Even Lee Hyun was getting choked up for nothing. ‘This feels even stranger than the first time I fried a chicken for my little sis.’
He knew that Seo-yoon wasn’t a very bad person. However, that was not easy for him to acknowledge. ‘Whether she’s a bad person or a good person… she can’t be close to me.’
Realistically speaking, they were living in circumstances that were too different. Lee Hyun could roughly estimate how expensive one of the clothes she wore was well enough. ‘Even the brand name clothes that show up on television are over 100 thousand Won ($~100)… with fabric that good, a brand called Dior, and the design, it must be at least 150 thousand Won!’
There was too big a difference in their household situations. A girl like Seo-yoon would like a great guy who Lee Hyun couldn’t even compare to. ‘A qualified guy will show up.’ It was the same with Jung Hyo-rin and other girls.
Lee Hyun made a big decision. “Just pick one. And if there’s one you like… you can pick two.”
Having been petting the chickens in bliss, Seo-yoon looked back at him with happy eyes. Eyes that asked if he really meant it!
Lee Hyun gazed far off into the distance as he spoke. “Something like a chicken… two or three are nothing.”
Unusually enough, Lee Hyun was showing great generosity. That was because trying to make up for the lunch price with a single chicken still made him feel indebted.
Seo-yoon chose three chickens.
Every time she picked a chicken, Lee Hyun’s face became bloodlessly pale. ‘That one’s a laying hen… and Boiled Chicken, and even the plump chick that shows promise for a great disposition later!’
A laying hen was of course a valuable creature. He intended on catching it when his little sister married and brought home a husband in the future. But the chickens would keep reproducing until then, and there were two other laying hens left, so it was okay… Even so, the moment Seo-yoon chose the laying hen, he felt a sadness and pain that broke off a piece of his heart.
Lee Hyun spoke mournfully. “I’ll… package them for you.”
To make it convenient for Seo-yoon to take them, he tied the chickens’ legs and necks with string and connected them to each other. Looking like a chicken sled, it couldn’t be any weirder, but Seo-yoon took the string.
She wrote on a note.
I’m truly grateful. Thank you so much for listening to my request even though it was excessive.
“It’s nothing. This much is meh. If necessary, one more…” Lee Hyun hastily revised his words. “Next time you can take one more chick.”
Really?
“…”
Seo-yoon, who wanted to take one right away when he said she could!
As Lee Hyun conversed via notes, he thought it was a little strange. ‘Why doesn’t she speak?’ He’d originally thought that she was hiding the fact she could speak on purpose to fool with him, but she wasn’t. In the MT and the festival, he hadn’t heard her speak even once. Even as they ate lunch together, she didn’t speak. To be honest, that they conversed through notes after she left a note in the lunch box could be called a tremendous advancement.
‘She spoke just one word in Royal Road, but her voice was extremely nice on the ears… it’s probably something like her actual voice is really dry, right?’
When Lee Hyun was about to leave the backyard to see Seo-yoon off, Dogmeat approached while whining. Seo-yoon also seemed to think Dogmeat was cute because she wasn’t able to move away.
Lee Hyun spoke with a trembling voice. “D-do you happen to like this dog?”
“…?”
“Do you want to… take Dogmeat too?”
Lee Hyun’s shocking transformation! He would even give Seo-yoon Dogmeat, who he had cherished and raised for the days of summer.
[T/N: Summer is a popular time for eating dog meat, which is said to energize and revitalize. As a reminder, this is a cultural difference we hope everyone will understand.]
Can I really take him to keep?
“You can. Because it seems like this dog likes you.”
More than anything else, Seo-yoon looked delighted beyond measure at the words that it seemed the dog liked her. Surprised and touched, she went as far as to drip tears.
Lee Hyun spoke in a low voice. “This rascal eats a lot, so it’s good to feed him often. He’ll overturn a food bowl that’s too small, so prepare a big one for him, and let him go play in the backyard on rainy days. Don’t tie him up at night. He hunts things like mice and weasels. He takes about a 2 hour nap, but if you want to play with him just call his name. He’ll wake up. He likes radish and carrots, so give him some now and then…”
Every single word of his explanation was like sending off his lover.
‘It feels like my heart is being ripped out.’
Even as he suffered intense agony, Lee Hyun didn’t retract his decision.
When giving a gift, you mustn’t show a reluctant face. Giving properly was the way to bribe!
‘The second and third S-rank difficulty quests… honestly, I think it’ll be almost impossible for me to complete them.’
He was grinding to raise his Sculpting skill. However, he couldn’t guarantee quest success.
‘With the alliance with the barbarians, the Power of the Deliverer, and the Sentence of Death, and also a lot of luck, I was able to finish the 1st step of the quest.’ He couldn’t hope to have always such luck in the quest. ‘The 2nd and 3rd steps will be even harder.’
From here onwards, he would be in a desperate and lonely position where he had to go up against the quests with nothing.
‘If we could do it together…’
If Seo-yoon participated in the quest with him, it would be much more reassuring for him.
Thank you very much.
Luxury foreign cars had parked in a line in front of Lee Hyun’s house at some point, unbeknownst to him. Seo-yoon’s bodyguards had come and had been on standby. Bodyguards wearing black suits opened a car’s back door. The chickens and Dogmeat boarded the back seat. The chickens and dog were enjoying the luxury of boarding a car worth hundreds of millions of Won that even came with escorts and a chauffeur!
Lee Hyun put a false smile on his lips that concealed his bitter inner feelings as he saw her off. “See you. Come play again next time.”
At that, Seo-yoon halted from getting in the car, hesitated for a moment, and wrote something on a note.
Can I really come play again?
“…”
Lee Hyun realized that this was exactly what it meant to be ‘lost for words.’ Didn’t that mean she still wanted more even though he had given her so much!
‘Surely she won’t come again. It’s probably just something she’s saying out of politeness, like a common saying.’
Lee Hyun nodded. “If you have time, come whenever you want.”
Thank you. See you next time.
Seo-yoon got into the car and left with her bodyguards. Lee Hyun, who had been standing still in front of the door, blew out a sigh after the cars left.
He recalled the feeling he’d gotten when he met his wicked bosses while doing various jobs after dropping out of high school.
“Those who have the means are really too much.” He had gained a valuable lesson. “Meeting women is really no good.”
The expenses of dating! When you meet a woman, money is spent doing this and that. He hadn’t bought Seo-yoon a meal or coffee, and it wasn’t like they went to the amusement park together. However, there was the price of the chickens and dog!
“A woman is the enemy of saving money. Enemy.”
Lee Hyun ground his teeth. Animosity towards her was kindling again.