After sunset, seated in a noisy restaurant, Jaehyuk was lost in deep contemplation.
What exactly was wrong with this guy?
Despite Jaehyuk’s troubled expression, Junghyun silently finished the last rib and then pulled a bowl of cold noodles in front of himself.
As he sprinkled mustard over the noodles, Jaehyuk muttered with a serious face.
“This definitely means something is wrong.”
Junghyun looked at Jaehyuk, who was launching this random attack while food was still in front of them, with noodles in his mouth.
As if to say, what nonsense is this now?
“At this point, it has to be parasites. Nothing else makes sense.”
Jaehyuk gestured toward the pile of bones and empty bowls in front of Junghyun, then pointed again at the cold noodle bowl in front of him. Junghyun lowered his gaze and continued moving his chopsticks diligently.
“Eating five servings of meat isn’t going to cause any problems.”
“Eating five servings of meat plus rice and soybean paste stew and now cold noodles—that’s the problem.”
“First you complained that I was too skinny, so I started eating, and now you’re complaining that I eat too much?”
After quickly emptying the bowl of cold noodles, which was meant to be dessert, and even drinking the broth, Jaehyuk seriously suggested to Junghyun:
“Let’s take deworming medicine.”
“I already did.”
“Then let’s go to the hospital.”
“I’m not eating because I want to; I’m forcing myself to eat to gain weight.”
Having meticulously finished the broth, Junghyun finally put down his bowl.
Seeing his thoroughly satisfied face, Jaehyuk slowly looked him over.
Come to think of it, he had definitely put on some weight.
Or rather, to be precise, his face looked healthier. His eyes weren’t sunken, and his skin had a better color.
That made sense, given how much he was eating and sleeping.
He had always been a good eater, but now he was eating even more.
The problem was…
“Even so, your appetite has suddenly increased too much.”
“I’m making an effort. Besides, after removing the bones, there’s not much meat left on the ribs.”
“Even without the bones, seven servings isn’t a small amount.”
When Jaehyuk counted the rice and cold noodles too, Junghyun slowly nodded as if conceding the point.
“Maybe it’s because I quit drinking?”
“I’ve heard that quitting smoking increases appetite, but this is the first time I’ve heard that quitting alcohol does.”
“That’s something nobody would know. And now that I think about it, I don’t want to hear that from you.”
As he spoke, Junghyun gestured toward the pile of bones in front of Jaehyuk.
The five servings was just a calculation based on them eating ten servings together; he wasn’t sure if it was exactly five servings each.
Maybe Jaehyuk had eaten more—to which Jaehyuk quickly conceded:
“This is normal for someone my size.”
After Jaehyuk argued that he hadn’t eaten carbohydrates, Junghyun wiped his mouth and immediately stood up.
“I’m bulking up, I tell you. We’re done eating, so let’s go.”
As Junghyun hurriedly stood up as if he had another appointment right after the meal, Jaehyuk also got up from his seat.
“Yes, let’s go. To the emergency room.”
“No, for dessert.”
While putting on his coat that reeked of meat and frowning, Jaehyuk immediately raised his voice at those words.
“You’re going to eat again?”
“Of course we need dessert. There’s a cake shop right next door. It’s famous on social media these days.”
“I think you need deworming medicine more than cake right now.”
“I told you I already took it.”
Saying that Jaehyuk should just pay the bill, Junghyun left the restaurant first, and Jaehyuk hurriedly finished paying and followed after him.
It was already completely dark outside.
Jaehyuk had picked up Junghyun around 6:30 PM, and when Junghyun suddenly said he was hungry, they had entered a nearby rib restaurant. Now it was already past 8 PM.
Not only was the amount impressive, but they had spent over an hour and a half eating, and now he was heading to the bakery next door saying he wanted to eat more. Jaehyuk clicked his tongue as he followed behind.
And after watching Junghyun buy a whole cake inside, he made a mental note.
Since Junghyun slept so deeply that he wouldn’t notice even if someone carried him away, he’d secretly take him to the emergency room once he fell asleep.
* * *
“Clear your schedule for Monday morning.”
“No.”
“Clear it.”
“You’re just going to make me go to the hospital, so no. Put on a movie instead.”
Having returned home and showered, Junghyun had come into the room with the large screen, holding an entire cake, and was now lying on the recliner sofa.
When Jaehyuk didn’t see him after his shower, he wondered where he had gone—and found him like this.
“You’re not really going to eat that whole thing, are you?”
“I am going to eat it whole. I’ve wanted to do something like this since I was young.”
The cake itself wasn’t particularly large, so it seemed possible to eat it all if he really wanted to.
No, he could definitely eat it, given Junghyun’s current appetite.
Still, wondering if this was really okay, Jaehyuk was having practical concerns when Junghyun, with the cake in his left hand and a fork in his right, called to him.
“Put on a movie and come help me quickly. I don’t like sweet things.”
Hearing this absurd statement, Jaehyuk laughed incredulously.
“If you don’t like them, why are you eating them?”
“I just wanted to try it once. I’ve tried eating a chicken per two people, a large pizza, and beer by the keg with friends, but I’ve never done this with cake.”
“…If I asked why you do such senseless things?”
“For fun?”
As Junghyun asked what else there was besides fun while patting the seat next to him, Jaehyuk sighed, turned off the room lights, and went to sit beside him. Then, relying on the projector light, he started selecting a movie.
“What kind of movie would you like?”
“Horror.”
For a moment, Jaehyuk’s hand paused. Noticing this, Junghyun, who was scooping up cake, specified the genre.
“In the horror category, I’d like occult horror, folk horror, gothic horror, cosmic horror, or body horror genres with titles that start with ‘Exorcise,’ ‘Doomed,’ ‘Damned,’ ‘Cursed,’ ‘Hell,’ etc., or end with ‘Madness,’ ‘Darkness,’ ‘Silence,’ etc.”
At this detailed, even meticulous list of movie titles that Junghyun clearly avoided just by looking at the words, Jaehyuk turned to him with disgust.
Then he immediately asked:
“Was it Lee Jeonghoo or Seo Yoonho?”
As Jaehyuk irritably asked which one had leaked this top-secret information, Junghyun continued eating cake as if he had no idea what Jaehyuk was talking about.
“I don’t know those names. I don’t know those people.”
“Stop talking nonsense. Which one was it?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“…Must be Yoonho.”
If it had been Jeonghoo, Junghyun would have easily answered since he wouldn’t feel the need to protect him. But deliberately avoiding the answer meant it was Yoonho’s doing.
Honestly, he wasn’t that close with Yoonho, so he wasn’t sure when they had discussed such things, but in any case, Seo Yoonho had quite a loose tongue.
“I need to meet with that guy again soon and knock some sense into him.”
He had already given him a good scolding once, but this wasn’t a case of closing the barn door after the horse had bolted. If he had spread this kind of personal information, he needed to be made to come to his senses not just once, but three or four times.
“Hyung Yoonho does talk a lot.”
“Too much.”
“But looking at it from another angle, you should be more careful about the people around you.”
At that moment, Jaehyuk, who had been scooping cake with an irritated face, stared at Junghyun.
His eyes seemed to ask if Junghyun was really in a position to say that, but Junghyun continued nonchalantly:
“Most information about you comes from the people around you. It’s not like you’re going around bragging about your nasty personality…”
After saying that much and eating some cake, Junghyun was met with Jaehyuk’s stare, accompanied by a smiling eyes.
As if daring him to continue.
But Junghyun paid no attention to that.
“The people around you tend to be excessively interested in you and actively spread gossip. There might be admiration in it, but I can’t guarantee there’s no malice… so it would be good to exercise some control. If there’s one person like me, there could be two.”
And as he added that the second person might approach with real malice, Jaehyuk silently observed Junghyun for a moment.
Staring intensely as if trying to decipher Junghyun’s intentions for suddenly bringing up this topic, Jaehyuk eventually shifted his gaze to the screen and changed the subject.
“I guess it doesn’t matter if there are two of someone who can ride big waves, go climbing, show madness in their eyes when watching baseball, and eat five servings of meat, rice, cold noodles, and then a whole cake for dessert.”
At Jaehyuk’s smoothly continued muttering, this time Junghyun laughed as if tickled.
“I think quite a few people might meet the first conditions, but the last one would be difficult.”
At Junghyun’s playful tone suggesting not just anyone could eat like that, Jaehyuk nodded immediately.
“Then, that’s fine. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“I don’t think it’s something that doesn’t matter. Come to think of it, you have a bit of a sucker side to you.”
“Since I’m going to live my entire life in a position of power, it’s not so bad to be a sucker for just one person.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
