Jung Yi Soo’s flushed face showed no signs of cooling down.

The scent of Seo Ji Ho, which she could sense even with her eyes closed, was growing stronger.

With long strides.

In just a couple of steps, Ji Ho embraced Yi Soo from behind.

Gasp, Yi Soo was startled and held her breath for a moment.

“Your man is here.”

‘I know! I know!’

Ji Ho’s voice, mixed with laughter, made Yi Soo’s earlobes even hotter.

Ji Ho leaned his head forward, bringing his face close to Yi Soo’s, almost touching.

“It would be nice if you said that in front of me too.”

‘If you eavesdropped secretly, just pretend you didn’t hear it and let it go.’

Ji Ho couldn’t hold back his laughter, chuckling at whatever he found so amusing.

Yi Soo nodded slightly instead of answering.

A playful smile spread across Ji Ho’s face.

“I like it very much.”

Yi Soo’s head tilted diagonally to the opposite side as Ji Ho spoke with his lips pressed close to her earlobe.

“It, it tickles.”

“What can I do? I like you.”

“Can’t you move away a bit? The others might come soon.”

Yi Soo twisted her body, trying to pull her upper body out of Ji Ho’s chest.

Whenever they were alone, Ji Ho would invariably hug her from behind or from the front, or wrap one arm around Yi Soo’s waist, or at least hold her hand.

It was fine when they were alone, but in a situation where someone might come, Yi Soo’s heart pounded even harder with anxiety.

“It’s okay. I’ll let go as soon as I hear someone coming.”

Ji Ho held his own hands tightly together, as if he had no intention of letting Yi Soo go right now.

“Should I just stay with you in the kitchen? I’m good at cooking too.”

Ji Ho asked, recalling what Yi Soo had said earlier.

Ji Ho also preferred being with Yi Soo much more.

He suddenly wondered why he should serve in the hall for others.

“No, there are many people coming to see you. Didn’t you hear what Ae Ra said earlier?”

As much as Yi Soo wanted to keep Ji Ho in the kitchen, that was a personal desire.

If she really did that, who knows what resentment they would face from the people who came with expectations.

For today, she had no choice but to reluctantly share Ji Ho as a public asset rather than as her boyfriend.

“I didn’t know you disliked it this much. If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Ji Ho couldn’t help but smile, finding Yi Soo’s jealousy cute.

“I think I said enough, but you told me not to worry.”

“I thought you were just saying that. If I had known you were genuinely jealous, I wouldn’t have done it.”

Ji Ho lightly kissed Yi Soo’s cheek.

Seeing Yi Soo staying still as if resigned to that much, he felt he could be a little greedier.

“It’s not jealousy, it’s just… I don’t like it.”

“That’s what jealousy is. I’m sorry to you, but honestly, it makes me happy and glad that you’re jealous.”

Ji Ho turned Yi Soo around, who was glancing sideways, and lightly kissed her lips.

He had been holding back the urge to kiss her since the moment he heard her call him her man.

“Are you crazy!”

Yi Soo pushed Ji Ho away with a startled voice and covered her lips with her hand.

“There’s no one here.”

Ji Ho wanted to do more, but he easily backed off, thinking he might really get hit if he did.

Yi Soo glared at Ji Ho with all her might, her eyes tense.

“Everyone’s outside!”

“Okay.”

Despite Yi Soo’s huffing, Ji Ho smiled brightly.

“I won’t do it anymore.”

Ji Ho’s bangs fell softly over his forehead as he bent down to Yi Soo’s eye level.

‘Even those bangs look attractive today.’

Ji Ho raised the corners of his mouth and gave Yi Soo an affectionate smile.

Though he was only wearing a plain white shirt, Ji Ho looked as handsome as a model, perhaps due to his broad, square shoulders and lean physique.

Before she knew it, an irrepressible smile crept onto Yi Soo’s face as well.

“I’ll let it slide just for today.”

Yi Soo said playfully, as if granting a favor.

“As I’ve said before, I’ll only look at you, so don’t worry.”

As Ji Ho tried to hug her again, Yi Soo quickly stepped back and nodded.

“Okay, now go out. I think Ae Ra can’t come in because you’re here.”

Considering how long it had been since Ae Ra went to the bathroom, she might be waiting for Ji Ho to come out in front of the kitchen door.

“Alright.”

Ji Ho obediently answered and left the kitchen.

**

“Wasn’t the last order at 10 o’clock? I wonder if we’re going to die in the next 4 hours.”

Ae Ra’s face was full of worry as she waited for the first order.

“I hope there are lots of dry snack orders.”

Yi Soo, staring blankly at the hall from in front of the serving counter, made a small wish.

Soon after, as 6 o’clock arrived, the empty tables began to fill up at an unbelievable speed.

Orders poured in all at once, as many as the fully occupied tables.

Yi Soo found it difficult to even straighten her back as she was busy preparing without a moment’s rest and washing dishes in between.

“This must be the Seo Ji Ho effect, right? The orders really are endless.”

Ae Ra grumbled, patting her lower back with her fist rolled up.

“Elder sister Ae Ra, it’s chaos outside right now.”

A junior who had gone to the bathroom came back and spoke excitedly.

“Why?”

“There’s a line of people in front of the pub stretching all the way outside the building. It’s really a big hit, isn’t it?”

Everyone was shocked to hear that the line stretched from the pub on the 3rd floor all the way outside the building.

“Are they crazy?”

Yi Soo and Ae Ra looked at each other and shrugged.

“Hey, what I said as a joke earlier has become reality.”

“Having a line is a bit too much.”

Yi Soo said, frowning her eyebrows.

Last year, there were quite a few empty tables, and the kitchen had so little to do that they could even go out to the hall and drink.

Now, the kitchen was like a war zone with incoming orders and dishes to wash.

Yi Soo glanced at Ji Ho through the serving counter.

All the women’s gazes were pouring onto Ji Ho, who was leaning diagonally against the counter table.

‘It’s not unexpected, but it’s really amazing.’

Yi Soo’s mouth unknowingly twisted into a crooked shape.

The hall was filled with people sitting, even resorting to shared seating, with not a single empty chair left.

With the overwhelming majority of female customers, there were far more snack orders than drink orders.

They ordered three or four snacks for every drink.

“Elder sister, we don’t have much ingredients left now, what should we do?”

One of the juniors asked worriedly.

“Ae Ra, we really need to only take dry snack orders now.”

“Yeah, we have no choice.”

They called out to Lee Ha Joon, who was about to leave after placing an order, to inform him about the kitchen situation.

“Wow, already?”

“Yes. Please let the others know too.”

“Okay. I didn’t expect it to be this much either, but Ji Ho’s popularity is really incredible. Hahaha.”

Ha Joon shook his head as he went out.

‘Phew.’

The four people working in the kitchen sighed heavily at the same time.

“Guys, our hard work will be over soon, so let’s hang in there a little longer.”

With the snacks currently being prepared, from now on they would only need to transfer dry snacks onto plates.

Finally, it seemed that Ae Ra and Yi Soo could catch their breath too.

**

The club’s one-day pub was a huge success.

“Dong Woo, the kitchen has run out of snack ingredients, what should we do?”

Ha Joon said.

“Already?”

It was somewhat expected, but it happened faster than anticipated.

There was about an hour left until the pub’s closing time at 10 o’clock, but it was still packed without a single empty seat.

After pondering deeply, Dong Woo spoke up.

“I think it’s too late to go buy ingredients. We can’t close now, so let’s just take drink orders with basic snacks for the remaining time. I think that’ll be more helpful for sales. How about we divert attention to something else instead of closing snack orders?”

“Something else? What?”

“Don’t all the people here seem to have similar purposes?”

Dong Woo asked, looking around at the people sitting in the hall.

Ha Joon also followed Dong Woo’s gaze and scanned the hall.

Except for a few male customers, most were female customers who were either stealing glances at Ji Ho or openly staring at him.

Somehow, the number of women in the pub had overwhelmingly surpassed the number of men.

Ha Joon’s gaze stopped at the small stage set up for live performances.

“Ah! Ji Ho?”

“Yeah. That’s right. What you’re thinking. It would be even better if there’s a piano.”

At last year’s welcome party for new business administration students, everyone went crazy when Ji Ho sang.

With his high-level singing skills acknowledged by all, combined with Ji Ho’s handsome face, not only the seniors but also his peers were all mesmerized and cheered.

Moreover, this place was even prepared with a stage, making an impromptu live performance possible.

“Of course it’s possible! He was the piano accompanist for the orchestra in high school. He’s totally top-notch at piano too.”

Dong Woo thought it was fortunate, but also had a bitter expression.

Would Yi Soo know about this too?

A man who’s even good at playing the piano.

“It would be perfect if he sings while playing the piano. Well, either one would be good.”

“But I’m not sure if Ji Ho will do it if we suddenly ask.”

Ha Joon frowned, looking troubled.

“Let’s still try asking. If we announce a live performance now, I think we won’t have to worry about snacks anymore.”

The suggestion was to leave the remaining time until closing to Ji Ho.

“Well, let’s at least bring it up.”

Ha Joon approached Ji Ho, patted him on the back, and gestured for him to follow.

“Ji Ho, just a moment.”

“Oh, what is it?”

Ji Ho followed Ha Joon to a corner.

“Well, I have a favor to ask…”

Ha Joon cautiously began.

“What, another favor?”

Ji Ho frowned, looking displeased.

After serving for hours, Ji Ho’s face also showed signs of fatigue.

Just when he thought it was almost over and was about to take a breather, the word ‘favor’ was not at all welcome.

“Well, we’ve had more customers than expected, and the kitchen has run out of snack ingredients. But there’s still about an hour left until closing…”

Ji Ho was listening to Ha Joon’s words with his head tilted at an angle.

“You see that piano over there, right?”

As Ha Joon pointed to the piano, Ji Ho’s gaze followed.

“You’re good at playing the piano, good at singing, and most people here came to see you.”

Ha Joon spoke, enunciating each word clearly.

“So?”

“What do you mean ‘so’? You know everything… Hahaha.”

“…I don’t understand at all.”

Ji Ho’s brows furrowed.

He had a hunch, but he didn’t want to know.

“If you do that, the kitchen staff can rest from now on. Yi Soo has worked really hard today too… I saw earlier that she couldn’t even straighten her back properly.”

Ha Joon didn’t forget to slip in a mention of Yi Soo.

Ji Ho, who had made up his mind to refuse with a frown, wavered a bit at the mention of Yi Soo.

Noticing this, Ha Joon quickly continued.

“You’re good at playing the piano. Just sing a few songs you like. Okay?”

“What song am I supposed to sing here all of a sudden?”

To suddenly play the piano and sing.

Ji Ho was dumbfounded.

Ha Joon, who had started cautiously saying it was a favor, showed no signs of backing down after mentioning Yi Soo.

All the profits earned from this pub were planned to be used for the club’s ski camp expenses this winter.

So not only Ha Joon, but all the members were more passionate than ever.

“You’ll do it, right? Come on! Why are you hesitating?”

Ha Joon urged Ji Ho, who was hesitating, once again.

“Please, until the end. Friend!”

Coming to serve, what an unexpected bolt from the blue this was.

Ji Ho reluctantly nodded.