By Zephyria 
(Alliance) MouseTrap: Momo, were you chopping wood here?
(Alliance) 0momo0: Ah yes!! I was cutting down trees here with Miu!
(Alliance) MouseTrap: Ah, lol, logging at this hour, you must be on a date, lol.
(Alliance) MouseTrap: Why isn’t Miu saying anything???
(Alliance) Opening: Mobile
Come to think of it, Miu hadn’t said a word since they appeared. Judging by the fact that they were still standing next to him, it didn’t seem like they had logged off.
(Alliance) MouseTrap: Looks like they’re AFK!
(Alliance) Opening: Hmm
It was strange, but they had suddenly left their seat earlier…
(Alliance) 0momo0: What were you two doing?
Mo Yeon-hu, glad to see the two people who had appeared like saviors and gotten him out of an awkward situation, asked.
(Alliance) Opening: ?ㅋㅋㅋ
(Alliance) Opening: Why are you curious?ㅋㅋ
Huh? Mo Yeon-hu tilted his head at the slightly strange message, but MouseTrap quickly spoke up.
(Alliance) MouseTrap: Ah, I logged in briefly this morning because I had something to do, and Opening happened to log in too, so (Alliance) MouseTrap: Since we logged in together after a long time, we were talking about going on a Raid! Then we saw you two.
(Alliance) 0momo0: Ah, I see!!
It turned out to be nothing much. Since he hadn’t asked out of genuine interest, Mo Yeon-hu skimmed through the message and then stared intently at Miu.
‘Did they go to work?’
Miu hadn’t moved from their previous position. They must have arrived at the cafe and started working.
They must be busy with a lot of work when they first get to work.
‘They looked like they were in a bad mood. It must be because Mi-yeong rejected their request for contact information.’
Mo Yeon-hu, wondering how anyone could dare to reject the number request of the refreshingly cheerful and cute baby rabbit Ms. Mi-yeong, became gloomy.
‘If we were close, I could buy them something.’
He felt bad seeing Mi-yeong so heartbroken, but realistically, they were nothing to each other, so there was nothing he could do.
As he pondered, Mo Yeon-hu suddenly remembered the famous bakery near his house, where people in the neighborhood lined up early in the morning.
He thought he had heard that the bread was really delicious.
‘Wouldn’t they like it if I bought them that?!’
Mi-yeong often ate desserts during her breaks at the cafe. And with a very happy face!
Since there was a famous bakery near his house, he should buy a lot and give her a little, saying he bought too much, so it wouldn’t be a burden!
(Alliance) 0momo0: Ah, I’ll log off first!
Thinking that, Mo Yeon-hu typed in the chat.
‘Huh? No one’s replying?’
But no one, including Miu, MouseTrap, and Opening, replied.
After waiting for a while, Mo Yeon-hu thought they were all AFK and simply ended the game. However, his determination to go see Mi-yeong right away wavered for a moment as soon as he entered the bathroom to take a shower.
“Wow, my face is a mess…”
He had stayed up all night playing games, so his complexion was duller than usual, and he looked strangely grimy. Wouldn’t his likability score decrease if he went looking like this…?
(Alliance) Miu: I asked for contact info and got rejected But then he remembered Mi-yeong’s message and steeled his resolve.
‘Love is something you have to fight for.’
Fortunately, perhaps because he took twice as much care showering as usual, he looked quite presentable after putting on clean clothes and even wearing glasses to cover his dark circles.
Mo Yeon-hu, who left right away, quickly packed some bread at the bakery, where the line was shorter than usual, and headed to the cafe.
‘It’s quiet.’
Maybe it’s because of the awkward time. There were only occasional takeout customers, and no one was sitting down, so the cafe was deserted.
‘Ms. Mi-yeong is alone.’
She always seemed to work in pairs, but perhaps because there were fewer orders at this time, Mi-yeong was manning the counter alone.
[(Alliance) Miu: Boyfriend?]
[(Alliance) Miu: Married man???]
[(Alliance) Miu: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[(Alliance) Miu: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
‘Is she… okay?’
Her expression isn’t clearly visible through the window. However, remembering Mi-yeong looking unhappy in the game, he wondered if he could safely give her the bread.
Still, he had come all this way, so Mo Yeon-hu mustered his courage.
Chime.
“Welcome!”
However, the worried feeling melted away at the sound of Mi-yeong’s cheerful voice as soon as he entered the cafe.
Her face was smiling brightly as usual, and Mo Yeon-hu reflexively tried to smile, but then awkwardly touched his lips and walked forward.
“Oh!”
As he approached the counter, Mi-yeong seemed to recognize Mo Yeon-hu and made a small sound of surprise.
“It’s been a while since that rainy day!”
Her surprised voice soon turned into a cheerful babble.
“It has been.”
Mo Yeon-hu, who had entered the cafe with such enthusiasm, stiffened and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, avoiding her gaze.
“Why haven’t you been here in so long? Did you get home okay that day?”
“Yes. I got home fine…”
“That’s good! I was a little worried!”
She was worried about me…
Hearing those words, Mo Yeon-hu subtly raised his head to look at Mi-yeong. But she was looking at him too, and their eyes met.
Then, Mi-yeong’s eyes widened and she quickly turned her head away.
“Well, you used to come to the cafe every day and then you disappeared – I was wondering if you had caught a cold or something – um.”
…Do I look ugly right now?
Because of Mi-yeong’s sudden avoidance, Mo Yeon-hu fiddled with his glasses for no reason and took a step back.
“I didn’t have a cold, I was just a little busy…”
“Ah, I see… By the way, there’s something I’ve been wondering about! Are you perhaps acquainted with my cousin?”
“Cousin?”
“Yes, Kwon Mi-eon.”
Mo Yeon-hu paused at that name.
‘You don’t remember me?’
A small face, unusually curly hair, a cold appearance but a rather gentle way of speaking, and a face that seemed quite desperate, unlike his flamboyant appearance.
‘That’s right, that happened.’
He had been drunk that day, and it had been raining heavily, so he had completely forgotten about it.
“Ah, not really… I don’t know him well.”
“Oh, really? You seemed to be talking quite intimately, so I thought you knew each other well.”
However, what’s difficult is Mi-yeong. He felt like they were family that day, but a cousin.
‘That guy’s a Drug addict.’
He couldn’t say to Mi-yeong, ‘Ms. Mi-yeong, your cousin is friends with someone who does drugs, and it looks like he does drugs too?’ but it was also awkward to say that he didn’t know him at all.
“This.”
Mo Yeon-hu chose to change the subject. He quickly handed one of the two bags he was holding to Mi-yeong.
“Oh? This is-”
“I bought a lot of bread. Would you like some if you’re okay with it? I heard it’s delicious here.”
Kang Mi-yeong couldn’t take her eyes off the shopping bag that Mo Yeon-hu was subtly offering.
“Isn’t this a place where people line up for a long time? Wow, oh. Wow. Thank you. I’ll really enjoy it.”
Soon, Kang Mi-yeong’s face turned red as she took the shopping bag. Mo Yeon-hu, embarrassed, quickly took out his card.
“Then I’ll have an Iced Einspänner and a ham and cheese sandwich.”
“Ah, yes. Yes! Insert it here, and the buzzer… Ah, why is this like this… Just a moment!”
Kang Mi-yeong, very flustered by the gift, stammered with a flushed face, and tapped the POS machine in an unusually clumsy manner.
Mo Yeon-hu glanced at her and awkwardly pursed his lips.
‘Was I too much? She looks uncomfortable.’
Feeling a little dejected, Mo Yeon-hu picked up the buzzer and moved.
Normally, he would have chosen a seat where he could see Mi-yeong well, but today he felt embarrassed for no reason, so he got a glass of water and headed towards the window.
‘The sunlight is nice. The smell is good too.’
Sitting in the sunlight made his body feel relaxed. Mo Yeon-hu leaned slightly against the window and closed his eyes.
‘…Sleepy.’
The fatigue that hadn’t come when he was playing games all night was hitting him all at once. As if he had never been fine, Mo Yeon-hu’s head slowly tilted as sleepiness washed over him.
…Tap, tap!
Someone was knocking on the glass.
With blurry eyes, Mo Yeon-hu opened his eyes. Feeling something strange, Mo Yeon-hu’s head tilted involuntarily.
‘That’s strange, the sun was definitely shining here… Huh?’
It was a spot with particularly good sunlight, but now it was in the shade. The sun couldn’t have suddenly set. Puzzled, Mo Yeon-hu raised his head and froze.
Beyond the window, a person was looking down at him.
His large build was noticeable, but his wet, curly hair, as if he had just finished showering, came into view particularly clearly.
A mask covered more than half of his face, so only his eyes were visible, and those eyes were looking directly at Mo Yeon-hu through the window.
Looking closely, the man was swaying. As if he had been running.
As he blankly stared at the man as if possessed, the man seemed to catch his breath and leaned forward.
Tap.
He lightly flicked the window with his fingertip.