This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 50

I was glad to be sitting in front of the fire.

Thanks to that, I could blame my flushed face on the heat.

What if it weren’t the case?

Being so close, I would have been completely found out.

My face was warm enough to feel like I was touching freshly steamed bread.

As I was groaning from my hot cheeks, something even more embarrassing happened…

“Um, it seems like it’s really happening now?”

‘Ugh… really…’

That was Dogun’s reaction, as if he didn’t even realize what had just happened.

His response was as if nothing had happened at all.

This only made me acutely aware that I was the only one conscious of “that,” which made my face feel even hotter.

“I’ll… get some rice.”

I couldn’t hold it any longer and sprang up from my seat for that reason.

If I stayed seated next to Dogun any longer, I felt like the scene from earlier, where the spoon that briefly entered my mouth was overlapping with the scene of it going into Dogun’s mouth.

“Oh, right. I forgot the rice.”

Leaving Dogun, who was blissfully unaware, I rushed toward the pension, and what I heard from behind was—

“Wow… you’re really… No, I shouldn’t say anything.”

“What, man? Everyone forgets things sometimes.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What do you mean then?”

“Sigh… Let’s not start talking about it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Hahaha…”

Those were the words I heard.

As I entered the pension, sliding through the door, I felt like all the tension I had built up just melted away.

Maybe it was because I relaxed, but I couldn’t stand properly.

Even as I sat on the floor, my heart was still racing… so I cautiously pressed my hand against my chest, pressing down gently.

‘What should I do…’

It felt like my heart was going to explode.

That’s why I pressed my hand against my chest.

If I didn’t, it felt like my heart might leap out or burst.

‘What’s with this…’

Why is my heart racing so fast?

This wasn’t the first indirect kiss I had with Dogun.

We’ve known each other for nearly ten years, and as for sharing beverages, I could hardly count how many times we had.

But during those times, I hadn’t felt my heart race like this…

I was trying to calm my ever-quickening heart by pressing my hand a little harder against my chest.

Squeak—

As the door behind me opened, I jolted, wondering if Dogun was following in, but thankfully, it was Sangah’s voice.

“Uh… Are you okay?”

“Uh, um…”

“Dogun is… really…”

What had Dogun done?

I was just genuinely curious when I looked over.

“Okay, okay. I won’t curse. Just stop glaring at me. Honestly… you’re not letting me say anything bad about your boyfriend candidate.”

When had I glared at her?

“No, when did I glare…?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course, you didn’t. Now, let’s get up. Your clothes will get dirty.”

With Sangah, who had come over to help me, I stood up.

Curiously, just a moment ago, my heart that had been racing crazily began to calm down.

“Hoo… thanks.”

“What’s with thanking over something like this? By the way, did you calm down a bit?”

The way her eyes turned into crescent moons as she smirked was just too annoying.

Annoying, but… I couldn’t really say anything.

It was an undeniable fact that thanks to Sangah, I could be alone with Dogun.

And more than that, Sangah really knew where to draw the line.

Even when she was teasing me, she stopped just before I got genuinely angry, leaving a rather precarious balance.

“Should we get some rice before we starve to death?”

See, even now, she changed the topic like a ghost.

Following Sangah as she quickly walked towards the fridge that held instant rice, we naturally began talking about what to do after eating.

To put it simply, it was about what we would do after dinner.

“Do you have any plans?”

“I do, but…”

I hesitated whether it was okay to say it.

After a moment’s thought, I couldn’t resist her sparkling eyes and ended up confessing the truth.

As we go down the path, there’s a trampoline, and if possible, I wanted to go there with Dogun.

“A trampoline? Oh, that sounds fun.”

“…Yeah.”

“Is there such a thing? That sounds fun.”

She said that with her eyes sparkling, and for a moment, I regretted letting the truth slip out, worrying she might want to join.

“So… Chaedam and I will hold Jinho and the… ”

“Myungwook?”

“Yeah, we’ll try to keep those two occupied, so after eating, just gauge the situation and slip away. Got it?”

Hearing that, I regretted even thinking about it.

“How can you… do that?”

To be honest?

I wasn’t very confident.

Saying “just slip away” meant I had to pull it off skillfully.

What excuse would make Dogun willingly follow me?

At this point, I had no idea.

I still didn’t know, but… for now, I nodded.

Since my friend was going that far for me, I wouldn’t be able to back down without trying.

“Then let’s do that…”

Beep—beep—beep—

“Ah, the rice is ready.”

When I held the container filled with warm white rice, my mind was packed with thoughts.

After pouring the delectable chicken stew over the rice, mixing in some tenderly cooked potatoes, and tasting it, the thoughts that had clouded my mind evaporated completely.

It was that incredibly delicious.

This wasn’t the first time Dogun made chicken stew for me, but I couldn’t even compare it to what I had eaten before.

The ingredients didn’t seem that different from what we used back then; could it be because I was outdoors?

I checked the reactions of the others, wondering if it was just me… but as expected.

Everyone who had a bite freaked out in excitement.

“Wow, this is insane…”

“Hey, Dogun.”

“Yeah? What?”

“Have you ever thought about seriously opening a chicken stew restaurant? Honestly, I think you could make a killing with this.”

“Do you think money just magically appears from the ground?”

“No, we can figure out the money somehow… After all, once we graduate, we won’t have much to do anyway.”

“No thanks. To be honest, I’d just be overwhelmed by awakened individuals with cooking skills.”

“Tsk…”

Watching them, I felt a strange warmth fill my heart.

Because of that, I felt my lips curl into a smile, which I tried to hide by biting down tightly on my chin.

“Anyway, with taste this good, wouldn’t it be fair if I got to eat a leg?”

“Ah, as if, that’s a bit…”

“Then figure out your next meal yourself.”

“Of course. You should eat. You can even have two.”

With those words, Dogun chuckled as he fished out a plump chicken leg from the flat pot he had set down in the middle.

The seasoning was just right, and taking a big bite, the warm juices and rich, spicy broth seemed like it would coat my mouth wonderfully—truly a fantastic sight.

It was a visual that made me swallow repeatedly just by looking.

‘But…’

Had he always liked legs?

I had only seen him eat wings when we ordered chicken together, so seeing him pick the legs was rather peculiar.

While I was mulling over Dogun’s choice, I was shaken from my thoughts.

“Here.”

Hearing that voice, I snapped back to reality and noticed the chicken leg that had been between Dogun’s chopsticks was now on my rice bowl.

“Uh, what?”

“You like chicken legs, right? Am I wrong?”

No, that was true, but… what was the sudden reason for this?

The heart I had just managed to calm began pounding again because of his action.

“I’m giving this to you because you worked hard chopping vegetables today. Got it?”

“That’s… well, I don’t mind…”

“When I’m giving something, you eat nicely. There won’t be a second chance.”

Though I felt it odd to say this, it was my first time feeling reluctant to eat a chicken leg.

The reason I had just stared at it on my bowl was significant.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you going to eat?”

“I… was about to eat it?!”

“Stop being unnecessarily grumpy…”

Although there were moments when my heart raced so much I almost choked, somehow, I managed to finish the meal without incident.

“Alright, now we have to clean up…”

After the meal, what remained was a mountain of dishes.

“Who’s going to do it?”

“Come on, let’s decide with Rock-Paper-Scissors.”

“Do I get a pass?”

Who would do the piled-up dishes, and how to decide who would do it, made everybody visibly reluctant after eating so well.

So, discussions on how to determine who would wash the dishes ended up getting bogged down.

“Do we really have to do it now?”

“Then when are we doing it?”

“Um… later?”

“So when is later? And dinner’s coming up soon after all.”

“Then let’s just play Rock-Paper-Scissors and stick it on one person!”

It was in the midst of all this that Sangah, sitting opposite me, dropped a signal.

“Rather than that, how about we play Rock-Paper-Scissors to have someone else do it?”

“That’s a good idea. I’m in.”

“Me too.”

“Is there a trick?”

“Well, you just have to figure it out based on intuition.”

From that point on, all hell broke loose.

Everyone started giving signals—some cough into their hands to obscure their mouths or subtly shaped their fists.

Of course, there was another trick behind it all.

‘It’s rock, isn’t it…’

I didn’t know what they were thinking, but since I committed to helping, I decided to go with it.

And as the sounds of Rock-Paper-Scissors filled the air, I immediately threw out a fist—

“Okay! Yoonseo wins!”

“Good job, Yoonseo.”

“Ah, this is great?”

“Then I’ll count on you, Yoonseo.”

Everyone else had thrown scissors, which left Yoonseo stuck.