Yes. By now, I knew that face very well. It was Nayoung. The moment she stepped out of the car, Hak-gyu’s eyes went wide, and I could immediately see the hearts forming over them.
“Sorry,” Nayoung said with a smile. A shy smile crept over Hak-gyu’s face as well. Men. Anyways, with another sweet smile, Nayoung spoke again.
“Is Sian in the van?”
“Oh, yes! Yes, she is!”
Gone was the cursing and furious Hak-gyu, and in its place was a puppy dog panting after Nayoung.
“Sian, come out.”
“Okay, okay.”
I climbed out of the van, waving at Nayoung.
“Hey, Nayoung.”
“Sian, get in,” Nayoung said, gesturing to her car. I stared at her. Wasn’t it the man who was usually supposed to do stuff like this? Then again, it was the 21st century. Guess what it really comes down to is who is in a better position to do it.
“Hak-gyu, I’ll go with Nayoung, okay?”
“Uh…o-okay…I’ll just follow you then.”
“Cool.”
I climbed into Nayoung’s car. It was two-seated, and it felt rather claustrophobic.
“So…Sian, feeling confident?” Nayoung suddenly asked as she put her sunglasses on. Was this the same Nayoung that I knew? How could one person be so different from day to day? Not her face. Her outfit…she was wearing a miniskirt that was so short, you could almost see her underwear.
“Hey, Nayoung?”
“Yeah?”
“Is this how you usually dress?”
“Nah. Only when I’m stressed out.”
“Okay.”
Somehow, I doubted it was as rare as she was making it out to be. It suited her rather too well.
“Now, let’s go!”
“Okay!”
The car sped up and I could feel my stomach lurch at the speed. Jesus, this car was fast!
***
We arrived there rather quickly. Almost in the blink of an eye.
“Did we run any red lights?”
“No.”
“Wow.”
We came here this quickly without running any stop signs or red lights? That’s amazing. Is this what life was like as a chaebol?
“Come on, Sian.”
“Oh, right.”
I got out of the car. It was so small, shorter than me, but it looked fierce. Of course, if I were to fight this car, then I would win. Then again, I doubt it would feel victorious. This is an expensive car.
Once I was out of the car, I looked around for the competition area, but I couldn’t see anything. Why? Because other people had seen me first. A lot of people. They immediately ran over to me, surrounding me and shouting my name. A group of bodyguards came out of nowhere and stood by me.
“Sian!”
“Sian, I love you!”
“Spiderman-san!”
“Hulk-san!”
I heard a lot of Japanese. Oh yeah, I heard my Japanese fandom was growing exponentially every day.
“Wow Sian, you’re really popular. You literally just got out of the car and now…” Nayoung said, planting herself next to me. At first, it was me riding her car. Now, it was her riding on my popularity.
“Cool, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Hehe.”
Well, that did feel nice. Just then, a bunch of cameras also went off, leaving me almost blind.
“We’ll probably end up on the news.”
“How?”
“I’m the daughter of Saman Group. The public will be fascinated by the fact that we’re hanging out. The articles are going to explode.”
“I guess.”
Sounds plausible. But…fascinating? Not really. The fact that I rescued her was well-known due to the article that came out about me saving her during the Japanese earthquake. I don’t think people will find it so strange after that.
“Yes, hello. Hi. Yes, hi. Hello~ Oh, thank you. Yes. Oh, I’m sorry, but there’s so many people…Oh, hi!”
Suddenly, a girl managed to get by the security guards and wrap her arms around me. She looked to be in high school, but her figure was well filled out. The bodyguard tried to pull her away, but I told him that it was okay.
“Alright sweetheart, time to let go now.”
I gently pulled her off and looked at her. She was really pretty. With her face and her body, I began to wonder if she was a celebrity as well.
“Sian, I love you!”
Suddenly, the girl got on her tippy toes and kissed me on the cheek before she ran away, quick as a flash.
‘Wow.’
The competition hadn’t even started yet and it was getting wild.
Finally, I made my way into the venue. Maybe it was because of me, but there were a lot of people here to watch the Food League today. And with all these people laughing, talking, and cheering, it felt like a big party.
“Sian, I’ll be over there watching. Good luck!”
“Thanks,” I said.
With a smile, Nayoung made her way over to a seat. I, on the other hand, stared at the other contestants. There seemed to be about 40 men and women altogether. Quite a lot. But it wasn’t until later that I found out that not just anyone can enter the Food Leagues. You’re supposed to submit an application and have it reviewed by a panel of judges…so that means I got in on a fast track. Then again, those people have probably seen me eating on TV. Also, people talk. Mr. Park isn’t exactly known for keeping secrets and it probably wasn’t long before he knew about my skills. Just then, someone called my name.
“Sian!”
It was a very loud voice, and a familiar one. Sure enough, when I turned to look, it was Si-dong.
“Hello,” I said with a bow. So he made it after all.
“It’s good to see you, Sian. How’ve you been?”
Did his accent get stronger?
“I’ve been good. You?”
“Of course! This is me we’re talking about. See my stomach? This is going to bring me good luck today!” Si-dong said, shaking his tummy at me. Why is he talking about his stomach? All I did was ask him how he was doing. But still, it was nice to see a familiar face.
“Si-dong?”
“Yeah?”
“You sure you can win? You see that guy? I hear they call him the Dark Horse.” I pointed over at Jinwoo Lee who was currently stretching. Jinwoo Lee. The guy who could eat 80 hotdogs in ten minutes. They call him the Dark Horse. A few foreign reporters were also here to cover the competition and most of them were watching Jinwoo.
“Oh, him? Well, I guess I’m gonna lose then. No way I can eat 80 hotdogs in ten minutes.”
I guess Si-dong wasn’t feeling too confident after all.
“How many can you eat?”
“The most I’ve done is 50. I can’t eat more than that,” Si-dong said with a shake of his head.
50 in ten minutes…that wasn’t that bad either.
“What about you, Sian? Think you can win?”
“Of course,” I said with a shrug.
Si-dong gave me a skeptical look.
“You sure? You know Gayeon Kim, right? She can eat 45 hotdogs in ten minutes. Last year’s champion was the Black Widow and she ate 37. That means Gayeon beat a champion by eight hotdogs.
“Impressive.”
“But you still think you can win?”
“Yep,” I said with a firm nod.
Si-dong grinned.
“Well, at least you have confidence! That’s good!”
Judging by the way he was speaking, it was clear that Si-dong thought I would definitely lose. Well, I’ll show him.
***
While the Korean reporters were going crazy over me, the foreign reporters were more interested in Jinwoo and Gayeon. Those two were already famous overseas. They were already favorites to become the next world champions.
“80 and 45…”
It was okay, I guess. Of course, it was nothing compared to how much I could eat. The idea of shocking the international audience was enough to make me smile.
Just then, the host came onto the stage and took the mic.
“Welcome, everyone!” he shouted.
Everyone cheered. This was the first time the Food League had been held in Korea. There were a lot of people. Most of them were my fans. As soon as word got out that I was competing, the Food League was suddenly very popular. Anyways, the host soon divided the contestants up into teams. He split the twenty men and twenty women into two teams of ten each. First, the two men’s teams would compete, then the women’s. The winner would be whoever could eat the most hot dogs in 20 minutes. First was Team 1 for the men. None of the contestants were rather popular or well-known, so it wasn’t that exciting. It ended quite quickly and the best had been a guy who ate 36. Yeah, I guess that was impressive too. Then, it was time for Team 2. Jinwoo was in this group, as well as Si-dong, so it was more exciting.
Bang!
The air pistol went off, cueing for all the men to start stuffing themselves. I watched Jinwoo. First, he took the hotdog and dipped it into the water. Then he squeezed the bun to wring all the water out and stuff it into his mouth.
“Can he do that?”
I never even thought of that. I could eat more than 120 if I did that! But…
“Gross.”
Seriously. Watching it was rather disgusting. While the method was no doubt effective, the way he just stuffed his mouth with those hotdogs…and it wasn’t just him. All the other contestants were eating the same way, stuffing their mouths with no care in the world.
“Huh. They’re neck and neck.”
Jinwoo and Si-dong were both eating at similar speeds. But after about twenty hot dogs, Si-dong began to slow down. Jinwoo, on other hand, didn’t slow down one bit. In fact, it looked like he was getting faster. Soon, it was thirty hotdogs. Then 40 hotdogs. By this time, the difference between the two was widening. There was no question about it. The minutes ticked by and when ten minutes passed, the bell rang, signaling the time. And just like that, a bunch of the men began to throw up.
“Ummf!”
“Blech!”
“Oooof!”
Ugh. Gross.
The hotdogs were counted and Si-dong had eaten 52. He had eaten two more than he said he could. Next up was Jinwoo. I wonder how many he had eaten.
“Jinwoo Lee has eaten…”
The host paused for dramatic effect and everyone leaned in, eager to know. The foreign reporters included.
Drum roll~
“83 hotdogs!”
Jinwoo had eaten 83 hotdogs in ten minutes. Impressive. Seemingly impossible, but that’s not for me to say.
The crowd cheered for Jinwoo and the cameras went off. Jinwoo looked smug. But just then, his stomach contents came up too and he made the messy stage even more of a mess.
“That’s so gross. They should’ve let the women go first.”
Really. They couldn’t go throw up somewhere else? Or have a designated spot to throw up? How disgusting.
Soon, it was the woman’s turn to compete. I was on Team 2, while Gayeon was on Team 1. The audience cheered and the foreign reporters flashed their cameras at her. I kept my eyes on her as well, but I wasn’t as excited for this one. The most this girl could do was 45. I call that child’s play. Of course, to an average reporter, 45 would be impressive.
Bang!
The air pistol went off as the women in Team 1 began to dig in.
