On the day I was forcefully selected as the vice president.
After school, I couldn’t hide my expression that looked like I’d just bitten into a piece of dung on my way home.
Who would have thought I’d become a vice president, especially during my high school years when I gave up on studying?
I dislike positions with responsibilities.
If it wasn’t something I had to take on, I wouldn’t have done even the class president or group leader in my entire life.
Perhaps if I were in elementary school, it wouldn’t matter, but my first role as a vice president in high school would be quite the surprise.
It seems the shadow on my face was too deep after all.
Usually, Shiyeon would ask, “What happened?” in these kinds of situations.
“What’s wrong? Did something bad happen?”
Instead of casually asking if something was up, Shiyeon directly inquired if something unfortunate had occurred.
‘Was my expression that sour?’
I didn’t have a mirror at the moment to check my face, but I absentmindedly rubbed my palm over it.
If Shiyeon was asking me that, it meant my expression was anything but just annoyed.
Unconsciously, I squinted and relaxed my brow, trying to return to a somewhat comfortable expression by fiddling with my eyebrows with both index fingers.
“Did it show?”
“Yeah, a lot… What’s up?”
“Just became the vice president.”
In response to her query about whether it was obvious, I followed up with another question asking why.
Shiyeon, looking somewhat worried, asked me the question, but, though it wasn’t her fault, I couldn’t respond with more than three words.
For whatever reason, my body told me to keep my answers short when I was angry.
Thinking back to about ten minutes ago made me frown again, as I felt unjust and miserable.
That a year’s worth of shackles could be decided in just four rounds of rock-paper-scissors.
I couldn’t help but feel frustrated with the world, wanting to smash something…
“Vice president? You became the vice president?!”
“Forcefully.”
Shiyeon looked surprised at the unexpected news, her eyes widening as she looked at me.
Emphasizing that it was done against my will, I finished my words succinctly.
Yeah, you wouldn’t expect me to look like someone who could be a class president or vice president, right?
When asked how I ended up becoming vice president, I responded with the draining answer that it was the result of winning unwanted victories in rock-paper-scissors.
Just like we headed for the girls’ high school, Taehyun enrolled in a boys’ school full of boys.
After school, I hardly ever met him in the elevator.
Was it just that our schedules didn’t match after school…?
Or was he stuck in some forced night study?
Not knowing the exact truth since I hadn’t asked his aunt, I pressed the button for the 4th floor with the thought that we’d both suffer equally.
Just as the doors were about to close, someone entered the shared entrance.
I wondered if they were trying to use the elevator, so I held the door open.
“Oh, thank you!”
It turned out to be Taehyun’s aunt, who had just come in from the shared entrance.
Holding down the button to open the door, I slightly nodded my head in greeting.
“Hello.”
“Are you just now coming back? It’s been hard to see you lately.”
As she spoke, she gently patted my back with a soft touch.
She was a bit hard to see, but felt like a familiar aunt.
Noticing that her hand was full of black plastic bags, it seemed she had done some shopping at the market or a store.
“Uh-huh… That’s true, what about Taehyun?”
I just smiled awkwardly in response, asking where Taehyun was too.
His aunt tilted her head exaggeratedly and mumbled as if she wasn’t sure.
“He should be back soon.”
‘He should be back soon, huh?’
Based on a few sentences from his aunt, I could speculate on a few facts.
His return time isn’t vastly different from ours.
That means he at least isn’t doing mandatory night study.
Isn’t it true that nowadays it doesn’t have to be that enforced?
Wondering if it was a shared thought, Shiyeon gently asked his aunt.
“Is Taehyun also not doing night study?”
“Yeah, he’s not the type to sit there just because they make him.”
It seemed that parents of the current generation generally have negative thoughts about night study as a meaningless time.
Maybe it’s because they understand students’ complaints the best?
In the past, it was like the world would end if you missed it, but this generation is showing a bit more leniency than their parents.
How enviable; in my past life, the term ‘self-directed’ was a joke—students couldn’t miss it without a proper reason.
“Dinner will be made soon, would you like to eat with us? It’s been a while, it would be nice to have you.”
His aunt, thinking it’s fate that we met like this, invited us over to join for dinner.
Since she said that, it felt a bit rude to decline politely.
Coincidentally, we hadn’t signed up for dinner at school either, and soon it’d be exactly dinner time.
In fact, I had no real reason to refuse.
“That sounds great, when should we go?”
“Let’s see, the time is…”
Quickly accepting the proposal, Taehyun’s aunt checked her phone with the hand holding the plastic bag.
I checked my phone too, and it showed 5:52 PM.
The students doing night study would have finished dinner and it was time to settle down in the now empty spots and sneak in some snacks.
Time check, about 3 seconds.
“Come around 6:30! Or you can come early and wait too.”
“Okay, I’ll stop by a little later.”
“Okay, both of you be careful going in—”
Ending the warm neighborly conversation, I exited the elevator, entered the security door, and input the password.
I was excited, thinking the evening toil of cooking was reduced, and turned on the lights in my room, setting my bag down.
From my pocket, my gomtaengi made its appearance, settling quietly on the cushion.
I couldn’t take my mascots along to someone else’s dinner invitation.
Our meal was lightly resolved, but there was no leftover for my two mascots.
Maybe they understood their situation well, as the voice from gomtaengi asked me.
“What are we eating?”
“I’ll order some hamburgers, so just eat that.”
I couldn’t go to dinner empty-handed, so I grabbed a box of energy drinks from the corner of the kitchen.
While placing the box on the kitchen table, the sound of the glass bottle clinking could be heard.
“Is it Burger King? Or McDonald’s?”
The mention of hamburgers seemed to grab gomtaengi’s attention, making it start questioning about the brand.
Which franchise mattered a lot.
Burger King or McDonald’s—those are lofty dreams for a lowly guy.
To the hopeful one, I delivered the cruel and cold reality.
“It’s Noland.”
“Oh.”
In a burger market where prices can exceed ten thousand won per single burger if it’s pricey, one can still find burgers in the three-thousand won range if one opts for the cheaper options—it’s the best in terms of cost-effectiveness.
Seemingly unhappy with my choice, it let out a frustrated gasp.
It seems my goodwill, which was prepared to offer a snack, was starting to wane.
“Oh? If you don’t want it, just say no.”
“No, no! We’ll eat whatever you’re giving us! Please bless us with flour and meat!”
As I pressed the side button on my smartphone to turn off the bright screen, gomtaengi bowed down like a performing acrobat, quickly gathering a moment’s mistake.
It released some rapid sentences, almost painfully submissive in tone.
Hearing that, I pressed the side button on my smartphone again to turn the screen back on.
It should have been like this from the start.
“I’ll just order about five singles, the fries are in the freezer, so just heat those in the air fryer.”
“Yes!”
Having ordered proficiently in no time with my skilled fingers, I pointed to the freezer and air fryer, giving instructions.
Given their years spent at home, they had perfectly learned how to live without human assistance.
In an instant, they opened the freezer and cooperatively grabbed a bag of fries, swiftly tossing them into the air fryer without any fuss.
This wasn’t the handiwork of someone who’d just been rummaging in the freezer a time or two.
No wonder hot dogs would disappear one by one even when no one was around to eat them…
I momentarily set my annoyance aside as we prepared to head out for dinner.
“Shiyeon, let’s go; you carry one of these.”
“Okay.”
What I pointed at was a cardboard box containing ten energy drinks.
With my frail body in its pre-transformation state, I couldn’t carry two at once, thus calling Shiyeon over to help.
Holding the box like a crate of ammo, I waddled out of the house, supporting the bottom with both hands.
I briefly set the box on the elevator handle, pressing the button for the 17th floor.
As I watched the number tick upward, I leaned against the elevator wall and waited.
When the slow-moving numbers finally stopped at 17, I straightened my slumped posture and grabbed the box that had been precariously resting on the handle.
In front of Taehyun’s house, I pressed the doorbell and waited a moment.
After the doorbell rang, footsteps echoed heavily before the entrance door opened.
Beyond the door stood Taehyun, who had already returned home from school in the same clothes.
“Hi.”
“Here I come with my hungry belly.”
“Excuse me—”
As I entered with a playful line, Taehyun naturally took the box from my hands.
“What’s this?”
“I brought two boxes of B500.”
Based on just the picture on the packaging, he must have known what it was, but he still asked me what it was as a formality.
To his inquiry, I casually answered that it was energy drinks, and I also took Shiyeon’s share from behind and set it down next to the box near the entry door.
Once we officially entered the house, a sweet aroma tickled our noses.
It sounded like something was simmering, not too deep, yet bubbling away.
That smell and sound—it’s bulgogi!
