I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 38
‘How am I so lucky?’
The next day, Mujin left for work after saying he would be back late again.
“What did you pack so much for, anyway?”
“Hm?”
Jaewoo smiled awkwardly and hugged his large bag tighter.
“It’s just this and that.”
It looked like it was food ingredients again. Mujin didn’t bother asking any more questions after that. Jaewoo would often shop along the way to Mujin’s house, and so showing up with large bags or bundles wasn’t unusual. The last time it had been a ton of garlic. So without thinking about it much, he left Jaewoo behind and went to work.
Beep~.
When the sound of the front door being locked rang out, Jaewoo snapped his head up to look.
‘He’s gone, right?’
After checking once more, Jaewoo breathed a sigh of relief before taking the lunch box out of his bag. Since Hyunjin was performing hard physical labor, he’d chosen an extra large lunch box. That way he’d have plenty, even if his coworkers tried to steal some.
During his school days, whenever Jaewoo packed a lunch box, there were always people crowding around him asking for a taste. It was just that delicious!
“Then shall I get ready now?”
Jaewoo grinned and took out the short rib patties that he’d prepared in advance. It would be nice to have an oven, but there were almost no cooking appliances in this apartment. Usually, in luxury apartments like this one, an oven was included as an option, especially since it looked like a custom kitchen.
‘Should I buy one?’
It wasn’t like this job was going to end in just one or two days. He also had the credit card that Mujin had given him. Mujin didn’t seem like the kind of person who would say anything if Jaewoo bought an oven, a dishwasher, or even a clothes dryer. Although truthfully Jaewoo didn’t really need any of them, they would make things easier.
Jaewoo surveyed the kitchen for a moment. There was no room in sight for an oven. However, it looked like a dishwasher could be placed on top of the counter. Then he continued to the laundry room. It looked like a dryer could be placed on top like the dishwasher.
‘Okay, let’s buy them.’
Once he’d decided, he felt more at ease. From now on, the housework would become easier. In the future, he should think about buying a robot vacuum cleaner too.
Jaewoo returned to the kitchen and carefully grilled the short rib patties. The unique aroma of seasoned meat began to fill the kitchen.
“Perfect.”
He could practically taste it, just from the smell. It was the scent of delicious short rib meat flavored with sweet and salty seasonings. Jaewoo had deliberately bought the best meat available. With a happy expression on his face, Jaewoo continued grilling the pile of short rib patties. They came off the grill steaming hot and glistening. Jaewoo picked one of them up and put it in his mouth.
“Ack, it’s hot!”
It was so hot that he shrieked without even realizing it.
“Augh.”
He rolled the meat around in his mouth to cool it off and then finished chewing it. The taste of the seasoning combined with the mouthfeel of the meat…
“It’s delicious!”
An exclamation of joy escaped him. It was extremely satisfying. Next, he stir-fried some sour kimchi and sprinkled sesame seeds on top. Then he flavored the vegetables and placed seasoned perilla leaves1 and pickled vegetables into a side dish container. Although the colors were dull, the entire lunch box was stamina-rich, which anyone working a physically demanding job would appreciate. In addition, he prepared some soybean paste stew with radishes and some hot barley tea. Everything was perfect.
“Let’s see…”
Jaewoo already knew where Hyunjin’s workplace was, but he double-checked it as he carefully put the lunch box into his bag.
It felt like he was going on a picnic. Jaewoo left Mujin’s apartment with light steps. He rode the bus for about 30 minutes and arrived at Hyunjin’s workplace. Hyunjin had said he would come to the entrance to meet him as soon as he finished work, so Jaewoo waited there patiently. For some reason, he was excited to wait.
“Did something good happen today?”
A worker that usually didn’t talk much asked Hyunjin the question as he passed by. He wasn’t the only one who was curious. Oh-ssi had an inquisitive expression on his face as he joined in the conversation.
“I was wondering the same thing. It must have been something really good, huh? Your expression is much more open, seriously.
“Does it look a lot different than usual?”
Oh-ssi nodded vigorously in response to Hyunjin’s question.
“It looks very different. Here’s how you normally seem…”
Oh-ssi put his palm down.
“…And this is how you seem today.”
Then, the palm came up to the tip of his head.
“So tell us: what happened?”
Hyunjin kept his mouth shut. Today was the day that Jaewoo was supposed to come visit him at work. So he was a little… No, he was a lot excited to see him. He just didn’t want to tell anyone why. It wasn’t that he was afraid of how he’d be treated, he just wanted to keep this feeling to himself.
“Nothing’s happened.”
“I don’t believe it.”
Oh-ssi looked at Hyunjin with a suspicious expression, but Hyunjin didn’t say anything further. After a while, someone shouted that it was lunch time. While Oh-ssi was preoccupied with food, looking elsewhere, Hyunjin finished what he was doing and walked away.
“What do you have for lunch today?”
Oh-ssi asked as he turned around. His eyes widened when he saw the empty seat.
“Is he a ghost? He moves as quietly as one.”
There wasn’t a single sign of Hyunjin left. Oh-ssi laughed helplessly and leisurely strolled away. After all, it was still lunch time, and he needed to eat.
Hyunjin’s heart pounded with every step he took. When he thought about how he would soon be able to meet with the person he most wanted to see, his pace sped up. And then, at a distance, he spotted Jaewoo. The corners of his lips turned up into an effortless smile.
He’d found Jaewoo, but would Jaewoo find him? A sudden thought occurred to him and his steps began to slow down again.
‘Please turn around.’
Turn around and look at him. Meanwhile, the distance between the two was gradually decreasing. Was it too greedy to want someone to be looking for them? Even though he knew very well that there wasn’t any benefit to such desires, he couldn’t control himself.
‘I’m such a selfish jerk.’
Hyunjin was a bad, greedy person. He didn’t have the courage to get any closer, but he desperately wanted Jaewoo to reach out to him. And yet even when he did, Hyunjin had trouble accepting it. He kept retreating from him every time.
‘Still.’
He wanted Jaewoo to look at him.
‘I can’t be greedy.’
Hyunjin took a deep sigh. At that exact moment, Jaewoo, who’d been waiting near the entrance of the construction site, turned around. Their eyes met, and Jaewoo lifted his hand and waved at him.
“Hyunjin!”
A loud voice called out and he couldn’t help but laugh.
“I’m here!”
As Hyunjin waved and approached him, Jaewoo looked him up and down. When he did, Hyunjin suddenly realized that he was still wearing his work clothes, stained with dust and splashes of miscellaneous liquids. It was a bit embarrassing. Hyunjin raised his hand and scratched at the back of his neck.
“I just came from work…”
“Yeah, I know.”
Jaewoo answered lightly and showed him the bag on his back.
“Is there any place to eat around here?”
“Is that a lunch box?”
“Yep!”
“There’s a small park nearby. Let’s go there?”
“Okay!”
The two walked to the nearby park and sat down on an empty bench. When Jaewoo took out the large lunch box and opened it, Hyunjin let out an exclamation.
“Did you make all of this?”
“Yeah. I worked really hard on the short rib patties in particular. Try those first.”
Jaewoo pointed to the patties. Hyunjin calmly picked up his chopsticks and ate a small piece of it, then he blinked slowly. It tasted completely different from any short rib patties he’d ever tasted. Hyunjin wasn’t really bad at cooking, but he definitely couldn’t match Jaewoo’s skills.
He picked up a patty again and took a big bite. Then he shoveled some of the warm rice into his mouth.
“Here, we’ve got soybean paste stew with radishes, and barley tea. Have a drink and eat slowly.”
The stir-fried sour kimchi and the vegetables were a perfect match when eaten with the rice. Hyunjin spent the first few minutes just mindlessly consuming everything Jaewoo put in front of him. By the time he came to his senses, the food was nearly gone. Seeing this, Jaewoo grinned and pulled out another container from his bag.
“I knew you’d be hungry, so I brought extra.”
“Wasn’t it heavy?”
“What do you mean, heavy? It’s just a lunch box.”
Hyunjin had asked because the lunch box was obviously not small today. He gratefully ate the new rice and emptied the side dishes. There was soybean paste stew and barley tea, so he didn’t have to worry about getting thirsty during the meal. After finishing everything, his stomach was full.
“And this is dessert.”
Once again Jaewoo took a large airtight container out of his bag. How much stuff had he packed in there? Hyunjin couldn’t figure it out. He decided to focus on dessert first.
There were strawberries with the stems removed to make them easier to eat, and sliced bananas. There were only two types of fruit, but it was enough to satisfy them.
“How long is lunch time?”
“Until 1 o’clock.”
Hyunjin answered and cleaned up his already-eaten lunch box.
“Can I come over again sometime?”
“Yes. Just let me know in advance. I don’t know how long I’ll be working here.”
Winter was the off-season for the construction industry. Luckily, this worksite was run by a large construction company, but he couldn’t keep doing this sort of work forever. There was a limit on how much a low-level worker could earn. His body was also becoming more run-down, and he’d started losing weight rapidly.
“Then how about getting a professional certificate after you finish working here?”
“Can I get one?”
Hyunjin had never really studied properly in school, so he sounded a bit awkward when he asked.
“Is that something someone your age should say? Of course you can get one!”
Was that really true? Could he get one? Until now he’d been so desperate to survive that he never thought about getting any certifications or higher learning. But now he had time to think about it. If he got a professional certificate, he’d be able to earn more. Although he hadn’t had a chance to properly learn since he was a child, he wanted to give Hyeonu and Woohee more opportunities.
“I’ll think about it.”
“Okay, you do that.”
“I will. Thank you for lunch today.”
“I’ll come back some other day, when I have time.”
“Do you have a lot of free time at the supermarket?”
“No, not really. It’s rare to have free time like I did today.”
“Don’t work too hard. The food here is fine, too.”
Hyunjin spoke to Jaewoo and laughed.
“How many bowls of rice do you normally eat at the cafeteria here?”
“Two bowls.”
Hyunjin answered Jaewoo’s question with a little white lie. He was afraid that Jaewoo would worry if he said that he usually barely finished a single bowl because he didn’t want to eat.
“Then it looks like the food’s good here. Thank goodness.”
Seeing Jaewoo’s relief, Hyunjin smiled. The last thing he wanted to do was cause Jaewoo any more worries. This was right. With that, the two of them finished their meal and parted ways.
Footnotes
깻잎 – perilla leaf. An aromatic plant with a mint-like smell, traditionally grown in the Korean peninsula. It can be eaten fresh, blanched, or pickled. Wikipedia, Recipe
