CBR 24

Pouring out his pent-up resentment like a waterfall, he finally stammered. Jaewon, who had been counting the number of girls appearing in his words, opened his mouth when no more new names came out.

“Are three of them busted? Then I’ll introduce three new ones to you.”

“What?”

“What?”

At the unconventional proposal, the table became restless. Ma Chayun, who had been scooping up consommé soup, stared at Jaewon with wide eyes and then furrowed his brow hard.

“Hey, a person isn’t an object—.”

“R… Really?”

“…”

A voice full of eager anticipation cut off Ma Chayun mid-sentence. With an expression that couldn’t possibly be more tempting, Park Gyujin had his mouth hanging open and his eyes sparkling brightly. The appearance from just a few seconds ago of a citizen coming to beat the petition drum had vanished without a trace.

“To have failed to recognize such a capable person… May I call you hyung-nim? Somehow, I had a good feeling about you from the first time I saw you. Please take good care of our Dojun.”

Park Gyujin smiled affably and sat right up close to Jaewon’s side. He rubbed his palms together and began chattering away.

“I heard your network is exceptionally extraordinary. If I have any questions, can I ask you?”

Jaewon said, secretly unfolding his notebook under the table. Amidst the entire page being as white as fresh snow, the words ‘Female Protagonist Candidate’ sat lonely at the top.

“Pardon? Hahaha, how embarrassing. That said, I only know about half our school.”

“Then let’s start light. How many female students are there in Class 1-1?”

“19 people.”

“Except for the kids with lots of friends.”

“Then 13 people.”

“Exclude the iljin too.”

“Excluding Pyodok Seon, Jeong Yeonwoo, and Gi Sejin… it’s 10 people.”

“Among them, the population wearing glasses?”

“7 people.”

‘This punk, he’s useful.’

Impressed by the quality information, Jaewon added ‘Female-exclusive Siri’ to Park Gyujin’s profile.

“Good. I think I’ll have many occasions to use you—no, look for you in the future. Count on me.”

He stroked Gyujin’s back of the head and looked at him with satisfaction. Ma Chayun stared at Jaewon with a suspicious gaze and then quietly asked.

“You know three girls that Park Gyujin doesn’t? Does hyung really know that many girls?”

“I’m going to start getting to know them from now on.”

“Isn’t this guy a total con artist?”

Jaewon mouthed ‘Watch your mouth’ by puffing his lips. And he put on an expression like a chief court lady overseeing three thousand palace women. Ma Chayun looked at Kang Yuchan and Park Gyujin with wavering pupils, but they were absorbed in a fierce debate.

“Sister-in-law looks like a bookworm, but has a plot twist. I like it a lot. Three-on-three is just right.”

“What? Why three-on-three? Don’t you dare piggyback on a blind date set up for just me, you fat pig.”

“Then were you planning to devour everything by yourself, you greedy fatso? I set up the introduction for Rahee and Maye, where’d your loyalty go? Did you give it to your family dog?”

Uri… did you just insult our Dotto?”

“Ah, you crazy context-blind bastard!”

The two fiercely clashed, buzzing around like fireflies corrupted by lust. Realizing that he was the only one in his right mind, Ma Chayun resumed eating.

“Must have lots of girls.”

At that moment, a lunch tray dropped right onto Park Gyujin’s head. When Jaewon lifted his head as well, Kim Dojun was looking down at him. Without taking his eyes off Jaewon, he added:

“Our Jaewon.”

At the affectionate title, Jaewon’s face distorted, and Dojun smiled faintly. It surely must have been an amicable expression, yet anyone watching felt a chill down the back of their neck.

“Unexpected.”

“Huh? Why. Sister-in-law seems like he’d be popular.”

“You saw correctly. I’ve always been on the side where demand exceeds supply.”

When Kang Yuchan dropped that kind of remark, Jaewon eagerly snapped it up.

“Look at that. Where does this face look like it would lose out in quality?”

“…”

He placed his palm under his chin and passionately preached his own beauty. The surrounding crowd alternated between looking at Jaewon and Dojun standing beside him, maintaining silence.

“I’m handsome. If I look shabby, it’s only because of the relative squid phenomenon due to being next to him.”

“You’re making a complicated case out of looking like a squid.”

Unable to listen any longer, Ma Chayun chimed in with a solemn expression. Sitting down, Dojun spoke casually to Gyujin.

“If you’re in a hurry and pick up just anything to eat, you’ll get sick.”

“Huh?”

“What’ll you do if it even contains poison?”

While Gyujin wore a bewildered expression, Dojun pointed at Jaewon with a nod.

“Hyung-nim, did you put poison in my rice?!”

“What makes you think you’re important enough for me to go to that trouble?”

“??”

Jaewon snapped back at the startled Park Gyujin like a toxic toad. While Gyujin was dazed, trying to process the meaning of the words twice, Jaewon glared at Kim Dojun with white-rimmed eyes. Then, spotting Kim Seungbin right next to him, his face brightened.

‘Now that’s a face I want to keep looking at even while looking at it.’

Jaewon smiled contentedly as he looked at Kim Seungbin like a raw fish restaurant owner gazing at a flounder in a tank. As if that sight grated on his nerves, Kim Dojun lifted one eyebrow upward.

“Why are you smiling like a pervert?”

“Then should I cry when looking at a handsome face? How impolite. I’m not that lacking in common sense.”

“Politeness? Common sense? Is that something for hyung to say?”

As Ma Chayun shuddered in disgust, Jaewon grew bewildered. Wasn’t that a fair thing to say? While he provoked them with a clueless expression, Kim Dojun slowly opened his mouth.

“Jaewon-ah. Shall we do a two-line poem?”

Asking quite warmly, he wore a soft smile. Puzzled by the out-of-the-blue remark, Jaewon nodded. It didn’t cost money, so there was no reason not to indulge him.

“Start with Noye (slave).”

“No (Slave).”

“Noya-ya (Hey, slave).”

“Ye (Yes).”

“Shut your mouth and eat your food.”

“…”

The two-line poem ended quickly. Kang Yuchan tilted his head back and asked Kim Seungbin:

“Where’d you go?”

“The staff room.”

“You’re getting dragged there awfully often. Did you find the bastard who cracked your skull?”

When he silently shook his head, Kang Yuchan clicked his tongue as if he had expected it.

“Have you ever seen this guy remember anything other than Park Gyujin’s face? He wouldn’t recognize him even if he were right in front of him, total waste of effort.”

Having apparently already gone through a screening process once, Kim Dojun spoke indifferently and sat down. Evading his gaze, Jaewon jotted down ‘Selective prosopagnosia’ in the remarks column of Kim Seungbin’s profile. It was a backstory well-suited for a protagonist. He liked Kim Seungbin even more now.

“What about the name tag? Didn’t you see his name?”

“I saw it, but I don’t remember.”

“Oh boy. Of course you wouldn’t, you punk.”

At the anticlimactic reply, Kang Yuchan dropped his head in frustration and massaged the back of his neck. Listening intently to their conversation, Jaewon curved the corners of his lips up. It seemed a game of tag of love with the female student who had suffered a collision of destiny had begun. Considering it was hastily designed on the spot, the progress was smooth. Feeling immensely proud of himself, Jaewon puffed out his chest and smiled with satisfaction.

“Wow, look at him smiling at Kim Dojun. Is he that good?”

“Dojun must be happy. Being loved.”

However, the villains did not tolerate even a fleeting moment of peace. At the outpouring of jeers, Jaewon lost his appetite of a thousand years and put his fork/spoon down. He anxiously stared at the kalguksu noodles swollen like vermicelli. Since the first button had been put on wrong, he should have provided after-sales service, but it had been fastened in a star shape so he didn’t even have a clue how to fix it.

“If you got a sister-in-law, you should at least introduce her to us first.”

“True. How can you not even mention it? Do you know how many blind date spots I made by peddling you, and all of them fell through, turning me into The Boy Who Cried Wolf? Do you even have any idea how brutal it is to recover once you lose trust with women?”

“No idea. Why would I?”

“Ha. You’re saying you don’t need to? Fine, boast all you want while you can still put on airs. Because hard workers always beat geniuses.”

Park Gyujin passionately held forth with excitement. Just as Jaewon was about to kindly teach him that no such law existed in this world, Kang Yuchan asked as if tossing it out casually.

“But do you really like this guy?”

At his question asked with a bizarre expression, the conversation abruptly cut off and silence fell. Everyone’s gaze naturally gravitated toward Jaewon, as if by promise, and then a full-scale debate session opened up.

“Now that I think about it, isn’t this way too different from the style you usually pursue?”

“Your tastes could have changed. Love is in motion.”

“Even so, I never expected a madman like this to be your type.”

“What on earth did you fall for?”

“Weren’t you wanting to break away from the ordinary? People go crazy if they only eat rice all the time.”