By Zephyria 
“Come in, Hyung.”
“……It’s really awkward when you open the door and wait for me like this.”
“I’m all grown up now. My arms are probably longer than yours at this point.”
Tae-un was calling him ‘Hyung’ affectionately, using polite language, and even going so far as to hold the door open for him. The person entering, hesitating slightly as if uncomfortable with the consideration, didn’t seem like the lover President Choi had been rambling about. He was a handsome young man who looked considerably younger than Tae-un.
The surprises didn’t stop there. When the employee guided them to their seats, Tae-un personally pulled out the chair for the young man. President Kang, who had been flustered and stuttering, finally stepped forward in place of the stiff employee, carrying the menus and water glasses to greet them.
“Tae-un Oppa. It’s been a long time.”
“Yeah.”
Tae-un’s indifferent attitude, acknowledging the greeting with a half-hearted nod, was typical of him. However, when he looked at the young man sitting opposite him, he became a different person; honey practically dripped from his eyes.
After pouring water into the glasses and neatly placing the utensils in front of the young man, Tae-un recommended the menu in a tender voice.
“The other dishes are fine, but the Jajangmyeon especially tastes just like it used to. The previous owner passed down the recipe to the successor properly.”
“Yes, yes. It’s exactly like my father’s skill. I suppose you used to come here back then?”
Even as she spoke instinctively, President Kang’s mind was racing. Her father had retired four years ago. If Tae-un had a guest he was this friendly with, there was no way she would have forgotten him……
As she headed to the kitchen after taking an order for two servings of Gan-jajang and Tangsuyuk, she continued to tilt her head in confusion.
〈Do you remember the Chinese restaurant near the orphanage?〉
〈Ah, right. There was a kind owner there.〉
He was a good man who often volunteered at the orphanage and served generous portions of food to the children. On the day Tae-un entered middle school, they had even received Yangjangpi as a service.
〈Gae-un was friends with the owner’s daughter. When their family fled Seoul, they came down to Daejeon together.〉
Hearing Tae-un’s words brought that memory back as well. Things he thought he had forgotten were actually stacked neatly at the bottom of his consciousness, and they were being revived one by one, triggered by Tae-un.
〈The family was the owner couple, two daughters, and one son, right? I’m glad they were all safe.〉
〈……Well, yes.〉
For a moment, the corner of Tae-un’s mouth twisted subtly, but it vanished before Kim Si-baek could sensitively detect it. He had come along because Tae-un suggested eating there to recall the old tastes, since they were tired of constantly ordering delivery.
Tae-un once again made President Kang’s pupils quiver by neatly placing the served dishes in front of Kim Si-baek first. She was so surprised she didn’t even notice that a bird-shaped cotton doll was perched on top of her head.
When Tae-un tried to mix the Jajangmyeon for him, Kim Si-baek finally couldn’t take it. It felt like watching a small child step forward with tiny hands saying, ‘I’ll do it!’, and he couldn’t just stand by.
“I can mix the Jajangmyeon myself.”
“You probably wouldn’t have had Jajangmyeon there. It must feel very unfamiliar, so I’ll just do it.”
“There were foods you mix, but……”
[Death and Beauty evaluates that the author has a face that will not listen to words and must be forced to eat.]
He had always been stubborn.
Tae-un, having mixed the Jajangmyeon deliciously, looked at him with sparkling eyes, urging him to try it. Feeling a mix of slight pressure and a sense of pride that the boy had grown up, Kim Si-baek picked up the glossy noodles with his chopsticks.
His taste buds were weaker than his mental memories, so the exact taste of the past didn’t come back, but it was certainly delicious Jajangmyeon. Only after hearing that it tasted good did Tae-un seem relieved and mix his own bowl.
“The standard spelling used to be Jajangmyeon. About ten years ago, Jajajangmyeon was also recognized as standard.”
“Ah, really? For them to reorganize the standard language, society must have stabilized quite a bit. It couldn’t have been easy for the social system to stabilize after twenty years; you must have suffered a lot as a hunter, Un-ah.”
Since it was a situation no different from a state of war with the nation’s survival at stake, they wouldn’t have let an Awakened person just play around, even if he were only fourteen. The fact that Tae-un, who likely had no foundation as an orphan, had established his own respectable company at a young age was proof of how arduous his path had been.
His heart ached, wondering how much the child had suffered. Perhaps that emotion showed on his face, as Tae-un muttered in a discouraged voice.
“Others did all the suffering. I’m actually very weak, Hyung. Do you think the scar on my face happened for no reason? I’m so weak that something terrible would happen if someone didn’t protect me. I feel like I’d be blown away if a magical beast just flicked a finger……”
It was just before Kim Si-baek, by spinal reflex, was about to answer, ‘Of course I’ll protect you.’
“Tae-un Oppa?”
At the voice of Seo Gae-un, who had stepped closer and interrupted the conversation, Tae-un’s brow furrowed slightly.
“I know it is a great discourtesy to ask such a question during a meal, but I want to make sure first since rumors might spread.”
“What is it?”
“Are you in a romantic relationship with the person you are with?”
“Cough.”
Kim Si-baek, who had been glancing at her with a longing gaze for fear that she would find it strange, choked on his drink. Tae-un, who pushed his own water glass toward him, remained composed.
“An elder whom I adore and respect.”
“……Eh? What did you say? I think I misheard you?”
“He is practically my mentor. You will be seeing him often in the future, so treat him with the utmost devotion. Pass the word to the other kids as well, and tell Pi Min-hyeong specifically. If he acts insolently toward the elder, he’ll die by my hand.”
The more he heard, the more confused he became, but Seo Gae-un, having clarified his position, bowed ninety degrees.
“I was very rude when I saw you previously. I am Seo Gae-un.”
“Ah, ah, hello. I am, uh, Ki, Kim Si-baek.”
Kim Si-baek also hurriedly bowed deeply to return the greeting.
Only after the repeatedly puzzled Seo Gae-un left the shop could he express his horror.
“What do you mean, ‘elder’?!”
“If you show your ID, you’re forty-nine. What else do you call someone who’s almost fifty? Should I just call you Mr. Kim?”
“……Uh, well.”
He had nothing to say. No, it was true, but being treated as an elder rather than anything else felt strange.
[Death and Beauty corrects that my apostle is almost 100 years old.]
“…….”
Kim Si-baek, who was already becoming sensitive about his age as he approached a hundred, pressed his hand to his forehead.
“Me opening the door for you is the same as attending to an elder, so don’t worry about it. You already said we’re like parent and child, Hyung.”
“I meant it as a figure of speech; I don’t actually feel like you’re my son……”
“If you had messed around early, you would have had a son my age, so it’s no problem. Just think of it as receiving filial piety from a son born early.”
“…….”
I think there’s a problem here……
“When I was fourteen, I didn’t have, uh, anything to ‘mess around’ with……”
“I was at the age where nocturnal emissions start. I even remember what I dreamed about during my first one.”
Tae-un, who explicitly spoke the word Kim Si-baek had glossed over because it was embarrassing to say in front of a child, gazed at him intently. Specifically, around his lips. The corners of Tae-un’s eyes crinkled softly.
“What kind of dream do you think I had?”
Contrary to his brightly curved eyes, his gaze obsessively traced his lips. Kim Si-baek turned his head for a moment, thinking it was a misunderstanding, but the eyes followed. He felt the skin around his lips tighten.
When he unconsciously licked his lower lip, Tae-un’s thumb slowly brushed over his lip as if grazing the tip of his tongue. Bringing the thumb that had pressed against the skin back, Tae-un parted his lips slightly. A red tongue peeked out from inside and licked the finger provocatively. Perhaps because his pale face and lips lacked color, the tongue looked exceptionally red.
“You had some sauce on you.”
“…….”
Kim Si-baek opened and closed his lips as if to say something, but then silently wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“……Let’s just eat.”
He could have just told him there was sauce on his lips with words; why did he have to…… He wanted to hit himself in the head for feeling something strange just because they were talking about nocturnal emissions.
Come to think of it, he had never had this kind of conversation with the fourteen-year-old Tae-un. Would it have been less embarrassing if he had given him sex education…… Kim Si-baek reflected on his past indifference toward the puberty of adolescents.
Fortunately, the conversations that followed were ordinary. They were mainly about the changed world and the preparations to be made for the future. However, there was one major problem regarding living in Korea.