VSP 67

-Oh my, oh my, who…

“I’m Sejun-hyung’s friend.”

What the hell is this crazy bastard saying?

Not only the ridiculous word “friend,” but hearing “Sejun-hyung” come out of Cha Dogyeong’s mouth made Sejun’s back shiver.

It wasn’t from chills, but some indescribable feeling.

Sejun-hyung? Sejun-hyung?

Regardless of Sejun’s shock, Cha Dogyeong ignored it and spoke to Sejun’s mother with a smiling face.

“Would it be alright if I visited with Sejun-hyung today? He keeps bragging about you, so I got curious.”

-Oh my, oh my, Sejun’s friend? Of course you can!

At the mention of her son’s friend, Sejun’s mother’s voice brightened instantly. Sejun bit down on his lips.

Since childhood he did have people around him, but for some reason he never blended into groups, nor had he ever had a best friend, always alone. His mother had always felt sorry about that.

She didn’t show it, probably because she was mindful of Sejun’s pride.

But her son suddenly had a friend! Without asking further, she immediately gave permission. Sejun had no chance to block it.

“Then I’ll see you later, Mother~.”

With a polite and cheerful farewell Sejun never expected to hear from Cha Dogyeong, the call ended. In that conversation, Sejun wasn’t the main speaker.

He was suddenly pushed aside from being the center of the call, it was truly flustering.

“Y-You crazy bastard, what the hell are you doing?”

Sejun stammered, but Cha Dogyeong acted like nothing was wrong.

“What?”

Sejun frowned when the other looked back at him like he was asking what the problem was. This bastard clearly had no idea how serious this was!

“If you don’t go now, my mom will be disappointed!”

“Who said I wouldn’t go?”

Sejun blinked at the quick and certain reply.

So he meant it? Sejun blurted out what he was thinking.

“Are you insane? You’re really going to go?”

“Of course.”

Cha Dogyeong said like nothing was wrong.

Sure, by chance Cha Dogyeong had ended up at Sejun’s house, and yes, he had casually stayed the night there, but!

The two of them were absolutely not personally close.

Like, “Hey, want to hang out?” “Sure, friend.” Their relationship was nothing like that. Obviously they only knew about each other’s families at the level of something you could look up on a wiki, and introducing each other to family was completely out of the question!

So why? Why was Cha Dogyeong suddenly going with him to Sejun’s parents’ home? Was Sejun the only one who thought this was weird?

His mother welcomed it, Cha Dogyeong said he was looking forward to it, and only Sejun was opposing it. What a strange situation.

Could this be the effect of Lucky Love Mode? Was yesterday’s Lucky Love Mode effect still lingering?

[That doesn’t seem to be the case though…]

The system, quietly observing, pointed out the fact. Sejun pressed his lips shut, then shouted,

“My parents live in Bucheon!”

“That’s not very far.”

But Sejun’s small resistance was quickly blocked. Seoul, Bucheon… it wasn’t far. That was exactly why Sejun had only planned a day trip.

With that reply, Sejun had nothing left to say and closed his mouth.

When Sejun realized Cha Dogyeong was serious, he only opened and closed his mouth soundlessly. Then Cha Dogyeong drove the nail in.

“I keep my word. Have you ever seen me lie?”

Of course not. If he were the type to lie or take back his words, he wouldn’t have been the main character to begin with.

Looking at Sejun, who still sat dumbfounded at the thought of taking Cha Dogyeong to his parents’ home, Cha Dogyeong smirked.

“Put some clothes on.”

Then he added,

“Sejun-hyung.”

“…..!”

That same “Sejun-hyung” that had shocked him earlier came out again.

Sejun felt a strange sensation, like a shiver running up from his lower back to his spine. For some reason his face flushed, and he headed straight to the bathroom.

He had already washed, so he wasn’t going in to wash again.

It was because his sudden physical reaction embarrassed him so much that he ran away before it was noticed. Slamming the bathroom door shut, Sejun leaned against it and was already panting.

“Haa, haa.”

Fuck, I must be crazy.

Sejun’s eyes slowly moved down. Unlike yesterday, he was properly wearing pants, but the thin shorts he wore as pajamas were not thick enough to hide the changes happening underneath.

Looking down at his lower body, which revealed everything, Sejun’s eyes filled with confusion.

Why? Why is this happening?

[Sejun-nim.]

The system, which had been quieter than usual since yesterday, spoke to him. Sejun swallowed.

“…What.”

[Why did you get an erection?]

“Ugh.”

Sejun never expected it to ask so directly. His face turned bright red, and he couldn’t say anything. The system then began listing its own guesses.

[Was it because Hunter Cha Dogyeong called you ‘Sejun-hyung’?]

That was exactly it.

Sejun wanted to believe it wasn’t, but his body had reacted to the title “Sejun-hyung,” something he had never imagined hearing in Cha Dogyeong’s voice.

When he heard it while Dogyeong was on the phone with his mother, it had been bearable. But when “Sejun-hyung” was spoken directly into his ears, it felt too strange.

It was like oil inside his body he didn’t even know was there had heated up, and Dogyeong poured water on it. The boiling oil reacted to the sudden stimulus and splattered wildly.

It wasn’t even a dirty word, nor had Dogyeong whispered it in some seductive way! It was just an everyday form of address, so why?

[Was there really a point there that would make you erect?]

The system asked with genuine confusion, but of course that was a question Sejun neither wanted to answer nor could answer. He was confused about it himself!

“You really have no consideration right now!”

Sejun shouted, tore off his clothes, and stepped into the shower booth. He had already washed once, but he needed to cool down his damn lower half.

Sejun stood still under the cold water for a long time, overcome by the heavy self-reproach pressing down on him.

•••

[Sejun’s Place]

Dogyeong checked the sign written in a cute font, then looked around.

The house was in Bucheon, but the business was in the middle of Bupyeong. The snack shop, located in a large building in a busy downtown area, clearly showed it wasn’t ordinary.

The entire two-story building was said to be run by Sejun’s parents.

Calling it just a snack shop didn’t feel right, given the scale. And even with that large size, there were still lines of people waiting, even though the lunch rush had passed. Business was clearly thriving.

There were many takeout orders, and delivery riders kept coming and going, so the place looked incredibly busy.

Some might say it was over the top that the store name was their son’s name, but to Dogyeong, it genuinely showed the parents’ affection for Sejun. It matched with the way Sejun’s mother spoke, saying she wanted to see her son, and it matched with the love of putting his name on their business.

It couldn’t be missed, since they had no intention of hiding who their son was. The store name was right there, and even the big standing signboard had Sejun as the model.

In the signboard photo, Sejun wasn’t like the confident profile photo “Seo Sejjun” from online. He wore an awkward smile while holding a bowl of tteokbokki.

‘My mom’s wish was to open her own store…’

‘When I asked what she wanted to do once I made money, she didn’t say travel around overseas and show off. She said she wanted her own store, so I opened one for her.’

‘The only thing I could give was money.’

‘Ah, right. If you laugh at the name, you’re dead. I was totally against it, but Mom insisted it had to be that.’

On the way down to Bucheon, Sejun had explained all this to Dogyeong, warning him several times not to laugh about his family or the store.

Dogyeong had wondered what kind of name and look the store could have for Sejun to be this desperate about it, but after seeing the name and sign, he understood why Sejun’s personality would find it embarrassing.

But Dogyeong didn’t find it funny. Rather, he thought it was touching. Maybe even cute, seeing Sejun’s awkward smile on the promotional material.

As he watched the snack shop bustling with customers, Dogyeong leaned the passenger seat back and stretched out.

The windows were tinted dark enough that no one could see inside, so he lay back comfortably and closed his eyes.

It had been several minutes since Sejun told him to wait and disappeared into the shop. He hadn’t come back out. Was he inside explaining that he had brought Dogyeong with him?

Dogyeong didn’t know why Sejun was trying so hard to hide it when he had already said they were going together anyway.

Of course, Dogyeong wasn’t unaware of his own influence, so he could understand Sejun’s burden.

And in truth, they weren’t actually close friends, so following along like this was partly an impulsive decision on Dogyeong’s side too.