Chapter 100: Anyway, they sold, right?
Chapter 100: Anyway, they sold, right?
A convenience store located somewhere in Seoul.
At a glance, it seemed like an ordinary convenience store, but there was one unusual thing.
The entire refrigerated food display… was filled with custard pudding.
No matter how well pudding sells at this store, one would first think there must have been some mistake.
As if to prove that, a stern-looking man pointed to the puddings and spoke softly.
“Boss, what are you going to do with all this?”
“Here we go again…”
“I told you not to touch the orders… No, why did you order so many puddings in the first place? Who’s going to buy all this?”
“Well, that’s…”
The rough-looking man, the one called the boss, scratched his head sheepishly and sighed as if embarrassed.‘If I say this, he’ll probably look at me like I’m an idiot.’
He couldn’t even understand why he had ordered so many puddings.
The reason he ordered such a large quantity of custard pudding was… simple.
…He just felt like he had to.
Ah, if we’re being precise, it wasn’t just ‘because.’
He wasn’t sure if there was any connection, but he had that thought after dreaming of something blue, as usual.
‘Does it have something to do with the dream…?’
Thinking that way, it seemed a bit absurd.
He wasn’t buying a lottery ticket after having a dream but ordering a ton of pudding.
Even if it was the work of something, he couldn’t know the purpose….
He thought it might be some kind of cute prank.
…In the first place, it was probably just an inexplicable urge that came over him like a curse.
“Boss?”
“Uh, well… Anyway, if it seems like we can’t sell them all… what should we do?”
The employee who had been looking at him with puzzled eyes sighed deeply and replied.
“What else can you do? You’ll have to take responsibility and buy them all.”
“Oh dear… What money do I have…?”
“Don’t you have any saved up? Like a savings account?”
“Hmph… You’re telling me to use my savings to cover this hole? Are you crazy…?”
“Isn’t the crazy one the boss who placed such an absurd order?”
The man had nothing to say, so he could only let out a big sigh without retorting.
“…If we really can’t sell ‘em, guess we’ll have to give some to the nearby orphanage or somethin’.”
“You know you’ll have to pay for them, right?”
“I know! I know!”
Ugh, this cold-blooded bastard!
But since it was he who would be at a loss without him, the man simply took out a pudding from the refrigerated display and tore open the packaging.
Ah, this is delicious.
Surely someone will buy these, right?
The man, sensing the gaze on him as he ate the pudding, muttered softly.
“I’ll pay for it later, so don’t look at me like that. Someone might think you’re the boss.”
*ahem*
The employee also averted his gaze, feeling like he had been too obvious.
*jingle*
As the bell hung at the entrance rang, a customer entered.
“Welcome.”
“Welcome!”
The woman wearing a hood pulled low seemed startled by the enthusiastic welcome, shrinking back and giving a slight bow as if in greeting.
…She also seemed surprised to see the man standing blankly in front of the counter, eating pudding.
Anyway.
The woman’s gaze fell upon the pudding in the man’s hand, then turned her gaze to the refrigerated section.
Then, with what seemed like excited footsteps, she approached it.
And picked up the puddings with both hands.
The woman, cradling five puddings in her arms, approached the counter to pay for the puddings, then left the convenience store with a satisfied smile, unlike when she entered.
“…The pudding is selling better than expected, isn’t it?”
“None of the regulars… have been here…”
Even the employee who had been reprimanding the boss muttered blankly, looking a bit surprised.
However.
That procession did not end there.
“Oh, you have pudding here?”
“We do!”
“Yay!”
It wasn’t a constant stream, but people looking for pudding started to visit steadily.
Among them, there were quite a few who came all the way here because they couldn’t find it where they lived.
At that point, the employee who had been nagging the boss asked a customer who came to buy pudding as if experiencing cognitive dissonance.
“Um… is this pudding famous? There are unusually many people looking for it today.”
The woman, who had been making a satisfied face while paying for the pudding, blinked as if pondering for a moment, then shook her head.
“Not particularly… I just… felt like I should buy it…”
“Is that so…?”
As if she herself found what she said strange, the woman hurriedly left the convenience store after taking the pudding.
The boss, who had been secretly watching, chuckled menacingly and said to the employee manning the counter.
“See, I told you it would sell.”
“…Yeah. I don’t know what’s going on, but that’s how it turned out.”
“Really, you won’t give me any credit.”
Nevertheless, the boss seemed quite pleased to have something to tease about for a while.
However.
…The mumbling of the customer who had just left was somewhat concerning.
She came to buy it because she felt like she had to.
It made him feel strange, as he had felt compelled to place a large order for a similar reason.
‘Is this what they call fate?’
Could it be that I just let my fated partner slip away?
“I don’t know what you’re thinking right now, Boss, but it’s probably not that.”
“I know that too!”
The boss looked at the refrigerated food display, which had noticeably emptied.
The pudding, which he had wondered how to deal with, had already sold quite a bit.
Yeah, what did it matter what it was.
As long as it sells. As long as it sells.
The boss laughed heartily and patted the shoulder of the puzzled employee. The employee wanted to say something but closed his mouth upon seeing the pudding being sold.
Somehow, looking at the pudding made him want to eat it too…?
The employee sighed inwardly and greeted the next customer.
The peaceful happening that occurred at a convenience store somewhere in Seoul seemed to have ended like that.
These days, I’ve been feeling a bit strange.
…It’s not because I ate all that meat.
That memory had already been erased by the food cooked by Chef Kim Cheonsu.
What’s making me feel odd is that pudding keeps appearing in my dreams.
No, I did eat that memorable pudding made by Kim Cheonsu, and I thought I wanted to eat it that day, but isn’t this a bit weird?
I’m worried that the jellies might turn into pudding at this rate.
Of course, since pudding keeps appearing in my dreams.
My body won’t actually turn into pudding, but…
No matter how much I pondered the cause… I couldn’t think of anything that stood out.
If I had to say, I started having those dreams after thinking I wanted to eat pudding, so I could say it happened because I was thinking about pudding.
Then shouldn’t things like steak and chicken appear, not pudding?
I want to eat chicken and steak more than pudding.
While I was lying on the bed, blankly passing time like that.
The door opened, and Chef Kim Cheonsu entered, carrying a fragrant aroma.
When I turned my head to express that I was looking at him, Kim Cheonsu put a large bowl on the floor and said.
“…I made it on the way here.”
After muttering that, he… I mean, the chef disappeared as abruptly as he had come.
What the chef left behind was…
Behold!
Pudding.
A large quantity of pudding, enough to fill the big bowl.
Moreover, it looked much more refined than the pudding I ate that day.
That time, he had made it in a real hurry, but this time, it was clear he had put in a lot of effort.
…Although it was served in an unsightly bowl thanks to our precious piglets.
Wait a minute.
Why did he only bring the bowl?
The spoon?
Does he want me to eat with my hands?
I was starting to feel a bit of anger towards Kim Cheonsu.
The door opened.
Focusing my gaze in puzzlement, I saw Kim Cheonsu approaching with a spoon in his hand.
“Hmm… I forgot this.”
I wanted to believe in him!
I wanted to think that way, but this was a bit… strange.
Was he the type to take care of others so attentively?
No, he’s good at cooking, but isn’t he bad at taking care of such details?
But… he came back just to give me a spoon?
“Enjoy your meal.”
I took the spoon he handed me and blankly watched him leave.
…I don’t know what’s going on.
Well, good things are good.
It felt a bit off to just brush it off like that.
Still.
As the saying goes, a good meal is the best medicine.
For now, I decided to enjoy the pudding he left.
The slimes that had gathered around extended their jelly toward the pudding, so I blocked them with the spoon.
I stopped the slimes and scooped the pudding into their bodies.
As I was feeding them the pudding… I felt a strange sensation.
When I swallowed something called an “anomaly,”… it seemed to come out in the form of the slime.
This time, there was no sign of that happening.
Come to think of it, Jungsik… was something I spat out to suppress something uncontrollable in me, didn’t he?
Does that mean I have to feel something like that and spit it out this time, too?
I don’t know.
…It would be nice to have something like a status window.
Actually, maybe a status window would pop up if I spoke?
So, being unable to speak is the default setting.
It was a thought that only made me realize I had read too many novels, so I ate the pudding and watched the slimes jiggle around.
Well, it’d be good for me if no more mouths appear here.
Thus, after finishing all the pudding in the large bowl with the jellies, I patted my protruding belly and left the room with the sphere.
Come to think of it.
Does it… not need to eat?
Does it eat something like electricity?
While having such silly thoughts, I entered the management office.
Han Seori was seen pressing her temples with a face that looked like she had a headache to deal with.
Sensing danger, I slowly backed away.
“Ah, you’re here.”
But Han Seori was faster at noticing my presence.