She flashed him a smile.
"Thank you."
He nodded.
After that, they continued forward, and Mingyu didn't remove his hand from her shoulder. Yuri found it feeling very natural strangely and didn't have the urge to ask him to remove it.
Yuri brushed away the odd feeling of familiarity as they entered the internet café.
"Hey, Mister! I am here again!" Minhyuk cheerfully greeted the manager.
The manager stood up from his seat. A warm smile sat on his face that had wrinkles on it due to age.
"Minhyuk, Yuri, Nayoung, it has been a while. Is that a new face I see?" he said as his eyes fell on Mingyu.
"Indeed. I have brought a new customer for you. You got to treat me to a drink for booming your business!" Minhyuk winked at him.
The manager let out a loud laugh and slapped on his back. He commented, "Sure!"
"That's why, you are the best. Come on—"
Minhyuk's sentence paused, and his eyes widened when he noticed Mingyu's hand on Yuri's shoulder. Yuri and Mingyu noticed his questioning gaze.
Mingyu didn't react to it, but Yuri moved away from him. She acted naturally and asked, "Aren't you going in?"
"Yeah, yeah."
All of them were about to enter when the sound of the television got them to turn their heads.
"Mr. Park Minjoon has been garnering the support of the public due to him recently donating to hospital for the treatment of cancer. The chances of him winning the election is high at this rate. Only last month he..."
The news reporter kept on praising Park Minjoon.
Minhyuk's expression stiffened, and he glanced at Yuri. She had that usual, easygoing smile on her face, but her dark eyes were frighteningly cold.
"Mister, change the channel. This is a little too boring. Put on something exciting," he said.
This made the manager look at him in dissatisfaction. He then chided, "What would you kids know about good things?
So unappreciative! This Park Minjoon, he singlehandedly helped so many people. Such a good person! He really deserves to be the mayor."
The face was familiar to Mingyu. That was General Park in his last life, Yuri's father. He didn't know the backstory, but from what he could deduce, the man was as ambitious as he was in his last life.
Back then, because of his greed...
Mingyu's eyes fell on Yuri. Although she tried to conceal it, he saw the complicated range of expressions on her face. Even in this time period, Yuri suffered due to her father.
This made his eyes darken, and murderous intent loomed in them.
Seeing how her father was an influential man and Yuri lived in a dingy apartment, situated in a unsafe neighborhood, got him angry.
"Aren't you going to play?" Mingyu questioned.
This made Yuri snap out of her thoughts, and she raised her head to look at him. The corner of her lips stretched further.
"Why do you seem so eager to play? Weren't you pulling that indifferent expression earlier?" she teased.
Even though she tried to act as though everything was peachy, her gloomy mood couldn't be hidden from him.
"Simply curious," he answered.
"Right. It's good to be curious. But remember that playing too much games isn't good. You're going to end up being foolish like Minhyuk. So, even if it is addicting, you can't."
She stared at him solemnly, and Minhyuk nodded in response as she guided him to a computer.
"The relationship between them, it's kind of weird," Minhyuk commented thoughtfully.
Nayoung nodded.
"You get it too! It looks like a relationship between mother hen and its chick. The way Yuri protects and guides him— what? Did I say something wrong?"
Nayoung gave Minhyuk a blank stare, as though calling him an idiot. She pursed her lips into a thin line and shook her head.
"You really need those brain supplements," she commented.
"Hey! What do you mean!?"
Yuri didn't mind dedicating the entire time in teaching Mingyu and getting him familiarized with the functions of the game. She quite enjoyed the process and oddly liked how Mingyu was dependant on her.
As for Mingyu, Yuri acting in this manner brought him a sense of nostalgia. The memories from younger days started to pour in.
This made him act slow on purpose, just so he could have her unadulterated attention.
It was just like back then.
Yuri was the one who first taught him to read and write. Proper education hasn't been arranged for him due to his status.
He had hard time getting food to eat, so why would anyone care about his education?
But there was Yuri who particularly felt concerned about him turning foolish. She placed great importance in education and believed that he will be able to leave the palace to lead a better life with that.
And then, he used to try dumb simply because of how he wanted to extend time with her.
It really felt as though he was given a second chance to start it all over and cherish her.