Between A and B C4

Chapter 4

At first, I thought my eyes were deceiving me.

After all, what reason could there possibly be to suddenly cry while eating tteokbokki? I closed my eyes tightly and opened them three times, finally realizing this was reality and was late to be startled.

So shocked that I couldn’t even ask why he was crying, I stood frozen, holding a nearly empty cup of soy sauce. Then Segawon extended his trembling hand into the air before barely managing to grab the Coolpis drink and open it. Scanning around as if searching for a cup to share, his eyes trembled for a moment before he realized there was none. He silently took a sip of the Coolpis.

“…”
“…”

With cheeks puffed full of Coolpis, he paused for a moment before swallowing—and tears fell again from his eyes. Without a word, Segawon sipped the Coolpis twice more in the same way.

His body trembled as before, his face ghostly pale, with his eyes swollen and reddish as if about to bleed. Finally snapping out of my trance, I cautiously asked,

“Why are you crying?”

“…”
“…”

When Segawon opened his mouth to answer, his chin and lips trembled uncontrollably. Seemingly aware of it, he closed his mouth and said nothing.

Was it because it was spicy? Mild tteokbokki can be a little spicy, but not that much. I checked the receipt to see if an incorrect order had been made, but it was definitely level 2, mild. Maybe he couldn’t handle spicy food well?

Watching Segawon sip the Coolpis again, I picked up a piece of tteokbokki and tasted it. The familiar seasoning came first, with a faint bitterness, then the chewy rice cake…

“Ugh…”

Suddenly, a fierce burning sensation like being punched exploded inside my mouth. Without warning, it hit the back of my head like a bomb. I couldn’t tell if it was spiciness or pain.

I usually ate mild flavor, but I’d never felt this level of heat.

“Hah.”

Unable to spit it out, I swallowed it without much chewing and opened my mouth, taking a deep breath and exhaling to ease the pain. The piece I just swallowed passed my throat, feeling like a burning flame. Suddenly I started coughing.

Cough.

Covering my mouth, I coughed softly as Segawon looked at me. Reflexively, I met his gaze, and we silently stared at each other for a moment.

“…”
Cough…

Segawon held the Coolpis in both hands, tears streaming silently down his face, while I kept coughing. Though absurd, the pain amplified my sense of crisis.

Am I going to die? It was that spicy, and this could not be considered edible for humans.

“The delivery… must be wrong.”

I finally spoke, and Segawon nodded, trembling.

“Ugh…”
“…”

His tongue seemed numb, speech slurred. Segawon gave a short answer and drank more Coolpis. I wanted to drink too, but seeing he wasn’t about to let go of it, I got up to look for water.

But before practice, I had drunk all my coffee and water, so only empty containers remained. Left with no choice, I stepped outside the practice room to find the water cooler. Even after drinking five small paper cups full of water, the spiciness didn’t subside.

Instead, my chest and stomach hurt. My mouth burned, and involuntarily, I made quiet groaning sounds. I began drinking another cup when I heard sniffles behind me.

Turning, I saw Segawon standing behind me, clutching the Coolpis. I almost sprayed water from surprise.

“…Want some water?”

He shook his head. His eyes were red, lips swollen and red too. Feeling sorry, I took him back inside and called the tteokbokki place.

“Hello, sir. We just received a delivery, but I think the tteokbokki is wrong…”

Tired, I spoke, and over the phone came the apologetic voice of the owner.

“Oh dear, is this MD Entertainment? Sorry about that. There have been several calls about tteokbokki mixes being changed. We were about to call…”

“So this isn’t mild flavor?”

“Yes, it’s level 5, the ‘Hellfire’ spice… Have you eaten? Is it very spicy? Oh dear, what to do.”

“Ah… Hellfire… Hellfire flavor…”

I closed and opened my eyes tightly. I saw Segawon again sipping the Coolpis he cradled.

“Really sorry. Should we send you mild tteokbokki again? Or refund? We are very sorry.”

Before I could respond, Segawon seemed startled by a sound outside the phone. He solemnly put down the Coolpis, raised both hands to make an X at chest level. Seeing his desperate gesture and tired face, I nodded.

“Then just please refund.”

“Yes, yes. We will refund immediately. I’ll send a message, so please send your account number. And next order, let us know—we’ll add lots of extras. Really sorry.”

“Okay, thank you.”

I said goodbye to the repeatedly apologizing store owner and hung up. The heat had lessened somewhat, but just one bite had left my stomach burning and mouth aching.

Segawon hadn’t eaten lunch, so he must have had an empty stomach…

“Still spicy? Eat some kimbap.”

At my words, Segawon slowly picked up a broken chopstick and carefully picked a piece of kimbap. But as he lifted it, the seam broke, and its contents spilled below.

He quietly watched then put down his chopsticks and sipped the Coolpis again. He looked visibly out of sorts—his pupils dilated, expression vacant. His pale face, red-rimmed eyes, and swollen lips made him look like a ghost.

Realizing the seriousness, I helped him up, put a hat and mask on him, and took him outside. We went to a nearby convenience store, where I sat him at a table near the entrance and bought five ice creams before coming back out.

I placed the black bag on the table and took out a Screw Bar ice cream, peeling the wrapper to hand it over. Segawon took it with both hands.

“Thank you…”

“Why did it have to be level 5 that came wrong? Quickly eat that. Chew it well. Ice cream helps with the heat.”

He pulled his mask down and took a big bite, chewing. Did he just give up on everything? No schedule? It wasn’t my fault, but somehow I felt sorry and watched him for a while, then ate an ice cream myself.

Since I had eaten just one piece of tteokbokki, the pain gradually lessened. My stomach still hurt slightly, but it seemed it would soon be okay. While we rested with ice cream, Segawon suddenly raised his hand and rubbed his eyes.

Looking closer with curiosity, I saw his eyes were wet.

“…Hey, is it really that spicy?”

By then, I began to wonder if we should go to the hospital. I anxiously asked again,

“Still spicy?”

“No… It’s my eyes that sting.”

“Did some sauce splash into your eyes?”

“No…”

Watching Segawon shake his head with thick speech, I felt helpless. Then why was he crying? Why was he always crying?

“This is my first time eating something like this.”

Segawon sniffled and mumbled.

“It was seriously spicy, much more than I thought. Didn’t you taste bitterness?”

“I don’t know. I couldn’t tell the taste… My stomach hurts badly, and my mouth feels peeled. My esophagus feels a bit burned too…”

I couldn’t tell if the esophagus burning was joke or serious because his expression was so earnest. Esophagus burning from tteokbokki was unlikely, so it must be a joke.

Feeling a brief confusion, I awkwardly laughed.

“Do you want me to buy some stomach medicine from the pharmacy? Something to protect your stomach?”

“Are you okay?”

Segawon, who had been bowing his head all along, looked up at me a little. His eyes were still red, and his eyelashes wet, looking like a pitiful big dog.

“I’m feeling better now.”

“Me too. Is your throat okay? You kept coughing earlier…”

I nodded, picked up the ice cream bag, and got up. Segawon followed, saying,

“Hyung, I’m sorry.”

“…?”

Surprised by the sudden apology, I looked at Segawon. He pouted with a gloomy expression and said,

“This was the first time you bought something for me, but I couldn’t even finish it…”

“What are you talking about? How can you eat that? Why apologize for that?”

“But still, it was the first time you bought me something…”

“What does that matter? I’ll buy again next time. It’s okay.”

Seeing his saddened face, I hurriedly comforted him. Segawon suddenly lifted his head, his pale face now lively.

“Really?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Why was he so happy? Does he not eat properly?