episode_0390

Is it because I stopped by while I was eating something spicy?

“Cough, gasp…!”

I felt a little pain and couldn’t stop coughing, as if the red pepper powder on the rice cake had gone to a bad place.

‘Water, water…!’

Thanks to this, I was able to free myself from that horrible feeling only after pouring three cups of water down my throat.

“Heo-eok, gasp…”

No, but… what did he just say…?

What did you see?

I muttered this to myself and cast my gaze towards Amelia sitting across from me.

Then, what caught my eye was Amelia, with an innocent yet harmless expression, biting into a red-seasoned, appetizing-looking rice cake.

···Maybe I heard something wrong?

Yeah, maybe that’s the case.

Common sense tells us that there is no way a person with a face like that would casually throw out such outrageous remarks.

I tried to deny reality in my own way, but the other person was merciless.

Amelia, who finished eating the rice cake she was eating so hard without leaving a trace, completely drove a wedge against me.

“The woman who went in with Suhyun was a different woman from the two I saw at school last time.”

I didn’t hear it wrong, fuck…

“Suhyeon, is Suhyeon a playboy?”

“Uh, um…”

What on earth should I answer here?

Apart from the fact that I couldn’t figure it out and felt at a loss, there was something about it that didn’t feel real.

That was the situation I was facing right now.

You’re being questioned by a blonde foreign student, whose only friendship is a simple meal together and a few face-to-face encounters, asking if you’re a womanizer.

I wondered who in the world had ever experienced a situation like this.

No, that’s the part. Even so, why on earth is he asking this?

Don’t Americans usually consider personal privacy very important?

Maybe I’m biased, but at least that’s the image of Americans I had in my head.

As I was thinking about that and just rolling my eyes, I wondered if I had a taste for rice cakes soaked in the seasoning well.

For someone who came from a culture where people are more familiar with forks than chopsticks, Amelia showed off her chopstick skills and picked up another piece of rice cake and shoved it straight into her mouth.

Then, I thought to myself as I took in the sight of Amelia munching on it intently.

I wonder if this is a threat.

Originally, I would have thought so.

With that in mind, you probably tried to figure out what the other person’s intention was in doing this.

Or… lead the opponent to a deserted place and then hit them with a hypnotic beam.

Normally, I would have acted like that, but I didn’t think that way this time.

Amelia’s attitude, which seemed so harmless for someone threatening someone, made me do that.

“What will you do if I answer yes?”

In a way, that was why he was able to ask such a question to Amelia in a relatively calm voice.

“Well, ”

But what came back as a response was Amelia shrugging her shoulders proudly.

“You weren’t threatening me? I thought it was like that.”

“Threat? Me? Why?”

“Well… Is there any other reason to bring up such a story at this time?”

“Hmm… It may certainly feel that way from Suhyeon’s perspective.”

No, but… didn’t you suddenly become fluent in Korean…?

The habit of adding ‘is’ to the end of every word suddenly disappeared…

Could it be that it was all an act?

As I narrowed my eyes thinking that might be the case, Amelia’s voice followed.

“But no. Whom Suhyun meets or how many women he meets, that’s entirely Suhyun’s personal freedom and none of my business, right?”

“That’s true.”

That’s right, though.

If you were a Korean with a Confucian mindset deeply embedded in your bones, you would have been busy clicking your tongue and pointing fingers at me. But is this the American mindset?

As I was once again admiring it, Amelia cast a curious glance at the chicken ribs that were sizzling and cooking on the iron plate.

He glanced at my face for a moment, but the series of actions felt like he was asking, ‘Can I eat now?’, so a sighing sound escaped his mouth, which did not suit the situation.

“I can eat this much. It’s hot so be careful.”

Amelia’s intention in suddenly bringing up such a story is still unclear, but isn’t there a sin in food?

More than anything… it was a sin to leave the dakgalbi of this famous restaurant unattended.

So, as I said that, I scooped up the perfectly cooked chicken ribs with an iron spatula and placed them on the plate in front of Amelia, but she bowed her head once at me and used her chopsticks to pick up a thick piece of chicken ribs and cabbage full of seasoning and juice at the same time. I picked it up and shoved it into my mouth.

“Umm…!”

Then, he let out a faint groan and threw his body down.

A blond beauty the size of Amelia, who is obviously a foreigner, and who is not an ordinary foreigner at all, shows off her infatuation with Korean food in that way, making everyone look like people from a country where videos containing foreigners’ reactions have a suspiciously high number of views. Did I once again feel happy?

Even though I deliberately chose a corner seat, there were quite a few glances in this direction.

Anyway, Amelia didn’t care and just worked hard to get rid of the things I gave her.

Is it because I was born with an appearance that inevitably catches the attention of others wherever I go, so I’m used to this level of attention?

While I was thinking that, Amelia, who had quickly finished all the things I had given her, wiped her mouth with a tissue and opened her mouth.

“I know that. Su-hyeon?”

“···?”

“Foreigners think of the United States as a very free country, but in reality, the United States is a very conservative country?”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, my family was especially in the worst condition. Not to mention my parents, all my family members are devout Puritans.”

Puritan… I don’t know, but considering the use of the expression ‘conservative’, is it something like Korean Confucianism?

It’s a world line where all the family members are Confucian old-timers… that could definitely be a bit scary…

“Actually, there were some reasons why I chose to study abroad.”

Indeed… I wanted to use studying abroad as an excuse to escape from a family that oppressed me.

Still, the reason I chose this place of refuge was Korea, which is as deeply rooted in Confucian culture as it is the Puritans.

It seemed like Amelia didn’t have much luck at drawing.

Or… he may have already used up his entire life’s worth of lottery luck when he was born.

Anyway, what is the reason for suddenly throwing threatening comments at me and releasing TMI like this?

As I was inwardly curious, Amelia, who had been examining the preparation of the dish with her chopsticks, picked up the sambu that was served to wrap the dakgalbi, and immediately shoved it into her mouth and said,

“It wasn’t easy to convince my family, but somehow I was able to do it. And as I left the U.S. to study abroad, I decided on one thing. Do you know what it is?”

“Well, did you write a bucket list or something?”

“Hmm… It’s roughly similar.”

“So what is it?”

Did I get rid of everything I had shoved into my mouth in that short period of time?

Amelia smiled brightly, lifting her slightly red lips.

“I’m trying to date a man.”

What…?

“Isn’t it a bit romantic to meet a man far away from your home country?”

“What is that…”

“So, when I just arrived in Korea, I had high expectations…”

Why am I suddenly becoming sullen again?

People are curious.

“Suhyeon.”

“Tell me.”

“Would you please tell me honestly and not lie?”

“···?”

“From the perspective of Koreans, am I not that good?”

Not so good…?

What kind of nonsense is that?

As I was inwardly bewildered by the unexpected content, Amelia’s voice, filled with feelings of injustice, continued.

“Otherwise, why is everyone so busy avoiding me when they see me?”

···ah.

Did it really happen that way?

“That’s actually…”

“Actually?”

“Korean people have a disease.”

“Is it a disease?”

“Yes, if you see a foreigner coming towards you, your heart suddenly starts beating fast and your stomach hurts.”

The technical term for this is English depression.

The funny thing is that when a situation becomes unavoidable, we deal with it well in our own way.

“What you’re saying is that it’s not because I made a mistake or didn’t like it in the eyes of Koreans?”

“Yes… right?”

“Then what about me?”

to?

“How do you feel about me when you’re cheating on me?”