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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"Aigoo."
Jaewoo grabbed his head and groaned. He never thought his new body would be such a lightweight. He couldn't have imagined. He was like this with just two cocktails, nonsense!
"Oh, save me."
Crawling like a turtle, he opened the door and was hung over it when one of the kids suddenly approached.
"Mister, what are you doing?"
"Corpse play." (T/n: I think he means playing dead.)
"Aren't you eating?" Woohee asked. Even if he was hungover, he had to feed the children.
Jaewoo crawled out of the door.
"You two should eat. Wait here."
"No, we are fine." Hyeonwoo hurriedly tried to stop Woohee, but Hyeonjin's warning had already faded a long time ago. Yesterday, too, he rummaged through Jaewoo's refrigerator and ate the rice.
"No, children should eat well."
Jaewoo walked into the kitchen like a zombie. He could take out the side dishes and boil a simple soup. Come to think of it, he had bought bean sprouts. He opened the refrigerator with joy, but couldn't find the bean sprouts even after looking over again.
"Where are they?" After grunting and searching for a while, his eyes suddenly landed on a pot.
When he opened the pot, he found the bean sprouts he was looking for in the soup. 'Did I cook while drunk?' Jaewoo, who never imagined Hyeonjin would do it, tasted the bean sprout soup he thought he made. Then he was sure.
"I didn't do it?"
It was made by a person who knows how to cook, but it was not that well made.
'Then who cooked it?'
Jaewoo searched through his memories, but nothing came to mind. In the past, his memory was intact even after drinking alcohol, but this body seems to be quite weak to alcohol. His memory was blank.
"Mister Jaewoo!" The sounds of the kids could be heard outside. 'Let's eat this for now.' Jaewoo quickly heated up the soup and set the table. The children's meal he made was not bad as it was sprinkled with red pepper powder. When he ate a spoonful of hot bean sprout soup into his mouth, he felt his sore throat soothe.
As his stomach calmed down, he felt his head spin with realization. There is only one person who can boil this. Hyeonjin, he made this.
'No, did he even boil bean sprout soup and leave it behind in that difficult situation?' What an uptight and kind young man he is. However, it was heartbreaking to think that such a young man would soon experience even more hardship and pain. But what more can he do? No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure anything out.
-
Hyeonjin quit all his part-time jobs. Fortunately, everyone understood the situation so he could easily quit. Starting now, he had to move on to more lucrative jobs. Therefore, he decided to focus on Nogada*, where he often works at, and at doing delivery services. All the while helping Sanghoon at the bar in his spare time. This was all he could do.(T/n: Nogada, derives from the Japanese word 'dokata,' which means 'unskilled labor' in reference to construction workers.)
When he arrived home earlier than usual, his brothers had already gone to school. He noticed Jaewoo dozing off on the floor, covered in a blanket. Seeing this, he remembered what had happened not that long ago.
'Is the floor comfortable?'
He would often doze off on the floor too, so he looked blankly at him for a moment and then returned to his room. He took off his jacket and got under the blanket. Because the electric blanket was turned off, the blanket was cold, but after laying there for a while, it slowly started to warm up.
His body was lying comfortably, but numbers were moving inside his head. How much longer will he have to work to finish paying interest? He doesn't know. As his body slowly warmed up, his stomach started to tremble, asking for food.
'Should I eat some ramen?'
After thinking, he just closed his eyes, tired from even moving.
It was after his younger siblings returned from school that Hyeonjin woke up again.
"Brother!"
"Hyung, are you sleeping?"
Hyunwoo and Woohee brought their faces closer and woke Hyeonjin up. He had wanted to sleep more, but he blinked rapidly and stood up as the two tugged at his sleeves.
"The landlord made a meat side dish," Hyunwoo said while looking at him.
"Meat side dish~!" Woohee was so excited that he imitated his older brother's words and shouted loudly.
"A meal made with the meat you bought."
"Let's go eat!"
The younger brother jumped up and down with excitement like puppies seeing snow. As he was half dragged outside, he could smell the meat coming from the yard. Woohee, who was jumping up and down with excitement, went into Jaewoo's room first.
'I told you guys to be careful.' Hyeonjin patted Hyunwoo's back with a bitter smile.
"Let's go."
Only then did Hyunwoo follow Woohee with a relieved expression. After hesitating for a moment, Hyeonjin also entered Jaewoo's room.
There was a table set up inside, but today it wasn't stir-fried pork. Instead, there were fluffy steamed eggs with pork bulgogi*. Next to them were ssamjang, ssam vegetables, white garlic, and green peppers. (T/n: Pork bulgogogi is marinated pork belly. My mouth is just watering while writing this...)
"Let's eat!"
Jaewoo shouted as he came in carrying a large bowl of soup. The soup bowl was filled with hot bean sprout soup.
Woohee, who sat down first, twitched his bum relentlessly and quickly picked up the meat, placing it in his mouth.
"Delicious!"
Then he expressed his admiration and hurriedly ate the rice. He took a bite of fluffy steamed egg, wrapped the meat in fresh lettuce, dipped in ssamjang, stuffed it into his mouth, and quenched his thirst with bean sprout soup.
Since Woohee was eating well, Hyunwoo also started eating next to him. As Hyeonjin looked at them, the hunger he had forgotten about came back with full force. Next to him, Jaewoo wrapped so ssam with vegetables, two pieces of meat, garlic and pepper, and dipped it in ssamjang. It looked so big, will it all fit inside that small mouth? As he looked at him, the ssam got closer and closer.
"Come on, ahhh!"
When Hyeonjin opened his mouth, the ssam went straight in. It looked big, but he couldn't figure out how it all fit inside his mouth. As he chewed, he could feel the juiciness of the meat through the taste of the green vegetables.
It was delicious. Before Hyeonjin could finish eating the ssam, Jaewoo started wrapping another ssam. This time, he thought Jaewoo was going to eat it, but he placed it by Hyeonjin's mouth again.
" I can eat on my own."
When he refused the second time, Jaewoo's expression immediately became glum. Then he stuffed it into his mouth, it fitting in easily. His cheeks swelled up. Even though he was older, he looked strangely cute.
Hyeonjin finished his mean cleanly. Like a person who was afraid of the bowl of rice he was eating emptying, he filled the next bowl as soon as it was slightly empty. Just like that, he ate three bowls. He felt like he ate even more than last time.
Why on earth is this person so nice to him all of a sudden? Something he had been worrying about countless times surfaced again. There was something that had happened to his body. Hyun-jin could still remember the hand that had slapped him hard on the back.
"If you're done eating, let's eat some fruit."
When the rice cooker was empty, Jaewoo began skillfully peeling apples. Hyeonjin, who missed the moment to snap back to reality, accepted and ate the apple with his younger brothers. The fruit he hadn't had in a long time tasted sweet and sour.
"Do you guys want to eat some fried rice?"
After eating all the apples, this time he takes out some fried rice, not sure where it came from. He seemed like a man who was determined to fatten them all up. Although it wasn't a sweet and delicious snack that was often seen, the kids were excited and rushed for it.
Jaewoo, who had given the kids some fried rice, looked at Hyeonjin and cleared his throat. Hyeonjin, who noticed, stayed in Jaewoo's room.
"Isn't hyung coming?"
"There's is something we have to talk about. Between adults," said Jaewoo and sent the children back to their rooms. Then he glanced at Hyeonjin and opened his mouth with difficulty. He wondered what was taking so long to just say.
"Hey, by any chance, did I get drunk yesterday?"
Hyeonjin responded to Jaewoo's question with nonchalance, "You did."
'Yeah, you did get drunk, wicked man!' Jaewoo said and swatted his cheek with his hand, breaking into a cold sweat.
'What did you do to a child who is already having a hard time?!'
As he was freaking out and scolding himself, Hyeonjin grabbed Jaewoo's wrist and then gently placed it on his lap.
"Ha, do you happen to know what I said?"
"Body." (T/n: He lit just says 'body.' That's it, no explanation. I'm literally doing backflips from how funny this shit is.)
"I'm Sorry!*" (T/n: he says this in the formal way, not the casual way.)
Jaewoo laid down on his stomach. It seemed like he kept saying something he couldn't do. The goal was to not be hated by Hyeonjun, but it looked like he was on the wrong path to achieving that goal.
"You told me not to sell my body."
"Huh?"
However, the words that came out of Hyeonjin's mouth were different from what he expected.
"You also hit me in the back."
"Hard?"
"Hard."
Still, it looks like he didn't say the worst. He felt sorry for hitting him on the back, but fortunately, the person who got hit didn't seem too mad.
"Sorry.*" (T/n: He said this in the casual way.)
"It's okay, I've seen a lot of drunk people."
Compared to them, Jaewoo's drunkenness was almost charming. Jaewoo was now openly looking at Hyeonjin. Fortunately, he didn't seem to be in a bad mood. Therefore, since the first hardship had been passed successfully, it was time for him to challenge the second hurdle.
"I apologize for abruptly saying this, but it's about the rent."
Hyeonjin looked at Jaewoo who cautiously opened his mouth. He didn't know why this person felt sorry until his reply came: "Can I raise it a bit more?"
What did he think was going to be said? Hyeonjin found himself being disappointed for a moment. And when he realized, his heart sank. He had promised himself to never expect favors from anyone else, but he was confident that he expected goodwill.
"So-"
"How much?"
Jaewoo hesitated then held out three fingers.
30,000 won*. A total of 230,000 won. It was not a small amount of money for Hyeonjin, but it was still not an expensive price. Hyeonjin breathed a sigh of relief and was about to answer okay if it wasn't for Jaewoo's next words. (T/n: 30,000 won in USD is around $23, so his total rent would be around $180-ish which is still reallyyy cheap.)
"I'll provide you with all of your food."
Hyeonin blinked slowly. Without realizing it, the corners of his mouth rose. He realized this as he put his hand up and touched the corner of his mouth. The monthly rent went up by just 30,000 won. Just thinking about that fact made him bee more burdened, but if it included food, that was a whole different story.
"Why?"
Heyonjin asked just like the last time.
"I've developed a taste for cooking these days. I tried making this and that, but I ended up with a lot of leftovers. It's better for someone to eat it rather than just throw it away." Jaewoo was nearly rapping at this point.
"Who would you like to give it to?"
"Huh?"
"Who?"
"Hyunwoo and Woohee." Jaewoo looked at his fingers and then spoke carefully.
"And you?"
"Isn't that a loss?"
"It's not."
"Better than throwing it away?"
"Yes."
Jaewoo's mouth was tightly set. He looked like he would never back down from this. It was something he hadn't seen before. Strangely, as he looked at this scene, his heart trembled.
'Is there something wrong with my body?'
No. Hyeonjin had to be healthy. Only then could he not put the burden on his younger siblings. This pain was enough for him to suffer alone. He patted his chest in pain.
"Are you sick?*" Jaewoo asked with wide eyes. Then he disappeared and appeared through the door leading to the kitchen. (T/n: What is said here is '체했어?' which literally means 'did you have an upset stomach?' but I think what I put sounds better.) When he reappeared, he had some digestive medicine in hand.
"Have this."
He guessed he did feel a little sick because after taking the digestive, he felt a little better.
"Then will you be paying 230,000 won starting next month?"
Hyeonjin nodded slowly. He still felt that he was being taken advantage of by Jaewoo, but from what he's been doing recently, it doesn't seem like he will harm his younger brothers. Ever since he was young, he's been able to observe those around him and was able to notice such things. If Jaewoo's goal is himself, then it will be okay.
It was like paying for food nominally. He's giving him extra food so he won't be too much of a bother. Hyun-jin naively thought so.
If only he were able to see Jaewoo's thoughts, he might have thought differently.
***
End of Chapter 1 (Part 7).
Note: Finally!!! As a late Christmas (for those that celebrate it) and early New Year's gift, I finally present to you the end of Chapter 1!!!!
Wow, it feels like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. This chapter is still under review as I believe I need to go back and fix some things, but all in all, I'm done!
I will try to release Chapter 2 (Part 1) as soon as I can. Unfortunately, Chapter 2 seems to be just as lengthy as Chapter 1 so pls pray for me :")