VDN Ch 108

Nam-woon’s complexion suddenly darkened as he looked around the shop, recalling his memories. It reminded him of the accident before he was possessed. It had happened so quickly that he couldn’t remember it well, but his body probably didn’t survive being hit by the truck.

Did the taiyaki part-timer find me quickly? Where would my body be now in the original world? In a hospital? Or maybe…

Feeling a chill run down his spine, he rubbed his arms when suddenly he heard a loud sigh in front of him.

“Ugh, why is this acting up again?”

The store owner, holding an igniter, was trying to light the burner under the deep fryer. But the burner wasn’t lighting properly, and she was frowning in frustration.

Ah, that one. It never worked well before either.

Even when Nam-woon worked at the shop, that particular burner had always had trouble igniting. Watching the situation, Nam-woon casually asked, 

“Is the burner not lighting?”

“Huh? Oh, yeah. I don’t know why it’s giving me so much trouble, really.”

“Let me take a look.”

Nam-woon naturally took the igniter from the owner’s hand. After examining it for a moment, he asked if he could step inside the store to help, and the owner, eager to get back to her business, quickly nodded in agreement.

Stepping inside, Nam-woon flicked the igniter a few times while pressing the switch. Without rushing, he held the igniter near the burner for a few seconds, and soon the burner lit up. The owner looked surprised.

“Oh my, how did you do that so quickly? Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. You might want to call someone to take a look at it…By the way, what time do you usually close?”

“I close early. I only do evening business and close at 8:30 pm.”

On the day of the accident, Nam-woon had stayed at the store until 11 PM because his work had ended unusually late. He stretched his neck out to look at the road. Now that I think about it, it was a very strange incident. There were so many cars parked on the shoulder of the road, how did that huge truck even get in on a road so narrow? It made no sense.

Still, I was worried that a similar accident might happen again. Nam-woon was discussing things with the owner when he suddenly felt someone’s sharp gaze on him. Turning his head, he saw Seo-oh staring at him with a strange look in his eyes. Oops. He’d unknowingly acted too familiar.

Nam-woon cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped outside to stand beside Seo-oh. It was as if Seo-oh had been waiting for this moment, and he immediately asked,

“What’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

When he shamelessly asked back as if he knew nothing, Seo-oh’s handsome eyebrows furrowed in response.

“You used to work here, didn’t you?”

“No… I had a similar experience at a different place a while back.”

“When was that?”

“A few years ago. My friend’s family ran a shop…” 

“Who’s your friend? Is it a guy?”

Seo-oh didn’t seem to believe Nam-woon and persistently questioned him about this so-called friend. But his questions were oddly off the mark. He asked about the friend’s gender, height, and appearance, even going so far as to ask sexually inappropriate questions about how many centimeters he thinks his d*ck is.

Flustered, Nam-woon, sweating nervously, said he wasn’t sure of the size of his d*ck, when suddenly, the food they ordered arrived.

“Here you go.”

“Hey, let’s just eat first.”

Nam-woon hurriendly stabbed a piece of tteokbokki with a long toothpick and brought it right up to Seo-oh’s mouth. Only then did Seo-oh, who had been bombarding him with questions, stop and obediently open his mouth to eat the tteokbokki.

Of course, Seo-oh wasn’t going to back down just like that. Nam-woon barely responded to the continuous questions and focused solely on eating. Perhaps it was because, after sweating profusely in the bathroom last night and skipping breakfast this morning, he suddenly felt hungry when he saw the food.

As he ate a few more servings, he suddenly noticed that Seo-oh was drinking much more water than eating tteokbokki.

“You can’t handle spicy food?”

“…I can handle it.”

But despite his words, Seo-oh’s cheeks and lips were already flushed red. He had already downed an entire bottle of water.

This was a new side of him. At home, Seo-oh lived on just kimchi, and even when they bought food or ate out, he would eat without complaint. Nam-woon hadn’t noticed that Seo-oh couldn’t handle spicy food. He suddenly realized there were many sides to Seo-oh that he didn’t know, that included what happened in the bathroom last night.

He cleared his throat, recalling for a moment and observed Seo-oh, who was breathing out with his mouth open, “Ha… ha…” Seeing this, Nam-woon’s face was filled with mischief.

“Do you want me to wash the tteokbokki in water for you?”

Seo-oh immediately frowned. With a dissatisfied expression, he warned in a low voice,

“Don’t try to act older just because of a two year age difference, Seok Nam-woon.”

But when Seo-oh took another big gulp of water, Nam-woon chuckled because it didn’t sound threatening at all.

“Oh? Are you upset, Seo-oh Hyung?”

Nam-woon teased him again with a playful tone, Seo-oh’s face turned even redder. He lowered his head and started eating sundae. Nam-woon leaned closer, tapping Seo-oh’s firm arm. “Will you forgive me? Huh?” he teased, trying to provoke him further. But Seo-oh just chewed in silence, his earlobes turning red.

After a while, Seo-oh swallowed his food and curtly responded.

“Stop treating me like a kid. You’ll regret it if you keep this up.”

However, Nam-woon just continued to smile without a hint of concern. Seo-oh, watching him silently, finally said,

“If you keep laughing, I’ll bully you more today.”

“And what will you do to me?”

“I’ll be even rougher than last night. I won’t let you off the hook, and I’ll do it my way.”

“……”

“Have you already forgotten how much you begged me last night?”

Nam-woon stammered, caught off guard.

“W-what, when did I—”

“You did… in the bathroom. You asked me to go faster.”

Nam-woon took a moment to think back to yesterday’s version of himself and then realized what Seo-oh was referring to. His expression twisted in frustration.

“…Hey, that was because I wanted to get it over with quickly! I mean, there was a kid outside, and it doesn’t make sense to keep doing it in that situation, does it?”

“Then when else are we supposed to do it? You keep avoiding it every time.”

Seo-oh’s attitude was so brazen that Nam-woon let out an exasperated sigh. His voice naturally grew louder.

“Unbelievable. Do you think you can just do whatever you want? The kid was awake! What if we really got caught?”

“But we didn’t get caught, so it’s fine.”

They started raising their voices, forgetting where they were, bickering back and forth. The person in front of them, the store owner, who had been forced to overhear their conversation, couldn’t help but be amazed.

“Oh my…”

With that single word, their argument came to an abrupt halt. Nam-woon, noticing the owner staring at them with wide eyes, quickly lowered his head and began shoveling tteokbokki into his mouth, trying to act as if nothing had happened. However, his attempt to diffuse the situation didn’t work. The store owner’s curiosity had been piqued, and she asked curiously,

“How old is the kid?”

“Second grade… nine years old.”

Nam-woon replied absentmindedly, and the owner, upon hearing “nine years old,” looked back and forth between them with even wider eyes. At that moment, Nam-woon’s phone vibrated. It was a message from Yong-deuk. After checking it, Nam-woon excused himself for a moment.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, the owner asked Seo-oh another question.

“If the kid is already nine, you must’ve gotten married pretty young, right? You both look so young.”

“…Actually, we haven’t been able to get married yet.”

Seo-oh lowered his eyes and spoke in a gloomy tone.

“Oh dear… You young people have it so tough.”

Whatever she was imagining, her eyes were full of sympathy and pity. Meanwhile, Nam-woon returned to the table after a brief phone call.

“What was the call about?”

“Oh, it was Yong-deuk…” Nam-woon replied, scratching his head as if it were a headache.

“He said there was some miscalculation when we adjusted the interest rates last time, so there’s still some debt left.”

The owner, clicking her tongue in disapproval, picked up three bear-shaped pork cutlet skewers in front of her.

“Do you have an air fryer at home?”

“No, we don’t.”

When Seo-oh answered, the owner sighed and furrowed her brows as if it were troubling.

“You can get one pretty cheap if you buy it in Damgeum. If you ever have some extra cash, you should get one. Do you at least have a microwave?”

When Seo-oh nodded obediently, the store owner handed him a plastic bag and said,

“Alright then, either heat it up in the microwave or fry it up in a pan with some oil and eat it with the kid.”

Nam-woon, surprised, shook his head in protest. 

“You really don’t have to give us this.”

“Just take it. And I’ll only charge you for half of what you ate today.”

“What? Why?”

Nam-woon, not understanding the reason, argued with the owner for a bit. After a heated exchange, they finally managed to pay the full price for their meal. However, as they left the restaurant, they found themselves holding five bear-shaped pork cutlet skewers.

As they thanked her for the meal, the shop owner added,

“Make sure to come by here sometimes for a date and eat some tteokbokki together!”

“We’re not on a date. And, Ma’am, don’t work too late! Make sure you get home early! And be careful with the traffic!”

Nam-woon shouted before leaving the shop. As he looked down at the bag in his hand, he tilted his head in confusion.

“Why did she give us this?”

“It’s probably just a service. Considering you ate enough for ten people earlier.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

Nodding in agreement, Nam-woon accepted the explanation.

“By the way, how do you know that place?”

“Oh, I used to come here from time to time,” Nam-woon replied, glancing around.

Seo-oh looked around as well. No matter how you look at it, the area didn’t seem to have any connection to Nam-woon. There was an elementary school nearby, and it was a fair distance from both Nam-woon’s office and home. Plus, it was a snack shop—a place that didn’t really fit with the image of the old Nam-woon. Noticing the puzzled look on Seo-oh’s face, Nam-woon gave a vague response.

“I used to come here when I had a lot on my mind, just to eat some tteokbokki.”

Seo-oh stared at Nam-woon intently. 

“It’s surprising to hear you had a lot on your mind. You always seemed like you didn’t have any thoughts at all.”

“…You little…”

Given what he knew, Seo-oh’s comment wasn’t far from the truth. The Nam-woon in the original story probably really was that thoughtless.

After observing Nam-woon’s reaction, Seo-oh hesitantly asked, 

“What were you thinking about?”

“I don’t know…? I can’t really remember now.”

In reality, all Nam-woon could think about was paying off his debts. He was constantly stressed, trying to figure out how to deal with the debt that would follow him for the rest of his life. As Nam-woon fell into thought, his eyes took on a distant look, which Seo-oh seemed to notice. Suddenly, Seo-oh stopped walking, causing Nam-woon to stop and turn around as well.

Standing still, Seo-oh extended his hand slowly, gently brushing Nam-woon’s forehead before speaking softly. 

“Hyung, if anything happens, just call me.”

“What do you mean, if anything happens?”

“Just… for anything.”

After examining Nam-woon’s forehead closely, Seo-oh started walking again. Nam-woon, feeling the lingering warmth on his forehead, absentmindedly touched the spot. Suddenly, he remembered that this was the spot where Chairman Seok had hit him with an ashtray in the past. Recalling that memory, Nam-woon tried to play it off with a joke.

“And if I call, you’ll handle everything?”

“I told you not to treat me like a kid.” 

Seo-oh replied firmly.

“If anything happens, call me. Promise?”

The seriousness in Seo-oh’s face as he asked for a promise made Nam-woon’s smile fade slightly. Then he watched Seo-oh’s wide back for a while before finally following him.

***

The five bear-shaped pork cutlets the owner had given them were devoured as soon as they got home. After quickly finishing the snack, they spent time on the porch, playing ball with Sundol, the neighborhood watchdog.

After the sun went down, they all had dinner together before going to bed. It was a peaceful day, as always.

Except for the night.

“Hyung, spread your legs a bit more.”

“…Seo-oh, can we please just sleep?”