I Don't Recommend a Blunder with a Male Friend (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 9

“What did you come out for?”

I asked him while throwing away the broken glass shards.

“I’ve known for 29 years that you’re clueless, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

Someday, I’ll take an iron to that furrowed brow of his and smooth it out flat.

That’s what I thought, watching his face as he frowned and muttered something at me.

“I said, why’d you come out? Didn’t you have something to do?”

“I came out because of you! What else would make me come out?”

“Because of me?”

“Yes. Because of you.”

Why would he come out because of me? Tilting my head in confusion, I chased after him as he walked off ahead.

Sure enough, Ji Seo Jun really had come out because of me—he followed me into the elevator and headed straight home.

Even inside the elevator, I kept pressing him earnestly about whether he truly came out just for me, but Ji Seo Jun stayed completely silent.

Giving up on getting an answer from him, I went inside the house—only to find the adults huddled together, holding what looked like a serious meeting.

“What’s everyone doing?”

When I asked, Aunt Yoon Hee thrust a delivery menu booklet right in front of me, seemingly conjured out of thin air.

“On moving day, it’s gotta be jjajangmyeon! What do you kids want to eat?”

Nowadays, you could order any dish through delivery apps. I’d even given my parents a whole lecture about how convenient it was compared to the old ways—but they still found delivery apps awkward and kept placing orders by phone.

“I’ll have jjajangmyeon too.”

I opened my usual delivery app and started adding my parents’ dishes to the cart one by one. Watching me, Ji Seo Jun patted my head, remarking that this technophobe had made quite impressive progress.

It wasn’t the first time this had happened.

Ji Seo Jun often ruffled my hair, and it had never made me feel shy or embarrassed before…

But after that night…

He kept approaching me like a completely different Ji Seo Jun—someone unfamiliar, growing stranger by the day.

For no good reason, I awkwardly dodged his touch and quickly paid for the Chinese food in my cart.

Then I said to Ji Seo Jun,

“Transfer the money to my account.”

After finishing our Chinese food, Ji Seo Jun grabbed my arm just as I was about to follow my parents back home.

Claiming he needed me to do something, Ji Seo Jun sent my parents off first—and even after they’d left, he stayed behind to tidy up.

I just sat on the sofa, silently watching him clean.

“You said you needed me to do something—what exactly am I supposed to do?”

“Just wait quietly for a sec.”

It felt oddly like he was talking to a puppy, which irked me a little—but since there was nothing worth getting mad about, I sat there obediently until I walked over to where Ji Seo Jun was sorting books.

“Why are you so focused on reorganizing books? Didn’t Dad already put everything back?”

Ji Seo Jun was carefully examining the neatly arranged bookshelf and adjusting each book’s position one by one.

“I need to sort them again based on which ones I read often and which ones I don’t.”

Huh. Guess that’s just not my style.

I nodded and deliberately avoided looking at the English-language books before heading back to the sofa and sprawling out lazily.

The weekend was slipping away. My precious weekend…

After lazing on the sofa, scrolling through my phone for twenty minutes, Ji Seo Jun finally seemed satisfied with his reorganized books. Grabbing his phone and wallet, he turned to me and said,

“Get up. Let’s go.”

“Where to?”

I half-sat up to look at Ji Seo Jun.

“To the movies.”

“The movies?”

Out of the blue, why movies all of a sudden…?

Seeing my displeased expression, Ji Seo Jun walked over to the sofa, grabbed my arm, and yanked me upright.

“You said you wanted to see that movie, right? It’s getting pulled from theaters soon. We should watch it before then.”

The day Ji Seo Jun came back from America, I’d complained that because of him, I couldn’t see the movie I’d wanted to watch. He must’ve remembered that.

One of Ji Seo Jun’s few redeeming qualities I liked—even more than how deliciously he ate—was his thoughtfulness. Despite occasionally playing mischievous pranks, he never crossed the line, and possessed a sharp sense for noticing what others liked or disliked.

His officetel was in a well-developed area, so we didn’t even need to drive to get to the theater.

After walking for about fifteen minutes, we reached the cinema. Ji Seo Jun bought the tickets and handed me a popcorn tub and a soda to hold.

“Why’d you bring a cardigan out when it’s so hot?”

I munched on the popcorn he’d bought me while glancing at the cardigan in my other hand.

“Movie theaters blast their AC in summer—it gets cold.”

He was thoughtful even about his own needs.

Right before the movie started—after what felt like never-ending ads finally ended and the emergency evacuation announcement played—his cardigan gently landed on my knees.

I blinked and stared at Ji Seo Jun, who responded by placing his big hand on my head and gently turning my face back toward the screen.

Thinking back, it seemed like this always happened whenever we went to the movies together.

One day it was his school uniform jacket, another day his coat, and today—this cardigan.

Was it because of the ten-year gap between us that something once so natural now felt unfamiliar? Or was it because of that one reckless night?

My pondering didn’t last long.

The movie started, and since it was my favorite genre, I instantly became immersed. After watching even the post-credits scene, I handed his cardigan back as we exited the theater and said,

“Thanks.”

Three weeks flew by in the blink of an eye.

He kept summoning me out—sometimes for meals, sometimes for pointless chatter over coffee.

One day, fed up with Ji Seo Jun calling me two days in a row, I snapped and grumbled that he shouldn’t keep dragging me out for no reason.

At my complaint, he turned serious and snapped back, “Don’t we need to keep meeting to make deciding easier?!”

That actually made sense, so after that, whenever Ji Seo Jun called, I’d go meet him without much complaint.

One surprising thing I realized while spending time with him—

Being together wasn’t nearly as irritating as I expected. In fact, there were even moments so enjoyable I lost track of time.

Of course, our quasi-dates weren’t always fun.

Sometimes we’d banter like old times, hurt each other’s feelings, argue, and storm off home separately right after meeting. And whenever I stepped away even briefly, women would swarm Ji Seo Jun like bees.

Once, a woman even openly flirted with him right in front of me.

Just imagining that this sort of thing would become routine if we ever dated made me snap at him for no real reason.

Yesterday, we visited the exhibition I’d wanted to go to with him on Sunday.

We hadn’t had any major fights, and thanks to Ji Seo Jun’s extensive knowledge, it turned out to be quite an enriching experience.

So went our three weeks—up and down, liking and disliking in turns.

And then came Monday morning.

[I’m starting my first day at work today.]

After tapping my employee badge at the company entrance, I checked his message—and froze on the spot.

I’d completely forgotten.

So much had happened all at once, and between work and dealing with him, it had slipped my mind entirely—

That he and I now worked at the same company.

I quickly scanned my surroundings.

Luckily, on his first day, we didn’t run into each other in the lobby wearing identical badges. I swiftly boarded the elevator, made it to my office, sat at my desk, and replied to his message on my phone.

[Good luck.]

Truthfully, it would’ve felt so relieving to just confess openly that we worked together—but that relief would’ve been fleeting.

Because it was obvious that once people found out Ji Seo Jun and I were close, nothing but headaches would follow.

“Assistant Moon! OMG, something huge happened! Remember that super handsome guy we saw in the lobby on our way to get Pyongyang cold noodles? Turns out he works at our company! What should I do?! Which department is he in? Do you think he has a girlfriend?”

Just as I’d predicted.

Right from the morning, the ever-energetic Baek In Ha launched into a detailed eyewitness account of Ji Seo Jun.

“Well… I’m not sure?”

“How can you not remember? That face is unforgettable!”

If I admitted here that I was close friends with him, I knew exactly what would follow—

Requests to set up a dinner or introductions, putting me in an awkward spot.

Sure, I could easily say, “Fine, I’ll introduce you—let him deal with it himself!”—but if I did that, Ji Seo Jun would definitely throw me into a thresher and shake out every last grain of my soul until nothing remained.

Besides, Ji Seo Jun and I were currently in a trial period—so at least until that ended, I wanted to keep things under wraps.

Seeing my lukewarm reaction, Baek In Ha stopped her chattering, sat down, pulled out a makeup pouch, dabbed powder onto her pretty face, and said,

“He’ll go on a business trip someday soon, right? Then he’ll probably have to visit our department… Won’t he?”

“I guess so? Haha.”

Not wanting to keep talking about Ji Seo Jun, I quickly turned on my computer and pretended to check my schedule.

Our department, due to the nature of our company, frequently handled overseas business trips—consulting and supporting employees traveling abroad.

While such teams were commonly known as Travel Coordinators in multinational corporations overseas, the role was still relatively unfamiliar here in Korea.

In short, if Ji Seo Jun ever got assigned an overseas trip, running into him at work would be a guaranteed 100%.

Until then, I fully intended to stay hidden as best I could.

My resolve hadn’t even settled in before trouble struck fast.

[Lunch?]

As lunchtime drew near, I read his message and let out a hollow laugh.

On your first day? Shouldn’t you be having lunch with your new coworkers to build rapport? Wanting to eat with me instead? I really couldn’t keep up with this guy’s logic.

[It’s your first day. Eat with your coworkers.] [I only eat with who I want to eat with. Let’s go to that soup place we went to last time.]

Ugh. How on earth do I get rid of this guy?

“Assistant Moon Da Yul. Even if it’s almost lunchtime, isn’t it a bit too obvious to be openly on your phone like that?”

I quickly put my phone down.

“Sorry, Team Leader.”

“Did you finish the plan we agreed to wrap up by this morning?”

“Yes. I’ll send it to you right away.”

And just like that, I missed my chance to brush him off.

“There’s a famous kimbap place near the company’s back gate. Walk a bit down that alley, and there’s a quiet little park. I’ll meet you there.”

I hid behind a large lobby art installation, watching him closely as I made the call.

-I’ll come to your office. Just tell me the company name.

“No! There’s no need. You don’t even know the way well. I’ll—I’ll come to you.”

Panicked at his offer to come directly to my office, I firmly refused—and surprisingly, he gave in easily.

-Alright. Hurry up.

After he left that message, I watched his back as he strolled off, then emerged from behind the artwork.

Maintaining distance and constantly scanning for familiar faces, I moved like I was on a spy mission. Passersby glanced at me curiously, but who cared?

Just as I was finally about to meet him—

“Assistant Moon Da Yul from Travel Coordination, right?”

Someone called out to me. When I turned around, I was startled—it was the team leader from one of our company’s research teams. He wore our company badge proudly around his neck.

“Hello, Team Leader.”

“Ah, long time no see. I haven’t been traveling lately, so we haven’t run into each other.”

Back when I’d gone on a trip to Africa, a sudden civil war forced me to rush back to Korea—and both he, stuck on-site, and I, handling things back home, had gone through quite an ordeal. Ever since, we’d always greeted each other warmly whenever we met at the office.

“On your way to lunch? Since we haven’t seen each other in a while, how about joining me for a meal?”

“Well… I…”

I was just about to decline the Team Leader—

“Moon Da Yul?”

He called out to me.