen someone this evil. How curious could he possibly be about my cheek to go this far…?
“...Here.”
Since the picture was being held hostage, I had no choice but to thrust my cheek toward Hyunwoo.
...This is kind of embarrassing.
“All right.”
When I offered my cheek, Hyunwoo immediately began gently touching it, his expression turning to one of amazement.
Unlike Haru's haphazard handling, Hyunwoo's touch was delicate.
Ngh…. This feels like it could become addictive….
“It's incredibly soft, but there's also this refreshing coolness…. Just like Haru said….”
“D-Don't narrate your impressions!”
Thanks to Hyunwoo saying something weird, my face flushed and heat rose to my head.
“Hieet!”
And when Hyunwoo's hand pressed in a little deeper, a strange sound escaped my mouth before I could stop it.
H-He didn't hear that, did he…?
“...What are you two doing in a public place?”
“Ah.”
I suddenly came to my senses and looked around, only to find everyone nearby staring at us strangely.
After that, we covered our faces and fled the mall at full speed.