Gentle Giant Chapter 18
At that gaze, Dain, who was already intimidated, shook his head.
“Uh, no. I’m not saying that’s how I feel. Most people feel that way.”
“I don’t though.”
“You don’t…?”
“No. That’s not cute.”
At Juho’s confident words, Dain looked at the poster once more. As if he didn’t like even that brief moment, Juho grabbed Dain’s shoulders and hid him behind his body, blocking the poster.
“It does seem cute though.”
Dain stood on his tiptoes and turned his head this way and that to see the poster over Juho’s broad shoulders. At those bustling movements, Juho, who was about to burst into laughter, barely managed to compose his expression and said to Dain.
“That’s not cute, it’s, um. How should I put it. Should I say it’s scary…?”
To be precise, it was fucking annoying, but he couldn’t think of appropriate words to soften that.
As expected, seeing Dain’s expression as if he didn’t understand his words, Juho added an explanation.
“Those small and frail people or beast-men… Um, honestly, should I say they look like they’d burst and flow out if you just touched them? Anyway, I’m scared to touch them. I don’t want to touch them.”
“Bu-, burst…?”
“Isn’t that right? They’re too weak. But those kinds of people, I don’t think they’re cute enough for me to bother. Controlling my strength. To touch them…?”
“…”
Juho spoke with emphasis on each word. Despite that, seeing Dain give no particular response to his words, Juho quickly soothed Dain, perhaps misunderstanding something.
“Wait, no! No, no. Hyung is an exception! I’ll be careful every time I touch you, hyung. When I grabbed your wrist earlier today without realizing it, I was so startled. Since you’re the most precious person in the world, hyung, it’s natural that I should be careful on my own. So don’t worry.”
Juho made another resolution while smiling with his eyes. If it weren’t for what he said earlier, it would have been the most lovable smile in the world.
Though he couldn’t fully understand what it meant, judging by the threatening words he heard like bursting and flowing out, it was definitely words that had a disconnect with that smile.
Dain gained the realization that even though Juho was this kind and gentle, his thinking standards were different – a tiger beast-man was indeed a tiger beast-man.
He thought he should not make jokes about physical contact in front of him from now on. He could feel with his whole body how dangerous the joke he had made laughingly during the day had actually been.
Suddenly feeling his wrist that had been grabbed by Juho becoming sore, Dain wrapped his wrist with his other hand. Somehow noticing this too, Juho asked worriedly.
“Why? Hyung, does your wrist hurt again?”
“No. It doesn’t hurt, I was just wondering about the thickness of my wrist…”
At Dain’s clumsy excuse, Juho, whose lips curved up, brought his own wrist next to Dain’s wrist.
“Look at this. You can see the difference in thickness between me and you, right, hyung?”
“Huh? Oh, oh, yes. You’re right.”
“Right? The difference between me and you, hyung, is just right like this. So to me, those beast-men over there are out of the question. I have absolutely no interest.”
At Juho’s words, Dain’s head moved up and down, nodding.
Certainly, if someone had Juho’s level of physique and strength, it would probably be unreasonable to judge people by ordinary standards. That’s probably why he didn’t have friends he could comfortably bump bodies with even in America, where the average height is much taller.
Feeling unnecessarily sorry for him, Dain firmly grasped Juho’s right hand with both hands.
“Juho, don’t worry. I’m not that small, and my body is strong. You can touch me freely, and knead me…? Um. Anyway, you know it’s okay to do that, right? Your hyung is all fine.”
“Ah, hyuuung…”
At Juho’s expression that seemed newly moved by his words, Dain felt embarrassed.
I’m such a good friend. I think about you this much. It felt like he had proudly boasted such things to the fullest.
When had he ever spoken to others like this before? This was all possible because angel-like Juho was his friend.
Without hiding his naturally rising lip corners, Dain firmly held Juho’s wrist and headed toward the convenience store.
* * *
Dain was looking at Juho, who was looking around the convenience store with sparkling eyes, with a troubled face.
It was just a small neighborhood convenience store, but Juho examined every nook and cranny as if he had come to a very famous tourist spot.
“Ju, Juho. There’s really nothing special…”
“Nothing special? When you worked part-time here, hyung, we talked and became so close.”
“That’s true, but. Still…”
“I just get that feeling, you know? What is it? Ah! Right! That, you know what I’m talking about. Pilgrimage.”
“What??”
Dain asked back loudly at the word that came from Juho’s mouth. ‘Pilgrimage.’ Why would such a word come up in this convenience store right now?
“I couldn’t really understand when people went to specific places calling it a pilgrimage, but now I think I understand why they do that. This place is a ‘holy site’ to me. The convenience store where Dain hyung works part-time.”
“Pft. What, Juho, you’re really funny.”
“Huh? I wasn’t trying to make you laugh, hyung. I’m being serious.”
Juho, who had been looking at snacks at the corner on the left, strode over and stood in front of Dain. It was an infinitely serious story, but his expression was full of dissatisfaction with Dain treating it as a joke.
Even that expression was cute and funny, so Dain couldn’t help but continue making deflated laughing sounds.
Watching Dain laugh more comfortably than when they first met, Juho also raised the corners of his mouth.
The expression with remaining tension was cute too, but he definitely liked it much more when he smiled with such a comfortable expression.
It was a rewarding result for all the inappropriate flattery he had given in front of Dain all the way to the convenience store.
Juho looked at Dain wearing the green convenience store vest. The name ‘Jung Dain’ engraved on the name tag on his chest suited his appearance so well. The round name that resembled Dain made even his own prickly mood round just by looking at it.
Dain exchanged silly conversations with Juho, organized the inventory of items in the storage room, and then wiped the shelves that had dust on them.
Moving around looking for things to do as usual, he realized that time had passed quickly. Fortunately, since it was a convenience store in a residential area, it wasn’t very busy during late dawn hours like now.
Only then did he become worried about Juho, who had been following him around since he started his part-time job.
“Juho, don’t your legs hurt from standing all the time? Come here, come sit here.”
Dain called Juho while pointing to the chair behind the counter. Juho, who glanced at the chair, leaned against the counter and asked.
“Can I go inside there?”
“Yeah! It’s okay. I’ll be here the whole time. You can come in and sit.”
“What about you, hyung?”
“There’s another chair here. Let’s sit together.”
Dain said while taking out a folding chair from under the counter. Nodding at that sight, Juho approached next to Dain.
Since it was a small convenience store, the counter wasn’t big either, so they had to sit right next to each other, but neither of them minded that level of discomfort.
The customers who came in occasionally were also startled and hesitated in their steps upon seeing Juho and Dain.
However, that was only momentary. Because Juho pressured them with his gaze from behind Dain, they didn’t even have time to worry and just grabbed exactly what they needed to buy, paid, and fled the convenience store as if running away.
Dain experienced the strange phenomenon where people showed the usual surprised reaction when they saw him, but compared to that, they didn’t pick fights, and he quickly finished calculations and saw customers off.
“You’re really kind, hyung.”
“Huh?”
“No, I know you’re working, but aren’t you talking too much with people?”
Juho, who had watched Dain calculate several times, bluntly expressed his dissatisfaction.
Dain, who hadn’t said a single word about topics other than calculation with customers during today’s part-time work, couldn’t understand Juho’s words.
“I didn’t say anything…”
“You didn’t say anything? You asked if they had point cards, if they’d take plastic bags, if they needed more since it’s a 2+1 event product. You said those things.”
“Th-, those are things I naturally have to say…”
“What things do you naturally have to say? If they have point cards, they’ll take them out on their own, and for just one bag of snacks, they can just carry it by hand – what do they need plastic bags for? And you don’t need to bother telling them about events.”
At Juho’s words, Dain raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.
Don’t American convenience stores tell you these kinds of things?
Dain seriously thought about it, not even considering that Juho was being unreasonably stubborn.
In the end, Dain had to tell Juho all the common phrases that convenience store part-timers use. Even so, Juho didn’t seem satisfied, but that conversation ended vaguely because customers came in succession.
“Have a good night!”
4 AM. The customers who had crowded in all at once finished paying one after another and left. Dain, who had been scanning barcodes nonstop, finally took a breather and looked back.
“Juho, aren’t you sleepy?”
“Not at all. What about you, hyung?”
“I’m fine since I’m used to working part-time. If you get tired, you have to tell me right away. Got it?”
“Yes, I got it.”
Juho nodded and pulled Dain’s wrist to make him sit in the chair.
At the force that made him sit so easily, Dain sat down in the chair with a ‘thud’ sound and muttered to himself, ‘As expected of a tiger…’
Watching Dain sitting next to him and fidgeting around looking for something else to do, Juho wondered if there could be such a consistent person front and back.
Honestly, if you wanted to deceive someone through chatting or phone calls, you could deceive them enough. As an example, he didn’t need to look far – he could point to himself. However, Dain had clearly never thought of such things. Even his part-time working appearance was exactly the same as when he talked on the phone, so he could understand why Dain was being so restless now.
Watching Dain try to get up again less than a minute after sitting in the chair, Juho asked.
“Hyung. Why?”
“Huh? Oh, no, there are footprints over there. I’ll quickly wipe them and come back, stay here.”
Dain eventually found something to do and went out of the counter. Watching Dain disappear without even a chance to stop him, Juho let out a deflated sigh.
“Tsk.”
Where the hell did he learn such diligence? Juho’s face was completely scrunched up as he waited for Dain, who had gone to find a mop to wipe the floor.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
