SMNTCERR, Chapter 60: Yellow #2.

   Accidentally, it’s impossible. There are surprises  form Sangwoo all the time, a certain and intentional heart that intends to bite the other side disappears in the blink of an eye. Even though the name ‘Jaeyoung ㅅㅂ♨’ is not as pleasing as

   ‘Jaeyoung-Hyung♥’ after hearing the explanation, he felt somewhat pleased. However, the fact that he upgraded from ‘NonPaddler 3’ is a good encouragement. Otherwise, he would not have escaped and become ‘Sunabe

   Jang Jaeyoung, Virtual Arts Design’ like everyone else. As soon as he sees Jaeyoung’s face, Sangwoo speaks up.

   “Don’t get too immersed in data for just a few bytes.”[1.]

   “Who’s getting too immersed?”

   “Both you and my father, that’s it. It’s just a few characters, it can’t be a big deal.”

   “And how do you like it? If I still remember your name as a bad person.”

   “I don’t care because I’m not a bad person.”

   Sangwoo spoke as if it wasn’t important, but then he raised his hand as if he remembered something.

   “Let me see. What did you save my name for?”

   “… It’s a secret.”

   Jaeyoung took out his phone and hid it in his shirt pocket. Sangwoo quickly gave in. The other side went back to sitting in its original place, examining the schedule with an indifferent expression, while Jaeyoung stuffed a white plastic bag into the drawer.

   “I have to put on the sound this week. I’ve found some free sound effects that are usable without copyright and I’m about to send the link via email.

   Please check and let me know how it goes.”

   “How is the sound quality?”

   “It varies. I think if I look carefully, there should be something usable.”

   “The sound effects may not matter, but it would be better to have a looping opening song and BGM. Let me gather information on that.”

   “Okay.”

   Then, the sound of keyboard typing and mouse clicks came from the right side, but Jaeyoung’s hand, which had been still since Sangwoo appeared, had no intention of moving again. Jaeyoung sneakily glanced at Sangwoo before lifting his coffee to take a sip. Then he sneakily looked at Sangwoo again and lifted his phone to play with it. Afterwards, he sneakily looked at Sangwoo once more and raised his hand to touch his own collar. ‘How did I let you sit next to me until this point?’

   He wants to touch, kiss, and hug the other person from behind until his body is satisfied. Having to come up with excuses just to touch the other person a little bit. Although the relationship has developed to a certain extent, it seems pointless. At least for Jaeyoung, he used to think that once he got a kiss, he would unlock the hand-holding. Once he got a kiss, he would receive a coupon to do whatever he wanted. Once there was sex, he would have the privilege of accessing each other’s bodies, but when it comes to the other person, even just touching their cheek requires thinking and thinking again.

   ‘Doing something forcefully wont work.’

   Chu Sangwoo determines the direction of this relationship. If Jaeyoung is going up the elevator, the other person wants to be going up the stairs. No matter what Jaeyoung tries to do, it turns out that the other person is still down there. sometimes seeming to stop where they were, but as soon as he realizes it, the other person is catching up. Or at least when Sangwoo stops in place. Jaeyoung can only press the elevator stop button and wait without any choice, this relationship continues like that.

   “What are you doing?”

   A sudden sound caused Jaeyoung to escape from his thoughts. Sangwoo, who dragged a chair to sit next to the light from the screen, looked at the other side with eyes full of the excitement of the other person.

   “What’s this?”

   Sangwoo minimized the screen, causing the pink circle that had been enlarged to fill the screen to shrink. When it shrank to 100%, the nipple that Jaeyoung had poured his body and soul into the light and shadow turned into just a small dot. Sangwoo sat still, looking at the character wearing a swimsuit ready with a swimming ring around his waist.

   “Let me fix the button first. The part that requires money to buy can be done later.”

   “I want to do this first.”

   The two characters of Veggie Venturer, are named Chuchu and Jaejae, respectively. At first, Sangwoo suggested the names ‘Chelsu and Jaeyoung’. After  arguing for a while, they changed their names. They planned to sell it from the beginning of the game. Both characters would wear basic costumes, but when they bought and installed cash items, their performance would be upgraded.

   “How far have you done?”

   Jaeyoung saved the file before opening the completed part for Sangwoo to see. He has completed all ten, including Lockstar Chuchu, Teacher Chuchu,

   Dugout Chuchu, Spiritual Chuchu, Mafia Chuchu, Mechanic Chuchu, Savage Tribe Chuchu, Barista Chuchu, Yipsee Chuchu, and currently making Swimsuit Chuchu.

   “You’ve been working on so many since when?”

   “Look, you can change eye color and hair color too.”

   “I’ve never heard of such a thing before.”

   “Well, I’m telling you now.”

   Every time Jaeyoung presses the keyboard, Chuchu’s hairstyle, holding a carrot with a pouting face, changes continuously, including soft waves, tousled bob, skinhead undercut, crimped, half-up, cat sport. And then tied in a bun. They are all hairstyles that he wants to see Sangwoo actually do, especially the skinhead undercut, because Sangwoo is a person with a handsome bald head, he thinks it would look very good if he did it. Sangwoo hugs his chest, looks at the green-eyed character with brown hair tied neatly.

   “That’s good, but as I said, this is not important. And what about Jaejae?” “Did the same”.

   Jaeyoung opens the character’s cache item image file for Sangwoo to see briefly, then Sangwoo raises his eyebrows and taps his fingers on the table.

   “This is clearly gender discrimination, well done”.

   “Why? The number is the same”.

   “You think I can’t tell that you just changed the skirt color and copied and pasted it?”

   Speaking directly made it seem like he couldn’t figure it out.

   “It’s not like that. Make both characters the same quality. And first, start fixing the buttons”.

   “Wait, let me finish this…”.

   Jaeyoung opens the project file again and zooms in on the right chest of

   Chuchu in a swimsuit, making a low murmuring sound, wondering what the other party might be doing in the background, then he focuses on adding threedimensional details to the image.

   “Now the hyung you look…”.

   “Sexy?”.

   “Seems like you have a psychopath.”

   “How do you know I’m thinking about indecent things?”

   Finally, there was a valid excuse to touch the other party. Jaeyoung reaches out to hug Sangwoo’s waist and slowly slides in to find himself. He extends his finger along Sangwoo’s buttock and speaks softly.

   “I am not gentle, you can understand me.”

   “How about doing this in the office? We’re not just two people here.”

   Sangwoo withdraws his hand and whispers. Jaeyoung laughs, leans closer, and lightly taps his own lips a few times with his finger. Sangwoo sees it and shakes his head, moving away.

   “You come here quickly before I go on a strike”.

   “Are you crazy? This is the workplace”.

   “Otherwise, I’ll take your hard disk and run away. One kiss and I’ll send you one file”.

   “How can a computer newbie like you remove a hard disk, hyung?”

   “Seriously, I’m clueless about computers.”

   Sangwoo couldn’t help but laugh without realizing it. The sight of the other person smiling widely didn’t happen often until now. But it seemed that the reason for the lack of eye contact was not just because it was difficult to see. Originally, Jaeyoung thought of giving up the teasing, but when he saw

   Sangwoo moving closer, he started teasing again. As he poked his waist, Sangwoo immediately twisted and put his hand on his back, asking why he was doing this. However, the other party could do nothing but burst into laughter.

   Sangwoo laughed as if he was about to burst into tears and used his foot, clad in Jaeyoung’s belly sneakers. The gesture looked surprisingly cute.

   “Ah, stop, please. I… I’m really tired.”

   ‘I want to eat you.’

   Suddenly, the joking atmosphere disappeared and turned into an erotic one, 18+ only, at that moment they thought they wanted to become animals to know and survive. If they weren’t human, but two dogs, they would probably wag their tails like yesterday.

   Bang!

   At that time, the person who was completely forgotten made a grand entrance. An orange light glimmered and hit Jaeyoung’s foot. Jaeyoung picked it up casually and turned around slowly, encountering Yoona standing still with a strange shoulder gesture.

   Sangwoo quickly pulled his hand away from the table, returned to his seat, and stared at the computer screen as if nothing had happened, even though his ears were turning red.

   Jaeyoung signaled with his hand for Yoona to go back and sit down. A few days ago, she came to ask something, so he already prepared a little, but he didn’t know why the other party was so surprised. The sound of mouse clicks and keyboard typing continued in the tense atmosphere before Yoona spoke up.

   “Jang-Jaeyoung, do you want to smoke downstairs?”

   Jaeyoung picked up the pack of cigarettes and a lighter and stood up without saying anything. When he pointed towards the door, Yoona walked out with the slipper first. Jaeyoung gently brushed the back of Sangwoo’s head before following the girl out.

   “Are you two sleeping together?”

   Yoona asked immediately upon reaching the first floor. Among the people

   Jaeyoung knew, Choi Yoona spoke straight to the point without beating around the bush ‘but that was before he had met Chu Sangwoo’ Jaeyoung didn’t rush to answer, but instead flicked the cigarette ash and took a deep drag, Yoona continued with a sharp tone.

   “Just interested, huh? But you still managed to deceive a vulnerable kid, didn’t you?”

   “What do you want?”

   He couldn’t let that remark pass. Jaeyoung exhaled cigarette smoke and glanced at his friend’s tense face. Yoona was not a calculating person, nor a hottempered one, but rather somewhat reserved when it came to matters of love. Therefore, if she wasn’t currently involved with anyone, she would often get lost in past stories, and now it was happening again.

   “Is that kid the same as well? It’s not like he’s unaffected or anything.”

   “Whose side are you on? You should ask me before getting involved, right?”

   “It’s not your loss if you’re dating someone else. But that guy has a different story. What are you going to do next?”

   The other party’s voice sounded sarcastic. Jaeyoung replied with annoyance.

   “And what have you been up to? Who do you think you are?”

   Hearing that, Yoona fell silent. She was not unaware that her actions had a profound impact on other people’s relationships. Since they first met and became close, she had never been like this before. Yoona continued to silently smoke her cigarette before speaking again.

   “I’ve been concerned ever since I heard from you earlier. But I thought I wouldn’t meddle. But in just a few days, you guys went from one extreme to another. You’re acting irresponsibly. Playing around with a kid like that. And what about when you leave him to study abroad? Is that kid not going to suffer?”

   Jaeyoung threw the half-smoked cigarette on the ground and stomped on it with his foot. Who was playing with whom? Who would abandon whom? 

   Irritating and tangled. Is this the era of Chosun? Just sleeping together once requires a lifetime of responsibility.

   “You’re being too harsh.”

   He knew that the girl had talked a lot with one guy. She had been so infatuated with that guy that they had an ugly breakup before. And it had left Yoona heartbroken to this day, even after half a year. But that was her business, and he had no intention of allowing her to interfere in someone else’s personal life.

   “Just because you choose to date only bad people, do you think everyone in the world is like that?”

   “You’re right. Yeah. I’ve been hurt badly by that evil guy. And what you’re doing to that kid, how is it any different?”

   “Then why do I have to explain those things to you? If you don’t understand deeply, don’t speak so lightly.”

   With hair color faded to a golden hue, swaying in the wind, Yoona’s face seemed to reflect her own sadness.

   ____________________________________.

[1]     Byte, the unit of data consisting of 8 bits, is used to represent alphanumeric characters, numbers, or various symbols. One character is equivalent to 1 byte.

[2]     Cash items, in-game items that require spending money to purchase.

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