I am not a Yandere chapter 74

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With both of them looking at him expectantly, Yeongdeok thought to himself, I know you two don’t get along, but why drag me into this?

Ignoring their questions, he gave his own answer.

“Chicken sounds good.”

“Chicken? Again?” Jihoon complained, recalling that they’d closed the shop just a few hours ago at 2 AM, his nostrils still filled with the smell of chicken.

“What about pork cutlets if you like chicken?” Haemin suggested.

“Forget that. Let’s just go for some tangsuyuk at the Chinese place,” Jihoon shot back.

As they continued their petty argument, Yeongdeok decisively ended it.

“Let’s have chicken.”

Everything proceeded quickly from there.

Jihoon scowled as he stared at the two plates of boneless fried chicken they’d ordered, thinking he’d had enough of that sight for a lifetime.

“You must really love chicken,” Haemin said to Yeongdeok.

“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be running a chicken shop.”

Yeongdeok popped a piece of fried chicken into his mouth.

The batter was soggy, and the seasoning was too salty.

Not great.

He thought to himself that this wasn’t how chicken should be made.

“How about we go to the arcade after this?” Haemin asked.

“Arcade?”

“I figured you might like it, thought you’d be good at it too.”

When Haemin had first suggested hanging out, he’d mentioned the arcade, explaining it had shooting games, rhythm games, basketball, and even punching machines.

Imagining the place, Yeongdeok thought it didn’t quite fit his style.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Jihoon couldn’t stop Yeongdeok from agreeing, so he just kept chewing on the chicken, more out of spite than enjoyment.

ꔚ

Although the chicken wasn’t good enough to be called excellent, the three of them devoured not only the chicken on the plate but also the pickled radish before leaving the restaurant.

Following Haemin’s lead, they arrived at a game center about a 10-minute walk from the chicken place.

The atmosphere inside reminded Yeongdeok of the karaoke room he’d visited before—loud and chaotic.

Standing in front of the bill exchange machine, Haemin exchanged a ten-thousand-won bill for smaller notes and proposed to Yeongdeok.

“Yeongdeok, would you like to play a game with me? The loser has to grant the winner’s wish.”

A wish, huh?

Yeongdeok didn’t have anything in particular that he wanted from Haemin.

No, wait—there was one thing.

He’d have to use this chance to make Haemin stop sending those constant, meaningless messages.

A determination flickered in Yeongdeok’s previously indifferent eyes.

“Alright.”

“What should we play…” Haemin scanned the game center, stroking his chin, and his eyes lit up when he found something.

“How about air hockey? It’s not too difficult.”

Haemin pointed to a rectangular table that looked like a ping-pong table.

“If you put in money, a puck comes out. You score a point when you get it into the opponent’s goal.”

“Is that gap there what you call the goal?”

When Yeongdeok pointed to the long, narrow slots on either end of the table, Haemin nodded.

“Yeah, that’s it. The rules aren’t that hard, right?”

Haemin put a thousand-won bill into the machine without further explanation, saying they’d learn the details as they played.

“So, the winner gets their wish granted. No backing out later.”

“Enough talk; let’s just start.”

“Hey, wait a minute, Cha Yeongdeok. Are you sure you want to do this without a practice round?”

Jihoon grabbed Yeongdeok’s shoulder, trying to hold him back.

While Yeongdeok was good at anything he had tried at least once, Jihoon knew he could be awkward when it came to things he was doing for the first time.

Naturally, he was worried.

The air hockey machine, which had swallowed the money, began playing a cheerful tune, and a flat puck popped out from a slot positioned lower than Yeongdeok’s knee.

He picked it up, realizing he was supposed to aim it at the opponent’s goal.

“Yeongdeok, you go first since it’s your first time…”

The moment Haemin, trying to appear generous to a beginner, puffed up his chest in confidence, Yeongdeok suddenly flicked the puck without any warning, sending it straight into Haemin’s goal.

Haemin stood there, stunned, unable to react.

“…Wait, what?”

“You just talk the game. How about you give it your best shot?”

Yeongdeok looked down at Haemin with a smug, superior expression, as if to say he was wasting his time.

Haemin let out a strained laugh and changed his approach.

“I forgot how good you are at games. No more holding back from now on.”

Haemin decided to get serious.

After all, he had brought many people to this game center under the pretext of winning a wish and continued to flirt with them.

He was confident he could win any game here.

Haemin served the puck to the right.

It slid across the table in a zigzag motion like on ice, but Yeongdeok predicted its trajectory and deflected it away from his goal.

Both players fiercely guarded their goals, engaging in a tense rally.

Jihoon, their sole audience, watched the intense back-and-forth with bated breath.

Just then, as if worn out by the extended match, Haemin’s goal was left exposed on the left side.

Seizing the opportunity, Yeongdeok served and landed the puck into the empty goal.

After Yeongdeok’s back-to-back wins, Jihoon realized his earlier worry had been unnecessary.

Right, that’s the Cha Yeongdeok he knew…

“Cha Yeongdeok, you’re seriously something else.”

“What nonsense are you spouting now?”

“Yeongdeok, you’re good at even these kinds of games…”

Haemin, who had been holding back until then, vowed he wouldn’t lose again, but in the face of Yeongdeok, who had warmed up through the earlier games, his bravado was pointless.

With each of Yeongdeok’s successive scores, Haemin’s relaxed face grew tense.

The longer the game went on, the more desperate Haemin became, but there was no way that Yeongdeok would lose his cool against him.

The air hockey match ended with a score of 10:0 in Yeongdeok’s favor.

Unable to accept his defeat, Haemin pathetically changed his tune.

“…Best of three?”

“What do you mean, best of three? That’s ridiculous.”

Jihoon immediately shut down Haemin’s lame excuse, but Yeongdeok seemed to find the air hockey game quite interesting.

As he looked around to see what other games there were, he spotted a zombie-shooting game.

“What’s that?”

“Oh, let’s do that for the second round! If you win, I’ll accept it for real this time.”

“Cha Yeongdeok, you don’t have to go along with—”

“Alright.”

Agreeing without hesitation, Yeongdeok walked over to the game machine, grabbed the toy gun in his hand.

Jihoon, frustrated but resigned, pressed his temples and then approached Yeongdeok from behind, wrapping his hand around the back of Yeongdeok’s hand.

“Hold it like this with your left hand, aim at the screen, and then pull the trigger.”

Surprised by Jihoon’s sudden close approach, Yeongdeok turned his head to look at him.

Jihoon’s focus remained on the gun as he continued to explain, seemingly unaware of Yeongdeok’s gaze.

“Like when you shot the luxury watch, aim for the head to kill the zombies faster….”

“Seo Jihoon, you’re too close.”

“…Huh?”

When Jihoon finally realized how close he was, Yeongdeok could feel Jihoon’s soft breath brushing against his lips.

His own reflection was clear in Jihoon’s dark brown eyes, which were fixed solely on him.

Jihoon’s face turned bright red, and he quickly pushed Yeongdeok away with a shaky hand, creating some distance between them.

“Damn….”

Jihoon’s heart raced uncontrollably, his entire body burning with an inexplicable heat.

Unlike the flustered Jihoon, Yeongdeok remained calm, observing Jihoon’s face with a composed expression.

“I… I’m going to the bathroom for a bit.”

Jihoon covered his face with his arm and hurriedly walked away.

Haemin watched him run to the bathroom, a slight smile creeping onto his lips.

“Yeongdeok, I’ll be right back after a bathroom break before our second round. You can practice a bit while I’m gone.”

Saying that, Haemin followed Jihoon.

Unbothered by their absence, Yeongdeok took three more thousand-won bills out of his wallet, fed them into the machine, and assumed his stance for the shooting game.

With those noisy guys gone, he could focus entirely on the zombies on the screen.

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