As Giju Wishes Chapter 3.11

“Ah, about that…. He said it was soggy and threw the Jjajangmyeon at me,”

“Threw it? The whole bowl?”

Glaring, Choi Geon moved in so close they were almost touching and asked.

“…Yeah.”

At the confirmation that he’d been hit, his eyes flipped.

“What unit.”

Choi Geon snatched the Jjajangmyeon bowl from Giju’s hand.

“When we bring it back later, there’ll be two of us, so I’ll say something. I’ll make sure to get an apology too….”

Choi Geon, not listening to a word Giju said, found the tattered receipt on the bowl and checked the unit number.

“You wait right here.”

“Let’s not fight and just go.”

Giju grabbed the hem of Choi Geon’s clothes as he was turning, trying to stop him. Being in a position of debt, he didn’t want to cause any more trouble.

“I’m not going to fight.”

“Huh…?”

While Giju was replying like a fool, Choi Geon strode towards the multi-family house. He took the stairs two at a time, slowly running a hand through his hair as his head grew hot. It didn’t take long to reach unit 302.

Ding-dong-

He pressed the doorbell so hard it seemed it would break, and a moment later, the door opened.

“Wha….”

The man, who was opening his mouth in annoyance, trailed off when he saw the large-framed Choi Geon standing expressionlessly in front of the door.

“Hey.”

“……”

“Did you order Jjajangmyeon?”

“I didn’t or-”

“You did, you motherfucker.”

Choi Geon gripped the bottom of the Jjajangmyeon bowl he was holding and slammed it straight into the man’s face. Even as the man’s body fell backward from the impact, Choi Geon didn’t remove the bowl, instead pressing down on the bottom of it with his palm as if to say, ‘eat it all up.’

“Ugh, mph! Mph!!”

“You told me to bring it back, so eat it all, you fucking piece of shit.”

The man, struggling to breathe, flailed his arms and legs like a fish out of water. A moment later, Choi Geon threw the bowl that had been covering his face aside and stood up with a handful of Jjajangmyeon.

“Cough! Cough, cough! Sob, hhhh… why, why are you doing this, hhhh….”

Then he threw the handful of Jjajangmyeon into the sobbing man’s mouth.

“From now on, even if it’s soggy, you just fucking eat it, you got that?”

“Hhhh, yes, yes….”

Lastly, Choi Geon bent down and, telling him to scrape up everything on the floor and eat it all, tapped his cheek a few times before landing a hard slap and leaving.

Even after getting ample revenge, Choi Geon, walking down the stairs, didn’t look happy at all. In fact, seeing that pig-like, insignificant human made him feel even worse.

Coming out of the building, Choi Geon approached Giju, who was standing there blankly. Then, with a scowl, he took off his shirt and started vigorously wiping the Jjajang-covered face.

“Geon.”

“Is getting beaten up your job?”

Come to think of it, he had been getting beaten up by guys in school uniforms back then too. At that crappy school, the weird kid everyone knew was Shin Giju, and Shin Giju only ate the unlucky memorial service food given by some person who may or may not have been family. He didn’t have a phone, and he had Jjajangmyeon for the first time yesterday. And he often gets nosebleeds.

More force than necessary went into the hand wiping his face. He wiped so hard that Giju’s body staggered.

“I was going to say something too, but he slammed the door. I felt wronged, but I think I’m okay now. Mrs. Jeong endured her trials for 99 days too, you know.”

“What’s your reward.”

Choi Geon asked coldly.

“Huh?”

“What’s the reward for enduring.”

A fundamental curiosity arose about what the reward was for the ‘strange’ Shin Giju.

“Not accumulating bad karma.”

At the pathetic reward, Choi Geon’s frown deepened murderously.

“Something other than that crap.”

“What are you talking about, it’s so important. I have to avoid bad karma to be reborn in paradise in the next life.”

“……”

The fact that those words were completely sincere, without a hint of jest, made all the strength drain from his body. He had forgotten for a moment. When it came to karma, Shin Giju would wake up from his sleep.

“Aish, fuck, I’m gonna have so much bad karma I’ll probably go to hell.”

He had just accumulated more because of someone. Choi Geon wiped Giju’s chest vigorously with a frustrated sigh.

“Don’t worry. I’ll help you not go to hell.”

“Is your idea of helping getting hit with Jjajangmyeon? How can you help when all you do is eat memorial food and get nosebleeds.”

“That’s something I can’t help….”

“Hey!!”

Choi Geon suddenly threw the shirt he was wiping with onto the floor and yelled.

“It’s your body and your life, what do you mean you can’t help it, huh?! What, did you kill someone? Are you in debt?”

Choi Geon was angry at Giju’s attitude of accepting it as if it were nothing, as if it couldn’t be helped. It was something that had always bothered him, but when he said he was okay even after being hit with Jjajangmyeon, his anger erupted like a burst dam.

“Flip the table, throw a punch, you think you’ll go to hell for raising a little hell a few times, huh?!”

Giju just stared silently at the fuming Choi Geon. Even that was infuriating, and Choi Geon roughly ran a hand through his hair before turning toward the motorcycle.

“What are you staring at, get on! So we can go wash up.”

Giju, moving a beat late, picked up the shirt from the floor and sat on the motorcycle.

Vroooom-

A tense silence flowed between the two as they rode off against the backdrop of the setting sun. Even the sticky sauce all over their bodies was obscured by the silence.

A moment later, Giju leaned one cheek against Choi Geon’s back and spoke first.

“Don’t be mad, Geon.”

There was no reply from Choi Geon.

“Thanks for worrying about me.”

“If you’re thankful, then go to hell with me.”

The cynical words, spoken like a joke, scattered calmly.

“We should be reborn in paradise together, why would we go to hell.”

“My karma’s not just piling up, it’s about to explode. What are you talking about. I just sent one guy on his way and piled up more karma.”

Only then did Giju remember the man he had forgotten about.

“Oh, Geon, Geon.”

“Don’t call my name.”

“What did you do at unit 302?”

“I raised some fucking hell and came back.”

Choi Geon replied with an utterly expressionless face.

“You said you weren’t going to fight.”

By definition, a fight required both parties to exchange blows. Since one side had been unilaterally hit, it wasn’t a fight.

“I said I didn’t fight, I just raised some fucking hell. He ate the Jjajangmyeon deliciously, you know.”

Giju, not understanding Choi Geon’s words, blinked.

“That?”

“Yeah. He said it wasn’t soggy when he looked at it again. That son of a bitch, should’ve done that from the start.”

An image of Choi Geon making a scene and getting angry formed in Giju’s mind. Never imagining he would have used violence, Giju thought it was a relief that the man had at least admitted his mistake and reflected on it.

“That’s a relief. It might not even count as bad karma at that rate.”

“Oh, really? That’s quite generous.”

As the mood lightened a little, the faint smell of Jjajang began to stimulate his sense of smell. It was almost dinner time anyway, and he was starting to feel hungry. Giju licked the Jjajang sauce from his lips, making a smacking sound, and asked.

“Geon, aren’t you hungry?”

“Not really.”

“I’m hungry.”

“Didn’t you have a large serving of Jjajangmyeon for lunch?”

In truth, it wasn’t that Giju was extremely hungry; he just wanted to eat Jjajangmyeon again.

“The owner makes really good Jjajangmyeon.”

Choi Geon, who was born the only son of a rich family and had eaten all kinds of delicacies, wasn’t particularly impressed and didn’t bother to reply.

“There are a lot of ingredients too.”

“……”

“The meat is big too.”

Choi Geon was about to turn around and ask him what he wanted him to do about it when he heard a smacking sound near his ear. For a moment, question marks popped up all over Choi Geon’s face.

“Are you eating something?”

“Yeah.”

“Are you eating alone? You want to accumulate bad karma?”

“You said you weren’t hungry.”

“I’m on the verge of starvation, so hand it over quick.”

His mood was bad, and he wasn’t even hungry, but Choi Geon deliberately put on a threatening tone, telling him to hand it over quickly.

“Say ah.”

A hand reached out from behind and put a snack into Choi Geon’s mouth. Choi Geon diligently tore, chewed, and tasted it.

“Hey. Why does this taste like meat.”

“That’s meat.”

At the word ‘meat,’ a strangely uncomfortable sense of déjà vu sent a chill down his neck.

“…But why does it taste like Jjajang too?”

“Because it was in the Jjajangmyeon.”

Choi Geon slowly closed and opened his eyes like a death row inmate facing his end.

“Did I bring two bowls of Jjajangmyeon.”

“No, one.”

Screech!

Choi Geon slammed on the brakes, turned around, and shouted.

“Hey!!!”