Even Though I’m a Guy, He Likes Me? 22

“You scared me!”

[ System ]

[Juwoo, let’s go grocery shopping!]

“……Now?”

[ System ]

[Yes!]

Even dropping his phone was already enough to piss him off, but being told to go grocery shopping again when he’d just gone not long ago made him feel like his head was about to blow. The System watched him around the clock without showing it — there was no way it didn’t know the kitchen shelves were fully stocked, so he couldn’t understand why it was telling him to go shopping.

On top of that, even if it was spring, the evenings were cold enough to be chilly outside. Yet it was telling him to go out now, of all times, on a perfectly good weekend. He had even less desire to keep listening.

“I’m not going. There’s plenty to eat at home.”

[ System ]

[Aaah, so having a bunch of instant ramen and ham counts as ‘plenty,’ does it~? ^^]

The remark hit a nerve. Cooking was something only people who’d actually lived on their own could do, and since Juwoo had never even experienced dorm life, let alone living alone, his repertoire of dishes he could actually make was severely limited.

Naturally, even when he went grocery shopping often, what he came back with was always pretty much the same. Canned ham, eggs, instant ramen, frozen food — and whenever he had a craving for something home-cooked, he’d pick up a meal kit. Apparently, the System was unhappy with that.

[ System ]

[I’ve topped up your balance. Go on, get out there. Take care of yourself!]

“I take perfectly good care of myself. I even started taking a 30-minute morning walk because my body was so weak.”

[ System ]

[And this person eats ramen every other day???]

[Too lazy to make ramen, so just pan-fry some ham instead???]

“Hey, that’s——”

[ System ]

[My, my, treating someone else’s body like it’s nothing!]

[Wow, truly impressive~^0^]

“Okay, I’ll go! I’m going!”

He ended up pulling on his outerwear because of a System that made him feel like a terrible person. He wanted to say he was trying too, and that he’d like some acknowledgment for that — but aside from starting a 30-minute walk before school, there was genuinely nothing else he was doing for Juwoo’s health. So he left the house without another word.

His balance had been topped up more generously than expected, so in addition to what the System had told him to get, he also picked up an ice cream. People always said ice cream was a summer thing — but that was just something said by people who had no idea how wonderful it felt to stand in a pleasantly cool breeze on a slightly chilly day with an ice cream in your mouth. Winter was the true season for ice cream. It was only a shame that it was currently spring.

He’d considered stopping by Go Jin’s café since he was already out, but it was in completely the opposite direction from home and he was carrying too many bags, so he pushed it to another time. Instead, he sat down on a bench in the small park just outside the nearest apartment complex and ate his ice cream.

“Amazing. My front teeth are too sensitive to even bite into a popsicle — Juwoo, you’re seriously blessed, aren’t you?”

Being young had its perks, apparently — eating something cold didn’t make his teeth ache in the slightest, and he was blissfully content.

“Juwoo?”

Was something wrong with his ears? A chilling sensation crept over him at what sounded unmistakably like Choi Woosu’s voice, and his body went rigid.

“That’s you, isn’t it. Juwoo.”

He cursed the developer he’d been bad-mouthing, addressed them reverently as “developer-nim,” and begged them — please, anyone but Choi Woosu, please let it be Han Bohyeon instead. But bad premonitions never failed to come true. Woosu, who had apparently been blessed with annoyingly sharp eyesight and spotted him from a distance, was getting closer and closer. He yanked his hood up in a panic.

“What are you doing here?”

“S-sorry, you must have the wrong person.”

The bench was right under a streetlamp, so Woosu had definitely already seen his face — but he played dumb anyway. He had no desire to see the man outside of school for any reason whatsoever, so he hurriedly grabbed his grocery bag and stood up. But his legs were far too short for running away, and Choi Woosu’s legs were far too long.

He’d barely managed to take one step before Woosu was already right in front of him, grabbing him by the back of the hood. He pulled it off, and the flimsy lie of “wrong person” fell apart instantly.

“Let go of this!”

“What are you doing here?”

“Eating ice cream, obviously!”

“Why are you eating it in front of my apartment?”

“……Your apartment?”

“Yeah. This is where I live.”

He’d only sat down on the nearest bench for a moment so he could eat his ice cream before it melted — and of all places, it had to be in front of where Choi Woosu lived. If this was a terrible coincidence, it was almost too terrible to be a coincidence at all; it felt more like fate. Just then, a System window appeared, and its contents were something else entirely.

[ System ]

[Map is now running.]

[‘Choi Woosu’s Home’ has been saved.]

“You really have the worst timing imaginable.”

He didn’t mind that it was doing its job — but it was being so enthusiastically thorough about it that it irritated him. He didn’t know about anything else, but the System had clearly taken all its social awareness, ground it up into feed, and thrown it to the dogs.

“……Are you talking about me?”

“Huh? Oh — no! I’m talking about myself, myself!”

His inner thoughts had slipped out before he knew it, and he frantically waved his hands in denial — but since there was no way Woosu could know there was a System window floating in front of his face, Woosu assumed he’d been insulted. His expression shifted in a subtle, unmistakable way. He’d caught on that Woosu was displeased and immediately denied it, but Woosu grabbed his hood tight enough to feel like his throat was being choked and refused to let go.

“Hey, could you maybe let go of this?”

“I don’t think I will.”

“Ugh — it’s choking me.”

He made a show of coughing and pretending his throat hurt, and only then did Woosu reluctantly release the hood. He thought about making a run for it in that opening — but whether Woosu had taken all the social awareness the System lacked, he immediately grabbed his sleeve, making it all completely pointless. Even though this person couldn’t stand the sight of him, he had no idea why outside of school he was so desperate to keep him from leaving.

“I’ve never seen you around here before. Do you live here?”

“No!”

“Okay, quiet down. If you don’t, then you don’t — why are you yelling?”

‘Because the very idea of living in the same neighborhood as you makes me want to die!’

He swallowed the words that had risen all the way to his throat. The thirty-story apartment tower looming high in the sky was obviously expensive — clearly desirable — but if it meant having Choi Woosu as a neighbor, he’d firmly decline.

He shook his arm trying to get Woosu to release his sleeve, but he wouldn’t let go. With a sigh, he held up the grocery bag in his other hand and fired off the words rapid-fire.

“I don’t live here — I came to the mart nearby to go grocery shopping. I genuinely had no idea you lived here, and I absolutely did not come here to see you. There, curiosity satisfied? Now let go of my clothes. You’re stretching them out.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Right, I get that you can’t stand me — which is exactly why you should let go.”

“You’ve gotten really blunt lately, haven’t you?”

“Wasn’t that what you wanted when you kept glaring at me?”

“Well, something like that, yeah.”

Woosu sat down on the bench and — rather than making any move to push him away — grabbed his wrist and pulled him down to sit beside him. That, combined with the words that followed, was so far from what he’d expected that his eyes wavered.

“Sit with me for a bit.”

“……Me? With you?”

“Is there anyone else here besides you?”

“No.”

“Then sit.”

He shuddered and got up — but Woosu grabbed his wrist and pulled him back down again. Trying to stand up again would only get him caught immediately, so he gave up cleanly. It wasn’t like he was short on time anyway. Fine, he could spare a moment, whatever.

Not wanting the rest of the ice cream to melt, he quickly finished it off — and that was when he noticed something. Choi Woosu was wearing his soccer club uniform. He’d been in it at lunch too, and now here he was still in it after school — had he gone to practice again? The competition schedule hadn’t even been announced yet, and he was already at it like this. It was very captain-like. That perfectionist streak of his really never went anywhere.