Chapter 11: Two Versions of You

That man did not react as he had expected.

No, from the very beginning, his reactions themselves were not normal.

Seon Woo-min gave up on predicting the pierced man.

If he gave up, there would be no need to prepare.

He merely felt brief relief at the fact that the man’s actions were not a show of favor toward him, but praise for the coffee itself.

“Hey.

You could have at least given me the coupon, what’s with the bravado?”

“Hmm.”

Let’s just consider it part of the ‘Seon Woo-min Fishing Project,’ Lee Do-kyung replied to himself inwardly.

Woo-min was the type who, even if you laid out the most tempting feast before him, would only move once his own heart was stirred.

To do that, piquing his curiosity came first.

Once he started liking something, Seon Woo-min would sweep through it at lightning speed—it was only a matter of time.

But getting him to like you in the first place… perhaps it was a bit tricky.

If he clumsily showed his feelings or displayed premature interest, he could get cut off before things even started.

[Take this.]

[…What is this?]

[It’s a milk tea latte.

Warm.]

[I know it’s a warm drink.

I’m asking why you’re giving this to me.]

[You lent me change back then.

At the vending machine.]

Don’t you remember?

Do-kyung pointed with his finger toward the central library visible in the distance.

Seon Woo-min’s eyes, which had followed his tattooed index finger and then returned, were firmly hardened, concealing a faint tremor.

[I didn’t lend it to you, I gave it to you.

So I don’t see why I should accept this.]

Bowing his head briefly, Seon Woo-min turned away and walked for a long while.

At some point, he stopped and looked back this way.

When their eyes met, his slender Adam’s apple could be seen moving.

He apparently hadn’t expected Do-kyung to still be watching him.

When Do-kyung waved, Woo-min gave an awkward nod and continued on his way.

His pace was faster than before.

“Well, good.

Good.”

This bizarre second-round life does have its advantages—I can even pass on tips to myself.

Lee Do-kyung grinned and pulled out his phone.

“Aren’t you going to stop resting and work now?”

To Hwang Un-jae, who was dampening his mood, Do-kyung said he still needed more rest and pointed to his half-full kiwi juice as if to say look at this.

***

On the subway heading home, Seon Woo-min sat in an empty seat and immediately opened the fan page’s chat window on his phone.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Hello, Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake-nim.

Nice to meet you.

By special edition, are you perhaps referring to Mung Bean?]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Ah, of course it’s Mung Bean!]

Just re-reading the conversation, which had barely gone back and forth a few times, made him feel as if he was being pulled back into that morning’s excitement.

With that single phrase, ‘of course it’s Mung Bean,’ Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake had breached the fortress walls in one go and even engraved a timeless masterpiece of a saying deep in Woo-min’s heart.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Unfortunately, I couldn’t get one.]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Ah, really?]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake was currently online on the fan page.

A real-time chat with a Mung Bean fan—rarer than ginseng.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Yes.

While I was momentarily distracted with something else, there was only one left, but]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Someone else took it.]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Oh dear]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake-nim, were you successful?]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [What do you think? (hehe)]

If asked back like this offline, Seon Woo-min probably wouldn’t have answered, but this was a conversation with a Mung Bean fan about Mung Bean.

Hadn’t he himself just offered information he didn’t even need to share?

The silly smiling emoji next to the question mark and the tone of Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake, which kept making him feel hopeful, made Woo-min more generous than usual.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [So you succeeded, then.]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Hmph]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Hmph hmph]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Hmph hmph hmph]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Correct (coolness)]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [TTTTT Congratulations TTTTTTTT You must have saved the nation in a past life TTTTTTTTTTTTTT]

Lee Do-kyung, who had gone out for an evening drive because he was getting restless, had pulled over to the shoulder of the road and was typing messages.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I guess so (hehe)]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Whenever I see you]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I feel full witehtu]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I feel full without even eating anything (ecstatic)]

‘When I see you eat, I feel full without eating anything myself.’

It was a phrase Seon Woo-min used to say habitually.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake-nim, if it’s not too much trouble]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Could you maybe show me the Mung Bean figure?]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Ah, it’s nothing else, TT]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I just wanted to feel some vicarious satisfaction from someone who has one…]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [What it feels like to have the Mung Bean edition at home]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I wonder what that’s like. (teary)]

Before he knew it, Seon Woo-min was using emojis, following Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake’s lead.

It was his first time talking online with this person, and he had even made a request he would never have made to anyone else in his life.

Holding his phone, he caught his breath and looked around the train interior, his cheeks faintly flushed.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Ahang!

Sure!

Bu but I’m outshide right now]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Outside]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I’ll send it when I get home later! (grin)]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Thank you TTTTTTTT Thank you so much TTTTTTTT]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Actually, thanks to you, Crispy!!!NottduBeanPancake-nim]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I was in a good mood all day today.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Gasp, Nottdu -> Mung Bean]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Sorry. (hehe)]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Np np]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [But why? (curious)]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Why were you in a good mood?]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [You were in a good mood?]

Seon Woo-min copied and quickly pasted his own previous message to Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake.

He desperately wanted him to know.

How much power a single word from someone who cherished Mung Bean could hold for another Mung Bean fan.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [‘Ah, of course it’s Mung Bean!’]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [That single phrase]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Moved my heart deeply. (moved)(moved)]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [KYaaaaaa]

“No, Woo-min….

What’s so easy about this?”

Lee Do-kyung muttered, deflated.

Seon Woo-min, who wouldn’t even exchange trivial small talk no matter how much he poked and prodded at the café, was now showing off a colorful array of emotions and acting giddy.

All it took was the single phrase that he liked Mung Bean, and Woo-min was approaching him on his own, without a shred of suspicion.

Adding unsolicited TMI about his own feelings, no less.

“This is dangerous….

Is this really the impregnable Seon Woo-min?”

This was something he had only shown—and only to him—long after they had started dating.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake-nim, your favorite character is definitely Mung Bean, right?]

Seon Woo-min double-checked whether Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake was indeed a Mung Bean fan.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Ah, sorry for all the typos.]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Np np]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [(carrot) Of course. (carrot)]

His own favorite wasn’t Mung Bean or anything—it was Seon Woo-min—but Lee Do-kyung answered that way for now.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Favorite is Mung Bean.

Mung Bean is favorite.]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Even using a carrot emoji right now is a lifelong regret (lightning)]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Why won’t someone make Mung Bean emoticons…]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Then I’d use only those every day]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Sob TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Did you happen to look inside my head…?]

“…Fool.”

Lee Do-kyung’s gently curved gaze would not leave the phone screen.

‘Fool’ was both the nickname and the pet name he had called Seon Woo-min back when they were lovers.

Even though he called his friends ‘dumbass’ for the same meaning, Do-kyung did not hesitate to use this kind of ticklish affectionate expression for Woo-min alone.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I think the same thing all the time too.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Especially when using KakaoTalk.]

Woo-min was genuinely surprised that Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake had been thinking the exact same thing as him.

He felt a vibe that could only come from a true, die-hard Mung Bean fan.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake-nim, which I.P.K.C. episode do you like the most?]

“Oops.”

A flustered groan escaped Lee Do-kyung’s lips as he grinned at his phone.

He opened a browser at the speed of light.

Most things with Seon Woo-min at the café required pretending not to know even if he did, but with Nokddoongie Bokddoongie, he had to act like he knew even if he didn’t.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I like the screm frest]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [The Screaming Forest]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [What about Nokddoongie-nim?]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [For me, it’s the ‘Shadow Soldier Attack’ episode.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Because that’s when Mung Bean’s abilities first appear.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [After being doubted and ignored all the time]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [He shows a single, decisive strike]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [It was truly chilling.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [What did you think?]

“…Hmm.

A single decisive strike?

That’s just a fat cat, isn’t it?”

Typing ‘Shadow Soldier Attack’ into the search bar, Lee Do-kyung quickly skimmed the screen to familiarize himself with the content.

It was the episode where Mung Bean joined the Invincible Power Kitty Corps as the final member.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [The Ruvy Swird wad imoressive too]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [The Ruby Sword was impressive too]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Right.

I wondered how Mung Bean would use it.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Because when Mung Bean held it]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [It shone as if lighting up.

TT]

“…Really?”

Lee Do-kyung blinked.

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