YHP 53

Fried Tofu Rice Balls, Chicken Breast Salad with Cherry Tomatoes, Unsweetened Orange Juice, and a Milkshake.

While Taffy, who had already devoured all of his share of bone snacks, was only watching Jeong-in and Joo-young with drool dripping down, Joo-young, who couldn’t even touch the carbohydrate-filled Fried Tofu Rice Balls and occasionally picked at the salad, suddenly turned his gaze to Jeong-in.

Choi Jeong-in, who had suddenly barged into the mansion with a slightly haggard face, was quietly, but diligently, finishing his food as always.

“He really eats well.”

It had always been like this since he was young. He seemed to have a small appetite, but when you looked closely, he secretly liked to eat, and he even ate ‘diligently,’ making the person watching feel full. That was why, when Joo-young wanted to eat something while working, he always bought it for Jeong-in.

“If a kid who can cook well packed a lunch box and flirted with you, you’d fall for it in a heartbeat, I bet.”

“Ugh, cough, ugh.”

Jeong-in, who was chewing on a small Fried Tofu Rice Ball, made a choking sound at those words and patted his chest.

“What’s wrong, all of a sudden?”

I quickly handed him water. Jeong-in still coughed and bowed to Joo-young as he took the cup.

As I watched him, I had a strange hunch. Joo-young casually threw out a line as if joking.

“Don’t tell me you actually like kids who are good at cooking?”

“No?! It’s not, it’s not like that.”

As expected, Jeong-in took the bait as if he had been waiting for it. And for Joo-young, eating such an innocent person whole was nothing.

“It’s not like you said anything wrong, why are you reacting like that? You’re an adult now, you can have an ideal type.”

“It’s really not….”

As if to prove he was still a virgin, his fair face was turning red and blue, it was a mess. Joo-young barely swallowed the laughter that rose to the back of his throat and began to coax Jeong-in gently.

“Hey, an ideal type is really nothing. The person you actually meet is often completely different.”

“…Did Hyung have an ideal type?”

He was asking, so it seemed he was a little interested now. Joo-young immediately set the conditions to form a bond with Jeong-in.

I didn’t know where he had gotten something to eat and come back so messed up, but anyway, there were only two reasons why someone would cook for someone else. Either the other person paid them, or they had feelings for the other person.

And whether they received money or gave their heart, unless they were a complete psycho, they would inevitably have to ‘do well’ in both cases, so the big categories would probably be as follows.

“I’ve liked kind people since I was young. Gentle, kind, and obedient.”

“Really?”

Of course, it was a lie.

But Jeong-in was being reeled in as he was, unaware that he had been hooked.

“…No, but how did you end up meeting Uncle?”

“Things happen.”

Joo-young adjusted his posture and sat a little closer to Jeong-in.

“So, what’s your ideal type like?”

“I don’t really know…. I’m not thinking about dating.”

“Still, just say whatever comes to mind.”

When I pushed him one more time, Jeong-in finally began to choose his words, saying, “Um.”

“If I ever meet someone…. I think I’d like someone similar to that too. Someone kind and gentle.”

“And?”

“Um. And…. Someone who works hard at their job. Of course, it would be even better if they were good at cooking… too.”

He kept cutting off his words because he felt so awkward saying those things himself. Joo-young didn’t urge him and quietly waited for Jeong-in’s words. Jeong-in was now spilling everything, even what he wasn’t asked.

“I’d like someone who’s a bit upright and righteous. Someone with a pretty smile, emotional stability, good emotional control, and kindness to people…. I think those are big advantages. It’s also kind of okay if they’re a bit foolishly stubborn…. No, that’s not it!”

“Huh?”

“It’s definitely not that I’m going to do anything. If, just if, I were to meet someone like that, it wouldn’t be too bad, that’s all.”

Oh, he really has something going on?

“Yeah, I see.”

Behind an ideal type that is more specific than necessary, there is always a real person. To summarize the previous words, the person Jeong-in had recently taken a liking to seemed to be ‘a pushover who can cook a bit.’

So, who could it be? Joo-young began to narrow down the occupations of people who would be within the wealthy young master’s sphere of activity.

“So, in a nutshell, it just has to be a kind and diligent hotel chef?”

“Ah….”

He looked sullen, so it wasn’t that.

“A fine dining chef? A culinary researcher? The Blue House chef… is too old. Or maybe, the daughter of a Korean Table d’hôte restaurant? A food columnist?”

Then, Jeong-in suddenly glared at Joo-young.

“Hyung, you’re trying to sound me out right now, aren’t you.”

“That’s right.”

I had already gotten all the information I needed anyway. Joo-young simply admitted it.

“I really don’t have any thoughts like that.”

Choi Jeong-in had a triumphant look on his face, as if he had made some incredibly sharp deduction. It was truly an adorable and laughable display of spirit. To Joo-young, who had weathered all sorts of storms and accumulated years of experience in the entertainment industry, Jeong-in’s current appearance was nothing more than an angry baby kitten.

“Alright, I’m sorry. Are you really going to sulk like that just because I teased you a little?”

“I’m not sulking, okay?”

Anyone who falls in love eventually can’t help but show it. Especially someone as naive and innocent as him, he’ll eventually make some ridiculous mistake somewhere and get caught by everyone, even without trying to dig it out.

“Here, drink this. I’m afraid to say anything.”

Joo-young deliberately exaggerated as he placed the milkshake in front of Jeong-in. Jeong-in, while rolling his eyes around, diligently started slurping the shake again.

I feel this every time, but the fact that he’s Choi Hyun-wook’s blood is something I can never get used to, no matter how many times I see it.

Anyway, if our crazy bastard finds out about this, he’s definitely going to throw a fit. What should I do? Joo-young worried about a future that hadn’t even arrived yet, crunching on a piece of lettuce. He was completely unaware that everything was already in that crazy bastard’s palm.

***

Pathologically, relevant mutations, susceptibility, factor genes….

“Ah.”

Suddenly, blood dripped onto the black letters and soaked in.

“Oh, Mi-jeong, Mi-jeong.”

He started getting a nosebleed again. Yoo Ho-jin, who had locked himself in the locker room to look over his thesis as soon as training was over, immediately moved the doll that had been sitting on his lap.

The dolphin doll, which he cherished and carried around like a sacred object, was named ‘Mini Jeong-in’, shortened to ‘Mi-jeong’. Anyway, fortunately for Mini Mi-jeong, not a single drop of blood splattered on her.

After taking the doll to a safe place, he pulled out a few tissues and pressed them to his nose. His gaze remained fixed on the thesis. As soon as he wrote down the meanings of the last words he had found, they turned green again. Feeling the blood slowly stopping, he crumpled the tissues and roughly placed them on the seat next to him.

“The change in heart rate itself isn’t the problem.”

What Ho-jin was looking at was data studying the correlation between LGS pain relief and exercise.

Still, he thought there might be some words he knew since it was exercise-related data, so he chose it first, but in reality, there weren’t many exercise-related sentences, and it was all about biology. He had been working on it, cutting down on sleep as much as possible, but it still took a full week to interpret everything.

Anyway, the conclusion he reached after using almost an entire stack of sticky notes was similar to what he had initially expected. As with most diseases, moderate strength training and heart strengthening seemed to provide significant help for LGS as well.

After carefully checking for any mistranslated parts, Ho-jin soon got up from his seat. As he wondered how to convey this fact to Jeong-in without making him uncomfortable, he first tried to find his phone, when Jeong-woo suddenly entered the locker room.

“Ho-jin.”

“You today…. What’s this, you had a nosebleed?”

Jeong-woo approached, his eyes wide as he examined Ho-jin’s face.

“Ah, it’s been like this lately. Seems like a blood vessel burst.”

“Really? You should get it cauterized soon.”

Occasionally having a capillary burst was too common an occurrence, so neither of them thought much of it. Jeong-woo threw the bloody tissues into the trash can for him and continued.

“Anyway, want to go eat sundae stew later? The fencing guys are going too.”

“Ah, I have something to do today. Have fun.”

“What do you have to do at this hour?”

Just thinking about Jeong-in made him smile. Ho-jin replied with a smile all over his face.

“I’m going to meet someone.”

In fact, there was no guarantee that Jeong-in would meet him, but he planned to go and try to weasel his way in somehow.

“What is it? Don’t tell me you’re dating?”

“…It’s not like that.”

“What do you mean it’s not? Looking at your face, you’re completely gone.”

Jeong-woo, like Ho-jin, was a graduate of the Samhan Scholarship Foundation’s talent development program. Having seen Ho-jin’s face every day for eight years, Jeong-woo immediately recognized his condition and stopped Ho-jin, who was about to get up.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing Yoo Ho-jin dating. The other person must be pretty amazing?”

“…Yeah.”

He didn’t want to reveal even a single piece of information related to Jeong-in, lest it cause him harm, but he couldn’t lie either. The fact that Choi Jeong-in was amazing was so obvious and self-evident that he couldn’t help but nod.

“How long have you been together?”

“We’re not at that stage yet.”

“…Don’t tell me it’s a one-sided love?”

Ho-jin rolled the corner of the thesis with his finger and nodded. Jeong-woo let out a hollow laugh.

“Hey, what’s this? Just confess and ask him to date you. No one would dislike you, right?”

A bitter smile escaped at those words.

“Even if he doesn’t dislike me…. He might not like me in that way, you know?”

This was truly the first time he had ever felt this way.

He had looked back on past events one by one, but there had never been a time when he had been so unsure in the face of something.

He had never been afraid of someone else’s rejection, and hesitating while anticipating and worrying about possibilities, or cowardly avoiding a match, were not Ho-jin’s ways. But he couldn’t be calm with Jeong-in. To be honest, as far as his relationship with Jeong-in was concerned, he didn’t want to take even the slightest risk.

‘Even if you don’t win a gold medal, even if you come in last, you’re still Yoo Ho-jin….’

How could he do that? Maybe he was telling him his own wishes that even he didn’t know about.

If lifting a tiny creature out of a deep swamp and into the sunlight was the work of a god, then Choi Jeong-in had long since become Yoo Ho-jin’s god.

“When I’m with that person, I keep becoming a pathetic guy. Cowardly, base…. I’m really lacking in so many ways.”

“……”

“…But I just like him so much, I don’t want to take that risk.”

He was so precious and dear, and the more he got to know him, the more difficult it became. Now, all he could offer him was a humble question about whether he would go see the spring flowers with him.

“You’ve really fallen hard, huh? What kind of person is he that makes you like this?”

What kind of person? Ho-jin added with a dreamy expression.

“…He’s an incredibly wonderful and amazing person.”

Let’s go see the flowers, let’s eat together, the clouds are pretty today, the weather is nice.

He seemed to like Choi Jeong-in so much now that he didn’t mind hiding his true feelings and offering those words.