The Villain Is Too Good at Cooking C10

Chapter 10

Rustle, click.

In the end, Kwon Heeseong crouched down in a corner of the wooden veranda and irritably flicked his lighter, setting the mosquito coil alight. Thick, acrid green smoke rose into the air, spreading its distinctive scent, and the mosquitoes that had been pestering him disappeared as if by magic.

“Fuck, seriously. Look at me.”

Lying with his back against the veranda floor, Kwon Heeseong glared viciously at the firmly shut inner-room door, its frame covered with traditional paper.

Inside that room.

In that cozy room filled with the sweet, soft scent of peaches, that bastard Yoon Mujin was probably lying side by side with Jeong Iwon, falling asleep while sharing the sound of each other’s breathing.

Why does that bastard get to sleep inside?

Logically, it was only natural to give the warmer inner part of the room to an injured patient, but there was no room for such rational reasoning inside Kwon Heeseong’s clouded mind.

All he could think about was how Jeong Iwon had taken care of Yoon Mujin while kicking him out onto the veranda. It made him so furious and miserable that heat seemed to boil inside his chest.

Just wait. Next time, I’m taking that room for myself.

Kwon Heeseong grumbled to himself while breathing in the mosquito-coil smoke, but eventually, unable to fight his overwhelming exhaustion, he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning.

“I’ll eat well.”

Under the warm morning sunlight, Jeong Iwon and Yoon Mujin sat facing each other across the low dining table, just about to pick up their spoons. Fluffy steamed egg, golden-brown Spam, and steaming white rice filled the table, stimulating their appetites.

Into this peaceful breakfast scene came Kwon Heeseong, looking like a zombie in a suit that had become gray from being covered in dirt. His hair looked like a bird’s nest, and dark circles hung beneath his exhausted eyes.

The third-generation chaebol heir, thoroughly saturated in the smell of mosquito coils, approached the table without a shred of shame, squeezed into the narrow space between Jeong Iwon and Yoon Mujin, and plopped himself down.

“…What? You didn’t leave?”

Jeong Iwon asked incredulously, spoon still in hand.

Kwon Heeseong arrogantly lifted his chin.

“Give me a spoon, too.”

“Are you crazy? There’s no food, so just go back to Seoul.”

“Then at least give me a piece of Spam. I fought mosquitoes all night, and I’m starving to death, so hand it over.”

Jeong Iwon narrowed his eyes in disbelief.

“You know the rules of my house, right? If you eat, you have to work again.”

He was confident that after going through that ordeal yesterday, there was no way Kwon Heeseong would volunteer to work again.

But the look in Kwon Heeseong’s eyes as he grabbed the spoon as though snatching it away was strangely crazed.

“I’ll do it!”

“…What?”

“I’ll work! What’s so difficult about pulling weeds?! I’ll weed the fields, chop firewood, whatever! Just give me food!”

Kwon Heeseong didn’t even wait for Jeong Iwon’s answer. He quickly dragged a bowl of rice in front of himself and began stuffing the Spam into his mouth.

The arrogance and dignity of a third-generation chaebol heir had long since evaporated into the night air along with the mosquito-coil smoke.

Watching Kwon Heeseong desperately shove Spam and white rice into his mouth, Jeong Iwon rested his chin on his hand and casually tossed out a single sentence in a soft, peaceful voice.

“Yeah. Is the food made by a slut really that delicious?”

“Keheuk!! Cough, cough!”

The rice going down his throat got stuck halfway down. Kwon Heeseong’s face turned bright red as he pounded his chest and coughed violently.

Jeong Iwon didn’t even offer him a glass of water. Instead, he looked down at Kwon Heeseong with icy eyes and continued.

“Then again, you were quite the slut yourself, weren’t you? I guess sluts naturally have compatible tastes and understand each other well, huh?”

“Cough! Cough! You—you!”

Faced with Jeong Iwon’s brutal retort, Kwon Heeseong couldn’t come up with a single excuse or rebuttal.

Even if he had ten mouths, he would have had nothing to say.

In the end, clutching his throat, Kwon Heeseong could only finish chewing his remaining food while sneaking nervous glances at Jeong Iwon, his face a mixture of humiliation and frustration.

Even after that day, Kwon Heeseong frequently traveled south, coming and going from the blue-roofed house as though it were his own.

“Don’t you supposedly run a company? Why aren’t you working? Why do you keep punching your attendance card in someone else’s yard every day?”

Jeong Iwon, who was sitting on the veranda sorting beans, snapped at him in disbelief.

Kwon Heeseong, who had been wandering around the yard, shamelessly raised his chin.

“Our company runs itself without me having to work. Besides, I have so much money I could spend my entire life doing nothing and still never run out. If it bothers you so much, become a chaebol yourself.”

“Good for you, you unemployed bastard.”

Kwon Heeseong ignored Jeong Iwon’s scolding and plopped himself down on the wooden bench in the yard.

Compared to the glamorous penthouse in Seoul or the luxurious club rooms he was accustomed to, there was something strangely comfortable about this bench in the countryside.

Then it happened.

As Jeong Iwon was sorting beans, he casually raised his arm to wipe the sweat from his forehead. The collar of his thin T-shirt shifted slightly, revealing his pale nape in full.

At the same time, carried on the breeze, Jeong Iwon’s pheromones, which he had kept carefully suppressed all this time, suddenly swept across the tip of Kwon Heeseong’s nose.

“……”

For a moment, Kwon Heeseong’s entire thought process came to a screeching halt.

As though under some powerful hypnosis, his head slowly tilted.

If he leaned forward just a little more, he could reach Jeong Iwon’s pale nape.

Just a little more.

He wanted to bury his nose in that sweet source of the scent.

It was an instinctive impulse belonging to an alpha.

“Ah! You fucking lunatic!”

Startled by the breath against his nape, Jeong Iwon flung aside the basket and toppled backward.

“You—what the hell are you doing with your face against someone else’s neck?!”

Jeong Iwon’s face flushed as he covered his nape and assumed a defensive stance.

Only then did Kwon Heeseong come to his senses. His pupils shook violently.

What the hell, Kwon Heeseong?! What was I just doing?

“M-Misunderstanding! There was a mosquito sitting on your neck, so I was trying to shoo it away! Do you think I’ve gone crazy? Why would I suddenly see you as an omega?!”

Flustered, Kwon Heeseong practically jumped as he desperately poured out his excuses.

At his frantic insistence that he was innocent, the wary look in Jeong Iwon’s eyes quickly returned to normal.

“Oh, a mosquito? You startled me. Well, of course you wouldn’t see me as an omega. Unless your eyes have gone bad.”

His acceptance was almost absurdly straightforward.

Apparently reassured, Jeong Iwon dusted off his pants and began picking up the beans scattered across the ground.

Jeong Iwon clearly hadn’t even considered that Kwon Heeseong might see him as that kind of person.

It was only natural.

And yet, for some reason, Kwon Heeseong felt a strange tightness in his chest.

Of course not. There’s no way I’d see someone like him as an omega.

Then why did he feel so damn shitty?

Kwon Heeseong’s mind was caught in a vicious whirlpool of confusion.

Recently, his family had begun pressuring him to settle down, saying that he was old enough to meet a respectable omega from a suitable family and start a household.

Normally, he would have gone along with a blind date with an omega who met the necessary conditions.

But now, whenever he smelled an omega’s pheromones, all he felt was disgust. He had absolutely no desire to pursue anyone.

He would much rather spend his time in this shabby countryside house, sweating through manual labor just to earn a meal.

Even if he was treated like shit on a regular basis.

His heart was unmistakably beginning to lean in a certain direction, yet his twisted pride refused to acknowledge what those feelings meant and only drove him further astray.

Meanwhile, a pair of cold eyes had been quietly watching the entire situation from one side of the yard.

It was Yoon Mujin.

His eyes shone with intense wariness toward Kwon Heeseong.

When Kwon Heeseong leaned toward Jeong Iwon’s nape, Yoon Mujin had wanted nothing more than to bury the axe he was holding straight into Kwon Heeseong’s back.

He’s dangerous.

There was no telling when or how Kwon Heeseong might disrupt Jeong Iwon’s peaceful life.

But there wasn’t much Yoon Mujin could do about it right now.

At present, Yoon Mujin was a complete penniless wreck with no money, no status, and nowhere to live. On top of that, his hand was broken, making him little more than a burden.

To remain beside Jeong Iwon and harbor feelings for him while in such a pathetic state felt terribly shameless and unfair.

Yoon Mujin painfully realized that if he wanted to properly protect Jeong Iwon and approach him, he could no longer remain in his current state.

I need to put things in order. I need to clear away all the remnants and become someone worthy of him.

Having made up his mind, Yoon Mujin silently walked over to the veranda and stopped in front of Jeong Iwon.

“Iwon-ssi.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to Seoul for a while.”

For a moment, Jeong Iwon’s hands stopped in midair as he sorted the beans.

His round eyes trembled slightly as he looked up at Yoon Mujin. Then, as though he had understood something, he gave him a bittersweet yet strangely relieved smile.

“Oh, okay. So you’re finally leaving. Well, your bones have healed quite a bit. You can’t stay buried in the countryside forever. You probably have a lot of things to sort out, too.”

Jeong Iwon misunderstood Yoon Mujin’s words as meaning that he was finally leaving the countryside for good to return to his own life.

Good. A second male lead who can’t forget the main character should hurry back to where he belongs.

He repeated those words to himself over and over, trying to convince himself with reason.

And yet, strangely, a dull ache throbbed deep in his chest.