The Do-Over(38)
Author: Suzanne Park
“There are all types of Koreans in the diaspora, as you should know,” I argued.
Mia chimed in, “At least she’s not obnoxiously overdoing the K-pop fandom like you.” She gestured to his bleached floppy hair, which got a big laugh from everyone and ended the awkwardness.
The prices of meat on the menu in the window gave me sticker shock. But this was supposed to be a fun trip and I promised myself I would try to enjoy it. Rarely having opportunities to go on weekend trips, if there was any time to not stress about spending, this was it. We were in New York City!
The burning stomach pain in my mid-abdomen came roaring back, likely caused by my money-related worrying. I winced and squeezed my eyes shut, breathing through the agony. I popped an antacid and prayed the discomfort would subside for the rest of the trip.
Mia locked her arm into the crook of my elbow. “Sit with me and Andy. And Jake.” She elbowed me in the ribs.
Andrew Won was in a few of my classes. He was the smoker, stoner, drinker type that was as bad boy as guys at Carlthorpe got, the kind of guy Mia swore she would stop dating. He was the best friend of Jake Cho, the guy I’d had a heart-eye-emoji crush on since the day I joined ASA, but had done nothing about since I had a longtime, long-distance boyfriend at the time. There was no one specific thing that made him so attractive to me. He was lean, bordering on scrawny, and was always spending his time and energy on dozens of side hustles and hobbies, from making boba tea and selling it from his dorm window, to brewing beer in his closet, to selling cheaper, higher-quality Carlthorpe merch than the bookstore carried from his trunk. He was enterprising, and so busy that he never seemed to have time at all to, say, have a steady girlfriend.
At a table for four, Mia and I sat across from each other, and Andrew plopped down next to Mia, leaving the seat next to me open for Jake. Once we’d ordered and received our first round of drinks, it struck me that the way we were configured was almost like we were double-dating.
The food hadn’t come by the time we finished off a second bottle of soju, and by then Mia was hanging on to every slurred word out of Andrew’s mouth. Jake and I were enjoying each other’s company too, but we weren’t nearly as wasted as our tablemates.
Finally, the server brought out a large tray of assorted banchan, along with a large white platter covered with thin slices of uncooked beef. “Bulgogi imnida!” She turned on our grill and placed the little bowls of vegetables in front of us. Rather than offer us duplicate sets of banchan for each side of the table, she instead plunked down fifteen unique side dishes. My favorites were cucumber kimchi, anchovies, and spinach. Mia handed those to me and swapped them for the spicier ones colored orange and flaming red from the hot pepper powder.
The server placed the individual strips of beef on the grill and the meat sizzled as soon as it made contact with the metal grate. The one fact I knew about eating meat from an indoor grill at a Korean restaurant: your hair and clothes would smell like burned meat until they were washed. The smoky, charred scent would infuse into hair strands as the night wore on, like a potent essential oil. I pulled my hair into a loose bun, hoping to minimize the surface area of the beef eau de cologne.
“Jal mogosimnida!” The server put the metal tongs next to me and then walked away.
Mia laughed. “She picked you to cook the rest.”
Jake smirked at me. “As Obi-Wan said, ‘You were the chosen one!’”
Nerdy Star Wars jokes always had a special place in my heart, and here he was, winning me over with one of the corniest ones.
“Well, if I have to cook this for everyone, you need to order me some soju.” I smirked right back at him. Andrew was the only one who was old enough to buy alcohol, but he was also fluent in Korean and had a knack for charming older women, specifically Korean waitstaff ajummas. No one checked our IDs. Within seconds after ordering, the server brought over a new bottle of soju to our table.
I worked on the meat while Andrew poured my next drink. The fragrant smells of sesame oil and garlic wafted around us as I flipped the crackling bulgogi. Jake took my plate and passed it to Mia and Andrew, asking them for a sampling of the side dishes from the other side of the table. “Lily gets first dibs. She’s doing manual labor for us, the least we can do is pay her in banchan units.”
Mia, now fully tipsy and leaning into Andrew’s shoulder, widened her eyes at me.
Yes, I know, Mia. Jake is a cute, courteous, charming guy.
Her eyes widened even more. You better hit that tonight. He’s single now.
Once the bulgogi was divvied up, we all raised our drinks and toasted. Mia clinked cheers. “To the city that never sleeps!”
Lord, we ate so much. After we finished all the meat, Andrew and Jake asked for a bowl of kimchi chigae to split, while Mia and I each had a bowl of rice cake dumpling soup. Dduk mandu guk was my all-time fave and once I decided that loosening the purse strings on this trip wouldn’t kill me, I decided to get a bowl all to myself. Because why the hell not?
Jake asked everyone, “Have you ever tried Korean food in international cities? My family went to Paris and my God, the banchan was so bad. It was a top-rated restaurant too.”
Mia joined in. “I went to Athens with my high school Latin class, and same thing, we tried the Korean food there once because I missed eating it and it was so overpriced and mediocre.” She picked at the few remaining bean sprouts with her chopsticks and devoured them.
Andrew said, “The Korean food in London is okay, but you need to know where to go. It’s also crazy expensive.”
I had traveled to Korea only once, and that was the only time I needed a passport. “I’ve only had Korean food in Korea.” I deadpanned, “The food was great.”
They all laughed, and we all toasted to South Korea for absolutely no reason.
I sighed wistfully as I grabbed a toasted seaweed square. “One day I’d love to go to Spain though, even if the Korean food isn’t good. It’s one of the options for the study abroad program.” It was something I had seriously considered and one of the few things keeping me at Carlthorpe. They had a world-renowned overseas program for college juniors and seniors.
Jake’s eyes widened. “Really? It’s something I’ve looked into too. Barcelona or Madrid. Time to use my rusty high school AP Spanish!”
I raised my glass of soju and toasted to us. If Jake went to Spain too, wow, even better. Knowing someone else there would be so much more fun.
“Well, I’m stuffed.” Andrew fell back into the booth seat and rested his head on the padded wall. Mia leaned into his shoulder like the Tower of Pisa and closed her eyes. Andrew’s face beamed. Mia sighed blissfully.