Chapter 185: Dating Inept
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 185: Dating Inept
— I can sue them for you if you want.
My big brother’s voice over the sudden phone call was dead serious.
— That is, if that’s what you want.
“How did you even find out?”
— I have a competent secretary.
My sister-in-law sure lives a busy life. But how did she even find the university’s Bamboo Forest? I thought only current students could use it.
— Enough with the useless chatter.
As soon as I showed a hint of curiosity, my brother nipped it in the bud.
— Back to the point. If you want, I can actually go through with the lawsuit. I’m also planning to contact the administrator of that ‘Bamboo Forest’ community.
My brother is meticulous, but he has his moments of clumsiness. It usually happens with family matters, and even more so when it involves me.
“What are you going to say to the Bamboo Forest manager? Tell them to cough up the identities of everyone who sniped me?”
— Something like that.
“The manager doesn’t know their identities either. You have to enter your student ID number to use it, but the system doesn’t store personal information separately.”
Come to think of it, new student IDs are added every year—how does the Bamboo Forest stay updated? I don’t even manage a separate server for that.
— You seem to know quite a lot about it.
I smiled, ready to give my brother a little shock.
“I’m the manager.”
— …….
He went silent. That alone made this phone call worth it.
“So, I’m the one who orchestrated this sniping incident. I even intentionally mentioned the legal team to the person who called me out.”
— Hmm.
My brother’s voice lightened, seemingly impressed by how I’d handled it.
“The seniors are a bit annoying, sure. But it’s a bit pitiful for a twenty-two-year-old to get sued by a major corporation just for spitting out a few words on the internet.”
Even though I was only twenty-one myself. Twenty-two was still a young age in the eyes of society.
— Still, it’s an age where one must take responsibility. I can’t tell if you’re being merciful or just pretending to be.
“Probably half and half. If it really bothers you, just send someone from the legal team to hand them a business card. That’ll be more than enough.”
That alone would be enough to make them keep their mouths shut for the rest of their college lives. If we actually went the legal route, rumors would start spreading about how a conglomerate chairman was using his power over a few hate comments directed at his son. Then, all the details would leak out—how I’m involved with two women, my messy dating life, and all that.
‘I wouldn’t care if it weren’t true.’
The problem was that it was true. As they say, the more you have, the more you have to lose.
“I just want to make them shut up. I don’t want to ruin their lives.”
— Fine, I understand. However…
My brother hesitated for a moment before sighing.
— Don’t make me have to bring up your womanizing issues again. I’m telling you not to become one of those thoughtless brats from other chaebol families.
That hit like a dagger. I could only let out an awkward laugh.
“Hyung.”
— …….
“Can I have some pocket money?”
I tried to change the subject, but he just hung up without a word.
Anyway, the incident was settled. The seniors who sniped me would probably come crawling to apologize soon. I’d play hard to get for a bit and then pretend to accept it. It would be best if they did it somewhere with a lot of people watching.
Now that things were settled, I suddenly felt hungry.
‘Ugh, I’m too lazy to go get school meals.’
Eating at the cafeteria was a good way to save money and get a decent meal, but even though I lived in the dormitory, the walk to the cafeteria felt like a chore. I was rolling around my room playing mobile games when—
Knock, knock.
A cautious knock at the door.
‘Is it Choi I-seo?’
Thinking I might go out to eat with her, I opened the door.
“U-uh, hey?”
Standing there in a line were the 3rd-year seniors I suspected of sniping me.
“Whoa, what’s all this?”
The exclamation escaped my lips involuntarily. I thought only a few people had called me out on the Bamboo Forest, but seeing so many of them, it looked like they’d coordinated the whole thing. Wouldn’t that count as a conspiracy? They probably came because their consciences were pricking them.
“Look, Woo-jin. We think we made a mistake, and we wanted to apologize.”
“We’re really sorry. We’ll get on our knees if we have to.”
Hmm. I thought I’d feel vindicated seeing this. But seeing my seniors like this just made me feel bad for them. My heart was too soft.
“There’s a place downtown that makes really good jjimdak. Is anyone willing to go and pick up two servings of Cheese Soy Sauce Jjimdak?”
“I’ll go!”
A nimble-looking male senior immediately sprang into action. Good. Since my heart softened, I reduced the order from three servings to two.
“How long will it take?”
“Thirty minutes!”
“…What? Did I hear that right?”
“Twenty minutes!”
“Fifteen minutes.”
“I-I’ll be right back!”
He waved and dashed off. The other seniors just stared at me blankly. It seemed they were finally realizing the situation they were in.
“We’re not really at an age where we should be arguing about the law and all that, right?”
We were only in our twenties. We were at an age where we were more used to physical labor than legal proceedings.
“Is anyone here taking the Modern British and American Poetry lecture this semester?”
Two people raised their hands.
“Ah, it seems I don’t have time to do my assignment this time.”
When I offered a bright smile and a handshake, the two of them lunged forward to grab my hand.
* * *
“Phew, huff!”
I was on a treadmill, running at a high speed and breathing heavily. Lately, I’d been engrossed in exercise. I never thought I’d be like this. If you asked if I’d found the joy in working out, the answer was no. Even now, I wanted to jump off the treadmill, shower, and go lie down in my dorm room.
However, they say that if a man has a dream and a goal, he can suppress his immediate desires. I was running tirelessly for my objective.
“Fuuuu.”
Thinking I’d run enough, I stopped the treadmill and stepped off, wiping my sweat with a towel.
“E-excuse me.”
A woman cautiously approached me. Behind her, a group of other women were stealing glances in my direction.
“Yes?”
When I asked what was up, she made a shy proposal.
“If it’s okay, could you teach us how to work out? we don’t really know how to use the machines yet.”
“Oh…”
I let out an involuntary exclamation. So this was the gym hunting I’d heard so much about. Working out hard was paying off.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t really do strength training, so I don’t know how to use the machines.”
Of course, I refused. Besides, it wasn’t a lie. I rarely used the weight machines, except for the ones for my lower body. But naturally, they didn’t seem to believe me. They probably wondered why I even came to the gym if that was the case, rather than just running along the river path.
‘I’m only here because I got a membership transfer.’
One of the 3rd-year seniors had signed up for a year and only went once, so he gave it to me. I planned to drop by the gym whenever I had time.
“B-but then isn’t it hard to build a physique? I don’t think you need to lose any more weight.”
“Ah, I’m not working out to build a physique.”
I mean, it would be nice if it happened, but I had no intention of sculpting my body or bulking up.
“…….”
By this point, the women seemed to realize something was off. I decided to drive the final nail in the coffin.
“It’s so I can have sex for a long time.”
“…Pardon?”
She asked again, wondering if she’d heard correctly. I gave her a clear answer once more.
“I want to have sex for a long time. My girlfriend says she wants to do it for 48 hours straight, so I have to work hard if I want to even come close to that.”
“A-ah, I see.”
“So I do know how to use the leg machines. Should I show you?”
“No! No! It’s fine! Have a long and happy life with your girlfriend!”
“Thanks for the support.”
When I replied with a clenched fist, the woman looked horrified and scrambled back to her friends. Honestly, I knew it was a crazy thing to say, but it was a pretty effective iron wall.
“What are you doing?”
Then, Yoo Ah-rin’s voice came from behind me. Having started personal training, she was glaring at me with sharp eyes. It seemed her PT session was over. I squared my shoulders and answered confidently.
“Oh, those ladies asked me to work out with them. So I told them our goals were different.”
“Different goals?”
“Yeah. I told them I’m working out to have sex for a long time. They even cheered me on.”
“…….”
Yoo Ah-rin glanced at the women. They were whispering among themselves, and when their eyes met hers, they hurried away as if fleeing.
“…Now I look like some horny bitch who’s making you work out just so we can have sex longer, don’t I?”
“I was actually talking about Seo Ye-rin, not you.”
“No, I mean, isn’t that how they’re going to misunderstand it?”
I glanced at the women. Yeah, probably.
“Well, whatever. It happens.”
“Do you want to die? More importantly, how can you say you’re working out to do it with another girl right in front of me?”
Yoo Ah-rin put her hands on her hips, looking annoyed.
“…Wait, didn’t you give me permission?”
Unlike Choi I-seo, she kept hanging out with me and seemed fine with everything, so I’d assumed she was okay with it.
“Are you insane?”
Yoo Ah-rin growled as if she were about to pounce on me. I couldn’t tell if she was just ignoring my nonsense or if she was actually coming to terms with it.
“Whatever. We’re done working out, so let’s eat. I’m stressed because of you, so I want something delicious.”
It seemed a bit contradictory to want something delicious right after working out, but regardless, I followed her toward the locker room.
“Huuuuuuuuff!”
Thud!
A handsome guy was lifting heavy weights. Jeong Chan-woo caught our eyes.
“Oh, you were here?”
“This gym is too big.”
Since we hadn’t even realized he was there, we greeted him, and Chan-woo just gave a slight nod.
“Hey.”
Deep dark circles under his eyes. A strangely thin, haggard appearance. Yet, even today, his legendary looks exuded a certain decadent beauty.
“What’s up? What happened?”
When I asked out of concern, Chan-woo let out a long, deep sigh. He looked back and forth between the two of us and spoke.
“Please… help me.”
* * *
After finishing our workout, the place we went to was none other than a cafe.
“You’re eating something sweet after working out?”
When I commented in disbelief as the cake we ordered was placed on the table, Yoo Ah-rin picked up a fork and clicked her tongue.
“The guy has no energy right now. I’m telling him to eat something sweet to cheer up.”
Chan-woo, sitting across from us, gave a lukewarm reaction.
“…I’m losing muscle mass.”
“Shut up and eat. Since when did you care about muscles?”
His slight rebellion was quickly suppressed, and we ended up resetting our entire workout with coffee and cake. Still, eating something sweet seemed to cheer him up, just as Yoo Ah-rin said. His expression looked much more relaxed.
“See? He’s always been the type to feel better after eating something sweet.”
“…I don’t really feel better even if I eat sweets.”
When I grumbled, Yoo Ah-rin grinned and pinched my cheek.
“Oh? Are you jealous? My, my, why are you so cute?”
“Can I leave now, guys?”
Chan-woo cut in, not wanting to watch our lovey-dovey display. Embarrassed, Yoo Ah-rin let go of my cheek and focused on Chan-woo again.
“So, what was it? You said you broke up with your girlfriend?”
“I said I think we’re going to break up. It feels like… like she’s seeing another guy.”
At those words, I slammed my fist onto the table in a fit of rage.
“What?! She’s cheating? What a total piece of trash!”
“You’re the piece of trash. Stay quiet.”
“…Yes, ma’am.”
Was this what they called self-loathing? Anyway, I decided to just stay quiet as Yoo Ah-rin said. If I spat on Chan-woo’s girlfriend, it would be like spitting on my own face.
“Don’t insult my girlfriend!”
But Chan-woo immediately got angry at me. This guy really has rose-colored glasses on.
“Hmm, but it’s not easy to see another guy while dating him.”
Yoo Ah-rin was right. Chan-woo was exceptionally handsome. If the peak of female beauty was Seo Ye-rin, the peak of male beauty was Jeong Chan-woo. It was more likely that the ‘Namshin’ of the Architectural Engineering Department would be the one cheating, not the one being cheated on.
‘Wait.’
Suddenly remembering Chan-woo’s past behavior, I cautiously asked him.
“Did you… have any arguments with your girlfriend lately?”
“With Jeong-ah? Recently—”
After hesitating for a moment, Chan-woo began to spill the story.
“Ah, Jeong-ah did complain once that I was too hard to reach. But that wasn’t my fault, it was hers.”
“You didn’t contact her, but it’s your girlfriend’s fault?”
I wondered what he meant, but Chan-woo nodded boldly.
“Yeah, I was working my part-time job.”
“The PC Bang job?”
“Right. The owner said he was short-handed, so I worked a 12-hour shift.”
“And? You could’ve sent a quick reply or called her.”
I didn’t see the problem, but Chan-woo shook his head firmly.
“I was working. You shouldn’t make personal calls while on the clock.”
What? Was he always like this?
“So you just left her hanging without a word?”
“Yeah.”
“…….”
“I explained it to her afterward, but she wouldn’t accept it. she kept grilling me, asking if I was seeing someone else.”
‘This is just…’
I guess this was the sorrow of being the girlfriend of someone as handsome as Chan-woo. If he’s unreachable, you never know who he’s with or what he’s doing. Especially once you get to know Chan-woo, you realize he’s surprisingly innocent compared to his looks.
“Is that it? I bet there’s more.”
Yoo Ah-rin, sensing something, poked at her cake with a fork as if interrogating him. After thinking some more, Chan-woo started pouring out more stories.
The time they went clothes shopping, and he just waited in a cafe because he’d already bought everything he needed.
The time they went on a trip, and he didn’t take any photos of his girlfriend, only of the scenery.
The time he changed his profile picture to a famous actress he liked.
“God dammit, just break up! I can’t listen to any more of this!”
Finally, Yoo Ah-rin declared surrender and smacked Chan-woo on the back of the head.
“Ack!”
Chan-woo clutched his head with a tearful face, but honestly, I thought he deserved it.
“Yeah, this is only fair. If God gave him that face, He had to take something else away.”
Jeong Chan-woo’s dating sense, Seo Ye-rin’s sexual morals, and so on. Life only feels worth living if everyone is broken in some way.
“Seriously, he wasn’t like this in high school. Why did he change so much?”
While Yoo Ah-rin was lamenting over what the problem could be, I saw a familiar face among the two people entering the cafe.
“Oh, that person…”
I pointed toward them without thinking, and Chan-woo’s eyes widened in shock.
“J-Jeong-ah?”
Chan-woo’s girlfriend and a 1st-year in the Architectural Engineering Department, Heo Jeong-ah, was entering the cafe arm-in-arm with another man.
“Oppa!?”
A startled Heo Jeong-ah turned pale with shock.