“You’ll never know unless you try it.”

Hyeju was technically right: she couldn’t know for sure that she would get food poisoning from it and die unless she gave in and took a bite. However, the chances did seem very high. On top of that, Hyeju’s way of thinking was just extremely stupid, it would be like saying you don’t know if you will die from being shot until you are actually shot and die.

Her stomach had turned when she had stepped through the restaurant’s doors. It wasn’t the cleanness that made her feel this way. In fact, the restaurant looked pretty clean, having the average number of sticky floor spots Sooyoung expected from her fair experience with restaurants. It was clean enough to pass a health inspection, so that was not the problem. 

There was something else making her feel uneasy and, Sooyoung might not have been the smartest of her friend group, but she was famous for having the best intuition. Plus, she definitely noticed the strong burnt smell that was coming from the kitchen. 

The place was quite full and Sooyoung seemed to be the only person afraid for her life. She followed Hyeju to a table with a good view of the lit-up street. It was a good spot. 

Maybe she had been too quick to judge? Sooyoung wondered.

Then, on the opposite side of the establishment, someone dropped either a glass or a bowl, maybe both judging by the loud noise it made when it crashed against the floor. It broke into a million pieces, making everyone stop whatever they were doing to investigate what had happened. Sooyoung’s gut feeling intensified.

“Oopsie!” a cute girl with bangs and a loud voice said. “We apologize. Nothing to see here. It happens to the best of us.” She was carrying a broom and gave it to the girl who had dropped the platters. Then, in a quieter voice that coming from her was not quiet at all, she told the employee, “Yeojin, I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t carry more than two bowls at once. If you need help call Hyunjin.”

“Oh yeah. Hyunjin left like five minutes ago to go buy bread. They have to get rid of it before the end of the day so it’s much cheaper at this time,” replied the girl, Yeojin, nonchalantly while she cleaned the small pieces of glass. At that moment, a girl carrying like four boxes full of what appeared to be bread entered the restaurant. 

This can’t be really happening , thought Sooyoung. She turned back to Hyeju who, focused on her phone, seemed to have ignored all the preceding events. 

“Remind me why we are here,” said Sooyoung.

“I’m competing with Yerim to see who can find the worst restaurant in the neighbourhood,” answered Hyeju without moving her eyes away from the device.

“Okay… that explains why you are here, but why am I also here?

Hyeju rolled her eyes before saying, “I needed someone to drive me and you still owed me from when I recovered that assignment you accidentally deleted.” She dropped the phone on the table and finally looked at Sooyoung. “We’ve already been through all this before leaving my house. C’mon, Soo, don’t be picky.” And then in a lower voice, she added, “It’s not like you had anything else to do.”

She really didn’t, but it was not nice of Hyeju to remind her.

—

After five minutes, someone had brought menus for both of them. Sooyoung couldn’t concentrate enough to choose a dish when she had the feeling that this culinary experience was about to be the last one in her life. She had searched for the name of the restaurant online, hoping that maybe she could find some news about someone almost dying from intense stomach pains after eating here and managed to convince Hyeju to leave. There was nothing. Sooyoung had checked multiple times. 

What she had discovered instead was that, if this wasn’t the lowest-rated restaurant in town, it probably was close to it. Most people rated it 1-star. No wonder Hyeju had chosen this restaurant to beat Yerim. The reviews mentioned that even if the service was very friendly, they were all over the place. And yeah, she had been able to see that first-hand . The reviews also said that the menu and food lacked in many aspects, although they didn’t always say it in such soft words. 

There were some 5-star reviews, but Sooyoung was sure that they were by the owner and what she guessed were some of the workers.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

                               “Don’t mind the reviews, I think this is the best place to eat in all of Seoul!!!1!!”

                                              @KimJiwoo (owner) on March 19, 06:38 pm

Someone should teach her not to do this with her business account, Sooyoung judged.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

                               “whoever said teh noodles were burnt lied. the cook likes to make them crispy leik that.”

                                              @chaewonnie00 on Mai 6, 03:54 am

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

                               “The food is great! How can you give it 1 star.?! I’ve been working here for 6 months trust me”

                                              @jins0ul on June 5, 08:12 pm

                                                         “I meant I’ve been eating * here”

                                                                     @jins0ul on June 5, 08:12 pm

                                                         “unnie you know you can edit your original post right?”

                                                                     @chaewonnie00 on June 6, 01:30 am

                                                         “How?”

                                                                     @jins0ul on June 6, 08:45 am

                                                         “nevermind, this is fun :D”

                                                                     @chaewonnie00 on June 6, 05:40 pm

                                                         “CHAEWON?!”

                                                                     @jins0ul on June 6, 06:04 pm

Well, this @jins0ul was not very tech-savvy, but who was Sooyoung to judge, that was exactly the reason she was in this situation. @jins0ul was also very pretty. How did Sooyoung know that? Was it her foolproof intuition? No, it was the fact that she was standing right next to her. At the very least, there was an employee with the name tag ‘Jinsol’ next to her.

“I’ve connected the two dots,” said Sooyoung to no one. 

“Sorry?” asked Jinsol. She was looking directly at Sooyoung, eyebrows furrowed with focus.

Welp.

Sooyoung had actually been sooooooo wrong. The food was not going to be the reason she would die that night, the culprit would be her heart. It was beating too fast, pounding. She felt every heartbeat in every part of her body. As much blood as her heart was pumping at the moment, none seemed to be going to the brain.

“I- That you, um, you had, you'll, you would…You could, you do, you would you want you…” Hyeju please save me , Sooyoung hoped.

“Please ignore her. I would like to say this is not normal, but she is usually like that around pretty girls.” 

Jinsol turned beat red. Sooyoung choked on air. And Hyeju smirked at her friend. 

Sooyoung wouldn’t be the only one that didn’t leave the restaurant alive tonight, that’s for sure.

“Okay, now we are over that. Can I get one serving of jjajangmyeon?” said Hyeju.

Jinsol wrote it down and looked at Sooyoung with expectation. She was back to normal. She was either really good at acting or not that affected by what had happened. She must be called pretty often , Sooyoung thought.

Sooyoung had another problem, she had been too occupied checking the restaurant’s profile that she had forgotten to look at the actual menu. 

“Do- Do you recommend anything?” Sooyoung’s voice was still faint from embarrassment. 

Jinsol wondered for a bit before answering, “Oh, well not the fried chicken, Chae is not great with the frier. Maybe the bibimbap? Wait. No. We ran out of rice earlier. So, no gimbap either until Heejin comes back from the store, which may be between 5 and 40 minutes. Last time she got distracted by one of those outside gyms and challenged some men there to a planking contest. At least she won!”

“Okay…” Sooyoung looked at Hyeju with a questioning face but the other girl was too occupied smiling at her phone. She must have been talking with Yerim, boasting about how she was going to win the challenge because there was no way she would be able to find a crazier restaurant than this.

Then, Sooyoung looked back at Jinsol, who was still standing there, the small notebook and pen in hand and with an earnest smile. Sooyoung smiled back. “I’ll also get the jjajangmyeon then.”

“Good choice!” said Jinsol cheerily, wrote down her order, winked at her, and went to attend to some other customers two tables over.

Sooyoung quite literally melted. All her bones became goo, losing all strength and deflating in the chair. Her brain was replaying that wink on an infinite loop. Jinsol had winked at her! Did that mean something? Maybe Jinsol always winked at the customers. It would be a bit strange but who knows. 

Sooyoung watched her move around the restaurant. At first, it was to see if she also winked at the other customers, and as far as she could tell, she didn’t. Then, she simply couldn’t take her eyes off her. Saying she was pretty before was an understatement. She was gorgeous and captivating. She kept a smile even with the customers that were rude to her and also while she told them all the reasons they were wrong. Sooyoung found her extremely cute and entertaining. 

She knew she was smiling by herself like a dumbass but she couldn’t stop.

“I was right. You really like that girl,” said Hyeju with a smug face. She had stopped texting and had seen Sooyoung looking at the waiter.

“So what?” She had been caught and Hyeju knew her too well, there was no use in denying it.

“So ask her out,” answered Hyeju. “I have to put up with you complaining during the whole dinner, at least one of us should take something positive out of this experience.”

Okay. She could do that. She wouldn’t lose anything by trying. In any case, if she was rejected, she would go back home, never see the girl again, and hopefully, forget her in a few weeks. 

She would ask the next time she saw her.

—

After twenty minutes, they w ere still waiting for their dinner. In that time span, a girl had come back carrying two big sacks of rice followed by a bunch of what looked like gym bros, and there had been an unidentified small explosion in the kitchen. You could say a lot of bad things about this restaurant, but Sooyoung was definitely kept entertained. 

As for the waiter, Jinsol, she had disappeared after the BOOM from the explosion was heard, Sooyoung guessed that probably for some damage control.

It was the other waiter from before, Yeojin, who brought their food to the table. She had almost stopped next to Sooyoung carrying the two full bowls. 

“Hyunjin! Maybe I do need your hel-”

Record scratch. Freeze frame.

Films get it so right, Sooyoung thought. Because Sooyoung was sure that she had seen the whole thing happen in slow motion. The platter tipping, the bowls sliding in her direction. The contents spilling; one bowl over her left shoulder, the other all over her lap. There was jjajangmyeon everywhere.

“Oh-oh” Sooyoung heard from her side. 

Yeah, oh-oh .

The next events went as follows: Jiwoo, the cute girl with bangs and a loud voice, introduced herself as the owner, not that Sooyoung didn’t know that already , and started a never-ending stream of apologies and a promise of a free meal. Yeojin took that as an opportunity to run away and came back with some cleaning supplies. Then, the universe must have taken some pity on Sooyoung because Jinsol offered to guide her to the employee’s room so she could clean up.

The room was small. One of the walls was completely covered with lockers, on the opposite wall there was a table with two chairs and, on the wall in front, there were some storage counters, a fridge, and a sink with a mirror. Jinsol opened a cupboard and got all the cleaning supplies she could find. She also brought like a hundred paper towels and left them on the counter.

“I’m sorry, eh…”

“Sooyoung.”

“Sooyoung. Okay. I’m Jinsol.” Jinsol pointed at her name tag. “I wish I could offer you something more useful,” she said while rummaging every corner of the room. “I have to go back out one moment, so I will leave you here. You can clean yourself a bit.”

Once she was alone, Sooyoung tried to save as much of her clothes as she could. Spoiler alert, it was not much. Her shirt was the biggest problem. At the start of the evening, the shirt had been white, but she couldn’t say that anymore.

She spent like 10 minutes rubbing at it with paper towels and all kinds of chemicals but not much could be done. Finally, someone knocked on the room’s door and Sooyoung indicated they could come in. 

It was Jinsol again, her eyesight quickly falling to her shirt and grimacing with understanding. “I’m guessing that is there to stay.” She got closer to Sooyoung hesitating a bit. “Can I try something?” She pointed at her shirt, and when Sooyoung nodded she picked one of the products and tried to dab at it carefully trying not to make too much physical contact. 

“I’m really sorry.”

“Oh… It’s okay I guess. It’s not like it was intentional and your boss already apologized more than enough.”

Jinsol didn’t look at her, crestfallen seeing that her attempts to eliminate the sauce spots on Sooyoung’s shirt were not working either. “Yeojin was just trying to show the others that she is perfectly capable. Jiwoo inherited this restaurant from one of her uncles, and at first, she was so lost. We all wanted to help her, friends help each other and all that. But it turns out you need way more than a strong friendship to run a restaurant.” Jinsol tiredly laughed, still continuing with the useless dabbing with a paper towel. “I don’t know why I’m telling you this. I guess I just wanted one person to leave with a good impression of this place. I wanted you to have a good impression of it. Enough that you would consider coming back.”

“I-” Sooyoung started to talk. She took the other girl’s hand which was still hyper-fixated on a big spot, making her look up at her face before she continued speaking. “I want to come back. I mean, I will come back, it’s a promise. I never got to taste the food after all.” 

Sooyoung gave Jinsol a small but genuine smile, trying to erase the concern occupying the girl’s face. Jinsol returned it.

“Okay. Thanks.” Sooyoung saw Jinsol visibly relax. She went to the nearest trash to throw the pile of dirty paper Sooyoung had used to clean herself up. “However, I can’t let you leave like this. Don’t get me wrong you still look amazing, but your shirt is completely ruined.”

Sooyoung was grateful that Jinsol couldn’t see her blush because she was too occupied looking for something in what she guessed was her locker. Sooyoung was used to being the one doing all the flirting, this was uncharted territory. If Hyeju saw her like this she would never let it slide. 

Jinsol approached Sooyoung again carrying a blue hoodie. She left it on the table next to Sooyoung. “Wear this. It should fit you well and it’s better than a wet and dirty shirt.”

“Oh well. I really appreciate it, really. But I can’t accept this,” said Sooyoung pushing the cloth back into the other girl’s hands. “You barely know me. And I’m going straight home, you don’t really have to worry.” 

Jinsol pouted. Like literally pouted at Sooyoung, her eyebrows furrowed and lower lip protruding. “But I insist. I can wear my uniform to go home. Plus, I will feel bad if you don’t accept.” And with that Sooyoung took the hoodie.

Sooyoung had an idea.

“I have one condition, though. You need to give me your number so I can wash the hoodie and make sure to give it back.”

Good job, Sooyoung, that was actually smooth , she thought to herself, proud.

“Deal!”

Sooyoung gave her her phone so she could introduce her number, meanwhile, she turned around to take off her shirt and wear the hoodie instead. It was incredibly comfortable and it smelled like cologne and some kind of citric fabric softener. Sooyoung liked it.

When she turned back around, Jinsol was waiting, looking at her own shoes. Once she noticed she had finished, she gave the phone back. “Someone named Hyeju is spamming you with messages.”

Sooyoung immediately felt her phone vibrate in her hand. “One minute.”

Hyeju: Soo?

Hyeju: hello?

Hyeju: it’s been like half an hour

Hyeju: are you ok?

Hyeju: ???

Hyeju: HA SOOYOUNG!!!11!!

Hyeju: wait…

Hyeju: the blonde girl also disappeared

Hyeju: are you making out with the waiter??

Hyeju: good for you, but remember you have to drive me back home

Sooyoung: stfu, im coming now

Sooyoung hoped Jinsol hadn’t seen Hyeju’s last messages. She had suffered enough embarrassments in front of the girl for today.

“Sorry. It was my friend asking where I am. I should go back now.”

“Oh yeah. Makes sense…” Jinsol shuffled in place. “So, you will text me? About the hoodie, I mean.”

“Yeah. I will.”

“You can text me about non-hoodie-related things too.”

Sooyoung thought about how during the whole time Jinsol had been confidently flirting (?) with her, but for the first time, she appeared nervous.

Sooyoung smiled at her. “Of course. I have to tell you about when I’m planning to come back to eat too.” 

—

Hyeju had been outside but Sooyoung wasn’t sure if she was actually there only to wait for her. She was engrossed in a conversation with a short girl wearing a chef outfit. As she got closer she could distinguish them talking about playing Animal Crossing. 

When Hyeju finally noticed Sooyoung, she swiftly asked for the girl’s phone number and quickly joined Sooyoung's side. Once she reached her, they started to walk out of the place.

“You clearly learned well from your elders,” snickered Sooyoung. 

“Oh c’mon. We both know I’m way better at flirting than you.” And Sooyoung would normally talk back to that, but she felt her phone in her back pocket and the scent of the hoodie, and so her only response was to gently push Hyeju to the side and laugh.

“Yeah, right.”

Sooyoung left the restaurant with a promise of coming back and a new 5-star review on its profile.