* * *
“…Huh?”
Did I… hear that right?
For a second, I thought my ears were broken, but one look at his smug face told me I’d heard it perfectly.
A stunned laugh escaped me.
All that tension just to hear this nonsense?
You jerk… You were teasing me!
I shoved his chest with both hands, full of righteous indignation.
“What are you talking about? You brought so much food and now you say you’re gonna eat me?”
“Right? And I didn’t even fatten you up properly. It’s a waste to eat you now. You’re not even one full serving. Maybe half?”
“What kind of weird thing are you saying!”
“Look at you. You’re barely a bite. What am I supposed to do with that, Jung Jehee?”
“Ugh! Don’t bite me!”
First he says he raised me, now it’s “I raised you to eat you”?
Seriously, I should’ve known better than to play along with his jokes!
He really leaned into it, nibbling at my cheek like a kid.
What if he leaves bite marks?
He got a lot of attention when we walked in—especially from the women—and now he’s acting like this?
Who’s gonna take that seriously?
He always manages to ruin any good opportunity with his antics.
Even when I tried to push him away, he was too strong.
But that’s fine.
Because I do know exactly how to kill his mood when he gets like this.
“So if I gain weight, you’ll eat me? That’s bad. I better eat less tonight.”
“What—hey! You already eat like a bird, how could you possibly eat less…?!”
See? Instantly serious.
He even sat up in a rush, looking down at me in panic.
His expression was exactly what I expected, and I couldn’t help bursting into laughter.
Honestly, if he’s just gonna lose every time, why even start with the teasing?
As a tiny act of revenge, I wiped my now-wet cheek on Taehwan’s shirt and got up.
“So quit with the weird stuff and grill the meat already. I’m starving.”
Even though he’s practically a mountain of a man, his pranks are as over-the-top as ever.
But in the end, it helped.
After all that messing around, that strange tension that had been clinging to me earlier was completely gone.
*
There were perks to not going full-on wilderness camping.
For one, we could eat dinner in a clean environment, even late at night, without being swarmed by bugs.
It also made for a pretty decent trial run.
Not just for me, but for us.
Maybe it was because it had been so long, or because this camping trip came out of nowhere, but we ended up being far less prepared than expected.
Once we actually started living out of the tent, we kept running into little things we were missing, so we ended up going to the convenience store more often than not.
We remembered the big things well enough, but the small details slipped through the cracks.
If we had gone straight into the backwoods, it definitely would’ve been a hassle.
Like, we brought tons of meat, but forgot leafy greens, mushrooms, and kimchi—so we had to go back and get them.
Still, there was something fun about being unprepared.
We’d laugh at our own ridiculous mistakes and joke about it being a “money-wasting camping trip” as we made yet another run to the store.
And hey, since we were here to celebrate our first real paycheck, why not?
I wandered over to the adult-beverage section—where all the grown-up drinks were—and after hesitating for a bit, I finally grabbed a can of beer.
Taehwan chuckled.
“Beer? You know it’s just going to taste like barley tea to us.”
“Still, I want to try it. Dads always drink beer when they go camping.”
“Yeah, I wonder why. I still don’t get the appeal…”
“Is it okay if I drink this?”
“Sure.”
“You’re not getting one? Just mine?”
“I’m good. Besides, you’re not gonna finish it anyway, are you? I’ll drink the rest.”
Why does he just assume I won’t finish it?
I’m an adult now, too.
For the pride of ‘Adult Jehee,’ I cracked open the can with dramatic flair and took a big gulp.
“Ugh…”
“How is it?”
“…It’s gross.”
“Told you so.”
Pfft. His loud laugh made my stomach twist, but I didn’t stop him when he took the can.
I really didn’t think I could finish it.
Taehwan said it’d taste like barley tea, but it was nothing like that.
No nutty warmth—just the sharp smell and taste of alcohol.
And that taste… didn’t exactly give me a reason to keep drinking it.
Every time my dad drank beer at summer camps, he’d make it look like the best thing in the world.
Sometimes he’d even cheer out loud.
So I always imagined beer as this cool adult drink.
Either I wasn’t grown-up enough yet, or that image was a total lie, because it just wasn’t for me.
And if the whole point was to get drunk?
Honestly, I’d rather just drink a potion.
Awakened folks like us have tougher livers than the average person, so it’s rare we actually get drunk.
If it doesn’t taste good or get you buzzed, what’s the point?
I quickly grabbed something else to wash the taste out of my mouth…
‘And then caught myself thinking—why the hell does he make it look so good?’
Taehwan tilted his head back and took a long drink, gulping smoothly.
It looked refreshing.
Way more enticing than any beer commercial on TV.
I found myself weirdly fixated on the way his Adam’s apple moved.
It was so convincing, I actually wondered if maybe I just wasn’t tasting it right.
So I stole another sip from his can…
Nope. Still gross.
“Bleh. It still tastes bad.”
“What are you doing?”
“I just… you made it look good.”
Taehwan laughed like I was ridiculous and kept grilling the meat.
I made a lettuce wrap and popped it into his mouth.
Then he took another sip of beer, and again, somehow made it look incredibly refreshing.
That lying beer ambassador.
Said he didn’t like it, but just drained the whole can.
And it was one of those big ones, too.
He crushed the empty can in one hand like it was nothing and said with a smirk,
“Jehee, you’re definitely more of a milk or soda guy, huh? Right?”
“…Well, yeah, but… that sounded like you’re talking to a kid.”
“What do you mean? I just meant you’ve got great taste. There’s nothing good about drinking. Want me to get you a banana milk?”
“…I’ll drink it after I shower.”
“Got it. I’ll have it ready just in time. Now then—let’s eat.”
While we were talking about drinks, the meat had finished cooking to perfection.
My friend really was the perfect camping buddy—almost annoyingly good at everything.
The pork belly, the star of the night, was grilled perfectly, but everything else was amazing, too.
Juicy king oyster mushrooms, kimchi sizzling in pork fat, tender potatoes—he cooked them all on the same grill, and yet each one had its own distinct, incredible flavor.
Every bite felt like heaven.
I took a sip of soda to cut the grease.
“Let’s do a toast!”
“Yeah.”
I even had someone to clink glasses with—Taehwan.
I felt so giddy, like I was tipsy even though I only had two sips of beer.
It wasn’t the alcohol—I was drunk on happiness. I couldn’t stop smiling.
I never would’ve imagined that I, someone whose entire world used to be limited to a hospital rooftop, would one day go camping with Taehwan.
Not even once. Just imagining something like this used to make me feel so hopeless, I wouldn’t let myself hope for it at all.
But that’s not true anymore.
Everything I’d suffered back then… doesn’t feel like suffering now.
It was just something I had to go through to make this happiness feel that much more real.
Being alive is such a blessing.
“Wait, hang on. That was the last of the meat?”
“Looks like it. We really finished it all.”
Turns out we were even more unprepared than we thought.
At least when it came to meat—it had looked like we brought way too much, and yet, we polished it off.
I knew Taehwan could eat a lot, especially with his size, but even for him, he’d really gone to town tonight.
Same with me, honestly.
Ever since awakening, our base metabolism had gone up, and we ate more in general, but even with that in mind, we’d eaten a lot.
Must’ve been the mood.
Our first proper meal, just the two of us, out on a trip like this—it got to us.
“Jehee, do you want more meat?”
“Hmm… I’m not exactly full, but I’m not like dying for more either.”
“Feels like that’s probably the perfect amount to eat… Still, kinda hard to stop now.”
It was a little disappointing.
If we were at home, I’d just leave it at that.
But this was camping.
We were having so much fun, and then suddenly it stopped.
Felt kind of anticlimactic.
Like a rabbit nibbling leaves, I started munching on the leftover lettuce.
Taehwan laughed at me and stood up.
“Should I go buy more? The store meat’s not that great, but… oh well. I should’ve wasted more money earlier. Regret’s hitting me hard.”
To be fair… he really had tried to waste more.
I just secretly put a few packs back on the shelf when he wasn’t looking.
I figured we’d still have plenty without it.
Didn’t want to waste food, you know?
Okay, I felt a little guilty.
But I decided to just brazen it out.
Better to run a little short than have to throw things away.
“How much more do you think you could eat?”
“Enough to devour you in one bite, maybe?”
“What kind of weird comment is that?!”
“Haha.”
There he goes again—trying to mess with me!
I let it slide the first two times, but a third?
No way.
To get back at him for his ridiculous pranks, I sprang up and jumped on Taehwan’s back.
But my opponent was none other than the nation’s so-called “Hope of South Korea” — a top-tier, rookie Hunter.
I had barely gotten my license and never even undergone combat training, so of course, my attack didn’t faze him in the slightest.
Instead, he looked like he’d hit the jackpot and tried to give me a piggyback ride.
I quickly scrambled down before he could catch me.
No way I was going to end up the one getting punished instead.
As I abruptly began putting distance between us, Taehwan looked at me with a smile and said,
“Then, Jehee, let’s eat a little more. Jjajang ramen with green onion kimchi tastes amazing together. I’ll whip up something incredible.”
“Okay!”
Still, I was in a great mood today, and the food was delicious.
Honestly, it wouldn’t be so bad to let Taehwan keep feeding me until I got chubby.
I was underweight anyway, and since I’d need to train hard in the future, I figured I should eat well while I still had the appetite.
We agreed and were just about to head to the snack bar together when a group of people approached us.
“Um, excuse me… If it’s okay, would you like to join us?”
* * *
