I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 100
Hyeonu ate the fried bread eagerly, unaware of Woohee’s thoughts. Eventually, he realized that Woohee wasn’t eating, and held out one of the crusts to him.
“Have some.”
“I’m not hungry!”
Woohee shouted out, the pain obvious in his voice. At the sound, Jaewoo smiled softly and asked.
“Oh? You’re already full?”
Woohee clamped his mouth shut and refused to answer. The truth was, he was a little hungry. Although he’d eaten a hearty breakfast, he’d met up with his friends from the neighborhood for the first time in a while and had been busy playing with them all morning. He just didn’t want to accept the snack from Jaewoo.
Even though they were right there, smelling delicious!
“Why don’t you try one? They’re really good.”
Although Jaewoo didn’t know what was going on, he still tried to persuade Woohee in a soothing voice. Woohee became even more annoyed – he resembled his Uncle Jaewoo so much when he did that. In the meantime, his mouth kept watering as he watched Hyeonu eat.
All of those reasons combined might be why Woohee acted erratically. He slapped away the bread crust that Jaewoo had been holding out to him, causing the crust, which had been fried to a beautiful golden-brown, to go rolling across the floor. Even though the floor was cleaned frequently, it wasn’t clean enough to eat off of, and the bread quickly became inedible.
Hyeonu looked over at him in shock.
“Woohee! Why did you do that?!”
“It’s not my fault!”
Woohee argued, but Hyeonu wasn’t convinced.
“You need to tell Hyunjin what you did.”
Hyeonu’s harsh words were too much for Woohee, and he cried out again.
“It’s not my fault!”
He didn’t know why he bothered, since Hyeonu had seen everything. Woohee was so upset he couldn’t stop crying. As he sobbed, someone moved closer and gently patted him on the back. It was the new Jaewoo.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. You told me you weren’t hungry, but I still pressured you to eat.”
That was right! It was all that guy’s fault. Despite that, the hand that patted his back felt so kind. Woohee opened his mouth on a sob, and a piece of bread crust was popped inside before he could react. It was delicious.
“…M-More.”
Woohee asked between sobs.
Another piece of bread was placed inside his mouth. Hyeonu watched the interaction sadly, but Woohee didn’t notice. He continued to munch on the bread crusts as they were given to him.
It had taken a few days for Jaewoo to realize that the kids were avoiding him. They had been slowly becoming friends up until then, so he hadn’t been sure what was going on. He’d spoken quietly with Hyunjin, and they’d come to the conclusion that the children were being torn between the former Seo Jaewoo and the current Jaewoo.
From the children’s point of view, they probably didn’t like the idea of a new uncle coming in and replacing their previous uncle. As a result, Jaewoo was struggling to become friends with them now that he was in his own body. That was why he’d fried up the bread crusts that day – he’d loved them so much when he was a kid, he’d hoped that the children would like them as well. It turned out he’d been correct.
“Hrrgh, urgh.”
Woohee sat there eating his bread crust, letting out tiny sobbing noises from his mouth. Jaewoo may have gotten the bread crusts for free, but he’d fried it in clean cooking oil and rolled it in sugar. It was a combination that couldn’t help but be delicious.
After devouring every last crumb, Woohee felt so sad that his lips stuck out in a pout. It was really cute; Jaewoo could barely resist the urge to pet his head, but somehow he restrained himself. He didn’t want to widen the distance that he’d worked so hard to bridge.
‘Now, I should head off to work.’
Jaewoo stretched his back and left through the front door. The soup restaurant was closed that day, but he’d offered to help make kimchi during the afternoon. For the side dishes, they made it fresh each day as needed, but to have kimchi themselves throughout the rest of the year, they were going to prepare a large batch.
Hyunjin had been gone for a while, running errands, but he’d promised to stop by on his way home to help.
‘It’s not a big deal.’
Yet the corners of Jaewoo’s mouth kept turning upwards in a smile. After revealing his identity to Hyunjin, things had been going smoothly. His relationship with the kids was still awkward, but even that would resolve itself eventually.
When he entered the soup restaurant, the old woman called out a greeting from the kitchen.
“Come in!”
“Woah, that’s a lot of cabbage. How much did you get?”
“Is it a bit much? I wanted to have plenty to share. Once we’re done, you can take some with you.”
“I’m grateful.”
“Then shall we begin?”
To make kimchi, first you needed to soak the cabbage in salted water, then take it out, squeeze out the liquid, make the seasoning, and mix them together. That was the traditional procedure that almost all Koreans knew. While they were in the middle of soaking the cabbages, Hyunjin joined them.
The sight of Hyunjin wearing an apron and a kerchief was really adorable. With the addition of red rubber gloves on his hands, Jaewoo could barely stop himself from hugging him, but he contented himself with merely watching as they settled down to kimchi-making.
They began applying the finished seasoning to the cabbages over and over again. While they were busy stacking the cabbages in the containers, an uninvited guest showed up.
“I guess today is kimchi day.”
The person who had rudely ignored the ‘Closed’ sign on the door was Mujin.
“What are you doing here?”
Hyunjin asked, holding up a hand to stop him. The effect was spoiled by the fact that he was still wearing a rubber glove covered in seasoning.
“I was told you were making kimchi, so I decided to stop by.”
He held out a black plastic bag. In confusion, the old woman reached out and took it. She opened it and glanced inside, then looked over at Mujin quizzically.
“Why pork?”
“Don’t you normally boil pork when making kimchi?”
That was true, but she didn’t know why Mujin had brought some for them. Mujin ignored her confusion and sat down on a chair that had been moved off to the side, as if he intended to watch the three of them work. The looks on their faces were identical, as all three tried to figure out why Mujin had even bothered to come if he wasn’t going to help out.
“What are your intentions?”
Hyunjin finally asked Mujin, his voice as sharp as a knife.
“I wanted to ask you that. Why didn’t you join me when I called?”
“Didn’t I tell you already?”
“You have no reason to meet with me now, is that what you’re saying?”
“You already know that.”
Mujin stared at Hyunjin, his eyes dark. The atmosphere between them was hard for Jaewoo to define. He’d heard from Hyunjin that he’d often met up with Mujin after his death. He’d claimed that it wasn’t because the two were close, but because they had been the only two people who had known Jaewoo well.
When he’d first heard that, Jaewoo’s thoughts had been chaotic.
‘If I hadn’t returned, was there a chance that the two of them might have ended up together?’
That had been the main idea running through his head. Yes, he knew what they both thought of each other, but he also knew what had happened in the novel. Originally, the two were meant to be together, but Jaewoo had thrown a wrench into that. What if things went back to how they were supposed to be? When he thought about that, he couldn’t help but feel anxious.
As Jaewoo continued seasoning the cabbages, he kept turning to glance at the main area, where Hyunjin and Mujin were talking. When the old woman saw this, she said to Jaewoo.
“If you’re so curious, just go out there and join in.”
“How could I do that?”
“Don’t the three of you know each other?”
“That’s true, but…”
Even as the two of them were chatting, Jaewoo continued diligently seasoning the cabbages. However, he gradually began to lean more and more in the direction of the restaurant area. The old woman chuckled at the sight, made even more amusing by the fact that Jaewoo hadn’t even seemed to notice.
Earlier, Hyunjin had rejected Mujin’s phone call. As far as he was concerned, there was no reason to see him anymore. He’d already been thinking about breaking off their relationship before learning about Jaewoo’s true identity, but it became even more important after that. So he’d turned down Mujin’s invitation, but he hadn’t expected Mujin to come find him in person.
“If you have something to say, say it quickly. We have a lot of kimchi to make.”
He waved his hand, still clad in a red rubber glove. Normally, the sight would have been amusing, but Mujin’s face remained expressionless.
“Have you forgotten him already, after only a year?”
Did Mujin just want to rehash their old pain once more? Mujin was suffering from the loss of Jaewoo, and wanted to know that someone out there was feeling the same agony.
“Maybe I have.”
“Why?”
Hyunjin paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully. He needed to explain his reasoning and get Mujin out of their lives. Jaewoo would be safer once Muin was gone. But before he could organize his thoughts, Mujin spoke up once more.
“Because of him?”
Mujin jerked his chin in Jaewoo’s direction, where he was glancing over at them curiously from the kitchen. Hyunjin should have immediately said ‘No’, but for a moment he froze. Mujin’s eyes lit up with rage.
“Really? Really?!”
“It’s not.”
Hyunjin tried to deny it, but it was already too late. Mujin jumped to his feet and stormed towards Jaewoo. He burst into the messy kitchen, bypassing the kimchi making utensils, and grabbed Jaewoo by the collar.
Hyunjin quickly ran after him. He tossed aside his rubber gloves and grabbed Mujin’s wrist.
“Are you crazy?”
“Am I crazy? Of course I am! I’ve been crazy ever since that day.”
Mujin smiled bitterly, dragging Jaewoo behind him. Jaewoo flailed his arms, smearing kimchi seasoning all over Mujin’s suit as he struggled, but Mujin wasn’t affected.
Suddenly their peaceful day of making kimchi had turned into anarchy.
“What’s going on?”
The old woman shouted in a panic. She threw away the cabbage she was holding and grabbed onto Mujin.
“Let Jaewoo go, you bastard!”
“Tsk.”
Mujin made a noise of annoyance and shoved the old woman away. Enraged, Jaewoo aimed his hands at Mujin’s face, trying to smear the seasoning in his eyes, but he was soon overpowered and forced to remove his gloves.
“You’re a monster!”
Before he knew it, Jaewoo’s apron was dropped to the floor as well. All he had left was the red handkerchief tied around his head.
“I told you to stop!”
“Fuck off! Why should I listen to you?”
Without any hesitation, Mujin dragged Jaewoo out the door and threw him at Dongsoo, who’d been waiting outside.
“Get him out of my sight.”
Dongsoo followed Mujin’s order faithfully. Jaewoo struggled, but he had no hope against people who had been fighting all their lives. But before he could be dragged away, Hyunjin arrived and blocked Dongsoo’s path.
