Page 40 of Demon Hunger
He needed to do a better job at keeping us informed, but clearly, he was distracted by something.
“Um, no need to apologize,” I said. “This is your place. It’s lovely, by the way.” It really was. It had a homey feel to it. There were well-tended plants in one corner of the room, portraits of what I assumed was a young Kody on top of the TV cabinet, and crocheted afghans thrown over the furniture.
“Thank you for compliment,” she said. “Are you Kody’s girlfriend?” At the question, she stared pointedly at Jenna.
She turned beet-red. “Oh, no. I’m… we’re here to interview him about his mukbang channel.”
The woman’s face went from friendly to hostile in the blink of an eye. She mumbled something in what must be Korean and started to leave just as Kody reappeared.
“Mother.” He blinked in surprise. “I thought you were watching your show.”
“I heard noise.” She gave us the side-eye, making me feel like a home invader.
“They work for the LDH Magazine. I told you about the article they wrote about me, remember?”
She batted a hand in the air. “More waste of time. You need to stop.”
“Mother, you’re embarrassing me,” Kody said between clenched teeth.
“You embarrass yourself.”
“The food is getting cold and I have guests.”
“What? You’re feeding them your nasty food?” She added something in Korean, then reached out and smacked Kody in the back of the head.
—She said “have some dignity,”Drevan translated inside my head.
Kody replied, also in Korean.
—Leave me alone or I will block your TV from the Wi-Fi, and your shows will go bye-bye.
The woman looked on the verge of shouting something back but held her tongue. She must really be into those shows, whatever they were. She huffed, stomped her foot, and, without a glance in our direction, disappeared back the way she’d come.
“I apologize for my mother.” Kody was bright red with embarrassment.
Jenna waved her hands in the air. “You have nothing to worry about. We know perfectly well how parents can be. Mine think I should be a demon hunter and not a reporter. Imagine that.”
Kody seemed to shudder at the mention of the word demon. No doubt he was remembering what had happened at the campground. Despite that, as Jenna smiled, he seemed to grow at ease again.
“Follow me, please.”
We entered the kitchen and found that he’d set the small table in the middle with piles of food and three plates. There was steamed rice, kimchi, noodles in a dark sauce, meat in a yellow sauce, hard-boiled eggs in a red sauce, vegetables, dumplings, and more.
“It’s a feast!” Jenna exclaimed.
I blinked in surprise, especially when I noticed that there was more food on the counter and on the stove. Maybe he was throwing a party. Though Drevan had mentioned that Kody was about to shoot one of his mukbang videos, hence the camera resting on a tripod off to the side. Could he possibly eat all this food? And why did I doubt it? I’d seen him consume a ton of hot dogs.
“Are we intruding?” I asked.
“No, not at all.” Kody shook his head. “I was about to shoot for my channel, but that can wait. Especially because I’d rather share all of this with you.”
Jenna approached the table. “That is very kind of you.”
“Take a seat, please.”
We both sat in front of steaming bowls of noodles swimming in clear broth. There were finely chopped carrots and scallions swimming in it, and the most delicious aroma wafting into my nose.
“Did you make all of this?” I asked as I picked up a long spoon. I tasted the broth first. It was fresh and perfectly spiced. Not too salty, nor bland.
