It was just a casual evening. Mino had a long night of finishing his latest painting. After hours of being immersed in his own work, locked himself up in his work room, he finally could release himself and get out of his apartment. The spring breeze quietly greeted him as he walked to his favorite coffee place in the corner of the street of his apartment building.

Mino entered the coffee shop, walked straight to the spot he and his friends usually sat down. He saw Seunghoon, the owner of this very coffee place, and Jinwoo. They glanced at Mino who just entered the room and smiled at him.

“At this point people would think you’re just a regular here, not the owner.” Mino said as he joined Jinwoo and Seunghoon on the comfortable sofa.

Seunghoon laughed. “That’s what I want though. So when people find out that I’m the owner of this coffee place, they would be impressed, ‘oh my god, I thought you’re just a customer’”

Jinwoo shook his head while smirking. “Nonsense.” he scoffed.

“So, how’s the roommate selection going?” Mino asked Seunghoon. “One ice americano, please. Extra shot.” He said to the barista behind the counter.

“Haven’t found the right one,” Seunghoon sighed, “I thought it would be easy to find a roommate, since the concept of co-living becomes a trend these days.” He shrugged and sipped his caramel latte.

“He just told me that he interviewed two guys earlier today and any of them were okay with him having a pet dog.” Jinwoo added, almost chuckling.

“Not just that,” Seunghoon explained, jumped a little bit from his seat, rearranged his sitting position so that his whole body directed to Jinwoo and Mino, “The first guy said he was allergic to dog fur, which is weird because he brought ferrets. Yes, plural.” He rolled his eyes, “The second guy was actually creepy, he laughed at everything I said.”

“Isn’t that a good thing? When somebody laughs at your joke?” Mino raised one of his eyebrows.

“I said, he laughed at everything I said, not only my jokes, but everything, including the ones when I wasn’t joking.” Seunghoon sighed.

“Ohh.. yeah, that’s creepy.” Mino nodded. “Uhm, remind me, why did Jaehyung move out again?”

“He was transferred by his office to take care of their new branch in Daegu.” Seunghoon answered. “It’s the third time you asked, by the way.” He walked to the counter, picked up some mini muffins, put them on a plate, and placed it on the table. “Try this. Our new menu. Mini blueberry muffin.”

“So how many more do you have tomorrow?” Jinwoo asked, putting his coffee mug on the table and took one of the mini muffins.

“Two. This marketing guy who I’m not sure about, because when he talked on the phone he seemed kinda hasty? And the last one is this photographer who seemed really dull.”

Jinwoo and Mino looked at each other and laughed. “Well, I hope you meet the right roommate soon.” Jinwoo said.

“So you would be less often hanging out in our apartment.” Mino added, and Jinwoo laughed.

***

The three of them became friends because they lived in the same apartment building. Mino and Jinwoo were roommates for 3 years now, Jinwoo moved in a few months before Mino. They knew each other from their other friend. Mino once worked in a museum before he moved to Seoul. He decided to challenge his talent for arts, specifically painting, and moved to the city where he stayed at his friend’s gallery for three months until he met Jinwoo.

Jinwoo, on the other hand, was actually an heir, kind of. His dad was the owner of a big fishing company and always hoped his son would continue running the business. But, Jinwoo chose to not be involved, because he believed that he didn’t belong in that kind of industry.

Instead, he started a Youtube channel for movies and series reviews, since he was in college, and moved to Seoul with his own money earned from making videos. He never actually showed his face on camera, because that was his concept, he said, he was just the "audience", so people who watch his videos would be more focused on his reviews as an audience.

“Wise Audience.” Jinwoo said when Mino asked the name of his Youtube channel.

“Once you reveal how you look on the camera, I’m pretty sure the number of your subscribers would increase drastically.” Seunghoon said.

Seunghoon lived at the apartment unit across Mino and Jinwoo apartment, a year earlier before Jinwoo moved there. He lived in the apartment with his roommate (who was also his close friend), Jaehyung, until recently the latter had to be transferred to Daegu due to his work. Seunghoon started this coffee business not long ago, after he decided to quit his previous job (which he called “an ordinary office worker”, he never explained it any further), that surprisingly went very well. In eight months, he already had a lot of regulars coming over his coffee shop and he could hire three employees.

The only reason why he still needed a roommate even though he had actually settled financially was because he didn’t want to leave the apartment empty for too long when he traveled aboard (which Mino doubted it and thought the real reason was because he still wanted to split the rent).

***

“The marketing guy doesn’t show up.” Seunghoon said to the other person on the phone. “He should’ve met me two hours ago, but there’s no sign from him. I knew he wasn’t the right guy, remember? He sounded a