NOTICE: Please, PLEASE. If you happen to come across an error (whether it's spelling, grammar, etc...) or if there is something you don't understand (whether it's the plot or character POVs) please let me know. I will gladly be making corrections and clarifying any mishaps. Ofc, I am only human, so I can't truly see every little mistake I make, so I would appreciate it if you did point it out, thanks!
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"Ugh, ugh."
Hyeonjin closed his eyes and began sweating profusely. Winter was approaching around this time, but it felt way too hot for that to be true. He felt around the floor, wondering if the temperature of the heated blanket was put too high, but didn't find anything.
His back felt like it was scalding hot. He struggled, trying to climb onto the futon, however, the moment he realized even the air was warm, he opened his eyes.
"Oh my god!"
He was fully awake now. He looked around and found himself inside an unfamiliar room. It was larger than his original room and was well-furnished. This was different from his room where all he had was a vinyl closet and a few cooking utensils. His palms unconsciously touched the warm floor.
This room seemed to be heated as well.
Hyeonjin opened the door and went out, still in a daze. But when the cold wind hit his cheek, his mind seemed to have come back to reality.
"You're awake?" Jaewoo asked with a smile. Hyeonjin nodded slowly, not even thinking about fixing his disheveled hair. After eating properly and sleeping soundly for the first time, his body felt much lighter. Do other people always feel this way? He felt envious at the thought.
"Dinner is stir-fried beef."
"I didn't ask," he replied in a hoarse voice.
"Why? It's better if you know the menu. Then you'll have high expectations on what to eat."
After hearing about the pork, his mouth began to water. Today was the first time he tried Jaewoo's rice and he was already looking forward to it. However, Hyeonjin shook his head.
"No."
This isn't good. Rather than accepting this unfamiliar warmth, Hyeonjin chose to avoid it. He still couldn't trust Jaewoo. Thinking of the future ahead, he decided to be smart about it.
"Thank you for the lunch, but dinner time is over already."
"Is it? Is it too late to prepare dinner from now on? But you paid for the meal, think of this as the price."
The meal cost. When Hyeonjin remembered what he had done, heat rose to his face. It was childish to do that. How much money did he give him anyway? It was clearly less than the price of the rice Jaewoo fed his younger siblings with. He wondered if this was really an act of goodwill, but he still refused. "It's okay," he shook his head.
He left Jaewoo's room and went back to his. In his cold room, his brothers were sitting on the heated blanket doing their homework. When he walked in, they chided over like sparrows.
"Brother! There's pork stir-fry for dinner!"
"It looks delicious!"
Looking at the kids, Hyeonjin hesitated as he opened his mouth, "Hyunwoo, Woohee, do you want to eat meat?"
"Yes, it's so delicious," Woohee replied, unaware. Hyunwoo kept his mouth shut as he noticed something was wrong.
"Then your older brother will buy meat for you tomorrow. I'll buy it and make some stir-fried pork for you, so let's be patient today."
"Why?" Woohee asked.
Hyunwoo poked at Woohee with the back of his pencil and said, "Because, brother said the landlord was a bad man." However, even as he said this, he held a somewhat uncomfortable expression. Even after his older brother's words, there were still things Jaewoo had done for both of them. In the past, he would've said so without hesitation. Now, his head hurts at the thought.
"But he's not a bad man is he?" Woohee complained.
"People don't know just by looking."
Woohee didn't seem to really understand that well so he began to pout his lips with a look of regret.
"Then what will we eat for dinner?"
"I'll cook some delicious ramen for you," Hyeonjin replied with a slight ache in his heart as these were the only words he could say to them.
His little brother had a very sad expression on his face. However, Hyeonjin did not back down this time. In the end, Woohee pouted and threw away his homework. He hid under the blanket to sulk. Hyeonjin tried appeasing him, but he wouldn't budge.
"No, I want meat!"
He refused to eat the ramen Hyeonjin cooked. Still, Hyeonjin placed it in a bowl to feed him a little, but it flew away and spilled all over the blanket due to Woohee's struggle.
"Woohee!"
Realizing what he did, Woohee started to cry, but Hyeonjin wasn't angry. He just swallowed down a sigh and began thinking about what to do with the blanket. Just a moment ago, his body seemed lighter than a feather, but once again, it felt like a heavy load had been placed on his shoulders.
Hyeonjin tried patting it down with toilet paper, but it was impossible to fully clean it. He ended up going out into the yard and turning on the faucet. It wasn't winter yet, but the water was still cold as ice. He placed the dirty blanket in the running water and carefully rinsed it. However, the water only smeared the stain more. He ended up leaving the blanket to float endlessly into the flowing water. The water began building up by his feet.
When he was in middle school, he thought life would get better in high school. Certainly, he physically grew and there were more things he was able to do, so he held hope. When he grew up, he would be better than what he was then. Maybe he would pay off his debts and live comfortably. That was the mindset he had as he graduated high school and became an adult.
After becoming an adult, a lot has definitely changed. More jobs, higher wages. But then, what? Even if he worked up to four part-time jobs a day, his debt would only build up. In the end, nothing has changed. Perhaps he will live and die like this.
The sound of the faucet turning off brought him back to reality. Hyeonjin looked up to see that Jaewoo was standing there, leaning over.
'I have to apologize.'
Jaewoo would often get mad at him for wasting water. He would often say: Do you know where tap water comes out for free? How can you use so much water when you only pay 200,000 won a month?
Even as Hyeonjin knew this, his voice didn't come to him as quickly.
"What's the matter?" Jaewoo asked in a friendly voice. At those words, an unfamiliar feeling sprang up. He didn't know what it was.
"It's nothing."
His voice sounded far from apologetic.
"How can I not care when you're like this?"
'Why do you care?' Hyeonjin wanted to ask so many questions at once. He hoped Jaewoo would behave like he used to. Unlucky, mean, dirty. He didn't know what kind of person he was now; he didn't know if he was doing this on purpose or making fun of him.
"Why are you doing this?" He said like a hedgehog with raised thorns.
"Are you going to demand my body like last time? Is it fun to do this? Do you think I'm pathetic? Why are you doing this!?" He said, venting out his accumulated anger on the wrong person. (T/n: poor Jaewoo :'( he didn't deserve this, the og one did.)
"I know what you are. You are a horrible person. Dirty and mean!" (T/n: not the grade school insults, Hyeonjin Is such a cutie pie ^^)
After venting, Hyeonjin came back to his sense. He felt insane for saying all of that. After all, he was his landlord, so why the hell would he say such a thing? He didn't outright swear, but it was unpleasant enough.
'Where can I find a house with a monthly rent of 200,000 won?' Hyeonjin was afraid he would hear his heart beating widely, but he couldn't properly see Jaewoo's face. Jaewoo was busy examining the state of the blanket.
"The cotton must have soaked inside. Do you have any extra blankets?"
Hyeonjin just got up and left.
Jaewoo sat there trying to hold back his laughter. This was a situation that should have been more serious if it wasn't for the way Hyeonjin acted.
'Wow, he says I'm a dirty and mean person.'
He looks scary but is so pure inside. If it were him, he would have cursed out Jaewoo a lot more. It's just insults, they don't actually hurt him. After all, isn't the Jaewoo that Hyeonjin resents so much not the one he is now? The insults are technically not directed at him.
'He's so cute.'
It was hard to keep from laughing. Jaewoo went to the washing machine to check on the blanket.
'Will the stain wash off?'
Jaewoo decided to trust the washing machine and detergent. Since it was nighttime, he decided not to turn it on until tomorrow. He placed the blanket inside the washing machine and went out to see Hyeonjin standing by the faucet.
Hyeonjin didn't know how he ended up like this, but he knew he had to quickly take off his shoes and dry them. Jaewoo silently approached Hyeonjin.
"Take off your shoes, too."
"I'm okay."
'He always says he's fine.'
Jaewoo frowned slightly and said, "It's chilly out, you'll catch a cold."
There was no answer this time. Hyeonjin began taking off his shoes. After confirming that even the wet socks were taken off, Jaewoo approached him with a towel.
"Take this."
It seems that he doesn't want to be touched by Jaewoo, so he handed him the towel from a little distance away. Hyeonjin hesitated a little, then grabbed the towel and began drying his feet.
"Wait here for a minute," Jaewoo said and scurried back to his room to see if he had more spare blankets. He found a quilt tucked away inside his closet. It was a thick cotton quilt with purple and green mixed fabric and a white border. Judging from its heavy weight, it seemed to be a high-quality cotton blanket.
Why did past Jaewoo cover himself with such a normal blanket over this one? After tilting his head for a moment, he grabbed the blanket and went out. Then, he went over to Hyeonjin who was sitting on the floor, and quietly placed the blanket in his arms.
"Use this until I finish washing your blanket."
Hyeonjin, who had been quietly looking down at the blanket, looked up. Jaewoo smiled, "Why, are you going to pay for the laundry this time, too? It's alright."
Jaewoo had somewhat predicted harsh words to come out of Hyeonjin's mouth, but the ones that did were completely unexpected.
"Sorry."
Does he know what he did wrong? He looked a little miserable. Jaewoo stopped his hand last second as it was reaching out to pat Heyonjin's head. He looked like a large dog that had gotten in trouble.
'No.' That cannot be done. Absolutely not. How would you react if someone patted your head? Jaewoo desperately held back his desire.
"By the way, have you eaten?"
Instead, he asked the question he was aiming for. Of course, his plan was to eat dinner with him so he cooked for four people. He can't eat all of that by himself and it's a waste to throw it all away. (T/n: give it to me Jaewoo; feed it to the poor :'))
At Jaewoo's words, the door, which seemed to be closed, trembled. It looked like there were cute chicks hiding behind the door. Heyonjin did not answer for a long time.
"I made too much." As Jaewoo quietly spoke, the door trembled again. Do those chicks think they won't get caught? The door to the rented room is old and makes a lot of squeaking noises. That basically means it makes a sound every time someone so much as breaths.
"Let's eat together." Jaewoo insisted again. The kids are finally trying to gain some weight and Hyeonjin is far too skinny. He was tall but didn't look like he had any flesh on him. If he meets the main top later, he will suffer more so he should be well fed for now.
Hyeonjin shook his head and entered his room. But Jaewoo was concerned about his exposed bare feet.
'No, he must have more socks.' Be he was still concerned about the red feet soaked from the cold water. Then he remembered the pastel-toned sleeping socks he had seen when he went to look for a blanket.
"Wait for a second!"
He stopped Hyeonjin who was about to go inside and went into his own room in a hurry. He came back and handed him the socks.
"Please wear them."
"It's okay." Hyeonjin vehemently refused. They were just socks. Jaewoo was forcing Hyeonjin to wear sleeping socks. Hyeonjin thought he would shake him off this time too, but surprisingly Jaewoo stood unwavering.
"I'll give you lunch service." As he said that, he noticed Hyeonjin's ears turn red. It must be really cold then. After all, there is no heating in the rented room, can he bring them a heated blanket? In Jaewoo's mind, he wanted to bring the kids and Hyeonjin to sleep in his room.
Of course, it was just a fleeting thought because Hyeonjin had already entered his room with the socks and closed the door.
'Huh, it's hard to be liked by him.' Jaewoo let out a small sigh and walked back to his room dejectedly. After eating with the chattering kids so many times, the food when eating alone didn't taste as good.
Jaewoo only ate half a bowl of rice before leaving it out to the cold.
***
End of Chapter 1 (Part 3)
Note: Hi, hello. I hope everyone is enjoying these updates because next week, I am going to be a little busy with college classes. BUT. But, I will still try to make time for another upload :)))