How long is he going to keep calling me Go Taeling. Maybe I should just snap and call him Seununu right back. Not that I’d ever have the guts to do it. A spark of defiance flared up inside him anyway.
First he tells me not to look at him, and now he’s calling out my name in front of everyone and acting like he knows me — he does whatever he wants. The way he keeps calling me by that nickname, no wonder the other classmates are getting the wrong idea and thinking we’re close.
He was too uncomfortable to even finish his greeting, let alone respond. The “welcome” that had been on his lips twisted into a silent welcome out. He fled into the kitchen like he was running away, pretending to be busy as he turned on the faucet.
Ah — I should’ve asked him right then and there whether that filthy promise was now null and void.
He stared at the dishcloth soaking up water and regretted it too late.
“Guess this place doesn’t bother training its part-timers. The staff here just goes around hurting customers?”
A sarcastic voice drifted over from a distance. Taerim kept his back turned and busied his hands with the dishcloth, pretending not to hear — until Eunhu pressed him.
“Excuse me, sir? Could you take my order?”
“Yes! Just a moment, please!”
He answered deliberately loudly, hoping the manager would come out of the staff room. Should I quietly tell the manager that this is the returning student I mentioned before? The thought of the manager offering to chase the guy out with a mop crossed his mind — but the man was so scrawny that even armed with ten mops, he wouldn’t look the least bit threatening standing in front of Seon Eunhu.
Still… should I at least say something…?
He was torn, stealing glances at the manager as the man came bustling out of the staff room. The manager’s eyes went wide the moment he spotted Seon Eunhu — lighting up with the unmistakable look of someone recognizing an old friend.
“No way — is that Seon Eunhu?!”
Instead of a normal greeting, the manager let out a shout and came speed-walking up to the register. The two of them stood on either side of the counter and started catching up.
“Wow — Eunhu, when did you get discharged? Are you re-enrolling this semester?”
“Yes. How’ve you been, hyung? The café’s still standing, I see. You said it wouldn’t survive without me.”
“Don’t even get me started. When you quit, customers vanished overnight and the sales were rock bottom for a while. The owner was even talking about shutting the place down — it was bad. God, time flies. You’re already out of the military. Hey, but everyone else comes back from the army looking like they’ve been through the wringer — how did you come back even better-looking? You seeing anyone?”
“I literally just got discharged, where would I find a girlfriend. Anyway, are you not hiring part-timers? I even picked this officetel building on purpose because I wanted to work here.”
Taerim stopped scrubbing the dishcloth — which by now was clean enough to be worn through. The deviant alpha lives in the same building as me. That was not good news.
“Really? Then why didn’t you reach out sooner?! I hired someone new just last week. If I’d known earlier I would’ve given you the spot — ugh. The part-time positions are all filled right now.”
“That’s a shame. Let me know when something opens up.”
“Will do. Taerim! Are you doing the laundry? Leave that for now and come here a sec. I want to introduce you to someone.”
“…Okay.”
There was no need for an introduction — they already knew each other — but he couldn’t exactly refuse. He wrung out the dishcloth, folded it neatly, and walked over to the two of them. The closer he got, the more he felt Seon Eunhu’s gaze prickling against his skin, and his head gradually dipped lower.
“Taerim, say hi. This is Seon Eunhu — one of the original crew from when this café opened. And this is our star part-timer. His name’s Go Taerim — clear and pure as a little kid. Say hello.”
Before the introduction was even finished, Seon Eunhu let out a short laugh.
“You still pick people based on looks. And he’s definitely pure, you said?”
“Absolutely. Out of every part-timer who’s ever worked here, Taerim’s the most innocent and kind. He’s my precious one, in a way.”
“Why’s that? He looks perfectly healthy to me.”
“It’s personal, so I can’t go into detail… Oh? Eunhu, aren’t you in the Sculpture Department? Our Taerim is too! Hey, perfect timing. Taerim, tell him about it. He’s a returning student too. That little shit who’s been giving you trouble — let’s have Eunhu handle him. This guy’s got more bite than he looks.”
The direction of the conversation snapped him back to attention. He needed to stop the manager from saying more, but there was no way to do it.
“Tell me what? Is something going on in the department?”
“Oh — Manager, there are customers coming.”
Thankfully, some customers were making their way through the café door. The timing seemed like it would cut the conversation short, and Taerim had just started to feel a small wave of relief — when the manager spotted them and began rattling off words at full speed.
“Okay, no time — I’ll make it quick. Apparently there’s this returning student in the Sculpture Department who told our Taerim he was ugly. Said he was annoying to look at, so walk around quietly and don’t make yourself noticeable. He didn’t exactly mug the guy, but isn’t that basically what a thug does? A fully grown adult acting that childish. Do you have any idea who it might be? I heard the guy looks like he’s been punched in the face a few times.”
The man worked in service, so even at breakneck speed his enunciation didn’t slip a beat.
“I don’t think I… said it quite like that…”
Taerim was so flustered he couldn’t even get a proper denial out. Seon Eunhu, who had been wearing a somewhat serious expression, slowly nodded.
“Hmm. I think I might know who that is.”
“Yeah? Good. Go up to that little idiot and tell him the café manager is furious — scare him a little. Can’t believe someone’s still talking like that in this day and age. Anyway, let’s talk more later. Welcome!”
If only the customers hadn’t shown up, maybe he wouldn’t have said quite so much. Taerim couldn’t bring himself to lift his head and just stared down at the coffee machine. The sound of the customers debating what to order was less present to him than the sheer noise of Seon Eunhu’s existence.
“Hyung. Mind if I order first? One iced Americano, please. I’ll drink it here.”
Seon Eunhu said it, slipping in between the customers who were still deciding. Every time that smooth, unhurried voice floated down from somewhere above him, Taerim wanted to bolt — but he was rooted to the spot.
“Hey, don’t pay. Think of it as a welcome-home gift.”
“I won’t say no to that. In that case, make it a large.”
“Of course! Taerim, make Eunhu’s iced Americano first. Large!”
Taerim didn’t bother responding to the manager’s order — he just switched the machine on. He kept his head down the entire time he was loading the ground beans into the basket and pressing the tamper to extract the shot, but he was still very aware that Seon Eunhu was standing right in front of him.
The noisy work finished, and just as he was carefully pouring the pulled espresso into an ice-filled cup —
“That returning student you mentioned.”
A gentle voice came from somewhere closer than before.
“From what I heard, he sounds pretty awful. You didn’t do anything wrong, did you? If he gives you trouble again, tell me. I’ll give him a good scare.”
…Does he seriously not realize he’s talking about himself? Taerim looked up, staring at him because of how casually he’d said it, as if it were someone else’s problem. Their eyes met — and Seon Eunhu gave him a pretty smile.
“What are you looking at, Taerim? I told you not to stare.”
“……”
Is this guy insane?
He was so dumbfounded that words completely failed him. How could a person be this shameless? He slowly looked Seon Eunhu up and down — hands shoved in his pockets, standing there with that crooked, careless posture — then brought his gaze back up to glare at his face.
“You kept staring at me and saying hi first too, senior.”
“With you making all that noise and hovering around so close, what am I supposed to do — ignore you? That would be the weird thing.”
“Me?”
“Live more quietly. Empty your head a little.”
Those coffee-latte-colored eyes looked down at him steadily.
Taerim held his gaze, unable to make sense of what he was hearing. He’d heard plenty of times that he was so quiet people forgot he was there — but being told to live more quietly was a first in his life. That he’d been making noise and hovering nearby? Absolutely absurd.
It was always Seon Eunhu who had approached him first and started trouble. He must know that too — so why was he fabricating the facts like this? The one thing Taerim was certain of: this person had the personality of something worse than garbage. He started it. Unbelievable. Disgusting Seununu. Poop-nunu.
Just then, Seon Eunhu suddenly burst out laughing — for no apparent reason. He was just staring at Taerim, and then something seemed to click in his own head and he looked down, laughing to himself with little huffs of amusement. Has he lost his mind. What is wrong with him.
“Your drink is ready.”
Well, Seon Eunhu was never someone who could be understood in the first place. Could someone whose hobby was showing off the size of his dick be a normal person? Trying to understand him was an arrogant wish on the part of any sane person. Taerim held out the iced Americano with all the enthusiasm of someone handing over a used tissue — hoping this cup of coffee would be the last exchange between them.
But then a new thought struck him. The whole thing about whether or not he’d keep his promise determining whether or not he’d show his — parts — suddenly took on a new angle. What if Seon Eunhu’s goal wasn’t to torment him, but to show off his member in the first place? In that case, regardless of whether any promise was kept, the odds of coming face-to-face with it were high. And seeing how Eunhu was here leisurely drinking coffee, he seemed to have nothing to do right now… Surely he wouldn’t ask him to follow him somewhere enclosed, like a bathroom…right?
“Take a straw too.”
Taerim made a firm resolution: he would not go to the bathroom until Seon Eunhu left the café. If Eunhu followed him in, that would be a disaster. He could already picture it — trapped there, forced to stare at an alpha’s member while delivering some hollow exclamation like “My, how impressive.” To avoid that scenario, he absolutely could not risk running into him in the bathroom under any circumstances.
“By the way, where’s the bathroom—”
“YES????”
