Chapter 28: Right in Front of You

Had Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake also turned on notifications, just like him?

Woo-min moistened his lips with his tongue and waited for his answer.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Nok-ha!

Long time no see.]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Have you been well?]

Lee Do-kyung, hugging a pillow and blinking awake, looked at his phone screen and laughed silently.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie, who had been naturally starting conversations with him for a while now.

He really is a ‘bokddoongie’ (lucky charm).

So cute I could die.

Forgetting about being practically shot down by Woo-min the night before, Do-kyung grinned broadly.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Ah, yes.

And you, MungBeanPancake-nim?]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [But by any chance, did I wake you up…? (sheepish)]

“…Yeah, right.

You’re a mind reader.”

Roughly brushing back his bird’s nest hair, Do-kyung changed position and lay on his stomach.

Because of his habit of sleeping naked down to his underwear when feeling stuffy, his robust naked body lay across the white sheet.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Lol it’s fine it’s fine]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [If it’s for MungBeanPancake-nim, anytime!

Even if you wake me up!]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Huh?]

“Crazy.

I’m MungBeanPancake.”

Do-kyung quickly corrected the nickname.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [If it’s for Nokddoongie-nim, anytime!]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I’m still half asleep lol (lightning)(smile)(boiling water)(waterfall)]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Hehe, I was wondering what you meant.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I thought you were joking again.]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Anyway, it makes me happy. (smile)]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Hu hu]

Do-kyung wiped his chest in relief.

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [It’s not that, but]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [MungBeanPancake-nim, do you listen to CDs by any chance?]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [CDs?]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [I do, why?]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Do you own the Kitty Corps OST CD?]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [No]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Ah, good!]

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

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I’ll give you an OST CD as a gift!]

“No….

I don’t need it, Woo-min.”

Groaning, Do-kyung soon changed his mind.

This was clearly something precious to Seon Woo-min, but useless to him.

And since Nokddoongie was offering to give him something, it would be awkward to refuse.

He could just accept it for now and give it back after he and Woo-min became lovers.

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [If you’re offering, then of course I’ll gladly take it (smile)(heart)]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Okay.

Then after work,]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [I’ll send it right away by parcel.]

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

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [Swift and decisive]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [The kind who just does it right away once it’s mentioned! (lightning)]

Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake (find_B12345): [So cool]

Nokddoongie Bokddoongie (nokkdoo1107): [Then could you give me the address to send the CD?]

Arriving at his destination, Seon Woo-min waited for MungBeanPancake’s answer with lingering eyes, then closed the message window.

Cradling the CD like a mother bird with her chick, Woo-min entered Baekseok Coffee and changed into his uniform in the locker room.

Until then, the CD had been sitting on the counter.

So distracted by it, he had even forgotten he needed to hide it in his bag.

“Oh?

Manager-nim, what’s this?”

The staff member who had once offered to set him up on a blind date picked up the CD and examined it.

Smiling that the five cats drawn on the cover were so cute, she put it down very carefully, and Woo-min inwardly sighed with relief.

“It’s the OST for an anime that’s popular these days.

I’m going to give it as a gift.”

It was a critical moment that could have exposed his identity as a Kitty Corps fan, but Seon Woo-min didn’t panic.

Rather, if it could promote the Invincible Power Kitty Corps, he thought it might be beneficial to have it somewhere visible.

“A gift?

For who?

Could it be… a crush?”

“No.”

At Woo-min’s immediate denial with a stern face, Bae Jun-ho, who was moving stacked coffee cups to a small dryer, burst out laughing.

“Right?

I didn’t think so.

But really, there are a lot of people who like anime these days.”

She name-dropped a few popularly trending anime titles, getting some wrong, trying to show she knew things.

Woo-min, wearing a kind smile, jumped in at an opportune moment and started promoting.

“If you get a chance, try watching ‘Invincible Power Kitty Corps.’

It’s quite fun.”

“‘Invincible Power Kitty Corps’?”

“Yes.

They’ve been uploading the remas—”

About to mention that up to episode 9 of the remastered version was on Netflix, Seon Woo-min thought it might be too fannish and immediately corrected himself.

“They upload one episode a week on Netflix too.

I think season 1 is almost over.”

“Ahang, really?

What’s it about?”

“The invincible warrior cats… it’s a story about those cats defeating monsters.”

“Ah~ cute.

Cats defeating monsters.

Okay, I’ll definitely watch it.”

The staff member photographed the CD cover with her phone camera, as if to remember the Invincible Power Kitty Corps that Woo-min had recommended.

Bae Jun-ho also chimed in, saying his cousin liked the Kitty Corps or something.

Feeling as proud as if his own child were being praised by others, Woo-min barely managed to keep the corners of his mouth from curling up.

It was a shame he couldn’t add more praise.

Seon Woo-min returned to his role as barista, slowly pouring hot water over the dripper.

A shadow fell beneath his focused lashes as he brewed the coffee with care.

“Welcome.”

At the staff member’s greeting, Woo-min glanced at the counter.

The moment he confirmed the pierced man was there, he nearly lost his grip on the dripper kettle.

“I’m sorry, but I’d like to order from that person.

The manager.”

On top of that, he had the audacity to make such an absurd demand with a straight face.

To Bae Jun-ho and the staff member, who looked at him awkwardly as if asking what to do, Seon Woo-min, who had just finished pouring the hot water, signaled with his eyes that he would handle it.

He had thought he should avoid entanglement as much as possible, but there was nothing he could do about the man coming to the café as a customer.

He might have to consider changing his work hours to times when the pierced man didn’t come.

“Yes, I’ll help you with your order.”

“One glass of Geisha pour-over, iced.”

The beans the pierced man chose were Geisha, with a rich, fruity aroma.

Coffee today, then.

Whether it was a drink or not, if it didn’t have actual fruit in it, it seemed he needed at least a fruit scent to be satisfied.

Swiping the card on the POS, Seon Woo-min felt a gaze and looked up.

The pierced man’s eyes were fixed on him without any movement to refocus.

Meaning he had been staring the whole time.

He thought he was skilled in customer service, but in front of this man, he could hardly keep his expression in check.

Perhaps because of yesterday’s incident, it was especially true today.

“Manager-nim, did you get home alright yesterday?”

“……”

If he had kept pretending not to know, that would have been uncomfortable in its own way, but deliberately bringing up ‘yesterday’ in front of other staff was extremely awkward for Woo-min.

The pierced man’s ‘yesterday’ implied keywords known only to him and Woo-min: gay bar, married man, one-night stand, motel… things he must never reveal here.

More than anything, the fact that the pierced man knew he had gone to a gay bar was the biggest source of anxiety.

If he was there, the pierced man was probably also gay, but that wasn’t important.

He was a customer.

If he threatened him with that fact, in the worst case, Woo-min might not be able to work anymore.

He might even have to date a man he didn’t like.

He didn’t think the pierced man would go that far, but he didn’t know anything about him, so he couldn’t be overly optimistic.

“What, the buses and subways had all stopped running, right?”

“I’ll give you a vibration buzzer.”

Seon Woo-min quickly handled it to prevent him from adding any more comments.

Without taking the offered buzzer, the pierced man just kept smiling.

You f*cking bastard who never listens…

“Anyway, it’s too bad I struck out.”

At Woo-min’s visibly flustered reaction, the corners of Do-kyung’s mouth curved.

He was annoyed by the temperature difference between Nokddoongie Bokddoongie and Seon Woo-min.

He understood it was because Woo-min didn’t know anything.

But it was starting to get on his nerves that he put all sorts of care into that bastard Crispy!!!MungBeanPancake, whom he just met online and chatted with, while not even giving him a friendly eye smile.

“Seemed like you put in quite some effort, that way.

That marr—”

“Sir?”

“Yes.”

“Here’s your vibration buzzer.”

With his ears turning red to the tips, Seon Woo-min smiled, gritting his teeth.

At his desperate look that pleaded ‘please stop,’ Lee Do-kyung scoffed.

Woo-min, that’s why you should have just been nice to me from the start.

Swallowing his sneer, Do-kyung turned away.

As he did, his elbow accidentally brushed the corner of a CD case sticking out from the counter shelf.

At the clatter of it falling to the floor, Seon Woo-min’s face turned pale this time.

Without even time to admire how he could change to such a colorful array of expressions, Lee Do-kyung stared at the CD case, his own lips slowly hardening.

“…Ah.”

The cracked case was the Invincible Power Kitty Corps OST CD.

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