110
Yeon Ji-ho, who would normally have taken a nap while in the hospital room, didn’t even close his eyes once, perhaps due to Set’s presence. The conversation between the two was briefly interrupted when the hospital’s dinner time arrived, and delicious aromas wafted through the air.
Set, being perceptive, promptly returned with the dinner tray delivered to the hospital room. Yeon Ji-ho, moving his body after a long time, tried to help by unfolding the bed table, but Set prevented him from doing even that.
“Ji-ho, stay still.”
“I’m fine. I can…”
“Ji-ho.”
Yeon Ji-ho finally stopped moving at Set’s firm call. It seemed that Set’s overprotectiveness had increased a bit since they last met, but Ji-ho thought it was understandable given his pregnancy. …Of course, it was disconcerting that Set tried to follow him even to the bathroom attached to the hospital room.
The table was raised, and the warm-smelling food tray was placed in front of Yeon Ji-ho, who was sitting on the bed. Set removed the lids from the bowls on the tray and picked up the chopsticks himself.
“…Huh?”
As Yeon Ji-ho tilted his head, Set used the chopsticks to pick up a soybean side dish and place it on top of the rice bowl. Yeon Ji-ho’s eyes widened at the natural and familiar chopstick skills.
“Set, that chopstick skill…”
“I practiced while you were away.”
“…You did?”
In truth, Set had been able to do this from the moment he first saw Yeon Ji-ho use chopsticks, not just from practicing while he was away. But Set didn’t mention this fact. It would have been more unbelievable for someone of Sword Master caliber to not be able to immediately mimic something as simple as using chopsticks.
Set then picked up a spoon, scooped a small amount of rice, and brought it to Yeon Ji-ho’s mouth. As Yeon Ji-ho took it in his mouth, Set silently counted the number of times he chewed.
“Ji-ho, you need to chew a bit more.”
“Huh? No, it’s just… it’s delicious…”
Meanwhile, Yeon Ji-ho was surprised. When Seon-rok used to be so concerned about his meals, he could hardly eat the hospital food and had to throw most of it away. The only edible thing was the egg dish Soo-cheol made. But now, it was different.
Each spoonful of rice Set fed him was surprisingly delicious. The rice, which used to feel dry and gritty like sand, now had a nutty sweetness to it. Perhaps because it had been so long since he had tasted food properly, he felt rushed to eat a bit more while he could, which led him to chew less thoroughly than usual.
“Ji-ho?”
“Ah, um… well…”
Set quickly noticed that Yeon Ji-ho was hesitating about something. When Set urged him to speak with his eyes, Yeon Ji-ho blushed slightly and spoke softly.
“Um… I want to eat the grilled fish…”
As soon as he heard this, Set, with a face that suggested it was no difficult task, moved his chopsticks to quickly remove the fish bones. Then he brought a piece of white flesh to Yeon Ji-ho’s mouth.
The taste of fish, which would normally have made him nauseous just from the smell, was surprisingly okay today. There were no fish bones to ruin the taste, and his mouth moved on its own. Yeon Ji-ho was so amazed and grateful for this phenomenon that he felt like he might cry.
“Ji-ho, what about this? Don’t you want to eat it?”
“That one… doesn’t taste good…”
“I see. I’ll eat this then.”
Set took the stir-fried eggplant that Yeon Ji-ho had pushed away and put it in his own mouth in one go. As Yeon Ji-ho watched Set chewing and swallowing the eggplant, he suddenly realized something and exclaimed.
“Ah, Set, your meal!”
“Aren’t we eating together?”
“But you’re just eating what I left…”
Since Seon-rok usually only came for lunch, they hadn’t ordered a caregiver’s meal for dinner. Yeon Ji-ho was so happy to be able to eat properly after a long time that he belatedly realized Set hadn’t eaten anything.
When they had emptied about half of the tray, Yeon Ji-ho slightly glanced at the spoon Set was offering and shook his head to refuse. Surprised, Set furrowed his brow and said,
“Ji-ho. Haven’t you eaten too little?”
Although he had eaten diligently, due to chewing and swallowing carefully, all he had eaten so far was about five spoonfuls of mixed grain rice, a little fish, and about ten soybeans. Set looked down at the unfinished tray with an unsatisfied expression.
“…There’s something I want to eat.”
“Something you want to eat?”
Usually, he would have comforted himself saying he had eaten a lot even with this much, but not today. Whether it was because Set was beside him or not, the food was going down smoothly. At this point, there was one food that came to mind unusually strongly.
Yeon Ji-ho rationalized that it would be okay since Set hadn’t eaten either. After all, he needed to have a meal too…
“Ji-ho, tell me. What do you want to eat?”
“…Rice.”
“Rice? What kind of rice?”
Hesitating, hesitating. Yeon Ji-ho kept stopping himself from speaking. This food was something that even Yeon Ji-ho himself hadn’t thought about for a very long time.
“Pork rice soup…”
When he was young and followed his parents to the market, pork rice soup was the food he ate the most. Of course, young Yeon Ji-ho used to dislike it, saying it had a strange smell. As he grew up, since he usually cooked for himself, he didn’t often eat pork rice soup which required a lot of skill to prepare.
He didn’t know why this food suddenly came to mind today. But once the thought occurred, it wouldn’t leave Yeon Ji-ho’s mind.
“Pork… rice soup? Where can we get that? Tell me, Ji-ho. I’ll bring it.”
“De-delivery is fine.”
After saying this, Yeon Ji-ho swallowed the saliva that was slowly seeping out and opened his phone. When he opened the Delivery Family app, he saw a few open rice soup restaurants. Fortunately, the area where the hospital was located was more bustling than where Yeon Ji-ho lived.
Once Yeon Ji-ho placed the order, Set would go down to the first floor to receive the delivery food. Not long after, a call came from the delivery driver, and Yeon Ji-ho was startled by the growling sounds coming from his stomach from the moment Set went down to the first floor.
It wasn’t like he hadn’t eaten dinner at all; he had just eaten a little while ago. Yet he was getting hungry again. If Seon-rok had seen this, he would have been so surprised he might have fallen over backwards.
“Ji-ho, the bowl is hot. You should eat slowly.”
Set, watching Yeon Ji-ho who seemed oddly hurried for some reason, slowly removed the packaging and first placed a spoon in his hand. Actually, he wanted to feed him this time too, but couldn’t because Yeon Ji-ho insisted on doing it himself.
Yeon Ji-ho scooped up an appropriate amount of salted shrimp and gently stirred it into the rice soup. Then, without hesitation, he dropped the separately packaged rice into the soup. A puff of hot steam rose.
The soup was filled with an appropriate amount of chives, green onions, and tender meat pieces all mixed together. Looking at it made his mouth water repeatedly.
“Huff, huff…”
Experiencing a craving he hadn’t felt in a very long time, Yeon Ji-ho pushed the spoonful into his mouth before the steam could even dissipate. The hot and savory taste unique to pork rice soup filled his mouth with flavor.
As Yeon Ji-ho was about to move his spoon again, Set’s chopsticks moved faster. Set had already picked up a small piece of diced radish kimchi and placed it on Yeon Ji-ho’s spoon. Yeon Ji-ho tilted his head at the radish kimchi that was cut into one-eighth of its usual size.
“Did this come cut like this?”
“No, I cut it a little while ago.”
“Isn’t there no scissors in the hospital room?”
“…I used my sword energy.”
Set raised his hand as if to show how he had cut it. Suddenly, a miniature version of Set’s usual sword, about the size of a finger, appeared in the air. Yeon Ji-ho laughed softly at the sight. He couldn’t help but laugh seeing such a grand ability being used to cut radish kimchi.
The long and extended meal finally ended when night had fully fallen. After cleaning up everything they had eaten, Set took Yeon Ji-ho for a light walk nearby, and also gently patted his back in case he might have indigestion from suddenly eating too much.
At last, bedtime came for both of them. Yeon Ji-ho, lying on the hospital bed with only the bedside lamp on, glanced down at Set lying on the caregiver’s bed.
“Isn’t that uncomfortable?”
“It’s fine. There’s a blanket and pillow.”
“No, even Uncle Seon-rok said it was hard.”
He had heard Seon-rok, who occasionally came to take naps, grumbling to himself about how hard the bed was. Yeon Ji-ho mentioned this while cautiously observing Set’s reaction, and then subtly moved to the edge of the bed.
“Do you want to sleep together?”
Set finally couldn’t resist when Yeon Ji-ho said this while lifting his own blanket. It wasn’t so much that the auxiliary bed was uncomfortable, but rather that he couldn’t refuse because Yeon Ji-ho seemed to want it.
Lying together on the narrow single bed, Set pulled Yeon Ji-ho into his arms. Even so, he was extremely careful in his movements, worried that he might press against Yeon Ji-ho’s stomach.
“Ji-ho.”
“…Mm…”
Set stroked Yeon Ji-ho’s hair until he fell completely asleep, and after confirming that he was asleep, got out of the bed. There wasn’t even a hint of sleepiness in Set’s eyes.
Set, who had been by Yeon Ji-ho’s side all day, moved to the sofa a bit far from the bed. Sitting there, he gazed absently at Yeon Ji-ho sleeping under the bedside lamp. Although clearly asleep, his expression looked somewhat uncomfortable.
The next moment, Set closed his eyes and focused on the energy within his body. The first energy was, of course, mana. For Set, who had long since become a Sword Master, this was easier than breathing.
After examining his body for a long time while refining his mana, Set finally noticed one foreign energy. It was an energy that had been there for an unknown time. Set easily manifested this energy outwardly.
At the same time, pheromones began to fill the hospital room. The wrinkles that had been faintly visible on Yeon Ji-ho’s brow suddenly disappeared.
“…”
Set identified the scent of his own pheromones. Only then did he realize why he hadn’t known this was in his body all this time.
His pheromones smelled of burnt charcoal. It was a scent befitting someone who had come to meet Yeon Ji-ho even through flames.
