For some reason or another, Han Jun was cold toward Yeon-seo. Throughout their walk around the aquarium, he responded negatively to whatever she said and rarely bothered to answer at all. Han Jun, who was holding Minseo in his arms while letting Yi-hyeon take hold of one of his arms, suddenly came to a dead stop.
When the big guy following along abruptly halted, Yi-hyeon—whose arm had been linked with his—naturally stopped as well.
“Let go of my arm, will you? You’re not a kid anymore……”
Having grown up taking care of younger kids at the Orphanage, Yi-hyeon had developed the habit of holding someone’s hand or linking arms whenever he felt responsible for watching over them. That way, he wouldn’t lose the kids.
Maybe because of that, Yi-hyeon hadn’t even realized he was linking arms with Han Jun. When it finally hit him, he quickly loosened his grip.
“Sorry! I didn’t even realize—I did it without thinking.”
“Why’re you only letting go of me? You should let go of her too.”
With a sullen look, Han Jun glanced at Yi-hyeon’s hand, which was still linked with Yeon-seo’s arm.
“Oh—right. Sorry, Yeon-seo. I’ve been linking arms with my younger siblings since I was little, so I just did it without thinking……”
As Yi-hyeon hurriedly tried to pull his arm away, Yeon-seo caught his arm and smiled brightly.
“I’m fine with it. It makes us look closer, so it’s nice.”
“Huh? Minseo, what’s that?”
When Han Jun pointed straight ahead, Minseo burst into giggles and shouted again and again, “Shark! Shark!” Saying they should go see the fun sharks, Han Jun cut straight between Yeon-seo and Yi-hyeon. As a result, Yeon-seo’s hand naturally slipped off Yi-hyeon’s arm.
And that wasn’t the end of Han Jun’s bad attitude—it followed them all the way to the souvenir shop. Yeon-seo came over holding a cute penguin keychain she’d found somewhere and offered it to Minseo.
“What do you think? Noona’ll buy this for you as a birthday present!”
At that moment, Han Jun appeared holding a bizarre shark magnet that looked so strange it barely seemed like something meant to be sold. He used it to push the cute penguin out of Minseo’s line of sight.
“No. Our Minseo likes sharks more. I’m buying this.”
“There’s no rule saying you can only buy one present. You buy that. I’ll buy this.”
Yeon-seo said calmly.
“Nope. A present should be something the recipient actually likes. Didn’t you see earlier? Minseo was only interested in sharks. You’re only paying attention to the leftovers, so you can’t even tell what the kid really likes.”
Maybe she felt like she’d lost the argument just a bit. Yeon-seo glanced down at the penguin keychain in her hand, lips twitching uncertainly, then turned away. A moment later, she came back with a water globe containing a shark with a sleek, cool design.
“How about this, Minseo?”
“Wow! It’s a reaaal shark! Is this for Minseo?!”
Clearly loving the gift, Minseo laughed brightly and politely accepted the water globe with both hands. Yeon-seo then looked up at Han Jun—who towered well above her—with the expression of a victor.
“You said it yourself earlier, didn’t you? That presents should be what the recipient likes.”
“Ah—wait. No, that’s not it. Minseo, that’s not it. Look at this. A shark is supposed to be super strong and scary. What is that? What kind of shark is that? That’s just raising sea monkeys.”
Flustered, Han Jun shoved the magnet toward Minseo.
He desperately tried to sell it, explaining that it had magnets you could stick neatly onto a fridge or even a bicycle, insisting it was the better gift—but Minseo, who already had the pretty water globe in his hands, looked utterly unimpressed.
“Just wait.”
Han Jun scampered off somewhere and soon returned holding a shark water globe much bigger than the one Yeon-seo had brought. Yeon-seo looked dumbfounded and pushed the globe away.
“That’s cheating. Minseo already chose mine. Don’t you know about fair play? Fair and square.”
“I’ve only ever known how to play since the day I was born. Look, Minseo. Isn’t this way better than something that small?”
Han Jun rolled the water globe—nearly the size of his own face—back and forth as he spoke.
“……You’re seriously ridiculous.”
“Just go home already, seriously.”
At Han Jun’s childishness, Yeon-seo was finally left speechless. She let out a short huff of incredulous laughter.
As thanks for showing Minseo around the aquarium, Yi-hyeon decided to buy lunch for Han Jun and Minseo. Since it was Minseo’s birthday, the two of them had insisted they’d pay at the same time, but they quickly gave in when Yi-hyeon said he wanted to show Minseo what a cool older brother looked like. The four of them headed to a nearby snack restaurant.
Yi-hyeon ordered pork cutlet for Minseo first, then told the others to choose whatever they wanted to eat, sounding surprisingly dependable. It would cost far more than three weeks’ worth of allowance, but watching Han Jun’s side profile as he pondered the menu made Yi-hyeon feel inexplicably warm inside.
“I’ve never been to a place like this before. What’s good? Pick for me.”
Han Jun said to Yi-hyeon.
“There are Koreans who’ve never been to a snack place?”
Yeon-seo asked, amazed.
“I lived overseas for a long time. I don’t really like this kind of food either.”
“Sorry. I picked the wrong place.”
Yi-hyeon said, looking dejected.
“……I thought I didn’t like it, but honestly, I’ve never actually tried it, so I don’t really know. I might end up liking it once I eat it. I’ve always wanted to try it if I ever got the chance. And Yi-hyeon just went and made that chance for me. How did you know exactly what I was thinking? I’m really looking forward to it.”
Han Jun rattled all that off in one breath, like he was reciting memorized chemical symbols. Yeon-seo stared at him blankly before bursting out laughing.
“Well, then—how about an omelet? Or, ah—what about bulgogi rice bowl?”
“Yeah. That sounds good. Let’s go with that.”
Resting his chin on the table, Han Jun looked at Yi-hyeon as he spoke. Yeon-seo leaned forward over the table and asked,
“Pick for me too.”
“Don’t you have a mouth? Or eyes?”
Han Jun flicked his eyes toward her.
“I’d like to return those exact words to you. Pick something for me too, Yi-hyeon.”
“Um…… can you handle spicy food?”
Yi-hyeon asked. Han Jun lifted his chin and frowned deeply.
“Why didn’t you ask me that?”
“Huh?”
“Why didn’t you ask me whether I can eat spicy food, but you asked her?”
The reason Yi-hyeon hadn’t asked Han Jun was simple. They’d been living together for over a month—there was no way he wouldn’t know. Yi-hyeon knew that Han Jun couldn’t even chew garlic properly because he was so weak to spicy food, so he hadn’t bothered asking.
On the other hand, it was only natural not to know Yeon-seo’s food preferences since they barely had any interaction. That was why he’d asked—but missing that tiny detail was Yi-hyeon’s mistake. And setting that aside, he couldn’t understand why Han Jun was getting so prickly over not being asked, especially when no spicy food had even been ordered yet.
“I just…… haven’t ever seen you eat spicy food. That’s why I didn’t ask.”
“Just because I don’t eat it doesn’t mean I can’t.”
Han Jun replied, sounding hurt.
“Yi-hyeon, I love spicy food.”
Sensing the awkward tension settling between Han Jun and Yi-hyeon, Yeon-seo quickly slipped into the gap.
“Really?”
Yi-hyeon’s dejected expression brightened again.
“Yeah! I especially love Buldak Chicken Stir-fry.”
“Wow, me too. That’s my favorite convenience-store ramen.”
“Huh? Really? Our tastes overlap a lot.”
“Right? You’re the first person I know who can actually eat that stuff. Everyone else complains about how it burns their stomachs and asks why I’d even eat it.”
Yi-hyeon replied happily to Yeon-seo. Han Jun rested his chin on his hand again and spat out bluntly,
“Are there really people who can’t eat Buldak?”
You can’t eat it either……
Yi-hyeon swallowed the words to himself and ordered one bulgogi rice bowl and two spicy octopus rice bowls just as the server came to take their order.
“Cancel the bulgogi. Three octopus rice bowls.”
Han Jun shouted boldly.
Bold words aside, Han Jun couldn’t even make it through three bites before he had to put his spoon down. His face had turned bright red, yet he stubbornly refused to reach for his water. Watching him, Yi-hyeon quietly slid the water glass in front of him over toward Han Jun.
The way he’s just embarrassing himself repeatedly 😭🙏 Yi-hyeon oblivious as hell while these idiots compete over him 💀💀💀