Chapter Text
That day, the hangover soup restaurant was closed for Sunday. Euijae lay down beside Sayoung, who was sitting on the bed—apparently working through some documents on his tablet related to a Research Institute still under his control.
Euijae unlocked his phone and began scrolling through his screen, filled with all kinds of interesting videos. Yes, he was browsing YouTube.
On a day off like this, he had nothing else to do but cook and laze around with Sayoung all day.
His eyes stopped on a thumbnail showing someone’s face with a living room in the background. The video’s title was interesting enough to catch his attention.
[My Daily Activities After Retiring as a Hunter! One Day in My Life]
Huh, life after retirement, huh?
Of course, people who retired from being Hunters usually chose different activities or new jobs. Bae Wonwoo became an instructor at his cousin’s taekwondo dojo, Choi Goyo was busy preparing for the CSAT while working as a driver, and Kang Jisoo returned to university to continue her studies.
Cha Euijae too, he had gone from being a part-timer at the hangover soup restaurant to becoming its owner.
Come to think of it, Hunter J disappeared after the apocalypse and the system vanished, didn’t he? He still accepted requests for assistance from the government, but only for particularly difficult jobs, so Euijae wasn’t called very often.
He didn’t want to sound arrogant, but didn’t Hunter J have a lot of fans? Imagine an idol suddenly disappearing again without a trace, how would the fans feel? They would surely be sad.
'Should I try doing something?'
Just something simple, under the name Hunter J—to let everyone know he was doing fine.
“Sayoung, should I record a video?”
Sayoung’s typing hand immediately stopped.
“Don’t even think about doing something weird, Hyung.”
“No? I was just thinking that maybe there are people out there who are curious about how I’ve been—”
“No.”
“—so I’ll make a video like this once in a while.” Euijae finished his sentence anyway, showing Sayoung the video he had been watching.
Lee Sayoung sighed.
Why bother updating people you don’t even know? Of course, the main reason was that he didn’t want J’s daily life to be exposed to too many people.
“Sayoung-ah.”
“…Hyung, no.”
Euijae clicked his tongue and turned his attention back to his phone. This time, it wasn’t his face that was turned toward Sayoung, but his back.
Seeing that, Sayoung could only sigh. His hyung didn’t understand just how dangerous it was for a famous person to share videos of their daily life.
He didn’t doubt the security of their apartment, but there were surely crazy fans who would dare to track down J’s coordinates and creep around the neighborhood where he and his hyung lived.
Sayoung set his tablet aside and looked at his hyung’s smooth nape. Slowly, he lay down and wrapped his arms around Euijae from behind, breathing in the fresh scent of shampoo from Euijae’s ash-gray hair.
His arms fit perfectly around Euijae’s waist, as if it had been made just for him.
“Hyung.”
“Hm?”
“Are you mad?”
“No.”
“You’re sulking.”
“…”
Euijae quickly turned around and pecked Sayoung’s lips.
“Sayoung-ah, hmm?”
He gave him the cutest look he could manage. If Lee Sayoung could easily change Cha Euijae’s mind by acting cute, then surely it worked the other way around too, right?
There was no reaction from Sayoung. He was too stunned and needed a moment to process what had just happened, this was the first time Euijae had ever acted like this. Usually, the older one had too much pride to do something like this.
But Euijae took Sayoung’s silence as resistance.
Without warning, Euijae kissed him again. When he pulled back, Sayoung grabbed the back of Euijae’s neck, pinning him beneath himself and devouring those tempting lips.
His tongue slipped between slightly parted lips, invading Euijae’s mouth at will. Euijae was still at first, then slowly began to enjoy the kiss, his arms looping around Sayoung’s neck and drawing them even closer.
Soft moans occasionally escaped Euijae’s lips when Sayoung deliberately pressed his knee between Euijae’s legs.
The kiss finally broke, leaving Euijae gasping. Damn it. Cha Euijae, breathless, flushed, and glassy-eyed beneath him, was far too tempting.
“…Weren’t you talking about making a daily life video as J?”
“Yea…”
“I’ll allow it. Under a few conditions.”
.
.
.
.
Euijae cursed Lee Sayoung in his heart.
What started as a kiss at noon escalated into something much more intimate by afternoon. After resting together in the bathroom for an hour, that perverted bastard Lee Sayoung pounced on him again the second they reached the bed.
Until late at night.
It reminded him of the first time they did it. Sayoung hadn’t stopped until Euijae passed out.
This time was no different, if Euijae hadn’t passed out from exhaustion and drowsiness, Lee Sayoung wouldn’t have stopped until it was time to prepare ingredients for the restaurant.
Seriously, they were both rank S and Sayoung was even weaker than Euijae. But did their stamina capacities differ that much?
Euijae looked at the pretty face hugging him and harshly pinched Sayoung’s cheek.
“Morning, Hyung.”
“Your smile is annoying.”
Sayoung only chuckled softly before letting go of Euijae, who needed to open the restaurant.
After persuading Lee Sayoung again in the bathroom the previous afternoon, they finally agreed on the following rules:
1. The channel would be managed by Lee Sayoung.
2. Cha Euijae would record his daily life without showing his face. His body could appear in the video, but only up to his neck.
3. He wasn’t allowed to record anything that revealed his location (such as streets), and he definitely shouldn’t record at the hangover soup restaurant unless he wanted the place to be overrun.
4. The videos would be edited by the Mackerel brothers before being reviewed by Sayoung and uploaded to the channel.
There was actually one more thing, J would definitely receive many invitations to appear on TV shows. But since Sayoung managed J’s account, he could simply reject them all without telling Euijae. With those conditions, Euijae agreed easily.
After getting ready, they left together. Sayoung dropped Euijae off at the restaurant before heading to Incheon for some business.
Ah, Euijae forgot to ask one thing. Should he record without his mask? After all, his face wouldn’t be visible. There was no way someone could recognize a person just by their voice, right? (There was.) Well, unless they were a Hunter or someone with extremely sharp hearing.
.
.
.
.
J @J_officialChannel
“Uh… is this okay?”
On the screen appeared the body of a man wearing a loose white T-shirt and a plain dark blue apron with no alcohol brand logo. He seemed to be adjusting the camera to get the right angle. From the frame, only his upper body up to his neck was visible. In front of him were fresh cooking ingredients that looked like they had just come out of the fridge.
– Huh? Is this really Hunter J’s channel?
– J, I missed you!! Ahh, my hero 💙
– No way someone would dare impersonate J, right? lol
– I don’t know if this is really J or not, but it feels legit? Who would dare use J’s name and upload on YouTube. If it were fake, it’d get taken down in less than a minute
↳ That actually makes sense
↳ You’re right, it’s been over an hour and it’s still up
After successfully positioning the camera, a voice was heard, not J’s distorted voice from behind a mask, but an unfamiliar one.
It was J’s real voice.
“Hello, this is J.”
The figure awkwardly greeted the camera and waved.
“Maybe a lot of people have been curious about how I’ve been… sorry for disappearing so suddenly, haha.”
“There isn’t much I can say… I’m doing well, living comfortably, and occasionally helping out when Jung Bin contacts me.”
– I’m so glad to hear you’re doing well, J-nim!
– Whoa, whoa, is this J’s real voice? Damn, I never thought I’d live to hear my hero’s real voice
– Of course you’re living comfortably, you’re a hero
↳ Hey asshole, do you think being a hero is easy?
↳ J-nim deserves a comfortable life, you don’t know, I saw him fighting since the first rift appeared!!
↳ Let’s report this user together
– J-nim, your voice is amazing!
“It’d be boring if the video didn’t do anything, right?”
– No! Just hearing your voice is already a blessing
– Not at all, J-nim, even if you just stay still, it’s fine~
“Lately, I’ve been trying to cook… today, I’ll be making samgyetang.”
His bare hands, marked with faint scars, showed each ingredient laid out on the table—starting with the chicken, vegetables, samgyetang herbs, and other necessary tools.
The camera shifted to another angle, showing J cleaning a whole chicken at the sink, skillfully washing away the remaining blood.
– Even Hunter J is learning something new—we should follow his example
– So J-nim’s new hobby is cooking, huh
– I feel so blessed just watching J-nim cook TT
– He looks really skilled!
The camera returned to its original position as J began stuffing the cleaned chicken with the prepared ingredients. After that, he sewed it shut with thread so nothing would spill out.
The angle shifted slightly so the stove entered the frame. In between, J occasionally muttered to himself, like, 'Is this right?' or 'This should be enough,' which sounded unbearably cute to the viewers.
After placing the chicken into a pot with 2.5 liters of water, J cut an onion and green onions into four pieces and added them to the pot.
“I’m following a simple recipe since this is my first time making samgyetang. Next time, I’ll practice first before recording.”
“…”
“Uh… on second thought, I don’t think I have time to cook twice, so I’ll just record everything.”
– No time? There are no monsters anymore, how do you not have time?
↳ You know you don’t have to comment, right?
↳ So many barking dogs ruining the mood
↳ Bark bark, lol
– Hunter J, please use your time however you want—we’d be happy even if you just posted a single word!
– Crazy, I think Hunter J watched the same tutorial as me, I made it exactly like this too
↳ Same, he probably just clicked the top result lol
↳ Turns out we have something in common with Hunter J
The video skipped ahead to the part where the samgyetang had been simmering for an hour. J removed the onion and green onions from the broth, leaving only the stuffed chicken and soup in the pot.
“I soaked the glutinous rice for an hour earlier.”
J added the soaked rice into the pot. While waiting for it to cook, he brought out a container of kimchi.
“This is kimchi I made.”
He brought out a small plate, a bowl of rice, and a medium-sized bowl. J placed some kimchi onto the small plate, then opened the pot of finished samgyetang. Carefully, he transferred the soup and chicken into the bowl.
“Done.”
– Whoa, that looks delicious, seriously
– I want to try J-nim’s cooking TT
↳ 2222
↳ 3333
– Samgyetang ingredients are definitely going to sell out after this
↳ If they really sell out, I’ll be the one who bought them all lol
↳ Save some for me
– I’m heading to the market now, bye~
↳ Me too
↳ Wait for me
The video ended with J tasting the soup and giving a thumbs-up to show that it was a success. Unfortunately, viewers couldn’t see him eat. However, one comment once again set the internet ablaze.
– …Wasn’t there something black visible when the camera angle changed near the sink?
– Hey, hey, hey, isn’t that Hunter Lee Sayoung?
↳ Damn, that really is him
↳ There are definitely going to be new rumors about them now
↳ See? I told you the 240J ship isn’t sinking!!
↳ You’re a 240xJ shipper, aren’t you? Looks like it
If you looked closely during the scene where J was washing the chicken, behind him you could see Lee Sayoung sitting at the dining table, playing with his phone. The phone’s camera was pointed at J, most likely recording or taking photos of him from behind.
J’s cooking video quickly went viral, topping search rankings. A few hours later, YouTube feeds were flooded with reaction videos to J’s cooking content.
Even Korean chefs uploaded reaction videos, filled with praise for how skillfully J handled cooking tools, his cooking ability nearly rivaled his prowess on the battlefield, despite them never tasting his food.
As J’s content went viral, speculation exploded after Hunter Lee Sayoung was spotted on camera sitting at the dining table, watching J cook.
History repeated itself. The rank 1 and rank 2 Hunters once again dominated every social media feed with their scandals. Sayoung didn’t try to take down any of the articles, while Euijae was busy reading comments under his video. The lack of confirmation from either party sent South Korea into a frenzy.
Meanwhile, the two individuals at the center of the nation’s hottest topic were busy with their own affairs. Euijae taking endless orders at the hangover soup restaurant, and Sayoung sitting at a corner table, watching Euijae move back and forth.
When it was time to close, Sayoung helped Euijae kick out drunk customers and clean up the restaurant together. They went home together, then slept in the same bed.
Their ordinary daily life.
Ordinary—yet special.