This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 291

Yoonseo’s Perspective

At first?

I momentarily thought I must have misheard.

Given the sound that reached me was incredibly faint, it was easy to assume it was just a trick of the mind.

But just as I thought that—

“Ugh, babe…♡”

The sound that flowed into my ear made me realize that I hadn’t misheard at all, nor was it a mere delusion.

Perhaps it was because I suddenly grasped that fact.

My rapidly beating heart quickened even more.

At the same time, a bizarre sensation began to rise from deep within me.

It felt as if something inside my belly was tightening and constricting.

That strange yet oddly addictive feeling compelled me to embrace it.

I couldn’t bear the thought of shaking it off.

Curiously, I glanced at Dogun, who was sitting next to me, wanting to know his reaction.

I stole a quick look his way, but surprisingly, he didn’t seem to react at all.

‘Ah, no way…’

Could it be that he didn’t hear it?

That was a possibility.

After all, I was almost pressed against the wall where the sound came from, while Dogun was a bit further away.

And given how faint the sound was, it could easily be drowned out by the noise flowing from the speakers if one wasn’t paying close attention. So if he didn’t hear it, that wouldn’t be strange at all—

‘…Huh?’

While observing Dogun’s reaction, I gradually realized that he wasn’t just unaware of the noise—he was pretending not to hear it.

His behavior was the evidence.

If he truly hadn’t heard it, there would be no reason for him to swallow hard in such an unimportant moment, just like he did earlier.

Had Dogun also been caught off guard by the unexpected sound?

Now that I noticed, his ears peeking from beneath his hair were blushing red with embarrassment.

Yet, watching him try so hard not to show it only made my own tension rise.

Perhaps it was because of that.

Although the rapid beating of my heart slowed down a bit, the feeling of my insides tightening only intensified.

Had that sensation caught hold of my entire body?

I suddenly felt oddly anxious.

It was precisely why I’d swallowed hard, just like Dogun did a moment ago.

I wasn’t sure if it was due to that anxiety, but my throat felt dry as if I had swallowed sand, and I felt like I had to do something about it.

It seemed that despite sitting so closely that our shoulders were practically touching, Dogun must have heard that sound.

As I carefully swallowed, I felt a noticeable tremor pass through our shoulders, shaking both of us.

So… because of that… whether I liked it or not, I couldn’t help but become aware of it.

An increasingly awkward atmosphere began to fill the cramped room.

With the oddly hollow sound of the movie playing in the background.

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Dogun’s Perspective

‘What is this…?’

My mouth felt incredibly dry, the kind of feeling that reflects disbelief and anxiety.

That’s why I couldn’t help but bear some resentment against those who caused this situation.

‘Are they out of their minds?’

Seriously, how could they do something like that outside?

Don’t they think someone might hear them?

I might have said it, but honestly, I had expected this situation to some degree.

It started from the moment I realized the place we had wandered into was a nearly similar DVD room.

DVD rooms have quite the polar opposite images, after all.

For movie lovers, a DVD room is just a place to enjoy films comfortably on a larger screen than at home. But among the guests, there are those with other motives.

For those individuals, a DVD room is just a motel room without a bathroom attached.

How do I know this?

‘Well…’

It’s a long story from my previous life, but I worked part-time in a DVD room once.

It was located in a bustling area, and the most common item purchased as supplies there was toilet paper.

That’s how the image of a DVD room in my mind is shaped, so naturally, I anticipated facing a similar situation this time—

‘The decor is bright and cute, so I thought it would be fine…’

But here I am, confronted with such a scenario.

I even chose a room deliberately situated in a corner to avoid this kind of situation, but now I’m left feeling like, what was the point of that?

Anyway… what’s important now is how to somehow resolve this absurdly awkward atmosphere brought about by the two people in the next room…

What should I do?

To be completely honest, nothing was coming to mind.

The situation was that perplexing.

Even though I heard the strange sounds from next door, it was precisely why I pretended not to hear them.

After all, if both Yoonseo and I got flustered, it would only make things worse.

So I had been doing my best to act nonchalant, pretending to be engrossed in the movie playing before me—

‘Wait, what is that…?’

As if to illustrate the phrase “when it rains, it pours,” the movie—the only escape I had—started taking an unexpectedly bizarre turn.

I had picked a romantic comedy, thinking Yoonseo would like that genre, as it generally appeals to a wider audience.

It seemed innocent at first, flowing calmly with the kind of interactions one might expect between friends. Then it suddenly took a wild turn.

It began with the male lead trying to stop the female lead from drinking her sorrows away over a breakup and snatching the bottle from her hands, gulping it down in one go.

Thanks to that, the male lead ended up slightly tipsy, while he had to support the totally hammered female lead toward her apartment. As he turned to leave after laying her on her bed, he tripped and ended up falling onto the bed beside her.

An incredibly awkward atmosphere settled between them, and just as the male lead tried to get up from that awkward position, the female lead wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him back to her, leading to one of those “problematic” scenes.

The first kiss was initiated by the female lead.

And just as the male lead’s eyes widened in surprise, it seemed that having the female lead pressing her lips to his ignited a fire in him.

“Ah ha, whoa…♡”

His previously wide eyes slowly closed, and suddenly, a kiss scene so intense, I began to wonder if this was really a PG-15 film unfolded on screen.

To be honest, that alone was already pretty shocking for me.

Given that I was already feeling awkward due to the strange sounds coming from next door, and now the movie I had been using as an escape was taking that direction, I became acutely aware of Yoonseo sitting next to me.

And what drove me even crazier was the sound that gradually trickled into my ear, that swallowing sound.

I couldn’t tell if it was me or Yoonseo making that noise.

My heart was racing — fast, chaotic beats.

While I was in this state of confusion, the kiss between the two characters in the movie grew more intense… I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

It seemed that both Yoonseo and I were helplessly caught in that magnetic pull, our hands coincidentally overlapping.

Just like… those two earlier.