I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 27

As Hyunjin said, he cooked the glutinous rice paste to perfection. Thanks to him, the stuffing for the kimchi tasted fantastic. Once the filling was completed, Jaewoo immediately began boiling the meat. He added some chopped green onions, a little onion, garlic, and ginger, and a tablespoon of homemade soybean paste. He’d removed the blood from the whole pork belly in advance. Now all he had to do was boil it just so.

After preparing the boiled pork, Jaewoo took a deep breath and went out into the yard again. Now was the time to stuff the cabbage.

‘Yes, that will do.’

There was one problem – Hyunjin was right next to him, ready to help. Jaewoo wished that he would just leave him alone for just a minute, but Hyunjin appeared completely sincere in his desire to help. If only Hyeonu and Woohe were awake, they could stay by Jaewoo’s side as a buffer, but since it was the weekend, they seemed to be sleeping in late.

“Is it time now to put the filling in?”

“Mmhm.”

“Is this the right amount?”

Hyunjin asked, spreading the stuffing between cabbage pieces.

“I think that’s enough.”

After that, the conversation between the two stopped. Eventually, Hyunjin broke the awkward silence.

“Are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

“About the drinking thing. You can still do it if you want to.”

If Hyunjin said it was okay for him to drink, then what was yesterday about? Jaewoo had a lot of questions he wanted to ask, but he couldn’t. The one who had messed up was himself. Instead, he just quietly stuffed the cabbage. Perhaps because of the two of them working silently and diligently, the kimchi was ready in an instant.

‘Now let’s check if the boiled pork is cooked properly.’

As Jaewoo stood up and straightened his back, he saw the shadow of a tall man hovering outside the front gate.

‘Was someone supposed to be here today?’

As he was looking at the gate in confusion, the door opened with a squeak. The person who stepped through was someone that Jaewoo knew well.

‘Mujin!’

Why was he here? He’d even brought something with him. In one hand, he was holding a large, black plastic bag. It didn’t match the smartly dressed black suit and leather gloves at all. Mujin, whether he knew what Jaewoo was thinking or not, greeted him calmly.

“Long time no see.”

It really hadn’t been long enough. Jaewoo’s expression turned sour.

‘No, you can’t react like this.’

Wasn’t Mujin the person holding his life in his hands? Nothing good could come out of making his displeasure obvious. Jaewoo struggled to straighten up his expression.

“What are you doing here?”

“A little birdie told me you were making kimchi, and I thought I’d drop by.”

His tone was casual, as if he was stopping by a friendly acquaintance’s house. A friendly acquaintance, huh? Surely they didn’t have that sort of relationship, did they? Jaewoo held back the words that threatened to burst out of his mouth at any moment with superhuman patience, only because Hyunjin was there. It was probably time for him and Mujin to meet once more.

“Aren’t you going to invite me in? I also brought meat.”

“You already entered.”

“Oh, so I did.”

Mujin responded calmly to Jaewoo’s words and stepped further inside. Then, Hyunjin, who had silently put the kimchi in the jar and had taken off his gloves, blocked his path.

Mujin, neatly dressed and carrying a black bag filled with meat, and Hyunjin, tall and handsome, but carrying rubber gloves covered in red pepper powder in one hand. Looking at the two of them gave Jaewoo a strange feeling.

“Why did you come here?”

Hyunjin was the first to speak.

“Didn’t I tell you earlier? Should I have used smaller words?”

Mujin smiled crookedly and held up the bag. Hyunjin’s hands were shaking as he clenched the rubber gloves tight. It felt like his hatred for Mujin had grown even more after he’d left. What was Hyunjin going to do like this? Was he planning on hitting Mujin in the face with a rubber glove, or something along those lines? Jaewoo, who was watching Hyunjin’s hands with a nervous expression, collected them before he could.

“I’ll wash these and lay them out.”

Next, he was given a bag of meat from Mujin. When he grabbed hold of it, he found it was really quite heavy. Just how much meat had he bought? As Jaewoo opened the bag and took a quick look inside, Mujin spoke naturally.

“I like to eat a lot, so I may have bought too much.”

Why was he lying like that? Jaewoo knew that, like most crazy tops, Mujin ate just enough to fill his stomach. Still, he didn’t have the courage to call him out on the lie to his face, so he calmly picked up the meat and headed to the kitchen. Fortunately the refrigerator was quite large, so there was still plenty of empty space for it.

‘Come to think of it, he ate pretty well the last time he was here, too.’

Was it some sort of settings conflict? Jaewoo tilted his head. Or did his food just really suit Mujin’s taste? Thinking like that made him feel rather proud. As expected, his cooking skills hadn’t gone anywhere even if his body had changed.

Hyunjin watched Jaewoo enter the kitchen, then looked back at Mujin.

“Why did you really come?”

“I already told you earlier.”

However, Hyunjin didn’t believe Mujin. He didn’t think the gangster would have come looking for this place without any reason.

“You don’t believe me?”

“Would you believe it if you were me?”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t believe.”

Hyunjin’s expression became more grim. Mujin, who was watching him, took out a cigarette from his pocket and placed it between his teeth. On the surface, Hyunjin looked like someone who was on the verge of breaking, but the facial expressions he sometimes showed were intriguing. Doesn’t it seem like he’s hiding a beast somewhere inside? In the end, Mujin got the impression that Hyunjin was pretty similar to himself. How annoying.

“No smoking!”

Jaewoo ran out of the kitchen, shouted, and snatched the cigarette from Mujin’s lips.

“I didn’t even light it.”

“That’s still no good! I don’t want the kids getting any ideas.”

“Oh, the kids.”

It seemed like he was referring to Hyunjin’s younger siblings. What a good heart Jaewoo had. He even took care of his tenant’s younger siblings. It was an unimaginable way of thinking for Mujin.

Bubble bubble bubble bubble…

While the three of them were talking, the boiled pork had continued cooking steadily. Although Jaewoo was anxious about leaving Mujin and Hyunjin alone, he left again to check if the piece of meat was cooked.

‘If I feed them something, won’t they become calmer?’

With that in mind, Jaewoo cut into the boiled pork and confirmed that it was cooked. Even better, it looked like it was cooked perfectly. When he took out the whole piece of pork belly and cut it into pieces, steam rose, and the fatty meat shone in the sunlight. Jaewoo picked up a piece and tasted it, and the pork nearly melted in his mouth before he could finish chewing more than a few times. The unique taste of the pork erased all his worries and made him happy.

Jaewoo hurriedly sliced the rest of the meat. It was too quiet outside; it made him feel even more anxious. He took out two platters and put small pieces of food on one, for the children, and adult-sized portions on the second one. He’d bring the children’s food to them in his room, and bring the adult platter outside to the yard.

“Are the children eating on their own?”

Jaewoo smiled awkwardly and answered Mujin’s casual question.

“Yes.”

“Why? I don’t mind if they eat with us.”

Of course Mujin wouldn’t mind, but Hyunjin was clearly anxious about letting the children anywhere near him. Therefore, in consideration, Jaewoo thought it was better to feed them their meal separately.

First, they set up a table for the adults out in the yard. They lay newspaper down on the floor and placed the table on top of it. On top of that were laid various vegetables for wraps, ssamjang, salted shrimp, and extra salt. Most importantly, the kimchi and the boiled pork were placed in the center of the table.

“I’m serving the kids first.”

After saying that, Jaewoo continued on to his room carrying the children’s food.

“Let’s eat!”

When he shouted, the children abandoned their homework and ran over excitedly, settling down around the table.

“Um, what about Hyunjin?”

“Your brother is entertaining a guest. I’ve set up a separate table outside, so they’ll eat over there.”

Woohee looked disappointed at those words, but it was only for a moment. As soon as he saw the shiny, shiny boiled pork, his expression completely changed.

“How, how do we eat it?”

Jaewoo sat in front of the children’s table and demonstrated how to make a wrap. He tore the kimchi into strips and rolled one of them around a piece of pork. When he popped it into his mouth and bit into it, it tasted like heaven.

The combination of the spicy and sweet taste of kimchi and the savory and fatty taste of meat was perfect. With their smaller hands, the children did their best to imitate Jaewoo, wrapping the kimchi around the pork like he’d done. When they took a bite, their eyes went wide. It was just as delicious as they’d thought!

“Wow, wow!”

Woohee just let out an exclamation, and Hyeonu’s eyes sparkled. Next, Jaewoo encouraged them to try it with just some of the salted shrimp, and also in a wrap with vegetables and ssamjang. The boiled pork was cooked so well that it was delicious no matter how they ate it. Half of the meat disappeared quickly, but then the children began eating slower.

“Are you full?”

Jaewoo asked, but they both shook their heads vigorously.

“We’re not full.”

Then why? As Jaewoo looked at them in confusion, Woohee answered bravely.

“The faster we eat it, the faster it’ll be gone!”

What an adorable way of thinking. Well, there were times when Jaewoo also wanted to savor delicious food and make it last.

“It’s okay, we have a lot of meat. I can always boil some more, so eat as much as you want.”

When he said that, the children’s faces brightened. There was definitely a lot of meat. Not only had Jaewoo bought a lot, but there was also the meat that Mujin had brought. He could boil as much as they wanted. After feeding the kids, Jaewoo looked out into the yard.

Since all they’d done was spread out some newspapers and set up a simple table, Jaewoo wondered if Mujin would really be content with that sort of environment. However, when he looked out, Mujin was sitting there patiently. Unfortunately neither himself nor Hyunjin had touched the food, and were instead simply staring at each other from across the table. Jaewoo felt like he needed to intervene.

“Why aren’t you eating?”

When he asked Hyunjin, he answered calmly.

“Let’s eat together.”

Jaewoo’s heart ached for some reason, especially since he’d already eaten some when he was demonstrating to the kids.

“It’s alright. You can eat first.”

Then Jaewoo took his seat on the empty side of the table, completing the strange composition they had created. In the story, Hyunjin was the bottom, Mujin was the main top, and Jaewoo was only a sub-top who was killed by Mujin partway through. Yet here they were, sharing a meal together.

Jaewoo looked at the two sheepishly and picked up his chopsticks first. Then he took a piece of the no-longer-steaming pork, topped it with salted shrimp, and popped it into his mouth. Boiled pork was good with kimchi, but it was also delicious to eat it simply, like this. The simplicity of the seasoning allowed you to taste the meat better. Only then did Hyunjin and Mujin raise their own chopsticks. Like Jaewoo, they both topped their pork with salted shrimp and took a bite in silence.

‘This is suffocating…’

Unable to bear it any longer, Jaewoo jumped up from his seat and went into the kitchen. Then he picked up the spatula and scooped out some rice.