I Became the Lousy Side Top - Chap 47
Jaewoo saw Hyunjin off to work, then woke up the kids.
“Hyeonu, Woohee. C’mon, let’s have some breakfast and then you can go back to sleep.”
Their eyes had swollen up like frog’s eyes, but the children still calmly got up from their bed. Jaewoo sent them to wash their faces and quickly set the table. Since it was breakfast, he’d prepared a simple seaweed soup with radish kimchi1.
The children, their faces freshly washed and dried, quickly took their seats at the table.
“Seaweed soup!”
Woohee laughed out loud and put some rice into his large bowl of seaweed soup. The carefully soaked seaweed went down smoothly, without any rough spots, and it was loaded with savory beef slices. Jaewoo placed some rice in his, mixed it up well, then topped it with some of the sour radish kimchi. He took a bite and was satisfied with the taste.
“It’s delicious!”
Hyeonu nodded his head as well, and ate eagerly. Looking at the faces of the two children, Jaewoo couldn’t help but express his worries.
“Can you prepare your own lunch? If anything happens, make sure you call me, okay?”
“I can do it! I’ll be careful reheating the glass noodles and the seaweed soup, I promise! I’ve done it before. I know how to make bibimbap too, you just add some vegetables and red pepper paste or soy sauce. I know how to fry an egg, too.”
Hyeonu answered bravely. Since the kids had often needed to feed themselves before, he knew how to fry eggs and make instant ramen. Jaewoo couldn’t believe he was so mature at such a young age. He covered up his sadness with a smile.
“Okay. If you eat a good lunch, I’ll make you braised short ribs.”
“Short ribs!”
“I love short ribs! When will you make it?”
“I’ll buy them this evening, and we can have them tomorrow.”
While the three had been talking, the bowl of rice had rapidly disappeared. With their bellies full and their backs warm, the kids began to doze off again. Jaewoo figured they must still be really tired after what had happened yesterday.
“Let’s go brush your teeth and go back to sleep.”
Jaewoo went with them as they brushed their teeth, and laid them down on the still-messy blanket. It wasn’t a good idea to lie down right after eating, but Jaewoo made an exception today.
After confirming that the children were asleep again, Jaewoo packed a container full of food. He still needed to buy some groceries along the way, so his bags were going to be heavy today.
“Ugh!”
The bags were even heavier than he’d thought. Had he gone a bit overboard? But this should be enough for today, right? Like Hyunjin, Mujin could eat more than seemed physically possible, to the point where Jaewoo was wondering if it was okay for a main top to be like this. Usually crazy tops just consisted on foreign water and alcohol. Mujin really was something special, all right.
When he arrived at the apartment after leaving the supermarket, bags in tow, Jaewoo couldn’t spot Mujin. His shoes were left in the hallway, so he was probably inside his room.
“Made it!”
First, Jaewoo put down the grocery bags and took out a pot and a bowl, and unpacked the contents of the airtight container. Seaweed soup, glass noodle stir fry, and vegetables. The spread made him proud to look at.
‘Did I go too far?’
Jaewoo scratched his head. He’d made the food for the kids, but that hadn’t been his only consideration. Even though Mujin had extracted a promise from him in exchange for helping, Jaewoo still felt grateful. That’s why he’d deliberately made a lot of food. He’d seasoned the food with his gratitude, but selfishly, he wondered if this would be enough to change Mujin’s mind.
It was a dish filled with that sort of feeling.
“Okay then, let’s start cooking.”
Jaewoo rolled up his sleeves and put on his apron. He drained the short ribs of blood while the rest of the food was quickly heated. The cold seaweed soup began to bubble again, and the warm glass noodles had a sheen flowing over them. Once those were ready, he just placed the vegetables neatly on a plate, and he was done. Of course, he also brought out some radish kimchi and cabbage kimchi as well.
Unlike normally, he prepared a larger bowl of rice this time. If Mujin wanted, he could eat the seaweed soup with rice, or he could make bibimbap. Glass noodles with rice were also good.
Jaewoo finished all the preparations and headed to the master bedroom.
Knock knock.
Not long after knocking, the door opened and Mujin appeared. He smelled faintly of alcohol, and his indifferent gaze looked Jaewoo over, stopping at the nape of his neck. Then Mujin reached out and ran his hand over it.
“It looks much better now that it’s trimmed.”
Was he saying it didn’t look good before? Jaewoo chuckled awkwardly and said.
“Please come eat.”
“Fine, let’s go.”
Mujin took the lead and headed toward the kitchen. He glanced at her table and asked.
“Something special about today?”
“No?”
“Alright.”
Mujin sat down without asking any more questions.
“Let’s eat.”
Jaewoo also glanced at the table before sitting down diagonally across from Mujin. Since he knew he would eat here, he deliberately hadn’t eaten at home, so he was pretty hungry. First, he took a sip of the seaweed soup.
‘I know I made it, but this seaweed soup was cooked really well.’
The beef and seaweed stir-fried in sesame oil paired together well.
‘It would be even more delicious mixed with some rice, but for now…’
Jaewoo decided to make bibimbap this time.
‘You absolutely need eggs for bibimbap. Some warm, soft-cooked eggs.’
Jaewoo stood up again, grabbed the frying pan, and asked Mujin.
“Would you like some fried eggs?”
When Mujin just stared at Jaewoo blankly, he explained further.
“It’s for bibimbap.”
“I’d eat some.”
“Over easy? Over well?”
“Anything.”
“Then I’ll go with over easy, just like mine.”
Jaewoo skillfully cracked the eggs and fried them until the yolks were just barely cooked. Then he put one on top of his bowl, and one on top of Mujin’s bowl, then added rice and topped them with as many vegetables as they wanted. Now all that was left was to add sauce to it. For him, his preference was soy sauce. If you add sugar and red pepper powder to soy sauce, maybe some Cheongyang chili peppers or green onions, and then let it marinate for a bit, you get a great seasoned soy sauce. If you added a spoonful on top of vegetables and then mixed it around, how good did it taste?
The umami flavor that was neither too spicy nor too salty made the taste of the bibimbap stand out even more. Jaewoo took a big bite.
‘It’s good!’
It was a taste that almost forced him to keep eating.
“What’s that again?”
Mujin pointed towards a large bucket filled with something, drawing Jaewoo’s attention to it as he ate.
“Short ribs. I’m going to make braised short ribs for dinner.”
“Braised short ribs?”
“Yeah.”
“Seaweed soup, vegetables, stir-fried glass noodles, and braised short ribs. It’s just like an old-fashioned court banquet.”
What was wrong with that? As long as it tasted good, wasn’t that all that mattered? Jaewoo was grumbling to himself, but suddenly, Mujin smiled. It wasn’t his usual mocking smile, or the smile he sometimes used when threatening someone. It felt like a smile of genuine amusement.
Jaewoo blinked his eyes slowly.
‘What did I just witness?’
Jaewoo was in such shock, it was all he could do to simply swallow the bibimbap and ask.
“Did you just smile?”
“Who did?”
“You, right there.”
“Didn’t I tell you to call me by my name?”
“Fine! Mujin then.”
“I didn’t smile.”
No, he absolutely did. Jaewoo looked confused. Had he really mistaken it?
“Just keep eating.”
Mujin followed Jaewoo’s lead and fixed a bowl of bibimbap before taking a big bite. He ate enthusiastically, but without much expression, until Jaewoo came to the conclusion that he had been seeing things earlier, and turned back to his own meal.
When Jaewoo had arrived that morning, Mujin had been sitting still, resting, only to be suddenly reminded of the events of the day before. Jaewoo, a young bastard that always wore baggy sweatshirts or t-shirts, had looked good in a suit. The pants had wrapped around his legs and fallen down precisely to his ankles, drawing Mujin’s eye to that area especially. Then Jaewoo had put on dress shoes and a white shirt, and the pale skin of his chest that was exposed the whole time he was getting dressed had attracted further attention.
‘I don’t know which agency he was signed with, but whichever one it was, they were idiots.’
Jaewoo was ridiculously pretty when dressed up like that. If they’d put some effort in, he could have caught a huge sponsorship and coasted to popularity that way. They’d missed out on a gold mine. If Mujin hadn’t already researched Jaewoo’s background, he’d be tempted to do the same.
When they’d gone to the beauty salon and Jaewoo had gotten his hair neatly trimmed, it had become clear why he’d been an aspiring idol. Mujin had walked up to Jaewoo, who’d had a puzzled expression on his face, and placed a hand on his waist.
“Now all you need is a watch to match.”
The watch he’d offered was hard to find, and cost tens of millions of won. To be precise, it was one of Mujin’s watches.
“I don’t need one.”
Mujin had felt annoyed seeing Jaewoo flatly refuse. Still, he hadn’t taken his angry feelings out on Jaewoo immediately. He knew he’d be able to control him later. The more help Jaewoo received from Mujin, the easier it would be to push him into hell. There was no need for him to rush.
Mujin had Dongsoo compile a post-mortem report. The final result had been a happy ending, as it should have been. It didn’t make sense to invest that many resources and still get a bad result. Mujin picked up a cigarette that he’d recently discarded and brought it to his mouth, only to pause. He didn’t really feel like smoking, so he just ground his teeth a few times and then threw it into the ashtray.
Mujin frowned as he stared down at the unlit cigarette. Why on earth was Jaewoo so anxious to help Hyunjin? Jaewoo could barely take care of himself.
“Even families don’t do things like that these days.”
He’d shown such extreme sincerity while sacrificing himself. Even though doing so put Jaewoo further into his power, Mujin felt displeased for some reason.
It was just like today. Jaewoo had been going through the motions, preparing half-hearted meals for several days, only to suddenly put together an extravagant feast. It must have been because of what happened yesterday. In order to comfort the frightened children, he’d prepared too much food, so he’d carted the leftovers here. It felt like he’d been given scraps. Mujin hadn’t felt this unpleasant sensation since he’d risen through the ranks of the gang.
At that time, the phone he had left on his desk rang. Mujin glanced down at the phone, then looked away. The name that had popped up was one that he’d recently become very familiar with.
Director Yoon of Yoram Construction, a third-generation heir to a business empire2 who’d recently started spending time with Mujin.
‘I still don’t know his purpose.’
Mujin took out a second cigarette. In the past, he’d thought that Director Yoon was just after a good time. And by providing that, Mujin could lure him over to his side and corrupt him. But after going out drinking a few times, he found out…
‘This bastard is just the same as me.’
On the outside, he smiled and acted like an immature, third-generation trust fund brat, but on the inside, he wasn’t like that at all. Hidden inside of him lived a vicious and sinister snake.
After Mujin had learned that, he’d become suspicious of Director Yoon’s purpose. What on earth did he gain from sticking to Mujin like he was? He’d secretly investigated him, but they’d discovered nothing. His background was too clean.
‘What a sneaky human being.’
It wasn’t that Director Yoon was clean because he had nothing to hide. He was clean because he kept the dirt hidden too deeply to be found.
“What are you hiding?”
Mujin laughed viciously at the window, watching as the light disappeared and darkness fell. Then, he immediately erased his expression and picked up the phone to answer the call.
“Hello, Director Yoon.”
If you don’t know, then dig until it becomes clear. When had anything ever fallen into place easily? Never. Mujin had always needed to investigate, discover their secrets, and then keep digging until he figured out what their weak points were. He just needed to do the same thing here.
Footnotes
깍두기 – kkakdugi – Radish kimchi. A type of kimchi made from Korean radishes, or mu, although other vegetables or fruits can be used. Wikipedia, recipe
재벌 – chaebol – A large conglomerate, usually under the control of a single family or individual. Wikipedia
