I take back my words. This was much more uncomfortable than I expected.
We trudged down the street with Haknyeon ecstatically leading the way, followed by the three of us at a distance. Of course, I was in the middle.
"Ta-da! Welcome to Grandmother's Seafood!" He brandished the restaurant name boastfully. I didn't even get a proper look at the exterior when I was pushed into it with force. Before I knew it, I was seated in the corner of a rectangular table. A waitress placed a menu on our table almost instantly and I glanced through the list of dishes.
"Seafood at night? You must be begging for a stomachache," Donghyuck complained as he was forced into a seat opposite me. I didn't even wanna lift my head.
"Leave then," Youn commented nonchalantly as she took a seat beside me, sparks forming between them immediately. Haknyeon sensed the brewing tension and hastily ordered four of the same hairtail soup to divert their attention. Yeah, I brought this upon myself.
"By the way, where were you last training?" He changed the subject, directing the question to Youn, "You never disappear without any warning."
"Guesthouse, there was a shortage of manpower so I had no choice," she replied flatly, to which her answer caught me by surprise.
"You work at a guesthouse?" I blurted out in shock as Youn laughed out loud. At least to me, she didn't look like the hospitality type.
"It's my family's business," she started, poking at the pickled radish in front of her before picking up a slice and placing it carefully into her mouth. "There's been an influx of guests lately for whatever reason, so I help out when I have the time or when they urgently need manpower."
She turned to an awestruck me and continued, "I have a life outside Taekwondo too, you know."
Somehow, I felt personally attacked by that comment, only because it wasn't true in my case. Even though I'm majoring in sports science, I find myself in the dojang more than in my classrooms.
"What a joke." A nasty comment caught us all off guard as we simultaneously turned to the source of it. Donghyuck was chewing noisily on one of the side dishes, a smug look on his face as he stared out of the window. I heard a scoff from my right as I turned my attention back to her.
"What's so funny?" Youn interrogated calmly as he turned to her as if expecting her question.
"From what I heard, you only sit at the reception counter, barely attending to the guests. Is that called helping out to you?" He raised his eyebrows, gleefully waiting for her answer as she let out another scoff.
"And who have you heard from?" She mocked, "From what I heard, you only live in the training centre and nowhere else. How dare you assume something when you yourself are nothing."
Her tone grew sharp with her last sentence, sending a chill down my spine. I glanced at Haknyeon, who had an uneasy look on his face as if knowing what would happen next but decided not to butt in.
Meanwhile, Donghyuck was unfazed by her comment, sniggering at her weak comeback. "Of course you'd feel offended, for someone who's been silver-spooned all her life, you don't know how to handle insults."
Youn paused before easing up a little, a smirk forming on her face as she replied, "I see you're not over that." She grabbed another slice of pickled radish and munched away slowly, while I anticipated anxiously for her reply. "I guess you still don't understand, but your father chose me because I'm clearly better than you."
A million question marks flew over my head as I toggled between the bickering duo, to which I don't think it'll continue as a bicker anymore. I sent an SOS to Haknyeon, who picked up my signal and immediately cut in.
"Gosh, the food usually doesn't take this long," he laughed queasily as his eyes darted between the both of them, "I guess you're getting worked up easily because you're hungry."
"My dad only focused on you because you were a burden," Donghyuck retorted back despite the distraction, and the atmosphere suddenly turned fiery. He snarled, "You think he paid attention to you because you were good? No, it was because you were lacking too much. It's amazing how he didn't give up on you."
"Yah, Lee Donghyuck-" she yelled but got interrupted immediately.
"What a pity, you've been thinking wrong your entire life, and here you are trying to diminish me." He gazed at her mockingly, gritting his teeth as he continued, "I guess you can focus on that guesthouse of yours, now that your Taekwondo career is at the brink of death."
The table shook as Youn sprung up, slamming her chopsticks down. Her face was red with anger, and although she tried to hide it, she was on the verge of exploding. I suddenly felt guilty for inviting her here in the first place, but the main cause of this wasn't even bothered.
"Sorry, but I'm leaving," she muttered after calming down a little, rage still visible in her eyes, "I've lost all my appetite talking to this imbecile." She glared at Donghyuck one last time before stomping out of the restaurant, not even sparing us a second look back.
There was a dull atmosphere hanging over the table, my heart beating twice as fast from the heated exchange that just occurred, and I wasn't even part of it. To make matters worse, the aromatic hairtail soup just arrived, but I couldn't pull myself to dig in. Sensing the lingering tension, Haknyeon broke the silence.
"Wow! It looks amazing, doesn't it?" He exclaimed, prompting an answer from me. I reluctantly nodded, trying to shift my attention to the delicacy in front of me. I hate that at this point in time, I was still hungry.
We started digging in, immersing ourselves into total silence other than the slurping sound of the soup. I must say, Haknyeon really has the knack for finding good restaurants because this dish made me momentarily forget whatever happened earlier. Unavoidably, I stole glances at Donghyuck, who was busy indulging himself into the fillets of the hairtail, not even showing a little sign of remorse. He's really that despicable.
"By the way, Yoojin," Haknyeon broke the silence again, "Why'd you suddenly come here?"
My spoon froze in mid-air at the sudden question as I stared at it. I knew exactly what he was asking, but I still had to be sure.
"Come where?"
"I mean, Seoul probably has the best universities, not to mention the best Taekwondo facilities too, so it's a wonder why you came to this deserted island anyway," he continued as he waved his chopsticks around, envy clear in his voice. "Have you heard of Taepoong Academy? I heard it's the best performing club there."
My heart skipped a beat as I choked on my soup, shocked at the familiar name being brought up.
"I've never heard of it," I replied as nonchalantly as I could, avoiding his eyes. "And I came here just to relax, that's all." I quickly switched back to the original topic before he could catch me between my lies. Luckily, he didn't. He nodded his head in realisation while I heaved a sigh of relief. Surely, I'd be off the hook by now.
"That's not what you said before," a voice in front of me sounded and I darted my eyes to him. Donghyuck stared at me sceptically before continuing, "Aren't you an inexperienced black belt who left her club because it wasn't her style?"
His revelation stumped me, taking me back to the first day I set foot into the training centre. I did say that, but I didn't expect him to remember that so detailedly. I glanced at Haknyeon, who was looking at me with full curiosity. I can't play dumb now.
"Well, I mean..." I stuttered, trying to find a reasonable explanation while still keeping the truth hidden. "I did leave my club, but I came here purely for the reason to relax, and so happened to find out about Yeoljeong. I wanted to try out, and it turned out I like the style of training there, so I stayed."
I gulped as two pair of eyes stared straight into mine, nervousness rising in me as I hoped that I didn't sound ridiculous. However, both their reactions were completely different.
Haknyeon gasped in awe, seemingly amazed by his newfound knowledge about me. On the other hand, Donghyuck smirked and continued on with his food in silence, but that was what scared me. I may have fooled one, but what's the point when the other is keeping you on your toes.
At least, the conversation ended there as we finished the last bit of our food. I didn't even notice time past so fast until I looked at my phone again, gasping at the four-digit number that was a few minutes to 11.
"Gosh, I'm going to get indigestion like this," I mumbled to myself, but it seemed to be loud enough for the other two to hear it.
"Bananas help, we can drop by the convenience store if you want," Haknyeon suggested, but I waved him off.
"I think I'll puke if I eat anything else." I rubbed my bloated stomach as we headed down the street. This is exactly why I don't eat a heavy meal at night, and because it makes you gain weight easily. He laughed at my reply, which reminded me again that I wasn't alone. How did I end up eating with these two?
"Anyway, I live across from here, so I'll be leaving now," Haknyeon said as he walked backwards and away from us. "Let's eat again next time?"
"Sure," I answered half-heartedly, because this will probably be the last time I hang out with them after what happened earlier. But I had to show a little courtesy, you know.
I sighed deeply, turning around to head back when a figure blocked my view. Great, I'm left with him now. I marched passed him, determined to get away from him as fast as possible.
"Leaving so soon, newbie?" His voice could be heard in the distance, but I chose to ignore it.
"Or should I say, Taepoong Academy's Sung Yoojin?"
My feet halted in its tracks as I whipped around. How did he-?
---
Legend:
Taepoong - means "tornado" in Korean