They didnt cuz the author was trying to pair the MC with the other guy, so they got all the romance development. But the first couple chapters u can see the friend total had something for him plus the MC's motivation for working for the other guy in the beginning was to keep the childhood friend/their comrades safe
I don't see that at all Hence why I said they had no chemistry
Not sure if you finished it but throughout the story you can tell the best friend has a friendly personality, idk if to call it pushover but there are certain times he'd let things slide to avoid drama and just keep smiling at everyone. He's also pretty cheer-y.
Also yeah his motivation was keeping him safe lol, that's a given. Not only are they childhood friends but you forgot his mother ended up in a coma protecting the MC. He felt responsible the entire time and would've felt bad if something happened to the friend after his mother was already in terrible condition trying to protect his family
You might've confused his friendly personality for a crush/like since you wanted them to happen (⌒▽⌒)
I wanted the MC to end up with his childhood friends so bad. Oh well. Good premise for the plot but I think we were just running around in circles for most of it