My Brother's Friend Wasn't a Guy - Chapter 20

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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20.

“Ugh! Let go, won’t you let go?”
Do Hyun-soo thrashed against Mun Kang-hyun’s grip, but escaping a man nearly six-foot-three with a frame of solid muscle proved impossible.
“What’s wrong with you? People will get the wrong idea.”
Kang-hyun grinned and squeezed harder. To any onlooker, it looked like nothing more than a firm handshake.
Do Hyun-soo whimpered as his fingers began to ache.
“You bastard, have you lost your mind?”
Kang-hyun let out a small laugh at the weakened edge in his voice.
“Amazing that you’re only figuring this out now. I thought you’d known since high school.”
“Damn it, you psycho. I knew you were insane. Let go, I said let go.”
Do Hyun-soo’s face had gone pale—the pain was clearly genuine. He writhed, trying desperately to break free.
Kang-hyun found the contact itself revolting and had no intention of holding on any longer.
He stepped closer and lowered his voice near Do Hyun-soo’s ear.
“If you ever insult Seo I-hwan again, or so much as breathe a word about his sister, you’ll regret it.”
“Ugh, let go. I get it, just let go!”
Kang-hyun released him, and Do Hyun-soo stumbled backward as though flung away.
He gasped and flexed his hand, strings of curses spilling from his lips until he noticed the eyes of those around them, and his face flushed crimson.
“Damn it, ✕✕.”
Then he vanished in a panic. Cheon Eun-jung, who had been watching Do Hyun-soo’s retreating form, twisted her lips and muttered.
“That contemptible bastard.”
Her anger still unassuaged, she turned to Kang-hyun.
“You were too soft on him. You should have torn his mouth open so he never says anything like that again.”
Kang-hyun looked at Cheon Eun-jung with a sudden, fresh clarity. Now he understood why he’d always disliked her.
“I held back out of consideration for your reputation. Should I have thrown that away?”
“Oh…….”
Only then did Cheon Eun-jung seem to notice where they were, and she fell silent.
This is why she’s a walking disaster, Kang-hyun thought, and clicked his tongue sharply.
Whatever he thought of her, Cheon Eun-jung had grown subdued. Do Hyun-soo’s words had dragged Seo I-hwan back from the depths where she’d tried to bury him.
So quick to laugh, so kind, so considerate—there was nothing lacking in Seo I-hwan.
His death, a first love that never even got a confession, was one of the few things that could dampen her spirits entirely.
She’d never harbored real hopes of making things work with him, never truly believed anything would come of it, but feelings didn’t obey such logic.
Now, knowing she would never see him again, she felt it all at once—the tender ache, the longing, the pity—a chaos of emotion that twisted inside her.
“God, this is infuriating. Do Hyun-soo ruined my whole mood.”
Kang-hyun watched her scowl and mutter, and he exhaled sharply, even more exasperated than before.
Cheon Eun-jung was currently dressed head to toe in luxury goods. Her carefully applied makeup and short bob cut lent her an air of urban sophistication and cool intellect.
But no amount of money could fix a loose tongue. He couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud, so instead he fixed her with a cold stare.
“Then why don’t you just go home.”
Cheon Eun-jung narrowed her eyes. “Is that because you want to leave?”
Kang-hyun stared at her in disbelief, and she shrugged.
“I need to see people to shake off this awful feeling. What good does hiding at home do?”
“That’s—”
Pathetic, he almost said, but Cheon Eun-jung cut him off with a wicked smile.
“Come on, you’re a long way from getting home, so wake up. Smile.”
With that, she dragged him into the throng of people at the party venue.
Kang-hyun cursed his own choice to bring Cheon Eun-jung as his date, grinding his teeth.

Kang-hyun hadn’t come to the Workshop all week because he was busy, so it had been nearly seven days since they’d seen each other’s faces.
Was that why she felt so tense? Or was there something else?
The memory of their kiss surfaced unbidden, and heat flooded her neck. She found herself fanning herself with her hand. Just then, Kang-hyun’s car arrived.
“Is it hot out there?”
Mun Kang-hyun asked with a smile, having seen her fan herself. His demeanor was unchanged—exactly as it always was.
“Yeah, it’s hot standing in the sun.”
So Lee Jin matched his tone, as casual as she could manage. They exchanged pleasantries as the car sped forward, arriving soon at Cheong-juk-je.

His car entered through the back gate again, climbing the slope at speed. Lee Jin recalled the large quantities of food ingredients that had filled the back seat on his last visit, and she turned around abruptly to check. But the rear seat was completely empty.
“Why do you look disappointed?”
Mun Kang-hyun laughed as he stepped out of the car.
“I’m not disappointed.”
Lee Jin protested at his words and followed him out of the vehicle.
The Mun Kang-hyun from last weekend had seemed like a witch in every conceivable way. So much so that she wondered if the witch from Hansel and Gretel had been reincarnated, given how constantly he laid out food before her.
That weekend had taught her firsthand that strange energy and edible offerings were two separate things entirely.
If she ate like that every week, she’d gain weight in no time. So even though his car was empty, Lee Jin felt no disappointment. After all, he wouldn’t let her go hungry.
But then Mun Kang-hyun opened the trunk and gestured for her to come look. Lee Jin peered inside unsuspectingly and started.
“What is that?”
Her eyes had locked directly with something’s gaze, and startled, her foot slipped. Mun Kang-hyun caught her with one arm, drawing her against him.
“Never seen an uncleaned squid before?”
She’d never realized squid eyes could be so large and so clear. Lee Jin, momentarily alarmed, nodded absently, then shook her head.
“Wait—did you say you’ve seen one or haven’t you?”
“The ones I’ve seen didn’t look like that.”
It wasn’t just the squid. Some nameless fish was staring at her too, and there were various shellfish and a lobster bound with twine. This time it seemed like a complete seafood collection.
“Right. You don’t need to see things like that.”
Having apparently concluded on his own that she definitely hadn’t seen such things, Mun Kang-hyun said it casually, then bonked his forehead against hers. It seemed Lee Jin alone was startled by his reckless manner.
Thinking their lips would touch, her eyes widened, but she quickly became aware that their bodies were pressed close, and she hastily pulled away from him.
She felt no discomfort from the way his arm encircled her waist. Had she grown so accustomed to this kind of physical contact by now?
Shocked by that realization, she blinked blankly until Mun Kang-hyun gestured for them to go inside.
“You said we’d be carving this time, right?”
“Hm? Yes.”
Lee Jin regained her composure, nodded, and went in.
Pottery making was a process that took considerable time.
After using clay that had been processed through the Vacuum Clay Mixer to shape on the wheel, you didn’t immediately place it in the kiln—there was a necessary drying period in the studio first.
Only after that came the work of adjusting thickness and carving the foot, and only once the pottery had been shaped could you finally carve it.
Carving was delicate work requiring deep concentration. But would she be all right? She glanced sidelong at Mun Kang-hyun, the very source of the distraction stealing her attention.
“I’ll call you when dinner’s ready, so get to work.”
Yet his tone was far too casual.
“Sure. Thanks.”
Lee Jin fled toward the studio. His matter-of-fact attitude stirred up an ache of disappointment she couldn’t quite name.
Damned if you do, damned if you don’t. What am I hoping for?
She’d found him overwhelming when he’d been so intensely focused on her, yet now that Mun Kang-hyun was composed like this, she missed his fervor. Lee Jin sighed and checked on the drying pottery.
“I’m the real problem.”
Muttering a reproach at herself, Lee Jin threw herself into her work to escape the spiral of her thoughts.
The evening meal, featuring lobster butter-roasted alongside various other seafood, had been excellent.
That said, Mun Kang-hyun’s manner hadn’t been strange. If anything, they’d conversed pleasantly enough, yet something felt hollow about it all.
So Lee Jin buried herself deeper in her work. By the time she finished carving, it was nearly eleven at night.
‘Maybe I should get some fresh air.’
Her steps carried her toward the garden. The garden, draped in yellow lamplight, was tranquil. As she crossed the arched bridge, she sensed a presence.
Startled, Lee Jin focused on the shadows pooling beneath the streetlamp.
From the broad shoulders that seemed to occupy an entire bench and the deliberately crossed legs, she could tell who the silhouette belonged to.
“Did you know I was here and come anyway?”
To his playfully teasing question, Lee Jin shook her head.
“No, I didn’t know.”
Then he patted the space beside him on the bench and told her to sit there.
“I came because I knew you’d come here.”
Whether from the effect of the lamplight or something else, Mun Kang-hyun’s eyes seemed to gleam with a soft, verdant warmth as he spoke.
Lee Jin’s heart lurched.
She’d just realized that this was the gaze she’d been wanting him to give her all along—not that composed distance, but this.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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