Chapter 265 – Episode 265 – The Protagonist Is Being Targeted (5)
“Heh, it’s not long until the opening, huh?”
“Yeah. Are you excited?”
“How could I not be? I was so jealous when only Delia had her name on it.”
Soo-jung said, grinning.
Her gaze was fixed on the sign that read ‘Crystal PC’ hanging neatly.
After finishing my training with Delia in the morning, I was lying on the sofa, enjoying a chat with Ha-rin and Eun-joo, when Soo-jung, who was next to me, kept poking my stomach with sharp eyes.
Lately, Soo-jung’s jealousy had increased significantly.
We were always together in the evenings and mornings, but recently, I had been busy targeting Na-eun’s mother.
I was still going on dates steadily, but it was inevitable that the frequency was decreasing.
So, when Soo-jung suggested we go for a walk together in the morning, I had no choice but to nod happily.
“Did you find part-timers?”
“Not yet. I’m about to post the ad.”
Delia had agreed to help with the computer installation and setup, so there was no need to hire a separate installation part-timer.
“Let me know when you open, okay?”
“Of course.”
Taking Soo-jung, who was smiling happily, I explained the PC room structure in a little more detail.
Where the couple seats were, where the large monitors were…
Even inside the empty PC room after the interior work was finished, Soo-jung’s eyes sparkled. Was she that happy that her streaming nickname was on the sign?
When the atmosphere became a little strange, I would hug her and kiss her soft lips.
After leaving the PC room, we walked around a few more places, holding hands. After about an hour and a half, I walked Soo-jung back home.
Soo-jung grumbled.
“Ugh. I don’t want to go in.”
“Should we just date all day?”
“Huh? Really?”
“Why are you so tempted? You don’t have a day off today.”
“Hing. That’s why I’m going to do a short stream… Haa. I’m having a hard time because there are so many requests for horror games lately.”
Soo-jung shook her head and gave me a light kiss before going inside.
I went straight to work at the cafe.
As always, I made some money and played a game or two, and then I looked at the clock and realized that there was less than an hour and a half left until my appointment with Ha-rin and Eun-joo.
‘Good.’
I was ready. Looking in the mirror, I smiled with satisfaction.
I was dressed quite stylishly today.
It wasn’t flashy, but rather a neat and clean look that wasn’t too much.
It was an outfit I had shopped for with Soo-jung, and anyway, I liked it a lot.
“But I’m a little bored…”
I muttered to myself, staring blankly out the window for a moment.
It had been a long time since I had to desperately copy money, and I had reached the highest rank in the game I enjoyed, League of Legends.
After tapping the desk with my fingers for a while, I got up and went down to the first floor of the cafe.
*Clink-clink*
There were still many customers.
The part-timer was smiling and making drinks, and the customers in the cafe were all enjoying their desserts and drinks with happy expressions.
It was a heartwarming sight. After looking around the hall with a smile, I naturally turned my gaze outside.
And.
“Ye-hwa?”
“Oh, Jin-hyun!”
I could see Ye-hwa’s lips moving as if she was saying that to me from outside the door.
Ye-hwa quickly came into the cafe.
She was about to run to me, but she realized that this was a crowded cafe and calmly closed the distance with an embarrassed expression.
“You’re here today?”
I smiled lightly at Ye-hwa’s words.
“I was bored. Are you here to work?”
“N-no, just. I stopped by to get takeout. And to see your face.”
“Is that so?”
It was quite common for Ye-hwa to get takeout.
However, today’s takeout was a little different from usual.
Ye-hwa packed five financiers and five Americanos. I tilted my head, looking at her.
Ye-hwa had never packed so much coffee before.
As if she sensed the question in my eyes, she smiled and said.
“I’m going to the real estate agency.”
“Real estate?”
“Yeah. I’m here to sign a contract for a vacant villa today.”
“Ah.”
I didn’t know the details, but it was definitely good news.
“That’s great.”
“Right? I hope the person doesn’t make noise between floors, will they?”
“That’s a big issue these days. Surely they won’t?”
“Hmm. If they do, I’ll have to give them a piece of my mind.”
Ye-hwa, true to her nature, raised her confident eyes and clenched her fist.
I watched her with amusement.
‘Come to think of it, Ha-rin and Eun-joo said they were signing a lease this time too.’
I didn’t know exactly where, but they said it was close to the cafe.
If they lived nearby, I would naturally see them more often. I hadn’t even registered them as heroines yet, and I hadn’t thought about how to build a relationship with them yet…
‘First, I should build a good image… Yeah, wouldn’t it be okay to approach them slowly?’
It seemed that there was nothing better than going by the book when you didn’t know what to do.
“If you have nothing to do, Jin-hyun, do you want to come with me?”
As I was thinking about my two childhood friends, Ye-hwa asked me.
“With you? Ah, to the real estate agency?”
“Yeah.”
“Is that okay?”
“Hmm. There’s no reason why not, is there?”
At Ye-hwa’s words, I hesitated for a moment before nodding. I had some time left before meeting the two of them anyway, so there was no harm in it.
“Okay, let’s do that.”
I naturally took the paper bag containing the five Americanos that Ye-hwa had packed.
“Hehe.”
With one hand free, she smiled brightly and linked her arm with mine.
***
“Eat a little slower.”
“It seems like she’s enjoying her home-cooked meal after a long time, so what’s the big deal?”
“No, I’m worried she’ll get indigestion.”
A kitchen decorated with white marble.
Sitting at the dining table, Jung Eun-joo was mindlessly devouring the side dishes on the table that her parents had prepared. Her mother, Yoo Ji-sook, stared at Eun-joo for a while before turning her head to her husband and asking.
“Was the food in America not good?”
“Hmm…”
Both her father and mother stroked their chins with their hands, and Jung Eun-joo shook her head as if to say that was not the case at all.
“Ahi, it was fine.”
“Oh my, swallow before you talk.”
Munch, munch, gulp-
“Uuung. It was fine.”
There were more Koreans at Berkeley College of Music than one might think.
Since Massachusetts, where Boston is located, is also a state where many Koreans reside, Jung Eun-joo did not have much difficulty finding a Korean restaurant that suited her taste.
The food she ate in America was okay for her taste. It was just that the home-cooked meal she had after a long time tasted better than any American food.
“Do you want more?”
“Ung.”
“Then you’re going to keep living in Korea now?”
“Yeah? I might travel occasionally, though.”
“Well, your Mytube channel is doing so well, you should travel a bit.”
At Jung Eun-joo’s answer, her father smiled happily and nodded.
His daughter had successfully completed her studies abroad. It was already amazing that she had graduated from Berkeley College of Music, but she was also doing so well on Mytube.
Naturally, his worries about the future subsided, and only pride remained.
Of course, the graduation ceremony at Berkeley College of Music had not yet taken place.
His daughter had come to Korea without attending the graduation ceremony… Since she had completed all the credits required for graduation, the diploma would be sent to her even if she didn’t attend. From her father’s point of view, his daughter had already graduated from college.
“It would be nice if we could go on a family trip sometime.”
Jung Hoo-il, Jung Eun-joo’s father, muttered as he watched his daughter eat. Then, Yoo Ji-sook gave him a suspicious look.
“Oh, my. You always said you were busy with work when I suggested it?”
“Ahem. No, I didn’t say we should never go. We can go sometime next year when I take a vacation.”
Jung Hoo-il, who had received Yoo Ji-sook’s gaze, initially looked a little flustered, but then spoke nonchalantly.
He had made that excuse because he preferred to rest quietly rather than travel when he was alone with his wife… But this fact was something he couldn’t say for the sake of peace in their marriage.
Yoo Ji-sook didn’t seem to be paying much attention to it either.
“Okay. Anyway, I’m glad our daughter is doing so well. She’s graduating too. Do you love your daughter?”
“Hehehe, yes.”
Jung Eun-joo smiled happily at her mother’s praise.
Praise always felt good. Lately, many people, including her friends and professors, had always praised her, but the praise she received from her parents face-to-face felt different.
It was a good day.
However, it didn’t take long for that happy smile to disappear from Eun-joo’s face.
“Now, if you just get a boyfriend here, it’ll be perfect.”
It was because her mother had brought up a topic that had been slowly surfacing lately. Jung Eun-joo immediately made a disgusted face.
“Ugh, I’ll take care of that myself.”
Her father also chimed in.
“Yeah, why are you putting pressure on her?”
When Jung Hoo-il said that, Yoo Ji-sook made a dumbfounded expression.
“What are you talking about? You were also curious about whether Eun-joo was going to get a boyfriend.”
“What? You’re making me look like a weirdo. I was just worried she’d meet a bad guy. When did I ever say that?”
“Hmm… Lately? You were muttering that it’s strange that there’s no news about a boyfriend.”
“Ah.”
Jung Hoo-il made a face as if he understood what Yoo Ji-sook was saying.
Jung Hoo-il was a father who didn’t want his daughter to date too lightly. Maybe all fathers with pretty daughters were like that, but at least he was.
When he sent his daughter to study abroad, that was the part he was most worried about.
People.
The environment was also a concern, but his biggest worry was that Eun-joo would be influenced by bad students and become bad.
When his daughter moved to the United States in middle school, he and his wife had also moved to the United States to live with her, but that was only for about a year. After seeing that his daughter was doing well in school, they both returned to Korea.
It was a calculation that she would be able to manage on her own somehow.
However, the fact that she had been doing well so far was a different issue from whether she would continue to do well in the future.
His worries were still sky-high, and Jung Eun-joo’s father always told her to be careful of American guys and warned her several times.
Jung Eun-joo seemed to listen to her father’s words well.
She had focused on improving herself and had even been accepted into Berkeley College of Music.
Even if she skipped it, she would video call them every few days. She had also been doing it consistently once or twice a week, so they were sure about their daughter’s information.
However, when Eun-joo continued to show no interest in men until right before graduation, he couldn’t help but wonder if this personality would continue for years to come.
“A-ny-way! Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it myself.”
Jung Eun-joo said firmly, looking at her parents in the strange atmosphere.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have a boyfriend.
It was just that she didn’t like being nagged by her parents like this.
In the first place, she was trying to let herself go a little now. She had focused on music while attending music school, but now that her studies abroad were over and she was back in Korea, she thought it would be okay to enjoy her daily life a little more.
If she met a nice person, she would date them.
“Um, okay…”
In the end, her mother also nodded.
In fact, Yoo Ji-sook also knew that her daughter would do well on her own.
She had always bragged about her daughter attending Berkeley College of Music at gatherings, but lately, another mother, who had been quiet, had been bragging about her daughter seriously dating a guy who was in medical school, so she couldn’t help but feel a little impatient.
She quickly changed the subject.
“By the way, you’re signing a contract today, right?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
“But you managed to decide to live with Ha-rin. It’s been a while since you’ve seen each other, aren’t you awkward?”
“It’s okay. It’s not awkward at all.”
Jung Eun-joo was also a little surprised by that.
She didn’t feel awkward when she met or chatted with Ha-rin. Rather, it was comfortable.
“Okay, that’s a relief. Call me if anything happens today. Oh, are you two meeting today?”
“No? Jin-hyun is meeting us too.”
“Huh? Jin-hyun?”
When that name suddenly popped out, Jung Hoo-il’s eyes widened.
“…You asked for his contact information last time, and you actually contacted him?”
“Yeah.”
When Jung Eun-joo nodded, Yoo Ji-sook chimed in.
“Come to think of it, what is Jin-hyun doing these days?”
“Ah, that’s-”
“I know. He just went to the military and it’s been about a year since he was discharged. Is he retaking the college entrance exam?”
“Retaking? Wasn’t he learning a skill? I think he said he was going to study for a certificate while working part-time.”
“Hmm. That could be it.”
Jung Hoo-il nodded.
Jung Eun-joo looked a little dumbfounded at the sight of her parents making various guesses and talking to each other, even though they had asked her.
“He was so smart when he was young, tsk tsk.”
“He said he played around in middle and high school. It can’t be helped.”
“Hmm. Hasn’t he come to his senses yet?”
“He’s been discharged. And men are usually late bloomers. He’ll do well on his own after some time.”
And the conversation became even more absurd.
‘No, don’t my mom and dad know that Jin-hyun opened a cafe?’
He was still a relative.
The gap between the Jin-hyun she knew and the Jin-hyun that came out of her parents’ mouths was too big.
Jung Eun-joo intervened.
“No, Mom, Dad.”
“Yeah?”
“Why?”
“Don’t you know what Jin-hyun is doing now?”
Jung Hoo-il and Yoo Ji-sook looked at each other once and then shrugged.
“We don’t know?”
