Chapter 153: We Are Open
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 153: We Are Open
Early the next morning.
Since the day was already shot anyway, I decided to just grab breakfast and head back to the dormitory at a leisurely pace.
"Hum~ de~ hum~"
Little Hyung had offered to give me a ride, and he was humming away behind the wheel.
"What kind of song is that?"
When I asked about the Japanese song flowing from the speakers, he looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Hm? Don't you watch anime and stuff all the time? You don't know this?"
"I watch it, but I skip the openings. I don't even understand the lyrics anyway."
"You've got to watch the openings and endings. That’s how a true fan enjoys it."
"Do you even know what the lyrics mean, Hyung?"
"Nope."
Then why the hell was he humming along? For all he knew, he could be singing something incredibly weird in Japanese.
"Since when did you like anime songs? I don't remember you being interested in this stuff before."
If my memory served me right, he actually used to dislike anime.
"I did. But my girlfriend likes it, so I naturally started liking it too."
"..."
"Woo-jin, let me give you some advice—"
"Don't. I don't want to hear it. I can already tell you're about to say something incredibly cringey."
"You see, love is—"
"I told you not to."
"Tsk. The moment you heard my philosophy on romance, you would've realized what a cool guy your brother really is."
"Can you pull over? I'll just take the bus."
Only then did Little Hyung finally shut his mouth.
Seriously, he and Big Hyung couldn't be more different if they tried.
After driving in silence for a while, Little Hyung couldn't help himself and spoke up again.
"But Woo-jin."
"What now?"
I vowed to tell him to let me out the second he started rambling about love again, but it wasn't that.
"Are there any vibrant talents in your department? Someone I could turn into a streamer."
"Internet broadcasting?"
"Yeah. It's great if they're pretty, but these days they can hide their faces or go the VTuber route. So they just need to be charming and witty."
"Is this that business you said you were starting?"
"Exactly. Managing and growing streamers. My girlfriend is such a famous streaming goddess that we've been able to absorb all the broadcasters around her and grow the company's size in no time."
"Hmm."
"Of course, we don't just take anyone. Yun-ji and I will do some vetting. It's an industry where you get buried the moment a controversy breaks out, so their past is pretty important too."
"I don't really follow that scene, so I wouldn't know."
The only person who came to mind was...
"There's someone at our school called Popo. She's the goddess of the Department of Architectural Engineering and does internet broadcasting."
At my words, Hyung nodded with a bitter smile.
"I know. She's famous at your school, right?"
"The Architectural Engineering department is basically just a bunch of her fanboys. They spam the Bamboo Forest so much."
Come to think of it, there had been talk recently that she hadn't been broadcasting much.
"We actually tried to recruit Popo. She's pretty and has a great way with words. Plus, she's popular because she eats so heartily and in such large quantities."
"I see."
I remembered her ordering 20 servings of spicy stir-fried pork at the festival, claiming she was going to 'demolish' it.
I almost challenged her to an IRL fight right then and there.
"But she turned us down, saying she already has another agency. It's a shame, but it was her choice in the end."
"Is she broadcasting these days? I heard people saying she'd stopped."
The anonymous friends from the Architectural Engineering department had been posting on the Bamboo Forest, crying and begging for her to come back.
One weirdo even demanded that I send him a list of all the posts Popo had ever written.
"She is. She's a college student, so she took a break for personal reasons and then made a comeback. She's doing really well lately."
"I see."
So it was nothing serious after all.
Those anonymous guys really know how to make a fuss over nothing.
I haven't checked in lately.
The Bamboo Forest should be buzzing now that the new semester has started, but I'd been neglecting it because of my own situation.
I said I trusted Yoo Ah-rin, but in reality, it wasn't much different from just dumping all the work on her.
I feel bad.
I should talk to her later, apologize, and either take over management for a while or let her 'graduate' from being a manager altogether.
Since I'm thinking about it, might as well check now.
Little Hyung didn't seem to have anything else to say, so I opened the Bamboo Forest.
"...Huh?"
The latest posts stopped at February 1st.
Hilariously, the last post was Seo Ye-rin writing "Sex!", but the problem was that it was now mid-February.
I wondered what was going on, and then I saw a notice I'd never seen before at the top.
"..."
And then she had frozen all posts, making it impossible for anyone to write anything.
Right, I thought you were being too quiet.
Thinking about it, there was no way Yoo Ah-rin, with her personality, would just sit by and watch while I wasn't doing my job.
It was only natural, really.
I gave her higher permissions last time because she's Moderator No. 1, and this is what she does with them. Good job, Yoo Ah-rin.
Tap.
I immediately unblocked the Bamboo Forest and posted a notice.
I figured she'd get a notification, so I waited a bit.
The "Sex Duo" appeared simultaneously, signaling that the Bamboo Forest was back in operation.
I could practically see Seo Ye-rin throwing a tantrum because she was slower than Anonymous 90.
Seeing the posts flood in so quickly was somewhat gratifying. I started blocking the ones that crossed the line or contained inappropriate photos.
Vibrate!
Just then, my phone rang.
It was a call from Yoo Ah-rin.
"Hello."
— Are you back to your senses now? You finally opened the doors, I see?
I couldn't help but sigh at her sarcastic tone.
"Hey, even so, how could you just shut down the Bamboo Forest entirely?"
— I had no choice. It's the beginning of the semester, so there are tons of weird posts. I'm too busy to handle it alone.
"Well, I guess that's true."
I hadn't managed the Bamboo Forest at the start of a semester yet, so I couldn't quite gauge how difficult it must have been.
— Are you at the dorm? I haven't seen you around school.
"No, I'm out. I'm on my way back now."
— Did you have a free period today?
"I just went to my main house for a bit because of some family business."
— You went to your main house?
After a brief pause to catch her breath, Yoo Ah-rin immediately raised her voice.
— Oh my! Woo-jin-ah! Ah-rin is actually soooooo hungry right now! I wanna eat beefy-weefy!
"Fuck!"
I almost hung up the phone without realizing it.
— ...That's fucking harsh.
Yoo Ah-rin's voice grew small, as if she were hurt.
No, but I feel like I'm the victim here.
"You buy it."
— Didn't the youngest son of a chaebol family get at least a hundred thousand won tucked into his pocket after visiting home? Let's eat with that.
"You just committed ear terror on me, so you're buying."
— What ear terror? I was bursting with charm.
"I'm not joking, I thought my phone was going to explode. I thought it was some kind of curse."
— You want to get beat up?
I had intended to avoid contacting her if possible for the time being, but somehow we ended up bickering naturally.
I was about to hang up when...
"Woo-jin, is that a friend?"
My brother next to me was staring at me with sparkling eyes.
"Holy—! Look ahead! Look at the road when you're driving!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! I almost died!"
"Learn how to drive, you piece of shit!"
We both apologized out the window at the man's shout.