Chapter Text
Everybody's crazed over the Flaming Charisma pizza.
It's become the daily topic among Kim Kibum's colleagues in the marketing department. "Let's have that famous pizza for lunch!" "We'll just grab some before heading home." "Good thing it's just near our office!" They talk about it nonstop!
His curiosity grows day by day as he keeps hearing about the pizzeria and, most importantly, that ridiculously named pizza. What's so special about it anyway?
"Sunbaenim, it's lunch break." His graphic designer colleague from another department informs after checking the time on his digital watch. They have been in the small conference room discussing plans for the promotional ad of a certain product since morning. "Shall we go downstairs to eat?"
"You can go ahead, Taemin. You and the others." Kibum waves him off as he keeps typing on his laptop, finishing up the work their team has put in.
"Are you sure? We can bring you food or something." It's rare for his colleague to offer to buy for him yet he still refuses.
"I'll be heading down after I finish this. Don't worry."
Indeed, time has flown by and before Kibum knows it, his colleagues are back and he still hasn't finished proofreading his work.
Seeing that his sunbae obviously hasn't left his seat, Taemin heaves a sigh and shakes his head in disbelief. If he has not yet known Kibum enough, the other would've ended up lying that he has gone out for lunch then starve himself until office hours end just so he remains consistent with his lie. He's one stubborn sunbaenim.
With the leftover bag in hand, he offers the leftover pizza they've just had. "Sunbaenim, you can have this. You seem like haven't left at all."
A concered Taemin sounds like a nagging mom, but Kibum simply thanks him to avoid disrupting rapport within their team. "Thank you."
Seeing that Kibum has only gone back to work after receiving the leftover bag, Taemin claps his hand on his sunbae's shoulder albeit gently yet still enough to startle the other. "You should probably take a break. We'll continue the work for you." He adds, "We can't allow our team leader to fall ill a few days before the deadline. So you must eat."
"Right, right. Thank you for the reminder."
Before Kibum leaves behind his work, he makes sure to save then takes the paper bag with him excusing himself with a promise that he will be back as soon as possible.
He exits the conference room to get some coffee and heads to the employee's lounge to take his meal. He opens the bag and finds two huge slices of pizza. This must be from that pizzeria on the next block. He puts them on a plate and reheats it in the microwave. Can't have pizza with rubbery cheese. Just half a
minute and it's done.
Kibum can tell it's hand-tossed with just enough thickness; not too thin, not too thick. Legit then. Aside from that, the cheese still stretches enough even after reheating. Two points. Generous, mouth-watering toppings of spicy chicken strips (he can tell, it's red), pickled jalapeños, portobello mushrooms, feta cheese, some fresh basil, what more could you ask for? Just going by the looks, the signature pizza may indeed live up to his now ridiculously high expectations because of the rave reviews he's been hearing.
But what good is a pizza if he only stares at it magnificence? So, he takes the biggest bite he can which, luckily, has all the toppings in. He chews. He masticates. He savors every bite that even his eyes voluntarily closes to imagine the the harmony of flavors in his palate. He is devastated.
He takes another bite and repeats the process but it's still the same. He starts to question if their palates are simply easily satisfied lacking gastronomic experience or he's just too picky with the flavor profile he expects on certain dishes simply because he's an avid foodie. Or, he just has to have the experience firsthand.
Something's missing, he concludes. Whatever it is, he is now very curious to find it out. Having lunch done, he returns to the conference room with the resolve to have dinner at the pizzeria later.