The Gartz hunt took a month. They were really lucky on the first and second day since they were able to find and kill one successfully each time. But it became much harder after the third day. The first problem was the number of Gartz. Gartz were very scarce, and the chance of finding one was very slim. They scoured the area, but it was hard to even spot a single trace. There was also a snowstorm that began invading the area. It was much harder than normal to find any traces under such weather, and because of the weather, monsters would tend to hide and seek shelter.
It was only fifteen days after the second hunt that they managed to hunt down a third Gartz. While it took them a long time to find a target, Joonbum had to return to town. He had more important matters to attend to. Joonbum kept going back to Earth with his mom to bring necessary supplies.
*
“So you will not continue the contract?”
“Yes, I have some family business to take care of, so I will have to stop posting on the channel for a while. I apologize.”
Joonbum bowed apologetically. The person who sat in front of him seemed to be confused.
“That’s a shame… we were about to increase the amount too,” the man mumbled.
‘Yeah, but I have to quit the channel for ten years.’
Every company showed a similar response. Some even asked for the reason for stopping the contract and offered to increase the amount. Some begged to increase the contract, but all were turned away. Joonbum agreed, however, to keep the currently uploaded videos as is. The videos would still rack up views, so they would still prove to be useful.
[Jingle bells, jingle bells]
[Joonbum is single even after he changed into such a handsome specimen.]
[He’s with us until the end.]
[Single life is better! Keep at it!]
[Stop lying.]
[Hey, do an eating broadcast. Your mother’s cooking is amazing!]
[Look at that snow! It would feel amazing to walk there.]
[Seoul is never like that. It becomes dirty too quick.]
[I remember the days when we used to do snowball fights.]
[Look! An old man! From prehistoric era!]
[I think that guy’s at least 60 years old.]
*
“When did you come?”
Joonbum turned to the voice. It was Sungjae with a thick padded jacket, a muffler, and a hat to keep himself warm.
“I just barely got here. Come and sit.”
“Oh, I see. Oh, and give me your card. Let me go order.”
Joonbum grinned and handed him his credit card. Sungjae went to the counter to make an order and then came back.
“I ordered the most expensive one here.”
“Good job.”
“Ho? Haha! People sure need money. It gives you dignity, you know?”
Joonbum frowned. Sungjae also frowned as Joonbum didn’t seem to get it.
“You don’t know it, don’t you?”
“What? Know what?”
“You’re like, totally different now.”
“You mean I grew taller?”
“Hah! Yeah, you’ve grown taller and become well-built! Look at all the muscles!”
Sungjae grabbed the muscles that could be felt through the clothes on Joonbum’s arms. Some women next to them frowned at them and left quickly.
“Hey, people are looking. Stop it.”
“Hah, let them see. But that’s not what I meant. I’m talking about your inner self.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah.”
“What about it?”
“You know how you’ve been like a loser? You know like, everyone thought of you as an easy moron to fool… and like, they didn’t really want to be your friend… like that sort of thing. You know?”
It was a fact. Sungjae was describing Joonbum’s past self in detail.
“Hey, Sungjae.”
“Yeah.”
“Don’t you think that honesty will cost you a nice dinner and a drink?”
Sungjae changed his expression as Joonbum teasingly warned him.
“Heh, that’s all in the past. Like I said, you’ve changed. Look at you now! Nobody will think like that anymore. You’re more like an alpha male now. You know?”
“Is it?”
“Yeah. Haven’t you noticed people treating you with respect lately? Or people taking care of you more than necessary?”
Joonbum thought about it. It was a very gradual change, but there were no more of those people who were needlessly rude to him lately. Now, there were only people who smiled and cared about him.
“M-maybe. A little, I guess?”
Sungjae grinned at Joonbum’s reluctant answer.
“A little my ass! It’s the same for everyone. What do you think people will do if we visited some fancy restaurant with your beggar-like state from before? We would be lucky not to get kicked out. But now? I believe they will treat you like a king!”
“You’re overreacting.”
Sungjae shook his head, interrupting Joonbum.
“You’ seen the movies where the main character purposely changes himself and visits the boutique store where he was kicked out for revenge? It’s not a story from the movies! Even the liquor store will try to kick you out if you look like a bum!”
“Hey, what’s going on? Are you stressed out? Or are your studies giving you a hard time?”
Sungjae suddenly froze.
‘I guess it’s both.’
“Let’s stop chattering and go eat. We’ll eat beef today. You like beef, don’t you?”
“Beef? Are you sure?”
“Of course.”
“And you’re treating?”
“Yeah. Let’s go to that famous place on Dongjoong road.”
“Wow! That expensive place? Let’s go, right now! It’s good to have a rich friend, huh? You’re not going to walk out from the store and say that you didn’t expect it to be this expensive, right?”
Sungjae was excited as he asked him. Joonbum nodded confidently.
They walked out and headed toward the restaurant. It was very busy with customers as the place was famous.
“Look at all these people! And the smell is so good! Ugh!”
“Yeah, it sure is.”
Joonbum nodded. He felt his belly rumbling at the smell of beef roasting.
“I heard the owner’s method of advertisement is by the smell. So they always use the fat to…”
Sungjae began explaining the history of the restaurant while they waited outside for their table. Some people began to take an interest in Sungjae as he explained what meat parts were good and what was not.
“Should we try it like that?”
“We should order that meat.”
Joonbum, who had heightened senses, heard those murmurs from the people around them.
“Anyway, why did you come to such an expensive place?” Sungjae suddenly asked after he blurted everything he knew about the place. Joonbum grinned. Sungjae looked confused, but he soon opened his eyes wide in shock.
“Is it really-?”
“Yes, it is.”
“For real? So you remembered that?”
“Of course. It’s our dream come true.”
“It is!”
It was back in his faint memories. When Sungjae was a BJ like Joonbum, they made a promise to come and visit this place when they became successful. It was not much, but it was one of their dreams.
“Haha! You fool! I hope you become more successful!”
*
They were soon guided to a room inside. They began gorging down the meat as it was endlessly roasting on the burning grill in front of them.
“This is soooo good! It just melts away in your mouth! Wow!”
Sungjae reacted to the delicious meat with every bite. Joonbum also agreed; it was amazing.
‘But it doesn’t have that scent.’
It was really delicious, but it was short of his expectations. It lacked the strong scent of meat from the other world.
“Excuse me. Can we order five additional servings of neck meat, five servings of belly, and five servings of brisket please?”
People around them glanced at their order for a moment. It was the fourth additional order they were making and they were already on their third soju bottle. It was just too much for only two people.
“Hey, are you sure you wanted to treat me?”
“Of course.”
“But you eat like you were the one who wanted to eat. Have you been starved for a few days or something?”
“I have been eating a lot lately. Haha!”
“You eat that much and you have that kind of a body… Ugh.”
“I exercise that much.”
“Doesn’t it require heavy diet control? I saw those responses where they think you’re on steroids.”
“Not really. If you exercise for six hours a day like me, you can become like me too. You saw me doing all that through the videos, right?”
“Hell no! It’s hard for me to walk five miles every day.”
They talked as they kept eating.
“Oh, do you know what Jinpok’s been doing these days?”
Joonbum frowned at the name. It was a name he did not want to hear and he had almost forgotten about him. But Sungjae did not. It was one of the few names Sungjae remembered from his BJ days.
‘Well, I guess we’re not sober anymore.’
Joonbum let out a small sigh and asked, “What about him?”
“He’s copying you! HAHA!”
Sungjae laughed hard as he drank more soju and chewed on the meat.
“So, he’s doing a wildlife survival video with some girls. But it’s not gaining any popularity. Good for him. There’s a lot of people who bring up hell on the responses to stop copying Joonbum. He’s done.”
‘Hmmph.’
Joonbum did not care much about him, and he did not even hate him anymore.
“Hey, Let’s order some other parts. We’ll eat and die today!”
Sungjae quickly changed the subject as he seemed that he had also become bored with the story.
“So, are you not coming to the alumni meet? People are curious about you now that you’re famous. You remember Eunmi Lee? She wants to meet with you. Oh, and Sunjoo keeps asking me to bring you out. Weren’t you close with those two?”
‘Eunmi Lee and Sunjoo Kim…’
Those two did not care about Joonbum’s ugliness and had befriended him. They were the only people who were not bothered by Joonbum’s outer appearance so Joonbum remembered them well.
“It’s next week, come if you want. You’re big now! Why not? I heard that most of them watch or have watched your videos, so they’ll be surprised to see you in person. Who knows? You might find someone interested in you!”
Sungjae laughed out loud. It was then that a voice made them freeze in front of their enjoyable dinner.
“Isn’t this the famous Joonbum? Isn’t it? What a small world! Isn’t IT?”
