By Zephyria 
Unlike Yeom Cheon-ho or Choi Hwan, he had barely spoken to Moon Kyeon-woo so far. He had never even imagined dating him, as they treated each other like strangers. Lee Yeon-rok didn’t particularly want to, and Moon Kyeon-woo wouldn’t want to either. If Yeom Cheon-ho was an object of admiration and Choi Hwan was like an easygoing colleague, Moon Kyeon-woo was less than an acquaintance from the knitting group.
“Why don’t you get along with CEO better?”
“I’m already getting along well without you telling me? Don’t you think Cheon-ho Hyung and I are quite a good match?”
Since he got a Name partner, Lee Yeon-rok felt like his romantic fantasies were shattering every day. Words like ‘It’s good because it’s even! Let’s pair up and stick together’ or ‘They’re quite a good match’ were very far from Lee Yeon-rok’s definition of family or Name partner. Lee Yeon-rok didn’t respond.
“But why is that Hyung so busy anyway? It’s hard to even have a proper date.”
Choi Hwan grumbled, looking regretfully at the empty Jjajangmyeon bowl he had quickly emptied. As Lee Yeon-rok quickly took the bowl and put it in the sink before he could lick it, he casually replied.
“CEO is busy these days going mountain climbing with the Chairman of other companies.”
“…Oh, really?”
“Last time, he conquered Jirisan, and this time, he’s going to Seoraksan. Do you know that if a mountain’s name has ‘Ak’ in it, the climbing is tough? It’s vicious. That’s why he’s going to Seoraksan after Jirisan. It’s fun to conquer.”
“So that’s why it has ‘Ak’ in it?”
Choi Hwan nodded innocently. By the time he belatedly noticed something strange and screamed, Lee Yeon-rok had already run away.
Returning to his room, he changed his clothes and packed his knitting supplies. He had been enjoying going to the knitting group, which met once a week, lately. He liked being the youngest and receiving the most affection, and it was also thanks to having a knitting buddy. It was the person he had met at the bookstore last time. After joining the cafe that Lee Yeon-rok had introduced, he came to the meeting and they met again.
“My name is Lee Seong-myung. Please take care of me.”
Thanks to his handsome looks, gentle personality, and sophisticated speech, Lee Seong-myung was a hit at the knitting group. He boasted devastating knitting skills, but when he was sweating profusely, people rushed to help him from all directions. Although there was a big age difference between them, Lee Yeon-rok was happy just because he was a rare male member.
“Wow, it’s all done!”
As Lee Yeon-rok held up his scarf and shouted, everyone applauded.
“Really. Our Yeon-rok has already finished knitting a scarf!”
“Oh my, a young kid with such nimble fingers.”
He was praised a lot, and he proudly put on the scarf he had finished for the first time. He really liked the cozy beige scarf. Looking around, most people were knitting diligently to give it to someone precious.
‘Who should I knit one for?’
Lee Yeon-rok briefly thought about the people nearby. Definitely not Moon Kyeon-woo or Choi Hwan, and giving it to Yeom Cheon-ho would be too cheap and would only make the other person uncomfortable. It meant there was a psychological distance. ‘Oh well, I don’t have any family or Darling to give it to. I’ll just keep this and knit one for Park Yeo-sa later…’
These days, the weather was getting warmer, so it was a bit too hot to wear a scarf, so he neatly folded it and put it in his bag, and Lee Seong-myung envied him.
“I’m so envious of Yeon-rok. I don’t know when I’ll ever finish knitting like this, haha…”
“You’ll be able to finish it someday!”
Lee Yeon-rok encouraged him, but Lee Seong-myung seemed to have exhausted his motivation to knit for the day. Instead, he suggested to the people.
“How about a dinner party to celebrate Yeon-rok finishing his first project today? I’ll pay.”
Everyone welcomed Seong-myung’s suggestion. Of course, since it was a small gathering, the dinner party was just moving to a nearby pub. Lee Yeon-rok excused himself for the sudden change of location and quickly ran to his car to inform Park Chung-seong and Jeong Bo-eun of the move. He returned to the pub and took a bite of freshly fried chicken when someone asked with a very curious face.
“But is Yeon-rok well-off?”
“Huh? Me?”
Lee Yeon-rok, who heard a completely unexpected story, looked up in surprise while eating chicken.
“He always comes to our meetings in a sedan.”
“Yeah, and the way he dresses, and the way he talks so sweetly, you can tell he was raised well.”
“He’s a young master, a young master!”
Lee Yeon-rok, who was honestly far from being raised well, just laughed. He couldn’t say that it was all thanks to meeting a good Name partner that he was living so well. Lee Seong-myung also added a word.
“Yeon-rok must be very loved at home.”
“Well… kind of.”
He was also far from being loved, so Lee Yeon-rok smiled bitterly and quickly swallowed it. If he talked about being an insignificant presence at home and the alienation of not being chosen by any Name partner in a place like this, the harmonious atmosphere would be ruined. He quickly changed the subject.
“But is it very difficult to make dolls with knitting? I recently saw a cute knitted hamburger doll pattern…”
It was a pleasant dinner party, except for the fact that he had to politely decline a matchmaking offer that came in subtly. However, Lee Yeon-rok’s misfortune, which had seemed to have subsided recently, erupted.
“Uh oh!”
A waiter who was carrying several glasses of draft beer on a tray suddenly staggered and spilled the beer all over Lee Yeon-rok. In an instant, his body was soaked. Lee Yeon-rok, who was happily eating chicken, was suddenly struck by lightning and his mind became confused. How could he be such a mood killer in such a good place? What’s going on in my life…
“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!”
“Hey, what’s wrong with you? Can’t you serve properly?”
Lee Seong-myung got angry, and the waiter apologized repeatedly with a pale face. Lee Yeon-rok, who felt better because he was angry as if it were his own business, stopped him.
“I’m okay. Can you just give me some tissues or towels?”
“Oh my, you’re soaked. Are you hurt anywhere?”
“Here are some tissues!”
With the help of the people around him, he managed to clean up, but the smell of beer was so strong that he lost all desire to drink. Lee Yeon-rok said to the waiter who was pouring beer again.
“Just take my beer away. I’ll have a cola.”
“I’m really sorry, sir. This is on the house.”
The waiter, who was very flustered, quickly brought a cola. It was a service that even showed the kindness of pouring it directly into an ice cup.
Lee Yeon-rok paused as he tilted the glass to drink the cola. There was a bug struggling in the cup. A flying bug in this winter? Today is just an unlucky day… In a situation he was somewhat familiar with, Lee Yeon-rok only pretended to drink and put it down. The waiter was already looking this way anxiously, looking sorry, so he didn’t want to scold him any further and kept his mouth shut.
Everyone was going to the second round, but it was awkward to walk around with clothes soaked in beer, so Lee Yeon-rok dropped out alone. When he got in the car, Park Chung-seong and Jeong Bo-eun were surprised.
“How much did you drink that you smell like this…? No, your clothes are all wet? Did you spill alcohol on yourself?”
Park Chung-seong and Jeong Bo-eun suspected that he had been ostracized at the meeting, so Lee Yeon-rok quickly told them all about the misfortune that had happened to him and lamented.
“I’m thirsty… Do you have any bottled water?”
Chicken goes perfectly with beer or cola, but he couldn’t drink anything, so he was thirsty. In fact, there was another reason why he refused the second round. It was also because his clothes were soaked in beer, but it was best to just stay home on such an unlucky day. Lee Yeon-rok thought as he drank bottled water.
‘Of course, even if you’re at home, a fire can break out if you’re unlucky.’
It was a possibility if he thought about the unfortunate incident that happened earlier this year. He was sad that he couldn’t go to the second round, so he bought a bag of potato chips and a can of beer from the convenience store and headed to the rooftop. He even made himself a cocktail.
After turning off the luxurious fireplace and enjoying the fire while moderately drunk, he came down to the first floor, and he heard a strange noise from somewhere.
“…What is that noise?”
Lee Yeon-rok, who was throwing away the empty can in the recycling bin, looked around.
“Um, uh…! Ugh!”
It sounded like a groan… Was someone sick somewhere? Lee Yeon-rok focused his senses and found the source of the noise, and he froze. Yeom Cheon-ho and Choi Hwan were rolling around on the floor, their faces red, and they were sticking together.
‘These crazy people left all the bedrooms and are doing this in the living room…!’
Lee Yeon-rok was horrified that he was seeing them sticking together on such an unlucky day, and he quickly turned around, but he paused.
‘Wait? But something, something was a little strange, wasn’t it? They were both wearing clothes, even though they were sticking together.’
Besides, Choi Hwan might do that, but it didn’t seem like Yeom Cheon-ho would do such a rude thing. After much conflict, Lee Yeon-rok turned back again. He squinted his eyes, afraid of seeing something unpleasant, and only stretched his neck out to grasp the situation, and he was shocked.
“No! What are you two doing now!”