SRSBO: Chapter 5

The gazes of people around me naturally made me anxious. I nodded solemnly to myself without a smile and started talking nonsense. What I needed now was shamelessness.

“Maybe by any chance… Ah, I see. I understand now. You must be curious about the hand cream I used! It’s from the R brand, with a cozy, bready scent. It’s really warm and nice, right?”

“….”

“I love bread, so if you’re interested, you can try the ones at Maldive Young. They have a variety of scents like bread, cake, chocolate, and cookies, and there’s a whooping 60% discount this month! Plus, if you pay with a bronze card, you’ll get an additional 10% off! You’ll be able to enjoy a great shopping experience!”

As I spoke passionately like an honorary PR ambassador for the R Company, the man nodded his head in surprise at my intense gaze, urging him to nod in agreement.

I quickly left the place with hurried steps and looked around. As I had expected, several people around were intently looking at the man. I even saw someone among them writing down the name of the hand cream I had just mentioned.

‘I hope there won’t be any rumors going around about a part-time worker flirting with customers or anything like that…!’

Thinking my response was perfect, I quietly wiped away the cold sweat with a relieved heart.

* * *

Perfect response my ass.

“Sister, what magical thing did you do to that man? Please tell me, too.”

“Oi, stop bothering me and just get back to work.”

“Brother, aren’t you curious too? He hasn’t brought a girl around lately, and he’s being oddly kind to Sister as well. He must definitely be interested in Sister, right?”

[T/N: As mentioned previously, in Korea, younger women like to call someone a few years older than them ‘오빠’ (Oppa: if male) or 언니 (Unni: if female)]

The female part-time worker began urging me to tell what had happened.

If I had to point out something I did, it would be that I accidentally grabbed his hand. But that was not a valid excuse.

If holding hands with a stranger automatically led to feelings for each other as if it was natural, this world would have been overflowing with love and peace by now.

What’s more astonishing, as well as certain, was that, since that day, the man hasn’t been accompanying any other women.

The number of his visits has also increased from barely once a week to once a week. And the person who had always just made a quick payment began to strike up conversations with the staff.

The problem was that he only started talking to them when I was the one working there.

And the first person to notice that odd interactions was the female part-time worker I was working with.

“That person over there. Do you know that he only talks to others when you’re around?”

“What? No way.”

“No, I think this is true. Last time, he asked you to recommend something from the menu. In the half a year I’ve worked here, that’s the first time I’ve ever heard him say anything other than his order. He always just gets an iced Americano… Maybe he’s interested in you after all?”

“You think he’s interested in me just because of that?”

“My intuition is telling me that. I have a really good sense, you know.”

“Your intuition must be broken. Why would someone like that be interested in me?”

The female part-time worker shrugged her shoulders lightly with a playful smile.

It would be a different story if I were still Amelia, who was beautiful at first glance. However, for someone like Kim Eujung, with her sharp gaze and indifferent expression, she had never been called out for a confession, even during her school days, although she has been called out for glaring at someone.

Of course, appearance isn’t everything when it comes to judging someone’s personality, but objectively speaking, that’s just how it is.

The only conversation we’ve had was probably about the cosmetics product PPL recommendation last time, so there’s no way he could judge someone’s character based on that. In that case, all that’s left to judge by their appearance.

Anyway, combined with the embarrassing mistake from last time, hearing such things from a colleague made me start to notice it as well, no matter how indifferent I usually am.

I unconsciously began listening to the conversation related to him, and every time my gaze would be directed at him.

In the process, I realized that the way he would look at me was the kind of gaze I was extremely familiar with.

“I’ve said this several times, but I haven’t really done anything special, and the interest that person is showing is probably not in the direction you’re thinking.”

“What direction am I thinking?”

“Love.”

“Hey~ How can you be so sure? It’s not like you can read other people’s minds.”

“Hey, Jung Sujin, I got another order. Stop fussing about other people’s business and get to work.”

The gaze he gave me was more like a slight wariness and curiosity than a favorable impression of the opposite sex.

It was the same kind of gaze I received when I first joined the battlefield, a look so intense that I couldn’t possibly forget it.

That’s why it was even more puzzling. What did I do to make him look at me with that kind of gaze?

No, was there even a reason to make such a big fuss in the first place? It’s not like there was a kissing scene suddenly played out in the middle of the café. All I did was just glance at him and talk some nonsense?

As I thought about it, though, I glanced at his face and realized anew why it made perfect sense.

A person who could cause chaos just by breathing was acting differently than usual, of course people couldn’t help but speculate.

To be honest, it’s just that I’ve built up a tolerance to the good looks of people like Amelia, Crown Prince Raymond, and top candidate for the throne, Kassen, so I was relatively better in comparison.

The busy lunch hour passed, and before I knew it, it was already late afternoon. The sky, which had been clear until lunchtime, had now turned overcast, giving off a bleak and eerie atmosphere.

The weather wasn’t particularly pleasant, but I was feeling better than I had in a long time, at least as long as I could remember.

And that was because no particular man had come to the café for a week. Aside from the female part-time worker who had been consistently spreading rumors about a possible romance between us, other people were also gradually talking about him.

Perhaps due to the gloomy weather, the number of customers had noticeably dropped as the afternoon went on. The only customer left was a lone figure at the window seat, wearing headphones and tapping away at a typewriter.

“I guess I should start organizing the coupons too. Since I’m on cleanup duty today, I’ll take care of it.”

“Then I’ll be grateful. Oh, I heard it’s supposed to rain today. Did you bring an umbrella?”

“Yeah.”

I gave a vague nod and then pulled the coupons out of the drawer.

This café still used paper coupons. Every time a customer ordered a drink, they would get a stamp for the coupon, and once they collected all the stamps, they could get a free drink. But, out of concern for losing them, customers could also write their names on the coupons before leaving, and the café would keep them safe.

“Hmm? Now that I think about it, it looks like that customer didn’t make a coupon?”

“Which customer again?”

“You know, that customer, the one Sujin always swoons over saying how handsome. Now that I think about it, I don’t think I’ve ever seen him getting a stamp on his coupon when paying.”

For customers who don’t frequently visit a café, they might not know, but if someone visits a café frequently, they usually make coupons. When I asked curiously, the male part-time worker nodded to himself as if he understood.

“Oh~ That customer? I asked him before if he wanted one, but it seems he said he didn’t need one?”

“Really? Since he comes that often, he must have earned quite a few free drinks by now.”

“He must have a lot of money. I mean, just living in a place like this… Oh, hold on, I need to take this call for a second.”

“Take your time. There’s no rush, since there are no customers anyway.”

The male part-time worker hurriedly ran to receive the urgent call.

The staff room door closed, and not long after, the sound of rain falling began to pour with a whoosh. The view outside the window quickly turned gray and blurred.

Ding-

The door opened.

The sound of rain, seeping through the gap in the door, grew louder before quickly subsiding. I pulled my gaze away from the coupons I was organizing and looked up. And there he was, the man I hadn’t seen in a while.

While he was putting his umbrella in the umbrella stand, I stared at his face. Even though I hadn’t seen him in a long time, his handsome face looked somewhat pale, perhaps because of the lighting.

Thud, thud.

Hearing the sound of approaching footsteps, I blinked.

It was strange. Something felt off about him, but I couldn’t quite figure out what exactly was wrong.

‘…Is it because his face looks unnaturally pale?’

My eyes, frowning at the strange sense of discomfort, turned to the floor.

Ah.

It was only then that I realized.

Although it was pouring rain outside, there was no trace of water on the man’s footsteps.

Dry hair and coat. No water droplets were falling from the umbrella in the stand either. The one umbrella that was left alone looked particularly conspicuous.

‘Maybe I’m just overthinking it…’

He might have come through the parking lot. I heard he drives an expensive car.

As I tried to push the unnecessary thought out of my mind, the man who had approached me greeted me.

“Hello.”

Up close, his complexion looked even paler. I finally realized it wasn’t because of the lighting, he genuinely seemed unwell, with a gaunt, drained face. Without realizing it, I found myself studying his face closely.

“Welcome customer. Please feel free to sit wherever you’d like, and just ring the bell when you’re ready to order.”

“Oh, I’ll just order here. Iced Americano.”

With a face that looked like he was about to collapse, he ordered an iced Americano. After a moment of hesitation, instead of swiping the card I had been handed, I mustered up the courage to speak.

“Um… You look pale, would you like something warm? I heard it’s going to be cold today because of the rain.”

And immediately after, I regretted it.

‘Oh no. I was being rude.’

As the silence stretched on, I wondered if there was any way to recover the conversation when the man suddenly spoke up.

“What kind of warm drink do you like?”

“…Yes?”

“You said a warm drink would be good for me. Please recommend one.”

“Um, in this weather, I would have grapefruit honey black tea. Or maybe marmalade tea?”

Thinking that a drink rich in Vitamin C might be good for him, I made the suggestion, but the man tilted his head in wonder.

“You seem to like it a lot.”

“Yes?”

“Grapefruit. You recommended that last time, too.”

“Ah….”

Did I really?

I nodded absentmindedly.

He then agreed to order that and sat down at a nearby table. The way he furrowed his brow and rubbed his forehead made it obvious to anyone that he was definitely ill.

After bringing the drink to his table, I immediately turned on the television. I just wanted the uncomfortable silence to go away, even if it was with something as trivial as the noise from the TV.

On the first day working there, I had wondered why there was a television in the café, but now it was clear, it was likely set up for moments like this.

I was back to organizing the coupons again, engrossed in the work with the sound of the TV of some random channel playing in the background. Suddenly, the man’s voice was heard nearby.

“Excuse me.”