# Chapter 119
“Yeah.”
Mo Eunje switched to speakerphone and continued hanging up laundry while answering the call.
“You know that big mart just past the intersection, right?”
“I know.”
“You don’t need to clean. Come out to the mart. Let’s go grocery shopping.”
“Cleaning fairy Eunje has already finished cleaning and is now hanging laundry.”
He spoke cutely, like a child wanting to hear praise for a job well done.
“Hey, please save that stuff for Tae Igyeol.”
“Stop bringing up Tae Igyeol.”
“Well, then what did my ears do to deserve this?”
“Deserve? Hearing Eunje’s aegyo is a treat for your ears. How about I take it up a notch?”
“Haah… Mo Eunje, it’s incredibly hot today. I’m tired just sitting still.”
He had tried to boost his energy, but failing that, his motivation disappeared. Perhaps because he’d done a major cleaning after a long time, every part of his body—arms, legs, and waist—was aching. He would probably pass out when he went to sleep tonight.
“I’m tired from cleaning your place.”
“I’ll buy you ice cream.”
“Call! But I’ll have to walk, so it’ll take some time.”
“How long?”
Mo Eunje quickly calculated in his mind. This is when quick wit and sensibility come in handy.
“After finishing hanging the laundry and heading out, about 15 to 20 minutes? But you said it’s super hot today. If I’m sweating profusely and dragging myself along, wouldn’t I arrive at the mart in roughly 30 or 40 minutes?”
“Are you kidding me? At that rate, it would be faster for me to come to the officetel. I’ll be leaving Ritz Ville now, so when I call, come down to the first floor.”
“Okay.”
Mission accomplished. He had absolutely no intention of walking under the blazing sun in this weather. Since mid-May, daytime temperatures had been exceeding 30 degrees, causing sticky sweat to form even inside without the air conditioner on. Just imagining how intense the heat would be in July and August made him reluctant to go outside. Summer is best spent indoors with the air conditioner on, eating watermelon, and winter is best spent indoors with the heater on, peeling tangerines.
After hanging all the laundry, he was lying stretched out on the sofa when Ban Hajun contacted him to come down to the first floor, apparently having arrived already. Mo Eunje didn’t understand why Ban Hajun wanted to go grocery shopping together when Tae Igyeol was the type to shop by himself, but he comforted himself not to complain since he was staying at Ban Hajun’s place and went downstairs to the first floor.
Even though his parents had simply moved to Busan, staying at friends’ homes made him feel quite miserable. He ended up in this situation because he stubbornly insisted on finding a house that he truly liked.
“You could have just bought groceries on your way home. I could transfer you money. Why bother coming to pick me up?”
He indirectly expressed his reluctance as he got into the passenger seat of the car parked with hazard lights on in front of the officetel. He needed to make it clear that he wasn’t going willingly, so Ban Hajun wouldn’t misunderstand. Hadn’t he suffered enough from Tae Igyeol?
“Shopping alone is boring. Not fun at all.”
“…Yeah, okay.”
Traveling by car, they reached the mart quickly. Ban Hajun was grinning as he pushed the cart himself. As Mo Eunje had noticed when the four of them went to a pension together in the past, Ban Hajun seemed to enjoy the act of grocery shopping itself.
“What are we buying?”
“Let’s have pasta today, and kimchi stew tomorrow. The kimchi in the fridge is too fermented and needs to be used up.”
Indeed, even just opening the refrigerator for water caused the sour kimchi smell to pervade the air. Mo Eunje added a kimchi refrigerator to his list of appliances to buy when he found a place, along with a dryer. While he was at it, he decided to show off his talents freely to Ban Hajun.
“I’ll make the kimchi stew. I’m good at making anything with kimchi.”
“If you can’t cook kimchi dishes well when the kimchi itself is delicious, wouldn’t that be a problem?”
“…What kind of personality is that? You’re really hitting where it hurts.”
Mo Eunje pouted his lips. Though he had sent Ban Hajun to check on Tae Igyeol, they had only casual conversations and he didn’t ask about Tae Igyeol first. Judging by the lack of news, Tae Igyeol seemed to be okay. If there had been anything to worry about, Ban Hajun would have already told him everything in detail. Still, curious, he casually brought it up.
“Did he eat and take his medicine?”
“Yeah. He must have eaten even if he didn’t want to because he’s sick. He’s human too—what choice does he have? When you’re sick, you have to eat.”
“He said the pain gets worse when he tries to sleep. Did he say he was in a lot of pain?”
“Is he the type to tell anyone how much he’s hurting? Why don’t you go take care of him yourself?”
“What kind of pasta are you making? Vongole? Aglio e olio? Tomato? Cream? Rosé? Are you going to use store-bought sauce?”
“You’ve named every pasta type except the one I’m planning to make. I’m making authentic carbonara. We just need pasta, bacon, eggs, and Pecorino cheese. I already have butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese powder.”
It was fortunate and appreciated that Ban Hajun recognized his intention and joined in changing the subject, but he mentioned a cheese powder name that sounded like an alien language impossible to memorize after hearing it once. Since the cook knew the ingredient names, Mo Eunje didn’t think he needed to know them too. In any case, he was relieved that Tae Igyeol had eaten and taken his medicine.
“Don’t you need milk or heavy cream?”
“Authentic carbonara doesn’t use those. Oh, we need to buy garlic too. There’s probably minced garlic in the freezer, but freshly minced garlic has a better flavor.”
“It’s really surprising that you’re good at cooking. Especially since you burn everything when you’re just grilling meat.”
“Hey, I’m just pretending I can’t grill because I find it annoying and bothersome.”
“Try to fool someone who can be fooled. What are you trying to pull?”
They bickered as they placed the pasta ingredients one by one in the cart. After adding a carton of eggs, the last ingredient Ban Hajun had mentioned, they saw the meat section ahead.
“Let’s buy pork belly there too.”
“Oh! Are we having a meat party?”
“No, it’s for the kimchi stew tomorrow.”
“That makes sense. We grill pork belly at my place, right? The smell really lingers even with all the windows open—it doesn’t go away until the next day. It’s a bit better if I use the air fryer, but I prefer it grilled.”
“Since the timing for the pasta is a bit awkward, let’s either go out for pork belly as a late-night snack if we get hungry later, or let’s just buy enough for the kimchi stew tomorrow.”
Mo Eunje presented to Ban Hajun the plan he had made earlier when starting the major cleaning. Seemingly pleased, Ban Hajun grinned and gave Mo Eunje a thumbs up.
“Mo Eunje, sometimes I want to check if you have wings on your back. You might be an angel.”
“If I were really an angel, I wouldn’t be grocery shopping here with you.”
“Then what?”
If he were truly an angel, he would be taking care of Tae Igyeol right now without questioning anything. An angel would prioritize the injured person, demonstrating inclusiveness without concern for the awkwardness caused by the confession. Of course, he had no intention of saying this out loud.
“What do you mean ‘then what’? A real angel would have so many services to provide that they wouldn’t have time to leisurely go grocery shopping.”
“That’s true. Which pork belly should we get? This one? Or this one?”
Mo Eunje picked up the pork belly package with twice as much meat as the reasonably portioned one Ban Hajun was pointing at.
“This one. Let’s make it half kimchi, half meat. Kimchi stew is supposed to be about the meat flavor. It’s disappointing when only kimchi is left and all the meat is gone.”
“Wow, seriously. Aren’t you a total genius?”
He put the pork belly package in the cart and high-fived the delighted Ban Hajun, laughing together. However, despite pretending to be happy and smiling on the outside, he couldn’t stop thinking about Tae Igyeol, so he felt terrible inside. He suddenly thought it would have been better if he and Tae Igyeol had also gone grocery shopping together like this, giggling and having fun, before things became complicated.
After shopping, on the way back in Ban Hajun’s car, Mo Eunje got off first in front of a cafe near the officetel. He planned to buy drinks and castella while Ban Hajun parked. He felt like he needed to eat castella first thing in the morning to start the day properly, and he was experiencing withdrawal symptoms after not having any today. He also missed the castella he had bought plenty of and left at Tae Igyeol’s place on his way from the hospital.
At a large franchise cafe, he bought an iced Americano with a shot of syrup, a vanilla latte that Ban Hajun liked, and two cream castellas. As he was about to enter the main entrance of the residential-commercial complex officetel, he noticed a real estate agency on the first floor. As the saying goes, “Remove a cow’s horn while it’s hot,” he entered the real estate office without hesitation.
“Hello.”
“Welcome. Are you looking for a place?”
“Yes. I’m looking for a jeonse. Are there any jeonse properties available in this neighborhood?”
“What’s your price range? Are you looking for places eligible for jeonse loans?”
“No. I don’t think I’ll need a loan.”
Mo Eunje gave the amount he had heard from his mother. The real estate agent, who appeared to be in his mid-50s, raised his eyebrows, creating wrinkles on his forehead, and glanced at Mo Eunje over his glasses perched on the bridge of his nose.
“Please sit and wait for a moment. I’ll look for some properties. Would you like some coffee?”
“No, thank you.”
The real estate agent nodded and went to sit at a desk in the corner. He adjusted his glasses properly and clicked his mouse a few times while looking at the computer monitor.
Mo Eunje sat on the sofa near the entrance, placing both hands neatly on his knees, staring blankly. Though he had boldly entered with the thought that this situation couldn’t continue, he felt unfamiliar and awkward, having never visited a real estate agency other than the one Song Yeonhwa operated. Song Yeonhwa’s real estate company had many employees and was furnished like a regular office, creating a notably different atmosphere from this place.
“There are a few properties available.”
The real estate agent, who had been examining various things on the computer and scribbling something with a ballpoint pen in what looked like a thick notebook, continued speaking.
