The TS Memoir of a Misogynistic Novelist

A long silence ensued from Hwa-won. The pork cutlet that Mira had been holding with her chopsticks fell, and Eun-a, who was eating ramen, stopped and stared at me. Of course, it was clear that she had been watching us. Ah, perhaps this question wasn’t the best idea. The suddenly cold atmosphere was hard to endure. My face may have already turned a bit red.

I found myself lowering my head, hands wedged between my knees, staring at the floor, when Hwa-won finally spoke up.

“It’s pretty.”

“Oh, really?!”

It was incredible how easy it was for my mood to lift; Hwa-won’s single compliment had me raising my head immediately. I glanced around to see if I had reacted too loudly, but fortunately, not many people were watching us. Except for Eun-a and Mira.

Mira looked half-horrified, while Eun-a’s eyes were wide, but well, that wasn’t the important part, right?

I was just a bit worried about Hwa-won’s subtly strange expression. Somehow, her smile looked a little awkward. Maybe suddenly bringing up a question like this wasn’t a good idea after all. But at least, the fact that she said I was pretty didn’t seem to be a lie, so that was a relief.

“Did you coordinate it yourself?”

“Uh-huh, I saw it on the internet… I searched for something similar and wore it. I bought this dress when I went shopping with Hye-won before, and the cardigan was a gift from Eun-a.”

“When did you start talking to Hye-won?”

“Oh, yesterday. We were buying swimsuits together, so we started talking… It was actually the first time we met just the two of us.”

“I’m glad to see you guys got closer.”

I was worried about whether the question of what kind of swimsuit she bought would come up, but thankfully, it did not. Hwa-won continued to smile. It was a little different from her usual smile, but just the fact that she was smiling was enough for me.

“Ah, I’m going to drop off my tray and go to the bathroom for a moment…”

Hadn’t Hwa-won already gone to the bathroom earlier? I didn’t go with her, so I couldn’t be sure, but it must be so. After wishing her a good trip, I finished the remaining udon and began sipping the broth little by little.

By the way, Mira and Eun-a were quiet. Looking at them, Mira’s expression remained unchanged, and Eun-a was calmly eating ramen again.

“What’s wrong?”

“Uh… nothing.”

“Boring.”

At Mira’s response, I shifted my gaze to Eun-a. Staring at her, Eun-a showed me some kind of confident expression.

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Because I can.”

“What nonsense is that?”

Ignoring Eun-a’s incomprehensible nonsense, I stood up to return my tray. After returning my tray and returning to my seat, I noticed that Mira still had quite a bit of her pork cutlet left.

“You’re eating slowly. Ah, I’m not saying anything. I was just wondering if it didn’t suit your taste.”

“Well, a little bit.”

“Then leave it. Let’s buy something delicious at the rest area outside.”

Eun-a suddenly interjected at my words.

“Is it going to be your treat?”

“I’ll treat Mira, not you.”

“That’s unfair!”

“It’s a reasonable ruling.”

Even if I said that, I would actually treat both of them anyway.

A bit later, yet not too early, Hwa-won returned, and after all four of us finished our meals, we stepped outside.

“What do you all want to eat?”

I signaled casually that I would treat them, and Eun-a and Mira took turns speaking up.

“I want tteokbokki.”

“Uh, I want so-tteok and hot bar.”

“Pork, what about you?”

“I ate less. I left some pork cutlet, didn’t I?”

“So that makes your weight…”

“Your weight is because you’re small.”

After a brief moment of watching the childish fight that Eun-a started (Honestly, I was a bit irritated when Mira scratched her), I turned to Hwa-won, who opened her mouth.

“Ah, I’m good. I ate a lot. But things like walnut pastries are fine; just eat things like tteokbokki here. It might get messy in the car.”

Since I had just had pork cutlet and udon, that was understandable. Still, is it too much to say it shouldn’t spill in the car?

“You sound ridiculously picky.”

“It’s an expensive car. It’s not even mine.”

That’s true. Even if I saved all the money I earned in my life, I probably wouldn’t be able to buy this.

While Hwa-won headed to the car first, we checked out the rest area shop to eat. Eun-a, who said she would eat tteokbokki, suddenly changed her order to small potatoes, and Mira stuck to her so-tteok and seafood hot bar.

I bought walnut pastries, but I ended up buying more than I intended to eat alone. Other kids might want to eat too, and Hwa-won also likes walnut pastries.

“Is it really necessary to buy so many?”

“You’ll each take one.”

“Are we pigs or something?”

“Little piggies.”

“Speaking of which… hmm.”

“What?”

“I was going to call you a pig, but you look too thin for me to say it.”

“Yeah, you’re the pig.”

“Ugh.”

“And Hwa-won likes them, you know. Walnut pastries.”

“Ah….”

Why are you nodding like you suddenly knew? Well, it’s not particularly strange. We settled down on a suitable bench and happily devoured the rest area food. For the record, Eun-a lost two out of eight small potatoes.

“Oh no, my potato!”

“I’ll give you a walnut pastry.”

“Mira, what about you?!”

“Do you want a bite of my hot bar that I’ve taken a bite of?”

“Seriously!”

While Mira, who hadn’t paid her dues, was pestering Eun-a, I looked towards the car, and no one was in sight. Were they waiting inside? It’s hard to see into the car.

Having finished all the food except for the walnut pastries, we headed back to the car, only to find it empty.

“Where did they go?”

“They’ll come back if we wait a bit, I guess.”

I felt slightly worried, but just as Eun-a said, Hwa-won returned quickly. I wondered where she had gone, and Hwa-won replied casually.

“Where did you go?”

“To the bathroom. I took my toothbrush and toothpaste from the car to brush my teeth.”

“You’re not normally this neat, are you?”

“I clean up when I’m with girls, okay?”

Was that how it was? I wasn’t really sure. It had been a long time since I saw Hwa-won with other girls.

…By the way, is it that I’m now included among the girls… with Hwa-won?

It was a pleasant yet somehow bittersweet feeling.

Everyone got back into their seats, and we set off towards our destination once more.

After getting into the car, I realized there was a slight smell of cigarettes from Hwa-won.

I didn’t ask anything.

~

Eun-a and Mira didn’t fall asleep again. It’s hard to return to sleep once you’re awake, and they had already slept sufficiently.

The two were chatting away, occasionally engaging us in conversation, primarily about my relationship with Hwa-won.

“Where did you two first meet?”

“In our first year of college, we met at school. It was during orientation, right?”

“Yeah, oh, back then you were kind of prickly.”

“I was? Why?”

“You were busy flirting and trying to impress girls.”

“Am I okay now?”

“You’re still annoying now.”

Hwa-won laughed, and I laughed along.

“So how did you become close?”

“During a group project?”

“Hwa-won, I was fascinated by the content of a story you wrote about dismembering a female character while doing a project, so I tried to talk to you.”

“…I didn’t want to hear about that.”

If you ask, you should be prepared for the answer, Mira.

“We were both guys back then, so…”

“Gender isn’t the issue, is it?”

“Right. Hwa-won’s taste in stories is a bit unusual.”

“I think it’s better than that time you described a woman’s abortion process from the fetus’s perspective in your first presentation.”

“Ugh.”

This time, Eun-a pretended to retch. Ah, how can you say that? They didn’t know.

“You dissected your insides and shoved them in there!”

“You stabbed a fetus too, so it’s kind of similar, right?”

“Shut up.”

After bantering for a while, Hwa-won spoke up again.

“Oh, there was kind of an interesting thing.”

“What was it?”

Now I was curious too. What did Hwa-won find interesting among the things we experienced together?

“My ex-girlfriend, while dating me, hit on her and got close to her.”

“…You found that interesting?”

That’s a bothersome story.

“It was hella funny! Everyone knew we were dating, then at a class with the major all together, she stood up and put me on blast.”

“Wow, that’s harsh.”

“No, the harsh part is her trying to date me while hanging on to her!”

I had nothing to do with it. It felt bad having a clingy girl sticking to me, and since it was right at the start of freshman year, I was also deliberately trying to shake off the girls who were clinging to me. I don’t know why, but it bothers me even more thinking about it now. Damn it.

“Even so, publicly exposing her was a bit much.”

“After that, all the girls who were clinging to her dropped off, right?”

“You acted like you were hurt by that and then flirted with those girls. That counts as cheating.”

“That was okay since it was approved.”

“You’re an enemy of women.”

“Then we’re enemies now.”

“…I’ll cancel that.”

We kept chatting like this until we arrived at our destination. Believe it or not.

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