“I know I’m good-looking, so you don’t have to stare at me with such enchanted eyes.”
“Ah, that’s why I didn’t see it like that.”
“Are you saying I’m ugly? It’s the first time I’ve been insulted like this.”
“That’s not it...”
‘Even if you know in your head that you are being teased, it is difficult to cope with it every time you experience it.’
He is In Yoo-shin, who has been secretly out of the way since he was in school because he was from an orphanage. It was embarrassing to be treated like that since he was the first person to come in without hesitation, crushing the line he had drawn between himself and others.
He tried to grill the meat, but Hyeon Gyu-ha refused to give him the tongs. He even wrapped lettuce wraps beautifully and fed them to him.
“Ah, eat it.”
“I can eat it by myself………”
“Shall I use my ability to open my mouth and let the lettuce wraps fly into your mouth?”
In Yoo-shin quietly opened his mouth. The meat of the lettuce wraps that melt in his mouth is amazingly well grilled.
It was the first time he had eaten animal meat since the orphanage celebration party on the day he became independent with Park Seung-gi. At that time, he consumed pork.
“Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve ever had Korean beef.”
“Is it delicious?”
“It’s amazing. I don’t think the gravy can compare.”
“I’m happy that Yoo-shin-ssi ate it deliciously. Monster meat usually goes through more processing to remove the smell or toxicity. It’s also tough because it has a lot of muscle.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha gave him another wrap.
“I want you to eat something delicious and relax.”
“Did you notice it?”
“Because what you think shows on your face.”
As he ate the wraps, In Yoo-shin scratched his cheek.
“I don’t know if it’s okay to put it on the performance evaluation since it wasn’t something I worked hard for, and I feel sorry for others.”
“If it weren’t for Yoo-shin, I wouldn’t have taken a promotional video. So, Yoo-shin’s performance would improve. Would they have rejected it out of consideration for me if we changed the person in In Yoo-shin’s position?”
Most of the office staff are nice people, but they won’t readily answer ‘yes’ to Hyeon Gyu-ha’s words.
“And when you change your point of view, it’s also a kind of mutual contract.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha gently squeezed In Yoo-shin’s hand, which was lying far away on the table. It was a big, firm hand that completely wrapped around his hand, like when helping to inject magical patterns into the front door.
Body temperature spreads. It was warm. It tickled his chest and wiggled its fingers at the feeling of being unraveled. Even that fidgeting was completely wrapped in his hand.
“You are my one and only…”
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s deep, deep voice flowed in between the sound of TV no one was watching, the smell of grilling meat, and the noise of people tilting their glasses and chatting loudly.
“It’s a drug.”
Ah.
“Specifically……………. Um, what’s right?”
“Can’t we compromise that’s like stimulant drugs?”
“Yeah. Like stimulant drugs.” (PA: In raw, Gyu-ha uses “shabu” it’s a slang term for solidified meth used in Japan, Hong Kong, etc...)
“Didn’t you say that using Japanese was unpleasant because your mother’s family engaged in the independence movement………?”
“I can use it for you. Since it’s Yoo-shin, I’ll use my Japanese as much as you like.”
“Ah, thank you.”
He didn’t know what to be thankful for, but anyway.
“The point is, I will be happy as long as I help you, so think of it as a fair price and accept it.”
“Can I really feel that comfortable?”
“It’s natural you helped me get out of depression that I couldn’t overcome even after consulting a psychiatrist. Of course, the first emotion I felt was deep anger.”
“I must find a way to remove the tattoo……”
“That’s okay. Now that I’m used to it, it’s nice to feel like I’m always with Master.”
The words “drugs” and “master” made his mind confused, so as a result, his distraught mind while getting entangled in the PR matter subsided a little. Whatever the reason, he is a person who thinks of himself. The inside of his chest felt itchy.
Thanks to him.
“When I save some money and can afford it, I want to go to a broadcasting center. Not being able to go to college is a bit complex. I like to study.”
“I dropped out of college.”
“Uh, really?”
“I went to a related department thinking it might be helpful in hunting monsters, but I thought it would be better to run in the field. Come to think of it, I spent all my youth fighting only the monsters.”
“We were both high school graduates.”
He also brought out a little bit of the past that was inside himself.
“The soybean paste stew in this house is delicious.”
“Now that we’re at the meat restaurant, we should eat soybean paste stew for the last time.”
“Me too. Soybean paste stew is better than naengmyeon ( Literally means cold noodles )”
They also found some unexpected similarities.
While the part-timer was busy bringing soybean paste stew, this time he secretly wrapped wraps and placed them on the plate in front of Hyeon Gyu-ha. Hyeon Gyu-ha, who saw it, smiled, and took it to his mouth.
“I will eat the food given by Master, thankfully.”
In Yoo-shin pretended not to see the startled part-timer’s face.
They also walked side by side on the way back to his rooftop room. It’s a pity that it’s only a 5-minute walk from the meat restaurant.
“Go up.”
Even after hearing Hyeon Gyu-ha’s greeting, In Yoo-shin, who hesitated for some reason, remembered the business he had forgotten about.
“Oh, I can give some heals and buffs to the kids I tamed. I wonder if it will be of some help to Gyu-ha-ssi when clearing the dungeon, if possible.”
“Heal?”
“A little bit, really. Colds and broken bones can be cured but to a certain extent for humans…………”
Before he could finish his words, Hyeon Gyu-ha took out a sharp knife from the subspace. Then he stabbed the back of his hand with the blade. Deep. At once.
Not understanding the situation before his eyes, In Yoo-shin only opened his mouth slightly.
The bloody smell that suddenly spread in the alley, where the sense of everyday life is buried, where the streetlamps and the lights of the residential area mix, was very foreign. Red blood dripped from the blade that had pierced the back of his hand.
“Uh, uh……”
Just like when Hyeon Gyu-ha stabbed the back of his hand with a knife, he indifferently pulled out his blade again. His hand, dripping with blood, came up in front of the face of In Yoo-shin.
“Try healing me.”
‘In contrast to the bloody smell, I barely came to my senses at the indifferent way of speaking. Healing is possible, but only to the extent of fixing a hamster’s cold or fracture. What if it bleeds so much that it becomes a useless ability for humans? What do I do?’
The hand that covered the wound trembled. A round white light leaked out between his fingers.
“Oh.”
Hyeon Gyu-ha blew a small whistle.
“It healed perfectly with no scars. If you have this much healing power, you won’t starve to death anywhere. Too bad that it’s only limited to the tamed.”
“………..”
“Yoo-shin-ssi? Are you sick of what you ate earlier?”
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s face, looking at him with a tilt, is unmatched. He was shocked and couldn’t even guess why his face was white.
After a while, the strength in the legs gave out. Hyeon Gyu-ha gently supported In Yoo-shin’s body, which was about to collapse, with psychokinesis, and made him sit on the saddle of the bike.
“Should I get some digestive medicine from the pharmacy?”
“Why do you treat yourself so carelessly?”
“What?”
“I was really surprised that you suddenly hurt yourself with a knife……”
“Oh, sorry. Yoo-shin is a normal person, so you must not be used to seeing blood.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“......?”
Hyeon Gyu-ha’s face, which he really didn’t understand, was suddenly unfamiliar. In Yoo-shin held on to his trembling hands, denying the thought that had just occurred to him. Is there any need to question the unfamiliarity? He hadn’t even known him for a month.
He wasn’t unfamiliar with it, he just didn’t know. What kind of person is Hyeon Gyu-ha?
“I’m not even sure of my abilities…………. If you couldn’t heal, why did you suddenly injure yourself?”
“Then we can go to the hospital.”
“Bleeding like that?”
“To me, this doesn’t even hurt. I’m alive. There was a time when an arm was barely cut off by a monster.”
“But you hurt yourself this time…………. Don’t do that.”
Only then does Hyeon Gyu-ha realize it.
He looked at his healed hand and saw In Yoo-shin’s face, which was distorted as if crying, and then muttered in an unfamiliar voice.
“Are you worried about me?”
It was a voice mixed with strange emotions, which seemed to be bewildered, and also seemed to be laughing. In Yoo-shin lowered his head.
“I know. To say that worrying about Gyu-ha is presumptuous.”
“It’s not like that, it’s because I’m really surprised. You are the second person to worry about my scars.”
“Even though Gyu-ha has been a hunter since you were a child?”
Hyeon Gyu-ha shrugged his shoulders at the disbelief response.
“Well, with words, everyone worries. But the worry is, ‘If Hyeon Gyu-ha collapses here, I’ll get hurt, I have to fight, I might die, and my property will be damaged.’ That’s what it means.”
“That’s……”
In Yoo-shin looked up and quickly averted his gaze upon meeting Hyeon Gyu-ha’s eyes. He felt that there was no possibility and dispersed. Gyu-ha’s transparent, amber-colored eyes that looked down on him contained indifference and calmness, which came from experiencing much rougher curves than Yoo-shin who had a relatively flat life.
In Yoo-shin, who had never been thrown into the gate at the age of nine and didn’t know the harshness of life, he no right to speak to Hyeon Gyu-ha’s assertiveness.
In Yoo-shin does not know Hyeon Gyu-ha and does not know his life. And now that he realized it, he felt sorry for himself. Forced into the bridle of taming, he seemed to be considerate of him, so he seemed friendly to him without even knowing the subject.
“Who was the first person to worry about you?”
------
Credits:
Translator: Hoshi Miya
Editor/Proofreader: PsycheAsylum, Ghostx
PA: From cute and light chapter at start to heavy and slightly depressing end (T.T)