VDN Ch 78

“You smell delicious, Hyung.”

It seems like the taiyaki pheromone hasn’t completely disappeared. Nam-woon was inwardly startled but didn’t show it, taking a step back from Seo-oh.

“Oh, there was a cake for someone’s birthday next to me earlier. so I ate that…”

“No, it’s not that smell, it’s something richer.”

Seo-oh leaned in close to Nam-woon’s ear, breathing softly and sending shivers down Nam-woon’s spine with a strange tension. Startled, Nam-woon stepped back, covering the nape of his neck. Kwon Sang-moon, who was standing behind him, was equally surprised and tugged at his son’s clothes. He then looked at Seo-oh and said,

“Seo-oh, what’s wrong with you? You’re making the young master uncomfortable….”

Nam-woon, avoiding Kwon Sang-moon’s gaze that seemed to view him as a ticking time bomb, wiped the sweat from his neck.

At that awkward moment, his phone rang. Checking the caller ID, it was Mr. Umpyeong.

– Where are you? We’ve arrived at the parking lot.

Nam-woon looked at Seo-oh with relief.

“They said they’ve arrived. Let’s go.”

***

“On the way here, I saw a kickboard, so I rode it.”

The Umpyeong employee opened the driver’s side door and got in. The Umpyeong boss took the passenger seat, while Nam-woon, Seo-oh, and Kwon Sang-moon settled into the back.

“Uh, could you please take us to the Prajium apartments…”

After the arrival of the boss and the employee of Umpyeong, Kwon Sang-moon looked tense and remained silent after giving the apartment address. Seo-oh tightly held his father’s hand.

Wow, I’m going crazy.

In the quiet car, Nam-woon was breaking out in a cold sweat. It was already uncomfortable sitting next to Kwon Seo-oh because the smell of taiyaki hadn’t completely dissipated and now he was stuck sitting so close in such a cramped space.

To make matters worse, a pleasant scent began to waft up from beside him. It was unmistakably Kwon Seo-oh’s scent.

Could it be that Kwon Seo-oh was also smelling his taiyaki scent?

Nam-woon folded his arms in front of him and turned his head to look out the window, trying not to touch Seo-oh and to ignore the scent coming from beside him as much as possible. But suddenly, Seo-oh’s large, hot palm pressed down gently on Nam-woon’s right knee.

“You said you didn’t feel well. Are you okay?”

“…I’m okay.”

Heat surged in the knee where his palm touched. And from there, a faint tingling began to spread throughout his body. Nam-woon tightly closed his legs and pushed away the hand that was on his knee. Seo-oh watched that awkward movement intently.

He was in big trouble. Nam-woon felt a strange excitement building up inside him. And besides that he might end up getting “hard” in front of Kwon Seo-oh’s father.

His image has already hit rock bottom with his disgraceful behavior at the club but if he were to get an erection out here, it would only be a matter of time before he was branded as an irredeemable pervert.

Unable to bear the smell filling the car, Nam-woon finally rolled down the window. Next to him, Seo-oh quietly stopped him.

“I think my father is cold.”

“Ah.”

Nam-woon said a short word and rolled up the window again. Chewing his lip in nervousness, he stubbornly kept his gaze fixed on the scenery outside the car window when a yellow text appeared with a “Ding!”

[Taiyaki (Red Bean) Pheromone Experience +15

Promiscuity +15 Experience

Creating a chaotic mess +20 Experience

Modern setting, age gap, bleak, loan shark, handsome main character, ordinary main character, low self-esteem character, shy character, poverty.

After the death of his wife, Kwon Sang-moon lived in a small one-room apartment… (See more)]

Nam-woon narrowed his eyes. What is this all that about? The system brought a bunch of strange new words he had never seen before.

[Your previous “Experience” plus (Marking Experience +25, Short-term sickness Experience +25) has reached a total of 100%, resulting in leveling up!]

[Which one do you want to level up?

1. Kwon Seo-oh 2. Jin Hae-geon]

Are you kidding me, asking something like that? Nam-woon’s hands trembled as he focused one spot and stabbed with his finger.

Jin Hae-geon! Jin Hae-geon! Jin Hae-geon! Jin Hae-geon!

Seeing him frantically poking at the window, Seo-oh narrowed his eyes and grabbed his hand. “What are you doing?” Nam-woon claimed he was catching a bug on the window, and swifty took his hand. Then he quickly read the new yellow text that appeared.

[The character understanding level for Jin Hae-geon is currently 2.]

I’m glad I’m out of level one, but now what?

In the novel, Seok Nam-woon always treated Jin Hae-geon with starry-eyed admiration. But now, when faced Jin Hae-geon, his eyes automatically dimmed like a dead fish. If he wanted to avoid being buried alive, he needed to impress Jin Hae-geon, but he wasn’t sure if he could pull it off. Both the fictional and real-life Jin Hae-geon lacked humanity. And now he had to hand Seo-oh over to that guy? As Nam-woon rolled his eyes, he noticed Seo-oh’s pretty, melancholic face, which seemed full of thoughts. Nam-woon suddenly thought of a glimmer of hope.

Now that he has found Kwon Sang-moon, Seo-oh doesn’t need Jin He-geon anymore, does he?

It might be self-consolation, but the idea lifted his spirits. Finally, he leaned against the backrest, closed his eyes, and thought.

Let’s deal with Jin Hae-geon later.

For now, he needed to get rid of the smell of taiyaki emanating from his body. And he had to make sure Seo-oh didn’t notice anything strange.

How far had they driven? The car stopped in front of an of large building. Seo-oh got out first and looked back at Nam-woon, who was still sitting inside.

“Aren’t you getting out?”

“I’m just going straight home.”

At that, Seo-oh put on a serious face and studied every inch of Nam-woon’s face. He tried to keep his expression neutral, but his steady gaze continued to follow, as if he were trying to figure something out. After staring at Nam-woon for a while with a slightly furrowed brow, Seo-oh spoke up.

“Stay here and wait. I’ll take Dad up and come back down.”

“Why bother coming down? You can just sleep here,” Nam-woon retorted.

Then, Kwon Sang-moon cautiously addressed them both.

“Young master, could you wait here? I’ll just have a brief conversation and send him down.”

Kwon Sang-moon alternated his gaze between Nam-woon and the Umpyeong employee in the driver’s seat, making a request. Nam-woon could feel the Umpyeong employee’s eyes on him, as if asking what he was going to do. He couldn’t refuse such a sincere request from the older man.

He reluctantly nodded. Only then did Seo-oh support Kwon Sang-moon’s shoulders and guide him inside the building.

***

Click. The front door opened, and as soon as they entered, Kwon Sang-moon hugged Seo-oh tightly.

“Seo-oh, my son… How have you been? Are you feeling well?”

Seo-oh’s eyes reddened with tears as he looked at his father’s shoulders, which had become even thinner and smaller since the last time he had seen them.

“Dad, where the hell have you been? I’ve been looking for you for so long.”

Unable to finish his sentence, Seo-oh bit his lip. Kwon Sang-moon continued to pat his son’s cheek, apologizing.

“I’m sorry, son. Dad should have contacted you earlier….”

Kwon Sang-moon said, his lips trembling as he looked at his son, who was holding back tears with reddened eyes.

”After I said those words to you last time. I regret it every day and I’m sorry. I’m sorry for being a bad Dad…Seo-oh”

Seo-oh held his father’s tear-streaked face against his shoulder. “It’s okay, Dad. I found you.” He mustered a weak reply, embracing the shinny back and smelled the familiar scent he missed.

But something was off. Seo-oh couldn’t detect his father’s pheromones as clearly. Even if Kwon Sang-moon was skilled at controlling them, hiding them during strong emotions in this situation was very difficult.

After gently pulling away from his tearful father in my arms, Seo-oh asked with a serious expression.

“Dad, what happened? Why are your pheromones… It’s Chairman Seok, isn’t’ t? What did that man do?”

He clenched his bony, exposed hand, but there was no answer. Kwon Sang-moon wiped away more tears and asked about another topic.

“Seo-oh-ya, are you still being treated for your pheromones? Are you still receiving treatment? How’s your body?”

He worried about Seo-oh’s pheromone disorder, which had first appeared during middle school. Since Kwon Sang-moon’s disappearance, Seo-oh had rarely visited the hospital due to financial difficulties. Despite this, Seo-oh decided to lie.”

He worried about Seo-oh’s pheromone disorder that had surfaced during middle school. Although Seo-oh hadn’t visited the hospital since Kwon Sang-moon disappeared due to financial difficulties, Seo-oh decided to lie.

“I’m attending the hospital well. Don’t worry about me.”

“It must have been tough since Dad didn’t leave much money…”

Then, suddenly, as if something came to his mind, Kwon Sang-moon abruptly raised his head and shouted in an agitated voice,

“Seo-oh, don’t tell me, did you use loans?”

He was so anxious that he didn’t give Seo-oh a chance to answer. He grabbed his son’s broad shoulders and shook them roughly.

“It’s the young master, isn’t it? You borrowed a large sum of money from the young master…that’s why the young master has been following you around? Somehow, your attitude seemed strange…Clinging to the young master like a lover, Oh, Seo-oh, you’ve been flattering the young master you hate so much…I’m sorry. Dad should have saved up more money…”