By Zephyria 
Eun-ha replied calmly to the man who asked as if he didn’t know the obvious, inwardly finding it a bit absurd.
“I do. You’re a customer at the cafe.”
Normally, how could you not remember something like that? It’s because you’re consumed by pretense that such contradictions, creating a sense of incongruity, arise.
“Ah…”
The man, who nodded and slightly lowered his head, looked straight ahead again. He subtly touched his neck, which was faintly reddish.
Eun-ha was dumbfounded, though he didn’t show it.
“I thought you didn’t know. You always say the same thing.”
“The same thing?”
“Asking if I have a stamp card… You ask every time I go. As if you’re seeing me for the first time. I already have three of them filled.”
Had it exceeded three? He hadn’t counted separately.
“I don’t greet every familiar customer individually.”
“Since when have you remembered me?”
“Quite a while.”
He answered thoughtlessly. It wasn’t an answer that held any particular meaning. At least, that’s how Eun-ha saw it.
But the man made an ‘ah-‘ sound, his eyes seeming to hint at a smile. Then, the way he lightly bit and released his lower lip was dramatically gentle, like the male lead in some romance comic.
What is he really? Eun-ha, with empty eyes, added dryly, as if stomping on a sprout.
“I can’t not know a customer who comes every day. I recognize them after seeing them only three times.”
“…Ah… Three times….”
“……”
“…Yes… That’s right….”
A dejected voice.
Silence descended, as if carefully choosing words.
“…This is also fate.”
“……”
“Can I ask your name?”
Oh, come on. Eun-ha answered casually.
“Lee Eun-ha.”
Lee Eun-ha… The man muttered softly and said.
“It’s pretty. Your name.”
“……”
“My name is Baek Yeon-jun.”
“Yes. Your name is pretty too.”
So, he was a Baek. Thinking that, Eun-ha gave a dry reply, and the man, who had been looking straight ahead the whole time, finally turned to look at Eun-ha. He seemed a little disappointed. What had he even done?
As Eun-ha showed a look of bewilderment, as if asking if there was a problem, he spoke in a small voice.
“I just told you my name…”
It was difficult to understand at once, so Eun-ha narrowed his eyes. After thinking for a while, he finally understood. He was pointing out that Eun-ha had referred to him as ‘you.’
Eun-ha moved his lips. It had been a while since he felt the words escaping his tongue.
Gaping, he stared at the man in front of him in genuine bewilderment, when suddenly his thoughts jumped elsewhere.
“Baek…”
“Yes?”
“We have the same last name.”
He shook the pamphlet in his hand. It was a fairly reasonable deduction. It wasn’t a common surname.
As if he hadn’t thought of that, the man’s eyes widened slightly, and after a moment of consideration, he nodded shallowly.
“He’s my Grandfather.”
“Ah.”
Eun-ha recalled the information he had heard from Jeong-ho. What department of art school was it again?
He knew a few things about artist Baek Eun-taek. Born as the eldest son of an entrepreneur. A person who turned his back on the expectations and obligations of his family and pursued a life dedicated to his dreams. He had several children, most of whom were making a positive impact by extending their reach into various fields of art, as he had read in an interview.
Throughout that article, his love and pride for his family seemed immense, and it seemed that his unfounded confidence was not without basis. It seemed that his grandson had also inherited his talent well.
“You have an amazing person as your Grandfather.”
“…Yeah. He’s an amazing person.”
With a somewhat reluctant tone, Eun-ha checked his wristwatch. It was a deliberate check. He was starting to want to escape this uncomfortable conversation. And he happened to have a good excuse to get out.
“You must be very busy. If you’re the grandson of today’s protagonist.”
“-No. I’m very free right now….”
“Then have a good time. I’ll be going now. My party is waiting.”
Eun-ha cut off the man’s words and turned around before he could say anything to stop him. He immediately started walking. He wondered how the man would react to his rude behavior. Would he continue to wear his gentle mask, or would he point out his rudeness?
Would he show a little bit of displeasure…?
The man did nothing. He only felt a movement as if he had reflexively taken a step and then stopped. As if he was trying to grab him but stopped himself.
He thought he would grab his wrist.
At that considerate ending, Eun-ha finally let out a cynical snort. Still pretending until the end.
Eun-ha was sexually liberal, but he didn’t just pick up anything. First of all, he tended to limit his partners to one, and he chose that partner after thinking and judging according to his own standards.
The most important criterion was the alignment of interests. How well did their desires match each other? How similar were their values? In order to understand that, they had to be honest about themselves when explaining themselves to each other. They had to be honest. Eun-ha could easily discern the truth, unless it was really something. Whether the person was trying to leave a good impression and was deliberately disguising himself in a shallow and greasy way, or not.
It was a discernment that he had been able to acquire because he had been burned by people so many times. From what he had experienced so far, those who outwardly professed to be good people and displayed themselves to others were, when you looked closely, more sinister, sordid, and dirty than anyone else. In the first place, wouldn’t they be hiding themselves so stubbornly because they had something to feel guilty about, because they had a bad habit that they themselves were aware of?
For example, Eun-ha had once almost become partners with a collection of STDs. He had values that were so surprisingly in line with his own, and he kept the atmosphere pleasantly upbeat throughout the conversation, giving only answers that people liked to hear, but there was something subtly artificial about it, and just as he was feeling uneasy, he found out that he was a well-known piece of trash, even among sluts.
Through Gu Hae-bin’s information network, who lived in clubs and bars.
If you say that he, Gu Hae-bin, and that slut were all the same, he honestly has nothing to say. It was true that he was pursuing an unconventional relationship.
To make an excuse, Eun-ha’s behavior, which was somewhat undesirable in terms of social norms, stemmed solely from feelings of loneliness.
He was lonely, but he didn’t want to be in a relationship.
He never wanted to be in one again.
In any case, he had once been blinded by loneliness and almost crossed a point of no return.
After that, he became even more wary of people who seemed endlessly good and full of advantages. Rather than someone who looked flawless and perfect, he preferred someone who said they wanted to have sex with you, someone who conveyed their intentions clearly, even if it was a little vulgar. He liked your looks, he liked your wealthy background… He preferred it when they said it honestly.
In that sense, the man, Baek Yeon-jun, was an inevitably annoying figure.
While Eun-ha was being led around by Yeo-jin to greet people here and there, he sensed a gaze that was constantly fixed on the back of his head.
He didn’t know it when he didn’t even know he existed in this place, so he didn’t even consider that someone would be following his trajectory. It seemed that he had been looking at him like that all along.
Once he recognized it, it was a gaze that he couldn’t help but notice. The feeling that the back of his head was being pierced, as it is commonly described, had been following Eun-ha for almost an hour.
Even though it was obvious that people would feel uncomfortable if they were looked at like that.
As if he didn’t know that fact. As if he believed that he wouldn’t know as long as he didn’t make direct eye contact.
It was absurd that he was pretending to be so immature in sexual relationships.
Again, people lived up to their faces. They had to. Largely regardless of their own will. They were forced to learn arrogance from those around them.
Eun-ha steadfastly ignored the stubbornly fixed gaze and followed Yeo-jin.