The Villain Is Too Good at Cooking C8

Chapter 8

Kwon Heesung’s lips trembled with sheer disbelief and fury.

Does he even know who I am? I’m Kwon Heesung!

He was just about to spit out an angry retort, his blood boiling with rage, when—

Rattle.

Yoon Mujin, who had been sitting across from him, quietly rose from his seat.

Without saying a word, he walked over and, right in front of Heesung’s face as the latter was about to point an accusing finger at him, slammed the door shut.

Kwon Heesung, who had just been blatantly shut out, felt like he was going insane.

He wanted nothing more than to smash down that door, overturn the entire dinner table, and grab both of those bastards by the collars.

“I—I swear, I’m going to tear this whole fucking house apart and—!”

Just as Heesung raised his veins-bulging hand to grab the doorknob again—

“Oh my! A thief?”

The old woman from the neighboring house happened to be passing by the yard. When she spotted Heesung loitering suspiciously in front of someone else’s door, she recoiled in alarm and shouted even louder.

“Call the police! People! There’s a thief here!”

“What, a thief?”

An old man wearing a hat suddenly poked his head out from beside her.

“N-No! I’m not a thief!”

With the entire neighborhood looking ready to come rushing out, Kwon Heesung had no choice but to grit his teeth and leave the yard.

There was no way he could allow himself to be mistaken for a thief by the village elders.

The moment he climbed into his parked car, Kim Secretary happened to call him about an urgent matter requiring his approval.

“Go. I said I’m coming right now!”

Heesung irritably hung up and slammed on the accelerator, the sports car roaring as he headed back toward Seoul.

The pleasant night scenery rushed past outside the window, but his mind was a complete mess.

The humiliation of being thrown to the ground with his face bloodied.

Jeong Iwon’s cold gaze as he looked at him like some disgusting insect.

That infuriating face of fucking Yoon Mujin.

And the delicious smell of food and sweet peach scent that had drifted out through the crack in the door.

Jeong Iwon. Yoon Mujin. Those fucking lunatics…

The more he thought about it, the angrier and more frustrated he became. He wanted to turn the steering wheel around and go back immediately.

The sense of alienation and humiliation he had experienced in that remote village was somehow even more vicious than the defeat he had felt after failing in love.

Without Kwon Heesung himself realizing it, perhaps this was the beginning of an obsession far more vicious than the wound left by his failed love.

The red sports car tore through the pitch-black night.

After returning to Seoul, Kwon Heesung immediately ordered his secretary to investigate Jeong Iwon.

The results were exactly what he expected.

“So, immediately after Kang Taeon’s wedding, his family essentially disowned him and drove him out to the countryside?”

Heesung skimmed through the secretary’s report and snorted.

“Hah. He clung to Kang Taeon that desperately, and look where he ended up. Serves him right. I knew that slut would eventually bury himself in a cesspool.”

He sneered as he spoke, but strangely enough, certain images kept surfacing in Kwon Heesung’s mind.

That fair face beneath the shabby apron, angrily pointing a finger at him.

The audacious way he had swung the straw broom.

And that soft, sweet peach scent that had tickled the tip of his nose.

“Ah, fuck. Seriously, why is this so annoying?”

Kwon Heesung angrily threw the documents onto his desk.

No. I’m just pissed off because I got hit by some insignificant bastard.

He scratched my pride. That’s why I keep thinking about him.

After convincing himself with that utterly nonsensical rationalization, Kwon Heesung returned to Jeong Iwon’s house before even a full day had passed.

For now, at least, he told himself it was for revenge.

Around the time the morning sun had risen high into the sky, a bright red sports car appeared at the entrance of the quiet rural village, its engine roaring obnoxiously.

Every time the underside of the multimillion-won sports car scraped against the rough stones of the unpaved road, a string of vulgar curses escaped Kwon Heesung’s mouth.

Nevertheless, he stubbornly drove all the way to the blue-roofed house.

The sight of Kwon Heesung stepping out of the car was painfully out of place against the peaceful rural scenery.

He was dressed impeccably from head to toe in a luxury custom-made suit worth tens of millions of won, paired with flawless handmade Italian leather shoes.

Amid the sweltering midsummer heat and the faint smell of manure drifting on the breeze, watching him sweat profusely while roughly loosening his tie was practically a comedy act.

“I swear, I should just buy up this entire countryside and flatten the whole damn place.”

Kwon Heesung irritably swept his bangs back and approached the gate of the blue-roofed house.

But once he got there, he couldn’t think of a single justification for kicking the gate down and barging inside.

He had already been beaten across the back with a broom, threatened with a police report, and kicked out.

He couldn’t even come up with some pathetic excuse that would allow him to swagger back inside.

In the end, Kwon Heesung settled for simply loitering in front of the gate.

With his arms tightly folded, he paced back and forth in front of the closed, weathered gate like a wild animal guarding its territory.

He even rose onto his tiptoes and peeked over the wall into the yard, only to lock eyes with a passing village mutt and stumble backward in surprise.

At another point, he angrily swatted away a fly that had landed on the shiny toe of his handmade Italian shoe.

This is psychological warfare.

I’m making those bugs feel pressured because they know I’m watching them at any moment. It’s an advanced strategy.

There is absolutely no other reason I’m doing this.

He desperately insisted this to himself.

In reality, he was nothing more than a pathetic sentry, growing increasingly agitated by the peaceful sounds coming from the other side of the wall.

“Mujin-ssi, wash the lettuce for me.”

“Yes.”

The gentle sound of water splashing, dishes clinking, and, as always, the smell of food mercilessly assaulting his senses drifted over the wall.

Every time that smell reached him, Kwon Heesung had to clutch his stomach and desperately suppress the loud growls coming from his empty belly.

He tried everything he could to suppress his appetite.

Unfortunately, his hungry stomach had no consideration for his dignity.

“Oh my, the young man in the red car is here again. Is he some kind of village totem or gatekeeper? Why does he keep loitering in front of someone else’s house?”

“Leave him be. He’s handsome enough, but I think he’s a little short in the head. He does this every time.”

“Ah, you people have no romance. No romance at all. Isn’t he doing all this because he likes that young Iwon living there?”

“Huh? But isn’t Iwon already married?”

“You mean Mujin? That young man sure works hard.”

The village elders gathered on a platform in the distance chatted and clicked their tongues, but Kwon Heesung stubbornly remained stationed in front of the blue-roofed house.

Whether viewed from afar or up close, the entire scene was utterly ridiculous.

I’m hungry.

The problem was that this godforsaken village didn’t have a single decent restaurant where Kwon Heesung could fill his stomach.

There wasn’t even a convenience store nearby. He would have to drive for thirty minutes just to find one.

“Does this village seriously have nothing for people to eat?”

It was well past lunchtime.

Sitting on the wooden veranda and peacefully peeling steamed potatoes with Yoon Mujin, Jeong Iwon finally let out a deep sigh when he heard Kwon Heesung’s voice from outside the gate.

He had been deliberately pretending not to notice him, but he was slowly reaching his limit.

Jeong Iwon wasn’t naturally cruel, so eventually he stood up and headed into the kitchen.

He began gathering whatever leftover rice and side dishes were available.

A short while later—

“It’s noisy. So eat.”

A large metal bowl was abruptly placed in front of Kwon Heesung, who had been squatting outside the gate clutching his stomach.

Heesung’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Inside the enormous bowl was cold rice, bean sprouts, shredded radish salad, roughly torn lettuce, a fried egg, and an obscene amount of bright-red gochujang all mixed together.

The nutty aroma of sesame oil was strong, but to the eyes of a third-generation chaebol heir, it looked no better than dog food.

“You expect me to eat this fucking slop?!”

“If you don’t want it, starve. You knew perfectly well there wasn’t a restaurant in this village, yet you’re the one who came crawling all the way down here.”

Jeong Iwon turned away indifferently.

At that exact moment, a thunderous growl came from Heesung’s stomach.

In the end, Kwon Heesung swallowed his pride and picked up the spoon.

He would just fill his stomach enough to get by.

That way, he’d at least have enough strength to make it back to Seoul.

Still frowning, he scooped up a large spoonful of the bright-red bibimbap and put it into his mouth.

“……?”

Kwon Heesung’s eyes flew wide open.

The crisp, spicy and slightly sour shredded radish salad, nutty bean sprouts, and fresh lettuce blended perfectly with the mildly spicy, sharp gochujang.

And as the finishing touch, the rich flavor of sesame oil assaulted his nose while the soft egg yolk coated every grain of rice, creating an absolutely insane depth of flavor.

This was impossible.

Kwon Heesung had grown up eating only the finest dishes prepared from organic ingredients.

And yet his refined palate had completely surrendered to this utterly improvised bowl of bibimbap made by dumping leftover side dishes together.

“……”

Without saying a word, Kwon Heesung accelerated his spoon.

He threw away his dignity entirely, practically burying his face in the metal bowl as he wolfed down the bibimbap.

In less than five minutes, he had scraped the bowl completely clean.

He set down his spoon with a deeply satisfied breath.

And then—

“Finished eating? Then you should work for your meal.”

Jeong Iwon had returned to the gate without him noticing.

He casually tossed a hoe down in front of Kwon Heesung.

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