Jaeyoon looked at the scene before him with a gentle smile on his lips. The red flames were blazing so high they almost touched the ceiling. Could a gas stove really generate that much heat…? His temples throbbed, as if the body aches from the cold he’d been suffering from for the past two days were returning.
“Hey, you idiot!!”Â
Lee Heejun shouted loudly as he slapped Sim Jaeha hard on the back. The sound was so sharp that it would probably leave a bruise if you checked under his clothes. Heejun snatched the frying pan from Jaeha’s hands and pushed him far away. After quickly turning off the gas stove, a long sigh escaped from Heejun’s lips.
“Sorry…”
Jaeha mumbled quietly, glancing nervously at Jaeyoon and Heejun. Jaeyoon swallowed the sigh that was about to escape and forced a smile.
“Class President… isn’t very good at cooking, I see…”
“It’s not just being bad at it—it’s on the level of destruction.”
Heejun muttered through gritted teeth as he tossed what was once scrambled eggs, now burnt black, into the sink.
“I’m really sorry…”
“…It’s okay. We can just make scrambled eggs again…”
Jaeyoon discreetly turned his gaze to quickly scan the remaining ingredients on the counter. Though he said it was fine, he wasn’t sure if there were any usable ingredients left. Fortunately, there were still some surviving eggs, bacon, ham, and three or four slices of cheese. Phew, a sigh of relief naturally escaped his lips. Jaeyoon quickly grabbed three eggs, protecting them against his chest, worried that Jaeha might try to take them for another attempt.
“I’m already annoyed having to do this crap, so don’t make it worse, okay?”
Heejun glared at Jaeha, grinding his teeth. In response, Jaeha avoided his gaze and hid behind Jaeyoon. Tsk, the sound of Heejun clicking his tongue sharply could be heard.
“Haaa…”
Jaeyoon sighed and looked at the writing on the whiteboard. ‘Sandwiches for tired seniors! (Toast)’ They were currently making sandwiches for the third-year students. Some kind of school event for third-years stressed about the college entrance exam? The second-years, one grade below, were almost forcibly required to make sandwiches in the cooking room and present them to their seniors. Moreover, to prevent lying about giving sandwiches when they hadn’t, they had to get the signatures of the third-years who received the sandwiches in their student handbook.
“College entrance exam stress my ass, I’m about to explode from frustration. Fuck…”
Rough expletives flew from Heejun’s mouth. He kept talking non-stop while vigorously scrubbing the blackened frying pan with kitchen towels. Wow, he’s impressively good at cursing… By the way, I never knew making sandwiches was this hard…
Jaeyoon looked at the remains of the ingredients that had passed through Jaeha’s hands. They looked like piles of black charcoal—without being told, one would never guess they had once been food ingredients.
‘I never imagined the Class President would be this catastrophically bad at cooking… surprising.’
Judging by Jaeha’s image alone, he seemed like someone who would excel at any type of cooking, but the reality was completely opposite. When asked to toast bread, he had managed to blacken the pan with just butter before even getting to the bread. He had performed the miracle of mixing condensed milk, mayonnaise, and sriracha to create a sauce that tasted like dirt, and when asked to slice tomatoes into bite-sized pieces, he had utterly destroyed them into fragments. Thanks to him, Jaeyoon and Heejun were already exhausted just from cleaning up after Jaeha’s disasters.
“Amazing! Sim Jaeha, amazing!!”
“That’s the first time I’ve seen flames that big from a gas stove.”
“The Class President has a black dragon on his right arm…”
The other students in the class giggled and laughed, taking photos with their phones as if it wasn’t their problem. This was making Heejun’s already low mood drop even further into a depression. He glared at the classmates while holding a kitchen knife in his hand. Seeing his murderous gaze, the students quickly shut their mouths and scattered in all directions.
“Hey.”
“Yes, yes sir!!”
At Heejun’s call, Jaeha flinched and quickly responded.
“Unwrap the cheese. Slowly, carefully, it doesn’t matter if you’re slow as long as you do it safely.”
“Yes sir!”
“Touch anything other than the cheese and you’re dead, got it?”
“Yes sir!!”
Watching Jaeha hurriedly take the sliced cheese from the counter and carefully remove the plastic wrapping, Jaeyoon soon approached Heejun’s side.
“Haah, that useless guy, seriously…”
Hearing Heejun’s tired voice, Jaeyoon smiled slightly.
“I’ll make the scrambled eggs, so Heejun, could you grill the bacon?”
“Okay.”
Heejun nodded and immediately began skillfully grilling the bacon. The way he handled the frying pan showed he was no amateur cook.
“You’re quite skilled.”
“Thanks to that idiot who keeps trying to make things despite not knowing how to cook, I’ve naturally improved while cleaning up his messes and cooking for him.”
They grew up together since childhood, right? Recalling what Heejun had told him before, Jaeyoon poured oil into the frying pan and cracked the eggs. I like mine runny, but for sandwiches, fully cooked is better, right? Seeing the scrambled eggs sizzling nicely, Jaeha, who had finished unwrapping the cheese, slowly approached.
“Jaeyoon is good at cooking too, huh?”
“I used to cook sometimes when I was living alone.”
“Living alone?”
Seeing Heejun’s puzzled expression as he turned around, Jaeyoon blinked blankly before suddenly realizing with a start and waving his hands.
“No, that’s not what I meant! I meant, when I was by myself! Both my parents are busy, so usually my brother made meals, but when he wasn’t around, I cooked for myself!”
“Ah~”
Jaeha nodded as if he understood. Then he pointed at Heejun and himself, smiling brightly as he said, “We’re like that too, you know?”
“At our houses too, both parents work, so either his brother takes care of us, or we cook for ourselves.”
“More precisely, this guy causes trouble, I clean up after him, and then I cook,” Heejun interjected, pausing from grilling the bacon.
Jaeha stuck out his tongue at Heejun’s remark and then grumbled softly.
“Did I say anything wrong?”
“No, you’re completely right~”
When Heejun gripped the spatula tightly as he spoke, Jaeha shrugged his shoulders and pouted his lips. Seeing them bickering yet still being friendly made it feel real that they were childhood friends.
“Heejun, is the bacon done?”
“Almost there.”
Jaeyoon turned his head to look at the clock. Time is getting tight. We won’t make it for toast. Having completely given up on toast, he quickly made the sauce, then placed lettuce, cheese, and fried eggs on the bread in order.
“Jaeyoon, over here.”
Hearing someone calling him, Jaeyoon took the sandwich he had made and approached Heejun. Then nicely browned bacon fell onto the fried eggs. Phew, a sigh of relief escaped from Heejun’s lips. Now for the sauce… As Heejun turned his head looking for sauce to drizzle, he frowned at the sight of Jaeha coming over with a bowl of sauce, smiling brightly and saying “Here!”
“Hey, don’t run. If you fall…”
“Woah?!”
Before he could finish speaking, Jaeha’s foot caught on a cord on the floor, and his body tilted forward precariously. At the same time, the plate in his hands went flying into the air. “Ah-!!” Heejun’s irritated cry rang out, and
“No, the sauce!!”
Jaeyoon desperately shouted as he lunged forward, barely managing to catch the plate falling to the floor with both hands. Then he fell face-first onto the floor with a loud thud. It was only natural that his entire body ached, and he felt embarrassed too. But a sandwich without sauce? That was an intolerable matter of importance to Jaeyoon.
“Nice catch!!”
“Jaeyoon, have you thought about joining the basketball team?”
“Idiot! What basketball team? Jaeyoon, want to play baseball?”
He ignored the applause and scout offers he heard. Are you okay? Heejun crouched next to him, took the sauce plate from his hands, saying good job. Then he extended his hand to help Jaeyoon, who was lying face down, to get up.
“Jaeyoon, I’m sorry!!”
“It’s fine…”
Jaeha must have fallen on his face too, as his face was red. Heejun made a throat-slitting gesture with his thumb at Jaeha, who was apologizing over and over, unable to stay still.
“I told you not to run, you idiot!!”
“I’m sorryyyy!!”
Jaeyoon let out a sigh as he spread sauce on top of the bacon and finally topped it with another slice of bread. Finally finished… A sense of accomplishment and fatigue hit him simultaneously. Was making a sandwich supposed to be this exhausting? Just as he was brushing back his sweaty bangs, the phone in his cardigan pocket vibrated.
‘What now?’
Since it was class time, he didn’t think Jung Jinhoo would text him, so he checked his phone assuming it was a promotional message. As soon as he saw the name on the screen, he frowned deeply.
‘Why is the Student Council President texting during class?’
After glaring at the screen showing Han Doyoon for a moment, Jaeyoon pretended not to see it and turned off the screen. Then, as if Han Doyoon could see him, another message arrived. Seeing the preview message content, Jaeyoon narrowed his eyebrows.
[Pretending not to see when you did is what bad children do, you know?]
[It’s not even read and ignored]
[You saw it and pretended not to…]
“…”
Jaeyoon frowned at the notifications that kept coming even as he was checking the messages. Stop sending them. Sending texts during class instead of studying is also what bad children do. Jaeyoon sighed softly and reluctantly checked Han Doyoon’s messages. Then he frowned again.
[Looking forward to the sandwich]
[I’d prefer something spicy rather than sweet]
‘When did I say I was giving one to you?’
Seeing Han Doyoon counting his chickens before they hatched, Jaeyoon stared at the phone screen with an expression that said he’d seen all kinds of strange people. If I ignore him, he’ll probably be more annoying… I need to make him understand clearly.
[There isn’t one for you. Stop talking nonsense]
Jaeyoon wanted to send the message to Han Doyoon just like that, but he took a deep breath and deleted what he had written. If he sent it like that, he could already envision how Han Doyoon would annoy him in unexpected ways.
[I sent the message to the wrong person]
Go ask Kim Yeonwoo for your sandwich. After sending the text to Han Doyoon and turning off the screen, Jaeyoon approached Heejun and Jaeha, who were still bickering and fighting, and began to break them up. Busy separating the two in the midst of the noisy commotion, Jaeyoon didn’t notice his phone vibrating again in his cardigan pocket.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
