SMNTCERR, Chapter 50 <111> #5.

   “I kept your number, Choo… Sang Choo, all right!”

   “Help meme with your real name, please.”

   Yoona ignored those words. Sangwoo brought up the phone’s contact list. When he typed, ‘Virtual Arts Design, Choi Yu,’ he paused. He was confident that the next character couldn’t be ‘Choi’ for sure, but when he called like that frequently, became confused.

   “Please.”

   Jaeyoung, who was looking at the screen together side by side, said meaningfully. When he pressed the save button, the phone disappeared from his hand immediately. It was Jaeyoung who pulled his own number.

   When he saw the name displayed on the screen, he smirked.

   “I didn’t raise my hands, it’s not fair like this. I didn’t successfully catch you back then.”

   “Once I give you a name, I don’t like changing it. Besides, I rarely use my mobile phone anymore… unless I’m searching for something while outside.”

   “There’s 1 and 2 as well.”

   “I deleted them before.”

   Jaeyoung opened the contact list. Then, a few names appeared. Sangwoo didn’t understand why the other party wanted to see his contact list, but since nothing was lost, he let the other party do it.

   [Kim Wonjung, Dongmun High School.

   Kin Chung-ho, Dongmun High School.

   Im Se-won, Dongmun High School.]

   “Are they your neighborhood friends?”

   “Yes.”

   “Were you close?”

   “Do you go out for drinks or play games together?”

   [Sunbae Park Sungjung, Mechanical Engineering.

   Im Minho, Mechanical Engineering.

   Internet cafe manager.

   NonPaddler 3.

   Ru Jihye, French major.]

   “Is this Park Sungjung your senior?”

   “…”

   “Seems like you don’t know him, then delete it.”

   Please go ahead.”

   “Who is Im Min-ho? Can I delete this person too?”

   “Seems like he’s the one who bought a graphics card last semester, but maybe not. Delete it.”

   Jaeyoung seemed to have nothing else to do, so he organized Sangwoo’s contact list. However, the problem was that his deletion standards were too strict. He would delete numbers of people who hadn’t been in contact for more than three months, but he would hesitate to delete those who were not within his scope. For example, Ru Jihye, who currently studied together and would likely need to contact Sangwoo until the end of the semester, but he tried to delete her without considering it.

   When Jaeyoung promised not to delete according to his own preferences, Sangwoo was handed his phone over again. The other party scrolled down before abruptly stopping.

   “What’s this? Who is this?”

   Jaeyoung muttered with a puzzled face. As Sangwoo glanced at the screen, he saw the name, ‘Jeonghan ♥’, even though it was recorded in a strange format. But just as he was about to ask how he got this, Sangwoo felt a slight annoyance and withdrew his hand.

   “That’s enough, you can return the phone now.”

   “I asked who it was.”

   “Give it to me. I know that you, hyung are constantly pulling time because you don’t want to work.”

   “I’m asking who it is.”

   Finally, Jaeyoung spoke up with a serious expression. Sangwoo hugged his chest and stared at the other side. This crazy guy couldn’t keep up the act of being good for more than a few days before revealing his true nature. Jang Jaeyoung should really seek treatment for his inability to control anger as he originally thought.

   “Here.”

   The other party spoke with a frustrated face and tone.

   “I’ve been asking. I asked twice.”

   “Name, Chu Jeongja, Hanja[1] age 55, occupation poet. Are you satisfied or not?”

   Jaeyoung looked at Sangwoo and then glanced at the phone screen, his face unable to express his words. On the other hand, Sangwoo opened his mouth but only managed to let out a laugh. Then he frowned and raised his hand to cover his eyes.

   “Who in this world has a father with that kind of name?”

   When Sangwoo bought his first mobile phone, he saved his father’s phone number under his real name, “Chu Jeonghan.” But when his father saw it, he went on a heavy drinking spree. When he came back, he claimed that his son had acted coldly towards his family. He called everyone in the family to gather and cried for them to see. After that, Sangwoo was scolded and asked to change the name. In the end, the result was something that could be seen as expected.

   “You keep inserting hearts, which leads to misunderstandings.”

   “I didn’t keep inserting them continuously. If I didn’t have a father, maybe

   I wouldn’t have been born.”

   “Jesus the insanity.”

   Just then, Yoona screamed and left the office, the sound of the door closing loudly. Jaeyoung looked through all the contacts, his scrolling hand pausing once again.

   “So, Chu Sanghee is your older sister?”

   “Yes.”

   “Why don’t you insert hearts?”

   “Why should I? Siblings are enemies from birth.”

   Whenever he thought of his older sister, Sangwoo would suddenly become angry. He would rather break his own finger than have to insert a heart after a girl’s name.

   “Your sister must be beautiful. If she looks like you, she must be pretty.”

   “You’re incredibly annoying.”

   “Don’t you have a picture?”

   “I don’t keep pictures of strange animals.”

   Jaeyoung looked through the contacts without saying anything. The last entry was “Hwang Geumrye.”

   “Is that your mother? There’s no heart here either.”

   “She didn’t ask for it.”

   Jaeyoung paused and closed the contact list. Sangwoo reached out his hand, thinking it was time to ask for it back, but the other person opened an album of photos. In the album were a few whiteboard pictures and another folder.

   “Is this the folder…”

   “Give it back, please!”

   Sangwoo lunged at Jaeyoung before the latter could touch the folder. However, no matter what was stored in the computer, it had already been discovered. Seeing the mobile version probably wouldn’t make much difference, but even so, he didn’t want to give the other side a chance to imitate him like this, face to face.

   Hey, what have you been doing, you psycho kid…”

   Jaeyoung reached his hand behind until Sangwoo’s phone was within his reach, so he grabbed the other’s arm and pulled it towards him without caution. Then, the edges of both touched each other as if they were embracing.

   “Where are you touching?”

   Sangwoo froze for a moment before realizing that his hand was resting on the inside of Jaeyoung’s thigh. Although he quickly withdrew his hand, the unashamed smile on the other man’s lips lingered, and Jaeyoung’s tongue appeared briefly, tracing the edges of his lips before disappearing. Sangwoo was greatly defeated by such teasing, and this time was no different. His awakened spirit was stirred up.

   The last time he did the freaky-freaky was nine days ago. Will the edges of his lips still smell like vanilla? The office, the liquor store, the office, Jaeyoung’s car—every piece of information about their fleeting kiss resurfaced in his mind, but memories alone were not enough, just memories…

   Even though Jang Jaeyoung said he would wait, at the same time, the other party was also eager to sleep with Sangwoo once more. However, even though they were in a position where their hips were pressed together, Jaeyoung still had a calm and cool expression, as if he knew about Sangwoo’s desire to run his fingers through his hair and kiss him passionately.

   Sangwoo felt a painful ache, as someone invisible was squeezing his heart. However, Sangwoo was part of a civilization that had evolved far beyond that. Once trembling with physical desire and immersed in carnal pleasure, he had managed to suppress the flames of desire. For educated people, sexual stimulation was just something to be controlled. If left unchecked, they wouldn’t be different from those deprived individuals.

   Sang closed his mouth tightly, stretched out his arm to swing the mobile phone that had been hanging in the air back and forth, and immediately turned around to protect the dignity of his civilization. Then he heard a faint whisper.

   “What a pity.”

   Since he couldn’t stand being in the office any longer… Sangwoo unplugged the notebook and neatly stored it in his bag.

   “You’re really good at enduring.”

   “I’ve always been like this.”

   “Useless.”

   “Is this praiseworthy or condemnable?”

   “Condemnable.”

   He doesn’t care about those words, it’s time to go home.

   return 0;.

   The more complete the graphics of <Veggie Venturer> the more the image drawn by Jaeyoung on his arm fades. Even though he didn’t intentionally rub the soap on his left arm, after two days, the details of the picture disappeared. As the line of the pen softened, the tension in the office gradually intensified.

   He heard that Jaeyoung would wait, he heard that it was up to him, and he thought he could focus on his work, but it seemed like an excessive thought. Although Jaeyoung didn’t force anything as promised, he still stimulated Sangwoo, so there were more frustrating situations every day, and at that point, Sangwoo was also at fault.

   ‘You have dry lips. Do you apply lip balm?’

   Although he knew that the shedding of skin cells was natural, Sangwoo couldn’t say it out loud.

   ‘Yes, it’s necessary.’

   When he regained his composure, Jaeyoung moved his chair closer until their knees touched. There was a chance that just asking for lip balm would be enough, but Sangwoo’s unreasonable expectations hindered him.

   When he sat still, Jaeyoung opened a white stick-shaped product and held a pen. Normally, Sangwoo never wore lip balm, and the left hand of the other party naturally touched his chin and held Sangwoo’s face before slowly extending the lip balm to the edge of his lips, along with a direct gaze.

   There were many times when he felt that Jang Jaeyoung’s face was special, like when he invited him to watch a movie at the library or when he gave him a seat belt in the car, and today was no exception. Jaeyoung made him feel threatened like someone holding a sharp weapon rather than makeup.

   In his mind, there were endless questions, such as whether the touch on the edge of his lips was really lip balm. If so, why did it move so slowly and gently? Why did his heart beat so fast? Why was the office so hot?

   ‘Why are you closing your eyes?’

   Jaeyoung left with a chuckle and returned to his place, while Sangwoo hurriedly went to wash his face with cold water in the bathroom. The faint scent vanilla remained on the edge of his lips, a scent he knew before applying it himself. He wanted to erase that smell, but at the same time, he wanted to keep it. This conflicting feeling prevented him from returning to his workspace for a long time.

   …

   The next day, Sangwoo entered the office with anxiety about what would happen today. He examined Jaeyoung’s desk for unexpected factors, such as lip balm, but there was only normal trash like cola cans, nothing that caught his eye.

   “I’m here now.”

   Jaeyoung was frowning and looking at the computer screen.

   “Are you here? Dinner is ready.”

   “I’ve eaten.”

   The general conversation came to a halt, and today Jaeyoung was unusually quiet. After testing the prototype yesterday, he mentioned that he wasn’t satisfied with something and would fix it, whether it’s the UI, something new, or if that issue will remain unresolved. Jaeyoung fidgeted with the mouse, his expression dissatisfied. Meanwhile, Sangwoo picked up his notebook and mouse and placed them on the empty desk. Then he sat down and stared at the ceiling while waiting for the boot-up process.

   Normally, Jaeyoung would have to make small talk before settling into silence. Sangwoo started up an engine game and resumed working on the tasks he left unfinished yesterday after several days of intense work. Finally, he brought up the images for display and added the finishing touches to the animations. After fixing the collision of objects, he thought about dealing with server issues and performance optimization.

   After working for about five minutes, Sangwoo’s gaze shifted to the adjacent seat. Even though he pulled his gaze back to the computer screen, his head automatically turned in that direction.

   Why don’t we have a constant connection like this? Where is the person who feeds me wonton noodles, who wastes hours drawing on my arm, who applies lip balm for? And why do they still bother me with pointless things on weekends? And why today?

   “Are you not doing anything today?”

   He asked out loud. Then the side of his face that had been locked onto the computer screen showed a slight wrinkle, as if that’s what he wanted to see. Sangwoo felt a strange sense of satisfaction. At the same time, a mischievous smile appeared on the corner of his lips. Jaeyoung tapped the table with his fingertips in response.

   “What kind of answer do you want? The sincere version or the planned version?”

   “The sincere version, please.”

   “Today, I felt like taking a chance and waiting to see.”

   That answer didn’t really address Sangwoo’s question, but it was true that Jaeyoung had only started speaking up two days ago. So, Sangwoo wasn’t surprised.

   “Come on, tell me the planned version.”

   Jaeyoung tried to suppress a laugh before quickly erasing the smirk from his face and looked at Sangwoo. The disappearing smirk seemed more unbelievable than a magic show at a university festival.. Jaeyoung took a soft breath and lightly tapped his forehead with his fingertip.

   “The work that can’t be fixed as desired, it’s frustrating. I guess I’ll have to go out and have fun with you.”

   ‘Look at that crazy guy.’

   Thinking that saying that would make him easily go out and have fun, but there’s a lot of work to be done. Sangwoo turned his attention back to the notebook.

   Sangwoo laughed at the fluidity of the other party’s conversation. The brief conversation with Jaeyoung made him feel refreshed and brighter.

   “I will focus on work now. You can stop talking to me”

   “Oh, okay…”

   Jaeyoung followed what was said, he only held the mouse and keyboard with a serious expression, as if Sangwoo wasn’t in the office. Under this slight tension, the flexibility in work speed increased. His left eye glanced at the right hand pressing the keyboard, sometimes the sound of typing caught his attention, but the light fluttering heartbeat helped him concentrate more. That was the only advantage Jaeyoung gave to Sangwoo, which was actually a good efficiency.

   ________________________________________.

   [1] Chu Jeongja, Hanja. When introducing the names of parents to someone older than us but younger than our parents, we add the word ‘Ja’ “자/字” after each syllable of the name “no need to add it after the surname”. This is done to show respect. In this case, Sangwoo’s father’s name is Choo Jeonghan. When Sangwoo had to tell Jaeyoung his father’s name, he said, “Chu Jeongja Hanja.”

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