42.
Haseo’s face brightened slightly at Choi Mujin’s response.
“Should I prepare dinner then?”
“Here? There’s nothing here though.”
“There isn’t?”
Haseo got up and quickly ran to the kitchen. He rummaged through the cabinets and managed to find a pot, a frying pan, and a knife.
“You’re right, there really isn’t much.”
As he stared blankly at the items he’d found, he looked like a squirrel whose acorn had been taken away. Choi Mujin found himself suppressing a smile.
“Should we order delivery?”
“…Yes.”
Haseo answered obediently, but he seemed somewhat dejected. So Choi Mujin did something he normally wouldn’t do.
“Or we could stop by a nearby mart?”
He remembered there was a fairly large supermarket about 10 minutes away by car.
“Can we really?”
“Why not?”
Choi Mujin said, putting his jacket back on. Haseo quickly put on his own coat and hurried to his side. They went back the way they came to the parking lot and got into the car. The inside of the car was quiet as before, but the atmosphere felt considerably better than earlier.
The mart was closer and larger than expected.
“They should sell pretty much everything.”
“Looks like it.”
Haseo replied, blinking his eyes.
“So what should we have for dinner?”
When Choi Mujin asked, Haseo thought for a moment, struggling to decide.
“What would you like to eat?”
Though he didn’t particularly crave anything specific, looking at Haseo, Choi Mujin quickly made a decision.
“Let’s have meat. Pork or beef?”
“Pork.”
Though Haseo ate beef well too, it seemed he preferred pork. In fact, Choi Mujin also preferred pork, even though he’d found himself cutting steaks more often since becoming a director. In the past, he often ate relatively inexpensive imported frozen pork belly. As they say, the position makes the person—Choi Mujin had changed too.
Pulling a cart from in front of the store, they entered to find people busy shopping. Still, being a weekday afternoon, it wasn’t particularly crowded. They first went to the meat section and bought pork belly.
“Three geun should be enough, right?”
“Three geun? Isn’t one serving usually 150 grams?”
“That’s just what restaurants say to make money. Who eats only 150 grams of meat?”
Without hesitation, Choi Mujin put plenty of pork in the cart. Then he added vegetables to eat with the meat, along with ssamjang and soju.
“You drink soju too?”
Haseo looked on with surprise each time Choi Mujin added something to the cart.
“You’re asking if I drink soju? It’s actually my favorite.”
Though he had risen from the bottom to become a company director, his taste hadn’t changed much. Usually, he ate expensive food for the sake of his reputation, but Choi Mujin’s taste was actually quite modest. There had been times when he couldn’t even eat proper meals—how could he be picky about food?
“Soju, so you like soju!”
Haseo, fixated on this detail for some reason, put several bottles in the cart.
“What about you?”
When Choi Mujin asked, Haseo hesitated briefly before answering.
“I don’t like alcohol.”
“For someone who doesn’t like it, you seemed to drink well.”
“I only drank to fit in with others.”
More accurately, he drank to set up his cons, but Haseo phrased it differently.
“Honestly, alcohol doesn’t taste good, does it?”
“What do you mean it doesn’t taste good? It becomes sweet as you drink it.”
Still young, Choi Mujin thought as he added some low-alcohol fruit beer for Haseo. If he didn’t like alcohol, something with a sweet taste would be better.
“They sell kitchen items here too.”
Though they wouldn’t be staying long at the new officetel, so there wasn’t really any need to buy new dishes. But since Haseo seemed to be enjoying himself, Choi Mujin bought some dishes without hesitation.
If he had been alone, he would have just bought disposable plates. By the time they finished shopping, the bill was quite substantial. While Choi Mujin was paying, a fidgety Haseo volunteered to carry the bags.
“I’ve got it.”
What could this little one carry? Choi Mujin snatched the bags that Haseo was struggling with. They weren’t even that heavy, but seeing him struggle made Choi Mujin think he should feed him better. On the way back, Haseo seemed to have become more talkative and started making conversation.
“I’ll grill the pork belly.”
“Are you good at grilling meat?”
Haseo’s eyes darted around.
“I’m good at it.”
A lie. But Choi Mujin decided not to point it out. When they returned to the officetel, they unpacked their groceries and took out the portable gas burner they had bought.
“It’s a shame we can’t use the gas stove when it’s right here.”
“I never cook food here anyway.”
The gas line was connected, but the stove had no power cord. Perhaps he should have installed an induction stove instead. Still, this wasn’t bad either. They laid newspapers in the middle of the living room and set up the portable gas burner. Then they placed the large pieces of meat on the frying pan. Since oil tends to splash when grilling meat, Choi Mujin rolled up his shirt sleeves.
With his naturally good physique and consistent effort, his arms revealed solid, practical muscles. Haseo stole a glance at them before picking up the tongs. He began sizzling the pork belly on the pan.
“It’s going to get smoky.”
Choi Mujin got up and opened the window leading to the veranda.
“Maybe we should have grilled on the veranda.”
The living room was already filling with the smell of meat.
“The smell will get on your clothes.”
“I can change. I brought clothes here.”
After saying this, Choi Mujin naturally took the tongs that Haseo was gripping tightly. He skillfully flipped the meat, and when it was cooked enough, he cut it with scissors. The pork belly now looked like the familiar dish they were used to seeing.
“Eat.”
When it was fully cooked, Choi Mujin placed some meat on Haseo’s plate. Haseo picked up the well-cooked pork belly and blew on it to cool it down. Then, using his chopsticks, he brought it to Choi Mujin’s mouth.
Eating pork without even wrapping it in lettuce. Despite thinking this, Choi Mujin readily accepted what Haseo offered.
‘As expected.’
The expensive pork, carefully cooked, was delicious with its bursting juices.
“This is tasty.”
Choi Mujin passed the next piece of meat to Haseo. But seeing how he behaved, it seemed like the meat might come back to him again, so this time Choi Mujin took Haseo’s portion and started making a ssam. He laid down a piece of lettuce and a perilla leaf, then topped it with garlic, ssamjang, and two pieces of meat. This was truly unlike him.
“Ah.”
When offered the wrap, Haseo opened his mouth and struggled to fit it all in. It seemed Choi Mujin had made it too large, thinking of his own usual portions. After struggling to finish the wrap, Haseo smiled at Choi Mujin. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen that smile.
“It’s delicious.”
But it didn’t take long to realize this was also a lie. This sly one apparently didn’t like adding other things to his meat. Except for the wraps Choi Mujin gave him, he didn’t touch the vegetables at all. He seemed content with just meat, ssamjang, and oil sauce. He did eat the grilled garlic and kimchi when offered, but his focus remained on the meat.
“Eat your vegetables too.”
Choi Mujin finally said.
“Ah, um.”
Only then did Haseo start making his own wraps. Following Choi Mujin’s example, he laid out vegetables, then placed meat, garlic, and ssamjang on top. Then he ate it, chewing slowly. But he didn’t look particularly happy about it, so Choi Mujin decided to stop commenting on his eating habits. After consuming a good amount of meat, he felt like having some soju.
Choi Mujin twisted open the soju cap and poured it into matching mugs they had bought. He handed Haseo the fruit beer, who opened the can.
“It’s sweet.”
Pork and alcohol went together remarkably well. Though Haseo initially only drank the fruit beer, he gradually began stealing sips of Choi Mujin’s soju. About half a bottle of soju had gone into Haseo’s mouth by the end.
“Hehehe.”
For someone who supposedly drank while working, he was surprisingly weak with alcohol. It seemed that during his cons, he must have been disposing of most of the alcohol instead of drinking it. Haseo sipped from the mug of soju and laughed oddly. Then at some point, he furrowed his brow and asked Choi Mujin.
“So when are you going to punish me?”
He seemed to be referring to punishment for the incident involving Ryu Jiho. Choi Mujin hadn’t particularly planned to punish him, but Haseo appeared to need it. It was strange to see someone who had jumped into the workforce right after high school, subsequently going around scamming people, suddenly developing a guilty conscience.
“What kind of punishment would you like?”
“…Anything. But I’m afraid if it’s too painful.”
“Then why are you asking for punishment?”
“Good question. Why am I? Maybe because I’m scared?”
Though his words seemed incoherent, Choi Mujin thought he understood what Haseo meant.
“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you?”
At Choi Mujin’s words, Haseo gave a small laugh. He appeared to be the type who laughed more when drinking.
“I’m scared. So scared. Scared enough to want to run away.”
“Then run away.”
When Choi Mujin said these words, which he didn’t mean, Haseo’s face contorted.
“I can’t. My grandmother is waiting.”
Grandmother. Haseo’s most precious family member. Even though he knew this, when Haseo mentioned his grandmother as the reason he couldn’t run away, it irritated Choi Mujin.
“Well, perhaps it is time for your punishment.”
Haseo downed the soju in his mug in one gulp, then respectfully knelt down.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
