# Chapter 86
“So what I’m saying is you’re totally weird. Yoo Sijin is definitely the best-looking actor out there.”
Ban Hajun clicked his tongue disapprovingly, but Mo Eunje didn’t mind and just shrugged his shoulders lightly.
“Beauty standards are diverse. Ah, why are we going off on a tangent again? So you saw your first love and went ‘Huh?’ and then greeted them?”
“I just awkwardly asked how they’ve been doing. They work part-time there. Even though we only talked briefly, it was really awkward.”
“What can you do? If it’s uncomfortable, just don’t go to that cold noodle restaurant anymore. Didn’t your girlfriend ask who that person was?”
“I just told her they were the class president in our class back then. They actually were the class president. Haven’t you ever run into your first love like that?”
“No, I haven’t.”
Mo Eunje answered calmly while checking the time. It was 6:44 PM. He sent a message to Tae Igyeol asking where he was. Almost immediately, a reply came saying he was almost there. Since his first love was someone he still had a connection with to this day and was even living with, there was no way he could run into them “like that.”
“I liked them when I was in middle school, you know? Even though this was the first time seeing them since graduating middle school, they looked exactly the same. I recognized them instantly.”
“So how did it feel to reunite with your first love?”
“At first I was unconsciously flustered, but I realized I didn’t have any feelings at all. Maybe it’s because I was the only one who had feelings back then, but seriously, I felt nothing. To the point of disappointment.”
Mo Eunje could understand Ban Hajun’s feelings. First love isn’t beautiful because we long for, reminisce about, and beautify the actual person, but because we long for and reminisce about our own feelings and emotions from that time.
“When was your first love?”
“When I was eighteen.”
Just as Mo Eunje answered indifferently, Tae Igyeol and Gye Minho approached the table.
“How did you two come together?”
“We met at the entrance.”
Tae Igyeol answered lightly as he took the seat next to Mo Eunje, and Gye Minho sat down next to Ban Hajun. At some point, this had become their assigned seating arrangement. Mo Eunje and Tae Igyeol sitting side by side, with Gye Minho across from Mo Eunje, and Ban Hajun across from Tae Igyeol.
Only after realizing this did he notice that he and Ban Hajun had been sitting diagonally across from each other all this time. Mo Eunje by the window, Ban Hajun by the hall. This is why habits are frightening. Even when it was just the two of them, they naturally left the seats in front of them empty and sat in their designated spots.
They ordered 6 servings of lamb skewers, fried eggplant, fish-flavored shredded pork, sweet and sour pork, spicy shrimp, and mapo tofu, plus 2 bottles each of soju and beer. So far, Mo Eunje had only taken one sip of his somaek (soju and beer mix), but even though he had recovered, he didn’t plan to drink much just in case.
“What were you talking about so interestingly?”
“Mo Eunje’s first love story. It was when he was eighteen.”
Gye Minho asked, and Ban Hajun answered. Mo Eunje was dumbfounded since they had been talking about Ban Hajun’s first love until just now, when he was briefly asked when his first love was and simply answered. Of course, only Mo Eunje was dumbfounded—Gye Minho’s eyes lit up.
“Oh, first love. How far did you get in the story?”
“What’s with this selling of memories? It’s not interesting.”
“It’s totally interesting!”
“I’m also expecting super high entertainment. Isn’t there any popcorn with the side dishes here?”
As Ban Hajun and Gye Minho deliberately created an atmosphere as if to tease him, Mo Eunje turned to Tae Igyeol beside him with a pleading look. However, Tae Igyeol, whom he thought would be on his side, rested his chin on his hand and betrayed him.
“Sounds intriguing. Go on.”
“What’s wrong with all of you? Why are you like this? What first love…”
Just as Mo Eunje was trying to brush it off, a staff member came with charcoal and placed it in the grill. Following that, six servings of lamb skewers were served, piled high. Tae Igyeol and Ban Hajun, who were sitting on the hall side, placed the skewers one by one into the grooves of the grill. Meanwhile, Mo Eunje prepared utensils for the late arrivals, and Gye Minho poured soju into his own glass and Tae Igyeol’s.
“How did you know it was first love? I liked so many different people when I was young that I don’t even know when my first love was. Does it come with a tingling feeling like ‘this one will be my first love’?”
Gye Minho, who had moistened his throat with soju, expressed his confusion. Surprisingly, not only Ban Hajun but even Tae Igyeol gathered their attention, waiting for an answer. He had tried to change the subject, but in this situation, there was no way out. He reluctantly decided to just say this much and immediately change the subject.
“When they just smiled at me… Their bright smile was so dazzlingly beautiful that I realized I liked them.”
The irony of talking about first love while sitting next to his first love made him laugh inwardly. They say memories are distorted and reminiscences are beautified, but Mo Eunje could recall the moment of that handsome smile as clearly as if it were just minutes ago. Unnecessarily recalling that moment while talking about first love made his heart flutter, but there was no need to be emotionally stirred by such an old past.
However, he suddenly became aware of the new fact that even though he had dated, he had never liked anyone more than his first love. Perhaps it was because Tae Igyeol’s smile had been too intense back then. Mo Eunje was embarrassed to have only just realized this, so he gulped down his somaek at once and hurriedly changed the subject.
“Gye Minho, congratulations on your webtoon contract. As a celebration, I’ll do a congratulatory dance—”
“Just try dancing here.”
As Mo Eunje was about to stand up, shaking his hips, Gye Minho stopped him with a glare. Though he could have boasted proudly and accepted congratulations, Gye Minho was strangely modest and shy in certain areas.
“Yeah. The stage is a bit small here. Later, when we go out, I’ll celebrate with a dance while being frivolously excited. Look forward to it.”
“Let’s do it together.”
Ban Hajun gladly agreed to participate. It would be even better if Tae Igyeol joined in and they all celebrated together, but that was too much to hope for. Such expectations were only reasonable for certain people—for Tae Igyeol, it was out of the question.
“We’ll dance so wildly that you should take a video for us. So we can post it on social media.”
“Just film yourself. I can’t give up my image.”
Mo Eunje drew a clear line between daily life and business. Thinking that he couldn’t throw away the image of novelist Mo Eunje that he had built up until now with frivolous dance moves, he lowered his gaze to the lamb skewers that were becoming golden brown. Tae Igyeol, who had been checking the state of the meat rotating on the grill, placed the oily lamb skewers in front of Mo Eunje. One, two, three…, five, six. There was a separate thin iron plate where cooked skewers could be placed, but to prevent others from taking them, he placed them solely on Mo Eunje’s plate.
“Hey, is Mo Eunje the only one with a mouth and the rest of us have snouts? Why are you taking all of them as soon as they’re cooked? Look at that terrible personality.”
Ban Hajun complained, but Tae Igyeol consistently ignored him as if he couldn’t hear. This was such a familiar situation that normally Mo Eunje would have rubbed salt in the wound, but today, even from his subjective view, Tae Igyeol’s behavior seemed a bit excessive.
“It’s really sad. Hajun, do you want to be my personal assistant?”
“Would you do it if you were me?”
Listening to Gye Minho and Ban Hajun’s silly conversation, Mo Eunje distributed the skewers piled in front of him, giving one to each of them. He gave one to Tae Igyeol too and gestured with his eyes to take it easy, but inappropriately for the situation, he just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. He seemed crazy. It seemed like he had not only lost his social skills but had thrown away his conscience and manners as well. Even though they were with friends, Mo Eunje felt awkwardly tense.
“I’ve seen him being Mo Eunje’s assistant so many times that I usually just accept it, but today his favoritism is especially strong.”
Gye Minho confirmed that the sense of discomfort Mo Eunje had felt at home wasn’t just his imagination. Although he simply replaced it with the simple word “favoritism,” if even the oblivious Gye Minho could notice it, Ban Hajun would have sensed the unusual atmosphere long ago. He had said Tae Igyeol was acting strange as soon as they met earlier. But…
“He’s always shown extreme favoritism towards Mo Eunje since long ago. Are you only realizing that now?”
“No, I know he’s always like that. But it seems more severe today. There’s something strange about Tae Igyeol’s atmosphere too. Don’t you think?”
When he didn’t get the expected response from Ban Hajun, Gye Minho sought agreement from Mo Eunje. Mo Eunje found it awkward to either affirm or deny, so he just smiled uncomfortably and refrained from speaking. In his heart, he wanted to agree with Gye Minho, but it was difficult to explain the reasons in detail, and he was reluctant to deny it since it was true that Tae Igyeol’s atmosphere was strange and unusual.
“Oh! Tae Igyeol, are you dating someone too?”
“…What do you mean by ‘too’?”
Gye Minho’s voice tone rose, and Tae Igyeol’s reaction was indifferent. Regardless, Gye Minho continued with what he had prepared to say.
“I’m dating someone too. We just started yesterday.”
What had he expected from Gye Minho?
Mo Eunje let out an empty laugh. It all seemed like groundwork Gye Minho had laid just because he wanted to brag about dating someone.
“Oh, finally? Congratulations on escaping the single life.”
An immediate reaction came only from Ban Hajun. Tae Igyeol had no interest in other people’s romances, and Mo Eunje was so deflated that he had no energy to congratulate him. The rest of the side dishes arrived one after another, filling the table.
“Mo Eunje, you choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Should we collect money from everyone today and buy you Hanwoo beef separately, or should I just pay for everything today?”
It seemed his promise to buy sirloin if he got a girlfriend wasn’t an empty one after all. Since Gye Minho rarely paid for everything alone, Mo Eunje wondered if he was that happy.
“Why buy me something separately? Just pay for today. I’ll eat as much lamb as the cost of Hanwoo beef. But since we’re celebrating your webtoon and girlfriend, shouldn’t we be the ones treating you?”
“No. I want to be in a good mood.”
“…If that’s what you were going to do, why did you even ask?”
“Just in case.”
A flower of laughter bloomed on Gye Minho’s smiling face. Though no one was curious, he started showing off by displaying photos taken with his girlfriend.
Tae Igyeol continuously delivered cooked lamb skewers to Mo Eunje. Knowing that he liked fried eggplant, he even changed the position of the plate left by the staff, keeping his hands busy. It was natural to take care of each other’s food, and even when grilling meat, it was common to pick it up with tongs and feed each other, but today felt different.
This wasn’t just being nice. It was very excessive compared to the meaningless kindness performed out of habit on normal days. If asked what was different, he couldn’t explain specifically and in detail, but it was definitely different.
“Haaah…”
“What’s wrong? Are you uncomfortable somewhere?”
“…No.”
Tae Igyeol responded alertly even to the slightest sigh. Mo Eunje was well aware that he and Tae Igyeol hadn’t been maintaining a relationship like ordinary friends all this time. However, they had never crossed the line. Tae Igyeol wasn’t crossing the line now, but he was treading on it precariously as if he might cross over. When it occurred to him that he might be the only one sensitive to this, since the friends sitting across from them hadn’t detected anything unusual, he suddenly wanted to scream at the top of his lungs.
Tae Igyeol’s actions weren’t stemming from a special friendship, but rather as if…
Caught in confusion, Mo Eunje couldn’t bear to continue the thought, consciously blocking the spreading stem of confusion.
