Episode 44

“Let’s have chicken.”

Yu Arin, still on my bed, was mumbling while looking at her phone.

It seems she really planned to have dinner at my place….

“Dinner at my house is ramen.”

Sorry but something like chicken will not make it into our dinner menu. I’m not fond of chicken and I don’t feel the need to buy it.

“Ah, why ramen. Let’s have a company dinner.”

“Let’s do company dinner later when we call Seo Yerin, Choi Yiseo, and Chan-woo too.”

I thought I was being smart, but Yu Arin quickly caught on and light kicked back with her toes.

“You’re doing this because you want to make up for taking you home when you were drunk last time.”

This woman is so sharp.

I was indeed trying to thank her for taking me home last time when I was drunk, along with making her Admin.

“Ah, chicken! Fine, let’s eat chicken!”

Yu Arin kept kicking my back with her foot. While I wish she would vanish, the good smell somehow made my heart race like a man.

‘Ah, shit.’

If only Yu Arin hadn’t been doing weird things to tempt me, I wouldn’t be looking at her in this way.

“Stop it now.”

“Maybe I should call everyone and eat together?”

“Don’t make this that huge.”

After a bit of hesitation, I sigh, standing up. Since I’m already prepared to go out and it’s the weekend, so maybe we should eat out.

“Where to?”

“Let’s eat. It’s dinner time, so let’s go, I’ll treat you.”

“Chicken?”

“What chicken? Let’s just head out and eat.”

“Ugh! Since you’re treating me I’ll come. What are we eating?”

Finally getting up, she put on her snapback and followed me, and I responded without much emotion.

“Heavenly Kimbap.”

“Again.”

She stopped and crossed her arms, glaring at me.

“Say that again.”

“We’re going to Heavenly Kimbap.”

They have these pork cutlets and tuna kimbap there.

“Didn’t you say you had a girlfriend?”

“Why sprinkle salt on the wound?”

“No, you had a girlfriend and you still lacked this much sense? You’re taking me to Heavenly Kimbap now?”

“Are you my girlfriend?”

“We could still go elsewhere.”

“You looking down on Heavenly Kimbap?”

“It’s not that, but while it has lots of options, the taste is just average.”

It’s a clear fact that it cannot be tastier than the stores which sell just a specific menu.

“But Heavenly Kimbap has its own charm. If you don’t want to eat, then go home.”

“For real.”

Grumbling, Yu Arin had no choice but to follow in the end. Since Heavenly Kimbap was a bit far from home, walking there in slippers…

“Hey.”

Yu Arin, who was walking while looking at her phone, nearly bumped into a pole but was pulled towards me.

“What are you doing? Don’t use the phone while walking.”

“Ah, sorry. This is more interesting than I thought.”

I wondered what she meant, and what appeared on her phone was the Bamboo Forest.

Though it has cooled down from earlier, the Bamboo Forest was buzzing with stories about Admin1.

“Talking about me seems interesting.”

“You like the attention, huh?”

“Seems like it?”

Thinking about it, I hadn’t been able to check my phone because of her.

I had just told her not to use her phone on the street, so it felt weird to take mine out, so we went to Heavenly Kimbap.

“I’ll have a cheese pork cutlet and tuna kimbap. You?”

“Um, Omurice. And how about we order Jeolmyeon? To share?”

“…Fine.”

I’m not fond of sharing food. It could be considered a sort of neurosis, given that my ex-girlfriend loved sharing.

‘But I cannot resist pork cutlet with jeolmyeon.’

I was going to order just kimbap because jeolmyeon is big in size, but this way, I can enjoy both.

After ordering, I was about to check my phone when Yu Arin put hers away and rested her chin on her hand.

“But why are you the Admin of Bamboo Forest? Did you find the previous admin like I did?”

She seemed curious about the Bamboo Forest.

“No, I just did it because a senior I knew told me to try it.”

It wasn’t that interesting of a story.

From the start, managing a community was too much.

I casually drink as I tell her.

“Don’t try too hard, it’s better to take it easy. After all, it’s a university community so not many will cross the line.”

“I see.”

I was a bit surprised by how calmly she accepted it. I thought she would be furious like she was at the tripe restaurant.

‘Rather…’

Did I choose someone who’s better suited for the role?

She seemed to enjoy attention and mentioned she’s always bored.

Seeing Yu Arin check the Bamboo Forest again, I take my phone out too.

I was planning to play the mobile game I’ve been into lately.

“Hmm?”

There was a message from someone unexpected.

‘Seo Yerin?’

I wondered why she texted me over the weekend. The incident at the tripe restaurant happened after Jeong Chan-woo took Seo Yerin out, so she shouldn’t have known about it.

“What? What?”

Yu Arin peeks out, seemingly catching me doing something interesting. I push her forehead away with my hand.

“Seo Yerin texted me.”

“Yerin did?”

“Yes, she asked me what I was doing. Maybe she wants to go to a PC café?”

We haven’t played games recently. Since it’s the weekend and she was feeling bored, she could have thought about going together.

“Hmm? Yerin did?”

Something about this girl’s sly smile made it all annoying.

“It seems like Yerin likes you.”

And she says something totally absurd.

“Uh? What are you talking about?”

“As far as I know, it’s the first time Yerin has ever sent a message like this to a boy.”

“How would you know that? Are you Seo Yerin?”

It is absurd, I responded, and Yu Arin clicked her tongue, flicking her fingers.

“Yah, if Yerin sends you a message asking to do something, it means she’s kind of interested. How can a guy miss the chance?”

But so far, Seo Yerin has been this lifelong solo kind of person, so this must be her first time sending such a message.

“You’re writing a novel.”

Listening to her utter such nonsense convincingly made me feel like I was wasting my time.

“So, Choi Yiseo is interested in me too? She just sent me a text about going to work out.”

“……”

She looked annoyed at my words, sighed, and I began to look at my phone.

‘Exercise or PC café?’

I’d prefer the PC café, but having Yu Arin there would be annoying.

“Yah, is Chan-woo part-timing today?”

“He probably spends the entire weekend at the PC café.”

“Then do we get service if we go?”

“……”

Yu Arin didn’t seem to like going where Jeong Chan-woo was, glaring at me, but she sighed and nodded.

“You will, and if I come, you’ll get more.”

“Don’t come. If we go to the café together, he might misunderstand.”

“…That’s nice.”

What’s nice about that?

I was about to suggest combining the plans and working out together.

Woong!

[Captain Ju]

It was a call from Senior Min Ju-hee.

I knew we were going to start filming the short film in earnest now that the midterms were done, but this was too fast?

As soon as I answered it,

-Woojin.

Senior Min Ju-hee’s voice was low and filled with anger and irritation.

Be it directed at me or someone else, I wasn’t sure, but…

“Yes, senior.”

The atmosphere was so tense that I spoke right away, and she sighed, asking,

-What did you do at the tripe restaurant yesterday?

“…Why do you ask?”

Since the senior wasn’t at the restaurant yesterday, she wouldn’t know what happened.

And I thought it was strange that she was suddenly asking this.

-The girls are dropping the assignment in a group?

“Ah…”

-And they say it’s your fault? That you made a scene at the restaurant and so they cannot do it anymore.

“Se-senior! Can I explain this?!”

As I spoke urgently, she took a deep breath and said,

-Woojin, I’m not angry with you, and I’m not curious or interested in who is wrong between you and the senior girls.

“……”

-But you see.

I gulped.

It felt like a storm was brewing after this peaceful weekend.

-Maybe skip the assignment?

Just then, the food arrived.

The kimbap, pork cutlet, and jeolmyeon in front of me resembled the last supper of a warrior heading into battle.

-Haha, skip? Skip… right. Is that even possible? Woojin, you can skip the assignment. A group project isn’t everything in life.

This was scary.

-Ah, of course, you can skip it, but…

“B-but?”

-I can’t skip the assignment. The concept of skipping doesn’t exist for me.

“……”

-Woojin, what are you up to now?

“I’m eating at the Heavenly Kimbap!”

-After eating that, do you want me to join in skipping by the base of those who skipped the assignments?

Ah.

In terms of folk games, it was like an ultralisk and a single marine dropping into the enemy base with a dropship.

“I’ll come. I happen to have a girl with a nasty personality by my side, you know? She’s someone who witnessed the situation at the tripe restaurant.”

“Where? Where is this girl with a nasty personality?”

Yu Arin pretended to look around, searching for this supposed girl.

Normally, I would have said something, but with senior Ju-hee on call, I couldn’t…

-Can you eat in 30 minutes? I’ll start moving.

“Understood!”

Click.

The call ended.

“Sigh.”

I immediately sent a reply to Seo Yerin and Choi Yiseo.

-Kim Woojin: I’m busy today, so I can’t.

“Wow, so we are going to look for the seniors who skipped the assignment?”

“Yes, it seems like a meeting has been arranged.”

“That sounds like fun!”

While eating the omurice, Yu Arin felt excited about what was to come.

‘Being with him makes things constantly fun.’

She really didn’t like his idea of setting her up with Jeong Chan-woo, but starting from the tripe restaurant yesterday, to the Bamboo Forest, and now even going to fight with the senior female students.

Coming to Kim Woojin’s house on the weekend would end up being fun.

‘Wait.’

While watching Kim Woojin hastily eat the cheese pork cutlet, Yu Arin asked,

“So, will Yerin and Yiseo join us too?”

“Have you lost it? I told them I had something happening so I can’t meet them.”

“Hmm.”

The moment she heard that, Yu Arin had an even more interesting idea. It wouldn’t hurt to plant a mine which wouldn’t make things boring later.

Putting her spoon down, she immediately tapped on her phone.

“Hurry up and eat, Captain Ju will be here soon.”

“Yes, one moment.”

Yu Arin’s move was to change the messenger status and profile picture.

She set the selfie she took at Kim Woojin’s house as her profile picture.

It was the photo taken on the bed and to others it would look like a normal photo.

But to those who had been to his home, it wouldn’t be hard to tell that Yu Arin was now at his home.

For instance,

people like Choi Yiseo or Seo Yerin who had stayed over at Kim Woojin’s home.

“Hmm.”

Moreover, she wrote the status message as, ‘rolling around at a friend’s home’.

“Hmm.”

“Why are you being so cheeky? Makes me wanna crack your head open.”

Kim Woojin said looking at Yu Arin who was giggling.

“Just watch.”

Imagining what would befall Kim Woojin come Monday, Yu Arin stuck her tongue out and laughed.