UR Chapter 44

Chapter 44

“Let’s eat first. You must be hungry.”

The man handed I-bom the menu. As he opened it and began to read, his eyes unconsciously widened. They grew so large it looked like they might roll right into the menu. This was insane. The prices were unbelievable.

[During the holiday period, XX Hotel will only be serving its exclusive Special Course Meals.

For lunch and dinner, only Diamond, Gold, and Silver courses will be available. Thank you for your understanding.]

The notice alone gave him a bad feeling.

His fingertips trembled. He never imagined that flipping through a menu could be this frightening. His head already felt like it was going to explode from suddenly learning about his brother’s debt, and now there was this “Special Course Meal.”

Even the cheapest Silver Course was a staggering 300,000 won.

‘Three… hundred?’

He had expected the best hotel in Seoul to be pricey, but 300,000 won… that was enough to buy I-seol clothes and a few boxes of Churu for Weoong.

‘Do they sprinkle gold and silver powder on the food or something…’

He swallowed hard. Courses priced at 300,000, 500,000, and even 1,000,000 won—it was absurd. For that kind of money, he could grill mountains of meat at home.

“Do you have a preferred course? I heard dogs like meat, so I chose a place with plenty of meat options.”

The man smiled gently at him. I-bom was already embarrassed enough about his tacky, overly styled hair—was the man staring because he found it amusing? His gaze was so curious and unwavering that it felt like it might bore a hole through him.

“I-I’m not really into courses.”

In his mind, I-bom thought of the many troublesome customers he’d dealt with at the convenience store. One way to irritate someone was to block and reject every suggestion they made.

“Oh, you don’t like courses?”

“Yes. Course meals are, um, really small in portion. I eat a lot, you see.”

With his awkwardly parted hair, he tilted his chin slightly upward, folded his arms, and crossed one leg over the other.

“Is that so? You eat a lot?”

The man’s eyes briefly flicked over his leg. Without realizing his socks had little dog patterns peeking from above his ankle, I-bom kept a solemn expression.

“When I eat a lot, I can finish a whole bag of kibble. Uh… at a meat buffet, I usually have at least two or three plates. Sometimes I even lick the grill when it’s not enough.”

He recited the lines he had memorized. A “bag of kibble” meant a 10-kilogram sack of dry food, sometimes distributed by welfare centers to impoverished half-dog beastmen in their growth years. Most half-beastmen were embarrassed to admit eating kibble instead of rice, but I-bom even made sure to include the part about licking the grill.

“Is that so? Well, it’s good to have a healthy appetite. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The man smiled warmly.

His gentle tone was so intimate it could have belonged to lovers who had already shared a bed rather than strangers meeting for the first time.

I-bom found himself staring at the man’s fingertips, free of even the smallest hangnail, as he set down the menu and pointed to each item while explaining them. Every time he moved slightly, a damp scent of earth mixed with wind seemed to waft toward him.

“The chef here is quite good. I know the portions are small, but once you try it, you might change your mind.”

“……”

“The more I see you, Soo-hyun, the more honest and cute you seem.”

…Why did it feel like things were veering off plan?

I-bom’s eyes darted around, pretending not to listen.

“So, which course will you choose?”

Well, there was no helping it. Time to switch to the “split the bill” plan.

“Hmm…”

He flipped through the menu with his fingers. Behind the terrifying course section restricted to only three holiday options, there was a small dessert menu. This was it. He felt a spark of excitement as his eyes scanned quickly.

If he just ordered a coffee or a cocktail, he could get out easily. Unfortunately, all the inexpensive à la carte desserts were marked “Sold Out.” What should he order?

As he anxiously skimmed the menu, one item caught his eye.

[Patissier’s Recommended Fruit Bingsu – made with perfectly ripened seasonal fruits, premium first-grade milk, and French fruit puree – 100,000 won

*Served with assorted tea snacks. (VAT not included)]

“…Uh.”

One hundred thousand won.

‘If I scrape together everything I have… maybe fifty thousand?’

I-bom’s heart was pounding hard.

“I’ll have the bingsu.”

Thud.

He closed the menu and handed it to the server waiting beside them. Truthfully, he hadn’t wanted to order anything at all, but with the staff standing there expectantly, he couldn’t bring himself to send them away empty-handed. He hesitated, then chose.

Even picking the 100,000-won bingsu had taken a lot of nerve. Having never been on a blind date—let alone a normal date—he had no idea what counted as a reasonable amount to spend on a meal in this situation.

The only reference he had were the casual conversations he’d overheard at Happy Bunny between people on their own dates. But even the café’s lunch course didn’t go over fifty thousand won, and most students just paid separately for what they ordered.

‘Tell him to buy you everything!’

In his head, he pictured Soo-hyun pounding his chest in frustration. Be shameless and get as much out of it as you can—Soo-hyun had said that, but to I-bom, it was harder than dying.

Being treated to something was something people used to it could do easily, but for someone like I-bom, who’d spent his whole life paying and being taken advantage of, even getting a glass of water from someone felt difficult. Soo-hyun didn’t understand that.

‘How can I tell him to buy me a 300,000-won meal…’

To make the man dump him, he had already checked off one item—“not keeping promises.” Four were left, and since Soo-hyun had said to do at least three, he had to choose between “splitting the bill” and “have them buy everything” to get a safe result. Honestly, he just wanted to apologize and leave, but to keep his promise to Soo-hyun, he needed to last at least an hour.

His first blind date was proving far too difficult.

‘I’ll go with splitting the bill…’

Thinking about having to chip in fifty thousand won for a bowl of bingsu with some fruit in milk made his stomach ache, but it was bearable. He reminded himself that 100,000 won was just one day’s work at Coupang.

“Bingsu?”

The man repeated, looking puzzled. He’d asked what meal I-bom wanted, so suddenly saying dessert must have seemed odd. He’d probably be baffled—and I-bom was impressed with his own quick thinking.

“Ah, yes… I just ‘suddenly’ don’t have much of an appetite? I think I’d like dessert… bingsu.”

Gulp.

He swallowed hard. If he’d known it would come to this, he would have eaten beforehand. The names of the dishes from the million-won course menu floated through his mind, tormenting him—1++ Korean beef yukhoe and steak tataki, master-crafted ginseng soup, steamed Jeju abalone, and special fatty tuna belly…

“Mm… I’ll have bingsu, so if you’d like, you can order something else. A course meal?”

He smiled shamelessly as he said it.

“No, that’s fine. Let’s have the same thing.”

“Let me confirm your order. Two seasonal fruit bingsus, correct?”

The server approached, picking up the menus from the table, and asked politely. I-bom replied loudly,

“No! Just one bingsu. Why order two of the same thing when we can share one?”

“…Let’s go with one bingsu for now, as he said.”

The man smiled and dismissed the server. However, he pulled one of the menus back and set it down beside him, leaning it against his side so I-bom couldn’t take it away.

The twinkling lights of the Christmas tree, the live classical performance, and the occasional carol surrounded them. Aside from the money and the “stand-in” mission, everything was romantic and perfect.

* * *

“What kind of dog are you, Soo-hyun?”

The man suddenly asked.

I-bom had been sneaking glances at him—broad shoulders, solid build, a perfectly straight, sculpted nose and handsome face, with a black-and-white balance in his features that hinted at a feline nature.

The man had said he was a pureblood beastman. A feline.

…What would he look like transformed? What kind of beastman exactly?

“Soo-hyun.”

“Y-yes?”

Startled as if caught in the act, I-bom flinched. He scrambled to remember what the question was and quickly answered.

“Ah, I’m not actually a dog. My ancestor was a dog beastman, which is why my family name is Kang—the dog Kang. So… I can’t transform. I’m a half-beastman. Physically I’m part beastman, but you can think of me as just human.”

“I see.”

The man leaned back comfortably in his chair, a soft smile on his lips. He seemed to move with deliberate care, but his gaze felt heavy and intense. From deep in his eyes came a hot, sharp sensation that seemed ready to strike like a blade.

No matter what he did, he looked like a painting. Scary or not, it was a relief that he was handsome.

“That’s a shame.”

“I think you’d be really cute as a dog, Kang Soo-hyun.”

“…What?”

The man’s hand slowly, cautiously, began to reach toward him.