Regardless of how the other person was looking at him, Saehyeon was chewing the porridge with his eyes wide open.
‘Delicious… indeed.’
It wasn’t that he thought there would be a problem with the food. He had simply assumed the hardships he’d been experiencing since waking up in this 28-year-old body. That included issues with eating.
The days when he’d eaten a full cafeteria tray without being picky and even had dessert were long gone. Now his mouth felt dry, he had no appetite, and the more he ate, the more bloated his stomach felt. It was truly a phenomenon he was experiencing for the first time in his life.
After finishing his part-time job at dawn, his whole body would be drained of energy and his stomach would feel hollow and empty. But Saehyeon would deliberately clutch his empty stomach and return home. At this hour, from his mouth to his stomach, nothing would accept food. Hadn’t he suffered terribly at first when he ignorantly stuffed convenience store discarded food into his mouth?
But for some reason, things were starting off well now. The porridge that made a round in his mouth passed smoothly down his throat.
‘Is it because it’s an expensive place?’
Glancing to the side, Gil Taeseo across from him was also slowly beginning his meal. It was quiet as ripples on water, without the sound of utensils clinking or slurping noises.
It was a familiar sight. Saehyeon, who had unconsciously found something familiar about Gil Taeseo, quickly bowed his head. While thinking he should just hurry up, eat, and finish.
The meal that continued in silence was quite satisfying. From a certain point, he even forgot about his companion and the tremendous price. Each ingredient’s flavor was alive, creating a rich taste that wasn’t burdensome.
If it hadn’t been for the crisis that came when the meal passed the halfway point, it would have been absolutely perfect.
‘I think I’m about to not be able to eat anymore.’
It felt like a heavy stone had been placed on his chest and his throat was completely blocked. Saehyeon poked at the food with eyes dripping with regret. His hand movements gradually became more stingy.
Then, as if sensing it like a ghost, a rebuke flew at him.
“Why are you picking at it? You’re killing my appetite.”
He thought they’d just quietly eat this expensive meal and be done. Saehyeon’s eyes immediately sharpened.
“I’m full, so did you add anything extra?”
If it was a freebie, that would be one thing, but paying money and having to listen to unpleasant words made his irritation surge up.
“That’s why you look like that, eating so little. Are you on a diet or something?”
What diet? If it were up to him, he’d have already bulked up into a burly physique and then some.
But Saehyeon didn’t want to elaborate on such words and circumstances in detail. He didn’t like it regardless of who it was, but it was even more so because it was Gil Taeseo.
“Yeah. So mind your own business about other people’s body management.”
Let’s just say he’s on a diet, whatever. Thinking that, Saehyeon forcibly scooped up a few more spoonfuls of rice.
When he raised his arm, the sleeve slid down limply. It was because the clothes were so big, plus the elastic at the cuffs was all stretched out. The exposed wrist was as thin as if only skin was attached to bone. Gil Taeseo, who had been watching that, clicked his tongue softly.
At the end of the meal, small traditional sweets and omija tea with floating jujubes were served. Saehyeon filled his mouth with omija tea to suppress his now outright churning stomach when—
Gil Taeseo, who had been rolling the small teacup in his large hand, spat out words. The words that popped out as if he’d been waiting contained a bombshell that contrasted with their leisureliness.
“Lee Saehyeon. Are you possibly pregnant—”
“Pfft!”
The moment the word ‘pregnant’ came out of those parted lips, Saehyeon felt his heart sink. It was a topic he wasn’t mentally prepared for yet and was afraid the other person might bring up.
Perhaps because he was so startled, a tingling pain traveled up his body. It suddenly felt like a knife had been stabbed into his solar plexus.
Saehyeon ended up spewing omija like a pump, just like a turtle in that animation with pocket monsters. Naturally, onto the man sitting across from him.
Gil Taeseo, who had been doused with a large amount of beverage in an instant, froze. Then he soon raised his hand and wiped his eyes first.
It had been a question he’d been mulling over, so he had been curious about how it would come out. But this was an unexpected reaction. The man had never in his life been doused with something someone had spat out while eating.
“Right now, you want me to eat this?”
A vicious goblin mask seemed to overlap on Gil Taeseo’s face as he slowly raised his head. With the feeling that even a ghastly aura was flowing, Saehyeon urgently began making excuses.
“N-no. Urk.”
He had tried to start. That attempt was quickly thwarted. The indigestion he’d been barely suppressing had surged up upon meeting this surprise event. Saehyeon immediately covered his mouth and stood up abruptly.
Regardless of how the other person was looking at him, he immediately crashed through the door, rushed out, and crammed his feet into his shoes. Only one thing remained in his brain.
‘Not here!’
“T-urk, bath, bathroom. Bathroom.”
Fortunately, he was able to grab a staff member right away. Before the employee’s explanation was even finished, Saehyeon, who had run off, flung open the bathroom door.
The bathroom was pleasant and clean, befitting one in a high-end restaurant. But Saehyeon’s eyes didn’t register the expensive lighting with traditional paper or the subtle woody fragrance. After staggering straight into a bathroom stall, he immediately grabbed the toilet.
Saehyeon, now in a kneeling position, trembled violently. Both the floor and the porcelain he gripped with his hands were excessively cold.
“Uurk…”
It felt like some stake had been driven into his solar plexus. It wasn’t the first or second time he’d had indigestion while living in this damned body. But this time, the degree exceeded imagination.
Saehyeon retched painfully. It seemed like he’d feel better if he threw up cleanly, but it wasn’t easy, as if the path was completely blocked.
“I thought you were running away after causing trouble.”
The moment his body, which had been coughing as if vomiting for a while, staggered— A hand extending from behind grabbed his shoulder. Saehyeon, startled, instinctively pulled his body back, but it only resulted in becoming more tightly pressed against the other person.
“You really do all sorts of things.”
The man who had occupied the space behind him at some point spoke mockingly.
One hand that had left his shoulder rose, grazing his neckline, and wrapped around his jaw. When the large hand touched his gaunt face, most of his lower jaw was covered.
His head was pushed back by a gentle force. Through his blurred vision, he saw the ceiling light and Gil Taeseo backlit against it. The man whose expression couldn’t be read gauged the gasping breaths beneath his grip.
“I’ll help you.”
The hand pressed hard against the pale, swollen cheeks and jaw. Fingers immediately dug into the mouth that opened by itself. Saehyeon unconsciously shook his head trying to push away, but as if anticipated, the response was quick. Gil Taeseo’s remaining hand that had left the shoulder quickly joined in toward the face.
“Open up obediently.”
Unlike his coldly cooled body, Saehyeon’s mouth was warm. The body part that lightly stirred through the damp and hot mouth settled in, finding its destination. The fingers that dug in deeply, grazing the wriggling soft flesh, soon exerted merciless pressure.
“Urk…”
The moment something surged up forcefully— As if waiting, the hand helped lower his face. The terrible things that had been tormenting Saehyeon, the things he couldn’t do anything about no matter how much he struggled alone, burst out all too easily.
Saehyeon remained in the bathroom for quite a while after that. It was a grueling time, but his body didn’t tremble with chills like at first. The body pressed against his back was warm to the point of being hot until the very end.
***
His stomach felt relieved, but his head felt like it would explode. His face too, of course.
Saehyeon, who had experienced extreme indigestion and multiple episodes of vomiting following his part-time job, was exhausted and couldn’t control his body. Gil Taeseo, who caught the body staggering with weak legs, was generous enough to provide aftercare service.
In other words,
“Pfft-splash.”
Something like this.
Gil Taeseo, who had washed his own hands to an almost obsessive degree, splashed cold water on Saehyeon’s face. Seeing the pupils regain focus, Gil Taeseo grinned.
“Too bad.”
He didn’t know what was supposed to be too bad. Saehyeon, who raised his head with a dumbfounded expression, saw the two people standing close together in his vision. Both were objectively in quite a mess.
Saehyeon had a strangely flushed complexion on his pale face. His thin body, unable to stand on its own, was tilted as if leaning on the man’s arm. The front of his water-soaked hoodie was also darkly stained and noticeable.
The man standing beside him was somewhat better off. However, it was in stark contrast to the leisurely appearance when entering the restaurant.
His wet hair seemed roughly swept back, and his black shirt also clung to his chest as if wet. Objectively looking quite haggard as if he’d gone through an ordeal, Saehyeon couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.
In fact, that wasn’t the only embarrassing thing.
“…Let go now.”
The feeling of becoming a pelican that had swallowed greedily and then regurgitated its prey in large amounts was truly difficult to describe. And moreover, hadn’t he done it in front of Gil Taeseo, borrowing his hands to process it?
It was hard to watch those hands, turned red from obsessive washing, holding onto his body.
Although he had thrown up everything, the meal was finished either way. Since they could just part ways like this, only the desire to disappear as quickly as possible surged up.
“That won’t do. Shall I give you a choice?”
But it seemed the other person still had business left. Gil Taeseo, who easily subdued Saehyeon trying to push away, shoved forward a notification disguised as a choice.
“Either we finish the conversation we were having, or you obediently lean on me and walk out.”
Receiving the warm-colored lights mounted on both sides of the mirror, the man’s eyes glowed faintly. They were persistent eyes. Saehyeon knew Gil Taeseo with eyes like this. That words absolutely didn’t work at times like this. Ah, of course, fists were the same.
“You decide everything.”
And you bear the responsibility too.
“For reference, if you choose the former, know that you won’t be able to walk out on your own two feet.”
Saehyeon clamped his mouth shut. If both were hellfire, medium-well was better than well-done. As if already anticipating that decision, Gil Taeseo immediately dragged the body that had lost its fighting spirit.
