Chapter 121

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What the heck is this? Did I eat too much too quickly? Or was it because of the food I had in Vietnam?
Hyunwoo asked himself. The pain grew sharper. Obviously, he felt sick.
Sungrak was experiencing the same symptoms.
Thus, there was only one cause of his sickness: the food he had at the snack house in front of the school.
Hyunwoo quickly called the House of Happiness and Jaegyong at his house.

Good heavens! Our kids vomited everything and got sick.

Hyunwoo’s eyes opened wide. It was clear that they had food poisoning. Though Hyunwoo and Sungrak had a bit of stomach pain, the kids’ conditions were much more serious.

Call an ambulance quickly. Looks like they got food poisoning.


We did already. Ah, the ambulance is here now. Let me hang up.

Jaegyung was suffering from the same sickness. Hyunwoo picked up Sungrak and Jaegyong to drive to the emergency room of a nearby hospital.

Food poisoning. You’re lucky. It could have been worse,
said the doctor, offering a simple prescription.
As Hyunwoo and Sungrak were overall healthy, their conditions were not that serious.
So they went home with the prescription.
Hyunwoo’s mother had a hard time, though. She had to attend to Hyunwoo and Sungrak all throughout the night.

Mom, I’m okay, so please go to sleep.


I’m okay, too.

Only then did she go back to her room for sleep. It was already 3 am, but Hyunwoo and Sungrak could not sleep at all because they kept rushing to the restroom whenever they felt like vomiting.
Fortunately, the kids were discharged from the hospital the following morning.
Hyunwoo could not control his anger. How could they get food poisoning in the middle of the winter? That meant the sanitation of the snack house in front of the school was lacking.
He rose up to protest about it.
At that moment, he got a call from Suji Min.
Though he was upset, Hyunwoo forced a smile and picked up the phone gladly.

Sorry about yesterday. Actually, I could not break the promise I made one month ago. I’m available this evening. How about you?

Hyunwoo was ready to break a previous appointment if he could meet her. Though he was boiling with anger at the moment, he would be able to calm down by the evening. He could not afford to skip such a golden chance to go on a date with her.

I’m available, of course. Let me see you in the evening when you leave the office then.


Oh, are you going to announce to everybody about our meeting? I’ll see you in downtown.

He hung up the phone, but again felt a pain in his stomach.
When he thought of the kids suffering from food poisoning, he again felt upset about the owner of the snack house.
With Sungrak, he visited the snack house, but when he arrived there, he could not vent his anger because the owner showed a repentant attitude.

Sorry, I’m really sorry.

The owner was an old woman nearing 70 years old. She offered apologies, lowering her head continuously as if she was well aware of the severity of the situation.
At that moment, a middle school girl, who looked like her granddaughter, came out.

What’s wrong, grandma? What happened?


Oh, actually I …
said the grandmother, who seemed to be very embarrassed.
Though Hyunwoo came to her to protest, he felt he wanted to save her face before her granddaughter since she might have felt that if she sold bad food, children like her daughter would suffer. Hyunwoo thought her rude awakening would be enough.

Okay, then. I’m leaving now, as I believe you will not do it again.


Sure. I’m really sorry again.

Hyunwoo and Sungrak came out of the snack house.

Phew…I hope she won’t make the same mistake again,
said Hyunwoo, letting out a sigh.
But Sungrak shook his head and said,
Well, it will come back again. Once or twice every year this kind of thing happens. When I was a student, some students got food poisoning after eating at a snack house. There was a big fuss at that time, but it didn’t last long.


I don’t think every snack house is bad. Maybe only a few, I guess.

At that moment Hyunwoo again felt like going to the restroom.

What? Again?


Let’s go back home, Sungrak. I feel pain in my stomach.

In the evening, Hyunwoo headed to the appointed place downtown for a date with Suji. She arrived at the restaurant on time.
After a nice dinner, they went to a beer bar nearby. As it was a bit dark inside, her face looked more beautiful than usual.

How come you thought of calling me from Vietnam? That’s praiseworthy.


Hahaha, I just missed you.


Looks like you’re thinking about me a lot when you’re alone,
she said.

Of course!


Why?

Suji leaned towards him as if she was very curious to know why. Putting her elbows on the table and wrapping her face with her hands, she looked at him with twinkling eyes.
Hyunwoo wanted to wrap her face with his hands at that moment as she looked so lovely and beautiful. And it seemed she wanted it, too. Today, she wore a lot of makeup and her posing was more sexual.
Hyunwoo found it difficult to answer her question at the moment. As she asked, he had to answer anyway. He answered sincerely, but as time went on, his answer grew more superficial, and he had to stand up as he couldn’t stand it.

Sorry. I’ll be back in a minute.

Suji frowned a bit,
Again? You’ve done it several times already. An upset stomach?


Oh, let me tell you after I come back.

Hyunwoo urgently went to the restroom.
A little later, Hyunwoo came back, much relieved now.

Sorry. As a matter of fact, I had a bad snack yesterday and got food poisoning.


Food poisoning? Can you have food like this?
She seemed surprised.
Hyunwoo told her in detail about what had happened, and she was all the more astonished.

Oh, I saw the article about that. You’re a victim. You didn’t have to come here then as you had an upset stomach.


You know, how rare it is to have a chance to go on a date with you! So I just had to come here by all means.

She looked at him, with a sunny smile on her lips,
Just go home and take a rest. I’ll give you a ride.


Oh, I feel fine now.


No, you don’t. You’ve been going to the restroom every ten minutes.

They left and took a taxi. It was usually Hyunwoo who gave her a ride back home, but this time it was Suji who made sure he got home.

Are you really okay?


So far, so good. As you’re near my house, why don’t you meet my parents?


Oh my god. They might misunderstand me.

She was right. Though his parents treated her comfortably because they went on a bus tour together, they would be more interested in her relationship with Hyunwoo if they saw her now.
When the taxi stopped near Hyunwoo’s house, she also got out of the car.

Let’s take a walk together if you feel okay.


Shall we?

They went down the alley. As it was dark, they couldn’t see anything, and they had no particular topic to talk about, but they didn’t feel bored or awkward around each other.

It’s cool outside here. I love this kind of country road,
said Suji.

Oh, you like it because you’re walking with me, right?

Hyunwoo felt as if he had goose flesh when he talked to her like that. He felt as though she would find out that he had a crush on her.
Suji looked askance at him cutely,
Are you kidding? I just take the pleasure of walking with you as you came to see me despite your sickness. So, don’t misunderstand me.

Hyunwoo just smiled at that. It was a bit colder than he thought it would be.

Let’s go back. Let me get you back home,
said Hyunwoo.

Oh, no thanks. You’ve been coming and going all day long like this. And you’re a bit drunk anyway.


Well, I really wanted to have a drink with you, but I couldn’t because of my upset stomach. If I let you go like this, I’ll feel very sorry. Wait a minute here.

Hyunwoo went in and came back with his keys.
In the meantime, she looked inside a bit and found something new, which she didn’t see before.
As soon as Hyunwoo came out, she asked,
What are those container houses out there?


Oh, those are my father and Mr. Kuroda’s research rooms.

She heard from her mother about Kuroda and his house near Hyunwoo’s.
At that moment, her eyes sparkled. She looked at the house opposite Kuroda’s.
Thought it was quite dark in the night, all the lights were out.

Is that house over there empty?


Yea, it was empty like that even before we moved in here. It was so big we couldn’t buy it anyway.


Oh, I see,
said she, nodding her head. And she could not take her eyes off the empty house.
There was a gentle smile on her lips that nobody could understand.