Chapter 105

Yo Han Sung’s meat flirting.

It was nothing short of shocking.

And he was making a move right in front of the table where everyone was gathered? Of course every gaze snapped toward them.

Wow. I’m losing my mind.

And that wasn’t all. Cameras were filming the group dinner scene from every direction—left, right, above, below, diagonally, wide shots, close-ups, every possible angle.

He had to eat this meat.

There was no way he could refuse it.

Meat flirting was, at most, just feeding someone meat. Families did it, friends did it, seniors and juniors did it. It was only a friendly little way of sharing food and building affection.

Gyeol did not want to be branded as the Omega who rejected that very “at-most meat flirting” from one of South Korea’s top stars right to his face. The public was terrifying. One wrong move, and he might get stuck with the title of an unlikable Omega who got arrogant because he was a junior enjoying a little popularity on a dating show and made a huge fuss over nothing.

In an instant, tens of thousands of negative possibilities flashed through Gyeol’s mind.

So he had to eat it.

Especially on a dating show. What was so special about feeding someone meat?

“...Thank you.”

With a small word of thanks, Gyeol lowered his head and carefully accepted the meat between his teeth.

The meat was properly cooked, tender, and savory, but because of all the eyes on him, Gyeol couldn’t taste it properly at all. He simply chewed and swallowed it down by force. All that followed was the awareness that something had passed down his throat.

Still, he had to show some sincerity toward the person who had grilled and fed it to him.

“It’s good.”

When he managed to smile and say that, Yo Han finally withdrew the tongs with a smile.

“Eat a lot.”

Looking like a nobleman who belonged in some romance novel, yet holding a pair of tongs that didn’t suit him in the slightest, Yo Han returned to the grill with a satisfied expression.

Tommy, who had been watching the two with his mouth hanging open, quickly turned his eyes away. When he shoved three pieces of meat into his mouth in a row, Isu Yoon joked, “Can we get some meat over here too, boss?”

Hwang Gyujin smiled slyly, as if he had figured something out, while the rest of the contestants, unlike usual, made no comment at all. They acted as if they hadn’t seen anything and focused on eating, which only drove Gyeol even more insane.

You all saw and heard everything. Just react instead.

It would have been better if they teased them the way they did with Sun or Tommy. Pretending not to notice only created that so-called “protective” atmosphere.

Do not push me and Yo Han into that kind of mood.

Even Hanseul, apparently unwilling to let himself be rejected twice and wound his pride further, turned his head and pretended not to see.

Yo Han Sung, that bastard. What, is he holding a ritual to make someone choke? Doing things he never does...

Gyeol put another piece of meat into his mouth and chewed for a long while as he glanced toward Yo Han.

In front of the grill, Yo Han looked far too pleased with himself, whether he knew Gyeol’s situation or not.

Watching him diligently grill meat while sweating and casually clinking beer cans with Tommy felt strangely unreal and, unexpectedly, natural at the same time.

Gyeol didn’t know much else, but he could already clearly imagine how people would evaluate Yo Han once R-Connect 10 aired.

Human warmth. Down-to-earth charm. Unexpected variety-show sense.

That was probably what they would say. The fact that he, after maintaining a mysterious image for so long, had appeared on a dating show at all was already an unconventional move, and his words and behavior on the broadcast would be even more surprising. Besides, that surprise would mostly land in a positive direction.

“Gyeol, can you pass some more beer over there?”

“Yeah. There’s plenty here. I’ll send it over.”

At Isu’s request from the far end of the opposite side, Gyeol’s attention returned to the table.

After passing several cans of beer in that direction, Gyeol slowly ate his meat.

The quality was good. It was fresh and definitely delicious, but his appetite would not come back. Even though he knew he shouldn’t be like this, thoughts of Yuli kept surfacing again and again. He was worried.

In the end, Gyeol put down his chopsticks.

He was somehow smiling and keeping up with the mood, but his thoughts kept flying somewhere they shouldn’t.

Why isn’t Hyesung contacting me?

Yuli was sick. Hyesung knows I’d be worried, so there’s no way he’d go this long without reaching out...

What if something happened...

“Gyeol.”

“Yes.”

Gyeol’s eyes snapped up. Without realizing it, he must have been staring downward, lost in thought.

The person who called him was Sun. He was holding a large lettuce wrap in his hand.

“I tried... making you a wrap.”

Before the meaning of the words had even properly reached Gyeol’s brain, Hee Jun Kang, sitting beside Sun, reacted.

“Oh my god. Wrap flirting.”

Sun hesitated just as he was about to extend his arm toward Gyeol, his face flushing bright red.

Criticism rained down on Hee Jun from every direction.

“Wow, Hee Jun! You’re supposed to pretend not to notice!”

“Hee Jun Kang. You’ve been on the island too long. Your instincts are slipping.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It just slipped out.”

Hee Jun waved his hands and apologized repeatedly to Sun. The more he did, the redder Sun’s face became.

“Competition’s fierce.”

Hwang Gyujin murmured with a sly smile.

“Even when you try to pretend not to know, there’s always someone who can’t hold back their comedy instincts.”

“Aaaah, Sun Choi! I’m really sorry! Let’s start over from the beginning, okay?”

“How exactly are we supposed to start over?”

The teasing of Sun continued. Apparently the reason everyone had been quiet earlier was simply because the other person had been Yo Han. Seeing how excited they got the moment Tommy or Sun became the target, Gyeol felt endlessly awkward.

“Th-thank you, Sun. Give it here.”

Thinking he needed to fix the situation, Gyeol reflexively reached out both hands to receive the wrap.

But then—

“Come on, you’re supposed to eat a wrap from someone’s hand.”

Sitting one seat away from Gyeol, Hwang Gyujin stretched out his long arm and blocked Gyeol’s hands. He seemed to have already adapted perfectly to the show’s atmosphere.

“You can eat it however you want. I really don’t mind—”

Sun did not get to finish.

Before he could, Gyeol stood from his seat, bent at the waist, and accepted the wrap with his mouth.

The noisy group fell slightly quiet.

Gyeol boldly opened his mouth and took the wrap in one bite, making both his cheeks puff out.

“Wasn’t that too big for Gyeol?”

Isu sounded worried, but Gyeol stubbornly chewed the wrap until the end.

Then he swallowed it down.

“There. I accepted it with my mouth and ate the whole thing.”

Smiling boldly, Gyeol swept his gaze over Hwang Gyujin and the people seated around him.

“I went first and broke the ice, so now don’t hold back. Everyone can make wraps and feed them to each other nicely.”

People burst into laughter, and the mood flipped.

They fed each other wraps, clinked beer cans again and again, and one person even stood up saying they would go make ramen. The energy only rose higher.

Only after he had been pushed out of everyone’s awareness did Gyeol let out a shallow breath of relief.

“Thank you, Gyeol.”

Sun spoke to him quietly.

“Hm?”

“I think you did that to help me.”

“No. If I’d understood faster and eaten it sooner, people wouldn’t have teased you like that. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

Gyeol waved a small hand in denial.

Sun awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.

“I think I may have made the wrap too big too.”

“No, not at all. It was totally manageable. Really.”

The truth was that it had been a little difficult. But when Sun looked at him with his thick eyebrows drooping apologetically, Gyeol couldn’t say anything that even slightly sounded like blame.

It couldn’t be helped. People said kind words deserved kind words in return, didn’t they?

Even if he couldn’t match how well Sun treated him, Gyeol wanted to be good to him in small ways too.

As he talked with Sun, Gyeol fidgeted with his hands under the table. Usually, after someone fed you a wrap, you made one for them too. He wondered whether he should make a wrap for Sun.

“What are you two talking about so happily?”

Yo Han appeared with the question and placed a plate piled high with meat in the center of the table.

For a moment, it felt as if his hand brushed the back of Gyeol’s head.

Very lightly. Very softly.

“Yo Han. Good work. Did you eat?”

“I ate plenty here and there while grilling. There’s nothing left to grill now.”

“There seemed to be quite a lot, but I suppose you finished it all.”

“Everyone eats well. I grilled every bit of it. That’s good, I guess.”

But when Yo Han then calmly took the seat beside Gyeol, Gyeol wondered if he had imagined it. Because Yo Han spoke with Sun as if nothing had happened and even laughed softly.

What was that...?

A crooked feeling poked its head up inside him. For no real reason, Gyeol rubbed the back of his own head before lowering his hand.

Come to think of it, there were exceptions to everything.

People, for example, to whom you simply could not return kindness no matter how kindly they spoke to you.

“Why are you eating so little, Gyeol Go?”

People like this man.

Like Yo Han Sung.

“I ate a lot.”

“No, you didn’t. Looks like you barely ate at all.”

His words carried the certainty of someone who had been watching the entire time. He had supposedly been standing in front of the hot grill cooking meat, and yet he had still been watching Gyeol?

“You’re making me worry.”

The short words that followed were so quiet and casual that even Sun, sitting right across from him, probably couldn’t hear them.

Something fluttered softly near Gyeol’s chest.

“Gyeol, you haven’t eaten much?”

“No. I ate enough. I usually don’t eat many sides when I drink beer.”

He had barely drunk any beer at all. But after hearing it was sponsored product placement, he had pretended to drink here and there, so this seemed like the most natural excuse.

Even after he said that, neither Yo Han nor Sun took their eyes off him.

Both gazes were so intense that Gyeol suppressed the urge to sink into the ground and changed the subject.

“Instead of doing this, since Yo Han is here too, should the three of us cheers one more time?”

Neither Alpha answered immediately, but fortunately, each of them picked up a fresh beer as if accepting.

This is exhausting. Really exhausting.

Letting some tension leave his body, Gyeol picked up his own can of beer too.

“Gyeol Go.”

But before the three of them could clink cans, a staff member approached while calling his name.