LFG 42

“Hey, is this right?”

Kim Ju-won asked crookedly as he put the meat on the grill. Isn’t this my welcome party? But why am I grilling? Despite his fierce anger, the children showed no signs of being affected and instead scolded him to grill faster.

“Are you possessed by a glutton, geez.”

Is this an Exorcist’s office or a barbecue restaurant employee?

Kim Ju-won frowned. However, at the urging of his hungry siblings, his hands became busy cutting the meat. One way or another, he was weak to the main office.

“Kkeueut! Wow, oppa! Can you open this for me!”

“Uh, give it here.”

He reached out his hand behind him without looking, but no matter how long he waited, nothing came up. Why isn’t she giving it to me? Kim Ju-won, who took his eyes off the grill, turned his head to the direction of the sound. Then, a strange sight unfolded.

Pop!

Anchovy bastard, no, Ki Jae-eon was easily opening the tightly closed bottle cap and handing it over. Is he showing off his strength because he’s a man?

Not only that, but he was awkwardly wandering around, helping the children.

If he was told to wash the lettuce, he washed it – in the process, he washed the vegetables with warm water and was caught by Jo Eun-ha and received Spartan training – and if he was told to carry the plates, he carried them.

He thought he would be out of place like before, but he wasn’t. Surprisingly, he was blending in very naturally. Anyone who saw him would think he was a member of the main office from the beginning.

“Jae-eon hyung, if you have a free hand, can you help me with this box… Oh! Hyungnim, you’re strong?”

“Jae-eon, could you move the table with me?”

“Jae-eon oppa! Here!”

As the children kept calling for Ki Jae-eon, Kim Ju-won’s work also disappeared. Usually, or if Ki Jae-eon wasn’t there, opening the bottle caps, washing the lettuce, and carrying heavy luggage would all be Kim Ju-won’s job.

“Jae-eon hyung! Is there salt sauce over there?”

“I, is. Salt and cha, sesame oil pepper mi, mixed thing.”

“Um, there is. But hyung, do you know that?”

“?”

“You don’t usually put whole peppercorns in salt sauce.”

“!!”

Of course, he was full of mistakes unlike when he was doing his main job, but… the children’s reactions weren’t bad. Rather, the more Ki Jae-eon fumbled around, the more positive responses came back. As expected, the sound of laughter followed the clumsy accidents. It was like playing with a big dog.

‘Anyone who saw them would think they’ve known each other for years.’

Kim Ju-won was just stirring the well-cooked meat, thinking useless thoughts. He felt a little annoyed because the meat scraps seemed to stick to the grill.

‘Ah, shit. It won’t come off.’

He scraped the grill and frowned. However, no matter how Kim Ju-won felt, the back was still friendly. Hey, look at what Jae-eon hyung is doing! Heol- what. So funny! Wahaha- the laughter never stopped.

‘It’s deafening.’

The surrounding noise was annoying today.

Maybe it was because he used a lot of divinity to tame the Mystical Instrument.

‘I should take a day off and sleep all day.’

Kim Ju-won stretched his neck, feeling increasingly tired. A low sigh flowed from his lips, but if the children were happy, he could tolerate this much annoyance.

Above all, he was amazed by how close he had become to Ki Jae-eon.

‘When did they get so close?’

…Well, he wasn’t that interested, but if he had to say, it could be seen as a good thing. The loyalty that had arisen between Ki Jae-eon and the main office would be good to use in many ways.

‘The elders would be proud.Kim Ju-won tried to shake off his distracting thoughts and hit the grill with the tongs.

“Hey, plates!”

“Oyeah!The pork belly gathering, which had been full of ups and downs, finally began. The children ate, drank, and talked as if they hadn’t eaten for days. As the atmosphere became more and more ripe, the meat ran out.

“I can’t forgive running out of food.”

“Ramen?”

“What ramen? Don’t annoy me! Pork neck! Pork neck!”

The first round was pork belly, the second round was pork neck.

The children ate the meat again in a combative manner. They were almost like vacuum cleaners.

Whether it was because they were in their growing season or because they were just good eaters, the children sucked up the pork neck like eating show prospects.

Only Ki Jae-eon ate about five pieces and put down his chopsticks… but he was caught by the children.

They put on stern expressions and said, “You’re not done eating, are you?” and shoved a wrap into Ki Jae-eon’s mouth.

Moreover, they put a lot of meat in each wrap, so it was like a feast. Ki Jae-eon, who had a look on his face that he was going to die of fullness, still couldn’t refuse the kindness that came and ate it greedily. He couldn’t be more foolish even if he tried.

‘Idiot.’

Kim Ju-won glared at Ki Jae-eon with a displeased expression.

‘He’s not a kid. If you leave him alone, he’ll eat on his own.’

What the hell is he doing? Kim Ju-won frowned as if he couldn’t understand. Frankly, he was a little annoyed that they hadn’t even made him a wrap once.

Who the hell grilled the meat?

It was at that moment.

“Ugh, cough!”Ki Jae-eon, who had been eating voraciously, suddenly turned his face red.” He hurriedly covered his mouth with his forearm and kept shrugging his shoulders. Cough, cough! One of the children who had just fed him the wrap had a look on his face that said, “Oops.”

“Heok, Jae-eon hyung can’t eat Cheongyang peppers?”

“Crazy, hey! You put a chunk of chili in again!”

“Huh, isn’t it delicious this way?”How can you do real torture, human.””

“Hey, water, quick!”

Seriously, is he lacking somewhere? Kim Ju-won, who shook his head, was about to grab the cola next to him and hand it over.

“Hyung, don’t swallow it, spit it out here.”

A gentle voice brushed past Kim Ju-won’s ear. Ahn Seo-myeong was caught in his view. He was holding out his palm towards Ki Jae-eon. Did “spit it out here” mean his palm? Kim Ju-won was shocked inside. Crazy bastard. Why is he being so disgusting?

But Ahn Seo-myeong was persistent. He didn’t care about the gazes around him and was focused on comforting Ki Jae-eon with his unique languid expression, as if he didn’t care what others thought. His voice was even sweet, as if soaked in affection. Kim Ju-won doubted if that was really ‘Ahn Seo-myeong’. Wasn’t his default expression always sulky and always calm no matter what he did?

“What the… huh?”

He was dumbfounded.

How close did they get to be so attached and worried to death? What is Ki Jae-eon? What, is he that great?

‘That cunning bastard, that one.’

Kim Ju-won brought up the past that he had forgotten. So… was it about two years ago? He had a severe case of enteritis. At that time, when the expression of barely surviving was not enough, Ahn Seo-myeong, that bastard, didn’t even boil him a bowl of porridge, but instead scolded him to stop vomiting because it was ruining his appetite. He even said, ‘Hyung, you shouldn’t eat fried food when you have enteritis,’ and took away his share of shrimp tempura that came up on the dinner table!

But to Ki Jae-eon, what? Hyung, spit it out here? Wow, that’s why there’s a saying that you shouldn’t save black-haired animals. Kim Ju-won gave a rotten sneer. It was the moment when he was about to regret the coffee and rice he had bought for Ahn Seo-myeong.

‘Shit, forget it. With old things… it looks like a man is missing.’

Nevertheless, he didn’t want to be petty and tried to soothe himself, but how could people’s hearts move as they wanted? He didn’t know why the useless resentment kept trying to cover a corner of his heart like a wave.

And that resentment soon swelled several times. It was because the cake that the children had prepared was cut in the name of Kim Ju-won’s comeback celebration and ‘Ki Jae-eon’s official welcome party’. From the beginning, it wasn’t entirely Kim Ju-won’s.

“Jae-eon oppa, he eats fruit well?”

“Hey, give Jae-eon hyung some more strawberries.”

“That’s right. Hyung, you know. You wore the knit really well last time.”

“Me too! I bragged about the shoes to my friends a lot!”

Before he knew it, the children were gathered around Ki Jae-eon, talking loudly. He understood. Ki Jae-eon was an ‘object of admiration’. Recognition for him was natural. No matter how much they ate, washed, and slept together, Ki Jae-eon was Ki Jae-eon. To those who looked up to him, the point that he was an eternal idol would not change. Yes, whether Kim Ju-won acknowledges it or not.

‘…It’s good if the kids are happy.’

If he removed his personal feelings for Ki Jae-eon, his abilities were certainly worth emulating. He was an unprecedented genius who was named the best in history even in the Gi Clan, which only produced prodigies. If you aim to be an Exorcist, just being next to such a person will accumulate good experience.

So, the kids have a good opportunity, that’s how he should think.

…Yes, that’s how it should be.

Kim Ju-won stared blankly at his piece of cake, which had only one strawberry on top, before putting it down as it was. He didn’t have much of an appetite. Then, his gaze drifted to Ki Jae-eon. More precisely, to the piece of cake in front of him.

On top of the ordinary cake… were a dozen or so strawberries, smeared with white whipped cream. Since the picky eater Ki Jae-eon had shown a rare positive reaction, several of the kids had given him theirs.

“…Haa.”

Kim Ju-won let out a short sigh of frustration and turned his head to gaze blankly out the window at the sunset. It wasn’t just the petty sadness that came from childish discrimination, like whose cake had more or fewer strawberries. Rather… how should he put it, he felt a pathetic feeling that was hard to name?

Just… really, just.

‘Just.’

Kim Ju-won chuckled and roughly rubbed his tired face.

‘Jealous, yeah.’

It was all due to the side effects of accumulated fatigue.

If not… there wouldn’t be anything taken away, so it’s strange to feel this shitty feeling of emptiness.

Kim Ju-won chewed his lip and frowned slightly.

‘What are you getting anxious about?’

Because the kids like Ki Jae-eon? So what.

Because the kids seem to rely on Ki Jae-eon? It doesn’t matter.

‘Does that change anything?’

No, it doesn’t.

The main office is still where I belong.

I just need to silently protect my people.

Because that’s how my value is proven.

I’m not someone who’s no longer needed.

‘But….’

In that moment, he felt like something inside him was greatly misaligned. The gears that had been working well were now grinding against each other, meshing together in a mess.

‘What if even that position is taken away?’

Kim Ju-won’s dark pupils turned to Ki Jae-eon again.

Genius and prodigy.

Ki Jae-eon and Kim Ju-won.

If you put them on a scale and measured their worth… wouldn’t there be an overwhelming difference?

“Ha, bullshit.”

An awkward smile appeared on his lips as he bit back a curse. The corners of his mouth trembled violently.

‘Taken away… what….’

He sarcastically called himself narrow-minded, but… the smile, obscured by the backlight, contained extreme anxiety.