Chapter 14: English Department Karaoke Incident
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 14: English Department Karaoke Incident
The next day.
Seo Ye-rin had been in a lecture since early Friday morning. They say the "flower" of college life is the free period, but being the diligent student she was, she didn't see the need to force a gap in her schedule as a freshman. She was busy taking notes.
However, while her hand was moving busily across the paper, her mind was elsewhere.
‘Now that I think about it, it’s not like I can just see him whenever I want.’
Ye-rin had intended to find Kim Woo-jin today to apologize for yesterday, thank him, and ask for his number.
But since their schedules were different, it wasn't like high school where you could just run into someone the moment you arrived on campus.
‘What should I do?’
If she didn't see him today, it might be pushed back to next week, and she didn't want to wait that long. She wanted to apologize right away.
‘We do have a class together on Tuesday.’
They shared a mandatory major subject at 9:00 AM. She remembered eating spicy stir-fried pork with Choi I-seo and Kim Woo-jin after that class.
‘Do I have to wait until then?’
While she was agonizing over it, the lecture ended. Since it was lunchtime, Ye-rin headed out with her friends to grab a bite.
As broke freshmen, they couldn't afford to go to restaurants every day. Today, they decided to buy sandwiches and triangle kimbap from the convenience store and eat on the terrace.
“Ye-rin, are you okay? I heard something big happened at the karaoke bar yesterday.”
Her other classmates, who had been walking on eggshells around her because of the incident, tentatively broached the subject.
The significant part was that these classmates hadn't even been at the karaoke bar.
‘The rumors are already...’
It seemed the word had already spread.
Ye-rin asked with a worried heart, “How did you know?”
“The rumors are just flying around. People are talking, and it even went up on the Bamboo Forest.”
“...The Bamboo Forest too?”
Reflexively, Ye-rin pulled out her phone and checked the Bamboo Forest. Sure enough, there was a post that stood out like a sore thumb.
The post didn't mention any names and was written from the perspective of a witness, but it was clearly written by an English major.
An outsider might have heard the shouting, but they wouldn't have known they were English majors, nor could they be certain of the senior-junior relationship.
It was a malicious prank played under the cloak of anonymity.
However, the comments were pouring in.
“...”
Grip.
Ye-rin’s hand tightened around her phone. She couldn't believe Kim Woo-jin was being mocked like this, suddenly framed as the perpetrator.
“I knew that Kim Woo-jin guy was a bit off.”
“There’s a reason he hangs out alone. I heard Senior Han-gang was misunderstood for no reason yesterday.”
“You know Yun-ji, the girl who took a leave of absence after the first semester? I heard that was because of him too.”
Furthermore, she couldn't believe her friends—who hadn't even seen what happened—were badmouthing him.
She couldn't just sit there.
“That’s not true.”
Ye-rin blurted out to her friends.
All eyes instantly snapped to her.
Since they were her close friends, Ye-rin took a deep breath and began to explain.
“Woo-jin was helping me.”
Setting aside her sandwich, Ye-rin explained exactly what had happened the night before.
Her friends were taken aback, but since the story came from Ye-rin herself, they had no choice but to believe it.
“W-Woo-jin did that?”
“Ah... now I feel kind of bad. I shouldn't have cursed him out just based on rumors.”
“Seriously. Senior Han-gang is actually kind of creepy.”
She was grateful they believed her, but that wasn't the problem. The issue was that the rumors had already turned sour, and she worried about how hurt Kim Woo-jin would be if he saw them.
“I can't just leave it.”
She hadn't planned on doing this so soon, but Ye-rin immediately added Kim Woo-jin as a friend from the department group chat.
She had wanted to get his number and add him naturally, but she couldn't just stand by anymore.
She sent the message immediately, wanting to meet and talk.
‘...No reply.’
Seeing that there was no response, she grew even more worried.
Perhaps he had heard the rumors and was so hurt that he’d turned off his phone or put it away entirely.
“Oh, honestly.”
Ye-rin sighed deeply, burying her face in her hands.
She was worried. Was Kim Woo-jin suffering unnecessary stress all because of her?
While she was lost in thought, one of her friends, Yoo Ah-rin, chimed in.
“Should we do some media play?”
Ah-rin, who usually wore her hair tied up, gave a sly smile as her ponytail swayed like a tail.
“Media play?”
“How?”
“We write on the Bamboo Forest too. Say that it’s all lies. That Senior Han-gang is actually the bad guy.”
For some reason, Ye-rin felt like Ah-rin was enjoying the situation as her smile widened.
“Yeah, let’s do it.”
Whatever it took, they needed to erase the false rumors surrounding Kim Woo-jin. Since they were simply correcting misinformation, her conscience was clear.
“Everyone, open the Bamboo Forest. Download it if you don't have it.”
“Ooh, this just got interesting.”
“I feel like a hacker.”
“Agent Ye-rin, open the Bamboo Forest.”
Under Yoo Ah-rin’s lead, Ye-rin’s friends immediately opened the app and began flooding the board.
Ye-rin wanted to write something too.
She wanted to, but...
“...”
The name 'Anonymous 69' was holding her back today of all days.
As Ye-rin hesitated, Yoo Ah-rin nudged her.
“Ye-rin, did you write something? Don't reveal you’re the one involved, just go with the flow.”
“O-Oh! I... I’m going to send a direct inquiry to the administrator.”
“Hmm?”
Ah-rin thought Ye-rin was acting a bit strange, but the situation was escalating rapidly.
The reaction didn't happen on the Bamboo Forest, but in the English department group chat.
-
A screenshot of the Bamboo Forest was posted.
There were two screenshots: one of the original post attacking Woo-jin, and another of the counter-posts written by Ye-rin’s friends.
“Whoa, crap. Did we make this too big?”
“I’m getting a little scared.”
Ye-rin’s friends started to panic, thinking they’d caused a major incident. Ye-rin was worried too.
“Hehe, this is it. This is the stuff.”
However, Yoo Ah-rin, the one who started it all, was bobbing her head in excitement, checking back and forth between the Bamboo Forest and the group chat.
Ah-rin always had a lighthearted, mischievous image, but her vibe was different now. She was giggling, clearly enjoying the thrill of the chaos. She pointed at the chat.
“I-seo stepped in.”
The Class Rep, Choi I-seo, had stepped in to mediate. She even declared that no one should post weird things on the Bamboo Forest, but...
“This is why anonymity is great.”
Ah-rin didn't stop. She continued to write posts, making it clear who the victim was by mentioning the senior and junior, even without using real names.
“A-Ah-rin, aren't you taking it a bit too far?”
Ye-rin eventually tried to stop her, but Ah-rin just shrugged.
“Think about how much he was unfairly cursed out. He deserves this much.”
She said that, but to Ye-rin, it looked less like she cared about Kim Woo-jin and more like she was just entertaining herself.
Just as the Bamboo Forest and the group chat were pinging incessantly...
Every single post regarding the English department karaoke incident on the Bamboo Forest was deleted.
“Huh?”
A notice from the administrator appeared.
The Bamboo Forest Manager had taken a hardline stance.
The reaction was explosive.
“Aw, it was just getting good.”
Ah-rin looked disappointed, but the other students sighed in relief, thinking it was for the best. Ye-rin felt the same.
She peeked at her messages again.
There was still no reply from Kim Woo-jin.
* * *
Kim Woo-jin, whom Seo Ye-rin was so worried about, scratched his messy bedhead and checked the 1:1 inquiries sent to him.
Among them, one stood out.
‘Anonymous 287?’
It was Ahn Hyun-ho. Acting like a proper Vice Rep, he had sent a 1:1 inquiry asking to take down the posts related to the English department.
People were fighting over whether Kim Woo-jin was a victim or a perpetrator, and the conversation was spilling over from the Bamboo Forest into the department group chat.
“Yawn.”
Woo-jin, who had just woken up, let out a long yawn. He checked all the related posts, deleted them, left a single notice, and then...
He crawled back under his covers.
It was a precious Friday with no classes.
“Why the hell are they making such a fuss over nothing? Just let me sleep.”
To Kim Woo-jin, the center of the storm, a Friday nap was far more important.