This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 48

Well, I may just be a total newbie in this field, and the pros might laugh if they see me, but preparing for camping with people who’ve never been camping even once in their lives has been nothing short of a series of trials and tribulations.

“Hold it tight.”

“Uh, uh…”

“You’re holding it right?”

“Uh, maybe?”

Believing that, I finally connected the last remaining loop.

The camping table that I had painstakingly assembled lost its balance and came crashing down, returning to its state before assembly.

“Hey, you said you were holding it properly!”

“No, I was holding it!”

After this happened multiple times, I could feel a creeping sense of despair taking hold.

If it’s going to be like this, wouldn’t it be better to just solve everything inside the pension?

Feeling the thrill of camping is nice and all, but at this rate, there’s no way we’re managing to eat today!

I mean, there’s that saying that you should eat first before going on about your plans, right?

Just as I enjoyed that thought, the girls who had gone to fetch the necessary vegetables returned to the pension.

“Ugh… What? We still have a long way to go?”

“It seems like… there’s a lot to set up…”

“At this rate, aren’t we going to be eating lunch in two hours?”

“I’m starving…”

Maybe they decided they couldn’t just stand around watching this situation unfold. Out of the three girls, Sangah, who often displayed smarts, rolled up her sleeves and stepped up.

“Hey, Dogun, you go make lunch for us. If this goes on, we’ll all starve to death.”

And just like that, she started pushing me towards the pension.

At that moment, the only thought in my head was…

‘Is it really okay for me to be leaving?’

If I bail now, everyone else is just a bunch of beginners!

“I don’t mind, but… are you sure it’ll be okay?”

“Yeah, of course. It’s only four people, there’s no way it’ll be a big deal, right, Jinho?”

“Uh, yeah? Ah, sure…”

Ugh, that lovesick fool over there.

And wait, four people?

That doesn’t add up!

If I’m leaving from six, it should be five, right?

Before I could even ponder that, Yoonseo, who had been awkwardly holding a bag of freshly washed potatoes, was pushed my way.

“Yoonseo, you go help Dogun.”

“Me, too?”

It looked like she was slightly spaced out, caught in the gap between reality and fantasy, and then suddenly got pushed my way, startled, flailing her arms.

Thanks to that, the things she had been holding almost spilled onto the floor, but she managed to avoid a mess.

“So is there anyone else besides you who’s going to go help?”

“No, but still…”

“Well, it’s true. Both Sangah and I have always been on the receiving end without ever doing anything ourselves. And those guys…”

“Our cooking skills are a bit…”

Well, from my perspective, Yoonseo was much better than the others.

It’s easier to give her orders, and compared to the others, who were total amateurs, Yoonseo actually had some skill.

“More than that, it’ll be faster for you to help Dogun instead of leaving him alone. We’re really starving over here!”

With that argument, the group was split again.

“Uh, what were we making again?”

“Probably spicy braised chicken?”

“And anything else?”

“It might not be necessary but…”

The combination of the thick, red stew and fluffy white rice could easily be a cheat meal, but having just those two on the table seemed a bit shabby, didn’t it?

So after contemplating for a bit, I decided to whip up some scrambled eggs as a side.

And if I add the various side dishes that Jinho’s aunt packed for us when we went to get our stuff from the storage, it’ll surely be a splendid feast.

So, first…

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you go grab some chicken and glass noodles?”

“Really? You’re treating me like a messenger boy…”

I said that, but she obediently went to retrieve them.

“How many chickens are we using?”

“Um… you need some too, so let’s say only two for now.”

After getting the chickens Yoonseo brought, we cleaned them and started boiling them in the pot.

While I was going to prepare the seasoning and then handle the other ingredients, I noticed Yoonseo standing there with nothing to do, so I decided to leave the ingredient prep to her.

To be fair, ingredient prep would just be slicing the potatoes and onions and other veggies.

“Can you do it?”

“Hey, do you think I’m some kind of idiot? I’ve watched you long enough to know how to slice a vegetable!”

Well, they did say that even a dog can recite poems after three years, so slicing vegetables should be no big deal for her.

“Just be ready to be amazed later.”

“Sure thing.”

Since she seemed pretty confident, I turned my attention to the ingredients I had taken out from my bag, but…

“Ah, right. Hey, I need one onion…”

Turning around to grab the onion I had accidentally forgotten, I found myself abruptly halted.

It was all due to Yoonseo’s posture, holding a knife.

To be exact… it was her hand position, I guess.

‘No way…’

Even though they say a dog can recite poems after three years, what on earth has she been doing all this time?

Just as that lament echoed in my mind, I realized that it was Yoonseo’s first time actually holding a knife during prep, even though she had helped me occasionally.

‘This won’t do.’

She’s going to cut herself like that.

I personally wanted to avoid having blood in my cooking, so I stopped what I was doing and cautiously approached Yoonseo.

Maybe because she was holding the knife, Yoonseo was so focused on the vegetables in front of her that she didn’t notice my approach.

“Geez… and you’re going to cut vegetables like that? As long as you don’t slice your fingers off, that’s good for you.”

That must have been the reason.

As soon as I took a position behind her and spoke, she jumped in surprise.

She then turned to look at me, and I quickly grabbed her wrist, which was holding the knife, to stabilize it.

“Hey, hey! The knife! The knife!”

“Ah…”

“Just hold still for a sec. I’m going to stabilize your posture, then I’ll go back to my own thing.”

But unbeknownst to Dogun, due to his actions, someone’s face was flushing crimson in real-time.

*

Yoonseo knew she shouldn’t take pride in this, but she’d never felt so grateful for her own lack of skill when it came to cooking as she did today.

If she had been as good at cooking as Dogun, this situation wouldn’t have happened at all.

“Watch closely. This arm needs to stay close…”

The voice in her ear was both familiar and strange.

Maybe it was because she had only heard Dogun’s voice this close a few times before, whispering as he did.

But even more unfamiliar was… Dogun’s warmth.

She already knew that Dogun was quite fit, mainly because he often asked if she wanted to go exercise with him.

How could she not know?

After all, he’s the one who invites her every time.

In any case, given that fact, she had guessed he would have a solid physique, but… reality was different.

And that left her flustered.

In her imagination, Dogun’s body… wasn’t supposed to be this solid… or this warm.

Now that they were indoors, even with a fire in front of them, it was different from being outside—Dogun was only wearing a thin T-shirt.

And the heat emanating from underneath that thin shirt was distinctly vibrant.

She swallowed hard, and it was precisely because of that heat that her throat felt parched.

So she instinctively swallowed first, but afterward, a fresh wave of embarrassment washed over her.

‘H-Hopefully… he didn’t hear that?’

As she cautiously watched Dogun, wondering if he heard the sound she made just now, she heard him call out.

“…Hey.”

Because they were so close, his voice sounded slightly deeper than usual, filling her ear with warmth.

Coupled with the way her heart was already pounding from glancing at him, his voice made her jump a bit.

“W-W-What’s up?”

Embarrassingly, her voice shook uncontrollably.

Her heart raced faster and louder than before, probably due to that very emotion.

“Are you even listening to me?”

Caught in the tightrope of anxiety and anticipation, Dogun’s words brought a mix of relief and disappointment.

“…I’m listening.”

In truth, she hadn’t heard a word he said, but for now, she answered that way.

The problem was the response that came immediately after.

“Really? Then why don’t you try it out?”

Try what…?

Not knowing, she became slightly flustered, and then Dogun’s voice came through, sounding mildly amused.

“Hey. What do you mean you’re listening? You haven’t heard a thing, have you?”

“…”

“I get that you were tense because of the knife, but you should especially pay attention to what I’m saying, okay?”

Not intentionally, but still feeling slightly aggrieved, she nodded in agreement since she hadn’t really been listening.

‘It’s not because of the knife, though…’

Of course, inside her head, she grumbled that, but didn’t dare speak it out loud.

“When you hold it like this, it can easily slice your fingers instead of the vegetables, you know? So here’s the thing… you have to use a ‘cat paw’ grip.”

“Cat paw?”

“Yeah, want to give it a shot?”

“L-Like this?”

When she heard “cat paw,” the image of a cat with its sharp claws popped into her head, and she naturally mimicked that.

“Hey… How is that a cat? That looks like a tiger.”

Seeing her, Dogun chuckled as if it were the most absurd thing he’d seen.

The issue was that what seemed trivial to Dogun was significantly deadly in Yoonseo’s context, and every time he laughed, the sounds wafted into her ear, along with the way Dogun’s body subtly trembled in the process, which kept driving her heart into a frenzy.

And just to add fuel to the fire—

“Now, you’ve got to curl your fingers in like this for a cat paw.”

His hand, which had naturally shifted to rest on the back of hers.

The gap between fantasy and reality shattered with this moment, shocking her heart into a frantic dance of surprise.