ETP Ch 45
by soapa“Sunbae-nim, turn right here! Turn right!”
Unable to withstand Bokseung’s insistence, Yoohyun changed their destination to the mart.
As soon as they arrived at the mart, Bokseung made a beeline for the pet aisle without a word to Yoohyun. Yoohyun, observing the clearly excited back, slowly started walking as well. His destination was the meat section.
After a while of scouring the mart, the two met again at the checkout.
“Sunbae-nim? Why did you buy this?”
“To eat.”
“All of this?”
“Yeah.”
Sungyeon made a weary face looking at the cart full of various ingredients. And Yoohyun, looking at the kid’s cart, felt the same.
“There’s only one cat at my house, you know?”
“Yes, so?”
“What you bought is enough to feed ten cats.”
“Hey, this is only enough for a week, isn’t it?”
“What are you talking about?”
The large cart was overflowing with food for both cat and human. The two, dumbfounded by each other’s purchases, bickered as they finished checking out.
It was a struggle between Yoohyun, who pulled out his card first, and Bokseung, who was trying to protect Yuja’s snacks from his grasp.
“Yuja!”
Bokseung called Yuja’s name loudly as soon as the front door opened.
Hearing an unfamiliar voice that wasn’t Yoohyun’s, Yuja scurried down from the cat tower and ran to the entrance.
Yuja, who rushed out covered in Yoohyun’s scent, wasn’t the fist-sized kitten anymore. It hadn’t even been that long since he last saw them. They say animals grow differently every day, and it seemed to be true. Yuja, cautiously circling around Bokseung’s legs, had the air of a grown cat.
Bokseung stood still, watching Yuja’s behavior, then gently met their gaze. Yuja let out a small meow and wrapped their tail around Bokseung’s calf.
It seemed like a sign of affection. They probably remembered playing excitedly in the living room when they were younger.
“Oh my! Our Yuja has grown so much!”
Bokseung stroked Yuja’s back with their characteristic exclamation. Yoohyun, watching from behind, let out a chuckle.
It was cute and funny that the kid, who was still the size of a fist, was so proud of Yuja’s growth.
Yoohyun headed to the kitchen after picking up the Yuja snacks Bokseung had placed by the door.
“Sunbae-nim, I’ll do it!”
“It’s fine. Just go play.”
Bokseung looked at him with distrust, their eyes filled with the thought,
‘You’ve never done kitchen work like this before, have you?’
“I know how to cook, you know.”
“Ah, is that so…?”
“Yeah.”
Yoohyun took out the rice cooker as if to prove his point. It wasn’t an electric rice cooker, but a pressure cooker. Only then did Bokseung subtly back away and head to the living room with a Yuja snack.
Watching their retreating figure, Yoohyun sighed inwardly.
How do you use this thing?
His fingers started moving busily across his phone screen.
🍑‧₊ ⋆˙
A clatter came from the kitchen, a bit too loud to be considered normal cooking sounds.
Sungyeon, while playing with Yuja, was completely preoccupied with the kitchen. Occasionally, they’d hear a crashing sound, as if something was breaking.
Even when Sungyeon, worried, tried to go and help, Yoohyun blocked them with a fierce expression.
“Go.”
“I want to help, but I feel like I shouldn’t.”
“Why?”
“Don’t you think you’d know if you looked around?”
Sungyeon pointed around Yoohyun. Yoohyun, following their finger, made a rare expression. An expression of bewilderment.
Rice grains scattered on the floor, the dining table covered in blood from the meat, the pressure cooker whistling with the valve open.
Not a single thing was right.
At this rate, it seemed like they’d just end up wasting all the expensive ingredients.
Sungyeon picked up a few stray rice grains and stepped into the kitchen. No matter how intimidating his glare was, it was less scary than letting expensive ingredients go to waste.
“Sunbae-nim, I know you’re doing your best, but there’s something I want to eat. I’ll just make that myself.”
“What is it?”
“There is something. How about you do what you want, Sunbae-nim, and I make what I want to eat, and we share?”
“Okay.”
Yoohyun nodded, as if this was a somewhat decent suggestion.
Bokseung gave Yuja another snack and began cooking in earnest.
First, they dragged all the ingredients Yoohyun hadn’t touched in front of them. These were things they absolutely had to protect from Yoohyun’s hands.
Premium Korean beef with multiple plus signs, thick prawns, palm-sized abalone, live octopus… it was full of high-quality ingredients. They looked fresh enough to eat raw.
Sungyeon quickly grabbed a pot and started boiling water after confirming that Yoohyun was still wrestling with a chunk of beef. They figured they could make something roughly resembling haesintang (seafood ginseng soup) after searching for it online.
They hid the beef deep in the refrigerator, away from Yoohyun. It was good enough just grilled.
Soon, delicious smells began to fill the kitchen.
A while later, Yoohyun was embarrassed by the transformation that had taken place in less than 20 minutes after Bokseung had entered. Both he and Kim Bokseung had followed online recipes, but the results were vastly different.
What he made looked like it would cause food poisoning upon consumption. It looked so bad that there was no hope for it to even taste good.
In contrast, the soup Bokseung made looked decent and smelled delicious. Even Yuja was meowing at Bokseung’s feet, begging for some.
“Sunbae-nim, do you have instant rice?”
“Instant rice?”
“The rice you heat up in the microwave.”
“Yeah, hold on.”
Yoohyun rummaged through the cupboard. He remembered Sunjung buying a lot of things a few days ago, including instant rice. Fortunately, the instant rice was untouched, just as Sunjung had left it.
“Why this?”
“I have a feeling the rice didn’t turn out right.”
Bokseung opened the lid of the pressure cooker, which had been defeated without even a hiss. As expected, it was full of rice grains that hadn’t even become porridge.
A groan came from behind them.
It seemed he was a little embarrassed. Sungyeon giggled inwardly and put the instant rice in the microwave.
After 2 minutes and 30 seconds, perfectly cooked, glossy rice was ready, just like the soup they’d made.
The table was filled with instant rice, haesintang, and fresh beef.
“Let’s eat!”
Sungyeon had lightly grilled the beef in a pan before serving. The perfect amount of juice and melt-in-your-mouth texture was heavenly.
In the end, dinner consisted entirely of dishes Sungyeon had prepared.
Yoohyun’s eyebrows drooped awkwardly as he saw the results displayed on the table. It was a change so subtle that one could only notice it by staring intently at his face.
Sungyeon, already somewhat accustomed to him, turned their head away, pretending not to notice.
“Sunbae-nim, try it quickly, it’s really delicious!”
“Okay.”
“Thanks to you, Sunbae-nim, I’m having such a delicious dinner. Thank you.”
Bokseung’s cheeks, as they chewed their food, were flushed pink. Their complexion definitely improved after eating.
“Eat a lot.”
“Yes! I am!”
“You seem to have lost weight.”
“Well, I wasn’t feeling well all of last week.”
Bokseung’s small face bobbed up and down at Yoohyun’s words.
After being sick for a whole week, they also felt that their body had become quite light.
At that answer, Yoohyun’s eyebrows furrowed. This time, it was a noticeable change even without staring.
“You’ll become smaller than Yuja at this rate.”
“Yes?!”
An incredulous response burst from Bokseung’s mouth.
“Even so, I’m bigger than Yuja!”
Their voice was full of indignation.
As if in response to Bokseung’s retort, Yuja meowed. Then, lifting their front paws, they kneaded Bokseung’s thigh.
“See? Yuja already reaches your thigh when they stand up. Soon, they’ll reach your waist.”
“Ack! They really do?! Yuja! Are you the only one allowed to grow this big?”
The more indignant Bokseung became, the louder Yuja meowed, seemingly enjoying it. Yoohyun cheered for Yuja inwardly.
Bokseung, defeated by the cat, huffed and devoured two servings of instant rice.
“I’m, I’m full.”
Sungyeon shook their head at the ice cream Yoohyun offered.
Their stomach, which had been rumbling earlier, was clearly shocked after being filled with rice, meat, and seafood. Even sitting and breathing felt difficult.
On the other hand, Yoohyun, who had eaten exactly one more serving of instant rice than Sungyeon, casually scooped up some ice cream.
“Your stomach is too small.”
Yours is big.
Sungyeon grumbled inwardly. Lying down and digesting would be perfect, but the problem was that even moving their feet to go home felt like a chore.
If it were like before, spending the night at a friend’s house would have been nothing, but it was impossible in Bokseung’s body. It would be like a man and a woman spending the night together. Even if they were sunbae and hoobae, there were lines to be drawn between an alpha and an omega.
Sungyeon, pushing aside their regret, said goodbye to Yuja. However, Yuja, having already devoured all their snacks, didn’t care who came or went. Only Sungyeon felt the regret.
“Then I’ll be going.”
Sungyeon bowed to Yoohyun. As soon as they bowed, their food-filled stomach churned. It seemed like they’d have to walk home. If they took the bus in this state, they would surely throw up.
“I’ll take you.”
Yoohyun said, putting on his jacket.
Before he could follow them out, Sungyeon quickly shook their head.
“No! I’m going to walk home today! You don’t have to take me.”
“What?”
Yoohyun’s eyebrows twitched.
“It’s not because I don’t have bus fare, it’s to help with digestion. Don’t misunderstand. Don’t look at me like that.”
“Ah…”
“I have enough for bus fare, you know.”
Sungyeon retorted, narrowing their eyes. Yoohyun looked noticeably relieved, as if he’d really thought they didn’t have money for the bus.
Although their pride was hurt, Sungyeon remembered rejoicing over saving on bus fare when they got a ride from Yoohyun earlier and kept their mouth shut.
“Let’s go together.”
“Huh?”
“I’m full too. Let’s walk it off.”
Before Bokseung could say anything, Yoohyun quickly grabbed their shoulder and opened the door.
A walk that would surely take well over an hour awaited them.