Academy's Drunk Fighter-Chapter 14: Time to Eat

The time I spent in the hospital wasn’t that long.

I wanted to stay a bit longer using my injuries as an excuse, but the doctors already said I was fine, so I had no justification left.

Fluffy bed, I’m gonna miss you.

Read lat𝙚st chapters at fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓ Only.

And so, under a sky that was starting to turn almost black, I headed back to my dorm.

On the way, I stopped by the store and bought enough alcohol for tomorrow and a 5KG bag of rice.

Honestly, I wasn’t sure if I was actually allowed to, but I said it was for my parents and they let me buy it.

“Uh... can you carry this by yourself?”

“Probably, I can manage.”

And then I thought maybe I should’ve accepted help, because the rice was fucking heavy.

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“Ugh-hek...!!”

After making it home, I threw the rice down and rested for a bit. Then I peeled off my sweat-soaked clothes and changed into something else.

After that, I dumped rice and water into the standard-issue pot and cooked it until it turned into porridge.

Bubble bubble.

The rice softened as it cooked, and I scooped the finished porridge into a bowl.

And when I shoveled a spoonful into my mouth and started chewing...

“Blegh.”

Yeah, plain white porridge really doesn’t taste like anything.

I figured I’d try eating it without soy sauce, but that was clearly a no-go.

“Ptoo.”

Right now, I’m trying to find the cheapest food I can eat that’ll keep me full for a long time.

After collapsing last time, I realized it was impossible to just not eat anything forever.

‘I thought I could hold out with just grass and water like in a manga or something.’

Also, I’d never drunk this consistently for such a long time before, so I didn’t know—but after drinking every single day for a few weeks, I’ve realized:

‘My stomach’s absolutely wrecked.’

It’s not just about hangovers or whatever, it physically hurts if I try to cram in anything spicy.

So the thing I landed on was something simple, something that would go down smooth—porridge... but it tastes like crap.

On top of that, I’ve only got about 1 million won to my name right now.

If I set aside enough for booze and chocolate to survive, that leaves me with about 500K.

I’ve gotta find a job before next month and get my hands on food that'll keep me alive till then.

There were all kinds of opinions floating around the internet about this too.

[Cheap food that lasts a long time]

Even just skimming the examples, I saw stuff like curry powder being good, or suggestions to bulk-order meat online.

But I don’t even have a fridge right now.

If I turn around, I see a one-room apartment barely big enough for one person to live in, with zero real furniture.

No bed, no blanket, just sleeping straight on the floor every night—so something like a fridge is completely out of the question.

So meat’s off the table.

I didn’t feel like eating the porridge plain, so I tried adding some curry powder I’d bought earlier.

Slurp.

“Oh.”

Adding curry definitely brought the flavor back to life.

The problem is it just tastes like curry now... well, I guess that’s obvious.

It’s curry-flavored porridge without even the basics like carrots or potatoes.

It looks kinda sad.

If I had some kimchi, that would've been amazing, but kimchi turned out to be way more of a luxury than I expected.

I never realized it back when I was eating it at home, but trying to buy it now—it’s ridiculously expensive.

“......”

To bring this ‘dish’ up to a more edible level, °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I decided to add a little more.

First, I poured in a bit of the booze I bought earlier.

It’s got a sweet taste, so it should be fine.

Then I grabbed a handful of some random weeds growing out front.

And sprinkled in a bunch of the basic spices I had lying around.

Time to taste.

“Flavor-wise... not bad.”

It wasn’t bad.

I’d have to wait and see how my stomach handled it, but the taste was just a slightly altered curry, and since I didn’t toss in anything too spicy, it probably wouldn’t upset my stomach.

Now the problem is...

“I made way too much.”

I cooked enough porridge to fill half the standard-issue pot.

Even if I tried to portion it out, I had nowhere to store it.

I didn’t have a fridge, and with spring right around the corner, it would spoil pretty fast just sitting around.

“Hmm...”

After a brief moment of thought, I grabbed the now-cold pot, opened the door, and stepped outside.

****

A sky where the sun had fully vanished, leaving only the moon and stars to fill the world.

Underneath that blackness, inside a single-family home with the lights still on, a girl stretched her arms back as she planned out this month’s schedule.

“Ugh...!”

The blue-haired girl stretched and looked at the calendar on her computer screen.

“This should be good enough, right?”

It was a schedule packed to the brim, truly crammed edge to edge.

Aside from sleep, every hour was filled with activities, strength training, and investments in her future—enough that even she could admit she was pretty damn diligent.

That girl was none other than Noah herself, and as such, slacking off or lying around was completely out of the question.

Ding-dong!

That’s when the doorbell rang in her ears.

“?”

‘Did I order something?’

She didn’t remember ordering any deliveries, and there was no way someone would be visiting her at this hour—so she got up with a bit of confusion.

“...? There’s no one there?”

She looked at the screen connected to the camera, but nothing appeared.

A chill ran down her back.

Ding-dong!

Once again, the doorbell rang, but no one appeared on the screen.

The doorbell going off out of nowhere in the middle of the night with no one showing up?

That’s the definition of terrifying.

“Wh-Who’s there...?”

And to that cautious question, came the reply.

“Could you... please open the door?”

It was a familiar voice.

Undeniably, the white-haired girl she had met before.

Her impression had been so strong that forgetting her was simply impossible.

Clack.

And so, when she opened the door, there stood a tiny girl, balancing a massive pot on her head with strained arms, staring up at her.

“Wha—You’re...!!”

“I made some food, so... I came to give it to you.”

“Food?”

“Yes.”

“Uh—s-sure! Come on in!”

‘There are still kids these days who make food and share it with others,’ she thought, surprised.

“Blergh...!!!”

Once inside, the girl plopped the pot onto the table, let out a deep breath, and then promptly collapsed as if fainting.

She eventually blinked awake and sat up.

“You’re sweating a lot.”

“Ah... am I?”

The girl wiped her sweat and then offered the food she’d made.

“What is... this?”

It was, how should she put it... uh...

“Looks like... poop—”

“Excuse me?”

“No, no, never mind...”

There’s no way something that horrific could come from such a tiny girl.

It just happened to look... okay, really look similar. But surely, there was no bad intent behind it.

“I accidentally made way too much. You gave me food last time, remember? So I brought this over.”

“Uh... I see?”

Even so, people don’t usually cook and bring food themselves, do they?

It was a strange experience for her, and so Noah couldn’t help but feel touched by the girl’s sincerity.

“Would you like to try some?”

At the girl’s words, Noah instinctively nodded, scooped up a bit of the mystery sludge into a bowl, and lifted it with a spoon.

Sluuurp...

“Hmm...”

Was this... really edible?

It was too mushy to be porridge, and the color was just... what the hell.

Nothing in it looked special, though there was a faint curry smell—still, something about it triggered a biological sense of rejection...

“Can I ask what this is?”

“It’s curry porridge.”

“This is?”

It looked nothing like it, but under the girl’s gaze, she couldn’t question it any further and pushed the doubt out of her mind.

“Mm!”

And yet, despite the rising dread, she shoved the curry-flavored porridge into her mouth.

“Hmm... not... bad...”

Surprisingly, it tasted okay.

It looked like hell, but maybe the anxiety was unwarranted...

Wait, huh?

“Noah?”

“Uh...”

Why is the girl lying down sideways in front of her?

“Oh.”

That wasn’t it.

She was the one lying down.

Realizing that, Noah passed out, curry porridge dribbling from her lips.

.

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.

.

“Whaaa!!”

“Oh, I was about to call an ambulance, but you’re awake now.”

Her whole body was drenched in sweat.

What the hell was that flavor just now?

“Do you usually have health issues? You suddenly collapsed.”

“Ah... m-maybe, I guess...”

Weird. She’d been jogging every day, her stamina should’ve been great.

Maybe it was accumulated stress or fatigue.

Once her head cleared, she looked at the massive pot of curry porridge again.

Sweat trickled down her spine.

She had to eat all that?

“Hey... come to think of it, I don’t even know your name, do I?”

“Oh, that’s true. I’m Esha.”

“So... uh, Esha? Do you... have anyone else you’re planning to give this to besides me?”

At Noah’s question, the girl paused in thought and then answered plainly.

“Nope. Not really.”

“......”

For a moment, she thought maybe it would’ve been better if that doorbell earlier had been a ghost instead.

This... this isn’t meant for human consumption.

If she ate it alone, she might not even get halfway before she died...

“Ah, do you not like the taste? I guess it’s possible.”

“It’s not that!! Just... eating this all by myself feels a bit much...”

“If I had somewhere to store it, I would’ve eaten it myself. But I don’t have a fridge.”

“Is that so?”

At that, Noah’s eyes lit up, and she immediately offered a solution.

“Then you can use my fridge...! Yeah, go ahead, use it all you want!”

She didn’t tack on the word please at the end, but it hung there silently.

Even if Esha’s porridge tasted like absolute garbage, she still didn’t want to hurt her feelings or be rude.

Looking at it another way—maybe this tiny girl had tried to cook, but without ever learning how to do it properly, that’s how this monstrosity had come to be.

How tragic.

Surely, if she learned properly, she could make something much better.

Definitely.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course!”

“Then I’ll gladly use it!!”

Watching the smiling girl bow her head, Noah felt a wave of relief.

She was a little worried about the other food in the fridge, but hey—just being stored together shouldn’t cause any problems...

...Surely not.