I am not a Yandere chapter 20

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Yeongdeok, who had been continually developing new chicken recipes, tried making strawberry chicken, watermelon chicken, and cucumber chicken today.

As always, Jihoon became the target for taste testing.

When Yeongdeok knocked on Jihoon’s door, Jihoon opened it and shot him a narrow-eyed glare.

“About the taste test—”

Before Yeongdeok could finish his sentence, the door shut in his face.

Persistent, he knocked again.

This time, Jihoon poked his head through the crack of the door.

“I haven’t finished speaking yet. That’s rude.”

“You just brought some weird chicken again and want me to taste test it, right?”

“Weird? That’s harsh.”

“With that horrendous appearance, how is it harsh? What’s harsh is your sense and taste buds.”

“I was trying to capture the vibrant colors of fruits and vegetables in the chicken. Is it really that bad?”

Jihoon stared at the colorful chicken on the plate, questioning if Yeongdeok was truly in his right mind.

Why would anyone make chicken that looked like it lacked taste or any commercial appeal?

“Of course, it’s bad. And I’ve been thinking.”

“Thinking? So, you do have thoughts?”

“This jerk.”

Jihoon nearly lost his composure in the face of Yeongdeok’s sincere yet infuriating question, but clenched his fist and glared at him with exasperation.

“Anyway, what I was thinking is this: stop coming to me with this nonsense. Do your taste tests with someone else, like a friend.”

“Friend? I don’t have any friends.”

“Is that something to brag about? Then go make some. Honestly, it’s really annoying when you keep coming to me like this.”

When Jihoon bluntly expressed his feelings, Yeongdeok blinked silently.

Jihoon felt slightly overwhelmed by Yeongdeok’s calm demeanor but pressed on.

“That’s all I’m saying. Go make some friends.”

“How do you make friends?”

Jihoon was left speechless by the absurdity of the question. How to make friends?

“You’re not a kindergartener. Do I really have to teach you? Just look it up online.”

With that sharp comment, Jihoon slammed the door again.

Left standing in the empty hallway, Yeongdeok pulled out his phone and glanced at his contact list, which contained no friends.

“Hmm.”

He acknowledged that Jihoon’s words made sense. After all, in the obsessive-compulsive novels he’d read, the protagonists often had no friends outside of the main love interest.

Yeongdeok searched, “How to make friends,” and a blog post about making friends through open chatrooms appeared.

Just as he was about to click on it, a notification popped up from a café chat.

[Rose: Hello, Yeongdeok Chicken! I’m reaching out because I have something to ask you. I hope you don’t mind!]

It was a message from Rose, the president of the Beautiful Life café.

[Rose: Whoa, you read the message so fast! I wasn’t even done typing!]

Yeongdeok walked back inside, placing the plate he’d been holding on the table, and replied.

[What is it?]

[Rose: Actually, we have a separate group chat for our regular café meetups. We’re looking for one more member, and I thought of you…]

[Rose: Would you be interested in joining? We always meet in the capital region.]

A meetup? Another unfamiliar term. Yeongdeok typed back.

[What’s a meetup?]

[Rose: It’s a casual gathering! Café members meet up to talk about novels and hang out. Would you like to join us?]

Rose then sent an open chatroom link.

[Rose: If you’re interested, feel free to join! No pressure, though. If you’re uncomfortable, you can ignore it.]

Yeongdeok looked at the link. Normally, he’d never attend such trivial gatherings, but…

He recalled Jihoon’s words.

Make some new friends?

Confident that making friends would be easy if he put his mind to it, Yeongdeok clicked on the link.

The chat prompted him to set a name and profile picture.

He set his name as “Yeongdeok Chicken” and used a photo of his store as the profile picture before entering the chatroom.

Yeongdeok Chicken has joined the chat.

[Rose: Yeongdeok Chicken! Welcome! Hello and nice to meet you!]

The first to greet him was Rose, the café president.

Yeongdeok casually replied.

[Honored by the invitation.]

[DaerimdongFist: ㅎㅎ, Yeongdeok Chicken.]

[Gwakdupal: Welcome, Yeongdeok Chicken.]

[Natsuyama Soseki: Whoa, nice to meet you!!]

“ㅎㅎ.” With those two characters, that must be “Hi, hi,” right? Confident, Yeongdeok typed back.

[Hi, nice to meet you.]

[AziguWorldEnd: Your chat style is a bit unique, isn’t it?]

[Rose: Even in replies, he keeps up that persona! He’s quite fun, I’m really looking forward to meeting him~]

There were many interesting characters in the chatroom. Natsuyama Soseki—Japanese, perhaps? Gwakdupal sounded like a gangster’s name, and DaerimdongFist seemed tough, too.

[Rose: When are you all free? How about this Saturday at noon?]

[DaerimdongFist: Totally available!]

[Gwakdupal: Of course, that works~]

Saturday at noon… He’d have to attend the meetup and check on the shop in between.

Sunday wasn’t an option either, so he gave a positive response.

[I’m available.]

After leaving the message in the open chat, Yeongdeok packed the uneaten chicken into containers and placed them in the fridge.

Then, he sat at his desk and turned on his monitor.

Time flew by as he immersed himself in a competitive watch contest, and soon it was time to head to the shop.

As he stepped outside, he ran into Jihoon, who was taking out the trash.

“Of all times…”

Jihoon clicked his tongue as he glanced at Yeongdeok before heading down the stairs first.

Following him, Yeongdeok casually mentioned what had just happened.

“As you suggested, I’m trying to make friends. I’m meeting some people this weekend.”

“Wow, good for you. Make some new friends and stop bothering me, please.”

Jihoon turned around, laughing heartily as he clapped Yeongdeok on the shoulder.

Irritated, Yeongdeok brushed his hand away.

“Did you just touch me with the hand you used to hold the food waste? That’s disgusting.”

“Geez, you’re so picky. I didn’t even touch the waste with this hand.”

“Why do you keep touching me in the first place? Keep that up, and we might meet in court.”

“Why are you talking like I’m some criminal? Light touching between guys is normal, you know? Oh, wait, you wouldn’t know, since you don’t have any friends.”

Yeongdeok stopped in his tracks. Jihoon halted as well.

A strange tension hung in the air for a moment.

Looking down at Jihoon with disdain, Yeongdeok spoke.

“Friends are useless. Don’t act all superior because you have them.”

To Yeongdeok, friends were merely tools to mess with characters like Cha Dowon in novels.

Nothing more, nothing less.

As Jihoon pursed his lips in frustration and turned his head, he muttered,

“That’s why you don’t have any friends. Seriously, you’re so annoying.”

With that, Jihoon resumed walking down the stairs.

After Jihoon’s footsteps faded, Yeongdeok frowned, realizing he’d just spoken like Cha Dowon, the original character.

He had to focus on his revenge against PetitRolang , but Jihoon’s provocations had gotten to him.

To make up for his mistake, Yeongdeok casually typed in the open chatroom.