Lee Hyun had done nothing in preparation for the MT.
‘I don’t want to do anything that’ll be deemed unnecessary.’
The samurai’s doctrine of complacency was the best course of action and the easiest.
However, the group got together to discuss and prepare.
The progression of the meeting was in charge by Park Sunjo. Seoyoon too, specifically came to school to attend the preparation meeting.
“Well then, everybody share the things that you can do. Is there anybody who knows how to cook?”
“……”
At the end of Park Sunjo’s question, all were silent.
“…well, if it is food, we can roughly get around to it. Then next, does anybody know how to put up a tent?”
“……”
“Is there anyone who likes the outdoor more than staying inside the house? It’d be really good if you have mountainous experiences.”
“……”
Seoyoon was already silent to begin with, but everybody else had their head bowed and was quiet.
Other than studying at school, the all had no other experiences.
It seemed that in the frequent trips they took, they did not bother for any of these things.
Lee Hyun’s eyes plunged into the darkness.
‘You incompetent fools!’
Park Sunjo’s forehead was shining from the sweats formed.
For all of them, this was the first time they’ve done anything like this, and thus, didn’t know what to do.
10 minutes passed, and then onto 20, the meeting was going nowhere fast.
Inevitably, Lee Hyun was forced to comment.
“What do you say we start arranging with the necessary supplies first, due to the fact we have a limited budget. Since we don’t have much time left, just suggesting things and we all deem whether it’s really essential or not.”
“That’s right. Let’s start with things we see fit.”
Having Min Sura favoring the idea, each began inputting what they thought was necessary afterward.
“Tent!”
“If we’re going to cook food to eat, then we need cookware and burner.”
“We need meat and water…we really can’t go without water.”
“Since we need to sleep at night, we need a set of blankets.”
“Wash towels are also essential.”
“Cell phone charger.”
“Cosmetics too…and bowls, cups, spoons, chopsticks.”
“I almost forgot! The pinnacle of all travels is photos. I’ll bring a camera.”
It seemed throwing in ideas rekindled their livelihood. And then, Choi Sang-jung face frowned.
“But these stuffs, we need to prepare them within the 50,000 Won per person limit…and also, we’re all going have to carry them. How the hell are we going to carry them all?”
Once again, the planning seemed to hit a wall.
“The money is a problem.”
“To be limited to 50,000 Won per person is really like having nothing at all.”
“How do other groups prepare with this?”
“I figured we should just buy a box of ramen and eat them everyday.”
Credits were associated with the MT!
All were well aware that this was a viable and important option, for the general trend of most groups was to buy ramen to eat.
Every meal consists of only ramen!
Lee Yuu-Chong forehead wrinkled as he spoke as if it couldn’t be helped.
“Anyway, I think ramen is a good option. Including Sulanju and rice, I think that good enough.”
Then Park Sunjo also gave his consent.
“So is ramen ok?”
3 days and 2 nights!
That meant having 6 or more meals consisted of only ramen!
Although the activities that they have to do during the MT hadn’t came out yet, they all generally expected that it wasn’t going to be easy.
Still, having to force down and endure meals of only ramen was the decision to uphold.
“What other alternative do we have…”
“You sure it should be ramen?”
Choi Sang-jung and Min Sura moments later also confirmed.
Lee Hyun eventually decided to come forward. People then entrusted him to be the person-in-charge because it was far more convenience for them.
Friday morning.
Since they were in the vicinity of the marketplace, Lee Yuu-Chong, Park Sunjo, and Choi Sang-jung gathered.
Because of Lee Hyun.
He strongly opposed to ramen.
“Even for me, I cannot handle having ramen at every meal.”
Ramen as food wasn’t bad.
Rather, to Lee Hyun, it was the most valuable food.
Back in his old life of economic hardship, where he was burdened with the inability to buy rice and had to buy the inexpensive ramen.
It was the biggest help that filled his enduring hunger when in dire needs.
Even now, sometimes along with his grandma and younger sister, they would boil the ramen and eat it with kimchi in reminiscence.
‘But I cannot eat six straight meals of just ramen.’
He had eaten way too much ramen in his childhood that he learned all the secrets within all of them. So now, he just want to eat ramen as a sometimes food.
Also, six meals of ramen meant that they won’t have a balanced nutrition.
“Rather, whether it’s eating or sleeping, let me prepare the necessary tools to live.”
He had told them he would take care of the essentials in accordance to the given budget, but they remained dubious and came to clarify.
Lee Hyun came exactly on time; he looked to his colleagues and nodded.
“You’re all here.”
“Yep.”
“Then let’s go.”
Lee Hyun then took them into the agricultural wholesales market.
Only having just entered the market, even the seemingly intelligent Lee Yuu-Chong didn’t know.
“The supermarket’s much more comfortable. So why are we here?”
He privately murmured insinuatingly. It was not long after the appearance of the supermarkets that the era of the marketplaces was fading.
Lee Hyun didn’t want to explain the complexity. He had to buy a lot of stuff here so he didn’t want to be relaxed.
“You’ll know when you see it. And this place isn’t like the usual marketplace.”
From the entrance to the wholesale market, there were different types of butcher shops, rice stores, grocers, bowl stores. There were all kinds of stores.
The moment he saw the pricing list, Lee Yuu-Chong mouth did not close.
“No way! 100 grams of pork is 1,400 Won!”
In the supermarket it’s usually 2,200 Won for that much, so nearly half of that value! Rice, vegetables, or fruit prices were also unparalleled.
“Are all these stuff imported?”
When Lee Yuu-Chong asked, Lee Hyun shook his head.
“There’s not much to profit off of pork to do it. Fish is imported though, it’s like that anywhere.”
“Why so cheap!”
“They’re just small shops. These outdoor shops aren’t big, and also have been doing for more than 10 years and brought them here directly from their fields.”
Lee Yuu-Chong called his mother and had her checked at a few sections only to find out how severe the price differences could be.
The shop owners saw Lee Hyun and began to horselaugh.
“Young man, you’re coming twice today?”
His sister already came at dawn due to their periodic changes to get the items to prepare the meals, so they thought he had come back once again for the same purpose.
“Yes, hello. I’m going with these guys on an MT trip so I need several different items.”
“Well, come one then. I’ll sell them cheap, of course. So are they also bachelor college students?”
“……”
Lee Hyun was selecting the meat from then on.
‘Since were on a budget, I’ll start with the most expensive.’
He chose 2 kilograms of each of the pork belly, neck, and ribs.
The meat bought in corresponding to the 8 people eating for three days and two nights, so it seemed right. Since he didn’t know whether it was lacking or not, so he got pork chops just in case.
“It’s not much but here are some ham hocks on the house.”
“Thank you.”
The next place Lee Hyun went to was the grocer!
By the way, when cooking, if you don’t have fresh vegetables to accompany the meat, you won’t be able to wake up your taste buds.
At this place here, Choi Sang-jung and Park Sunjo were disheveled.
Poram Vegetable 21.
Dapeojwo Vegetable 19.
From there, the grocers’ name didn’t change their pattern.
There was almost no vegetable on display; while the ones that were, were still inside the box with the box top cut off, boxes stacked on each other.
Lee Hyun picked the lettuce, onion, and cabbage boxes.
“How much are they?”
“3,000 Won for a box of lettuce, onion 3,000 Won, cabbage is 5,000 Won.”
“Please give me parsleys, leeks, garlic, peppers, and potatoes too.”
“How much do you need?”
“A lot. Enough for 8 people for 3 days and 2 nights worth.”
“For you students 90,000. I’ll give you a lot!”
The grocers pulled out boxes one after another to give him. There were eight extra sweet potatoes lying on top of them.
“These are only 7,000 Won for all.”
Lee Hyun hesitated for a moment before receiving.
“If you sell it at that, doesn’t it mean it’ll go south pretty soon…”
“It’s because nowadays we’ve got too much sweet potatoes so they’re cheap. Just take them.”
Once all the boxes were placed, Lee Hyun turned and asked.
“Do you also want to eat fruits?”
“Huh? Yes. I can eat then if we have them to eat.”
Lee Yuu-Chong in embarrassment replied with a slur.
In the tight budget of 50,000 Won per person; even when they had came up with a guideline, they never expected to be able to buy everything they could.
Of course, they never planned to have fruits. But as it happened, they went along with Lee Hyun to the store.
“Auntie.”
“You’re back, bachelor.”
“Yes. How much for the strawberries?”
“2 boxes for 4,000 Won. I’ll round the items in the front to 3,000.”
“Please give me two of the good ones. Cheap please.”
“Cha! Here’s just for healthy guys like you. Just 3,000 Won.”
Choi Sang-jung and Park Sunjo loudly exclaimed.
“Keek!”
“What kind of prices is this low?”
It seemed as if they came to a strange country. While they were pushing carts in the market to purchase items, they had no clue about the existence of this place.
Anyway, to the disarray of the other party members, with everything up to the strawberries, they were far from reaching the budget limit.
Lee Yuu-Chong asked excitedly.
“Aren’t just the tent, cookwares, and oven left and we’re going to make it!”
Lee Hyun shook his head just once.
“T