Eventually, I woke up to that intense aroma of seasoning.
With the blindfold and earplugs so tightly blocking my ears and mouth, the thing that actually disturbed my sleep was the smell of ramen.
I can’t block my nose, this is cheating.
‘….’
Rolling around, as I took out my earplugs and focused in the dark cabin, I heard the sound of wheels rolling and the slurping of noodles being eaten.
Immediately, a flight attendant with a cart of ramen passed by in the aisle.
My stomach wasn’t that hungry, but my nose was craving it.
I operated the seat that had been laid flat to lie down, and turned back into a sitting position.
The sound of the wheels rolling closer.
“I want ramen too…”
I peeked my head out towards the aisle, asking the approaching flight attendant for ramen.
“Yes, understood.”
The attendant responded in a soft voice like a robotic tone, maintaining a constant pitch.
Siyeon was still sound asleep.
Not long after, the rolling wheel sound stopped next to my seat as the flight attendant arrived.
As she swiftly pulled out the table to place the food, a steaming bowl of ramen was set down on it.
Ramen on a night flight, a peculiar guilt mixed in.
I separated the wooden chopsticks with a cracking sound, and directed the chopsticks towards the noodles.
As I slurped the noodles into my mouth, I felt the results of my workouts over the past few days vanish in an instant.
But isn’t it still good?
Special ramen eaten on a plane.
For someone like me, who usually put less soup in ramen thinking of sharing with Siyeon, it was a nice stimulus in some sense.
“Huuh.”
In the situation where only the broth was left after eating all the noodles, I let out a heavy sigh.
I had definitely gone beyond fullness, having overeaten considerably.
After filling up, I no longer found the smell of ramen wafting around bothersome.
However, I shouldn’t fall asleep right after eating.
With that thought, instead of reclining the seat back, I fiddled with my smartphone in the dark cabin.
Movies are fine, but really, there’s nothing better than games for killing time.
After playing a few rounds of games until the uncomfortable feeling faded away, I was about to adjust the seat back to recline when—
“….”
As I was making my body and the seat adapt with a buzzing noise, I happened to catch Siyeon fluttering her eyes open and our gazes met.
How unfortunate that timing was; I was trying to sleep, but I ended up waking her up.
Siyeon immediately reached over the seat to touch my shoulder, so I decided to take out my earplugs to hear what she was saying.
“Bathroom…”
At that, I quickly raised my body, stuffed the earplugs carelessly into my pocket, and gestured for Siyeon to get up while I stood first.
Heading down the aisle towards the bathroom I had checked earlier, I gestured for her to go in first after opening the door.
The door closed with a light sound, “Dalkang.”
“Haah.”
Guarding the bathroom door, I couldn’t help but let out a long yawn.
Could it be that I was unable to sleep even when I tried?
Suddenly hit by drowsiness, I leaned against the wall and squeezed my eyes shut.
It was undoubtedly an uncomfortable position to sleep in, but at the moment when I was about to lose consciousness—
Clack, the sound of the door opening startled me awake.
“Go back to your seat.”
After a brief exchange, I gestured for Siyeon to return to her seat, then I entered the bathroom.
The strong scent of air fresheners chased away the drowsiness.
The bathroom, commonly used by many, smelled of fragrance, not odor—completely different from a school bathroom.
After finishing my business, I washed my hands and gave a few taps into the air.
Remaining moisture was wiped off onto my clothes.
Returning to the elongated seat I had been lounging on, I let out a big yawn before pulling out the earplugs I had shoved into my pocket.
Using my fingers, I pressed them snugly into my ears.
I made sure to plug my phone charger in properly and, satisfied with a full stomach, I drifted back to sleep.
And thus, the night on the plane, though I had slept all day, I managed to close my eyes.
‘Ughhh…!’
“Whew.”
While internally screaming, I stretched, letting out a refreshing sigh outwardly.
I peeked at the airplane window I had covered with a cover.
When I cautiously lifted the cover, the bluish air of dawn was etched in the sky.
Not the local time, but the time set to our country on my smartphone.
According to Korean time, it was 6:23 PM, meaning there were still 2 hours and 30 minutes left until arrival.
Searching for a time zone calculator and inputting the values, it popped out the result that, approximately, it was 2:23 AM in Los Angeles.
So the sky was nearly transitioning from night to dawn.
As I confirmed the mysteries of Earth, I checked the time displayed on my phone.
‘Then, dinner time must be soon?’
Sure enough, it wasn’t long before flight attendants started passing through the aisles.
They were going around asking if we wanted something for dinner.
Should it be called dinner, a late-night snack, or breakfast under the local standards?
In any case, it was somewhat ambiguous, but for the Western options, there were dishes like yogurt topped with blueberry jam, spread butter with bread and fruits, cream soup, etc.
For Korean options, there were simple meals like beef porridge, prepared for convenience.
As for snacks, there were options like the ramen from the previous night, triangle kimbap, and chips, offering a wide selection overall.
“Siyeon, let’s eat.”
“Huuhh.”
Siyeon yawned widely without covering her mouth, moving lazily.
She seemed to have had enough sleep, as she sat up straight without her usual whining.
To be fair, she had slept well at home and then had about three hours of sleep on the plane…
No matter how much she tried to sleep, I doubted her body would allow it.
“What do you want to eat? They said there’s porridge and bread.”
“Porridge and bread! Hehe!”
Siyeon combined the two words that were apart and giggled.
Is she at an age where this kind of wordplay is entertaining?
I don’t remember finding such things funny in the past.
Even looking at the legendary collections of holiday galleries, those jokes were dozens of times funnier.
“What are you going to order?”
“Bread!”
“What’s your meal choice?”
As I carefully browsed through the menu, the flight attendant arrived right on cue.
At first, it felt awkward to talk, but because Siyeon was staring at me wide-eyed, I had no choice but to order.
“I’ll have beef porridge, yogurt, and bread.”
Although the journey inside the plane wasn’t all that long, it revolved around eating, sleeping, and using the restroom.
It was a comfortable enough life as a noble, but I wondered if this was really okay…
After disembarking the plane, I trailed behind the older men, who were buzzing around with unfamiliar English words, feeling somewhat intimidated.
There were people with dark skin, rare in Korea.
And something, a pungent, wasabi-mixed, rotten kimchi container smell pierced my nose.
A few older men ahead waved their hands in dismay, grimacing.
“Ugh, I’ve never adapted to this smell no matter how many times I come here.”
“What’s that smell?”
“You guys are on your first trip, right? That’s the smell of the Westerners.”
‘Wow, damn….’
“This strange smell….”
Cursing inwardly, even Siyeon crinkled her nose at the smell, covering it.
Is this what life looks like? And it’s not even a sweaty season?
At this rate, there’s no way I can come in the summer.
Either way, we headed to the hotel for our first check-in, following the older men’s schedule.
Since there were a lot of people, there were many cars.
Given that they were high-ranking representatives, they didn’t squeeze into one car to save money; we ended up getting a ride with one of them.
Though they are typically seen as rubbishy lawmakers in TV or internet articles, being together like this, they seemed just like ordinary older men.
“By the way, Ji-eun told me you guys are magical girls, right?”
“Yes.”
The representative uncle, who knew Ji-eun.
When people gather, they tend to get curious about each other.
After giving a short answer, the uncle continued.
“Why did you suddenly join our training schedule?”
“Ah… well, you see.”
Thinking back now, it was a ridiculous reason that led to this trip.
I got teased for attending school regularly instead of going on a trip, and while looking for a good travel plan to go abroad, it turned into this—so I explained.
Hearing the whole story, the uncle chuckled, bewildered.
“Ha, you were teased for attending school regularly?”
“Exactly, have you heard of ‘consistent attendance freak’?”
“Ah, I’ve never heard something like that in my life.”
It was equally astonishing on my part.
The anger I felt transferred slightly, and the puzzled representative uncle tilted his head before turning his gaze out the window.
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