Chapter 17: Calling out / Sniping
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 17: Calling out / Sniping
"Sigh."
Choi I-seo let out a long breath, her expression a complicated mess. She had clearly come here to work out, so she looked like she couldn't quite grasp why she was currently buried in a plush PC Bang chair.
Normally, she would have finished her workout and headed to a restaurant her PT trainer recommended—one that made various healthy dishes out of chicken breast.
Instead, what sat before her now were a keyboard, a mouse, and a spread of high-calorie PC Bang food laid out in front of the monitor.
"What are you going to eat?"
"Uh, um, I’ll have..."
Watching Kim Woo-jin pick out items from the menu with Seo Ye-rin right next to him, I-seo slapped the armrest of her chair in a fit of pique.
"What? I said I’m buying because I felt bad."
"And you chose a PC Bang?"
"Do you have any idea how diverse PC Bang menus are these days? Don't look down on them."
His sheer confidence left her speechless. She had been certain he would leave the PC Bang once she arrived, but like quicksand, she had been pulled in by the two of them and ended up taking a seat.
"Haaa... fine, it certainly is diverse."
She never imagined a place like this would serve eel rice bowls or even sushi. However, I-seo was the type who preferred to eat those kinds of things at a proper restaurant.
"Just get me a coffee."
"That’s it? I’m paying, you know. Eat up."
"I'm fine."
Even if Kim Woo-jin was paying, she didn't feel like eating anything here.
In fact, this was I-seo's first time actually settling into a seat at a PC Bang, which made her feel slightly uneasy.
The only games she had ever played were board games with friends or card games like poker. She had tried a few puzzle games on her phone, but by nature, gaming just didn't suit her.
"Hmm."
Kim Woo-jin, who had to do the ordering, added an Americano to the cart along with several other food items.
I guess you can order right through the computer.
While I-seo was marveling at this modern marvel, Kim Woo-jin and Seo Ye-rin—having finished their order—immediately jumped into a game.
Since they had already blown off their prior plans, the two of them were determined to enjoy themselves to the fullest.
They were playing without headsets for I-seo's sake when the food arrived.
Why did he order so much?
Jjajang-ramyeon, kimchi cheese fried rice, dumplings, a hot bar, an Americano, and even a misugaru latte.
It was quite the spread.
For the record, Seo Ye-rin had ordered spicy bibim-myeon topped with pork belly, sotteok-sotteok, and a coffee.
"Hey, there's no room to put all this."
I-seo took the trays from the staff for Kim Woo-jin, but there was nowhere to set them down.
When she grumbled, Kim Woo-jin glanced at her desk and gestured with his chin.
"Just put it on your desk for a second."
"..."
With a sigh, I-seo ended up arranging the food on her own desk like a full-course meal.
The quality is actually pretty good.
Starting with the jjajang-ramyeon topped with a fried egg, the savory aroma began to stimulate her stomach.
As she sipped her lonely iced Americano through a straw...
Kim Woo-jin, apparently having died in the game, quickly reached over and snatched away the fried rice, the hot bar, and the misugaru.
"Hey, I'm busy, so you eat the rest."
"What?"
What kind of nonsense was this?
"If you don't eat it now, the noodles will get soggy. It's a great combo with the dumplings, so give it a try."
"..."
I-seo pouted, but he was already back to focusing on the game.
To be honest, the deep scent of the jjajang-ramyeon was incredibly tempting. She could see other people around them ordering it, too.
Did I get played?
Had he intentionally ordered too much just to feed her?
Feeling a strange sense of being looked after, I-seo considered looking something up on the computer while she ate, but...
She decided to just turn her chair sideways and watch Kim Woo-jin play.
Slurp.
It's good.
It was way too good.
The part-timer at this place was clearly a master at cooking ramyeon.
It had been a long time since she'd had jjajang-ramyeon. The fried egg was cooked perfectly sunny-side up, making it look even more appetizing.
Plus, eating it with the dumplings was, as Kim Woo-jin said, the perfect finishing touch. It was like giving wings to a tiger.
This place is a hidden gem.
Thinking that, I-seo continued to slurp away while watching Kim Woo-jin play.
She didn't really understand what was happening, but she could tell he was doing poorly.
Mainly because his screen kept turning gray, at which point he would take a bite of his fried rice.
"Why do you die so often?"
She asked while popping a dumpling into her mouth. Kim Woo-jin answered with a sigh.
"Because we're fighting 4v5."
"Why are you fighting 4v5?"
At that, Kim Woo-jin leaned his face close to I-seo's. She wondered what he was doing, but he whispered so that Seo Ye-rin in the next seat wouldn't hear.
"Because there's a massive loose cannon on our team."
"..."
"If this were the military, he'd be executed by firing squad."
Slurp.
Instead of a verbal reply, she responded with a loud slurp of noodles. Kim Woo-jin glanced sideways at the jjajang-ramyeon.
He swallowed hard and said with a grin, "One bite..."
"I finished it."
I-seo showed him the empty jjajang-ramyeon bowl. She popped the last dumpling into her mouth and chewed with exaggerated relish.
"Tsk."
He took a sharp breath and turned back to the game. Honestly, I-seo had no reason to stay here anymore.
She thought about heading back soon, but...
Vibrate! Vibrate! Vibrate!
Her phone kept buzzing.
Checking the messages, she saw they were from Min-ji, her roommate and high school friend.
She didn't open the chat, but she could see the contents of the messages as they popped up on her lock screen.
Thud.
I-seo flipped her phone over, pretending she hadn't seen them, and continued to watch Kim Woo-jin and Seo Ye-rin play.
It wasn't particularly fun.
She didn't even know what was going on.
But.
It was better than going home.
* * *
"Hey, where have you been?"
The moment I-seo returned home, the voice of her roommate, Min-ji, made the pleasant mood she'd been in sink instantly.
How should she put it?
What started as a living arrangement she thought would be fun—living with a close friend—had somehow become a suffocating weight.
"Just... out with some college friends."
At I-seo's words, Min-ji just let out a hum and kept tapping away at her laptop.
They attended different universities, and she knew Min-ji's social life wasn't bad, but lately, she had been cooped up in the apartment.
"You should go out and get some fresh air too."
"What, go exercise like you? No thanks. I don't know how you manage to go out and work out every single day."
Min-ji grumbled, looking at I-seo as if she were exhausted just watching her go out to exercise three times a day.
That's because...
I-seo couldn't bring herself to say it was because being around her was difficult. Instead, she started clearing the pile of dirty dishes.
"I-seo."
"Yeah? What is it?"
"I heard there's a guy named Ahn Hyun-ho in your department?"
I-seo's heart skipped a beat. Why was she suddenly bringing up Ahn Hyun-ho?
"He's the vice-representative."
She answered while naturally hiding her expression by focusing on the dishes. A bright voice erupted from behind her.
"Really? You're the representative! That's perfect then!"
"...Perfect for what?"
Forcing herself to hide her anxiety, I-seo glanced back at Min-ji. The girl was shrugging her shoulders while typing away.
What on earth was she doing on that laptop?
"One of the older guys I know is close with him. I heard he was a total psycho. Apparently, if he was in a bad mood, he'd make the younger kids line up and hit them."
"Really?"
Was he really that dangerous?
The fact that his "reformed" college self was like that was chilling.
"Can you give me his contact info? From the outside, me and the guys can handle the smear campaign against Trash Woo-jin, but we need someone on the inside to help."
"I'm here."
I-seo felt that if Ahn Hyun-ho got involved, things would truly become irreversible, so she offered to do it herself.
"You can't do stuff like this, I-seo."
With a smile.
"And since you're being so friendly with him, how can I trust you?"
Min-ji landed a heavy blow.
"...What?"
I-seo's eyes trembled. Min-ji continued to strike with a sharp tone, even while her fingers never stopped moving on the keyboard.
"You changed your workout times recently, so I followed you last time. You were jogging with Trash Woo-jin, weren't you? You even looked happy eating with him."
"M-Min-ji."
"I-seo."
Click.
Min-ji closed her laptop and asked with a beaming smile.
"Does it feel good to betray your friend?"
"It's n-not betrayal..."
"Our high school friend, Oh Yun-ji, met that guy and now we can't even reach her. Don't you remember how she cried and struggled?"
"..."
"And yet, you're meeting him just fine."
Min-ji let out a hollow laugh and slowly approached I-seo. She patted I-seo's shoulder and shook her head, a strange madness glinting in her eyes.
"It's okay. I guess a female can get a bit obsessed with a male. Though I wonder if that guy is really all that."
"It's not like that."
She had never seen Kim Woo-jin in a romantic light. She just couldn't stand by and watch him be unfairly cursed at and victimized.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to post a call-out thread about him on your Bamboo Forest. I heard he got sniped once already for some karaoke incident on Friday? The timing is perfect."
"He was the victim at the karaoke bar!"
"So? He's a guy who deserves to be punished."
"But...!"
"It's okay. You just stay quiet, I-seo. We're still friends, after all."
Saying that, she reached out and snatched the phone right out of I-seo's pocket.
"You...!"
"You might try to contact him, right?"
I-seo was left speechless. She had, in fact, been planning to contact Kim Woo-jin immediately.
"Our friendship won't change. Just stay exactly as you are."
Min-ji pulled her into a tight hug. I-seo bit her lip hard but couldn't push her away.
* * *
"Yawn."
College students spend their weekends in all sorts of ways. Some lounge around, some study for grades, and some work part-time for tuition.
I, of course, was the former.
Having rolled around in bed since waking up in the afternoon, I checked the Bamboo Forest.
"Peaceful."
Naturally, the Bamboo Forest tended to quiet down on the weekends. Most students were busy with their personal lives.
Well, I've got nothing to do.
Literally nothing.
I had played games with Seo Ye-rin for nearly four hours yesterday, so I didn't even want to look at a game for a while.
Even Seo Ye-rin had muttered that she wouldn't need to play for a week.
Neither she nor I were particularly hardcore gamers.
Man, I'm bored out of my mind.
I don't want to play games, and I definitely don't want to study. I thought about going to a movie, but there wasn't anything worth watching.
Just a lazy, lounging kind of time.
The kind of moment where you feel like you could die alone and no one would know.
Vibrate.
A vibration rang out.
Since I was bored, I snatched up my phone immediately. What was written there was:
A sudden call-out post.
And it was aimed directly at me.
"Heh, heh heh."
It looked like Yun-ji's high school friends, whom I-seo mentioned, had started their attack.
Is Ahn Hyun-ho involved too?
Anonymous 287 was Ahn Hyun-ho.
Well, whatever.
As soon as I gave it its first view, I deleted the post.
"Wow, they really wrote a novel."
It was so long that I had to scroll down several times to reach the end.
I was too lazy to even read it, so I skipped it, but they must have noticed the deletion because the post went right back up.
Deleted again.
Deleted once more.
After repeating this three times, a 1:1 inquiry finally came in.
After saying that, I immediately deleted the post that went up.
"This is ridiculous..."
Who are they trying to turn into a sex offender?
It took me a week just to hold her hand, to the point where Oh Yun-ji asked if I was a eunuch.
As soon as I said that, the post went up.
And I deleted it instantly.
Anyway, what could he possibly do? He just posted it again.
With a wide grin, I continued the cycle of deleting his posts.