Deal Breaker - Chapter 114
The appetite that had left because she was full came rushing back in an instant. She turned her head to find the source of the smell and saw that the neighbors were having a barbecue party.
Dinner tonight is that!
From the sudden sparkle in Hyeji’s eyes, Kanghyeon felt like he could hear her voice.
Fortunately, the villa came fully equipped with a charcoal grill, tools, and even charcoal. All they had to do was buy something to grill.
It was another chance to visit a local supermarket, something Hyeji had grown to enjoy on this trip. At the butcher counter, they sold locally seasoned meats, so she bought small portions of several kinds, and just in case, she also bought a safe choice, sirloin steak, and the absolutely foolproof pork belly.
But failure nearly came from an unexpected place…
“Ha… to think there’d be a day I’d regret not having pyrokinesis.”
When the charcoal refused to light properly, Kanghyeon sighed and wiped the sweat starting to bead on his forehead with the back of his hand. Hyeji began to wonder whether she should be fanning the charcoal or her man.
“At times like this, Korea really is the best, where you just grill over charcoal someone else already lit.”
“I did it when I was younger, but…”
When Kanghyeon lived abroad, whenever grill season came around in the summer, he had watched and helped his father light charcoal by hand. But that was a long time ago, and back then they had a torch. Now all they had was a pitiful matchbox.
[ Is it not going well? ]
English with a strong Italian accent made them turn around. The elderly man next door, who had been hosting the barbecue party earlier, was watching them over the garden fence.
[ This is all the equipment we have. ]
When Kanghyeon held up the matchbox, the old man made an exaggerated, very Italian gesture as if he couldn’t believe it, then disappeared. A moment later, he returned holding a torch and a large can with a handle. As he came over and heated up the charcoal, the conversation they had repeated countless times since arriving on their trip happened once again.
[ Where are you from? ]
[ We’re from South Korea. ]
[ Ah, South Korea. I used to go there often for business when I was young. ]
It felt novel to meet someone who had actually been to Korea. By the time the Italian grandfather next door finished his tale of drinking soju and eating live octopus in Korea, the charcoal inside the can was burning bright red like it came straight from a barbecue restaurant.
[ Thank you so much for helping us. ]
[ Then enjoy the taste of Italy. ]
After dumping the heated charcoal into the grill with a clatter, the old man left, only to return again shortly after. This time, he was carrying an armful of other things.
[ These are eggplant and zucchini I didn’t finish eating earlier today. Slice them thin and grill them, they’re excellent. And this is rosemary and arugula I picked from my garden. ]
Even though the table was already piled high with things to grill and wrap in greens, it seemed insufficient in his eyes.
[ And take some ananas too. ]
She wondered what ananas was, and it turned out to be canned pineapple.
[ It gets sweeter when you grill it. But if you put it on pizza, I’d have to call the police. ]
That’s right. This was Italy.
The pineapple really was sweeter when grilled, and the herb-seasoned meat, Italian-style, was a flavor they’d never experienced before, yet it fit perfectly. And with the Merlot they had “fueled up,” it couldn’t help but be fantastic.
Still, as Koreans, it was a bit disappointing to have only lean meat without marbling. The lack of fat was made up for by ribeye grilled with herb butter.
“This butter is really good.”
Technically, it was a lump of fat, yet it wasn’t greasy and tasted clean. Maybe it was because the cows grazed on grass while breathing the clear Alpine air. Now she regretted that they couldn’t buy butter to take home.
After eating their fill of meat, it was time for dessert. They paired the remaining wine with cantuccini said to be baked at a local bakery, then craved something refreshing, so she washed the flat peaches they had bought at the market.
When flat peaches were all the rage in Korea, she’d once ordered some online out of curiosity. Her impression back then had been this.
It’s just a peach.
Honestly, it’s not good enough to go through a ‘peach ticketing’ war for.
…That impression changed the moment she took a bite of the flat peach, larger than her own palm.
That orchard did something wrong.
A fragrant sweetness that brought roses to mind spread gently through her mouth. It was the most ideal peach flavor Hyeji had ever imagined.
She’d found her life peach. And to find it in someone else’s country where you couldn’t even do peach ticketing. Life really is bitter.
But today had been sweet. Their impulsive, just-the-two-of-them grill party had run into a bit of trouble at the start, but thanks to that, hadn’t they ended it successfully from the main course to dessert, filling both their bellies and their faith in humanity.
