# Chapter 25
“Are you crazy? Stop saying such brutal things. When you talk like that, I feel like I might actually push him.”
“Then you stop saying things about dating and whatnot.”
“He needs to hear it repeatedly to build immunity and feel less awkward later. You’re not going to just keep pining for him forever, are you? There’s no method more effective than repetitive indoctrination.”
This was Ban Hajun’s desperate struggle, pretending to tease while trying to indoctrinate for the sake of Tae Igyeol’s one-sided love.
But it seemed the repetitive indoctrination was only working on Tae Igyeol, not Mo Eunje. While Mo Eunje had no thoughts about it—to the point where he’d make such jokes on April Fool’s Day—Tae Igyeol had been feeling his desire to date growing boundlessly whenever he heard such talk. By the time he came to his senses, it had already reached a precarious state where it could explode if someone just lightly touched it.
So he would cowardly steal a kiss from those lips when the other was asleep, unable to hold back…
“You’re really pitiful. It can’t be this bad to have something right in front of you but out of reach. You sleep in the same bed every day but just look with your eyes and don’t do anything—is that for real? What a saint you are. And he even likes cuddling—what kind of new torture is this…”
“…”
“How do you even endure that? You’re one stubborn guy.”
Each time Mo Eunje clung to him, Tae Igyeol’s heart would surge with happiness, but his body felt like it was truly being tortured. However, Tae Igyeol had no choice because even that kind of touch felt good. It might have seemed strange to suddenly prohibit physical contact that had come naturally since childhood to adulthood, but in truth, that was just an excuse—it was nothing more than allowing skinship to satisfy his selfish desires. If Mo Eunje hadn’t been clingy, he really would have had to just look, which was too dreadful to even think about.
“You don’t… have some kind of functional problem, do you?”
Ban Hajun lowered his voice and asked secretively. Tae Igyeol couldn’t help but let out a scoffing laugh. It was the most trivial and contemptible question he’d ever heard in his life. He couldn’t fathom what could possibly be in someone’s brain to ask such a ridiculous question about him.
“If you’re curious, I can show you.”
“Has your frustration made you go crazy? What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Aren’t you the one spouting nonsense right now?”
“Whatever, why are you saying such scary things? You’re freaking me out.”
Ban Hajun rubbed his arms as if getting goosebumps, the cigarette still in his mouth. It was the same for both of them.
“But since your families are close to each other, is that… okay?”
“What wouldn’t be okay about it?”
“For me, even if I dated a guy, it wouldn’t matter because we could just date and break up, but you two are, how should I say, special. Don’t your family and his family go on vacation together every summer and winter?”
“Haah… Convincing our parents would actually be easier. My mom and dad would say gender doesn’t matter when it comes to Mo Eunje and give unconditional approval, and his family hardly ever interferes, so they’d tell him to do whatever he wants. If they oppose, we can just live without seeing them.”
“…That’s so cool.”
“The biggest obstacle is that bastard Mo Eunje himself.”
Tae Igyeol’s voice carried a dark desire. He exhaled smoke with a sigh and crushed the shortened cigarette butt in the ashtray. Ban Hajun also took one last drag and discarded his cigarette butt.
“Just confess first. Mo Eunje isn’t a mind reader. If you confess, at least he’ll know and have something to think about.”
“What if he gets scared and runs away?”
“With your personality, as if you’d let him go if he ran away. Aish, I should focus on my own love life. What kind of grand life am I trying to live, giving advice on someone else’s romance…”
“…”
“Just get really drunk today and pounce on him. If you act without thinking, today’s Tae Igyeol will be happy. Tomorrow’s Tae Igyeol can deal with the aftermath.”
Tae Igyeol threw a cold glance at the absurd suggestion and turned his back. There was no need to take advice from someone whose partners changed frequently. It was ironic how someone with such a mindset could continuously be in relationships. Feeling a deep heaviness in his chest, Tae Igyeol went to the fire pit where Mo Eunje and Gye Minho were.
“Hey, try this. It’s absolutely delicious.”
They must have already eaten all the grilled meat and were cooking a new batch, as Mo Eunje held out a beautifully grilled, large piece of meat, blowing on it gently, toward Tae Igyeol’s mouth. As Tae Igyeol opened his mouth to receive it, his eyes met Ban Hajun’s. Ban Hajun mouthed the word “idiot” and shook his head with a pitying look. Ignoring him completely, Tae Igyeol chewed the meat and downed a shot of soju.
“How is it? Delicious, right? Let’s get this meat again for my birthday party next week.”
Mo Eunje kept feeding himself meat continuously while smiling brightly. His cheeks were puffed up like a squirrel’s, and his munching looked innocently cute.
Mo Eunje was too precious and important to Tae Igyeol to just recklessly pounce on without thinking.
## 1-5
On Wednesday, a few days after Ban Hajun’s birthday party, the meeting with Shin Dael was arranged. “GyeBokChi” Gye Minho, who had been diligently serializing “The Regressor’s Mnemonics” without a single hiatus even when he had no backup chapters, posted his first hiatus notice two days before the appointment, saying he couldn’t concentrate. Since Mo Eunje’s extra author copies were in the moving company’s warehouse, he stopped by a bookstore before going to the meeting place to buy his own book.
Originally, he had planned to sign the book that Tae Igyeol had brought when Mo Eunje temporarily moved into his house, but Tae Igyeol got so angry that Mo Eunje ended up having to buy a new one. It wasn’t his only author copy, and though he didn’t have access to them at the moment, there were at least three or four identical books in the moving company’s warehouse—he couldn’t understand why Tae Igyeol was so upset about it.
Mo Eunje especially cherished his first short story collection, “Castella and Gumbo,” which had made him a novelist and which Tae Igyeol had paid for, bought himself, and even wrapped—so the author copies were really no different from what they sold in bookstores.
“No scowling giants allowed.”
“Get lost.”
“Hey, lighten up your expression. Did your family go bankrupt? If Miss Shin sees you, she’ll think there’s trouble at home.”
But Tae Igyeol, who was scowling with an expression suggesting that he was displeased with absolutely everything, didn’t relax his face even after arriving at the chicken feet soup restaurant, their meeting place. He seemed uncomfortable with unwanted guests intruding when he wanted to date Shin Dael alone.
“Igyeol, over here! Hello, Writer-nim.”
“Hello, Miss Shin. You’re early? We should have arrived first. Have you been waiting long?”
“Not at all. There are still ten minutes before our appointment time. I just got here myself.”
Shin Dael was with her manager. The manager, who had been sitting across from Shin Dael, seemed to know Tae Igyeol and briefly exchanged greetings with him before also greeting Mo Eunje and Gye Minho with a friendly smile.
“Manager-nim, if you haven’t eaten yet, please join us.”
“Thank you, but I need to go back to the office. Please take good care of Dael. Dael, call me when you’re done.”
After Mo Eunje’s polite invitation was declined by the manager, Shin Dael was the only one seated at the four-person table while the others stood awkwardly. Naturally, Mo Eunje assumed Tae Igyeol would sit next to Shin Dael, but Tae Igyeol sat across from her instead. He seemed to prefer sitting face to face. If that was the case, Mo Eunje was about to sit next to Shin Dael so that Gye Minho, Shin Dael’s fan, could comfortably look at his goddess’s face.
“Move.”
Tae Igyeol stood up abruptly and blocked Mo Eunje. Then, with a low sigh, he sat down next to Shin Dael. To Mo Eunje’s ears, it sounded like a sigh of relief. It seemed Tae Igyeol wanted to see her face from across the table but also didn’t want anyone else sitting next to Shin Dael.
Feeling inexplicably bitter, Mo Eunje smiled to himself and gestured to Gye Minho, who was standing there awkwardly, to sit directly across from Shin Dael. But since Gye Minho didn’t understand, Mo Eunje sat across from Tae Igyeol instead. Only then did Gye Minho take the remaining seat with a bright smile.
As soon as they had exchanged greetings, Mo Eunje ordered first. He ordered two servings of very spicy chicken feet soup that he liked, steamed eggs, thinly sliced pork belly stir-fry, spicy cartilage recommended by Shin Dael, and for Tae Igyeol, he added flying fish roe rice balls, king prawn tempura, and scorched rice soup. Meanwhile, Gye Minho set up the utensils with a goofy smile, and Shin Dael poured water into cups and distributed them. The only person who wasn’t doing anything despite having two perfectly good hands, sitting there crookedly, was Tae Igyeol.
“What kind of alcohol do the writers prefer?”
“W-writers? Us?”
Gye Minho stammered in response to Shin Dael’s question.
“After I signed for you last time, I was curious and looked up ‘The Regressor’s Mnemonics.'”
“Ah… oh, wow, I can’t believe it… My goddess Dael-nim read my humble novel…”
“Humble? It was really enjoyable. It’s consistently in the real-time rankings, showing incredible staying power. The pen name GyeBokChi suits Minho-ssi so well, it’s cute.”
Hearing words he couldn’t have even imagined, Gye Minho looked like he had the world in his hands. His face turned bright red as he gulped down water, not knowing what to do with himself. Mo Eunje, watching his friend’s cute reaction with satisfaction, was the first to specify his drink preference.
“I’ll have somaek (soju and beer mixed). What about you, Miss Shin?”
“I like somaek too, but since I need to watch my figure, beer is a bit burdensome. I’ll have soju.”
“I-I’m also on team soju, noona!”
Gye Minho exclaimed proudly after finding something in common with Shin Dael. Since Tae Igyeol also drank soju, Mo Eunje ordered an additional two bottles of soju and two bottles of beer.
