DI Ch 157

This person was too lenient, so my bad habits kept coming out. He didn’t say anything even when I didn’t hold back a word. He seemed like a good person.

Suddenly, the calendar hanging in the room caught my eye. Looking at the changed date, my feelings were mixed. I’m still the same, but time has passed. My heart is still in autumn, and my memories end in April of last year, but it’s already February of the following year.

Wow. I really feel strange.

Before getting swept up in this strange feeling, I looked at the menu. Let’s just eat. Meanwhile, someone opened the door and came in. I lifted my head thinking it was the owner, but when I saw it wasn’t, I fixed my eyes again on the menu. It’s not good to think someone looks like a snake, but that person really looks like a snake.

Tae Seong-je watched me in silence for a moment and then lightly gestured towards the man.

“Bring them here. Feed the kids.”

“Yes.”

The man answered promptly and left while I kept my nose buried in the menu without saying a word.  After the door closed, I looked up to see a face that doesn’t fade even under the old but bright fluorescent lights, with a rustic floral wallpaper background. As expected, it’s a pity not to be an entertainer with that appearance.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Embarrassed by my staring gaze, he stroked his cheek in an unbecoming way as if to cover his face.

“No, it’s just… you’re handsome.”

“I’m handsome?”

“Yes, you’re handsome.”

“Really? Don’t I look too thin?”

“…”

These days, do they express being gaunt as thin? Why does he lack confidence when he was born with a face he could make a living off of for life? Shaking my head with a puzzled expression, he couldn’t hide his delight and nodded as if asking if that was so. A dimpled smile appeared on his face.

I lowered my eyes without saying a word. Really, what am I doing? Ah, why is he cute? I cleared my throat to come back to reality and opened my mouth again.

“Hyung.”

“Yeah.”

“Can I ask what you do?”

“…”

I asked cautiously, recalling how he casually led intimidating men, who in turn treated him with the utmost respect. But no answer came back.

He silently took off his coat without taking his eyes off me. Why does that look so cool? It seems even more so because he’s wearing nice clothes. On the other hand, I look like a snot-nosed country bumpkin. This shining person looks even more radiant because of me.

Based on objective facts without bias, I couldn’t take my eyes off how the white shirt suited him so well. The way he rolled up his sleeves leisurely was so laid-back. But I know he’s not really such a relaxed person. I’ve seen a bit, so I can’t be oblivious.

“Hyung, you’re a gangster, right? I know it all.”

At first, I was unsure, but…

“It would be weirder not to notice. …Aren’t you surprised?”

“I was surprised, but it’s a bit much to be surprised again.”

If I were to be surprised now, I should be surprised at why he has that face yet does that kind of work, and at my own shamelessness in dating such a person.

“Huh…”

They say you can never forget your first love. I thought I wasn’t that sentimental, but I guess I was wrong. Not only am I hopeless, but I’m also pathetic. No, not really. This person is a real gangster, but my senior was just a regular student with rumors of being a gangster’s son. There’s no similarity here.

“Boss, I want to order.”

“Yes, yes.”

Trying to reassure myself, I opened the door and looked for the owner. I didn’t expect him to be waiting right outside, which startled me, but I quickly greeted him when I saw he had brought the side dishes.

“Please give us 5 servings of pork belly and 5 servings of pork ribs. Please give me some soybean paste stew, egg rolls, and cold noodles. Hyung, do you want cold noodles too?”

“… No.”

I flipped through the menu again while he was looking at me with eyes that I couldn’t tell if it was conflicted or complicated. Seeming to order enough hearty food to not wake up hungry, I was about to order more dishes when he firmly stopped me.

“No alcohol.”

“Alcohol?”

What alcohol?

“I don’t drink alcohol. I don’t really like it anyway.”

“…”

“Ah, boss. Give me two bottles of soda and one more bowl of rice.”

But I was a bit surprised. So this person can speak that firmly too.

I organized my questions while looking at his hair, which was naturally disheveled as if blown by the wind. There were so many things I wanted to ask that I didn’t know where to start. But then he suddenly called me while checking the time on his phone.

“Seo Seung-won, come here.”

…He calls me over but comes himself? Dumbfounded, I just blankly watched him approach. Even more baffling was that he then sat right behind me and tightly hugged me, but it was so natural that I was dumbfounded. Before I could resist, he started massaging my knees, so I couldn’t do anything.

“Ah, ah. Ow.”

“Does it hurt? Seems like more than just your feet were injured. You can’t even stand properly…”

Tae Seong-je trailed off as he carefully rolled up my overstretched pants.

“Your legs.”

My knee was a mess. Not just the knees, but the calf mottled with purple bruises was also unsightly. Quite a few scars had healed uglily. Quite a few of the scars have healed in an unsightly way.

Constantly falling in the mountains and losing consciousness while walking had left me with injuries sprouting like mushrooms after rain. When I regained consciousness, I often found myself with big and small wounds that had been left untreated until the bleeding stopped. Late treatment meant some wounds festered. I tried disinfecting, applying medicine, and wrapping bandages on my own, but it was clearly not proper treatment.

“Uh. This color wasn’t originally like this.”

Hopefully, it’s not rotting. I ignored it because it didn’t hurt as much as I thought, but maybe I shouldn’t have. While I was examining it closely, his arms tightened around me.

“….”

“…”

Ah, I don’t know why he was looking so sad.

This was why I couldn’t push him away. Whenever I tried to distance myself, he would cling to me like I was his lifeline, making it hard to reject him properly. No, it was not like I harshly rejected him, I just meant to keep a normal distance.

I awkwardly sat there like a doll, just rolling my eyes, unable to comfort him like a child or embrace him like a lover. Even if we were lovers, I wouldn’t know what to do. Should I ask him to break up?

“Excuse me.”

I was surprised when the door opened and someone came in. I didn’t have the mental strength to show this sight to others without feeling anything. … But was he the store employee?Even so, it’s excessive for him to bow deeply as soon as our eyes meet. Does an employee at this shabby rural meat restaurant really treat customers like this? I instinctively bowed my head too, but I was still perplexed.

At that time, Tae Seong-je spoke in a gloomy voice.

“It’s your doctor.”

Why was a doctor coming to a meat restaurant…? More importantly, why do I have a doctor? Where did you bring him from? How? What happened?

“Oh my. Your legs must hurt.”

More than a doctor, it was just an uncle with a friendly face who took a seat in front of me and bowed deeply again. The excessive affection was burdensome enough, let alone the excessive kindness. Really, why is everyone acting like this…

“Yes, let me take a look. Where does it hurt the most?”

“Uh, my head?”

Scratching my head in confusion and embarrassment, my nails caught on a wound, reminding me of its presence. Thinking it was a good opportunity, I pointed at my head towards the doctor. Immediately, Tae Seong-je started ruffling through my hair. I felt like a baby monkey. The doctor just smiled harmlessly and clicked on a medical flashlight.

“Let’s take it step by step.”

Strange. Why…did it seem like he was afraid of me? Was this tense feeling just in my head? He’s just smiling calmly. Still, as he diligently examined my eyes thoroughly to check my condition, I felt I had made an unnecessary thought and should focus on the examination.

“Your pupils are dilated.”

“Is that bad?”

“Well, let’s see.”

He evaded the question with a vague answer. Was he not telling me because it was bad and he didn’t want to scare me? Or did he really not know?

“Excuse me, doctor. I think my condition is pretty serious right now. On a mental level.”

“How do you think it’s serious?”

“I just feel like I’m not normal. But at the same time, I oddly feel fine. Why is this happening?”

I mumbled that it wasn’t a big deal to the person ruffling my hair behind me, seeing the doctor brought all sorts of worries. It’s understandable since I was quite worried too.

Even though the doctor kept glancing behind me while I talked, his careful attention to my words and meticulously taking notes built my trust. Indeed, when you’re sick, you need to see a doctor. I should never again distance myself from civilization.

“It probably started after hitting my head. Ah, please check my head first. Here, the back of my head.”

As I turned my body, I ended up face-to-face hugging Tae Seong-je. Why am I still sitting here? I tried to get up, but my head was immediately held in place, resting against his chest. The conversation started without me, the main person involved.

“He says he got hit by a metal pipe. Is he going to be okay?  What if he suffers a brain hemorrhage since he’s originally a sickly kid…”

“I understand your concerns. However, we need to conduct a detailed examination to be sure. There’s a high chance it’s just a minor case, but let’s be careful just in case. Please come right away tomorrow morning.”

The whispering doctor and the person gently rubbing then patting my back was absurd. Was this a pediatrician’s office? It was so ridiculous that I decided to see how far this would go, letting them have their conversation.

“Where are you going?”

“Oh, the meat is here.”

I tried to leave his embrace but was pulled back to my original position. Embarrassed that I had moved towards the meat without realizing it, I scratched my cheek.

“But I said I got hurt from bumping into something, not a metal pipe.”

Where did this metal pipe come from? I thought this person was gentler than I expected, but a gangster is a gangster after all, twisting the story so violently. Or maybe he’s just watched too many movies.