By Zephyria 
And that question was resolved the next morning. Lee Yeon-rok, who had slept soundly without nightmares and woke up, came down to the kitchen and saw Park Yeo-sa humming and cooking.
“Park Yeo-sa, good morning!”
“Oh, our Young master is awake? I’ll quickly make you a delicious breakfast? Just wait a little.”
She seemed to be in a particularly good mood than usual. Lee Yeon-rok swallowed as he smelled the pancakes being fried.
“Did something good happen?”
“Hehe, of course, it did.”
Lee Yeon-rok was soon distracted by the elaborate meal that was set before him. He was enjoying his breakfast when someone staggered in and sat down at the table, and Lee Yeon-rok, thinking it was Choi Hwan, flinched. For some reason, Moon Kyeon-woo was sitting at the breakfast table.
Usually, the members Lee Yeon-rok encountered in the morning were fixed. He often ate breakfast with Secretary Kim Jeong-seong, or occasionally with Choi Hwan and Manager Jo Jun-ho. Yeom Cheon-ho left early in the morning, so he had never encountered him in the morning yet, and Moon Kyeon-woo also tended to skip breakfast.
Today, Moon Kyeon-woo looked like he was in the worst condition. He had been drinking so much last night that he clearly looked like he was suffering from a hangover. His eyes were dark and his brow was furrowed, making him look very unpleasant. Park Yeo-sa, who had tidied up her expression as if she had never been in a good mood, asked in her usual voice.
“Young master, will you have breakfast today?”
“…Yes. Is there anything like a clear soup? Because of the hangover.”
“Shall I make you some honey water as well?”
This time, he nodded without saying a word. Park Yeo-sa opened the kitchen hood and all the windows to ventilate the room, which was filled with the smell of oil, and began to make seaweed soup. Moon Kyeon-woo drank the honey water and went to the bathroom for a while. Soon, he returned and only ate the clear soup without touching the rice.
“Oh, Young master.”
These days, Park Yeo-sa always added ‘our’ when calling Lee Yeon-rok, so Lee Yeon-rok glanced at Moon Kyeon-woo instead of reacting.
“Anyway, a flower delivery came again today…”
As Park Yeo-sa trailed off naturally, Moon Kyeon-woo sighed deeply and swept back his disheveled hair. A look of carrying all the world’s worries appeared on his delicate white face.
“That… just throw it away.”
After saying that in a cracked voice, Moon Kyeon-woo couldn’t even finish his clear soup and staggered back to his room. As soon as he disappeared, Park Yeo-sa started humming again. Her hands washing the dishes were full of energy.
“Thank you for the meal!”
Lee Yeon-rok realized while sipping on the healthy juice, which Park Yeo-sa had specially decorated today with a flower of unknown origin. Moon Kyeon-woo… broke up with his lover! That’s why he was drinking so much last night, and Park Yeo-sa was feeling so elated. It seemed like they really broke up since he told her to just throw away the delivered flowers.
‘He was so affectionate with his lover, that’s a bit unfortunate.’
Lee Yeon-rok, who knew well how difficult the feeling of heartbreak was from past experiences, felt a brief moment of pity, but that was it. He had other important things to do today.
After a self-defense art class and health training to strengthen his friendship with the bodyguards, Lee Yeon-rok grabbed his phone. In the meantime, dozens of group chat notifications had come in on the messenger. It was because of the first ‘meeting’ that would be held today. After leaving a reply saying that he would see everyone later, Lee Yeon-rok threw open all the closet doors in the dressing room.
“Hmm, well. It’s worth it to have shopped.”
The clothes that he had been folding haphazardly and shoving into the drawers until recently were neatly hung on hangers with matching tops and bottoms. It was thanks to Choi Hwan, who had been annoyed by Lee Yeon-rok constantly picking up and wearing clothes haphazardly, sending his manager Jo Jun-ho to organize them.
He must have said something to Kim Jeong-seong as well, because after that, whenever he left the room for a while, the closet would be neatly organized. Thanks to that, Lee Yeon-rok could just pick out any hanger and wear it without worrying.
Lee Yeon-rok, who had changed into neat clothes, also picked out a bag. Then, Lee Yeon-rok, who had stopped by the hobby room, carefully packed his knitting tools as the last thing.
There was also knitting in the hobby room that Kim Jeong-seong had prepared, and Lee Yeon-rok, who was trying out the tools in the hobby room one by one, unexpectedly realized that knitting was quite fun. The problem was that it was quite difficult for a beginner to do it alone. Lee Yeon-rok, who repeatedly unraveled the yarn, knitted it, unraveled it again, and then knitted it again, finally admitted that he needed help.
So, he joined an online knitting community. After posting a few posts and leaving comments there, he had even formed a meeting. Lee Yeon-rok set off with an excited heart.
The meeting place he arrived at was a small cafe located in a quiet place. Lee Yeon-rok, who had entered the cafe with a happy heart, was flustered. There were only women in the cafe, and as soon as he entered, their gazes poured out on him. He came out of the cafe and carefully entered again.
Most of the women were about the same age as Park Yeo-sa. When he looked closely, there were only two men in the cafe. One seemed to be the cafe owner, and the other seemed to be a couple. Lee Yeon-rok asked quietly.
“Excuse me, is this… the knitting meeting?”
“Is your nickname…?”
“‘Lime and Pencil’…”
As he revealed his nickname while feeling embarrassed, the light of wariness and curiosity in their eyes changed.
“Oh my! You’re ‘Lime and Pencil’? Welcome, welcome.”
“Is it cold outside? Have a warm cup of coffee first!”
Lee Yeon-rok was welcomed and sat down in a daze. After greeting everyone here and there, he politely shared the cookies that Park Yeo-sa had packed for him.
“Everyone, please speak comfortably! Just call me Yeon-rok comfortably.”
Someone was curious about Lee Yeon-rok’s nickname and asked.
“May I ask who Lime and Pencil are?”
“Ah! Of course. My Cherished doll and, recently… I brought in a scindapsus and named them. Their names are Lime and Pencil. Oh, the cookies? An Auntie I know packed them for me because I said I was going to a meeting. I haven’t been knitting for long, but it’s more fun than I thought…”
Lee Yeon-rok chatted and shared stories, asked about knitting, which he had been curious about, and even got to eat hot knife-cut noodles for lunch. Lee Yeon-rok said he would pay for lunch, but no one tried to take the money. After that, he knitted about a hand span of the scarf he had been aiming for. By the time the meeting was over, Lee Yeon-rok had become the most loved and harmless youngest member of the meeting.
Park Chung-seong and Jeong Bo-eun, who had confirmed Lee Yeon-rok’s expression as he returned with flushed cheeks, were also inwardly pleased.
“Shall we go home now?”
“Uh… then shall we stop by the bookstore since we’re out? I’m going to buy some knitting books.”
Then the two of them took Lee Yeon-rok to a nearby bookstore. After picking out a few other hobby books, he was staring intently at a dessert model knitting book that looked too cute but seemed difficult.
“Excuse me, student, I’m sorry, but can I ask you something?”
When Lee Yeon-rok raised his head, a middle-aged man was pointing to the books with a troubled expression. He was handsome, tall, and had a neat suit and a great atmosphere, just like a model.
“I’m trying knitting for the first time, and I was wondering if you could recommend a book.”
Near him were only women, so he must have felt awkward and chose Lee Yeon-rok to ask. Lee Yeon-rok readily recommended a book with a familiar title he had seen in his hobby room.
“Thank you. Now that I’m old and retired, I don’t have anything to do.”
Lee Yeon-rok, who was looking for a hobby as a jobless person, sympathized. Besides, he recalled how rare it was to see a man knitting at today’s gathering, which made him even more pleased.
“It might be difficult to knit alone, but if you join here, you’ll get a lot of help.”
Lee Yeon-rok kindly shared the knitting community he had joined with the other person. On the way back after buying a bunch of books, Park Chung-seong and Jeong Bo-eun asked their usual question.
“Did you see anyone suspicious today?”
After a moment of thought, Lee Yeon-rok replied cheerfully.
“No, I didn’t see anyone like that at all!”
“Hey, did you hear? Gyun-woo Hyung’s Darling cheated on him.”
Lee Yeon-rok, who was draining the noodles from his 100,000 won Jjajangmyeon, almost spilled all the noodles. While inwardly minding the friendly term ‘Gyun-woo Hyung,’ he asked.
“Cheated?”
“He seemed to be in a bad mood lately, so I asked him, and that’s what he said.”
Lee Yeon-rok realized that Choi Hwan was slow to notice that Moon Kyeon-woo had broken up with his Darling and that he was quite talkative. Moon Kyeon-woo wouldn’t have particularly wanted the fact that he broke up with his cheating Darling to be known. As soon as he served the Jjajangmyeon with a fried egg on top, Choi Hwan swallowed hard.
“Don’t you know that even hotel ramen isn’t this expensive?”
Even while grumbling, Choi Hwan devoured Lee Yeon-rok’s Jjajangmyeon in the blink of an eye. Then, he said carelessly.
“Good for you. Why don’t you take this opportunity to date Gyun-woo Hyung?”
It was as if he was saying, ‘Now that there’s an empty spot, just pair up with someone.’ Was he really saying this?