TGMND 32

(Notification) Your ordered food is being diligently packed! Please pick it up in 10 minutes to ensure the food stays warm.

“It’s just the right time.”

As soon as the message arrived, Yeo-woon quickly stood up. He pressed the quit shortcut key repeatedly to force quit the game and immediately got up. The clock on his phone was just past 7:30 PM.

The timing was perfect. If he walked home right now, no one would know he went to the PC room, those fools… they were hungry, so he should pick it up quickly and go. While re-imagining the location of the restaurant on the map app in his mind, someone grabbed Yeo-woon’s shoulder.

“Hyung! You left your wallet on the seat.”

“…?”

A boy who looked like he was in middle school placed a wallet in Yeo-woon’s hand. Seeing his youthful face and plump cheeks, Yeo-woon couldn’t help but find him cute, like seeing a younger cousin. It seemed that, in his hurry, he had forgotten to put the wallet on the table.

“Oh, I forgot my wallet… Thank you.”

Yeo-woon awkwardly smiled and expressed his gratitude to the student. However, the male student seemed to have something more to say, pursing his lips as if struggling with his words. He pointed with his finger to the back while muttering something unclear.

“That, I… I came here instead because I lost at Rock, Paper, Scissors. It’s not because I wanted to, but my friends insisted that I give you a high-five and come back.”

The male student started speaking quickly as if he was rapping and muttered, “Ah, so embarrassing.” It seemed like some kind of bet, right? Yeo-woon chuckled and raised his hand. As the student slowly lifted his hand, Yeo-woon saw the name Jeong Min-jae engraved on the student’s name tag.

‘Cute. Was I like that when I was young?’

Yeo-woon looked towards the aisle where the boy had been sitting while pressing his palm against his hand. The students in the same school uniform craned their heads like meerkats and watched their friend carry out the mission as they laughed about what was so funny.

The moment Yeo-woon turned around after watching the boy with a bright red face return to his seat, Yeo-woon gasped and took a deep breath.

“…”

“…”

When the man who had just gotten up from his seat looked up, his heart sank. It was the part-time worker from the cafe in front of the house where he used to feed stray cats. Surprised to encounter each other in such a place, both Yeo-woon and the man stared at each other blankly. The PC room part-timer glanced anxiously at the two people who stood still for a while and had a gaze fight.

“… Ha.”

The man frowned as if he was uncomfortable for some reason, and pulled down the black cap he was holding in his hand. And he left the PC room ahead of Yeo-woon.

‘What is it, at this hour? Did he get fired from the cafe?’

Yeo-woon muttered to himself as he followed the man down the stairs. Instead of heading directly on his way after leaving the building, the man briefly stopped in place and glanced back. When Yeo-woon met those fierce eyes again, his body stiffened for no reason.

‘Oh no. Am I really going to get robbed today…’

But he didn’t have any cash, so what was he going to rob him of? Just as Yeo-woon was starting to think about all sorts of things in his mind, the man nodded.

“Go ahead.”

“What?”

“I said, go first.”

After saying that, he didn’t move a single step from his spot, and Yeo-woon looked at him and nodded. Coincidentally, the traffic light at the crosswalk changed. Yeo-woon quickly ran across the pedestrian crosswalk.

“…”

Despite him leaving first, he suggested Yeo-woon to go ahead. Contrary to his appearance, he seemed like a really kind person!

「Earth: Neuta-nim, why are you leaving without telling me!! ㅠ0ㅠ」

A notification from the HolBlue app sounded after a while. Earth was using an emoji that cried with a distressed expression.

「Earth: Since you left and I left, Meow-nim said it felt awkward to be alone so he also logged off the game haha.」

「Earth: Hurry up and come back, it’s chaos here」

It seemed like he was a bit surprised that Yeo-woon had suddenly disconnected. Yeo-woon had lived his whole life as a solo player, so joining a guild all of a sudden was unfamiliar to him. He thought he should at least say goodbye when leaving from now on.

「Me: I’m outside, so I’ll go back home and reconnect.」

「Earth: Oh, I’m also outside. Is this fate? Hehe>ㅅ<」

「Me: No, it’s not.」

「Earth: Firm response.」

「Earth: But why did you make strawberry jam when you didn’t even say anything? I wanted to ask you to leave after they give you some privileges, but it’s a pity.」

「Me: I was planning to leave the guild regardless of PVP… Motusena kept bothering me;;」

「Earth: Really?」

「Me: But I told Strawberry-nim and then left.」

「Earth: I told you that Motusena was a weird guy, haha」

Indeed, he seemed like a weird guy. The more Yeo-woon said he was a man, the more Motsuena thought, ‘I can see you denying it, you’re a 100% woman,’ and Yeo-woon couldn’t help but sigh as he remembered how Motsuena only believed what he wanted to believe. He had to block him when he logged in later.

「Earth: What should I buy for dinner? Pork cutlet vs. Pork cutlet」

「Me: Starve.」

「Earth: I’ve been fighting all day and didn’t even have lunchㅜㅜ?」

「Me: Starve.」

「Earth: Oh, the snack place is closed, I guess I’ll just buy instant noodles.」

「Me: Why did you even ask? LOL」

Yeo-woon, who was smiling while looking at his phone, looked up when he heard the sound of a packaging bag rustling.

“How many chopsticks do you need?”

“Ah, you don’t have to give it to me. I’ll eat it at home.”

“Yes, enjoy your meal.”

“Thank you.”

Yeo-woon returned the disposable items in the sushi bag to the store before heading back out into the street. Now, if he walked quickly, it would take him roughly 5 minutes to reach home. After crossing the crosswalk again, Yeo-woon found a man in familiar clothes coming out of a nearby supermarket again.

“…!”

Yeo-woon never thought he would meet him here again. He almost screamed out of joy, but since they weren’t close friends, he just decided to keep his mouth shut. Yeo-woon began to follow the man’s walking steps. Seeing that they were going in the same direction, it seemed like the man was also heading towards the cafe. Fortunately, it seemed like he wasn’t completely cut off, just a brief break. The footsteps of the two echoed in the dark alley.

The unusually tall man was dragging his black slippers as if he were unusually tired. The end of his sagging shopping bag had a long tear in it, and a yellow lemon rolled out through the gap.

“…?”

Thud, thud, thud…

A lemon rolled down every ten steps.

Could it be that he did this on purpose? How could he not notice that? Standing still for a moment, Yeo-woon stooped and picked up the lemons, following behind him slowly.

“…What’s this?”

Hansel and Gretel? Yeo-woon murmured as he cradled the six lemons the man had dropped in his arms. As he turned the corner, the familiar cafe came into view in the distance. Cafe Earth’s signboard seemed unusually melancholy at this hour. Seeing the lights still on, he thought he made the right choice to move here. There’s a place selling stamina potions right in front of his house!

“Uh…”

The man strolling along the street suddenly slowed and looked back. When their gazes met, Yeo-woon raised his free hand and smiled at him. Then, with the purpose of returning the lemon that the man had spilled, he began walking more quickly. Then the man’s face suddenly turned pale and he hesitated for a moment before turning around and running away frantically.

The man ran, swinging his shopping bag in all directions. Yeo-woon couldn’t understand why he was running so fast with his sluggish slippers dragging along. And why was he shouting like that? Yeo-woon carefully wrapped the sushi to prevent it from shaking and followed him.

Instead of entering the cafe, the man ran into the building where Yeo-woon had just moved in. Yeo-woon shouted loudly at his back.

“Hey, you spilled something!”

“Ahh!”

“Let’s go together!”

“Aaahh!”

However, Yeo-woon came in late and could only see a hand hitting the close button through the crack of the elevator door.

“What, let’s go together…”

A feeling of disappointment came over him. Why did he run? Did he need to go to the bathroom? Yeo-woon tilted his head and watched blankly as the elevator went up.

“…!”

The elevator went up endlessly and arrived at the 9th floor, the top floor. Unlike the other floors, which have four households per floor, the 9th floor only had Yeo-woon’s apartment and the neighboring one. There were only two units on that floor.

“No way, does he live here?”

What a coincidence.

It seemed that the person who lived next door was that man.