Chapter 49 : Egoism

Everything was going well, except for one thing: his love life was making no progress.

That fact was the reason why Health Boy, Eugene Woo, was letting out deep sighs.

“You’re really pathetic, hyung.”

Heechan, who had come to visit Jinwoo’s streaming room, saw the sigh, clicked his tongue, and shook his head.

Startled by the sudden appearance, Jinwoo took off his headset and asked.

“What! When did you get here!”

“Just now.”

Heechan often came to Jinwoo’s house.

That was because his parents, who lived with him, didn’t approve of his editing job.

His mother would always say things like, “Having a real job means going to work,” “You should work for a proper company,” and “The neighbor’s kid got into a big corporation.”

No matter how much Heechan tried to convince them that times had changed, that working from home was just a new form of employment, and that his salary was much higher than the average for his peers, it was no use.

It was tiring to go to a cafe to work to avoid their disapproval, and going to a cafe every day instead of an office was also exhausting.

Even if you pay to be there, it’s still a public place, and there are many things to be mindful of.

It’s much better to be at Jinwoo’s house, where you can lie down without being noticed and turn on the air conditioner as you please.

Jinwoo lived alone in a large house, so there were rooms to spare, and he didn’t really mind even if Heechan came in without a word and started working. In fact, he liked having someone to talk to.

Because of that, Heechan had gotten into the habit of opening the door lock and entering silently instead of ringing the bell. Jinwoo, who was caught watching Ruffian’s broadcast on his day off, regretted that.

Even if you’re close, you should have made him ring the bell to ensure privacy.

How could he have given him the house password just because it was a hassle!

“Ugh!”

Regret is always too late.

Heechan threw a sharp dagger at Jinwoo.

“I heard that pension is really spacious? And it has several rooms? Then why didn’t you just go crazy and ask to go with them?”

“How could I? We’re not close enough for that yet.”

“There’s no such thing as being close enough from the start. You’re not close yet, so you become close by going on trips together.”

“Hey, think about it realistically. Three women are going on a trip, how can I ask to join them without looking like a creep!”

“Just say you need someone to do the heavy lifting because it’s three women, and that you’ll be their servant. What did you grow those muscles for? It’s so pathetic.”

“It’s easy for you to say that.”

When the sponsorship offer came, Ruffian consulted with Health Boy again.

Even though she was getting used to the life of an influencer, there was no reason not to ask for advice when she had a senior to rely on.

Thanks to that, Health Boy knew all sorts of useless information, from the travel schedule to the number of rooms in the accommodation to the depth of the pool.

‘Was it really possible to ask to go with them?’

At least for him, it was impossible.

That’s why he’s pathetically watching Ruffian’s broadcast on his well-deserved day off, drooling over her bikini.

‘Even though it was a surprise broadcast, I knew that Jin-ah would be doing a bikini broadcast today.’

Health Boy tried to feel a sense of superiority over the other viewers with that insignificant fact, but it failed.

What’s the use of knowing the broadcast schedule? As Heechan said, if he had just gone crazy and asked to be taken along, he might have been there too.

Of course, he wouldn’t have been on the broadcast, but the real fun would have been the after-party after the broadcast.

A bikini pool party with three beautiful women, a sight that would cleanse anyone’s eyes.

There are probably many people who would pay a fortune to be a part of that.

Of course, Health Boy only wanted Ruffian’s bikini.

‘Did I really have a chance?’

It was something he had never thought about, and he felt like Heechan was just giving him false hope.

There’s no way he could have joined them.

He would have just been seen as a weirdo and treated with caution.

He might have even been glared at as a pervert.

‘But maybe she would have been surprisingly cool about it?’

Ruffian was truly a person whose sense of distance was hard to gauge.

In some ways, she would come too close, and in other ways, she would suddenly pull back.

If you think of her as an ordinary woman, you can’t judge her sense of distance.

It felt like his mind was getting more and more confused the more he knew her.

It was like being bewitched by a nine-tailed fox.

“Anyway, Shin So-eun would never have allowed it.”

Health Boy wasn’t completely clueless.

It had already been a month since he found out that Ruffian lived in the same apartment building.

He was well aware that Shin So-eun didn’t like his approaches to Ruffian.

But he didn’t like her either.

Who does she think she is, acting like a guardian to an adult who’s 7 years older than her?

Of course, he agreed that Eugene Ah was a bit lacking in some areas and seemed somewhat precarious, making you want to take care of her.

But still, her love life was her own business, right?

Why does she have to interfere like some kind of mother-in-law?

‘Well, there’s a reason why.’

She’s the homeowner, the person she lives with, her closest friend, and maybe the only person who’s like family to her.

Health Boy actually knew how important Shin So-eun was to Eugene Ah.

The fact that such a person was wary of him was just depressing.

And what about his relationship with Eugene Ah?

Just an acquaintance, an internet broadcasting senior, a convenient FAQ bot.

They were not close, to put it mildly.

He knew that distance best, as he kept trying to get closer but failing.

“Sigh.”

His own broadcast was doing well, Ruffian’s broadcast was doing even better, everything was going smoothly, except for one thing: Health Boy’s love life had made no progress.

“Well, you’re probably the guy that that noona sees the most out of all the people she knows. So try your best. The more you see each other, the closer you get, right?”

Heechan patted the shoulder of Jinwoo, who was almost twice his size, and encouraged him.

“Try to make a good impression at this dinner.”

Ruffian had invited Health Boy and his editor Kim Heechan to a dinner to thank them for their help.

The appointment was this weekend.

“It’s still too early to do anything, we’re not that close,”

“How popular do you think that noona is? If someone else comes and snatches her away, are you going to shout, ‘I liked her first!’ and start a fight? Do your best before it’s too late.”

Indeed, a beautiful woman like her would be the target of many.

If he didn’t want that, he had to make a move first.

‘I can’t stay like this.’

Encouraged by Kim Heechan, Health Boy decided to take a step forward.

As soon as he saw Health Boy in front of the meeting place, he had a bad feeling.

‘Is it what I think it is?’

Health Boy was a total gamer.

It’s unclear how he ended up with two extreme hobbies like fitness and gaming, but he was the type to either play games in his room or lift weights at the gym, doing things alone rather than going out and socializing with people.

I could relate to that to some extent.

Trying to maintain relationships by catering to people’s moods can be incredibly tiring and lead to a sense of emptiness.

Most people probably endure that and maintain their relationships, but an introvert like me can’t handle it and ends up ruining the relationships I’ve built, resetting them to zero.

Then you realize.

If it’s going to be ruined anyway, it’s better not to build it in the first place.

So people become loners, muttering to themselves that life is better alone.

And those who give up on human relationships and remain at level 0 in social skills often reach very strange conclusions when they try to do something.

Like showing up to a dinner in a suit out of the blue.

Time, place, and occasion, or TPO.

He was completely off by 180 degrees.

If it were a company dinner, a suit might be appropriate, but why wear a suit to a dinner with just two streamers, two editors, and a roommate, a total of five people?

“Are you cosplaying as an office worker? You wore that to be funny, right? Hehe.”

So-eun, perhaps trying to lighten the mood, or maybe just giving him a hard time, pointed out Health Boy’s suit.

Judging by Kim Heechan’s sour expression, it seemed like Health Boy made a sudden decision without consulting him.

If he had just worn a casual dress shirt and a tie, you could think that’s his style, but showing up with a jacket on made him look exactly like an office worker, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

Of course, Health Boy’s muscular body tightly filling out a well-tailored suit did have a certain kind of cool, making him look a bit like a movie star.

But that’s something you should only see on screen. Seeing it in person is just too funny.

The other four, me, So-eun, Yoobin, and Heechan, were all dressed casually, making the contrast even more stark.

It felt like a newly employed senior inviting his juniors out for a meal.

‘Please tell me you didn’t wear that to impress me.’

I’m actually a bit selfish.

I knew how Health Boy felt about helping my broadcast, but I pretended not to know for my own convenience.

I mean, it could just be like in RPG games where high-level players like helping newbies because they want to explain things they’re knowledgeable about, right?

Bullshit.

When a single man helps a single woman, 99.999% of the time, he wants to sleep with her.

I knew that, but I turned a blind eye.

I twisted the obvious answer in a strange direction.

Because it was helpful, convenient, and easy to take advantage of.

Trash.

I knew it would eventually end up like this.

‘Don’t confess. Don’t even show that you like her. If we’re to remain friends, you have to do that.’

Hoping that my princess syndrome was just a delusion, we headed to the restaurant for dinner.