Chapter 14
Chapter 14
Maybe I’m Not Happy 1
-Why are you hiding?
-Even though I look good now, maybe I don’t like it.
He just gave a short answer.
It’s been 2 years since the accident happened. He didn’t care about what he looked before because his fans were proud of him for who he was. But when the accident happened and his face.was damaged, they looked at his face in disgust and his beloved fans avoided him like a bug.
Honestly, he didn’t even feel like girls would like him now either…
Instead of being happy about his handsome face, he was more happy about what happened to his eye. He had to find out how this happened. but until then, he couldn’t let anyone see his face. He opened the door and left the room and went to greet Mr. Song.
“Granddad, you’re here.”
He said after greeting him.
“Yes, I came to see you. Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay. But, I can’t come back down to the village. I’m busy with all the training”
“That’s alright, we thought that you were still training.”
Mr. Song then gave him a smile filled with relief. Jaehwang hid his face and hair using a hat so they wouldn’t be able to notice the change. Mr. Song guessed that the reason he was wearing it was because of what happened a few days ago.
“Hello.”
The two girls walked next to Mr. Song and bowed their heads.
“H-hello.”
Jaehwang responded with a light bow so his hat could stay in place.
“I’m really sorry about what happened.”
Said the girl who called him ugly during his stay over at Mr. Song’s house. Mr. Song scolded them both and told them about the tragedy that happened to him and his family. She wanted him to understand that she was not a terrible person, she just made a mistake.
Jaehwang was a person who lost his family and half of his face. He’s out at night hunting wild pigs for the people in the village. Nice people are the ones who usually get hurt…
“It’s okay.”
Jaehwang accepted her apology with a calm and a composed voice. He was hurt at first, but now his face changed so there was no need to hold a grudge about it anymore. However, his calm answer made their current situation worse.
He tried to not sound angry and just be cool about it but it just made their entire conversation turn awkward. It did its job but it wasn’t able to remove the remaining scars.
“Jaehwang… Take this.”
Mr. Song broke the awkward atmosphere by handing him a dirty paper bag.
“What’s this?”
“Well… Even though you’ve already caught so many wild pigs, I bought you something from the town. I tried to tell you about it that day, but you ran here so I came to give it to you.”
“Oh…Yeah.”
He said that he came all the way up this dangerous mountain to give him that but Jaehwang didn’t look too happy about it. Jaehwang actually planned not to go down the mountain for a long time and because of that, Mr. Song went on an inconvenient trip just to hand it to him. All of this happened because he refused to get hurt and now he only felt worse.
“Thank you.”
“Of course, hahaha”
Jaehwang took the paper bag and bowed. Mr. Song then mirrored his movements and laughed with a breath of relief.
“Have you had lunch?”
“Oh…lunch.”
There aren’t any clocks when you’re out in the middle of the mountains. He just assumed the time by Mr. Song mentioning lunch.
“I’m not ready yet but I will be there in just a little so we can all eat together, okay?”
“Oh.. Okay. See you then.”
If they arrived here at noon then that meant that they went up the mountain early and that means they haven’t eaten anything since this morning.
“Okay, I’ll be in the next room.”
“Okay.”
Jaehwang went into the kitchen and the two girls followed along.
-Teen’s clothing had become more and more revealing these days..
Said the voice of the spirit inside of him, making Jaehwang look back. Mr. Song’s granddaughters seem prepared for the fall weather. They were wearing hiking pants and long sleeved tops. But after arriving here they’ve changed into a bit revealing t-shirts and skinny jeans. It was warm at the top so that made it wearable.
-Do they like to eat wild pigs?
-Shut up.
He told the spirit in his head to be quiet before he turned to the two girls.
“I can do it alone, it’s okay. Go have some rest.”
“No, please let us help.”
“It’s okay, I’ll do it.”
There was not much to work with.
He was not a good cook but he planned to cook the vegetables with garlic, soy sauce, and salt.
“Then just let us watch you at least.”
Jaehwhang glance towards the side and took a deep breath.
“Follow me.”
They came into the kitchen and Jaehwang opened the bag of rice.
“Do I have enough?”
He didn’t buy much since he lived alone but now he had to make a meal for three more. The thought of going down the mountain to buy food ran through his mind but there was no time. He needed to satisfy his guest at the moment so he washed the rice with water and placed it in the electric rice cooker.
[Jaehwang-The cook]
He then noticed his reflection in the boiling water and saw the writing that suddenly started to show up on his right eye.
‘How did that get there?’
In the shrine it said ‘Tiger Hunter’ but now it says ‘Cook’. He somehow felt a change as he placed the rice in the water and saw it.
He didn’t have any idea of what was going on but it felt weird. He sent the girls off and told them how he would do it and then he checked the rice water again and turned it up a bit higher. Now all that was left to do was to make the side dishes…
“Whoa…”
The two girls peeked through the door and watched him cook in awe. He was not an amazing cook. It was nothing special, the ingredients were few and common. What he did was pretty basic, he just cooked the pork with vegetables and added an egg.
But his movements were so concise and quick. He lightly washed the vegetables and placed them in the water. He then broke the egg and placed it into the ttukbaegi (soybean paste stew). He followed up by adding in various types of neatly cut vegetables with rhythmical movements like a professional chef.
There was some stopwatch in his head that lets him know when it was time to switch to the next dish. He picked the vegetables out of the water and sprinkled some seasoning on them. He made three to four new side dishes. This was the first time he tried making one and they turned out to be perfect.
Jaehwang was as surprised as the girls who watching him.
“Since when could I cook like this?”
The recipe didn’t come out as he thought it would.
‘What is this?’
He decided to make something flavorful and the ideas just rushed through his head. The seasonings even added the taste he was going for.
-Wow… You’re surprisingly good at cooking.
The spirit inside him admired his skills… he then went to set the table and placed the food on it. The girls were not able to move on from watching his cooking skills. They followed him back into the kitchen after he finished setting the rice and the steamed eggs on the table .
“Wow… You did all of this?”
One of the girls said while they both looked at the set table in surprise. He was just 18 and looking after the cabin in the middle of the mountains. They couldn’t believe that it was so clean and he was this talented.
“Wow…”
Mr. Song picked up a pair of chopstick and proceeded to take a little bite off of the seasoned bracken and his eyes opened widely with shock.
The scent of the vegetables and its texture were perfect. The soy sauce salt, garlic and perilla oil were all blended together so well. The steamed eggs were soft like a sponge and the rice was flawlessly cooked.
His granddaughters came and they all joined the table. The three of them took a bowl of rice blew off its steam. Mr. Song then tried a side dish.
“Isn’t it good?”
“Wow! I didn’t know you could cook like this. Haha.”
“It’s amazing. It was just like what my mom used to make.”
“How did you get all the ingredients for this?”
He would ask for a thank you but their compliments were more than enough. He couldn’t eat anything because he couldn’t risk showing his face. He just sat there and kept a conversation going so that no one would notice and get suspicious.
After treating Mr. Song to a meal, he gave the two girls a glass of water and sat down. Usually he would just send them off sooner but there was a chance that they would get suspicious of him. So he just sent them off after they’ve finished their meal… He then asked an important question to Mr. Song.
Mr. Song wriggles his eyebrows.
“A monster?”
“Yea, near a giant rock behind the village in the valley.”
Mr. Song’s complexion turned pale in fright. It was in the mountains but no one has ever seen a monster like this before. They have to warn the others about the monster so everyone could stay safe. But, that didn’t sound like an optimal plan since that might cause everyone to unnecessarily panic.
A serious atmosphere had overtaken the table. It was the kind of scene you could watch every day on TV, but somehow, they didn’t expect this dangerous feeling to come in touch with reality.
“It was a third tier monster. It looked…”
Maybe I’m Not Happy 1, The end.