X
Join our Discord server and get release updates for every novel you follow.
Join the ServerNokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Because they wouldn’t move their legs, even though they were crossed]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I had to pick up the pieces with their foot touching my head]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [What the f*ck crazy (lightning)(boiling water)]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Isn’t that a psycho?]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [They broke it themselves and?? wow… insane]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Total trash, seriously what the f*ck]
Seon Woo-min felt like a little kid tattling on someone’s mistake, even saying things he normally wouldn’t, prattling on about every detail.
It was strange.
He, who usually found even answering questions bothersome, was voluntarily spinning tales that weren’t particularly interesting.
It was more than just enjoying Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake’s reactions.
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Nothing worse than that, right?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Not worse, but awkward]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [There are also couples who engage in 19+ displays of affection.]
“…What? 19+?”
Blowing out cigarette smoke, Lee Do-kyung frowned.
Even though he himself was a lunatic even his crazy friends acknowledged, he’d never engaged in highly explicit public displays at a café.
Well… maybe on the street, but not there.
Doing that in a place like Baekseok Coffee, where all the tables were openly visible in the hall with no hidden corners.
Moreover, wasn’t that place a sanctuary where Seon Woo-min worked?
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [No, how do you do 19+ stuff at a café?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Lol lol lol]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [First, they sit together on one chair.]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [?? (dazed)]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I’ll leave the rest to your imagination.
Hehe]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [There are really crazy people huh]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Working must be tough -_ㅜ (boiling water)]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Well, actually, it’s because this is a café,]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [But all workers]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Probably have their own struggles, right? (sheepish)]
Feeling embarrassed that MungBeanPancake was indignant as if it had happened to him, even though it was nothing major, Seon Woo-min was now calming himself, with a slight regret and shyness at having gotten carried away by someone taking his side, becoming overly dramatic.
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [B, but when working at the café]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [What was the hardest part?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [The hardest part?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Hmm.
I’ve forgotten it all, so I can’t remember…]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Ah.]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I’m used to it now, but]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [At first, my feet were too cold.]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Huh?
Why were your feet cold?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Water keeps dripping on my feet.]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [It’s fine in summer, but]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [In winter, my feet freeze.]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Ah, I see]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Standing all day is also harder than you’d think.]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Strangely, now it’s no big deal.]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Since I don’t even remember it.]
Lee Do-kyung lit a second cigarette.
His eyes, fixed on the screen waiting for Nokddoongie’s message, had grown calmer than before.
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Anything else?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Hmm.
When there’s a rush of orders… It’s not really hard, but rather]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [That makes sense.
You have to make a ton of coffee.]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Hehe hehe More than that,]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I get anxious that waiting customers might complain.]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Aha (lightbulb)]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I’ve waited at cafés plenty of times too, but]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Even when it’s a bit annoying sometimes,]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [It’s annoying because of the people in line,]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Never at the café staff, you know?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [It’s appreciated that you think that way.]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [How long have you been working at the café?]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [It’s been five years now.]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Wow… (teary)]
Even though his current circumstances probably weren’t much different, Seon Woo-min had started side jobs and part-time work as early as middle school.
Thrown into the workforce early due to difficult family finances, he was busy non-stop, supporting not only himself but his family members as well.
Lee Do-kyung had learned these facts while dating Woo-min.
Seon Woo-min, who neither hid them nor flaunted them, but calmly answered only what was asked.
His exhausted profile.
Remembering Woo-min from that time made Do-kyung’s heart ache.
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Still, you]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [You’re…]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [?]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Admirable]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Because it’s not an easy thing to do]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Easy]
“……”
Fingers pausing mid-type, Seon Woo-min blinked.
It was a word he had never thought about himself, nor heard from anyone else.
What was so admirable about an adult faithfully doing their main job?
It was almost embarrassing to call it hardship compared to others.
There were many people who lived harder lives.
Earning one’s own living was a blessing, not something admirable.
He knew that.
He knew it well, yet his eyelids stung for some reason.
Closing his eyes deeply, Woo-min opened his lashes after a long while.
…What if I met this person?
The thought came unbidden.
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Ah, no]
Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I meant it like, you’re cool.
Don’t misunderstand]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [No, not at all.
Thank you. (bow)]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I’m going to go watch IPKC again now.]
Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [You rest too, MungBeanPancake-nim!]
Feeling strange, Seon Woo-min fled the messenger.
If he continued the conversation, he’d probably just make a fool of himself.
Actually, all the tattling he’d done was pathetic enough.
Pressing his warm eyelids with his palms, Woo-min took a deep breath, his chest swelling.
“What’s wrong with me…”
It must be because he wasn’t feeling well.
The way his emotions were seesawing over a trivial comment from the other person.
Thinking he should get some sleep tonight, Seon Woo-min plugged his phone into the charger and headed to the bathroom.
He paused before closing the bathroom door, glancing at the bed.
As if Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake was actually inside that phone.
***
Level 3.
The bustling club district, awash with neon signs in every color.
The entrances of each club were crowded with long lines of customers waiting to get in.
“Kya.
It’s a street of the young.
Or maybe a street of children?”
Bae Jun-ho, dressed unmistakably for a club outing, let out a groan that could be either admiration or lament.
Seon Woo-min let out a hollow laugh.
“There’s not even much of an age difference, why are you acting like that?”
“It’s because you’re in your twenties, so you can be confident.
I feel like I’m committing a crime right now.”
“A crime…”
Bae Jun-ho was worried about being embarrassed.
Muttering about whether they should get a booth or something, he soon perked up, remembering he had an invitation.
“I’m at the tail end of my twenties too.
And honestly, hyung, you look perfectly fine.”
“You… I knew you were good at social life, but what do you want to eat?
Huh?”
The two were heading to the club where Jun-ho’s acquaintance was DJing.
They had to shout over the noisy crowd and the music blasting from the club’s external speakers.
“But Min-mae, do you come to places like clubs often?”
“Sometimes.”
Even though spending money on such places felt wasteful, he had needs to satisfy, so he visited occasionally.
While dating apps were full of people using fake photos, at clubs he could choose a partner he liked on the spot.
Actually, the clubs Woo-min frequented weren’t the fancy ones in the city center, but rather more secluded places in Itaewon, Hongdae, or a corner of Jongno, where only men were admitted.
“Since we’re here, let’s have fun.
If hyung ends up face-down somewhere, you’ll have to rescue me, got it?”
Bae Jun-ho waved his wrist, proudly sporting a paper bracelet.
As they descended the stairs, feeling the thumping beat in the soles of their feet, his worries seemed to disappear, replaced by excitement.
Woo-min chuckled.
“So we’re going to play separately?”
“The plan is to split up if we find a partner.
But first, with you around, the girls will at least look this way.”
Clutching Woo-min’s arm like a child, Jun-ho seemed to think of clubs as a place for heterosexual pairing.
That wasn’t entirely wrong, but there were also people like Seon Woo-min, who had zero interest in the opposite s*x.
“Hey, I heard Mesh is circulating that drug these days?
Water molly.”
“That’s disgusting.
Do you really want to do it that badly?”
“Guess he’s not confident.”
Lee Do-kyung’s group passed by Bae Jun-ho, heading up the stairs to a party room.
They visited clubs so often their faces showed no particular excitement.
The moment Bae Jun-ho had been clinging to Woo-min ended as he stopped to warm up on the dance floor.
Woo-min sat in a corner at the bar, where the atmosphere was calmer.
The deep blue lighting, contrasting with the flashing, dazzling psychedelic lights, illuminated just enough to make out the bartender’s face.
He planned to enjoy the vibe here moderately and leave.
At least until someone handed him a bottle of beer.
Loving this chapter? You'll be hooked on Not Me, The Fans! Click to explore more!
Read : Not Me, The Fans
If You Notice any translation issues or inconsistency in names, genders, or POV etc? Let us know here in the comments or on our Discord server, and we’ll fix it in current and future chapters. Thanks for helping us to improve! 🙂