#018
“Stop gawking and come eat your meal.”
Grandma Suni called to the three sitting in the small room. The meal was already prepared. It was a feast full of samgyetang with abalone and various seafood.
“I brought leftovers from yesterday’s feast. Scrape it all up and eat!”
“Thank you. We’ll eat well. Please eat first, ma’am.”
“You eat first. I’ll go feed Kkamie and come back.”
Kang Dojun looked at the samgyetang distributed precisely in each bowl, then at Lee Yeonwoo’s dining table. For some reason, he only had plain white rice without samgyetang.
Kang Dojun glanced at Grandma Suni, who had turned around to prepare Kkamie’s food separately, then secretly pushed his chicken leg to Lee Yeonwoo.
“Want to eat this?”
“I’m fine.”
He was concerned and made the offer, but was refused.
“You need to eat a lot to grow big and strong.”
Kang Dojun spoke as if coaxing a child, but Lee Yeonwoo was already a fully grown adult.
Shin Gihyeon, who had been watching the situation, held out his bowl.
“At least eat mine.”
He was an annoying guy, but Shin Gihyeon’s principle was that you shouldn’t discriminate in situations like this.
“I don’t need to eat it.”
“It’s fine, so eat it.”
“That’s right, Yeonwoo. You need to eat a lot to be healthy.”
As the situation of Lee Yeonwoo refusing despite their continued offers repeated, Grandma Suni, who had been turned around, finally spoke as if fed up.
“Geez, so noisy! Why so much talking at the dinner table? And the brat can’t eat chicken, so you bachelors eat among yourselves.”
The reason for the refusal was revealed. Grandma Suni had prepared Lee Yeonwoo’s side dishes separately, and soon abalone, sea urchin, and various seafood were set before him.
“You can’t eat chicken?”
Kang Dojun asked, recalling Lee Yeonwoo running away from the chicken coop on camera. He was afraid of chickens, so he probably didn’t like chicken dishes either. He asked just in case.
“Do you have allergies? You ate eggs just fine.”
“No, that’s not it. I just can’t eat chicken because I’m born in the Year of the Tiger.”
“…What does that have to do with anything? Then do I eat samgyetang because I’m born in the Year of the Ox?”
Shin Gihyeon, who had been listening, asked incredulously. Even with his questioning, Lee Yeonwoo shamelessly said once more.
“Because I’m Year of the Tiger.”
Soon Grandma Suni ruffled Lee Yeonwoo’s hair roughly while explaining the reason.
“Bachelor, just ignore him. This brat thinks anything with ‘tiger’ in it is cool, so just go along with it.”
Kang Dojun looked at Lee Yeonwoo with a bewildered feeling. He was frowning slightly, seemingly displeased with Grandma Suni’s explanation.
Was the purpose of disliking and being afraid of something to offset it by attaching the brave existence of a tiger in front of it?
He couldn’t understand Lee Yeonwoo’s thinking, but it was the most plausible reasoning.
Unlike Kang Dojun, who tried to understand Lee Yeonwoo’s thinking somehow, Shin Gihyeon neatly summarized the situation.
“What, so you just don’t like chicken.”
“I told you it’s because I’m Year of the Tiger.”
“Sure.”
Lee Yeonwoo, displeased with the soulless answer, kicked Shin Gihyeon’s shin under the table.
“Ow!”
It was another day of being bitten and kicked by Lee Yeonwoo for Shin Gihyeon.
“Gihyeon, you probably don’t know because you’re Year of the Ox… Ah, why are you hitting me?”
“You brat! If you’re Year of the Ox, you’d be one year older than him, so you should call him hyung! Smack!”
“Grandma, I’m born early in the year, so Gihyeon and I agreed to be friends.”
“Early or not! You keep acting like a brat, so you really became one? Hurry up and call him hyung!”
Lee Yeonwoo, who got a flick on the forehead from Grandma Suni, pouted his lips.
“Are you okay?”
Kang Dojun rubbed the spot where Lee Yeonwoo got hit.
“Yeah, but Gihyeon. We’re friends, right?”
“Grandma, this is so delicious. Thank you.”
Shin Gihyeon deliberately changed the subject. Because of that, Grandma Suni’s sharp gaze turned toward Lee Yeonwoo again.
Though indignation welled up, Lee Yeonwoo, anticipating that he’d get scolded by Grandma Suni again, chose the best option of quietly eating his meal.
So the grandma left to feed Kkamie and check on her condition, and Kang Dojun casually gave him the abalone that had been in his samgyetang.
“At least eat a lot of this.”
“Hyeong.”
Lee Yeonwoo looked at him with touched eyes. There were already abalones in front of Lee Yeonwoo too, but he was moved that he had given up his own portion.
“You have plenty of yours too.”
Shin Gihyeon, seemingly displeased with this, picked a fight.
“Hyung gave it to me, so why are you making a fuss?”
“Sunbae-nim, if you keep spoiling him like this, his manners will get worse… ah.”
He was about to say something when he realized that what he was about to say was exactly what Kang Dojun and all the village people said to Lee Yeonwoo, and he stopped.
Damn it, Shin Gihyeon was flustered by the fact that he almost nagged without realizing it.
‘Annoying kid. He really is weird.’
He glared fiercely at Lee Yeonwoo, who had done nothing wrong. Of course, Lee Yeonwoo paid no attention whatsoever to Shin Gihyeon glaring at him and stuffed abalone into his mouth in one bite, chewing noisily.
“You should cut it up before eating.”
“Abalone should be eaten whole in one bite.”
“What if it gets stuck in your throat? It’s a bad habit.”
Kang Dojun personally brought scissors and cut Lee Yeonwoo’s abalones into small pieces. Kang Dojun’s current appearance was almost at the level of maternal love, beyond the relationship between older and younger brother.
Shin Gihyeon moved his mouth then stopped again.
‘Does sunbae-nim know what he’s doing? He seems to be doing it without thinking… I would never do that for him.’
He made a firm resolution to himself even though no one asked him to.
“Wipe your mouth before eating.”
“Oh, thanks.”
He said this while pulling out a tissue and handing it to him for the stains around Lee Yeonwoo’s mouth.
“Then you don’t eat fried chicken either?”
“I don’t particularly enjoy it. My grandmother was a haenyeo, so I ate seafood more often than meat since I was young.”
“Ah, that’s why you went on the deep-sea fishing boat.”
“You’ve been on a deep-sea fishing boat?”
“Yeah. Long ago.”
He ate seafood often and liked it too. One of the reasons Lee Yeonwoo boarded a deep-sea fishing vessel right after high school graduation was also because of his grandmother.
He liked fish, liked fishing, and was curious about the sea that his deceased grandmother loved.
Of course, the result of that action was disastrous. Briefly recalling the past, he got goosebumps and shuddered. At the same time, Lee Yeonwoo’s phone also vibrated.
“Hello.”
Brat, where are you?
“I’m at Grandma Suni’s. Is something wrong?”
Aren’t you going to the apiary?
“Uncle, you had the feast yesterday. Aren’t you resting?”
Yesterday was yesterday, today is today! Hurry up and come out!
With those words, the call abruptly ended. Lee Yeonwoo, who had been eating, looked dejected.
“I think I should go.”
Kang Dojun, who roughly grasped the situation from the voice coming through the phone speaker, looked at Lee Yeonwoo’s bowl that was still half full and stopped him.
“Finish eating before you go.”
“Uncle Cheolsu is waiting for me though.”
“Still, finish eating before you go. I’ll contact uncle.”
“I guess that would be better, right?”
Lee Yeonwoo seemed to want to hear that, as he quickly picked up the chopsticks he had put down. Kang Dojun naturally took his phone and sent a text for him.
The phone, which didn’t have a single lock set up, was open to anyone. After sending a text to Uncle Cheolsu, Kang Dojun went into settings, tapped the screen, then held out the phone to Lee Yeonwoo.
“Put your fingerprint here.”
“Like this?”
“Yeah. I’ve also set up a passcode while doing it. I’ll send it to you by text.”
“Okay.”
Lee Yeonwoo didn’t seem particularly concerned and ate while chewing noisily. Kang Dojun glanced at him and added a comment.
“Can I set up my fingerprint too?”
“Do whatever’s convenient for you.”
Shin Gihyeon looked at that scene with a sour expression. Setting up his own fingerprint as a lock on someone else’s phone? Isn’t that a bit much?
Kang Dojun was touching Lee Yeonwoo’s phone with a faint, shallow smile.
“Sunbae-nim.”
“Yes?”
“Ah, never mind.”
Even with Shin Gihyeon’s call, he still didn’t compose his expression, so it seemed like he wasn’t even aware that he was smiling.
“I’ve set up the lock here.”
Lee Yeonwoo received his phone that Kang Dojun handed him, put the last spoonful in his mouth, and stood up from his seat.
“Yes, hyung. I’ll be back.”
“Alright, be careful going and coming back. Keep in touch and—”
“Yes. Gihyeon, hyung is leaving.”
“Who’s your hyung? Just don’t trip and fall on your way.”
Lightly ignoring Shin Gihyeon’s words, he opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a bottle of water.
“Please tell Grandma Suni I’m taking this.”
After saying that, he left just like that. Shin Gihyeon kept glancing at Kang Dojun while eating.
The person who had been his respected senior and his idol was showing sides of himself he had never shown before.
What was Lee Yeonwoo, whom he’d only known for a few days, that made him like this?
The camera would be resting for equipment checks too, so Shin Gihyeon decided to ask something rather direct.
“Sunbae-nim, what do you think about Lee Yeonwoo?”
“Yeonwoo?”
“Yes. I’m just asking out of curiosity.”
Kang Dojun, who had been thinking carefully, opened his mouth.
“Isn’t he a cute younger brother?”
A cute younger brother, just that? Shin Gihyeon, who had consistently observed Kang Dojun’s past and current actions, could easily recognize the difference in his attitude toward Lee Yeonwoo.
It was clearly different. A cute younger brother. It was a new connection in Kang Dojun’s life that hadn’t existed before. Did he show such behavior to younger brothers? Did he treat them so familiarly?
If so, would he treat him the same way if he became a younger brother too?
After finishing his thoughts, Shin Gihyeon carefully asked again.
“Could I call you hyung like Yeonwoo does?”
At Shin Gihyeon’s question, Kang Dojun stared at him.
‘Call me hyung?’
The word ‘why?’ was the first to settle in his mind.
When there was no answer, Shin Gihyeon asked again as if testing the waters.
“Is it not okay?”
There was no reason it wouldn’t be okay. However, he suddenly thought of Lee Yeonwoo. The scene of him looking up and calling him hyung with clear black eyes came to mind.
There was no reason it wouldn’t be okay, but…
“Yes. It’s not okay.”
One troublesome younger brother was enough. It was a clear rejection.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
