This World is too Cruel to Men

Well, to veterans in this field, I’m probably just a clueless beginner… but preparing for a camping trip with people who have never been camping before in their lives was nothing short of an ordeal.

“Hold it tight.”

“Uh, uh…”

“Are you sure you’re holding it right?”

“Uh, probably?”

Trusting those words, I snapped the last remaining link into place.

The portable camping table, which we had painstakingly assembled, lost its balance, collapsed with a clatter, and reverted to its pre-assembled state.

“Aish, you said you were holding it properly!”

“No, I was holding it!”

This had happened several times already, and a sense of skepticism was slowly starting to rear its head.

Wouldn’t it be better to just take care of everything inside the Pension?

It’s nice to get into the camping spirit, but at this rate, it felt like we wouldn’t be done before nightfall.

As the saying goes, even a trip to Geumgangsan Mountain is better after a meal.

Just as I was seriously contemplating this, the girls, who had gone to the sink with the vegetables for cooking, returned to the Pension.

“Yikes… Are we still far from done?”

“Well, this… there’s a lot to set up…”

“Are we going to eat two hours later at this rate?”

“I’m hungry…”

Perhaps deciding they couldn’t just stand by and watch, Sanga, who usually displayed a rather competent side among the three girls, rolled up her sleeves.

And then—

“Instead of this, Dokgun, why don’t you go and start making lunch? We’re all going to starve at this rate.”

She started pushing me towards the Pension.

The thought that crossed my mind at that moment was just one.

‘Is this really okay?’

If I leave, they’re all beginners…

“I don’t mind, but… are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course. There are only four people, what could possibly go wrong? Right, Jinho?”

“Uh, huh? Oh, yeah…”

Ugh, that love-struck fool.

Wait, four people?

That’s an odd number.

Six minus me should be five, shouldn’t it?

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, Yun-Seo, who was awkwardly standing there holding a bag of clean potatoes, was pushed towards me.

“Yun-Seo, you go and help Dokgun.”

“M-me too?”

She seemed a little dazed, caught between reality and the ideal, and startled, she flinched as she was pushed towards me.

For a moment, it looked like the contents of her arms would spill onto the floor, but she somehow managed to hold on.

“Well, is there anyone else here who can go besides you?”

“But, still…”

“Well… Sanga’s right. Both me and Sanga always receive help, but we’ve rarely done it ourselves. And as for them…”

“We’re not that great at cooking…”

Well, from my perspective, Yun-Seo was better than the others.

Not only was it easier to ask her to do things, but she also had some level of skill, unlike the others, who were likely complete novices.

“More than anything, wouldn’t it be faster if Yun-Seo helped you, rather than Dokgun doing it alone? We’re really starving to death here.”

So, because of that argument, the group was divided once again.

“So, um… what were you going to make?”

“Spicy Braised Chicken for now.”

“Anything else?”

“I don’t know if it’s really necessary, but…”

The combination of bright red Spicy Braised Chicken with its thick, rich sauce and fluffy white rice was enough to make anyone devour several bowls, but wouldn’t it look a little meager with just those two dishes on the table?

So, after a moment of contemplation, I decided to make some rolled omelets as a side dish.

Along with the various side dishes Jinho’s Aunt had packed for us when we went down to the storage room earlier, it would be a feast no one could deny.

Okay then…

“Hey.”

“Yeah?”

“Can you go get the chicken and glass noodles?”

“Seriously, who do you think I am, your errand girl…?”

She grumbled, but obediently went to fetch them.

“How many chickens are we using?”

“Hmm… since you’ll be eating too, let’s just use two.”

After Yun-Seo brought the chicken, I unwrapped it, rinsed it thoroughly, and put it in a pot to parboil.

While the chicken was taking a hot bath, I planned to make the sauce and prepare the other ingredients, but

… I noticed Yun-Seo standing around idly, so I decided to entrust her with the ingredient preparation.

It was really just chopping vegetables like potatoes and onions.

“You can do it, right?”

“Ha… who do you think I am, a fool? I’ve watched you do it all this time, you think I can’t chop some vegetables?”

Well, even a temple dog can learn to chant sutras after three years, so chopping vegetables should be a piece of cake.

“Just prepare to be amazed later.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Since she spoke so confidently, I left her to it and turned my attention to the ingredients I had taken out of my bag to make the sauce.

“Oh, right. Hey, can I get an onion…?”

I turned back to Yun-Seo to get an onion I had forgotten, but I froze.

It was because of Yun-Seo’s posture holding the knife.

More precisely… the way she was holding it.

‘No way…’

Even a temple dog can learn to chant sutras after three years, so what has she been doing all this time?

That lament echoed in my mind, followed by the realization that while Yun-Seo had occasionally helped me prepare ingredients, this was the first time she had actually held a knife.

‘This won’t do.’

She’s going to cut herself.

Personally, I wanted to avoid any bloodshed while cooking, so I stopped what I was doing and carefully approached Yun-Seo.

Perhaps because she had a knife in her hand, Yun-Seo, who looked completely focused on the vegetables in front of her, didn’t notice my approach.

“Sigh… You think you can chop vegetables like that? You’ll be lucky if you don’t cut your fingers.”

That was probably why Yun-Seo flinched as soon as I spoke, having positioned myself behind her.

She started to turn around, but I made a ‘Tsk’ sound and gently held her elbow to stop her.

“Hey, hey! Knife! Knife!”

“Ah…”

“Just stay still. I’ll just adjust your posture and then I’ll go back to what I was doing.”

Dokgun, positioned behind Yun-Seo, didn’t know.

He didn’t know that his actions were causing someone’s face to flush crimson in real-time.

***

Yun-Seo knew it wasn’t something to be proud of, but she had never been so grateful for her lack of culinary skills.

If she were as good at cooking as Dokgun, this wouldn’t be happening.

“Watch carefully. Keep this arm firmly in place like this…”

The voice coming from right behind her, flowing directly into her ear, was familiar yet strange.

Was this feeling because she had rarely heard Dokgun’s voice from such a whispering distance?

However, what felt even stranger than that… was Dokgun’s touch.

She already knew that Dokgun exercised regularly.

How could she not?

He was the one who always asked her if she wanted to go with him.

Anyway, she knew he was probably in good shape, but… reality and imagination were different.

The imagined Dokgun wasn’t… this firm… or this warm.

Unlike before, they were indoors, and even in front of a stove, so Dokgun was only wearing a t-shirt.

And the heat from his body was transmitted through that thin t-shirt.

She gulped.

That was why.

The heat transferred from Dokgun’s body made her thirsty.

So, she swallowed reflexively, and then a wave of embarrassment washed over her.

‘D-did he… hear that?’

Worried that he might have heard the sound she just made, she cautiously tried to gauge his reaction.

“…Hey.”

Perhaps due to the incredibly close proximity, Dokgun’s voice, slightly lower than usual, whooshed into her ear.

Already nervous and her heart pounding from trying to read Dokgun’s expression, his voice made her jump.

“Wh-what, why?”

Embarrassingly, her voice trembled uncontrollably.

Her heart began to beat faster and louder, probably because of it.

“Are you even listening to me?”

Caught between anxiety and anticipation, Dokgun’s words brought a mixture of relief and disappointment.

“…I am.”

Actually, she hadn’t heard a thing, but she answered that way anyway.

The problem was what he said next.

“Really? Then show me.”

Show him… what?

As she was flustered, she heard a voice that seemed to have expected this.

“Look. Listening, my foot… You didn’t hear a thing, did you?”

“…”

“I understand you’re nervous because of the knife, but that’s why you should listen more carefully. Okay?”

She felt a bit wronged since it wasn’t intentional, but since she hadn’t heard him, she nodded.

‘It’s not because of the knife…’

Of course, she grumbled those words internally, unable to voice them aloud.

“If you hold it like that, you’ll slice your finger instead of the vegetables. So, here… you need to make a cat’s paw.”

“Cat’s paw?”

“Yeah, want to try?”

“L-like this?”

The image that came to mind was a cat with its claws sharply extended, so she imitated that.

“Hey… that’s not a cat. That’s a tiger.”

Dokgun chuckled, as if he found it absurd.

The problem was… what seemed trivial to Dokgun was quite fatal from her perspective.

Every time he laughed, the sound of his laughter flowing into her ear, the slight tremors of his body, whipped her already racing heart.

And what added fuel to the fire—

“Here, curve it like this, that’s a cat’s paw.”

Dokgun’s hand, now naturally overlapping hers.

Her heart pounded like it was about to explode as something she had only imagined became reality.