Chapter 54

“Be right back......!”

With a thunderous battle cry, Tommy shot to his feet.

Everyone cheered and applauded to encourage him, but despite the spirited sendoff, the sight of Tommy trudging forward like a broken robot with rusty joints made the room burst into laughter.

“Hup.”

Drawing in a deep breath, Tommy stepped inside the booth.

The remaining contestants, seized by tension, stared only at the ceiling or the floor.

For several of them, the image of the infamous “self-comfort guy” flashed through their minds.

Before appearing on R-Connect, it had been nothing more than a ridiculous internet joke. But now that any of them could become the main character of such a disaster, nobody could laugh anymore. One wrong move, and they could create a black-history clip that would survive forever.

Feels like all the blood in my body’s drying up. What kind of insane dating show is this?

Restless, Gyeol shifted in his seat over and over again.

Not long after, Tommy emerged from the booth with another booming shout.

“Yeah!”

Everyone jolted in surprise and looked toward him as he thrust both clenched fists triumphantly toward the sky.

After noticing the faint flush on his face, their gazes instinctively drifted downward no matter how hard they tried not to.

Nothing.

Not even a single centimeter of swelling.

“Where are you people looking? Perverts. I’m perfectly fine today!”

Tommy scolded them brightly as he swaggered back to his seat.

The moment everyone understood the situation, the cast exploded with laughter.

“No way, are you really that happy you didn’t get hard?”

“W-watch your wording!”

Tommy shouted, his face instantly blazing red at Woo Seok Jung’s crude and brutally direct comment.

“You did great, giant Potato!”

“This is the first time being praised has ever made me feel this weird....”

Tommy immediately shrank into himself again, curling up in embarrassment as he sat down. Hee Jun Kang repeatedly patted his broad, bear-like back while continuing to praise him.

“How’d you do it? Share the secret.”

At Jaekyung Park’s question, several contestants leaned toward Tommy all at once.

“Ahem.”

Clearing his throat, Tommy shyly rubbed the back of his neck before confessing.

“I thought about food.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

The room dissolved into laughter yet again.

Jaekyung nearly tipped backward laughing. Even Gyeol, who had been trying not to laugh in case Tommy felt embarrassed, finally lost the battle at this point.

“No, seriously? You’re not joking?”

“You’re an Alpha, and appetite beat sex drive?”

“That’s not it......! I kept hearing people talk about the French toast from the brunch dates, so I got seriously fixated on it. We’ve been eating healthy food nonstop for days.”

“You were inhaling instant noodle cups just fine this morning.”

Woo Seok muttered irritably.

Tommy rapidly shook his head.

“That’s totally different from French toast! Anyway, I focused really hard on imagining French toast.”

“And that actually works?”

“You can’t just vaguely think about it. You have to picture it in detail. Like... when you place bread soaked in egg batter onto a buttered pan, there’s this sizzling sound, almost like rain bursting down....”

Tommy stared into empty space as if envisioning the French toast itself while continuing his explanation.

“...Then there’s the rich buttery smell spreading as it turns golden brown. At the end, you pile sugar on top and torch it until it caramelizes like crème brûlée, then add a scoop of vanilla ice cream....”

Gulp.

One after another, the contestants swallowed unconsciously as they listened.

“When you take a bite, the cold ice cream melts first and spreads through your mouth. Then the crispy outer layer crumbles against your teeth, and the soft, moist inside finally comes through. It’s basically the ultimate crispy-outside-soft-inside experience....”

“This is insane. Now I desperately want French toast.”

“Your descriptions are no joke. There’s a reason giant mukbang channels don’t just happen overnight.”

Among the chorus of admiration, Gyeol quietly nodded in agreement as well.

Back when Yuli had first been born, during the period when he’d been desperately searching for any possible way to make money, he had briefly considered becoming a YouTuber himself.

At the time, more and more celebrities who had disappeared from broadcast television were successfully rebuilding their careers through YouTube.

Kisoo Yang, Bae Hyesung, and Gyeol had all sat together brainstorming ideas in heated discussion.

Daily vlogs. Rejected because he couldn’t show himself raising a child.

Gaming streams. Rejected because he sucked at games.

Travel YouTuber. Rejected because he had neither the money nor the time to travel, and someone had to watch the baby.

Makeup channel. Rejected because there was no way he could survive among the monstrously talented beauty creators already out there.

One by one, every option got eliminated until the only thing left was mukbang content.

Someone had even suggested combining it with ASMR.

But like many ideas in life, Go Gyeol’s YouTuber career had quietly dissolved before it ever truly began.

Kisoo had apparently managed to get his hands on some outdated microphone from somewhere, and Hyesung had even searched secondhand markets for a camera to film with. They had genuinely tried.

But Gyeol couldn’t even properly remember why it had fallen apart in the end.

Maybe that was around the time he got hired for the overnight convenience-store shift?

Still, seeing Tommy now—a genuine professional in the field—made Gyeol feel deeply relieved he’d never recklessly jumped into it.

Tommy truly looked like someone who loved food from the bottom of his heart.

He ate deliciously, and he knew exactly how to express what he tasted using vivid, colorful language. Enough to make saliva pool in the mouths of everyone listening.

Honestly, the French toast they serve on the brunch dates isn’t even that incredible.

It wasn’t bad, of course.

But compared to the heavenly masterpiece Tommy was describing, the French toast from the brunch dates was just... ordinary toast. The kind you could easily order at any trendy dessert café in Seoul.

“Ah, this won’t do. Somebody please take giant Potato on a brunch date already!”

“Don’t!”

Hee Jun Kang shouted dramatically, throwing both arms out wide while Tommy hurriedly tried to stop him.

“You can eat French toast on the Ivory Mansion dates too.”

Yo Han Sung spoke with a faint smile.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I saw it on the menu.”

“Th-then I’m definitely going on something now.”

Watching Tommy clench both fists in determination, Yo Han lowered his chin with a quiet laugh.

Apparently even Yo Han found Tommy adorable.

“I’ll be rooting for you, Tommy.”

“Wow, Yo Han Sung is cheering for me right now. Are you getting this? The cameras better be capturing this properly.”

“Lucky you, giant Potato.”

“Seriously, I’m jealous.”

Tommy pointed dramatically toward the cameras while declaring it, and everyone piled onto the joke.

Producer Yoo finally cut into the completely uncontrollable direction the conversation had taken.

“Everyone, calm down.”

“Gasp—sorry!”

Tommy instantly sprang upright and bowed ninety degrees on reflex.

This time even the production staff burst out laughing.

Even Producer Yoo, famous for being razor-sharp, couldn’t fully suppress his amusement as he continued.

“No, Tommy, you don’t need to apologize. It’s great that everyone’s having fun, but the energy right now feels like you all secretly drank during lunch. Don’t tell me yesterday’s alcohol still hasn’t worn off?”

The contestants giggled and answered in unison.

“No!”

“Alright then, we’ll continue. I’m not saying you have to stay quiet, but this is turning into a comedy show instead of a dating show. Please try to stay at least a little tense. Just a little.”

“Yeees.”

— Next, Omega Isu Yoon, please enter.

Starting with Isu Yoon, the pheromone matching resumed.

The production staff had practically been praying at least one person would lose control, but the majority of contestants overcame the crisis without major incident. At worst, their faces flushed or their breathing quickened slightly.

— Alpha Sun Choi, please enter.

After completing the pheromone matching, Sun Choi exited the booth with his face flushed just like before.

For a brief instant, his gaze landed on Gyeol.

Gyeol looked back at him.

The moment their eyes met, it felt as though something deep inside him began boiling.

Rubbing his face harshly with both hands, Sun eventually forced himself to leave the area.

Right now, with every cell in his body sharpened to unbearable sensitivity, it felt dangerous to remain anywhere near Gyeol.

It had been the same during the first pheromone matching, but this time was far worse.

Until he completely calmed down, distancing himself from Gyeol seemed like the wiser choice.

For a fleeting moment, Sun even thought it might honestly be better if the pheromone he selected wasn’t Gyeol’s.

If he and Gyeol ended up matched by accident... he had no confidence in what kind of humiliating spectacle he might create without meaning to.

— Alpha Jun Shin, please enter.

“Jun, good luck.”

“Jun Shin, heading out!”

Jun entered the booth with his usual bright, easygoing greeting.

But when he returned, his face had become eerily calm instead.

Because the last pheromone he encountered had belonged to Gyeol.

To be honest, the previous four pheromones had barely even registered to him.

There had been pleasant scents among them. Fragrances capable of relaxing a person naturally.

But Jun Shin had been waiting for only one thing from the very beginning.

Gyeol’s pheromones.

And finally, when the fifth and final scent—Gyeol’s—spread through the booth... every moment of his life with Gyeol surfaced one after another like a lantern procession passing before his eyes.

Their first meeting.

The moment they started dating.

Their first kiss.

Their debut.

Watching Gyeol shine beneath stage lights beside him.

Holding Gyeol in his arms.

Curling together in the same bed as they fell asleep....

‘I forgot you. I forgot you a long time ago.’

Even the image of Gyeol yesterday, claiming he had forgotten him.

This was different from the first pheromone matching.

Back then, Jun Shin had been overflowing with hope and expectation.

It wasn’t that he had blindly believed Gyeol would accept him again.

He had simply been happy.

Happy that they occupied the same space again.

Happy that he could smell Gyeol’s pheromones again.

Happy simply because he could see him.

But after watching Gyeol talk to other Alphas... watching him go on dates with them... Jun felt like he was losing his mind.

His reason blurred.

Every trace of composure vanished.

Go Gyeol paralyzes Jun Shin.

He nullifies every strength the world praises Jun Shin for possessing.

And so here he was now.

Drenched in Gyeol’s pheromones, Jun Shin felt endless regret consuming him from the inside out.

I should’ve contacted you back then.

I should’ve told you everything back then.

I should never have left you.

Even knowing none of it could ever be undone, he kept imagining different possibilities anyway.

A broken sound slowly rose into his throat.

His nose stung.

Heat burned behind his eyes.

Directly ahead, the camera was pointed straight at Jun Shin.