He’s tried them. And it seems like not just once or twice either…
Do Yeonjae firmly held back the laughter trying to escape. If he laughed here and now, the aftermath would be no joke. Barely erasing the smile from his face, he shouted the answer toward the masked man.
“Number 2!”
Then the masked man flipped the sign with a solemn expression.
[ㄷㅈㅁㅇㅇㄷㄷ]
“…….”
This is the hint?
At the sudden consonant game, Yeonjae narrowed his eyes and looked closely to see if there was anything else, but that really was it. There really is nothing easy. Clicking his tongue at the cruelty of not even providing spacing, Yeonjae fell into deep thought. D, J, M… What could it be? Only challenge…
“I don’t know. It seems like a sentence… Just my heart… shaking?”
“You’re talking nonsense like ‘my heart is shaking.'”
Kwon Isoo, who was listening from the side, snorted. An indignant Do Yeonjae provoked Kwon Isoo, telling him to try saying it then. Looking down at Do Yeonjae with contempt, Isoo said bluntly.
“Lamp.”
“Lamp? Oh? The darkest place is under the lamp.”
As if possessed, when he blurted out the familiar proverb, Kwon Isoo said “I knew it, come here” and began walking ahead. When they entered the conference room where they’d started filming earlier, PD Woo Jiyeon was visible.
She, who had been monitoring the entire situation, asked innocently.
“Oh, you’re here already? Doesn’t seem like you found everything though.”
“We’re about to find it.”
Kwon Isoo, who answered indifferently, passed the PD and boldly strutted around between the cameras in the conference room. At this point, Do Yeonjae also caught on to what the hint meant and busily moved following him.
Then he discovered something protruding from the bottom of Camera 1. A deflated breath burst from Do Yeonjae’s mouth as he reached his hand there.
“Ha… it’s really here.”
They’d searched the 5th floor so thoroughly, yet it had been here all along. When he peeled off the sticker, it said [Bass].
Finally they’d found them all. Drums, bass, guitar, keyboard.
The PD grinned and said.
“You succeeded in the mission with 8 minutes remaining. Now you can use For Rhythm without restrictions when working. You’ve also accumulated one more chemistry gauge. Congratulations!”
Relief at having found all the cards within the time limit made Yeonjae clutch his chest. Haah… that was really a killer mission. Looking down at Yeonjae, who had become dazed with all his energy drained after spending 90 minutes that felt like 900, Isoo let out a small deflating laugh.
Watching the two of them, PD Woo, who was grinning for no reason, sat the two people in chairs. Then she asked Isoo.
“But Isoo-ssi. You said you had a feeling it would be on the 5th floor—did you perhaps guess it would be in this conference room?”
“Yes.”
Kwon Isoo held up the string on his wrist and added bluntly.
“You seem to like toying with people.”
“…….”
“Oh my… it seems Yeonjae-ssi agrees a bit too?”
Do Yeonjae, with a guilty expression, played dumb for a moment before confessing his true feelings.
“Honestly… when we were filming the Lovely Lovely Boy Challenge, I thought that a little.”
“Ahaha. Watching the video, you filmed it really well though?”
The PD, who laughed loudly, said it was a shame because they’d set up fun missions on the 3rd floor too. However, contrary to her words of regret, her face looked very satisfied.
Do Yeonjae, who suddenly became curious, threw a question at her.
“What was the hint on the 3rd floor?”
“Ah. If you succeeded in the mission, the line was supposed to be ‘We’re out of food ingredients, so if you’re hungry, try going to the cafe.'”
So the 3rd floor was simply a trap to waste time. They almost threw away several minutes for nothing. Just when he was thinking it was good they followed Kwon Isoo’s intuition, the conference room door opened with a knock-knock sound. The youngest staff member came in holding a drink tray and placed it on the table.
“Ah, thank you.”
When Do Yeonjae, who had bowed in greeting, looked at the tray filled with desserts and drinks, PD Woo said it was a gift for working hard to find the cards.
What was inside were iced Americanos and… strawberry latte with marshmallows, bread topped with honey like a bomb… cheese cake, chocolate muffin.
“These are the menu items from the game just now.”
“Yes, that’s right. Since we’re going to have a meeting now, it’s to replenish sugar.”
Since he happened to be thirsty, he said he’d enjoy it and picked up a drink. Do Yeonjae, who took a big sip of the iced Americano, blinked and looked at the coffee. Didn’t it definitely say shot added in the game? Somehow the taste seems a bit weak.
Thinking casually that maybe because he usually adds two shots, now even one shot feels weak, Yeonjae also offered Kwon Isoo the Marshmallow Strawberry Pop Pop Latte.
However, Kwon Isoo didn’t even look at his portion of the latte and said bluntly.
“I’m not drinking it.”
“…Not drinking it? Why.”
Looking at his furrowed brow, it seemed his pride was hurt from having his elementary schooler taste buds exposed to the world earlier.
Why is he acting like this all of a sudden when he’s already been immortalized on Namuwiki for liking chocolate chip frappuccinos loaded with whipped cream? Yeonjae, who was looking at Kwon Isoo with a coldly hardened face, picked up the latte with his own hand and brought it in front of Kwon Isoo’s mouth.
“They went to the trouble of buying it for us, so drink at least one sip.”
“I said I don’t want to?”
“You’re low on sugar right now.”
For a smooth meeting, it seemed they needed to replenish his sugar even a little. Kwon Isoo, just one sip… When he trailed off as if pleading, Kwon Isoo, who scrunched up his face, had no choice but to suck up the drink. Only then did Yeonjae let out a sigh of relief.
Huh? But…
It was just when he thought the color of the drink going up the straw seemed a bit strange.
Suddenly Kwon Isoo, making a disgusted face, spat the straw out of his mouth.
“What is this, this is coffee.”
“Coffee?”
Startled, he checked the drink. When it was placed on the tray, he didn’t notice because it was hidden by other desserts, but looking closely, the bottom color was really darkly black. Just like it had an extra shot added…
At that moment, the youngest staff member who had brought the drinks hurriedly popped out from the corner.
“I’m sorry! I must have misheard… I heard last time that Isoo-nim doesn’t drink coffee, but I thought you drank ddal-shot-chu… I should have checked once more, I’m sorry!”
“Mina-ssi too, the ddal-shot-chu trend ended ages ago… Isoo-ssi, I’m sorry. I’ll have them buy one without the shot added again.”
A troubled look crossed PD Woo’s face.
Do Yeonjae, who placed the latte on the table, looked sympathetically at the youngest staff member’s pale face. In the delivery process, iced Americano with shot added must have been distorted to strawberry latte with shot added. That’s why my coffee felt weak.
He wanted to just tell him to drink it anyway, but knowing what that tasted like, those words didn’t come out readily. Because he vividly remembered being shocked when he tried a sip when Sian hyung used to eat it enthusiastically everywhere saying it was delicious. That taste that was neither this nor that… that taste that felt like his taste buds would collapse if he ate more.
It’s not even my drink so I can’t step forward and say it’s okay, what should I do… Do Yeonjae, who had a troubled face, suddenly looked at Isoo and opened his eyes wide.
“…! You,”
At some point, Kwon Isoo was crazily inhaling the ddal-shot-chu latte. Wha, what?
The <My Favorite! Chemistry> staff were equally flustered. PD Woo Jiyeon, who was blankly watching the drink rapidly rising up the straw, hurriedly stopped Isoo.
“Isoo-ssi, you don’t have to force yourself to drink it…”
So flustered was she that for a moment she thought he was being considerate of the staff. But the more she spoke, the less confident she became. Kwon Isoo-ssi… forcing himself to drink an unappetizing drink to be considerate of a low-level staff member…? If it were Do Yeonjae-ssi, maybe…
While everyone around was falling into confusion, the straw finally emerged from Kwon Isoo’s mouth after he emptied more than half the drink without a word. Soon after, a low voice rang out.
“It’s like strawberry tiramisu.”
“…Huh?”
Do Yeonjae doubted his eyes for a moment. Because Kwon Isoo’s languidly relaxed face looked just like… a cheese cat satisfied after eating churu.
“I hated Americano with shot added, but this is oddly addictive.”
At the indifferent face smacking his lips and sucking in one more sip, Yeonjae and the staff blinked for a moment. Soon after, Kwon Isoo, who completely emptied the drink, put the finishing touch.
“It’s delicious.”
Delicious? That?
Yeonjae muttered in shock.
“You… actually have pretty similar tastes to Sian hyung.”
