27 – Rest (1)
Bubble, bubble.
This is the communal kitchen inside the passenger ship. It’s equipped with a large stove and various cooking utensils, and it’s a space where passengers can freely use.
“….”
Normally, at this early hour when no one was around, there was a female student in the kitchen, firmly grasping a frying pan.
She was Choi Soeun, a member of the duty squad.
Sizzle.
The menu was beef and mushroom stir-fry. It was Soeun’s signature dish, featuring thickly sliced sirloin, chewy shiitake mushrooms, and crisp choy sum.
Sizzle—!
Once the ingredients were cooked through, she poured the prepared seasoning around the edge of the pan. The seasoning bubbled on the oil and quickly seeped into the meat and vegetables.
“Mmm… smells delicious.”
Amidst her busy handling of the frying pan, another female student entered the communal kitchen.
“Oh, senior! What are you up to this early morning?”
She was Soeun’s junior. The junior dashed excitedly towards Soeun, who was in front of the stove.
“Wow! What’s all this?”
The junior widened her eyes at the elaborately prepared dishes on the table.
Besides the beef and mushroom stir-fry being made, various dishes gleamed on the shelves.
Stir-fried potatoes, rolled omelet, chilled spinach, seasoned soybean sprouts, refreshing bean sprout soup…
“Oh my! Even making the supposedly troublesome Japchae! Whose birthday is it today?”
The junior’s mouth watered as she gazed at the beautifully arranged dishes.
Soeun casually shook the pan.
“Just thought, sometimes it’s nice to cook and enjoy it yourself.”
“Even when there’s a restaurant right there?”
“The food there tends to be too heavily seasoned.”
Click.
As the cooking finished, Soeun turned off the gas valve. She then transferred the food onto prepared plates.
“Hmm…?”
Meanwhile, on the opposite shelf without any dishes, there was one stylish bag. A lunchbox bag.
“Senior, what’s this lunchbox bag?”
“…”
“Seniorrr?”
The junior clung to Soeun, holding the lunchbox bag. Soeun pretended not to hear and remained expressionless.
“Doing cooking this early… and even preparing a lunchbox… Of course, it can’t be senior’s lunchbox…”
“… “
“Even if we don’t know who it’s for, the person receiving this lunchbox must be truly happy, right?”
“…”
“Ah, envy strikes! Being able to eat a lunchbox filled with your senior’s care. I wonder who the lucky one is?”
“…”
“Right! Today marks the last day of training! Participants will be returning soon!”
Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it. Ignore it.
Can’t let those words sway you. Can’t show any gaps. Choi Soeun poured all her strength into hiding her expression, tightening the muscles in her face.
“Senior, are you sweating now?”
“It’s because of the heat.”
“Reallyyyyy?”
The junior raised the corners of their mouth mischievously. Choi Soeun twitched her eyebrows, losing her composed face.
“Oh, senior looks flustered.”
“Youuu….”
Of all the many people around, getting caught by the junior in this situation. Can’t catch a break. Just imagining being teased by them gives me a headache already.
“Instead, if you share some of that food, I’ll keep quiet.”
“Really…?”
“Of course! It’s my first time having your food! Can’t let this chance slip by!”
Choi Soeun quickly prepared a new plate and scooped some food onto it. There’s plenty of food anyway. Feeding one more person wouldn’t be an issue.
“By the way, senior, you can cook?”
“A little.”
“Wow, amazing! Whoever marries you in the future will be so lucky! They’ll get to eat this kind of meal every day!”
“You’re really…”
At that moment, an announcement echoed through the passenger ship.
“Attention. This is a message from the control room. We request all instructors and technical personnel in their cabins to gather at the bridge immediately.”
It’s Kim Donghak, the instructor for technical personnel. His voice, heard countless times during their stay on the ship, never ceased day or night.
“Looks like the training might be over, judging by how they’re calling people.”
“…!”
I thought they’d return around lunchtime…
They hadn’t even packed all the food into the lunchbox yet.
Choi Soeun quickly opened the lunchbox bag, took out the soup pot, and offered it to the junior.
“Can you help me?”
“Yes…? Me too…?”
***
Luckily, it wasn’t too late. The trainees were starting to come up onto the deck. Choi So-min lifted her heels with a packed lunch bag.
“I can’t see…”
It was difficult to confirm their faces because the reporters were in front. All she could do was peek through the gaps between people.
-Ugh….
The survivors’ facial expressions were not good. Their cheeks were hollowed out and their eyes were somewhat lifeless, like fish that had lost their flavor.
Seeing their powerless appearance made her heart race for no reason, and her lips started to become dry.
“….”
Huh?
No, wait a minute.
Am I worrying for no reason?
Why am I having this kind of worry?
They’re just ordinary people. It’s not like we have any special relationship.
Actually, even the lunch box she was holding didn’t have much meaning.
Just because she had been struggling on the island for a few days.
During that time, she couldn’t even take care of her meals, so it was just a kind gesture to make a meal for her.
There really wasn’t any special meaning to it.
Really.
“Oh, aren’t you Choi So-min?”
While she was lost in her thoughts, a man approached. It was Principal Lee Min-ho, a middle-aged man dressed in a tidy suit.
“Are you here for voluntary support?”
From Noble mtl dot com
Min-ho approached Choi So-min with a friendly face.
He definitely appeared to be someone without any problems. It was normal to feel a liking towards him with his well-maintained face that didn’t look his age and his body without any military service scars.
However, Choi So-min couldn’t help feeling uncomfortable around Min-ho. She didn’t really know why. She just felt that he was awkward as a person.
She had always thought that way.
“hahahaha. Usually, first-year students come for voluntary support. I never dreamed that second-year student Choi So-min would come here.”
“….”
“I guess I can’t trick you with appearances. Even senior Choi Chang-hwan did quite a lot of volunteering during his time at school.”
By the way, Im Minho and Choi Soeun’s father are from the same Han Yul Army Academy and the same Administrative Corps, and they have a senior-junior relationship.
So, while Choi Soeun was growing up under her father, she had seen Minho’s face a few times.
At big events or gatherings.
“How have you been, senior?”
“My father…is very busy….”
“Oh, I see. That’s inevitable when you have such a position.”
Understanding the weight of being a minister, Minho nodded several times.
“Principal, would you mind coming for a moment?”
Afterward, when it was time to leave, Minho said his final greetings.
“Take care! If you happen to meet the senior later, please tell him that Minho will buy him a drink sometime.”
“Yes…I understand….”
“Well then, take care.”
Minho left Soeun’s side without losing his smile until the end. Afterward, he went to where the journalists were gathered.
“….”
Even though they only exchanged light conversation, it felt uncomfortable in some way.
It felt like there was something stuck between the teeth, like food particles.
Honestly, he didn’t want to meet this person at all.
“Arnolda!”
Snap!
The journalists started taking pictures with their cameras and flashing. He realized it was for capturing the top student of the year.
Wherever Arnada went, journalists always followed him. Even during this training. It felt a little excessive.
“You should make a better impression in front of the camera. Shake hands once. Strike a pose a few times. Maybe even push through a pop-out bread.”
Chuckling…
“Why are you so nervous? If you have something to say, say it clearly. You can’t say it because you’re in front of a camera?”
“Later… Look at me for a moment….”
Next to Arnada, a familiar face also appeared.
The person who had been waiting for Choi Soeun all along, Shin Yoonsung.
He was also the owner of the lunchbox he was currently holding.
“Well, there probably won’t be a chance later. Our connection was only until the training, right?”
“No… It’s not over yet… There is still one last thing, biting your neck…”
─Oh no. They’re still seeking me out even after training. Maybe they like me too much. This is getting awkward.
─Really… be prepared….
What could it be?
What happened during training?
There’s a sense that something between them has become closer than before. Even if outwardly they might growl as usual, the atmosphere itself has softened significantly.
The wall that was blocking them has crumbled. The awkward currents between them were no longer detectable.
Neither Arna nor Shin Yoon-seong actively pushed away the idea of getting closer.
“…”
Choi So-eun couldn’t dare to intervene in that space. Just observing from afar was all she could do.
Above all, there was a massive wall in front of Choi So-eun. That wall was thick and solid, blocking the space between Choi So-eun and Shin Yoon-seong.
And it was Choi So-eun herself who had built that wall. She had been pushing Shin Yoon-seong away all this time. She had been rejecting him.
“What am I even doing now…?”
Choi So-eun blankly stared at the lunch bag.
What kind of face did she have while preparing this lunch? She probably had no right to do this from the beginning. If that was the case, she shouldn’t have pushed him away from the start.
Now she realized she had made an unwarranted move.
Truly, she was making a spectacle of herself.
“Let’s go back…”
Choi So-eun turned her back and went back into the passenger ship.
Clutching the lunch bag.
***
The fifth day of training was nothing special. As soon as morning broke, they were informed of the training’s end and returned to the passenger ship.
Roughly 30 survivors were aboard the passenger ship. Among the 500 participants, only this many had survived.
The fact that I’m included in this list… I still can’t believe it. Actually, it was probably possible because of Arna.
On the fourth day of training, precisely yesterday.
When I was being tormented by Geumgye-jun, it was Arna who rescued me from the brink of hell.
Keeping our promise to survive together, Arna wielded her sword. If it were me, I probably would’ve pretended not to notice and escaped. And that’s what I did in reality.
Indeed, there were all sorts of reasons why she’s hailed as a hero by the public. Arna’s sense of justice alone made even me, a villain, surprised.
Truly our protagonist. I’ll need to work even harder now, for Arna’s growth.
I should torment her more, make her suffer more.
“…”
Before that.
Let’s take it easy today.
After spending so much time on the island, my whole body feels stiff. My eyes started closing on their own. I want to lie down in bed quickly.
“Hmm…?”
As I headed towards the room, I found a bag in front of the door.
It was right in front of my room. The bag was sitting there all alone. It looked like a lunchbox bag or something.
Did I order room service?
“Sniff, sniff.”
The smell was incredibly good, as if it had just been made. The rich smell of oil. Definitely meat.
In addition to whether the bag was usually kept clean, there was no trace of the unpleasant smell of lunchbox, which is unique to lunchbox bags. Instead, a pleasant scent emanated from the bag.
It was the sweet scent of blueberries.