He wondered what it could be, since In-seok had called it a favor—but all he was asking was that Han-gyeom stop calling him hyung? To begin with, the one who had told him to use that title was In-seok himself. So now that he was suddenly telling him not to, Han-gyeom couldn’t help being curious about why.
“Why?”
“So I can stay alive.”
In other words, was he saying that if Han-gyeom called him hyung, he’d die? Han-gyeom even found himself wondering if this was some new prank that was trendy these days and he just didn’t know about it.
“Could it be… that it made you uncomfortable, the way I was calling you so familiarly?”
The corners of Han-gyeom’s lips drooped slightly. At the sight of that crestfallen expression, In-seok flinched. Right now, Han-gyeom looked no different from a puppy soaked through in the rain.
“N-no, that’s not it….”
The words Your terrifying boyfriend is practically lying in wait to kill me got stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out. The warning he had heard from Won-hyeok yesterday still hadn’t left his mind. But it was also true that he didn’t want Han-gyeom to misunderstand.
“Just call me hyung. Ignore what I said just now.”
Besides, In-seok wasn’t the kind of person who could act cold-heartedly. No matter how plausible an excuse he came up with, he hadn’t initially thought about the fact that if he told Han-gyeom to call him hyung and then suddenly told him not to, Han-gyeom might end up hurt.
“Okay.”
Only then did Han-gyeom smile, looking relieved. Right—anyway, it wasn’t like the three of them would be seeing each other often, and wouldn’t it be enough as long as that bastard wasn’t around when Han-gyeom called him hyung? Besides, just obediently doing exactly what Won-hyeok said stung his pride a little.
“Then, Han-gyeom….”
That was when it happened. Someone familiar opened the café’s glass door and walked in. The faces of the two who were habitually greeting customers with “Welcome” changed in opposite directions.
Happiness spread across Han-gyeom’s face, while misery settled over In-seok’s. Won-hyeok, having stepped into the café, didn’t spare In-seok so much as a glance and walked over to the counter where the two of them were standing.
“S-sunbae.”
Han-gyeom smiled shyly and lowered his head.
“What brings you here? You didn’t even call.”
“If I called before coming, it felt like that’d be too much of a bother. But this café is nice. The atmosphere’s calm too.”
Han-gyeom looked delighted, like a child who had received an unexpected gift. Won-hyeok had said he’d come by sometime, but apparently Han-gyeom hadn’t expected it to be this soon, because both his cheeks turned pink.
The people seated inside the café all snuck glances at Won-hyeok as well. Café Onwol had already been getting noticeably more regulars and new customers alike, but especially lately, the numbers had been increasing at an exponential rate.
To begin with, starting with the café owner Hae-jun, then In-seok, and even Han-gyeom, the new part-timer, all three of them were the kind of people whose looks were a feast for the eyes, so naturally people couldn’t help but gather there. But now Won-hyeok had entered the picture too, and the customers were all struggling to keep straight faces while inwardly vowing to devote their whole lives to this café from now on.
“I’m just going to sit for a bit before I go. That’s okay, right?”
“Of course.”
Han-gyeom nodded energetically and disappeared into the back to make coffee for his lover himself.
“Hey.”
Won-hyeok, who had been smiling with satisfaction as he watched Han-gyeom bustling around inside, called out to In-seok, who was leaning against the wall, without changing either his expression or his gaze.
“Don’t even come near Han-gyeom. Stay at least 100 meters away from him.”
“Does that even make sense? We work together—how am I supposed to do that?”
In-seok immediately furrowed his brow hard. Just like last time, he had no idea why Won-hyeok kept saying such impossible, nonsensical things that couldn’t actually be done.
“And isn’t it me that you can trust at least a little? I’m your family. Instead of thinking about using me, all you do is say useless crap….”
When Won-hyeok finally turned his eyes away from Han-gyeom and looked at him, In-seok flinched. He was suddenly seized by the worry that maybe he’d run his mouth too much.
“…That’s true too.”
“Huh?”
It was truly astonishing. No joke, this was the first time in his life that Do Won-hyeok had ever agreed with something he said like that and taken it seriously.
“Then from now on, you’re responsible for getting rid of all the gnat-like bastards buzzing around Han-gyeom.”
“What kind of gnats, exactly?”
Even though he knew, In-seok deliberately asked anyway. He also wanted to figure out the strange, unfamiliar feeling he had gotten from Won-hyeok during that accidental three-way face-off yesterday.
“You’re asking because you don’t know? The bastards trying to give him their number or get his, obviously. Absolutely not. He’s so innocent he just takes things like that without thinking. So you handle it.”
The moment Won-hyeok said handle it, the tone of it sounded distinctly different. It wasn’t like he was secretly being handed some mission in a spy movie, so what the hell was this even?
“I’m already doing that, actually. Earlier too, I sent one away for him.”
In-seok thought of the office worker who had tried to hand Han-gyeom his business card earlier. He even felt glad now that he had stepped in himself at the time. If Han-gyeom, not knowing any better, had accepted the card, and if Won-hyeok—who had shown up like this—had found out about it, things probably wouldn’t have ended prettily.
So he said it with a certain smugness, but Won-hyeok’s face turned cold.
“That means… There was one today too? Some pathetic little gnat bastard?”
Crap. In-seok pressed his lips tightly shut. He should’ve just said there hadn’t been anyone like that. Or at least answered meekly that if there were, he’d take care of it himself. He cursed himself for not having thought one move further ahead.
“T-there was, but I told you. I turned him down properly. Really, nothing happened.”
In-seok waved his hands desperately. Whenever Won-hyeok put on that dead-serious face, it was terrifying, like watching a horror movie. Fortunately, maybe those desperate gestures had worked, because Won-hyeok’s expression soon returned to normal.
“Hey, but you know, it’s weird enough to me already that you’re dating someone.”
“It’s weird to me too that I am, so shut up.”
“But it’s even weirder seeing you be this obsessed with the person you’re dating.”
He had seen Won-hyeok get attached to possessions, or to things he had simply been born with, plenty of times. But this was the first time he had ever seen him act so fixated on a person—especially someone who wasn’t family. In-seok had honestly worried before that maybe his cousin was seriously lacking in that area emotionally, maybe even close to mentally ill. But watching how he was with Han-gyeom, he started to think maybe that wasn’t quite it either.
Yet after hearing In-seok out, Won-hyeok only narrowed his brow and tilted his head crookedly, as if he truly didn’t understand what he meant at all.
“Sunbae, here’s your coffee.”
“Mm, thanks.”
Han-gyeom set coffee and dessert on a tray and handed it to Won-hyeok.
“I’ll go sit quietly in the corner and leave after a while, so don’t mind me—just work.”
When Won-hyeok gently stroked Han-gyeom’s hair, In-seok twisted his face as if he had just witnessed something unbearable.
Soon after, more customers came in. Han-gyeom gave Won-hyeok a small glance of greeting and moved to welcome them again. Won-hyeok picked up the tray and was about to head toward an appropriate seat when he stopped.
“Hey, Do In-seok.”
Then he called In-seok over again.
“Huh?”
“It seems like you’ve got something wrong, but I’m not the kind of person who gets obsessed.”
Only after kindly adding that he should know what he was talking about before running his mouth did Won-hyeok finally walk away. Until he had gone and sat down in a secluded corner, In-seok stood there blankly, like someone who had just been hit over the head.
After that day, Won-hyeok started dropping by the café at all hours. The time and days were irregular, but even so, he always came at least once a week and would sit there for hours before leaving.
Han-gyeom looked thoroughly happy about it, but for In-seok, it was pure hell.
[Hey, what did that bastard with glasses just say to Han-gyeom?]
His phone, tucked into his apron, buzzed, so he checked it—and of course, as expected, it was Do Won-hyeok again. And the customer with glasses from just now had only asked Han-gyeom where the bathroom was.
[He asked where the bathroom is.]
[You sure?]
[Yes]
In-seok answered curtly and let out a deep sigh. But Do Won-hyeok’s atrocities didn’t end there. After that, he kept sending texts at all hours, to the point it felt like his phone was about to catch fire.
[Aren’t you making Han-gyeom work too long? Let him rest a little.]
It was the kind of remark so absurd it could make common sense pack its bags and run away. They had hired a part-timer to work, not to rest. At least if what he said made sense, he could somewhat play along, but this was pure nonsense.
[Don’t let him touch hot things. He said he burned his hand before.]
So what, was he supposed to divide the work so that he himself made all the hot drinks and Han-gyeom only made the cold ones? That, too, was completely unrealistic.
[…Find some way to take a picture of Han-gyeom in his apron.]
And on top of all that, now he was even asking for favors—no, secretly taken photos. In-seok stared at the chatroom with Won-hyeok and let out another deep sigh. Ridiculously enough, the amount they had texted each other over the past few days far exceeded all the messages he had exchanged with this bastard in the entire rest of his life.
To avoid being tormented by Do Won-hyeok, all he would have to do was simply stop coming to the café—but Hae-jun was still away dealing with something that had come up in his family. Since Hae-jun had asked him to watch the shop only for as long as he couldn’t come in himself, there was no way for In-seok to run away.
What irritated him even more was that while he tormented him like this by text and acted however he pleased, in front of Han-gyeom he smiled like he was the sweetest, gentlest boyfriend in the world.
Whenever Han-gyeom suddenly stopped in the middle of working and stared fixedly at one spot, if In-seok followed his gaze, Won-hyeok was there, sure enough. Watching the two of them exchange such tender smiles, as though they were the only two people left in the world, was enough to make his eyes sting.
“Excuse me, hyung.”
He had been furiously washing dishes to cool off when Han-gyeom came over to him. At the title hyung, In-seok instinctively startled and immediately looked toward Won-hyeok, but thankfully, he was busy doing something on his laptop.
“What?”
“There’s something I want to discuss with you.”
