Episode 35

“Sigh.”

Choi Yiseo finally calms down, exhales, and strokes her chest. Thanks to her good physical condition, her breathing isn’t too raspy despite having just lashed out a moment ago.

“I’m the only one who’s a mess.”

When I point out the marks that I got from the hitting, Choi Yiseo hesitates and then apologizes, seemingly sorry for what she did.

“Sorry, I got carried away.”

At least she calmed down now.

A brief silence follows.

Realizing that what I had said up until now was all in jest, Choi Yiseo scratches the desk with her finger.

She seems both sorry and embarrassed for having thrown punches at me on impulse.

“Can you at least tell me why you thought Seo Yerin and I are sex friends?”

Feeling like everything that needed to be said has been said, I ask Choi Yiseo to explain. Glancing at me, she begins to speak.

“Yes, because you had Yerin’s half-naked photo.”

“…?!”

I’m shocked.

I sit up straight, my body tense.

Seeing my expression change, Choi Yiseo, who is observing me, nods, certain.

“So it was a photo of Yerin.”

“No-no… it’s not like that.”

“When I asked you what you were sending at the pork cutlet restaurant, you were looking at this half-naked photo….”

“Ah, and called me disgusting….”

Seeing Choi Yiseo clench her fist, I go silent. If the conversation drags on, I won’t even make it to the next lecture.

“I didn’t know then, but it clicked when I saw Yerin changing in the gym locker room this time.”

“Ah…”

I let out an exclamation without realizing it.

Only now, truly only now, do the pieces of the puzzle finally fall into place.

“But you don’t seem to be dating either… so I wondered if it was that kind of relationship.”

“Ha.”

“I thought that unlike in high school, in university, it could end up like that for male-female friendship….”

How do I explain this?

As I pondered deeply, I released a sigh and subtly handed over the phone.

“First off, I don’t have such photos. Go ahead and search my phone.”

Although Choi Yiseo hesitated at those words, she began to check my phone. Luckily, I wasn’t fond of taking photos, so there weren’t many.

It was a relief that I didn’t have any photos of Seo Yerin saved on the phone.

“But didn’t you say that before?”

I began to explain to her.

“First, let me clarify. Seo Yerin and I are not friends with benefits. We don’t even see each other as romantic partners.”

At most, one could say we have recently become friends.

“Lies…”

Choi Yiseo pouted, but I continued.

“It’s true that I had those kinds of photos of Seo Yerin. But what you don’t know is that she didn’t send them to me.”

“Hmm?”

“I can’t tell you where I got them from. This isn’t for my sake, but for Seo Yerin’s sake. Yet one thing is certain.”

“……”

“Everyone has secrets they find hard to share. If we are friends, you should overlook it and move on. If you cannot do that, then don’t get involved with Seo Yerin without reason.”

“W-wait!”

Choi Yiseo was taken aback by my strong stance and stood up.

“What are you saying? I should cut ties?”

“I spoke in extreme cases. If you feel disgusted by such a person, just don’t be with them.”

Although it wasn’t good for Seo Yerin to act like that, everyone has things about themselves they want to hide.

Becoming Anonymous69 and venting desires in this manner meant being cornered in the relationship with Seo Yerin.

Realizing this, I continued to hang out with her, pretending not to care.

“……”

Choi Yiseo didn’t like my words, but she sighed and said,

“Just to be clear. There is nothing more to our relationship than what I already know about the three of us, right?”

“We have the same lectures on Tuesday, so we eat lunch together. If we get bored, we move to the PC room and work out for an hour.”

That’s the extent of our connections.

“There’s nothing more than that. This isn’t a lie.”

As I stated firmly, she pushed back her bangs and nodded.

“Alright, I understand. I trust you.”

“…You do?”

Honestly, even after telling the truth, I thought it would be hard for Choi Yiseo to believe me.

After all, just the fact that I had a semi-naked snap of Seo Yerin is enough to raise doubts.

“Ha, since you put it that way, I’ll trust you. I’ll treat Yerin as usual and overlook what I saw.”

“Amazing.”

She was accepting this?

It was a moment when Choi Yiseo was amazing.

“But!”

As I sat up, Choi Yiseo looked down at me and warned,

“You cannot use that to do anything weird to Yerin. Got it? I really won’t forgive you if you do.”

“Don’t worry about that. I have no intention of saying anything to Seo Yerin either.”

“Phew, I’ll trust you. Because it’s you after all.”

I felt strangely trusted. I wondered if it was because I helped solve Minji’s case.

It didn’t seem like I did anything great during that time.

Since I quietly handled the situation with Minji’s ex-boyfriend, Choi Seo-jun, she wouldn’t know.

‘Strange.’

Well, it’s good to be trusted.

I expressed my gratitude to Choi Yiseo, who trusted me, and added,

“But if Seo Yerin makes the first move, I won’t refuse.”

As I declared that with a thumbs up, Choi Yiseo smiled and said,

“Her? To you?”

“…You’re underestimating me.”

-Anonymous147: Is it true there are no spots in the library? I have nowhere to study, ‘sad’.

“Sigh.”

Seo Yerin turned away from the library after seeing a post on the Bamboo Forest.

With exams around the corner, finding a place to study was proving to be difficult.

And going home felt like she wouldn’t study at all.

‘Café… too noisy. And study cafés are probably full too.’

She had purposely distanced herself from her friends and used it as a natural excuse to avoid guys hitting on her, to study.

But now, she found herself wandering around the school with no place to study.

She had already drunk half of the coffee she bought to enjoy while studying.

Sighing, Seo Yerin was about to turn to the bus stop when,

“Are you sure you actually studied to get into this uni?”

“You’ve been really harsh with your words for a while now.”

Sitting at the outdoor lunch table were two familiar people studying.

Choi Yiseo and Kim Woojin.

“Ah.”

Seo Yerin, who had been worried about the two becoming awkward with each other recently, smiled when she saw them getting along.

Then, she found herself turning around from heading to the bus stop and walking towards them.

“You two are studying?”

It was one thing for me to end up studying even after the lecture was done because I got caught asking Choi Yiseo about the exam scope.

It could be understood that Seo Yerin wandered around looking for a place to study in the meantime.

After all, they were studying to prepare for the midterms.

“Ah, I can’t translate this?”

“Woojin, you need to memorize a lot of words.”

But the pressure from both of them about my English skills, from the front and the side, seemed unbearable.

“Sorry, but can you guys mind your own business?”

As I glared at them and covered the book with both hands, Seo Yerin awkwardly scratched the back of her head, and Choi Yiseo clicked her tongue.

“Always the folks trying to save their pride.”

“Did you get good grades last semester? Mine weren’t that bad. I even had an A!?”

Getting a bit annoyed, I confronted Choi Yiseo, who touched her forehead.

“I got an A too.”

“See that…”

“The rest were all A+’s.”

“……”

“Ah, stop with the pointless pride and just ask if you have any questions. I can already clearly see the future where you ruin your GPA and end up having to go to the military.”

“Pfft.”

“Yiseo?”

As I glared at Seo Yerin laughing, Choi Yiseo, seated next to me, immediately pressed my head to the notebook.

“Study.”

“Damn.”

Even from the notebook, I could see the difference between us.

I was using a notebook from the stationery store, but those studying with laptops and tablets looked like real university students.

But I’m not passionate enough to use those things for my studies.

Well, I tried to focus on studying again.

“Yah! You! What are you doing!”

A unique voice and a distinctive fruity scent hit my nostrils, and I felt this weight on my shoulder.

Turning my head I see Yu Arin, who seemed to be passing by, pressing down on my shoulder with her hands and smiling.

“Yiseo is here too? Hi!”

“Hello.”

“Did Yerin fail to go to the library?”

“Yes, it was full.”

As soon as she appeared, the atmosphere seemed to shift to Yu Arin.

Although I was annoyed that she kept pressing down on my shoulder without letting go, I started to focus on my studies.

“You’re studying?”

“If you don’t want to die, get lost.”

“You’re so mean, you should at least know to study well with your face, right?”

Yu Arin said this and then removed her hand, thrusting her phone right in front of my nose.

“…!”

There was a photo taken last time when senior Min Ju-hee and Yu Arin were drinking together.

A bizarre photo was taken where the two, drunk, were shoving chopsticks up my nose.

“You…! When did you take this!”

I tried to snatch the phone away, but Yu Arin pulled it back.

“Hehe.”

Covering her mouth with the phone, she flashed a smile and began to run.

“If you don’t want this spread in the group chat, go buy Pepero from the store within five minutes, you loser!”

“Go to hell in five minutes, I can smash your phone and tear your limbs apart and scatter them around Gahyeon University!”

I sprang up and immediately rushed at Yu Arin, who started running around the table in a circle trying to escape.

But who am I?

I was the man who could outdo Choi Yiseo, the human weapon, in physical activities.

“Hehehehe! That tickles!”

I was able to catch Yu Arin soon enough. Just as I was about to forcibly take the struggling girl’s phone,

“……”

“……”

The sharp gazes of the two girls sitting at the table were glaring down on me.