There were only two containers of eggplant lasagna, so I chose it for lunch the next day.
As the microwave hummed, a bright tomato aroma spread through the room.
Wow. That’s exactly how Grandma’s kitchen used to smell.
It felt like someone had captured a moment from the past and dropped it here.
Sitting in a lounge chair, I zoned out in the memories.
Whenever I went home on weekends, this smell was always there.
The more I remembered, the more I hated that this moment would pass.
“It’s almost too good to eat.”
What I really meant was, I miss Teresa.
“Can’t we taxidermy food or something?”
I muttered, and McQueen—scrolling through social media beside me—burst out laughing.
“Ask him to make more.”
“I feel weird about it.”
He offered an easy fix.
“Then pay him. Nobody hates money.”
“Eh… that’s the thing.”
“Why?”
“He makes way more than I do.”
“More than you?”
McQueen knew roughly what I had in the bank—we’d been in the same college league and now worked at the same department store.
Full ride, obviously, as a quarterback. Plus I got tapped for ad shoots and took home about sixty to seventy grand a year (roughly eighty to a hundred million won). It’d be stranger if he didn’t know.
Neither of us went pro, but a quarterback is a quarterback.
And I’ve got a decent job now, so compared to our peers, I’m doing extremely well financially.
“Do you have some secret debt I don’t know about?”
“No, nothing like that.”
“Then more than you, huh.”
He muttered, “Guy must be one hell of a chef,” and started groping for other options.
“Isn’t there something you can do for him? Some way to help?”
“My skill set isn’t exactly stellar.”
“Anyone overhearing would punch you for that.”
His thumb never stopped swiping.
You’re addicted to that phone, man.
I was about to gripe that you should look people in the eye when you talk, when his face flickered with surprise.
“Huh?”
He shoved the post he was reading at me.
“You need to see this.”
I don’t even use the internet much—why show me? Did some big story break about Asians?
I looked down at the screen—and saw my face, huge on the page.
“…”
What the fuck—when did someone take that?
Is that from the day I first met Caesar…? When we got snapped?
The uploader’s profile caught my eye: their page was filled with shots of Caesar, clearly their own.
That made it easy to fill in the blanks.
They must have followed him to the department store.
To shoot Caesar—and caught my face in the process.
I still had no idea why they shot me… And did they have to make me look that good?
It looks like a film still.
Embarrassing to say, but I honestly look way better than in real life.
Who is this handsome guy.
My faded left eye even caught the light, so at a glance I looked like a superhero side character with powers.
Practically fraud.
I handed McQueen’s phone back, sheepish, then opened my own account and navigated to the same profile to scroll the timeline.
A few posts they’d shared onto their own feed stood out:
@lvcae438686 : Heard Prometheus pulled another miracle? Stopped a shooting in San Diego. Are you kidding me?
@lvcae438686 : What are reporters even doing?
@lvcae438686 : Why am I hearing this from social, not an article?
@lvcae438686 : Are they sleeping on their paid jobs? It’s been like a month and there’s still no coverage?
└@grow12t55 : Looks like Caesar deliberately blocked it? At least a “gun threat” piece should’ve run, but since even that’s missing, I think Caesar’s side shut it all down.
└@lvcae438686 : Because a civilian got pulled in?
└@grow12t55 : Probably a deal over the department store’s image or whatever. Fans are the ones getting screwed. If we’d gotten some shots or even a CCTV cap, we could have cooked up a nice story and run a Prometheus promo… I’m fuming.
While the users with Caesar’s face as their profile pic were chatting among themselves,
the owner of the photo chimed in.
@oott1969 : Oh? I was there that day
People from the other thread piled on—“Did you get pics?”
@oott1969 : Uh… didn’t get many shots of Caesar ㅜㅜ
They uploaded a few, but most were blurry or from behind.
@oott1969 : But I did get the face of the person Prometheus saved
└@lvcae438686 : Why the hell did you shoot a civilian?
└@oott1969 : sry I have a reflex where my finger hits the shutter whenever I see a handsome guy.
└@oott1969 : And that employee was seriously handsome.
I wouldn’t say I’m that handsome…
Right below it, someone posted exactly what I was thinking.
@grow12t55 : I know what your exes look like and I’m not buying it.
└@oott1969 : Could you just listen to words coming out of my mouth.
└@grow12t55 : You lie every time you breathe.
└@oott1969 : Not this time, fuck, I even have photos.
Masterful at getting under someone’s skin…
But why are we doing this with my face.
…Okay, I get why my photo went up. They got needled and posted to prove they were right.
Sure enough, a shot of the back of my head appeared underneath.
@oott1969 : It’s from behind, but I found a pic of the employee Prometheus dealt with. The rest are on my computer so I can’t upload them now.
@oott1969 : The other staff were all tall and good-looking, but that one guy was especially nice-looking so I shot him on reflex. It’s just the back, but you can tell he’s tall and built, right??
└@grow12t55 : Oh? This one might actually be good. What does he look like?
Since they were outside and couldn’t use a computer, the others asked for a description.
And the poster described my face like this:
@oott1969 : He’s Asian and really handsome.
@oott1969 : Kind of…
@oott1969 : Looks like a loser-only back scratcher. If I were a loser and saw that guy, my guts would itch like crazy to scratch.
What kind of review is that?
Back scratcher? That’s… colorful.
I must’ve looked confused at the slang, because McQueen peeked at my screen and laughed.
“It means you’re so good-looking it makes people bitterly jealous. Like it makes their guts itch.”
“Ah…”
…I’m not that good-looking, though. I’ve got a pretty face and it helps, sure, but this level of praise feels over the top…
I looked back down at the screen, feeling unsettled.
@grow12t55 : Whoever you are, thank you for your charity in this hellscape of busted face percentages.
@grow12t55 : So when’s the photo dropping?
So that’s probably how the earlier pic ended up posted.
Looks like it started as a casual share among friends.
But they did it on a public account, so attention snowballed in seconds.
@tin29547 : Damn, he’s actually hot.
@ikiu117 : Where is that place?
@benelcz1231 : Let’s go check it out—Prometheus pilgrimage.
So a photo shared as a joke among friends blew across the internet in a heartbeat.
Guys… can you not play around with my face.
And then, a situation I couldn’t fix even if I wanted to.
Look at the share count. Thirty K? Thirty thousand people shared this?
Worse, reposts with the same picture were blowing up one after another too.
Skimming through posts at several thousand, several tens of thousands of shares, I muttered,
“There isn’t just one upload.”
“Jealous of you, my friend. Overnight star.”
“This isn’t good, idiot. They shot me without my permission.”
I pressed the bridge of my nose.
“More than that—we’re all screwed.”
“Huh?”
“They took it at our department store. So where do you think all that attention’s about to go?”
McQueen’s expression went cold as it clicked.
“So…”
“Soon the place will be swamped. And where exactly is going to be swamped…”
…Thus began the overture to overtime.