GGAS 10

‘A question worth considering.’

That was Kim Gwanggong’s specialty.

“What is an effective advertising strategy for SQ Group to increase sales of the kidult line this quarter?”

Kim Gwanggong asked.

“Ah, that’s too difficult….”

Eun Sanho protested with a whine, eyes closed.

“Give me something else… leave out all that strategy stuff.”

Kim Gwanggong stared at Eun Sanho in silence for a moment before opening his mouth.

“…Why did you that?”

Eun Sanho laughed as if he thought Kim Gwanggong’s question was a joke.

“Then, what if SQ Group this quarter…”

“I did it because…”

Kim Gwanggong saw Eun Sanho hurriedly cut him off and ended up chuckling again.

“Yes.”

“That was something I couldn’t help. A sort of, how should I put it… yeah, an unavoitable matter.”

“An unavoidable matter.”

“Yes, an unavoitable matter.”

Eun Sanho seemed convinced he was pronouncing it correctly. Kim Gwanggong quickly gave up, thinking it would never end, and moved on to the next question.

“Why was it unavoidable?”

“Well, because you’re handsome, Kim Gwanggong-ssi.”

“Well… but I suppose I’m not all that handsome. You immediately changed your words as soon as the elevator doors closed, saying you wouldn’t marry me after all.”

“What are you talking about!”

Eun Sanho shouted in indignation.

“You’re so handsome, anyone would want to marry you.”

“Then why did you say you wouldn’t marry me?”

“Mm, that’s!”

“That’s?”

“Mm….”

Eun Sanho, too drunk for his head to work properly, rolled his eyes around as he struggled to find an answer.

“You’re the one who said it, and you don’t know the reason?”

“Mm. Ah, I remembered?”

“You remembered?”

“Yes. There are two reasons. First, because proposing like that so suddenly is rude. Second, because you made a vow of celibacy. Haa, did I get it right?”

Eun Sanho spoke like he was rapping, then asked with a proud look. But Kim Gwanggong felt reluctant.

“Me? I made a vow of celibacy?”

That was the first time he had ever heard that.

“…? I’m wrong? Bomi-ssi definitely said so though?”

“Secretary Ha”

“Yes. She said that in your later years you’d enter a monastery. That you had religious aspirations… and being picky about water is also a form of training.”

“You believed that?”

Kim Gwanggong asked in disbelief.

“Oh, then I guess it isn’t true, Gwanggong-ssi.”

“I didn’t make a vow of celibacy.”

“…You’re not antiromantic either?”

“No.”

“What?”

Eun Sanho blinked and lifted his upper body. Then he grabbed both of Kim Gwanggong’s cheeks.

“You should have told me that earlier.”

Eun Sanho grumbled, he looked displeased.

“……? What are you doing? Let go….”

Kim Gwanggong could not speak any further. Because Eun Sanho kissed his lips with a loud smack.

“From the very first time I saw you, you were totally my type…. I almost cried when I thought you were going to become a monk.”

Eun Sanho muttered and then collapsed onto the floor

***.

The next morning, Eun Sanho, his pink hair turned into a bird’s nest, squeezed his eyes shut and shouted.

“Gwang, Gwanggong-ssi, I won’t say anything even if you lie down on my kitchen floor…!”

Kim Gwanggong, who had stopped halfway through making dried pollack soup, looked at Eun Sanho with an incredulous expression.

“Why would I lie there?”

“That….”

“Go sit over there. The soup is hot.”

Kim Gwanggong said as he ladled soup into a bowl. But Eun Sanho still hesitated, unable to leave his spot.

“Ah, or should I bring you fresh kimchi…? I’ll give you twice, no, three times the amount I ate yesterday!”

Kim Gwanggong wondered if he had some fate that gave him abundance in kimchi.

“There’s already plenty of kimchi. And besides, you didn’t even eat any in the first place. All you did was open the lid and close it again.”

“Oh. Then what I can do for you is….”

“I’d be satisfied enough if you simply didn’t walk around indoors with your shoes on. Calm down and sit to eat.”

Kim Gwanggong said as he set the dried pollack soup on the table. Eun Sanho hesitated, then sat down in a dining chair.

“Can I… really eat this….?”

“If you don’t, I’ll have to throw it away.”

Eun Sanho hesitated, then picked up his spoon.

“Then, I’ll eat well.”

He scooped a little broth and tasted it.

“Wow…!”

Eun Sanho’s eyes widened.

“It’s delicious…!”

He forgot how restless he had been only moments ago and exclaimed in admiration.

“Is that so?”

Kim Gwanggong also scooped up a spoonful of the soup and tasted it.

“It’s not bad.”

“Not bad? It’s absolutely amazing!”

Eun Sanho scooped up another spoonful of the dried pollack soup. The clear broth refreshed his stomach, the savory taste balanced just right, and it was very good.

“Wow… Gwanggong-ssi, if you sold this, I think it would really hit big. Did you put something special in it?”

“I only used the basic ingredients. It’s probably just because I’ve made it a lot.”

“Do you like dried pollack soup?”

“No. It’s because a family member in the same generational line as me eats only that for hangovers.”

“So… your hyung?”

“Yes.”

“Did you make it for him yourself every time?”

“Something like that.”

“That’s so considerate of you.”

“Not really. If he doesn’t get dried pollack soup, he hugs a dried pollack and cries. It’s hard not to make it for him.”

Eun Sanho burst into laughter at Kim Gwanggong’s matter-of-fact words.

“Actually, I’ve never thought of myself as bad at cooking, but after tasting your soup, I feel like I need to practice a lot more. I can’t match you, whether in story or in taste.”

“Eat plenty. There’s another pot.”

“Yes, thank you…. Wow, how can even the color be so beautiful?”

Eun Sanho kept exclaiming as he ate the soup. To be precise, he mixed rice into the soup, added kimchi on top, and with each spoonful he ate, he did not hold back praise. Kim Gwanggong answered with nothing more than, “I see.”, “Eat slowly.”, and the like, until Eun Sanho’s soup bowl and rice bowl were nearly empty. Then he tapped the table lightly with his finger.

Just before his face could be sucked into the soup bowl, Eun Sanho raised his head in puzzlement.

“……?”

“But….”

“Yes.”

“That….”

Eun Sanho blinked at Kim Gwanggong, who was uncharacteristically dragging out his words.

‘Why is he acting like that?’

Something was wrong. The man who had kept a poker face except for furrowing his brows, now seemed to avoid his gaze a little, and his ears looked slightly red.

“Eun Sanho-ssi, do you have… nothing to say?”

Eun Sanho tilted his head, then slapped his knee.

‘Ah~ he must have wanted to hear more compliments about the meal.’

He found Kim Gwanggong cute and unconsciously laughed.

“In my opinion, if you sold not just the soup but also the rice, it would be a huge hit. It looks like just plain rice, but it tastes amazing.”

The answer was not the right one, Kim Gwanggong’s expression turned faintly disappointed.

“…Not the rice. I meant, do you not remember anything more from yesterday?”

“Uh… did I make more of a spectacle of myself…?”

Eun Sanho blinked as he asked. Kim Gwanggong was couldn’t say anything as he looked at his bright and clueless face.

‘He really doesn’t remember?’

Kim Gwanggong had assumed Eun Sanho would naturally remember. Blacking out after drinking and kissing was something that only happened in the cheap romance movies Kim Abang watched. Unable to endure the emotion rising in him, he didn’t know whether it was injustice or irritation, Kim Gwanggong raised his brows.

“It would be better for you to remember than for me to reenact it.”

As Kim Gwanggong’s mood turned cold in an instant, Eun Sanho’s heart dropped. Other than lying on the floor and throwing a fit about not taking off his shoes, had he committed some other great discourtesy?

“D-did I throw up…?”

“No.”

“Then… did I break something of yours, Gwanggong-ssi…?”

“No.”

Eun Sanho nervously wet his lips.

‘What on earth did I do yesterday?’

At that moment, his eyes fell on Kim Gwanggong’s lips.

‘Huh?’

Something seemed about to surface.

“Wait a second.”

Eun Sanho squeezed his eyes shut to focus.

“So then… I….”

“Yes.”

“I… with Gwanggong-ssi….”

“Yes.”

“Your lips…?”

Eun Sanho’s eyes flew open as he drew in a sharp breath.

“Ah! Did I hit your lips, Gwanggong-ssi?!”

“…….”

“Uh, let me see. Are they swollen?”

Eun Sanho half-rose awkwardly and reached his hand toward Kim Gwanggong’s face.

“…That’s enough.”

Kim Gwanggong avoided Eun Sanho’s hand as he spoke.

“Should I hurry to the pharmacy right now?”

Kim Gwanggong gestured for Eun Sanho, who looked ready to bolt, to sit down again.

“…There’s no need to go. You didn’t hit my lips.”

“Th-then what did I do?”

Eun Sanho turned pale, wondering if he had done something more serious than assault.

‘He really doesn’t remember.’

Kim Gwanggong let out a sigh.

“Yesterday, Eun Sanho-ssi, you didn’t hit my lips….”

He stopped himself from telling the truth. Even now, Sanho’s complexion was so pale that he might faint if he said they kissed.

“…You stopped in the middle of telling me something.”

“What?”

“I said, you stopped while talking, Eun Sanho-ssi.”

It wasn’t a lie. Because Eun Sanho had been talking before he suddenly pounced on him.

“That’s… disgraceful?”

Eun Sanho was flustered.

“Yes. I couldn’t sleep because I was curious what you were going to say afterward.”

Kim Gwanggong decided to exaggerate it.

“Th-that makes sense.”

Although he wasn’t fully convinced by Kim Gwanggong’s answer, since he himself had no memory and Kim Gwanggong insisted, Eun Sanho accepted it for now.

“But what was I talking about before I stopped?”

“You were talking about why you ‘proposed’ to me in the elevator.”

Eun Sanho turned into a blazing sweet potato and waved his hands.

“Th-there’s nothing more to explain about that!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes. That really was just a misunderstanding. I’ve never once thought about wanting to marry you, Gwanggong-ssi. Absolutely, never!”

Eun Sanho crossed his arms in an X as he spoke. But given the prior lip bump, his claim wasn’t very convincing. And since Kim Gwanggong’s thoughts showed clearly on his expression, cold sweat trickled down Eun Sanho’s back.

‘Even if I can’t fix the other disgraceful things that already happened, I have to stop at least this misunderstanding…! Gwanggong-ssi just kindly took in a drunkard, soothed him, put him to bed, and fed him out of good will as one person to another. He would feel uncomfortable if that drunkard is said to harbor improper feelings for him out of nowhere.

Eun Sanho was feeling anxious. He had never cared whether others treated him with propriety, which was why he had only ever dated lousy men and had the worst romances. But when it came to keeping propriety toward others himself, he lived a very strict life. And Kim Gwanggong was the very first person to whom Eun Sanho had caused trouble upon trouble upon trouble. Ninety percent of all the disgraceful sights and shameful deeds in his life were packed into just yesterday and today, and the sole victim of them all was Kim Gwanggong.

Though he had momentarily let his guard down, enchanted by the taste of the dried pollack soup, now that Kim Gwanggong asked him again so directly, his strict mind filled entirely with the thought of somehow making up for his mistake. Thanks to that, he had no chance to consider whether he truly harbored improper feelings or not, and instead worked his mind to untangle the misunderstanding.

“So… hm… ah!”

“……?”

“That will do it!”

Eun Sanho exclaimed, his expression suddenly brightened.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s one sure way to prove that I don’t have any strange feelings for you, Gwanggong-ssi.”

Even though Eun Sanho’s secret crush had already been revealed yesterday, Kim Gwanggong decided to hear him out.

“And what is that?”

“A marriage agency!”

“…A marriage agency?”

“Yes. I’ll join a marriage agency today itself. Then I’ll go on a ton of blind dates with people who aren’t you, Kim Gwanggong-ssi!”