Chapter 38: KAZI: Grilling
At the Nulgupjisin Grill House, Kazi found himself among his new friends, gathered around a table enveloped in the grill's enticing sizzle. Sun-young ruled the grill with an experienced touch. Kazi enjoyed watching her work her magic. William, seated next to her, tried to copy her moves. His attempts were less than successful, full of fires instead of juicy meat.
At the tenth try, his focus was at an all-time high. The grill house wasn't busy so there was tense silence, almost like everyone was waiting for William to get it right.
"Don't forget to flip them, William," Kazi advised.
Sun-young, in that same flat tone of hers, also joined in on the teasing. "I refuse to scrape the meat off the grill, so please don't mess up," she said. Whenever Sun-young succeeded, William failed.
Once again, she succeeded, so it was up to William to make or break the pattern.
"I promise," William declared, "this time it'll be perfect!"
Elena, Marta, Aisha, and David stayed relatively silent on the other side. None of them were close to one another nor were they talkative, and that was amplified by what they saw immediately following their exit from the Heavenly Tower. Tears, cries, and harrowing begging from players who had lost their party to the bandits and mini-boss. The sight was sad and crushing. Kazi could sense it stirring everyone's hearts and he recognized he had to be the one to initiate conversation.
"Tell me about yourselves," Kazi said. "Marta, what did you do in your life?"
"I was entering graduate school," Marta replied, adjusting her glasses.
"What did you plan to study?"
Marta was hesitant to answer. "English and computer science."