Chapter 29: Grow up

I looked at the table, feeling my tension ease slightly.

The various dishes prepared under the soft lighting looked delicious enough to make my mouth water.

“Is this… just telling us to eat?”

Sia was also carefully examining the table next to me.

She still held her guard, but when a small grumbling sound came from her stomach, she blushed. I felt the same.

The hunger that had been hidden by tension was now rearing its head.

“There’s no exit in sight… shouldn’t we eat something first?”

I muttered and approached the table. The table was filled with foods that were easy to eat, with a small sign that read “Finger Food”.

There were various kinds of food neatly arranged, such as small cakes, fruit tarts, sandwiches, and skewers. But that wasn’t all.

“There’s fish here too.”

Sia carefully looked at the grilled sea bass and murmured. As she said, on one side of the table, fish dishes were separately prepared.

Fresh-looking grilled sea bass and thinly sliced raw sea bass were placed on a plate, accompanied by lemon wedges and herbs.

“There’s bread here too.”

On another side, there were various kinds of bread.

There was freshly baked bread, cream bread full of cream, and even small rolls to eat with strawberry jam. The sweet scent tickled my nose, tempting me.

In the center of the table, whole fruits were prepared. Red, ripe apples, shiny grapes, and luscious pears were neatly arranged.

“This is a feast…”

I sighed and looked at the food that filled the table. But still, a corner of my heart couldn’t let go of the tension.

“Hey… isn’t it strange that it’s so openly prepared?”

Sia tilted her head and said.

“It is, but since there’s no exit in sight, we can’t starve here.”

I carefully reached for the finger food.

“That’s true, but there’s no guarantee that nothing will happen if we eat.”

Sia was still hesitating.

I paused at her words, but my growing hunger eventually led me to pick up a cream bread.

“Just one bite… Let’s eat slowly, just in case.”

Sia watched me and sighed.

“Haa… Okay. You eat first, and if there’s nothing wrong, I’ll eat too.”

I carefully took a bite of the cream bread. The soft bread and sweet cream spread in my mouth, and the tension in my body seemed to momentarily relax.

“Hmm… it’s okay? It’s delicious.”

I muttered, chewing slowly.

Sia was still wary, staring at the bread next to me. But when nothing happened to me, she seemed to be relieved.

But that was the moment.

With a hot sensation, I felt my chest swelling up.

“Huh…? What?!”

I was startled and looked down at my chest. I just took a bite of the cream bread, but my chest was getting bigger and bigger.

My clothes were tightening, and I felt like I was suffocating.

“What, what is this…!”

I was bewildered and pressed my chest with both hands, but it seemed too late to stop.

Sia looked at my appearance and shouted with a surprised expression.

“Wait, what?! Your chest, your chest…?!”

I looked at her, bewildered.

“I don’t know! I just ate bread…!”

Sia stared at me with her mouth wide open, then suddenly slumped her shoulders.

“Ha…, it spoiled.”

“What?”

I reacted to her muttering and asked.

Sia flinched and turned her head.

“Ah, it’s nothing. Just.”

She paused for a moment and looked at me again.

“Anyway, how did this happen? It’s impossible for this to happen just by eating a piece of bread.”

I tried to find an answer, but my mind was already filled with confusion.

Sia looked at me for a long time, then carefully opened her mouth.

“Maybe… you ate bread and became ‘busty’?”

(The wordplay here is with bread, “ppang,” which means “bread,” but is also slang for large breasts.)

I looked at her, dumbfounded by her words.

“What are you talking about?”

Sia shrugged and said, “I just thought of it, but there must be some strange rules here. Maybe the food directly affects the body? If you eat bread, you become busty…”

I listened to her words and fell into thought for a moment.

Like Sia said, this place was definitely not a normal place.

In this place where anything seemed possible, the hypothesis that food affects the body might be correct.

“Then… what should I do about this? Will it go back to normal if I just stay still?”

I asked nervously, and Sia sighed and answered.

“Well… maybe it will, maybe it won’t. Ah, maybe if you eat that sea bass, it’ll go back to normal.”

I listened to Sia’s words and looked at the raw sea bass on the table.

“Sea bass… will it be okay if I eat this?”

Sia gestured to me, hesitating, and said, “Try it. It’s better than doing nothing.”

I sighed and picked up the thinly sliced raw sea bass on the plate.

“Please… I hope this works.”

I carefully put a piece of raw sea bass in my mouth.

The unique soft and savory taste of fresh sea bass spread on my tongue.

The moment I chewed, I felt a strange change in my body.

“Oh… what?”

The tight feeling I felt in my chest began to slowly subside.

The pressure I felt every time I breathed also gradually disappeared.

“Th-this seems to be working!”

I looked at Sia in surprise.

Sia widened her eyes and observed my appearance.

“It’s true! You’re going back to normal!”

My chest gradually decreased in volume and returned to its original state.

After taking a few breaths, I no longer felt any strange sensations.

“It’s done…!”

I let out a sigh of relief and checked my body.

Sia smiled brightly and said, “See, sea bass was the answer! You ate ‘nong’ ( sea bass) and became ‘nong’ (farm, a reference to being slender/flat-chested)! You’re fresh again!”

I burst into laughter at her joke.

“Fresh… that’s true. Really, really, really, thank goodness.”

I ate the sea bass and checked my body, which had returned to its original state, and let out a sigh of relief.

But the various foods on the table were still bothering me.

Sia looked at me and then looked at the table again, muttering.

“It seems like these foods have some kind of rule, not just for eating.”

I nodded and said, “Yeah. I ate bread and became ‘busty’, and I ate sea bass and became ‘slender’ again. So what about the other two…”

Sia frowned and pointed to the finger foods.

“Well, the finger foods are a bit unsettling, starting with the name… Maybe…”

Sia paused, seeming to have thought of something.

“Finger food… fingering… maybe?”

“Why, did you think of something?”

Sia was startled by my words and shook her hands wildly.

“No, no! Nothing! Anyway, don’t ever eat finger food.”

“Why?”

Sia began to wave her hands even more violently as I tilted my head. “Absolutely, absolutely, absolutely not. Okay?”

I asked with a bewildered face at her extreme reaction. “Why are you so excited? They’re just small, simple foods.”

Sia pointed to the finger foods with a serious face and said, “Think about it.

The bread made you busty, and the sea bass made you normal again. But finger food, uh, um… the name is ‘finger’.

What if you eat it and something happens to your fingers?”

I froze for a moment at her words.

“That’s true, but… what could possibly happen to my fingers? It could just be normal food.”

Sia said in a firm voice, “No. I don’t want to take the risk. Something even bigger could happen if we eat something wrong here.”

She sighed and added, “Please, I want to protect your chastity, no, your purity.”

“Ugh, okay.”

A day in the cabin in Love Village.

Today, I entered a strange cabin.

The food laid out on the table caught my eye.

The hunger that had been forgotten due to tension raised its head, and I eventually took a bite of the cream bread.

But suddenly my chest started to swell!

I was so embarrassed that I cringed, but I couldn’t imagine that a single piece of bread would have such an effect.

Eventually, I ate the sea bass and returned to normal.

Sia said that if you eat bread, you become busty, and if you eat sea bass, you become slender.

What kind of wordplay is this, seriously…

Anyway, we were worrying about the remaining food on the table.

Sia told me never to eat the finger food, saying that something strange would happen if I ate it.

Looking at her serious expression, I thought it would be better not to touch the finger food for no reason.

I don’t know exactly, but.

So, the remaining thing is…