Chapter 8
It was bizarre. It was the first time he’d found another man’s everyday speaking voice—not even a singing voice—to be sweet.
‘Gentle yet somehow mature and affectionate… Why am I analyzing someone else’s voice?’
Shin Wooseok slightly furrowed his brow, then shook off the water from the blender and set it upside down. Meanwhile, Park Sunha, who had received an order, was humming a tune while pulling espresso shots. The customer who had just ordered was nowhere to be seen, presumably having sat down somewhere.
“Who was that customer just now?”
“Huh? Who else would it be? A regular who started coming while you were in the military.”
Military talk again. Wooseok sighed, realizing that at some point, his acquaintances had begun using his enlistment as a before-and-after reference point. This was the situation despite having come home on leave as much as others and having shown his face quite often, he thought.
“When exactly during my service? I came to the café often during my leaves. This seems like the first time I’ve seen him.”
“It’s been almost a year? He’s someone who usually gets takeout around this time, so you probably haven’t seen him. You only ever came at closing time anyway.”
Well, that was because he usually came to pick up his mother after she finished work.
“But why the sudden interest in a customer? Are you interested in him too?”
“What are you saying… Are you interested, hyung?”
“No~ I’ve just seen so many people trying to get his number. He’s only sitting down briefly for his takeout, and in that short time, people try to get his number.”
Well, after hearing his voice while ordering, I can see why. Wooseok thought it wasn’t a big deal and let it go in one ear and out the other.
“Wow~ That’s a ‘so what’ expression on your face? Is this a common experience for you too?”
“When did I make such an expression? Stop misinterpreting and open your eyes properly.”
“Are all handsome guys like you? No. It would be disrespectful to think of that customer just now. He’s so handsome but his personality is just… he’s such a good person.”
What should he do with this part-timer hyung who didn’t hesitate to criticize the owner’s son right to his face? Wooseok clicked his tongue but pondered what he’d just heard.
So his voice is that good, and he’s handsome too? Now he was curious about the customer’s face, which he hadn’t properly seen. Though it was merely simple curiosity, he somehow wanted to bring the person before his eyes quickly.
As Wooseok tried to imagine the face of the customer whose silhouette he had only glimpsed, he nudged Park Sunha’s arm with his elbow.
“Hey, what are you doing bumping someone who’s making latte art?”
“Hurry up.”
“The heart is crushed now, you idiot.”
“That was supposed to be a heart?”
As they bickered, the completed work didn’t even reach the ‘ㅇ’ of art. Park Sunha sighed, “Ehyu,” and took out a vanilla macaron from the showcase refrigerator.
“What’s that for? No one ordered a macaron.”
“The owner said to give one as service every third or fourth visit, why?”
If she had specifically said that, this person was definitely not an ordinary regular. But vanilla latte with vanilla macaron…
“At least give him a different flavor of macaron.”
“Why? This is his favorite.”
“…Fine then.”
Well, if that’s the customer’s preference, there’s nothing for him to debate. Wooseok nodded and leaned against the counter. That’s when Park Sunha pressed the vibration bell call button and turned around.
“Where are you going?”
“I haven’t finished organizing the freezer. When he comes, you handle the bell and serve him.”
“Dumping everything on me while taking your hourly wage for nothing, I see.”
“Hey, what do you mean dumping! Organizing the freezer is work too, you fool!”
Park Sunha exhaled a “Huh!” at Wooseok’s profile as he wasn’t listening at all, then left. Meanwhile, the customer whom Park Sunha had praised endlessly approached the counter.
Was it his imagination? The moment the customer came close, a scent of vanilla wafted by. The coffee cup lid was closed though… Wooseok erased the thought that had unconsciously crossed his mind and gently pushed the tray toward the customer.
“One hot vanilla latte, takeout, correct?”
“Yes.”
Wooseok observed the customer carefully, but not so much as to be rude.
The light brown hair, which seemed dyed, harmonized perfectly with the customer’s snow-white skin. The slightly loose perm with a side part seemed tailored to him, giving off a refined atmosphere that matched his voice perfectly.
Because his head was tilted downward, Wooseok couldn’t properly see his face, but even from above, he was strikingly beautiful. His body, though overall more slender than Wooseok’s, didn’t appear weak.
How much height difference was there between them? About 5cm? He seemed to be around 180cm… at least in the upper 170s. No muscles particularly stood out, but his slender figure looked like one that was consistently maintained through regular exercise.
Even the hand putting down the vibration bell was straight and smooth without any rough edges. Does he perhaps play the piano? Even Wooseok’s hands, which had steadily practiced for several years, didn’t look that model-like.
While Wooseok was recalling rumors and scanning quite detailed parts, the man’s gaze remained constantly downward. More precisely, toward his brightly lit phone screen.
“This is a service from the owner.”
The head that had been lowered while looking at the phone finally lifted. Wooseok inadvertently raised his eyebrows slightly at the face he now directly confronted. It was a reflexive reaction, his eyebrows rising involuntarily.
‘Ah, my eyes are already sharp, so I often get misunderstood for glaring at times like this…’
“The owner? Isn’t she not here right now?”
Contrary to Wooseok’s worry, the customer looking around the store didn’t seem to have any interest in him. Wooseok blinked momentarily, forgetting that he needed to respond.
As if recognizing the momentary silence, the customer’s gaze finally turned to Wooseok. Then, tilting his slender cheek, he asked.
“Oh, are you perhaps the owner’s son?”
“…?”
How does he know me? As Wooseok unconsciously widened his eyes, the customer smiled, folding his light brown eyes, and said.
“You look so much like her. Am I wrong?”
“…No. You’re right.”
“I’ve heard a lot of praise about you from the owner. She said she has a son who looks just like her.”
Look-alike… It had been a while since Wooseok heard that expression. When he was young, every adult who saw them would laugh and say they were like two peas in a pod.
That’s right. Now that he thought about it, this customer must already be immune to faces like his. And for his mother to praise him because he resembled her, really, this mother.
“But you really do look alike. Almost difficult to tell apart… Ah, if I’ve offended you with this first encounter, I apologize.”
“Not at all. It’s nothing to be offended about.”
“That’s a relief then.”
Eyes as pale as his hair disappeared between seemingly painted eyelids. Wavy, disheveled hair strands caught on his long eyelashes. It was so surreally beautiful, like he was posing for a photoshoot.
“Thank you for the service. Would you please also relay my thanks to the owner?”
Wooseok was inwardly impressed by the natural flow of conversation, and nodded, thinking: This customer is definitely an extrovert, no doubt about it.
“Thank you. Then, goodbye.”
While Wooseok briefly lowered his gaze to look at something, the customer stole even the line he should have delivered and left the café. Wooseok didn’t even realize this and remained frozen for a while.
‘What did I just see?’
The phone that the customer had temporarily put down while collecting his coffee had a paused video showing a familiar game screen. It was the gameplay screen of “Story of Guardians,” a game that Wooseok had played for a long time before his enlistment.
Though he only glimpsed the paused screen briefly, it seemed to be a video from one of the longtime streamers who mainly played SOG.
‘Well, anyone could watch such videos, not just users.’
If a streamer was famous and entertained well, there were quite a few people who watched their broadcasts even without playing the game themselves. Besides, SOG was once a national sensation, a quite popular game. It was famous enough that everyone knew about it, so even if they weren’t users, that much was expected.
In fact, what would it matter if he was a user? It wasn’t of much concern to Shin Wooseok.
And how many SOG users are there? Despite its age, SOG still had a considerable number of concurrent users and maintained a high share in PC bangs. So it wasn’t strange that a regular customer at the café was an SOG user.
Again, it wasn’t something he needed to concern himself with at all.
“Hyung. You played SOG too, right?”
“Huh? I played for quite a while~ It’s been about 4 years since I quit? Honestly, I was ranked within the top 100 on the server back then!”
Wooseok, having obtained the information he wanted, didn’t even lend an ear to Park Sunha who was rambling about things he hadn’t asked.
It was strange. Wooseok didn’t feel much when hearing that Park Sunha had played SOG. And this was the normal reaction. But why had he been stirred earlier?
‘Has it been too long since I quit the game?’
Still, he had no intention of returning. That was why he had postponed reading the guild chat that had gone wild with “Is our Sinu finally returning?” even before his discharge date.
‘Well, maybe I just felt a momentary nostalgia.’
That night, after dismissing the brief emotional stir he experienced during the day as nothing significant, Shin Wooseok fell asleep after downloading the accumulated game patch files for SOG, despite his earlier thought of having no intention to return. The reason remained unknown, even to himself.
“Shin Yuri. You said you wanted to work on your title, right?”
“Huh? What, are you going to help me? You said you wouldn’t before?”
“Leave your ID and password in the chat.”
“Yes~ I don’t know what changed your mind, but thanks for the whim.”
The next day, Shin Wooseok logged into SOG as “SonyeoGajang,” his sister’s character, pretending to reluctantly fulfill Shin Yuri’s request to work on her title until he returned from his studies.
And he ran a dungeon with a user he had never seen before. And coincidentally, strangely enough, with a user whose voice resembled what Shin Wooseok had heard just the day before—a voice he had found to be like spring sunshine.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
