Chapter 4

He didn’t answer, his face was blank.

I picked up the plate that had been set down on the floor. Even when I got up from the floor, his body was really big. By how big I am now, with a grown man’s body, he still seemed to have had an extra head of height.

His shoulders were perfectly square with muscular arms, and his thick neck perfectly matched his face.

Even the shabby uniform looked like a splendidly beautiful optical illusion everytime he breathed.

I smiled when his eyes met mine. Then he frowned and glared.

I have two weeks left to ensure my life. Who cared if he looked at me and frowned? So I smiled brighter and kept meeting his eyes.

Then I picked up a spoon and stirred the thin watery porridge on the tray. As it was bland porridge without anything, there was no smell. They could have at least put a little bit of salt.

I stirred it moderately, but it was lukewarm enough that I didn’t need to cool it down.

“Ah.”

He looked straight at me without opening his mouth.

Oh, is it because you think there are some drugs in the food?

Then at that moment—

A bizarre ‘croaking’ growl resounded from my stomach. He opened his eyes wide and looked at me with puzzlement. How embarrassing, my face was burning. It was hot upto my ears.

“H-hurry open your mouth— quickly.”

“How do I know what’s in there?”

“I didn’t do anything!”

He beckoned me to try it, so I had no choice but to put it in my mouth first.

Wow.

It really doesn’t taste like anything.

It is probably better to eat rice with water than this. Of course, the food made for gastrointestinal exercise couldn’t be delicious.

“Look, didn’t I tell you? I didn’t put anything in.”

Finally he opened his mouth. I couldn’t use the spoon I used, so I used the extra spoon I brought. Once you enter this cell, you can’t open the door from the inside until a certain amount of time has passed.

I had brought one more spoon and fork in advance.

“Ugh… .”

He took a bite of porridge, and he seemed to feel the same way.

“You have to eat it all. Understand?”

As I watched the furrows between his eyebrows and forehead deepen, I pressed on it unconsciously*. [t1v: it’s a Korean thing to stop people from frowning, idk if others do it]

“What are you doing?”

“I was afraid it would be wrinkled.”

“Won’t you take it off?”

“Hehe.”

Clearly, earlier I was so scared I was numb, but perhaps because he was tied up, that fear was slowly melting away.

“Whooo,”

I sighed and held out the crumbled bread.

“How do I know what’s in there?”

“Fine.”

I ate some first, then handed it to him, and he took it and ate it. The bread was torn into small pieces and topped with dried bacon.

“The meat smells fishy.”

“Huh?”

“I don’t want to eat it.”

“Ah oh, I see.”

So I put it back down.

“If you leave food, I might get scolded.”

It will be my fault if he leaves food behind. Because these garbage-like foods were unexpectedly precisely calculated with nutrients.

“That’s not my problem.”

“Right.”

He spoke coldly, but I had no choice but to offer him the bread.

“Put it away.”

“Can you just eat this?”

Because he turned his head as if he was repulsed, I tried serving him the sweet potato salad instead.

“Ah~”

“I hate sweet potatoes the most.”

“Huh?”

There was no such setting in the original. I think he ate as much as he was served, though.

“Feed me that.”

“You said this doesn’t taste good.”

“No, I didn’t.”

He said that, so I scooped out a porridge and gave it to him, and as he frowned he ate it. In the end, he ate all the porridge, but he didn’t look very good.

I looked over the leftover food, worried that I would be punished if I went out like this.

“That.”

“What?”

“If you don’t want to be scolded, you take care of it.”

Maybe it’s impossible to pull out the dead flag?

For a second I thought that maybe he was venting out his anger, but I thought—

“D-did you do this because you’re afraid I’ll be hungry?”

“No.”

My heart leaped even before he denied it.

Kalisten responded favorably to my smile!

If then—

In order not to die like in the original, wouldn’t the two have to avoid each other? What if I made it painfully awkward to be around me?

So you won’t kill me for not smiling?

If so, wouldn’t it be okay if I showed interest first?

“I like you.”

I was a cornered rat.

I could do anything to live.