# Chapter 12
‘…I should buy some breakfast. This guy will need something to eat when he wakes up.’
Wonyoung confirmed the man was deeply asleep, then quickly washed his face before going to a nearby convenience store to buy breakfast. One triangle kimbap for himself, and one porridge for the man.
As Wonyoung opened the rattling front door, feeling depressed about his rapidly dwindling bank balance, he was startled by a sudden voice.
“Oh, you’re back?”
The man who should have been lying in bed was casually sitting on the floor, waving at Wonyoung nonchalantly.
“You were gone so long I was about to go looking for you. I thought my pretty neck would fall off from waiting.”
Who’s looking for who? You for me? Wonyoung asked in confusion.
“Are you okay? Should you even be up?”
“More or less.”
Despite his serious injury, the man looked quite fine. But for all Wonyoung knew, he could suddenly drop dead. With a dubious feeling, Wonyoung cautiously approached him. Yesterday the man had been like a wild animal with its hackles raised, but today his friendly attitude seemed suspicious.
“I’m glad you seem better than I expected. Here, eat this.”
Still maintaining his guard, Wonyoung took out the porridge from the convenience store bag and handed it to him. Since there was no microwave at home, he had heated it at the store, and steam was still rising from it.
After unwrapping the spoon and placing it down with a ‘Here,’ the man, who had been watching with raised eyebrows, asked with a small laugh.
“Are you always this nice?”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, you’re acting like a scared cat, but you’re still doing everything for me.”
“I haven’t done much.”
Besides, you were the one acting like a cat yesterday. Wonyoung swallowed the latter part and took out his share of triangle kimbap.
“You don’t have to eat it if you don’t want to, but I wouldn’t… bring home a body from the street… I mean, a complete stranger, take care of their injuries, and then try to poison them with porridge. And personally, I don’t even consider people who mess with food to be human.”
Wonyoung quickly corrected his word choice in response to the game’s warning message and took a big bite of his triangle kimbap. It was quite a cool statement, but it lost its effect when he immediately went “Ahh, hot!” and half-spit out what he’d just eaten.
‘Is Narae even weak in the tongue? How has he survived until now? He might as well be dead.’
[Ah, it’s hot! The triangle kimbap is too hot. Health decreases by 1.]
‘…Just die.’
Despite saying that, Wonyoung blew on the kimbap carefully and placed it gingerly in his mouth to survive. The man, who had been observing Wonyoung’s every move intently, suddenly burst out laughing. Wonyoung looked up at the sound.
“Why are you laughing?”
His laughter was so refreshing that it could have been in an ion drink commercial, making Wonyoung’s heart skip a beat. At the same time, sunlight streamed in behind the man, and a cool, fragrant breeze started blowing from somewhere.
Is this really an advertisement? Wonyoung unconsciously placed a hand on his chest. He wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but it felt like the triangle kimbap was sitting heavily on it.
The man continued laughing for a while, and just when Wonyoung was starting to worry that his wound might reopen, he finally spoke.
“You’re my benefactor, but I still don’t know your name.”
“I don’t know yours either.”
At Wonyoung’s prim response, the man seemed slightly surprised, then smiled broadly at the innocent-looking face that Wonyoung wore as Narae.
“Ki Siyeon.”
Again, the name was strange. Better than Narae, though.
“Narae.”
After muttering “Narae” to himself, Siyeon propped his chin on his hand, leaned toward Wonyoung, and asked.
“How old are you?”
“Unnecessary personal questions… Twenty-three.”
Facing another warning message, Wonyoung answered bluntly. That damned character trait. With a pushover character like this, he’d end up losing everything, including his organs.
“So you’re a year older than me? Rae hyung.”
Wonyoung was taken aback by the brazen form of address, but nodded in accordance with the Confucian mindset that even a one-year difference deserved respect. He was also much older in Heo Wonyoung’s actual age.
“Yes, Ki Siyeon-ssi.”
“You can drop the formalities with me too.”
“…”
‘I don’t want to get that friendly with this guy.’
In truth, Siyeon clearly wasn’t someone who did good things for a living. Given Wonyoung’s safety-first personality, if Siyeon hadn’t been a capturable character, he would have dumped him back on the street without a second thought. But in this game, nothing could be decided easily. You never knew when something might go wrong.
After contemplating for a moment, Wonyoung finally decided to lower his mental barriers a bit for the future.
“Fine, why not.”
“Then hyung. Why did you save me?”
“Huh? Well…”
As Wonyoung was unwrapping his second triangle kimbap, he suddenly met Siyeon’s unsettlingly cold gaze and stopped speaking. Though his mouth was smiling, his sharp eyes, seemingly trying to gauge Wonyoung’s true intentions, were watching him fiercely.
‘…Is this guy suspicious of me?’
For some unknown reason, he was clearly doubting Wonyoung’s motives. So that’s why he was pretending to be friendly. It really was just pretending. Well, given his occupation, it made sense.
That’s why it was especially important to be careful with his answer here. But just then, two choice options appeared before Wonyoung’s eyes that seemed to bypass his brain entirely, let alone caution.
[Umm… Just because?!]
[You looked like you were in so much pain…]
‘Are you kidding me? Seriously.’
Whoever wrote these options, they were clearly the biggest factor in ruining the game.
The problem was that he needed to quickly choose one of these awful options. Wonyoung chewed his lips anxiously before pressing one.
“You looked like you were in so much pain…”
This was better than nonsense like ‘Just because?!’ Not that it made the embarrassment any less, though.
At this emotional line that belonged in some ancient internet novel, Siyeon briefly made a strange expression. The next moment, he called to Wonyoung softly.
“Hyung.”
“What?”
“I’m naked right now.”
At this unexpected statement, Wonyoung gave Siyeon a dispassionate look. But his expression changed at the question that followed.
“You must have seen everything.”
With those words, Wonyoung’s gaze fell on Siyeon’s wounds and tattoos.
‘Ah, so that’s what he meant.’
Now understanding what Siyeon was asking about, Wonyoung opened his mouth, but another choice appeared.
[Ah, I wasn’t trying to look on purpose… But, well, you do have a nice body?!]
[(Covering face with both hands) I, I didn’t see anything!]
‘Ah, fuck.’
Wonyoung pulled at his hair as the options got even worse than before. It was like climbing one mountain only to find another. He didn’t understand why these choices kept appearing so suddenly.
‘This fucking game just loves to torture the player without any rhyme or reason.’
Wonyoung cursed the game once more as he stared at the options. But whichever he chose, the outcome would be terrible.
‘Well, rather than telling an obvious lie that I didn’t see something I did see, maybe I should just say something stupid… No, both are stupid…’
While Wonyoung covered his face and tried to suppress his conflicted feelings, a minute passed in an instant. Realizing the time was up, Wonyoung belatedly raised his head with a “Huh!”, but regardless of his intention, his mouth opened.
“Ah, I wasn’t trying to look on purpose… But, well, you do have a nice body?!”
“…”
At this cheerful and idiotic response that seemed to have eaten up all common sense along with the triangle kimbap, Siyeon’s expression slightly crumpled. Could a first meeting with a capturable character really be ruined this badly?
Wonyoung felt self-loathing as he could almost see himself being demoted from a suspicious benefactor to a complete idiot in Siyeon’s eyes.
Mentally banging his head, he forcefully opened his mouth.
“I’m joking.”
“Joking?”
Siyeon’s indifferent gaze seemed to ask ‘You call that a joke?’, making Wonyoung hang his head and mumble.
“Well, um, the atmosphere seemed too tense.”
“So you made a joke about my nice body?”
“Huh? No, no, I’m not saying the nice body part was a joke…”
“So it was sincere?”
At the question that gave him no time to think, Wonyoung’s gaze unconsciously went to Siyeon’s body. His pretty face and fair skin contrasted with thick forearms and impressive chest muscles.
‘…I’m jealous.’
In contrast, Narae’s body was so weak it seemed to struggle even against gravity. With an inexplicable sense of defeat, Wonyoung avoided answering.
“Ah, anyway, you’re talking about the tattoos, right? I don’t really care about that.”
“So it was sincere?”
“No, why are we back to that…”
“It wasn’t?”
At Siyeon’s persistent questioning, Wonyoung couldn’t contain his momentary irritation and shouted.
“Yes, you really do have a nice body!”
Siyeon then rested his chin on his hand and smiled with satisfaction. Wonyoung asked, dumbfounded.
“The tattoos aren’t important anymore?”
“Well, if you can see all this and only comment on my nice body… I guess you really don’t care.”
At his nonchalant answer, Wonyoung wanted to hit Siyeon on the head, but he restrained himself and just chewed his triangle kimbap.
“You should eat too.”
And please shut your mouth.
With that thought, Wonyoung pushed the porridge closer to Siyeon. Whether he understood Wonyoung’s intention or not, Siyeon smiled brightly, said “Okay,” and picked up his spoon.
After that, Siyeon became mysteriously even more friendly. Unlike before, he no longer showed any signs of wariness. After asking about Wonyoung’s job and hobbies, he soon looked around the tiny room with eyes full of curiosity and interest.
Meanwhile, Wonyoung also glanced up slightly to observe Siyeon. He hadn’t brought it up first, but the tattoos covering most of Siyeon’s upper body were quite noticeable. However, given that he’d been collapsed with a knife wound in his stomach, his occupation was obvious, so Wonyoung didn’t feel the need to worry about or ask about the tattoos. It might cause unnecessary trouble to ask.
