episode_0069

※This episode depicts daily life during the internship period. Be careful with time series!

*****

Today, my housemate is in a strange condition. It’s not like I’ve been drinking since morning.

First of all, it makes no sense to be up from this moment on. Unlike seven years ago, when she gave off the feeling of a fast-paced newbie to society, Sia’s personal life now is like a piece of junk. Even after I went to the morning exercise and made breakfast, he wouldn’t wake up, so going to wake him up was now a daily routine.

I never thought that would have already happened when I was making the soup. I should have checked which direction the sun rose this morning.

Of course, that in itself is welcome. But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

Glimpse, glance.

Sia had been glancing at me continuously since earlier. It might be okay to do it once or twice, but if it keeps happening, I can’t help but get worried.

Moreover, if you consciously use the potential, the emotion contained in that gaze is anticipation. What on earth? Even when I thought about it, nothing came to mind.

“Hmm, hm.”

Wow, now he’s even clearing his throat.

“Well, if you have something to say, say it out loud. Don’t wait like that.”

“No, there is nothing like that.”

It seemed clear even without using potential that it was something that didn’t even exist in my mind. But that doesn’t mean you can grasp the true meaning.

I’m making rice right now, so I guess not. Even when I think about what I should have done, I don’t remember promising anything in particular.

Usually, when Sia looks like that, she gives hints knowingly or unknowingly. First of all, when I observed Sia’s appearance, I saw that she was clearly making unusual gestures.

With both fists clenched, just spread your index fingers and croak. There’s no way I’m asking you to play a game of chopsticks, 11? metronome? Togepi’s finger waving?

… I just don’t know.

Sia realized that I didn’t understand and lowered her head. If you were that disappointed, you could just say it yourself.

When I said that, Sia pointedly said, ‘There is meaning in being recognized even without saying anything.’ Do you even want chocolate pie?

In the end, Sia went to school without knowing what she wanted, but surprisingly, the answer was revealed quickly.

“ARMY, ah~!”

“Ah~?”

Raon opens her mouth wide as soon as she meets him. I followed along without thinking and something popped into my mouth. I cut it off with my teeth and Raon put the rest in my mouth.

It’s been a long time since I ate Pepero.

“Ah~!”

“I don’t have one.”

“!?”

Raon looked as if he had lost the world at the cruel truth. Feeling sorry for some reason, I pulled a Pepero out of the box in Raon’s hand and shoved it into my mouth, which was wide open from shock. Oh dog oh dog oh dog. Every time the length of Pepero gets shorter, a smile returns to Raon’s face.

Self-gifting is also OK. What an easy main heroine.

At this point, no matter how much I am, I realize it. Today’s date is November 11th. Pepero Day is commonly referred to in the world. This was probably what Sia asked for in the morning.

If it’s definitely famous, it’s a famous event. Still, if I were to make an excuse, for me, Pepero Day was something I had experienced for the first time in a very long time. To be exact, this is my first experience since my previous life.

Before the Great Chaos period, it was before it became a nationwide trend, and I don’t remember an event like this being held since then. It is probably one of the many anniversaries that have been revived as society recovers. Rather, if I exclude the knowledge of my past life, wouldn’t it be normal for me not to know Pepero Day?

When I thought about it that way, I felt that Sia’s request in the morning was unfair. These days, I’ve been concentrating on my internship so I haven’t had much time to go to places like convenience stores, so it wouldn’t have been easy to find out in advance.

Anyway, I didn’t know if I didn’t know, but even though I knew, I was reluctant to pass it up. I stopped by a convenience store on my way to school and picked up some Pepero. I guess I could just share it little by little with the kids I know.

“Now, here.”

“I’ll eat well!”

“Me too, thank you in return.”

As soon as she bought Pepero, Raon’s next batters were Bobbin and Marie. It is a rare experience for me to receive something from a girl at an event like this. Most of the people around me either had screws missing or couldn’t afford to do this kind of work.

“This is the business strategy of snack companies.”

“I thought you would say that, Jeongyoung. Fine, you too, come on.”

“Thank you. I’ll eat well.”

Jeongyoung and Hwain also accepted it naturally, as if it was natural. I already expected that Jeongyoung would say hipster-like things. Hwa-in seems to be familiar with it, as she has often received it from children at Raon and orphanages.

In addition, I gave the Pepero to classmates who were reasonably close to me, like Hyeran’s twins, and almost all of them ran out.

“Please! to me! Please give me a Pepero!”

I heard there was a guy like this among them. O-hu was bowing his head sincerely, even throwing away his usual internet speaking style, and O-jeong was bowing his head next to him.

“Amy, if you abandon us, there is no hope for us anymore!”

“I was originally planning on giving it, but when it comes out like this, I don’t want to give it back. Why are you so desperate?”

“We also want to receive a Pepero from a girl at least once… .”

Okay, let’s never give these guys away. A firm resolve was formed in my heart.

“In that case, it should go to kids like Raon and Hyeji, not me.”

“Huh? me? I ate it all.”

“I’m a bit reluctant, I’m not that friendly… .”

Ra-on’s aside, Hye-ji’s reaction is painful to watch, even to me, who is not the subject. Sure enough, those two people were writhing their whole bodies as if they had been hit by some kind of instant death.

As someone who has lived an unpopular male life for decades, I am not unaware of that feeling, but I have no intention of helping. What are you going to do with my Pepero in the first place? If what you want is a Pepero from a woman, it wouldn’t mean much if I gave it to you.

As I tried to appease her, I received an unexpected rebuttal from Oh Jeong.

“Ami, you went to a coeducational school in middle school.”

“Huh? That’s it… , right.”

I’ve never been to middle school in this world, but in my previous life, both middle school and high school were coeducational. Of course, that doesn’t mean I experienced any events or anything, but it was also true that I didn’t know much about the unique sensibilities of Namjoong or Boys’ High School.

” Among men, even if it’s Valentine’s Day or White Day, there are only men around, right? So, I didn’t have any expectations in the first place. But there is something like chocolate that nice guys sometimes sprinkle on it.”

“No, that’s a bit… .”

“We know too. The fact that it is unreasonable for us to receive Pepero from a woman. but! Even we can feel the feeling of being received by a woman, right!?”

A cry filled with mysterious power shook the resolve in my heart.

As I just said, when I was a man, I was far from popular. Of course, I looked with envy at the hot guys who spent their youthful school life receiving various things from women.

Of course, that was just a light sentiment, saying that I only wish them well. It wasn’t a heavy obsession like ‘If I can’t get it from a woman, I can get it from a man who looks like a woman’… .

Anyway, I can sympathize to some extent.

“Well, if it’s that much.”

“Was there anything in what you just said that touched your heart?”

The girls, including Bobbin, seemed a little fed up. I feel like this doesn’t matter as long as they don’t treat me like a woman.

Because it’s a simple fact that I look like a woman. As I said before, if there wasn’t such a strong reaction, there are things I originally planned to give away.

“But there’s only one left.”

It’s unfaithful to give something you received as a gift–and I don’t want to give the Pepero I got from the girls to someone else–I tried to give it to someone out of the things I bought, but there was only one Pepero left in the plastic bag. Was this all that was left originally?

Oh dog oh dog oh dog oh dog.

“Huh? Why?”

“No. Let’s Raon eat a lot and grow up.”

“Hehe.”

Pepero would have wanted to fall into the mouth of a beautiful girl like Raon rather than a guy like that.

“Now then, let’s kill each other from now on.”

“The game is a final decision. Even if we lose, we don’t blame each other.”

“Of course. A real man never says anything.”

In that way, the two people did not engage in a desperate struggle, washing away their blood with blood. It’s not even a comedy comic. I just played rock, paper, scissors as usual.

Of course, since the people doing it were awakened people, the quality was unnecessarily high.

“Okay, we won!”

“I can’t believe it, my visual acuity trained through fighting games… .”

“The afternoon’s physical performance wasn’t bad, but Oh Jeong was one step above.”

The magic that Oh Jeong used was to read the hand shape of the opponent’s hand and change his hand accordingly with his special wind magic. I never thought that there really was a guy who could create rock-paper-scissors magic.

“It was a great match.”

“What are you doing with just one pepero…? .”

Although there were some people who hated it.

Anyway, as the day passed, Pepero piled up like a mountain on my desk. However, at this point, it became difficult to know how to deal with them.

There’s no bag, so it’s difficult to just carry it around, and throwing it away is out of the question. Then, isn’t there only one way?

“So you’ve been eating like that since a while ago?”

“That’s right.”

Half-ignoring Hwain’s astonished gaze, I continued to bring the peperos next to me to my mouth. Even though it was school, since it was after school, no one would nag me about eating this.

Of course, eating here, which is a free training ground, doesn’t look very nice. Still, I had no other choice if I wanted to watch Hwa-in’s training and eat all the Pepero before going home.

There weren’t this many Peperos from the beginning. It is true that my friendships have increased tremendously compared to two months ago, but it was still not enough to receive an unmanageable amount of Pepero.

This happened entirely because of a friend with a silver spoon who had no idea about the world.

‘It’s my first time exchanging something like this with a friend…’ . ‘Is this enough?’

Saying that, Seol-ah, who gave her a mountain of Pepero, said, ‘No!’ Is there anyone who can say that? Saying no when everyone is saying yes is not necessarily a good thing.

When I gave a cheap Pepero in exchange for all kinds of high-quality Peperos, my conscience prickled, but the person who received it went back very satisfied, so let’s say it’s okay.

But no matter how hard I tried, it wasn’t easy to eat it all. It is said that I started liking sweets after I became a girl, but there is a limit. The amount of food eaten has also significantly decreased compared to the past.

As I was eating the giant pepero, which was probably almost 30cm long, with a whimper, I felt Hwain’s eyes turn towards me. … ? Why is that guy shy again?

Ah, maybe that’s it. Is it embarrassing to ask for a bite when you want it?

If that’s the case, there’s nothing I can’t give you. No, I would rather eat it. This large pepero is so difficult to eat even when the stomach is full.

“Now, I’ll give you a bite.”

“Oh, no. That’s it.”

“I was watching so intently, so why am I surprised? Are you paying attention to this again?”

Seeing Hwa-in sharply decline, I remembered the last time I gave him a drink. Damn, you’re so clean. Still, since I was eating this time, I thought it might be possible, so I neatly cut off the part that touched my mouth with a tap.

But Hwain’s attitude was still the same. If you refuse like this, on the other hand, I get a little angry. Are you saying you can’t take the cup I give you!? It feels the same.

Still, you can’t force feed it, so here, let’s use commercial techniques based on many years of life experience.

“Don’t lose too much like that. Because I’m giving it to you especially.”

When I emphasized the special part, Hwain flinched and reacted. Emphasizing the uniqueness of the buyer or product is a technique that is as effective as it is commonly used. Even I have passed over it countless times, so it won’t be easy for Hwa-in to resist.

Sure enough, ‘if that’s the case…’ .’ With the same feeling, Hwain held out his hand. It’s easy, it’s easy. Feeling like a sergeant in charge, I placed the giant pepero in Hwain’s hand──

“Oh, give it to me? Thank you~.”

──I tried to do it, but a passing gangster snatched it away.

“Oh, it was taken away.”

“… If you think about it, there’s no way there’s something special about just giving food.”

“I got caught.”

Hwa-in sighed heavily and I gave him a few more peperos—hmm. An apology was replaced with an apology.

It’s been a really long time since it was Pepero Day, but yeah. It was quite fun.

***

“Sorry, senior! I forgot that my senior didn’t know about Pepero Day. I tried to express my feelings lightly with an apology, but will you accept it?”

“No, I’m full now so I can’t eat any more today.”

“It’s too much! Are you saying you can’t eat the pepero I give you!?”

“Who did you resemble when you grew up like this? .”

*****