As the airplane ascended to a certain height, the sound became muffled, as if cotton were stuffed in my ears.
A phenomenon caused by the difference in air pressure.
Thinking that Shiyeon must be feeling it too, I subtly turned my body and stretched out my arm.
“Shiyeon, your ears are blocked, right? Drink some water.”
I picked up the water bottle that was wedged into the armrest and handed one to Shiyeon.
She was closing and opening her ears with her fingers, experiencing a rare sensation that was hard to encounter in daily life.
I could hear the sound of her swallowing the liquid as she gulped from the water bottle I handed her.
“Oh, it’s all better! This is so cool!”
Shiyeon was just excited about all these situations.
When she received the water bottle back, she took a sip from a bit of a distance as if catching waterfall water in midair.
Swallowing the water that filled her cheeks, the muffled sounds around her became clear.
There was still quite a bit of water left in the bottle, even though both of us had drunk from it.
It seemed a little excessive to drink it all.
I closed the opening with the plastic cap I was holding and put it back into the appropriate hole in the armrest where the bottle originally was.
’11 hours… what to do now.’
At first, I was fascinated by the cloud views outside the window.
Since I rarely have such an experience, I took a few photos with excitement.
Then Shiyeon and I took turns sitting by the window, enjoying the scenery outside.
But, the view outside was only entertaining for a short while…
‘I don’t think we need to switch seats anymore.’
After watching for an hour, I was completely bored.
Ocean, clouds, ocean, clouds.
In the repetitive scenery that felt like it would bore me to death, Shiyeon was fiddling solely with her smartphone.
With strong Wi-Fi and plenty of charging ports ready as soon as I plugged in, it was indeed the perfect environment to attach oneself to a smartphone all day long.
As Shiyeon got absorbed in the world of her smartphone, I turned my gaze around.
In the spacious seats with various amenities, what caught my eye was the screen right in front of me.
Finally, my fingers managed to reach it, and I unfastened my seatbelt and leaned forward to touch the screen.
Only then did the dark screen brighten up, displaying promotional posters for various movies and animations.
‘So, we’re watching a movie.’
Showing that I was a person who had never been on an airplane, I stood upright, selecting from the movies.
In search of content to pass the 11 hours, I found myself reaching for films I usually wouldn’t consider.
After all, when you start a movie, you tend to keep watching it.
From the countless options, I boldly chose a crime movie commonly referred to as noir.
If one were to ask why I picked this one out of many…
‘Let’s see how they get beaten.’
I found myself wanting to take notes on the details of the fighting performances of the professional actors.
Surprisingly, one feature of such movies is the detailed portrayals of fighting.
I connected the headphones provided by the airplane and focused entirely on the sound of the movie.
After some time engrossed in the film.
At that moment, when a sturdy actor was beating a criminal like a dog on a hot day, I felt a poking sensation on my arm from the side.
It wasn’t the usual pillow-like pressure from my pockets, but rather a definitive poke.
Turning my gaze away from the screen, I saw it was none other than Shiyeon poking me with her finger.
Wondering what was going on, I noticed a flight attendant standing next to our seats.
Quickly taking off the headphones, I tilted my head, curious about why she was here.
“How would you like to have your meal?”
‘Oh, the food…?’
Now understanding, I unfastened my seatbelt, paused the movie, and took the menu to see what was available.
For Western cuisine, the standard choices included tenderloin steak, roasted chicken thigh, grilled salmon, and so on…
There were other items such as flounder, but it noted that anything not pre-ordered could not be had.
For Korean food, there were dishes like grilled short ribs wrapped in lettuce, galbi jjim set, bibimbap, and others.
Dishes you might see on a special occasion.
Since Western cuisine doesn’t usually come with rice, I decided on Korean food.
They might give it to you if you ask separately, but I didn’t want to create more work for them.
Plus, I was unsure whether Western food would even go well with rice.
“I’ll have the galbi jjim set, and what about you, Shiyeon?”
“Hmm… this one!”
With enthusiasm, she pointed at the menu where it said tenderloin steak.
Going for Western cuisine boldly?
I hadn’t really had any experiences with Western food.
Did she just pick it because it was something she never saw before?
In any case, thinking it was all part of the experience, I forwarded the choices to the flight attendant without any complaints.
“One tenderloin steak and one galbi jjim set, please.”
“Yes.”
The flight attendant, having noted our order, quickly went to the back to prepare.
As I stepped away from the world of the movie temporarily, I was pleasantly waiting for the food.
“Do we have to eat everything we ordered?”
Looking at Shiyeon, who had unpredictably ordered the tenderloin steak, I told her that we should eat what we ordered properly.
“I’ll eat it all!”
Shiyeon expressed unfounded confidence.
As far as I know, steak served in places like this…
Should be a bit red in the center.
“It’s red, gross….”
Sure enough, the steak that came out was torn apart by Shiyeon in a mess, and she quickly had trouble picking up her fork.
Steaks aren’t easily cut like pork cutlets.
I had foreseen this outcome, but with a sigh, I got up from my seat and set down the galbi jjim set in front of Shiyeon, whose serving was copious.
“Let’s switch, and give me some rice.”
“Okay….”
In a hurry, Shiyeon placed her tray, which had been beside her, onto my tray.
Where had that confidence of eating it all gone?
The neatly arranged pieces of meat on the white plate were now scattered like a wet cardboard box on a rainy day.
Thus started our meal.
Usually, beef is eaten seasoned with sauce, salt, and pepper.
I picked up one of the torn pieces that was dripping with bright red juices and brought it to my mouth.
It was somewhat dry; to be honest, the texture wasn’t all that great.
But if you asked if it was inedible, then no, it wasn’t like that.
I dipped it generously into the sauce, which could be thought of as pickles that come with pizza, and took it combined with rice into my mouth, making it somewhat better.
In any case, combining meat and rice makes it hard to eat poorly.
The aroma of the food filled up the space we were in.
The flight attendants were bustling about, even carrying around bottles of wine.
Naturally, neither Shiyeon nor I could partake.
It was a bit unfortunate that I couldn’t experience everything available in the business class of a plane I might only ride a few times in my life due to my age.
After the flight attendants collected the trays one by one, it was time to return to the movie.
“Ahhh!”
In an action scene where the protagonist-type detective was subduing the criminal, I could hear the actor playing the criminal scream vividly through the headphones.
Would a monster scream like that if it got its body twisted?
After watching the series up to the second part, I noticed the dimming cabin lights.
The previously lively voices of the uncles around me faded away into silence.
Looking at Shiyeon beside me, she appeared to be asleep, holding onto her smartphone without dropping it.
The game was still running, connected to the charger.
As I subtly reached my arm toward Shiyeon’s hand to touch the smartphone, there was a heat radiating from it that was almost burnt.
‘It’s so hot.’
After turning off the game, I set Shiyeon’s smartphone down in a reasonably spacious area.
Adjusting the seat beside her to allow for lying down, I fetched a blanket and covered it over her to help her sleep comfortably.
About five hours had passed since we departed.
After watching a movie or two, it seemed less than half of the scheduled flight time had passed.
“Ugh—”
In the quiet interior of the airplane, I stretched my arms out while yawning.
If I were to calculate it based on Korean time, it must be around 2 PM?
Though it was still far from sleeping time, the business class was calm except for the sound of the aircraft.
Because of jet lag, perhaps I was keen to sleep quickly; even when I unfastened my seatbelt and looked around, I only saw the uncles quietly sitting with their eye masks and earplugs.
…The peculiar scent of wine teased my nose.
It seemed that because the lights were dimmed and the surroundings were quiet, Shiyeon also fell asleep.
That was better.
Rather than struggling after we landed due to the time difference, it would be better for her to get some decent rest.
‘I guess I should take a nap too.’
Though I had never experienced it, the infamous jet lag that comes with international travel.
I didn’t want to suffer unnecessarily, so I packed my eye mask and earplugs even though I wasn’t sleepy.
Just like Shiyeon’s seat, I adjusted mine to lie completely flat and covered myself with a thin blanket.
I closed the window that allowed outside views and completed my preparations before closing my eyes.
Neither noise nor light could disturb my sleep.
How long had passed like that?
What awoke me from the thoroughly prepared deep sleep was neither noise nor light…
But the provocative scent that tickled my nose, the aroma of ramen.
