How to Seduce S-Class Hunters with Bungeoppang - Chapter 91

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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【Chapter 91】
The life insurance payout from my mother’s death went to my Maternal Uncle, who had come looking for me after so long. The deposit for the monthly rent was taken by my Maternal Aunt, whose name I could barely remember. I simply sat in the corner of my room, burying my face in my knees, watching everything unfold without intervention.
I felt neither anger nor sorrow. Only an inexplicable helplessness pressed down on me, heavy and suffocating.
‘Take it all.’
After all, there was nothing I needed to protect, nothing I desired. My mother’s death was processed as a single document labeled ‘Gate-Related Industrial Accident,’ and before long, I was transferred to the Somang Orphanage by the hands of the National Management Bureau.
‘Lee Hyun-woo? I’m Seo Hyun-chul, the director of Somang Orphanage. You’ll be staying here from now on.’
That place overflowed with children in circumstances similar to mine. Children who had lost their families overnight to Gate accidents, cast out into the world like debris. Night after night, they would bury themselves under blankets and cry, or throw tantrums demanding to see their parents.
Amid those cries, I somehow turned sixteen. The world continued to flow unjustly, but I no longer had the strength left to rage against such things.
‘How long must I live like this?’
The day I was blamed for a missing headset in class simply because I attended the orphanage, that thought suddenly struck me. I didn’t even have the will to assert my innocence. Everything simply felt meaningless.
‘Perhaps ending it here wouldn’t be so bad.’
It wasn’t the frantic desperation of wanting to die immediately. It was closer to a very dry resignation—a complete lack of anticipation for tomorrow.
I impulsively skipped school. But I had nowhere to go. Still unwilling to return to the orphanage, I began walking aimlessly along the street.
The bitter December wind cut through my thin jacket, but I couldn’t even feel the cold. The thought that freezing to death like this might not be so bad flickered briefly through my mind.
How long had I been walking? As I crossed the bridge over the stream, I began to hear cheerful voices from below. Looking down, I saw a crowd of people gathered in the empty space under the bridge.
[Free Gukbap for Gate Victims! Come enjoy some warm gukbap~^^]
A crudely written banner fluttered in the wind. Now that I thought about it, I vaguely remembered hearing that a Gate had opened somewhere in this area.
‘I ended up here by chance.’
I hated crowded places. I quickened my pace, eager to leave that location behind.
But then, among the constantly laughing people, a small young girl caught my eye. With her hair tied tightly in a red ribbon, she darted between people like a squirrel, distributing spoons and napkins.
‘…pretending to be kind.’
Even as I thought cynically, I couldn’t easily tear my gaze away from the scene. A large pot with steam rising from it was filled with milky broth, and the people, each bearing some wound or scar, laughed loudly.
‘They claim to be Gate victims. What could they possibly be so happy about?’
I observed them blankly until the sun grew dim, but I found no answer.
‘…I’m hungry.’
It was a hunger I hadn’t felt in a long time. I eventually dragged my swollen feet back to the orphanage and boiled some instant noodles.
After that day, I went to that bridge every day. I didn’t join the laughing, chattering crowd, but simply watching from a distance never grew boring.
‘The person serving gukbap and the one setting the table must be a married couple. Then that young girl must be their daughter?’
Their family seemed to get along well. When the Husband made a joke, the Wife would strike his back sharply, yet he would laugh heartily as if it felt good. It was quite amusing.
Watching them laugh, I found myself smiling without realizing it. Looking at that scene, I even felt the illusion that I had become part of their family.
One day, observing them had become my daily routine.
“Who are you? Why do you keep spying on us every day?”
I turned to see a familiar little girl looking up at me. The young girl with her hair tied tightly in a ribbon shot me a suspicious glare.
“You’re not planning to report us, are you?”
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“Sometimes people running shops nearby report us. Well, as long as that’s not what you’re here for.”
“Why would I report—!”
Grrrrowl. At that moment, my stomach let out a loud rumble. Come to think of it, eating a single banana this morning was all I’d had to eat today. My face flushed red like a ripe apple.
‘She might mock me for being a beggar.’
I bit my lip and took a step back hesitantly. Just as I turned to run in the opposite direction, my sleeve suddenly stretched taut.
“I’m hungry too. Want to grab dinner together?”
Hyun-woo shook his head without realizing it, muttering under his breath.
“I’m… I’m not hungry. This is just…”
“What are you talking about? I said I’m hungry! Stop making excuses and come on.”
Hyun-woo clamped his mouth shut. Despite her cute appearance, the child’s personality was surprisingly stubborn.
‘This little thing has incredible strength…’
Of course, he could have resisted easily. But Hyun-woo didn’t. Grumbling all the while, he simply let himself be pulled by that small hand down beneath the bridge.
“Mom, lots of gukbap! A huge amount~!”
“Oh my! You brought a friend? Sure, sure. I’ll serve it right up. Honey! Can you set up a table for the kids?”
The Restaurant Owner’s Wife glanced at Hyun-woo with a warm smile and ladled a generous bowl of gukbap into a stone pot. Hyun-woo accepted it awkwardly and sat down at the folding table the Restaurant Owner’s Husband had set up. Immediately, the child plopped down beside him.
“My name is Jung Ha-neul! I’m 13 years old. What about you?”
“I’m Lee Hyun… but why do you keep speaking casually? I’m 16. I’m even wearing a school uniform.”
“Oh, you’re my senior? My bad!”
Ha-neul tossed out a playful apology and began slurping her gukbap without hesitation. The crisp, satisfying crunch of her biting into the pickled radish echoed cheerfully between spoonfuls.
“Don’t just watch—try it! It’s incredibly delicious.”
Hyun-woo swallowed involuntarily without thinking. He carefully lifted his spoon and took a sip of the broth.
‘What… this is actually amazing?’
He hadn’t expected much from free gukbap, but it tasted far better than he’d anticipated. It might have been the most delicious thing he’d ever eaten.
Hyun-woo’s spoonfuls grew faster and faster.
“It’s good, right? My mom and dad run this restaurant. People say it’s the gukbap they line up all day to eat!”
The child beside him chattered endlessly, practically vibrating with excitement. Normally, he despised loud people, but strangely, this child didn’t bother him at all.
‘She’s kind of cute, actually.’
Her chubby cheeks working as she ate, her round eyes sparkling. The way she blew on the hot gukbap and bounced her feet—Hyun-woo found himself smiling slightly before suddenly catching himself and shaking his head vigorously.
From that day on, Hyun-woo made the restaurant his regular haunt. Before long, he was naturally helping the Restaurant Owner’s Wife and Restaurant Owner’s Husband, trimming green onions and carrying heavy trays of gukbap.
“What? You have such a grown son?”
“Didn’t you know? Our son’s quite handsome!”
“My, what a fine-looking young man.”
When customers asked if Hyun-woo was their son, the Restaurant Owner’s Wife didn’t deny it—instead, she playfully treated him as her own. It felt oddly ticklish and pleasant, so Hyun-woo would just smile shyly in response.
“He’s not actually my son, you know?”
“Oh, but Ha-neul’s already got her eye on him as a future husband!”
“No! Sir, that’s not it at all!”
At the Neighborhood Man’s teasing remark, Ha-neul’s face turned crimson and she stomped her feet. Hyun-woo finally threw his head back and burst out laughing—the first time he’d laughed out loud since his mother had passed away.
One day, as Ha-neul was helping with the dishes, her eyes sparkled as she spoke.
“You know, big brother? My dream is to open my own restaurant someday. It’ll have such special food that you can only eat it at our shop!”
“Only at your shop? Where in the world would you find food like that?”
“Just wait and see. Even if people beg to eat there later, I won’t let them!”
Hyun-woo had to apologize profusely to Ha-neul before finally earning the right to visit her future restaurant.
“But when can you open the restaurant?”
“I don’t know. Maybe in about 10 years?”
“…That’s still a long way off.”
Hyun-woo shook his head as he imagined himself ten years from now. The future felt so distant and nebulous that he couldn’t even picture it.
“Can’t you open it just a little earlier?”
“It’s not like I can open it whenever I want! I need to find the perfect item for it!”
“…You could just run a Gukbap Restaurant. The food there is amazing.”
“That’s my parents’ shop, though. I want to do something completely different!”
As we spent the day exchanging such trivial banter, I didn’t even realize that I was naturally beginning to envision my future. And so, the Empty Space Under the Bridge gradually became woven into the fabric of my daily life.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com

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