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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 22
Chapter Title: Burger House Blues
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"Wow. Hamburger. Looks. So. Freaking. Delicious."
The place Huh Ji-woong had dragged me to after promising to buy dinner was Burger House, a famous fast-food joint.
The tray in front of me was piled high with a hamburger, french fries, and orange juice.
I'd been vetoed on cola, so I'd had no choice but to go with the kids' meal option of orange juice.
"Nothing can compare to samgyeopsal, but I'm still pumped for this burger."
I unwrapped the packaging and let out a sigh of admiration like I was reading from a Korean textbook.
"This punk. Still sulking, huh?"
Ji-woong, sitting across from me and unwrapping his own, looked at me and let out a hollow chuckle.
Before we'd come to Burger House, we'd met at the front gate, and when he told me to name anything I wanted to eat, I'd immediately shouted "samgyeopsal."
I'd barely held back from yelling "samgyeopsal and soju," but his response had been ice-cold.
"No dice. Pick something else."
Teacher? Didn't you just say anything I wanted?
Ji-woong had shot it down flat, saying someone with weak vocal cords couldn't handle a ton of hot, greasy food.
I got it—no oiling up the pipes. Fair enough.
I'd decided to baby my voice too.
The real issue was what came after: Ji-woong saying he'd take me somewhere I'd like and leading the way.
And we end up here, at Burger House.
Don't burgers have a ton of grease too...?
I shot him a pitiful look, and he just shrugged once before pushing open the Burger House door, nailing the coffin shut with his final words.
"Kids love places like this, right? Don't they?"
Ji-woong peeled back his burger wrapper and took a massive bite.
He nodded like it was delicious.
Kids my ass.
Now I had my suspicions: he just really liked burgers.
"Yeah. Sure. I like 'em."
I didn't hate hamburgers.
I'd just been hoping for something epic, and this was a bit of a letdown.
Plus, hamburger and juice. Juice instead of cola.
After losing out on samgyeopsal and now soda too, life felt brutally unfair.
*Chomp*
Following Ji-woong's lead, I took a huge bite of my burger.
Damn. This is exactly the same.
Whether now or sixteen years from now.
I wondered what their secret was to keeping that taste unchanged for so long.
"See? You love it."
Ji-woong finally looked satisfied, watching my eyes go wide after one bite.
Hamburgers really are gospel for high schoolers.
Of course, my eyes had widened for an entirely different reason.
"So, how'd the other kids do on stage today?"
Ji-woong grabbed a fry and tossed the question out casually.
I'd just shoved a fry and some burger in my mouth when I looked up at his words.
"They all did pretty well."
"But there had to be a couple standouts."
I could tell he wouldn't drop it until I gave him an answer.
I replayed today's performances in my head.
Only two really stuck out.
"Hmm... Kim Sun-woo. And Moon Woo-hyuk. Those two were seriously impressive."
Even thinking back, I nodded—they deserved the props.
The girls were partners, so not direct rivals, but Kim Sun-woo and Moon Woo-hyuk? The more I heard them, the less they sounded like high school freshmen.
"What stood out?"
"Kim Sun-woo. He was perfect. Ra Hye-jin shook a bit midway, so our team with Cheong-ha took the win, but if it was individual scores? Sun-woo probably gets first place easy."
I analyzed my rival's performance matter-of-factly.
Ji-woong was a little surprised but played it cool.
His own team had won, yet here I was admitting someone else outdid me. Not your typical cocky high schooler.
"Watching Sun-woo's singing... it's like, there's a wall there."
How many seventeen-year-olds could say something like "I feel a wall" so casually?
"Luckily, I think I'm a step ahead in dance."
I meant it.
Sun-woo's singing today had been a shock.
I couldn't recall hearing a voice that pure even from pros.
He'd already been through puberty—how well had he managed his throat?
Or maybe he was just born with that falsetto.
If his partner Ra Hye-jin had kept up even a little better, it would've been pro musical level.
No wonder he was top of his class at Cheongyeom Arts High and headed to Broadway later.
At least in singing, he was ahead of me right now.
Ahead of me, with my second chance at life? That talent stung my pride.
"What about Woo-hyuk?"
Moon Woo-hyuk, huh.
One thought came to mind when I thought of him.
Poor guy.
Moon Woo-hyuk was already plenty good.
Not sure if he'd sandbagged the pre-audition vocal test, but today he was way better than then.
Like he'd sharpened his blade somewhere.
But every judge in the feedback mentioned his dad.
That made it feel even more pitiful somehow.
A non-regressed seventeen-year-old me might've just envied his background.
"Great physique, great voice. His number setup today was super tight too—like he'd rehearsed a ton."
Talking about the pity would be an insult to Woo-hyuk.
So I just stuck to praising his obvious strengths for Ji-woong.
"Yeah. Spot on."
Ji-woong didn't press further.
Not sure if he knew my thoughts or just let it go.
Even with regression, reading people fully was tough.
Might as well finish the burger. Tastes good.
*Chomp*
I took another huge bite.
Ji-woong glanced my way.
"That good, huh."
"Yeah."
He stuffed his own burger full and chewed away.
The table was quiet, just the sounds of us munching.
"You did good."
His voice broke the silence, and I froze mid-chew, staring at him.
What did he just say...?
"Huh?"
I asked again, but no answer.
I swallowed my half-chewed bite quick and pressed.
"What'd you say just now?"
I had a good guess, but I wanted to hear it proper.
Ji-woong swallowed his burger, took a sip of cola, and looked me dead in the eye.
"You did great today. Good enough that you don't need to feel that wall with Sun-woo."
Oh, our teacher. Master of push-pull.
He knew I wanted to hear it, and drops it right now like this.
When he wouldn't praise me, I'd craved just one word.
Now that it was straight-up, I didn't know how to react.
Ji-woong, embarrassed maybe, took an even bigger bite.
"Keep doing what you're doing from now on."
Mumbling with his mouth full, face all stoic—no dignity there.
But that Ji-woong was funny and grateful all the same.
"Keep it up" meant I'd been doing well so far.
That alone was huge comfort.
Emotion welling up, I shoved the last burger bits in my mouth.
"Thank you."
Like teacher, like student—I couldn't say sappy stuff straight, so I mumbled it goofy instead.
***
Back at the dorm, Woo-sik was face-down on his bed, glued to his phone game.
"Oh, you're back."
"What're you doing?"
"This. Game."
So zoned into the game he could barely talk.
Dude's been gaming non-stop all week.
"Did your continuous assessment?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah."
"Cool. Let me see."
He mumbled vaguely and kept playing, oblivious to the crisis.
I sighed.
Woo-sik felt like a nephew—worried me.
I knew I shouldn't care extra since he already called me uncle, but still.
Wished he'd get his school life together. Weird urge.
No helping it.
Since I'm stuck as his uncle this round, like he's my fated roommate in my second life, gotta get him at least average in class.
"Lemme see, you punk."
I'd snuck up behind him, and my shadow engulfed Woo-sik.
I locked him in a headlock, glaring; startled, he dropped his phone and begged.
"Aaah! Let me live! Save Woo-sik! Uncle, uncle!"
Situation sorted, and now Woo-sik was at his desk, half-assing the continuous assessment assignment.
Eyes half-shut, typos everywhere—looked unreliable as hell.
What to do with this? While I pondered, Woo-sik gave up midway and face-planted on the desk.
Soon, snoring.
Watching him, I just chuckled dryly.
Sighed and hunted down a blanket to drape over him.
"Mmm, mmm. Ha-na, want some..."
Ha-na? Song Ha-na?
She popped up in Woo-sik's sleep-talk.
"Pfft."
No clue what she had going for her.
Pretty, sure, but she seemed like she came to school for war. Especially those eyes.
Tucked Woo-sik in, finished his assignment, then checked tomorrow's schedule.
Afternoon gym class caught my eye.
Since gym tomorrow, Huh Ji-woong had skipped his weird fitness routine today.
"Call that exercise and then skip it—feels sticky not doing it."
Weeks of daily workouts, one day off and I felt off.
Thought for a sec, changed into workout clothes.
"Where you going?"
Woo-sik stirred at the rustling, mumbling sleepily with half-open eyes.
"Gym."
"..."
He definitely heard that.
He just rolled back over, back to me. I shook my head.
Hadn't even asked him to come, but felt dissed anyway.
Gym class tomorrow anyway—quick in-and-out.
Just light warm-up, I figured, and headed out.
***
The school gym was insane—had to say, rich kid school.
Vast, comfy indoor space packed with top-tier latest machines.
Great facilities like this, but only a handful of kids using them.
Nice for me, plenty of space.
One of them was going ham on the treadmill.
Song Ha-na?
Familiar silhouette—yep, her.
"She's going all out again."
Anyone'd think she had a grudge against that machine.
I picked a treadmill far from her on purpose.
Plugged in earphones, tuned the TV, started running.
How long'd I go?
Soon sweating good.
Paused, looked around—Ha-na gone, everyone else too. Gym empty.
Ten more minutes, then bounce.
Earphones back in, restarted the treadmill.
Then—poke poke.
"Eek!"
I'd just checked—nobody there. Jumped out of my skin.
Killed the machine, clutched my pounding heart, whipped around.
"Got a sec?"
...Song Ha-na?
What the—where'd she pop from?
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