That Face Is the Problem - Chapter 46.1
Jae-gyeong, still basking in his own emotions, noticed something among the scattered delivery food and trash that had not been touched: a service item. It was a hamburger steak drenched in sauce. A sticker on the wrapper had a thumb-up icon and read: “Service! Five stars.”
Quietly, Jae-gyeong moved to get the container and, without anyone noticing, unwrapped the plastic and slid it toward Da-sol.
“Eat this too…”
Jae-gyeong whispered. Da-sol looked at him with a bewildered expression. But instead of scolding him or signaling to remove it, he picked up the hamburger steak with his chopsticks and placed it on his own rice. Jae-gyeong smiled warmly.
“You’re still not full, are you…”
Jae-gyeong whispered again. Da-sol only nodded.
“I have instant cup noodles at home. Should I give you some too…?”
“…No, it’s fine.”
Da-sol took a bite of half the hamburger steak and chewed thoughtfully, his cheeks puffing slightly. Jae-gyeong found him strangely cute and suppressed a laugh.
He wondered how someone like Da-sol, a big eater who usually ate quickly, managed social life in the Training Guild until now. He had been curious since seeing that Da-sol only ordered a normal lunchbox at first, and now it seemed the other team members were unaware of how much he could eat.
‘A fact only I know…’
Thinking that way made him feel a bit odd, but not in a bad way. It was a sign of how close he had become to Da-sol.
At that moment, Lee Hyeon, sitting to Da-sol’s left, put down his lunchbox. He had eaten mostly the meat dishes and left half of the rice.
“Ugh, I’m full. I feel sleepy now that I’m full.”
At Lee Hyeon’s words, everyone chimed in with comments like “Isn’t that a blood sugar spike?” or “Take care of your body at your age,” or “Did you really eat all that?” Meanwhile, Da-sol had already stuffed the remaining hamburger steak into his mouth in one bite.
“I usually have a small appetite. I eat a little at a time. And to be honest, I prefer Western food over Korean food.”
“Then let’s have Western food next time.”
Yejin kindly responded to Lee Hyeon’s comment. Lee Hyeon bowed and said, “Thank you!”
Jae-gyeong noticed that Da-sol seemed slightly annoyed by the earlier conversation. He didn’t seem pleased with Lee Hyeon leaving food, and the mention of preferring Western food made him subtly frown, scratching the edge of his eyebrow with his thumb.
Jae-gyeong whispered to Da-sol again.
“Anyway, you don’t have to eat with your bodyguard hunter every day. It’s okay, right…?”
Da-sol quietly stared at Jae-gyeong. He opened his lips as if to say something but then stopped. By now, Jae-gyeong felt he knew what Da-sol wanted to say.
‘Mind your own business.’ Or ‘Stop acting like you know everything.’ That was the expression on his face. Jae-gyeong lowered his gaze to his own lunchbox and started eating diligently.
Feeling excited that Da-sol had accepted him, he had overreacted. But he was not discouraged or sad. He could still feel that Da-sol was making an effort for him.
So this is what effort feels like. Mutual effort is really necessary in human relationships. Jae-gyeong ate happily.
Meanwhile, Da-sol, who had almost said ‘Mind your own business’ but stopped, started subtly watching Jae-gyeong who had grown quiet.
‘He seems to have noticed what I was going to say. Did I go too far? But I didn’t actually say anything in the end. How is that going too far?’
Da-sol inwardly felt annoyed. Social interaction was incredibly difficult. He wanted to live forever without any social skills.
But toward Jae-gyeong… he felt a debt of gratitude. Jae-gyeong had noticed his emotional wounds but pretended not to. He had protected Da-sol with his whole being. And he had never boasted about it or mentioned it unnecessarily.
Even now, Jae-gyeong was visibly delighted simply because Da-sol responded properly and allowed him to sit next to him. Da-sol’s keen senses had already noticed that Jae-gyeong liked him.
‘I won’t love anyone anymore, won’t date anyone… so it’s okay if you reject me… a hundred times over…’
Jae-gyeong had never seen anyone speak such foolish words. Even after rejecting countless confessions, Da-sol had never felt sorry while refusing.
Every time someone confessed, Da-sol often thought:
‘What do you even know about me? What do you like about me? If it’s just my looks, does it matter what kind of person I am? Then isn’t that just the desire of the human species to reproduce? You want my genes? I’m meeting you for the first time, and you already want my genes?’
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