Seeming unaware that Yuri approached the pot, he turned back with a slightly surprised expression. Yuri pulled her head back and looked down at the bubbling, unidentified dish.

“I heard that bean sprouts and dried pollack are good for hangovers, so I’m boiling them together.”

“Have you ever boiled bean sprout and dried pollack soup before?”

“No. It’s my first time trying it today.”
Jeho complained that unlike Western cuisine, Korean cuisine is challenging to cook even with a simple soup. Nevertheless, he skillfully prepared dried pollack and meticulously washed bean sprouts to make the soup without any fishy smell. After tasting the soup, Yuri unknowingly smiled and squinted.

“Is it really your first time trying this today? It’s genuinely delicious.”

“Yeah, I’m glad.”

As if suggesting that he wanted it spicier, Jeho extended a red pepper powder container towards Yuri. Yuri, with a crunchy sound, generously added red pepper powder to the soup. Jeho, watching Yuri emptying the soup bowl happily, looked at her with a pleased expression.

“My father can’t drink at all. Even a sip makes him almost pass out. My mother only drinks about one glass of champagne. So, we rarely had to make hangover soup at home.”

Perhaps influenced by his parents? Jeho seemed to mostly have non-alcoholic drinks when deciding whether to have a drink or not.

“So, it’s amazing. Someone who couldn’t even put alcohol in his mouth…”

As Jeho mumbled to himself, a dark shadow fell over his face. When Yuri looked at him with a concerned gaze, Jeho kindly smiled and nodded his head.

“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. Do you want more soup?”

Holding Yuri’s empty soup bowl, Jeho walked toward the gas stove. Yuri, watching Jeho boil the soup, cautiously brought up the subject.

“When you finish that, I’ll go home. I want to be alone today because I don’t feel well.”

“Then, who should take care of you?”

Putting down the soup bowl in front of Yuri, he asked.

“It’s not that bad. Being alone is more comfortable in this situation.”

“Okay. I’ll take you home after you finish eating.”

After giving Yuri a ride to the studio apartment, Jeho advised her to call anytime if she needed anything. Yuri mechanically nodded as she watched him leave. After he left, standing alone in the empty house, Yuri remained in place for a while.

When she realized she was alone, she felt strangely melancholic. In her heart, she wanted to stay by his side.

But now, she had to regain control of her complacent feelings. If she continued to receive care from him while feeling unwell, she would eventually collapse beyond repair.

“Ah.”

As if trying to sting her at that moment, a strong headache surged. Even though she stood still, her head pounded so much that tears welled up. But such pain was strangely welcome. It prevented her from thinking about anything else. Yuri wrapped her head with both hands and headed to the bedroom.

How long had she slept?

When she opened her eyes, the surroundings were already dark. Fortunately, the headache seemed to have completely subsided. Yuri slowly got up from the bed and left the bedroom.
Thanks for your request! Here is the English translation of the provided Korean paragraph:

Thanks to the automatic lighting, there was no need to turn on the lights. Yuri walked to the kitchen, and opened the refrigerator. As she took out a bottle of water and closed the refrigerator door, she felt a strange unfamiliarity.

The arrangement of items inside the refrigerator had changed slightly. Yuri narrowed her eyes and looked around. Not only inside the refrigerator but also in the kitchen, it felt as if someone had touched things here and there. It couldn’t be possible…

As she opened the water bottle and took a sip, turning around, she discovered an intruder sitting on the living room sofa in the darkness.

“Ahh!”

Yuri screamed, dropping the water bottle from her hand. At the same time, the intruder quickly stood up from the sofa.

“It’s me, don’t be scared.”

Yuri, sitting down in shock, grabbed Minwoo’s shoulders urgently and pulled him up again. Regaining her composure, Yuri pushed Minwoo away with both hands and shouted loudly.

“Are you crazy? What are you doing here right now?”

“Yuri, calm down and listen to me.”

Minwoo pleaded with an indignant expression, quickly explaining.

“I was worried because you didn’t answer my calls, so I came here. Do you know how sorry and worried I was after yesterday’s breakup?”

“How did you get in here?”

“The door was open. I thought it might be a burglar and was terrified. I looked around, but everything seemed fine, so I waited for you to wake up.”

The door was open?

Yuri pursed her dry lips with a dazed expression. Was it because she was so disoriented that she didn’t properly lock the door? She remembered opening the door and someone coming in, but she couldn’t recall confirming the door closing.

“Yuri, are you okay?”

Minwoo asked with a worried tone. When no response came from Yuri, he spoke again.

“No matter how good the security system is, you should be careful. A woman living alone becomes a target for crime. If some guy with ill intentions had sneaked in secretly, what would you have done?”

He was cautioning her, yet Minwoo himself had harbored ill intentions. As he looked down at the sleeping Yuri, a sinister impulse crossed his mind.

But unless they got drunk together like yesterday, if he tried something now, it would turn into a crime. He needed to be careful. Since he had exposed his weakness to Yuri, he couldn’t recklessly touch her.

“Hmm.”

Yuri took a deep breath, showing a confused expression. Her complexion looked very pale.

Did the effect of the drug kick in belatedly after she seemed to be just sleeping? Yesterday, Minwoo discreetly put some medicine in the last bottle of wine he opened. To avoid suspicion, he pretended to take a sip and handed the glass to Yuri. However, she, who completely emptied the glass, remained perfectly fine with just a single sip. In the afternoon, he finally investigated the drug, finding out that sometimes it didn’t work on certain people.
The next day, suffering from a headache similar to a hangover, he said it was due to developing resistance to sleeping pills. Did Yuri usually take sleeping pills frequently? Minwoo, who was pondering alone, recalled a gentle smile when his gaze met Yuri’s.

“Is the hangover severe? Shall we go eat hangover soup?”

Minwoo entered the role of an affectionate male friend. However, Yuri firmly refused with a cold expression.

“Thanks for the offer, but I’m going to lie down again, so you go home now.”

“Yuri.”

Minwoo approached Yuri, pointing to the front door, and pleaded with a pitiful tone.

“Give me a chance, please. I’ll show you that I can be a really good husband.”

“But, Yuri.”

“But you’re not feeling well, so I’ll just go today.”

Minwoo’s face looking at her seemed as forlorn as a rejected puppy. However, Yuri merely pointed to the front door with a firm expression.

As he left the apartment with a defeated look on his face, Yuri immediately locked the front door. Only after firmly securing even the door chain did she lean against the door, exhaling a sigh of relief.

“Ha, fool.”

A disappointed laughter flowed from Yuri’s lips.

Even though it was fleeting, she felt pathetic for not being able to endure her own desire to hope that it was Jeho.

Even now, in this moment, she wanted to see him so desperately.

Yuri despised that part of herself so much.