NOVEL NEXT 38
“Ugh. My head is killing me~”
Sim Chae-yoon clutched her throbbing head as she rose from her seat.
Perhaps it was due to last night’s excessive drinking. The room seemed to spin before her eyes. Chae-yoon squeezed her eyes shut and waved her hands about.
“Hey. Wake up.”
“Urgh……”
Her friend, still lying beside her, groaned softly and stirred. Seeing this, Chae-yoon staggered to her feet.
“Ow. I’m so thirsty. Hey, how late did we drink last night? My memory’s blank, I can’t remember a thing.”
“You really don’t remember? We crawled on all fours to get to my place.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. It’s all recorded on my phone.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake.”
Chae-yoon giggled as she opened her friend’s fridge with practiced ease and took out some water.
“I’m drinking straight from the bottle.”
“Sure.”
Gulp, gulp. As she drank, the burning thirst seemed to subside a bit. Chae-yoon felt her mind starting to clear.
“What time is it? Shoot. Even if we leave now, we’ll be late for morning class.”
“That’s why I told you to skip morning lectures. I knew you wouldn’t make it.”
“If you hadn’t called me out yesterday, I would’ve gone to class today, you know?”
Chae-yoon let out a deep sigh. She should’ve just dropped the class. At this rate, she might end up taking summer courses.
As she pondered her attendance record and roughly calculated her grade, her friend stirred first. She changed clothes hurriedly and slipped on her slippers.
“What are you doing?”
“Gotta get some hangover food.”
“Let’s just make some ramyeon. I don’t feel like going out.”
“Ah, there’s this great soup rice place nearby. If we go now, there won’t be any people. Once it hits 10, the place gets packed.”
Chae-yoon frowned at her friend’s words.
“Soup rice again? Seriously, stop eating so much soup rice. Don’t you ever get sick of it?”
“It’s crazy good value and super filling~”
“Ramyeon is the best hangover cure.”
Though Chae-yoon grumbled, she followed her friend, hastily throwing on a cap and coat.
The places her friend claimed were ‘delicious’ had never let her down before.
Trying to quell her churning stomach, she managed to take a few steps, and soon their destination came into view.
“Here it is.”
That was the name of the soup rice place her friend had brought her to.
9:30 AM. Despite the somewhat awkward hour, the restaurant was quite busy.
“Huh? Isn’t this near where we drank yesterday?”
“Yep. It’s right in front.”
The sign for
“The sign designs are similar. Is it the same owner?”
“I don’t know.”
Swoosh.
As they opened the door and entered, a man wearing a name tag that read ‘Owner/Kim Jong-chun’ greeted them with a smile.
“Welcome~ Table for two?”
“Yes, two please.”
“Oh my, our regular customer is here.”
Kim Jong-chun even acknowledged Chae-yoon’s friend. Chae-yoon stared at her friend with wide eyes.
“Two soup rice, please.”
“Certainly. I’ve got your order. Please wait a moment!”
As soon as Kim Jong-chun turned away, Chae-yoon whispered to her friend.
“What’s going on? Are you close with the owner here?”
“He remembered me after I came three or four times. He’s got a nice personality.”
Her friend replied nonchalantly. Chae-yoon glanced curiously at Kim Jong-chun’s back as he bustled about.
Before long, two steaming bowls of soup rice appeared before them.
After one spoonful,
“Mmm~”
“It’s good, right? See? Isn’t it delicious?”
“Yeah. It’s completely clearing up my hangover.”
Chae-yoon kept her spoon moving. As she sipped the broth repeatedly, she could feel her unsettled stomach calming down.
Soup really is the best for hangovers. Chae-yoon thought she should come back here again next time.
In no time, she had emptied her bowl, and it felt just right.
“Ah, that was good.”
“Well, this is unusual. You’re stopping after just one bowl?”
“My head still hurts, so I don’t have much appetite.”
“Huh, really.”
Her friend snorted in disbelief. But Chae-yoon was confident. She really didn’t have much appetite, that’s why she only ate one bowl.
“It’s amazing no matter how many times I see it. I don’t know where all that food goes.”
“I exercise, you know?”
“It’s not about exercise! Sometimes when I watch you eat, it’s seriously grotesque. It’s like you eat as much as your entire body.”
“Maybe it is similar.”
Her friend shot her a horrified look. Chae-yoon just shrugged.
“Let’s get going. We need to make it to afternoon class.”
“Can I freshen up a bit at your place before we go?”
“Just wear your cap. Your hair’s long enough to cover everything.”
“Ah~ Come on~”
As the two approached the counter, exchanging trivial conversation, Kim Jong-chun greeted them with a smile.
“Did you enjoy your meal?”
“Yes, it was delicious. We really enjoyed it.”
“Is that so? Then please take this~”
What Kim Jong-chun handed over was a small coupon. It had “Snow Flower Bingsu Tasting Ticket” written in large letters.
“What’s this? Snow Flower Bingsu?”
“You see that cafe right in front of our restaurant?”
Looking where Kim Jong-chun pointed, sure enough, there was a small cafe. But instead of a sign, it read ‘Hapjae Soup Rice Waiting Area’.
‘Wow, business must be really good.’
Chae-yoon was impressed to see they had a separate waiting area.
“Since customers have to wait for a long time, we felt bad and set up a waiting area over there. We offer some light snacks there too. Right now, we’re giving out these tasting tickets to people who’ve dined here as a trial.”
Bingsu?
Chae-yoon thought it was a bit random. Do restaurants usually go this far?
“Oh, really? We can just go and eat it?”
“It’s for all our restaurant customers.”
“Wow~”
Her friend seemed already smitten with the idea of ‘free food’. Chae-yoon elbowed her in the side, and her friend responded with a ‘What?’
“Didn’t you say we’re going to class?”
“Does class feed you bingsu?”
“Good grief.”
“Thank you, owner! We’ll enjoy it~”
In the end, Chae-yoon found herself being dragged across the street to the cafe by her friend.
“I’m not really into bingsu.”
“Why? It’s just delicious.”
“It makes my teeth sensitive.”
“Tch. How old are you to have sensitive teeth already?”
What can I do about sensitive teeth? Chae-yoon added, “It gives me a brain freeze if I eat it too fast.”
“Who cares. It’s free.”
“Well, that’s true, but….”
Chae-yoon smacked her lips.
“Anyway, I probably won’t eat much, so you can have most of….”
“Here’s your Injeolmi Snow Flower Bingsu~”
Their conversation was momentarily interrupted as the employee set down the bingsu.
“Huh?”
This was because the bingsu was in a form they had never seen before. Seeing the mound of soybean powder, they first wondered if something was wrong.
“Is this really bingsu?”
“Yes, this is our Injeolmi Snow Flower Bingsu that we’re currently offering for tasting~ As you can see, it’s made with thinly shaved milk ice topped with soybean powder. When you eat it, first drizzle some condensed milk over it and add more to taste as you go.”
The employee wearing a name tag that read ‘Staff/Song Woo-yeon’ explained smoothly and naturally.
“I left out the red beans since you said you don’t really like them, but if you want, I can add some….”
“?”
Song Woo-yeon paused momentarily when her eyes met Chae-yoon’s. She looked slightly surprised for a moment before quickly composing her expression.
‘What’s that about?’
Why did she look at me like she knows me? Chae-yoon found it strange but quickly dismissed it.
‘I must resemble someone she knows.’
“…if you’d like, so please let me know anytime.”
With that, Song Woo-yeon bowed slightly and stepped back.
“Wow, it looks so unique. Right?”
Her friend immediately pulled out her phone.
“Yeah. It’s really unusual.”
“Let’s take a picture and post it on Facebook~”
Click, click. After the camera shutter sound rang out a few times, her friend picked up her spoon first.
“What are you doing? Let’s eat.”
“Okay.”
Until that moment, Chae-yoon hadn’t been particularly excited. Her impression had been limited to “It looks unusual, that’s all.”
But as soon as she took one bite, her opinion changed completely.
It was delicious.
“Wow!”
Her friend exclaimed in admiration beside her.
“It melts in your mouth~ Amazing. This is so good? This place is a bingsu gem.”
Chae-yoon couldn’t respond to her friend’s words. She simply couldn’t stop her spoon.
Despite having just said “I’m not really into bingsu.”
‘It’s delicious. So delicious!’
When she finally came to her senses, she had already cleaned out the entire bowl.
“Hey…. Jeez! Anyone watching would think you hadn’t eaten for three days! Why did you eat so fast? I felt like you’d eat my portion too if I left it, so I ended up rushing as well!”
I wanted to savor it more! As her friend complained, Chae-yoon seemed to regain her senses.
“Wow. It was so delicious that I just lost my mind and devoured it. I must be crazy.”
The bingsu of a lifetime!
Chae-yoon looked down at the empty bowl with regret. Ah, I want to eat more.
“Would it be too much to go back to the soup rice place, eat six bowls, and ask for six tasting tickets?”
“They’d probably blacklist us both and ban us from entering.”
“Ugh.”
Just as Chae-yoon was licking her lips,
“Did you enjoy the Snow Flower Bingsu?”
Song Woo-yeon approached with a smile and asked. Right. This was an option! Chae-yoon nodded vigorously.
“Yes! It was so delicious~ Do you sell the bingsu separately by any chance? It was really so good that I just want to eat more bingsu!”
“For now, it’s still a trial menu item, so we can’t sell it separately.”
“Oh……”
I guess it’s not possible after all. As Chae-yoon’s face fell, Song Woo-yeon brought up something else.
“Actually… I noticed how much you seemed to enjoy it earlier, so I wanted to ask.”
A glint appeared in Song Woo-yeon’s eyes.
“Do you happen to be involved in any kind of broadcasting?”