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Join the Server“Nothing happened.”
Lee Do-kyung sighed.
“I swear on my name.”
He wondered what to stake, but ultimately, nothing was as important as his own name.
Seon Woo-min, who had been standing with a stiff expression, laughed incredulously.
“Why would you swear on your name?”
“Anyway.
You were extremely drunk.
You couldn’t move, and your companion was nowhere to be found.
I thought you should lie down somewhere, so I took you to a room.”
“……”
“I even made all my friends leave the room so you could rest comfortably.”
Seon Woo-min, who had been listening carefully, finally nodded after a long pause.
“Yes.
I understand what you’re saying.”
If the pierced man had done something inappropriate to him, he wouldn’t have let him go so easily through Jun-ho.
He would have just left him there or fled without looking back.
Instead, the pierced man had done the opposite.
That alone didn’t prove his innocence, but as he listened to his explanation, Woo-min remembered the unfounded sense of ease he’d felt toward this man in the room last night.
The fact that he felt so drained right after confirming the truth showed how tense he’d been.
Having something happen to your body without your knowledge while unconscious is an unfathomable horror.
“I’m relieved…”
Seon Woo-min, who had been stiff all along, muttered to himself.
When a faint smile appeared on his face, Do-kyung, who had been incredulous, ran his tongue along the inside of his cheek.
Relieved?
Did you just say you’re relieved?
Even if he gave a hundred concessions to understand the position of someone so relieved that nothing had happened, the person involved was him.
Woo-min’s “relieved” sounded to Do-kyung like “I’m so, so relieved nothing happened with you.”
Not only had he treated him like a molester, but now he was reacting like this right in front of him.
It felt a bit too much.
“I think I misunderstood.
I’m sorry, sir.”
“Yeah, well.”
Do-kyung took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth with an indifferent air.
Woo-min, following his hand with his eyes, frowned slightly.
It was the same Cloud Nine he smoked.
He rarely saw anyone else smoke that brand…?
“Anyway, thank you for your concern.”
Seon Woo-min added.
With the misunderstanding cleared and the overall situation understood, he felt sorry toward the pierced man.
He could have just passed by someone who was too drunk to stand, but because of their café connection, he’d taken the trouble to move him to a room.
And Woo-min had immediately lashed out at him.
Even a hundred bows of gratitude wouldn’t be enough, yet he’d treated him like an inconsiderate person.
“Sir, I feel so sorry that I—”
Can’t you just drop the ‘sir’?
“Uh huh.”
Lee Do-kyung, lighting his cigarette, answered absentmindedly.
If it were anyone else, he would have yelled and gotten angry, but because it was Seon Woo-min, he was holding back and being generous.
The way he hesitated, touching his cheek… was kind of cute.
You’re still the same when you’ve done something wrong, Seon Woo-min.
Just seeing the Woo-min before him overlap with the lover from the past softened Do-kyung’s heart.
“If you don’t mind me asking, how much was the room rental?
I don’t know what else I can do, but it seems only right that I at least pay half of that.”
“…What,”
Cough, cough—Do-kyung choked, smoke going down his windpipe.
It felt like his throat was on fire.
“Are you okay?”
Seon Woo-min, who had opened the calculator app on his phone, was flustered by the red-rimmed blue-grey eyes glaring at him, but awkwardly held out a napkin from his pocket.
Waving his hand to say it was fine, Do-kyung kept coughing.
He doubled over like a critically ill patient, and Woo-min grew more flustered.
“This won’t do.
I’ll get you some water.”
As Woo-min was about to run back into the café, his forearm was grabbed.
“…f*ck, I almost died.
Never mind the water.”
Do-kyung waved his hand, his face bright red.
Half the room rental fee?
Not even buying me a meal or sending a gift coupon, but half the room rental fee…
He was just a bit surprised because the proposed compensation was so novel.
All Seon Woo-min had done was lie on a sofa for a while, completely passed out, so why was he offering to pay half the room rental?
Well.
The fact that he was trying to settle it with money showed they weren’t close yet.
“Sir, please don’t just say it’s fine.
If there’s anything you need, please tell me.”
“Ha…”
Seon Woo-min looked up at Lee Do-kyung with concern as he scowled, his face gradually returning to its normal color, and kept smoking.
From what he’d looked up, a party room at Mesh cost about a million won.
They weren’t close enough to ignore that debt, and since he’d gone to that trouble for him, Woo-min thought it was only right to offer.
“Yeah, yeah.
If I need anything, I’ll let you know.
Go back to work.”
Do-kyung turned his gaze away as if it were a bother.
Woo-min, who had been standing there blankly, gave a short bow and went back into the café.
Yeah, that cold side of Woo-min was his charm.
It used to turn me on like crazy, and now it’s being directed at me, which is annoying.
Once the thin ice in those pretty eyes melted, coldness would turn to affection, and he’d look at him with that pure, devoted gaze, as if being drawn in.
I wish that day would come sooner.
Remembering the Seon Woo-min who only knew him made Do-kyung smile, blowing out smoke.
***
Seon Woo-min took a mug of coffee beer and got into bed.
After repeating his commute for several days, now resting at home, the pierced man still weighed on his mind.
It was rare for him to think about a customer outside the café.
This wasn’t because their conversation had ended on a somewhat sharp note, nor because he hadn’t repaid his debt.
It was his expression, his words and actions—they kept lingering in his mind.
The pierced man hadn’t just vented frustration and anger about being misunderstood.
There was something deeper, a sense of betrayal, in those blue-grey eyes.
The message behind ‘Do I look like that kind of person?’ seemed to be ‘How could you do this to me?’
It had been like that the first day he came to the café.
He’d looked at Woo-min as if he knew him, as if there was something beyond just knowing him, and had murmured his name so pitifully it made his heart sink.
Woo-min brought the mug to his lips and took small sips, like drinking tea.
The bittersweet, cool coffee beer moistened his mouth.
“I don’t know.”
Still, he was just a café customer.
People come and go daily, then suddenly stop—because they moved, got married, or for no reason at all.
That’s what customers are.
You might feel a pang looking at their usual table, but soon a new customer appears to fill the spot.
That’s the café cycle.
The pierced man was just one of those customers.
Was it excessive to be analyzing and ruminating over him like this?
Seon Woo-min adjusted the angle of the tablet on its stand to watch the Invincible Power Kitty Corps.
Then he picked up his phone.
Even though he’d been out of touch because of his hectic life, he hadn’t forgotten Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake.
The chat window with MungBeanPancake was still where they’d last left off.
Since he was online, Woo-min decided to greet him first, also to thank him.
It was far more proactive and assertive compared to his offline relationships.
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [MungBeanPancake-nim, you’re here.]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [How have you been?]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Hi!!!!]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [It’s been so long lol lol]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Have you been well, Nokddoongie-nim?]
Seon Woo-min laughed, a sound like air escaping a balloon.
MungBeanPancake’s uniquely cheerful style, no matter when he heard it, never failed to lift his spirits.
Perhaps because he’d read the posts MungBeanPancake left on the ‘5 Cats’ board, he felt even closer to him.
Like a strong sense of camaraderie, which made MungBeanPancake seem almost heroic.
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [More than being well,]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I saw the post you made.]
‘Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake’ and ‘I Am The Boss Monster’ had both received warnings from the moderators.
Their posts were deleted simultaneously with a strong new announcement: anyone defaming the five Invincible Power Kitty Corps cats or posting target-shooting posts between members would be permanently banned.
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Ahang]
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read I Just Wanted An Ordinary Life This Time! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : I Just Wanted An Ordinary Life This Time
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