By Zephyria 
106
Ho-eun slowly blinked. Then, he smoothly brushed down the jade-colored hanbok he was wearing.
“So, that’s why I’m wearing this.”
“Yeah. How is it? I brought the prettiest one they had.”
Man-soo looked at Ho-eun with expectant eyes. Ho-eun smiled and nodded.
“Yes. I truly like it. Man-soo, your eye for clothes seems exceptional.”
“Me? Uh…, well…. Not bad, right? My eyes are a bit high-class.”
Man-soo chuckled. Dong-ja, with narrowed eyes, glared at him.
“Stop with the nonsense and wash your clothes on time.”
“Ah, geez….”
Man-soo glared back at Dong-ja with narrowed eyes. Dong-ja sucked in his lower lip, and Man-soo lowered his gaze as if he had never done so. Ho-eun, who had been smiling at the amusing sight, asked them,
“But I don’t understand what was so funny.”
Tae-muk killed the Devouring Ghoul, saved him, and took care of him while he was unconscious. He understood that much, but he couldn’t find the connection between that and ‘fun.’
At that moment, Dong-ja said, stuffing the remaining rice ball into her mouth,
“It’s funny how much Captain has changed.”
The pronunciation came out as ‘Capain has changet a lot.’ Ho-eun could only understand the words after repeating them several times. Dong-ja swallowed the rice ball without chewing it properly and continued,
“Ever since meeting Young Master, our Captain has had something, a human scent.”
“A human scent?”
“How should I put this….”
She furrowed her brow and scratched the back of her head, looking frustrated.
“He originally didn’t have many expressions.”
Gil-sang offered help. Dong-ja clapped her hands.
“Oh, that’s right. Whether he ate something delicious or something terrible, he had the same expression. He wouldn’t even smile when he ate a mountain of beef. Does that make sense? It’s beef!”
Dong-ja shook her head as if such a thing could never happen. Then, Man-soo added,
“He would wander around alone, killing Eater Bugs, and if he used too much strength, he would be in pain. When he felt a little better, he would go back to killing Eater Bugs….”
“He would joke around and laugh, but, well, he didn’t have a core.”
“Being an immortal body, he must have lived because he couldn’t die.”
Man-soo made a pitiful face. Dong-ja patted Man-soo’s back. Then, she took Man-soo’s hand, which was holding a rice ball, and brought it to his mouth. Man-soo, still looking pitiful, opened his mouth wide and bit into the rice ball.
“……”
Ho-eun just sat there silently. Only two pieces of jeon remained untouched on his plate. The rice ball, untouched, lay on the handkerchief in its round form. He didn’t feel like eating anything.
He was grateful that Tae-muk had found him, tried to protect him, and even brought him clothes, but he felt uneasy. It was as if he had become another burden to someone who already had heavy shoulders.
Ho-eun was blankly lost in thought when.
“Young Master.”
Man-soo called him.
“……”
Ho-eun didn’t answer. He was already submerged in deep thought.
“Young Master!”
Man-soo called him louder.
“……Yes, yes?”
Ho-eun, startled, answered a beat late.
“Why aren’t you eating? Did we say something that ruined your appetite? We said it was a good thing….”
Man-soo looked at Ho-eun worriedly. Ho-eun shook his head. Then, he mumbled something that was either an excuse or a lie.
“No. It’s not that. It’s just that, uh, I ate too many potatoes this morning, so I’m full-”
“You ate a lot of what?”
At that moment, a familiar deep voice interrupted Ho-eun’s words.
“Captain is here.”
Gil-sang bowed deeply while sitting.
“Oh….”
Ho-eun turned around a beat late. Tae-muk was striding towards them through the trees.
“……”
Ho-eun forgot to greet him and scanned his body first. He wanted to see if he was hurt anywhere. There was blood splattered on his cheeks, but fortunately, he couldn’t see any wounds. He would have to see his bare body to be sure, but for now, it seemed so.
Ho-eun, watching Tae-muk approach, stopped breathing for a moment. Then, he quickly lowered his gaze. The untouched rice ball was still on the handkerchief. He hurriedly picked it up. He didn’t know why. His body moved on its own.
And as he was about to open his small mouth wide to eat the rice ball, a hand came down from above and grabbed Ho-eun’s wrist.
“Why are you eating it?”
It was Tae-muk. Ho-eun looked up at Tae-muk with trembling eyes.
“……Yes?”
“You said you were full.”
“Ah….”
Ho-eun lowered his gaze again. The hand held by Tae-muk trembled. His heart was pounding wildly, but his limbs were cold. Then, Tae-muk sat down next to Ho-eun. Then, he took the rice ball from Ho-eun’s hand and handed it to Dong-ja.
“You eat it.”
“……”
Dong-ja blinked and looked at the rice ball. Usually, she would have taken it right away, but for some reason, she didn’t seem to want to take it today. So, this time, he offered it to Man-soo.
“Or you can eat it.”
“……”
But Man-soo also just blinked and looked at the rice ball, not taking it. These bastards……. Tae-muk frowned slightly.
“It looks like Young Master was going to eat it, so why don’t you just give it to Young Master.”
Gil-sang said. Tae-muk looked at Ho-eun and asked,
“Are you going to eat it?”
“Uh, ah, that is….”
Ho-eun bit and released his lower lip with a troubled expression. Actually, he didn’t want to eat it. Not because he felt sick or full, but just because he didn’t like rice balls.
He knew it was a luxury to be picky about food on the battlefield, but he felt like he would get indigestion if he ate it. He might even throw up. Then Tae-muk would get angry. Just imagining it made him feel nauseous. The two pieces of jeon he had eaten seemed like they would come back up at any moment.
Ho-eun, swallowing the rising nausea, held up the plate of jeon that had been on his lap.
“I, I like jeon more, yes, this should be enough.”
“He says so.”
Tae-muk looked at Dong-ja and Man-soo with a ‘Did you hear that?’ expression. Then, Dong-ja, who had been keeping her mouth shut, finally took the rice ball. After that, she divided it in half, giving the larger piece to Man-soo. Man-soo smiled and took it, immediately bringing it to his mouth and asking,
“How many potatoes did Young Master eat to be full with just that palm-sized jeon?”
“Three.”
Ho-eun answered.
“Three pieces.”
Tae-muk immediately corrected him. Ho-eun had only eaten three pieces of the quartered potatoes. If you think about it, it wasn’t even one whole potato.
At first, he ate the first one or two pieces easily, so he thought he was eating well for once. But from the third piece, he chewed slowly and eventually said he was full. He was so dumbfounded. And now he was proudly saying he ate three.
“……”
Ho-eun lowered his gaze with an awkward expression. Exaggerating what he ate was a habit he had since he was young. His parents were too worried about him eating too little.
He fiddled with the jeon with his chopsticks. Then, he said, “Ah,” and handed the entire plate to Tae-muk.
“W-Would you like some?”
“……”
Tae-muk stared blankly at the cold jeon. Only the corner was slightly torn off, like a squirrel had taken a bite. Who was he handing such a small amount, less than the size of his palm, to? Tae-muk looked at it disapprovingly.
“Captain, I brought your meal.”
A soldier of the Crimson Rain Brigade came with a wide bowl. It was piled high with two rice balls and jeon that seemed freshly made, steaming. Ho-eun’s plate looked pathetic in comparison.
“Ah….”
Ho-eun quietly lowered his plate. But suddenly, Tae-muk snatched the chopsticks from Ho-eun’s hand. Ho-eun just watched helplessly as his chopsticks were taken away.
Tae-muk moved the jeon from Ho-eun’s plate to his own. Ho-eun thought, ‘He used to force-feed me, but now he’s going to starve me.’ But Tae-muk moved three of the warm jeon from his plate to Ho-eun’s plate.
“Oh….”
Ho-eun stared at it with a foolish expression. Meanwhile, Tae-muk put the chopsticks back between his fingers.
“I don’t want to see you looking weak, so eat it all.”
“A-All of this?”
“Yes. All of it.”
“……”
Ho-eun stared at the jeon, which was glistening with oil. His eyes became cloudy, then blurred.
“If I can’t… eat it….”
The Tae-muk of the past flashed before his eyes. He remembered him being strict, scary, and frightening, and he felt like his throat was blocked. The hand holding the plate trembled.
Tae-muk looked at Ho-eun. Then, he turned his head away and said,
“……If you can’t eat it, throw it away.”
His voice was mixed with annoyance, but it was reassuring that he meant it was okay to leave it. He was a man of his word, so he wouldn’t scold him even if he left it.
Ho-eun, feeling relieved, tore a piece of jeon with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, and chewed it. The warm jeon was still delicious.