Chapter 181
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 181
A month had passed.
It was now November. The world, caught in the tail end of autumn, was beginning to transform into a cold, stark landscape in preparation for the coming winter.
Dokyun watched the bare trees beyond the living room veranda, listening to the whoosh, whoosh of the wind. He was lost in a brief moment of contemplation before his gaze shifted to Eun-chae.
She was curled up on the sofa, smartphone in hand, staring blankly at the screen.
About two weeks ago, he’d given her the phone because he felt bad leaving her alone while he took care of something else. She had been like this ever since.
She would spend the entire day with a vacant expression, watching videos on the phone.
Hmm…
Her eyes are going to get bad like that.
A worried expression crossed Dokyun’s face. He walked over to Eun-chae, stroked her hair, and spoke.
“Eun-chae, that’s enough for now.”
“…Okay.”
The reply was mechanical.
But she didn’t take her eyes off the phone.
Curious about what she was watching so intently, he glanced at the screen. It was filled with a video of a whale swimming in the ocean.
Does she like fish that much?
A small chuckle escaped Dokyun’s lips as he watched Eun-chae, her face showing she was utterly captivated, as if her very soul had been sucked into the screen.
He wanted to let her be for a little longer, but he couldn’t.
“Alright, that’s enough. It’s time to eat.”
It was getting close to dinnertime. As Dokyun reached out to take the phone from Eun-chae’s grasp…
“Nngh…”
Eun-chae tightened her grip, trying to defend her phone.
Dokyun narrowed his eyes as Eun-chae curled up even tighter, pulling the phone closer to her body.
“Are you going to keep this up?”
“…Yeah.”
As if he wasn’t even there, her reply was again mechanical, her eyes still fixed on the screen.
How should I coax her?
After a moment of thought, Dokyun finally slipped his hands under Eun-chae’s armpits and began to tickle her.
“Kk-hing…!”
The reaction was immediate. Her face flushed red from the ticklish sensation, and she started trying desperately to hold back her laughter.
A mischievous grin spread across Dokyun’s face as he continued his assault.
She can try all she wants, but she’s still Eun-chae.
This was Go Eun-ah’s body, after all. A body so sensitive it would be an insult to call it second-best, a walking erogenous zone that was endlessly weak to external stimuli, even non-sexual ones.
Of course, if he were tickling Eun-ah, he’d be looking for an opening to have sex, but his opponent was Eun-chae.
Dokyun knew by now that Eun-chae was embarrassed to laugh. She’d be so focused on not laughing right now that she wouldn’t be able to think about anything else.
Tickle, tickle. Dokyun intensified his tickling, pressing her.
“Still not going to eat?”
“Kkyiiing…! I-I’ll eat…!”
She managed to answer while twisting her whole body. Eun-chae continued to squirm until she finally let go of the smartphone.
When Dokyun stopped, she panted, catching her breath. She looked like a defeated soldier after a lost battle.
After catching her breath for a moment, Eun-chae pouted with an uncharacteristically prim expression and shot a reproachful word at Dokyun.
“…Meanie.”
“You were meaner. If you stare at your phone all day like that, you’ll turn into an idiot, you know?”
Flinch. Eun-chae’s body trembled.
“…I’m not an idiot.”
Thump. Thump. Eun-chae kicked Dokyun’s thigh with her foot.
Dokyun chuckled at the sight of Eun-chae pouting, unable to protest more forcefully. He helped her sit up, ruffled her hair, and continued.
“I want to play with you too, Eun-chae. Are you only going to play with your phone? That makes me sad.”
Gasp. Eun-chae flinched. Whimpering, she looked back and forth between the abandoned phone on the sofa and Dokyun. Finally, she squeezed her eyes shut and hugged him.
“…I wanna play with Honeybee.”
Her voice was filled with anguish. Dokyun glared at the smartphone, which had somehow become his rival, then hugged Eun-chae back and spoke.
“Okay. Let’s play together after we eat, alright?”
“Duel?”
“Yeah, a duel.”
Eun-chae peeked up, her eyes shining.
“Five rounds today.”
Don’t run away just because you keep losing. That was clearly what she meant.
And why wouldn’t she? Lately, Eun-chae’s skills had improved to a level he could no longer touch, and it had become routine for him to lose two or three rounds in a row and then flee.
She was telling him to make sure they played a full five rounds today, no matter what.
Dokyun gave a troubled smile at Eun-chae’s negotiation but eventually nodded in acceptance.
“Alright. But let’s eat first.”
“Okay. Meat today?”
“It’s always meat.”
“Let’s have hamburgers.”
“Hamburgers?”
“Yeah. Hamburgers with lots of meat.”
Ah, she must mean the ones I made last week.
“Okay, then. Hamburgers with lots of meat it is.”
“I wanna help make them.”
Her voice was full of excitement. Dokyun burst out laughing at the sight of Eun-chae fidgeting as if she were about to dash into the kitchen at any second, and nodded.
“Let’s do that.”
His reply was also tinged with laughter.
*
Cooking to suit Eun-chae’s tastes had improved one of his skills.
Namely, how to handle meat. How to store it, how to prepare it, how to shape it, and how to cook it.
Since he was cooking meat almost every day, the process had become second nature, something he could do out of habit.
Dokyun prepped the vegetables, then handed the ground meat to Eun-chae to make the patties.
“Alright, now we’re going to make patties with this meat.”
“Patties.”
“That’s right. We’re going to shape this meat like a hamburger.”
As he spoke, Dokyun helped Eun-chae put on a pair of disposable gloves, then put on a pair himself before continuing.
“Shall we start?”
“Yeah.”
Plop. Eun-chae grabbed a handful of meat.
It was so much that it wouldn’t all fit in one hand.
To make the ‘patty as wide as the bun’ that Dokyun had described, she began to knead the large clump of meat, piling it up thickly.
It’s not just about the width, you have to get the thickness right too, Dokyun thought, but then figured that telling her so wouldn’t satisfy her greed anyway. He chuckled and shook his head.
They spent some time making patties.
Dokyun, who had already finished his share, snickered at the sight of Eun-chae, who still hadn’t finished a single patty and was still kneading the first clump of meat she’d grabbed.
Eun-chae was meticulously shaping a piece of meat thicker than the bun itself. It was a sight reminiscent of a master sculptor refining a piece with painstaking detail.
“It’s just going to get squished when you cook it anyway, you don’t have to be so serious about it.”
“You have to do your best at everything.”
She said it with a ‘Hmph!’ snorting through her nose.
Dokyun shook his head at the stubbornly unyielding Eun-chae.
*
After making all the patties, cooking them, and stacking them neatly on the buns to complete her hamburger, Eun-chae’s eyes sparkled with delight at her creation. She then picked it up and took a huge bite.
Watching from across the table, Dokyun chuckled. Eun-chae looked so comical, her cheeks puffed out and blushing as she ate her hamburger.
“Is it good?”
“Yeth.”
The reply came back muffled, her mouth full.
Eun-chae chewed her hamburger diligently, then swallowed it with a gulp before continuing with a bright expression.
“It’s delicious.”
“Yeah? You’re a good cook now, Eun-chae.”
“Yep. Eun-chae is a good cook.”
Nod. Eun-chae nodded and opened her mouth to take another bite, but then she noticed Dokyun, who hadn’t even touched his food yet, and spoke.
“Honeybee, you eat too.”
“Huh?”
“Hurry up and eat. Then duel.”
A faint look of excitement was on her face.
Dokyun shuddered slightly at Eun-chae’s urging and nodded awkwardly.
Is there nowhere to run?
Do I really have to taste the bitterness of defeat again today?
At this rate, am I going to become a defeat-addicted (Former) Gangneung Duel Master?
A bitter expression crossed Dokyun’s face at the thought. He finally gave up all lingering hope and picked up his hamburger.
Fortunately, even in the midst of his despair, the hamburger was delicious.
*
“Noob.”
Flinch. Dokyun’s body trembled.
“Noob, noob. Honeybee is a noob.”
Eun-chae’s voice, with its flat intonation, somehow added an extra layer of mockery to the words.
“Nooo-oob.”
Smirk. A wicked grin formed on Eun-chae’s lips.
Dokyun squeezed his eyes shut and let out a sigh of despair.
This was his karma. Why did he have to teach her about teabagging and raise her into an unsportsmanlike duelist?
Why did I do that?
He hated himself for not predicting it would turn out like this.
“Noob. Idiot. Loser.”
Why is her flushed face so infuriating?
The result of the match: five games, zero wins, five losses.
Once again, Dokyun was being crushed by the monster he had created, screaming internally.