ETP Ch 64

“Huh?”

Sunjung’s eyes went wide. Then he raised both hands and rubbed the inside of his ears with his pinky fingers. As if that wasn’t enough, he tapped the back of his ears with his large palms.

“This is weird, I’m hearing things.”

“You probably heard it correctly.”

“No? Wait, wait a minute! Are you saying I heard correctly that Hwang Yoohyun has romantic feelings?”

“Yeah.”

A silence of about three seconds followed.

“FUCK!!!!”

Yoo Sunjung suddenly spat out a curse and jumped up from his seat. The sudden movement startled not only the customers who were just entering the pub, but also the staff, who turned their gazes towards the two of them.

Yoohyun turned his head away, ignoring his friend. Naturally, Sunjung didn’t let Yoohyun off the hook. Quickly moving to Yoohyun’s side, Sunjung shouted in his ear again.

“You, fucker!!”

“Be quiet.”

Yoohyun covered Sunjung’s mouth with his large hand. Undeterred, Sunjung shook his head and flung Yoohyun’s hand off.

“Do you see this? I got fucking goosebumps!”

“Why.”

“Why?! The word ‘romance’ just came out of Hwang Yoohyun’s mouth, how could I not get goosebumps?!”

Sunjung wore a dumbfounded expression. Look at him, being so calm after startling a person like this. What a terrible bastard.

“Did I ask you to date me? Why are you the one getting goosebumps?”

“Fuck, shut up. I don’t even want to imagine it.”

Sunjung pulled back the arm that was pointed at Yoohyun and quickly shifted his butt to the opposite side. It was a genuine expression of disgust.

It was the same for Yoohyun; even though he was the one who said it, he had a nauseated look on his face.

“Hey, but when I asked you the other day when you were going on about your PC bang part-time job, you said no.”

“Did I?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t remember saying no.”

At Yoohyun’s answer, Sunjung rummaged through his mind, replaying the memory.

Wait, come to think of it, he really didn’t say much in response back then, did he?

Sunjung gasped. Come to think of it, when Sunjung said he’d introduce Bokseung to someone, Hwang Yoohyun had suddenly burst out in anger.

What, is this for real and not a joke? Is it true love?

Sunjung never imagined that the ‘true love’ he had blurted out as a joke would come back to him like this.

“Hey, for real, you’re not kidding?”

How many times had he asked now? Yoohyun, too lazy to even answer, averted his gaze to his phone, pretending not to hear.

Sunjung, who had been poking Yoohyun from the side, demanding a proper answer, eventually gave up from exhaustion and started eating the food.

“This guy, this guy, isn’t he an alien wearing Hwang Yoohyun’s skin? I think he is.”

“If you’re going to keep talking nonsense, go home.”

Sunjung quickly shook his head. It was because he had just seen the name that popped up on Yoohyun’s phone.

[OnePunch]

It was the name Bokseung’s number was saved under in Hwang Yoohyun’s phone. For some reason, it felt like something was going to happen today. He might even witness true ‘true love’.

🍑‧₊ ⋆˙

7:27 PM.

Sungyeon, who had arrived three minutes earlier than the 7:30 Yoohyun had specified, caught his panting breath. A little later and he really would have had to sleep on the floor.

It took too long to shake off the beagles who insisted they have just one more beer. They were so persistent. They were worse than the team leader at his old company’s dinner parties. He shook his head, recalling the beagles who had grabbed his arm and wouldn’t let go.

Phew, after catching his breath again, Sungyeon pressed the intercom bell connected to the house.

—Beep-beep-beep.

The call signal went through, but there was no answer. The time was now 7:28. He had definitely arrived before 7:30, so why wasn’t he opening the door?

Sungyeon tilted his head and pressed the bell once more. But there was still no response. At this rate, it would be past 7:30. Gasp, that can’t happen!

Sungyeon quickly took out his phone and looked for Hwang Yoohyun Sunbae-nim.

The dialing tone rang a few times, and soon a low, soft voice seeped into his ear through the receiver.

It was a nice voice to listen to, anytime. It’s just that he usually said off-putting things with that nice voice.

Sungyeon, appreciating Yoohyun’s nice voice anew, replied.

“Sunbae-nim? I’ve just arrived home!”

—Yeah.

“No, I’m not asking for an answer, I’m asking you to open the door. It’s 7:29 right now! It’s not 7:30 yet!”

—Ah. I’m not home.

What?!

Sungyeon was so flabbergasted that he took the phone away from his ear, glared at it, and then brought it back. It wasn’t like Yoohyun could see his glare, but he just wanted to glare at it once.

“Then where are you?”

—Here at □□ Pub. Come.

“Um, I’m full.”

Sungyeon made a sickened face, remembering the food that was filled up to his throat. He was really too full to eat anything more.

As if sensing Sungyeon’s condition, Yoohyun gave a reply that sounded like he had heard something absurd.

—Who said I’m buying you anything? I’m here, so come here.

“Yes. I’m on my way.”

That was Hwang Yoohyun for you. Sniff, Sungyeon sniffled once and started walking towards the pub, which was a 5-minute walk away.

As far as Sungyeon knew, he wasn’t the type of person to make plans and meet someone. But it was even more unlikely that Yoohyun would be at a pub alone. Who on earth was he meeting that he would tell him to come to a pub? A pure curiosity welled up inside Sungyeon.

An appointment made by a homebody with zero social skills. Whoever it was, they must be pretty close…

“Bokseung!”

Ah, so he was meeting with Yoo Sunjung. Sungyeon bowed his head with a disappointed expression.

Come to think of it, there was Sunjung. He couldn’t imagine those two meeting outside at all, so he hadn’t even thought of it. They always just hung out and lazed around at Yoohyun’s place.

“Hello!”

“Oh, oh, come on in!”

Sungyeon’s expression grew even more awkward as he looked at the two men sitting side by side.

Even though the bench they were sitting on was for two people and was reasonably spacious, it looked quite cramped with two burly men sitting so close together. Seeing the sour expressions on their faces as they looked at Bokseung, it seemed they thought the same.

But they’re still sitting so close together? It was a strange friendship.

“It’s been a while!”

“I know, Bokseung is as cute as ever!”

“Haha, thank you!”

Sungyeon didn’t deny it. The fact that Bokseung was cute was a fact known by the earth, the sea, the sky, and the universe.

Yoohyun let out a deflating laugh at Bokseung, who didn’t shy away from the compliment of being cute. It was a big problem that even that side of him was cute.

And one person was staring blankly at that laugh. It was none other than Yoo Sunjung.

He could swear that he had witnessed Yoohyun’s 100% pure, affection-filled laugh, not a sneer, for the first time in his life.

How many years have I known that bastard, yet he can be so unfamiliar. For real!

Regardless of whether his friend’s jaw dropped next to him at his laugh, Yoohyun’s attention was entirely focused on Bokseung.

He had told him to be back by 7:30, and he had followed it precisely. The kid seemed especially praiseworthy today.

Of course, if he knew that the praiseworthy kid was internally feeling extremely wronged for coming back early as ordered, that thought would have diminished a little.

“But Sunbae-nims, why didn’t you meet at home and met here instead? Is this place that good?”

Sungyeon looked around the pub, which was not even half full. It didn’t seem like a place good enough to draw out the homebody Hwang Yoohyun.

Seeing the kid’s puzzled expression, Sunjung provided the answer.

“Bokseung, you’re at Yoohyun’s place now, right?”

“Pardon?”

“Aren’t you living at Yoohyun’s place?”

“Uh, yes, I am, but…”

So what?

The kid’s clueless gaze was directed at the two alphas.

“Hwang Yoohyun asked to meet outside because he was worried you’d be uncomfortable.”

“What? No, I don’t mind at all…? Gasp! Then are you two uncomfortably meeting here because of me?! Did you have something important to talk about?”

The clueless gaze had quickly transformed into one filled with guilt.

For the original homeowner to be inconvenienced because of an unexpected freeloader, the tables had turned too much!

Sungyeon quickly packed his bag again.

“I, I can hang out with my friends longer before coming back! If you’re still uncomfortable, I’ll just go back to my original place.”

“Where are you going?”

“Huh? Oh, because of me…”

“It’s not because of you.”

At Bokseung’s reaction, looking like he was about to bolt from his seat, Yoohyun quickly grabbed Bokseung’s arm and sat him back down. His butt, which had been halfway lifted, settled back onto the bench.

Only then did Yoohyun let go of Bokseung’s arm and lightly tap the back of Sunjung’s head.

“Don’t listen to what this bastard says. I didn’t come out here thinking you’d be uncomfortable.”

“Then, because you were uncomfortable, Sunbae-nim…?”

Either way, it seems like someone was uncomfortable.

Sungyeon was still fidgeting in his seat, which felt like sitting on pins and needles. If he kept receiving this kind of consideration, only his guilt would grow. Or, a desire to receive even more would grow.

Neither was what Sungyeon wanted.

“I came here because I wanted to eat the food here. Yoo Sunjung heard you were at our place and jumped to the wrong conclusion. So don’t worry about it. I have nothing important, or even light, to talk about with him.”

A rather long excuse flowed from Yoohyun’s mouth.

The other two, who were listening attentively, showed opposite reactions. Bokseung, with a look of great relief, settled his fidgeting butt down, while Sunjung was busy rubbing his arms, which had gotten even more goosebumps than before.