At that moment, I was contemplating what would be good.
“Hmmmm…?”
A strange voice echoed in my ears.
What is this peculiar sound?
I want to ignore it.
“Could it be Mr. Kim Deok-Sung?”
I heard Korean, not Japanese.
Wait, Korean?
But this is Japan!
I turned my head towards the direction of the voice.
There, I saw her.
A beautiful girl with striking pink-blonde twin tails cascading down to her waist, wearing a deep pink bikini.
[Evangeline?]
Just as the Black Prince said, there stood Evangeline Stewart, the titular heroine of volume 9.
Her face turned pink, matching her hair color, as our eyes met.
“Wow, wow, wow, wow…”
Evangeline covered her mouth with her right hand, making that strange sound.
I really didn’t want to get involved.
Fate must be cruel to have us cross paths like this.
My head was already starting to throb.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung! I never expected to meet you so soon! It’s truly an honor of a lifetime! You look even more impressive in person than in the photos! Just wow, wow, wow!”
Evangeline spoke to me, her eyes sparkling to an overwhelming degree.
What?
Honor of a lifetime?
My instincts telling me to steer clear from her were right all along.
Evangeline is definitely not normal.
Just as I was taken aback by her unexpectedly intense enthusiasm…
“President Stewart? What brings you here…?”
Aris, finally noticing Evangeline’s presence, spoke in Japanese.
Nice.
That’s my favorite character for you.
What perfect timing.
“I came to scout the beach, you see. But I never dreamed I would run into both President Saionji and Mr. Kim Deok-Sung here!”
With her hands clasped together as if in prayer, Evangeline’s pink eyes sparkled.
The question had been directed at Aris, yet her gaze remained fixed on me.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung, might it be alright if I join you here?”
Evangeline approached me, her eyes sparkling as she bowed her head.
Look at that tone, seriously.
It’s not like she’s some baby talker or anything.
I couldn’t hold back my annoyance.
Honestly, when I watched the animation, I thought nothing of it, but hearing that tone in reality was driving me crazy.
Compared to Evangeline’s baby talk, Eri and Hoshino Kasumi seem infinitely normal.
I felt my uneaten food threatening to come back up.
“Ask President Saionji instead of me.”
“Oh my, I totally forgot President Saionji was here! President Saionji, is it alright if I join?”
Evangeline’s question made Aris narrow her eyes slightly.
“…I can’t be rude to a guest from afar. You may join. Please sit.”
“I can’t possibly treat you poorly. I’ll allow you to join us. Please, sit down.”
I really knew this would happen.
There was no way Aris would reject Evangelin joining us.
It was my mistake for holding onto a slim hope.
“The grace is boundless.”
Evangelin cheerfully sits down with a beaming smile.
Every word feels like a dagger piercing my heart.
I can barely breathe.
I thought I had mostly adapted to this damn light novel world’s cringe-worthy dialogues and nauseating reactions, but then this landmine pops up out of nowhere.
I feel like I might go insane after a long time.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung, have you decided on a menu?”
“I’ll have yakisoba.”
Barely suppressing my nausea, I relay the order to Aris.
“Then I’ll have the same as Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
“Me too!”
Before I could finish my sentence, Aris and Evangelin both ordered the same menu.
The bikini-clad waitress quickly takes the order away, and before long, three bowls of yakisoba are placed on the table.
I had already been starving since I had dove under the water to find Eri’s swimsuit earlier.
“Let’s eat well.”
Aris puts her hands together in prayer and opens her eyes.
The moment I picked up the yakisoba with my chopsticks while watching her.
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
Evangelin calls me with a beaming smile and a gentle voice.
Tap.
She places a sauce bottle on the table.
The unfamiliar bottle, with Hangul written on it, is…
“For you, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung, I specially brought some spicy chicken sauce. Please enjoy.”
What?
Spicy chicken?
Am I about to walk a path of flames?
Why would you bring that while we’re eating yakisoba?
I’m really about to lose it.
“Spicy chicken…?”
Aris’ eyes widen at the sight of the black bottle with the red Hangul saying ‘spicy chicken’ on it.
“Yes, it’s spicy chicken. Oh my, my! Does President Saionji perhaps not know about spicy chicken?”
Covering her mouth with her left hand, Evangelin chuckles exaggeratedly.
Confidence beams from her pink eyes.
A British princess boasting about spicy chicken to a Japanese person?
“Uh… I know… but… I can’t handle it…”
Aris, for some reason, wears a defeated expression.
She fidgets with her fingers.
As an Aris expert, I can say for sure.
That’s an expression of frustration.
[What the hell? Partner. What the heck am I looking at right now?]
The Black Prince speaks in bewilderment.
What am I looking at, you ask?
That’s what I want to know.
“Hohohoho! Then let me tell you this for the first and last time. Spicy chicken sauce is a must-have seasoning that every Korean must consume at every meal! It’s essential for foreigners who admire K-culture! You must at least drizzle on some spicy chicken sauce to be a true Korean!”
Flexing her hand on her chest with an overly confident expression, Evangelin declares.
Her outrageous statement sends my disbelief skyrocketing.
[Partner, is that true? Do all Koreans eat like that?]
‘No way.’
Which crazy person sprinkles spicy chicken sauce on every meal?
I don’t mind spicy food, but I’m not insane enough to drown my meals in capsaicin three times a day.
Who fed her such a warped common sense?
I recall the original work.
In the original, she was depicted as a character immersed in a distorted view of Japanese culture, spouting nonsense about samurai and haikus. In simpler terms, she was a cliché from Japanese subculture— a waifus character.
She was a character.
It’s not that hard to believe if you think about how she’d just be swapped into Korean culture.
Could it be that her penchant for slathering mayonnaise on every dish in the original work transformed into an obsession with spicy chicken sauce once she developed a taste for Korea?
What the heck.
“Is that really true?”
“Of course, it really is. Hehehe. Are you, perhaps, afraid of spicy food?”
Flinch.
Aris’s body trembles slightly.
Japanese people can’t handle spice.
Whether it’s a stereotype or not, Aris can’t take spicy food.
Evangeline, holding a bottle of sauce, sports a dignified grin.
Swoosh.
Red spicy chicken sauce is drizzled over the yakisoba Evangeline ordered.
“Well then, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. Please watch as the girl tackles her spicy chicken-coated yakisoba.”
With a serious expression, Evangeline twirls the brown and red sauced yakisoba noodles onto her plastic fork and shoves them into her mouth.
“Haah♥ It’s, it’s spicy,”
The moment she takes a bite, Evangeline curls up and lets out a moan.
Just listening is embarrassing.
Is this how it goes when you eat spicy chicken?
Is this all because of that damn light novel world?
“B-but I’ll do my best! I’ll prove that I’ve become a true Korean before I earn Mr. Kim Deok-Sung’s recognition, uh-huh♥”
Sweat pours down Evangeline’s face.
Watching this, Aris bites her lip as if she’s made a resolution.
“Gulp.”
Aris swallows, grabbing the sauce bottle on the table and pouring the spicy chicken sauce over her portion of yakisoba.
The lava-red sauce is shamelessly splashed all over the brown yakisoba.
“Saionji-senpai? Why all of a sudden…”
This is a bit overwhelming.
It happened so quickly that I had no time to intervene.
“I have deemed it necessary, as Student Council President, to learn about the culture of Korea, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung’s homeland. That’s all; there are no ulterior motives or hidden desires.”
Aris responds like a rapid-fire machine gun.
As Student Council President? Why on Earth?
I was about to say something regarding her nonsensical answer when…
Slurp.
Aris swallows her spicy chicken sauce-covered yakisoba.
“Uck! Hah, huff, huh!”
Aris is trying hard to suppress her moans.
Her face is flushed bright red.
Imagine the two Student Council Presidents from Shuo Hero Academy and St. George Academy eating spicy chicken sauce-covered yakisoba while moaning.
Unbelievable.
They’re not about to start breathing fire like in a cartoon, right?
“C-could this possibly be the limit of my surrender? Mr. Kim Deok-Sung! I-I’m capable of eating more, I assure you!”
“…I haven’t lost yet either.”
Splat.
The gaze of Aris and Evangeline crosses.
A powerful pressure envelops me.
No, it’s not just in my head; they’re actually unleashing magic, right?
Aris’s silver magic and Evangeline’s pink magic clash in the air.
What on Earth is happening?
“Yikes! The true mode of the Student Council President has been unleashed! This is my first time witnessing it!”
“That one looks like a fairy princess from England, doesn’t she?”
“Is this the epic match between England and Japan beginning?!”
“Isn’t that the Black Beast over there?”
“Yikes! It’s the Black Beast!”
Extras, who I don’t even know when showed up, start spouting absurdities while looking at Evangeline, me, and Aris.
[Partner, we really need to wrap this situation up quickly, don’t we?]
The Black Prince is surprisingly on point.
If we leave it like this, the rumors are definitely going to spin out of control in a weird direction.
We have to settle this here.
With faces as red as erupting volcanoes and releasing magic while eating spicy chicken yakisoba, I subtly intervene between the two.
Cha, the two people releasing magical power while eating spicy fried noodles are subtly nudged.
“Saionji-senpai, President Stewart.”
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung! Wh-what’s the matter?”
“What’s the matter? Mr. Kim Deok-Sung…?”
“You both look like you’re struggling to swallow. Stop the pointless suffering; I’ll eat all of this!”
Before they could say anything, I snatch their plates and mix them with my yakisoba.
What on earth did they pour? The spicy smell pricks at my nose.
Why on earth did they slather it so recklessly?
Sigh.
[Partner, it’s good that you managed to grab it, but can you really eat this?]
The Black Prince asks concernedly.
“Oooooo! The Black Beast took the spicy yakisoba!”
“How spicy can it be? I can’t imagine being able to eat that.”
“Is this what it means to be Korean? The Black Beast!”
The commotion from the extras follows.
Ignoring them, I shove a huge bite of yakisoba into my mouth.
“Slurp.”
The spiciness of capsaicin fills my mouth.
But it’s okay.
I can handle this much.
Slurp, slurp.
I finish the entire plate.
My mouth is burning, but it’s bearable.
Thud.
I set down the empty bowl.
[Partner, are you okay?]
“Is it alright? Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
“Mr. Kim Deok-Sung. Are you alright?”
The Black Prince, Aris, and Evangelin ask simultaneously with worried voices.
“…I’m fine.”
I say while wiping the sweat rolling down.
Sure, my mouth is a bit hot, but it’s nothing.
In fact, it feels nice to eat something spicy for the first time in ages.
I’ve always just eaten Japanese food.
“Whoa, you really ate it all!”
“Look at his expression; it hasn’t changed at all.”
“To eat all of that—amazing, Black Beast! Is this really what being Korean is like?”
“Eating spicy food on purpose for a girl? Black Beast, that’s kinda cool?”
The extras murmur as they look at me.
My face feels hot.
Not from the spice, but from embarrassment.
[Wow, partner! That’s impressive!]
“…Thank you, Mr. Kim Deok-Sung.”
“Indeed, it’s Mr. Kim Deok-Sung!”
Compliments rain down from the Black Prince, Aris, and Evangelin.
Evangelin, her sparkling pink eyes fixed on me, and Aris, her cheeks flushed pink from shyness, scratch her cheeks.
Being praised like this for something trivial makes me feel even more embarrassed.
This isn’t some cartoon world where they say, “Wow, this meat is tasty!” when I grill it for a character from another world, nor is it North Korea where the Supreme Leader does some teleportation trick.
Receiving such mindless compliments just makes the person receiving them feel more embarrassed.
“Please, don’t compliment me on nonsense like this.”
“How could you… To be so humble, you truly are a role model for all! My heart flutters.”
Clap.
Evangelin clasps her hands in prayer-like fashion, her pink eyes sparkling.
Her large chest, wrapped in a lace bikini, jiggles.
No, that’s just too burdensome.
“I agree with that statement. The self-sacrificial spirit of Mr. Kim Deok-Sung throwing himself for others is the attitude all Shuo Academy students should emulate.”
Aris says seriously, her face still flushed.
Anything I say here will just make things worse.
I can only sigh.
“Anyway, don’t bring sauces like this next time. I don’t know where you heard it, but just because I’m Korean doesn’t mean I sprinkle capsaicin on every meal. It’s all a misunderstanding. It’s just something I eat occasionally.”
Tap, tap.
