Middleman's Love | ENG TRANS |

EXTRA 3 - Dignity Cannot be Eaten!

[Jade's POV]

Have you ever heard the saying "A scholar can be killed, but not humiliated?"

You must have heard about it! Because this is a famous quote, often found in martial arts films or novels, but there are also people like this in real life. These are individuals with a strong sense of dignity, willing to do anything to achieve victory. Sometimes it doesn't make any sense, but as long as they win, they feel satisfied, trying to teach a lesson to anyone who challenges them. Sometimes they end up doing stupid things and then find themselves suffering enormously.

You might be wondering who I'm talking about, well, it's about me. Yes, it's me, Jadenipat.

Maybe many of you think that I am a quiet person, that I don't care much about things and that I am willing to adapt to others, right? This is just a part of me, because in reality deep in my heart flows the blood of a fighter. I like to argue until the end about trivial and insignificant things, like when I talk about Japanese anime with my friends and if someone says something wrong and insists they are right, I will definitely argue all the time. Or I spend whole days and nights challenging my sister to see who can keep their eyes open for the longest time without sleeping and watching TV.

It seems absurd, right? I realize it myself now. I wonder why I have to fight with others about things like this. But in the end, whenever something stimulates me, my fighting blood kicks in and I have to be the winner!

I've been like this since I was little. I don't think it's a problem to go crazy every now and then, but one day, this characteristic got me into trouble... It all started at midday on a very boring day at work...

The whoosh of cars hurtling down the road at high speed had been my lunch companion for the past few years. I was sitting with all my friends in P'Pan's restaurant while frowning at the crispy pork rice in oyster sauce worth 55 baht.

Phi, you don't want to increase the price, so reduce the portion?! How long will I still be able to eat like this?!

"Jade."

But I can't blame P'Pan entirely. Let's look at the current economic situation: electricity, gas, all consumer spending is increasing day by day, and even noodles are increasing in price! Prices are always rising and it is said that everything has gone up except the minimum wage. Besides, this is Bangkok. One meal is already expensive enough. Now it's "expensive". So, if three pieces of crispy pork are missing from my plate, I have no one else to blame but politics...

"Jade!"

"Help?!" I jumped. The person sitting in front of me suddenly shouted my name loudly, it sounded like he was competing with the noise of the traffic on the street.

"What is it, Uea?" I looked up from the crispy pork rice in oyster sauce in front of me, and looked at my friend who was frowning.

Those big round eyes were filled with doubt about my sudden distracted behavior, but before he could speak, Gun, who was eating with us today, asked first, "P'Jade, what are you doing? Your gaze is more focused than when you are working."

"..."

This brat! What an ugly mouth! He would be cuter if he just shut up and didn't say anything!!

"What can a guy like him do..." King, who was sitting next to Uea, raised his head from the stock price graph on his cell phone and looked at me with interest with his jet-black eyes. "...If you don't count how many pieces of crispy pork there are on the plate!"

"A spoiled kid like you who has a plate of rice so big you can split it into two meals, just needs to shut up!" I squinted at someone's spicy fried rice filled with pork slices, and then rolled my eyes angrily.