Chapter 189: Kim Woo-jin vs Jeong Chan-woo
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 189: Kim Woo-jin vs Jeong Chan-woo
Mom went back home.
It had been a day like a literal whirlwind, and it was a time that made me realize once again the weight of the choices I had made.
And so, peace passed.
Before I knew it, midterm season had arrived.
"Sigh."
I’d only been at Gahyeon University for a year myself.
But I dared to guess that this was probably the most chaotic and noisy midterm period in history.
The Bamboo Forest was currently hostile toward and ostracizing members from the late 300s to the 400s.
To be precise.
The 1st years.
The situation was that everyone was bashing this year's freshmen.
If you asked why it turned out like this, it was a bit complicated.
The starting point was the Department of Film and Theater.
It was discovered that the 1st-year freshmen were talking trash about their seniors in the department group chat.
And it wasn't just one or two people they were insulting.
They called out the 2nd and 3rd-year seniors by name one by one and tore them apart together.
They didn't even hesitate to make high-level comments that could have landed them in court.
Apparently, they frequently ranked them by looks, body, chest, butt, and hips.
Thanks to that, the Film Department was turned upside down.
Seo Ye-rin's friend, Lee Seo-ah, who also worked at Gold One, was so furious she was fuming about needing to discipline the juniors, and Seo Ye-rin barely managed to calm her down.
Of course, if it had ended there, people might have just let it slide.
"Tsk."
Anonymous 407.
The troll who had been pouring out profanities at unspecified targets on the Bamboo Forest for a while now.
This guy was the culprit who had once again added fuel to the fire of the freshmen-hate on the Bamboo Forest.
Replies were piling up under Anonymous 407's post.
Every single one of them was cursing him out.
"I gave him a one-day ban, and he's already back at it."
In the end, the situation began to escalate into a fight again.
I settled it for the moment by giving three-day bans to Anonymous 407 and all the guys who were fighting with him.
"The atmosphere these days is really something."
Watching the freshmen-hate burning up the Bamboo Forest, I headed to the cafe.
Ahn Hyun-ho said he had gotten the past papers for a lecture we were taking together, so we decided to study.
Since it was exam period, the cafe was crowded.
I didn't see Ahn Hyun-ho at first and wondered where he went, but he was one of the three guys eating cake at a large table for groups.
The remaining two were naturally Han-gang and Pyo Jin-ho.
I heard they both had their military enlistment pushed back and were hanging around while on a leave of absence from university.
"The one who got the past papers was Senior Han-gang?"
I asked as I sat down, dumbfounded, and Ahn Hyun-ho nodded with a fork in his mouth.
"Yeah, the senior just gave them to me."
"Those have been passed down since my seniors' time. A noona I was dating back then gave them to me," Han-gang said proudly.
Honestly, even if they were called "past papers," they were really just old exam questions.
But since it was better than nothing, I accepted them with a word of thanks for now.
"It's gotten harder to get past papers because of the freshmen-hate this time. Thanks to you, it'll be easier."
"Freshmen-hate?"
Since Ahn Hyun-ho also used the Bamboo Forest, he obviously knew about the freshmen-hate.
While listening to the three of them talk with one ear and letting it out the other, I sent a Tok to Seo Ye-rin.
A reply came back within minutes.
The chat ended right there.
Look at her running away the moment she hears Senior Han-gang is here.
Honestly, I wanted to leave too, but I was already caught by the three of them.
"No, really, how can they do that to their seniors? Right, Woo-jin?!"
Han-gang slammed the table and stared intently at me.
"Right? I felt it starting exactly last year. Kids these days have no respect for their seniors. None."
"What? Are you saying that for my benefit?"
"Huh? Did it hit a nerve?"
This guy.
"Maybe do something worth respecting. You spend every day chasing after juniors only to get beaten like a dog by Senior Ju-hee."
"Ahem."
Han-gang turned his head awkwardly.
I don't know why he's acting like that when he's not even a senior anymore.
"But where's Chan-woo?"
Pyo Jin-ho, who had been diligently shoveling cake into his mouth, finally spoke up.
I wondered why these idiots were calling Jeong Chan-woo to join them.
"He said he's with his girlfriend, so he can't come today."
Ahn Hyun-ho seemed to know the details, as if he really had called Chan-woo.
I hope things go well with this girlfriend.
"Ha, I'm so jealous of Chan-woo."
"It's not like I'm lacking anywhere, but he—"
The conversation naturally shifted to Chan-woo.
Since studying was already an afterthought, I also shared an anecdote about Chan-woo this time.
The heroic tale of Jeong Chan-woo, who started dating another girl just three days after breaking up with his girlfriend.
"With Chan-woo's level, can't he basically pick and choose who he dates?"
"But then there are girls who aren't like that. The ones who don't care about looks."
"Why are the girls who don't care about looks never interested in me?"
Han-gang and Pyo Jin-ho each added a comment to Ahn Hyun-ho's remark.
While I was listening silently...
Vibrate.
Why is she in my room?
Why is a similar conversation happening again?
No contact after that.
Seo Ye-rin and Choi I-seo had both gone MIA.
As I smirked at their similar reactions, I realized the eyes of the three men were fixed on me.
"Hey, what if..."
Pyo Jin-ho then asked a question with a serious expression.
"If you died and were reborn, and God said you could live as either Jeong Chan-woo or Kim Woo-jin... who would you choose?"
What kind of retarded question is this?
I looked at Pyo Jin-ho in disbelief, but...
"Chan-woo, obviously."
"Definitely Chan-woo. No contest. Jeong Chan-woo."
These guys?
"Right? I'd pick Chan-woo too. I shouldn't have even asked."
When even Pyo Jin-ho made it a clean sweep, I started to feel strangely offended.
I put my phone away, rolled my shoulders, and said to them, "Think about it carefully. My looks might be a bit lower than Chan-woo's, but I'm not bad in other areas."
When I spoke out of sheer absurdity, Han-gang was the first to question me.
"Do you have a girlfriend? Are you dating Ye-rin or I-seo?"
"We're still... in the 'some' stage, right?"
We'd done everything there was to do, but it didn't feel right to use a term like 'sex friend' here.
When I trailed off because it was ambiguous, he immediately shook his head.
"Chan-woo is already dating. From what I saw, it looks like he's dated two girls in just a short time."
"..."
"Maybe instead of you, who has a luscious fruit you can't even eat... they'd rather be Chan-woo, who eats apples, grapes, and strawberries all the same?"
My mouth shut tight.
In the end, it was true that I wasn't officially dating.
And I couldn't exactly explain the situation in detail.
This time, Ahn Hyun-ho added his two cents.
"Looks-wise, it's a total landslide for that side too."
"Hey, I'm not bad either. I even get hit on sometimes these days."
"You? Hmm."
What's with that?
The girls had been subtly telling me I was getting handsome, but since these were guys, they seemed oblivious to the change.
"Let's put that aside for now. Then, do you have a lot of money? I saw Chan-woo is doing modeling now instead of the PC Bang part-time job. You know the hourly rate for that is insane, right?"
"Whew."
I'm the son of a conglomerate chairman, you bastards.
If I wanted to, I could buy this cafe in cash right now.
The words were right at the tip of my tongue, but I forced myself to swallow them.
"Seeing as you moved out of your studio and live in the dorms, it looks like money is a bit tight for you too."
I had the money from working at Gold One and the money from disposing of my big brother's adult goods, but it was true that it would be hard to last a year on just that.
I was thinking of looking for a part-time job.
Though something like a fitting model like Chan-woo... would be impossible.
"You lost on money too? Is there anything else?"
"Exercise."
As Ahn Hyun-ho muttered that it was ambiguous, Pyo Jin-ho immediately jumped in.
"How about exercise?"
"I evolved from home training and now I go to the gym—!"
"But isn't Chan-woo a gym regular? He goes to the gym whenever he's bored."
That's right.
Chan-woo had been going to the gym before me.
Exercise... I probably can't win there.
Looking at the weights he lifts, I wouldn't even dream of trying to keep up.
In the first place, my purpose for exercising was a bit different.
Strictly speaking, my purpose for exercising was sex.
"It's big down there."
Having finally found something I could win at, I spoke with confidence.
"..."
"..."
"..."
The three of them stared at me blankly at the same time.
I squared my shoulders and nodded.
"It's fucking huge."
The three were momentarily flustered.
But they soon let out snickering scoffs.
"Hey, I'm also—"
"Ha. I wear two pairs of underwear. If I don't, it shows because it's so thick."
"When I did Taekwondo, the kids hated showering with me. They said it gave them an inferiority complex."
Look at these guys.
Look at them jumping in immediately because they don't want to lose.
"Mediocre losers acting up."
When I clicked my tongue, everyone got worked up and a bit of a commotion broke out, but we took a breather because people around us were giving us looks.
And then.
"Wouldn't Chan-woo be a bit small?"
Someone said that, and we all started to look bright.
"Ah, right. Chan-woo would probably be small."
"The kid is all flash and no substance."
"Haha! God is fair."
I don't know why the conversation went this way.
But anyway, I thought the vote would surely tilt in my favor now.
"So, who do you want to be reborn as?" I asked again with a laugh.
"Chan-woo."
"Still Chan-woo, obviously."
"Gotta be born as Chan-woo."
The same answers came back.
The reason being...
"It's Schrödinger's Woo-jin. I can't believe it until I observe it."
"Kim Woo-jin, bluffing with the 'precious' hidden in his pants, is pathetic."
"Woo-jin, you know what? Only guys who are obsessed with size are actually small."
Whew.
This won't do.
"Fuck, if I show you for just 5 minutes right here—!"
Vibrate! Vibrate! Vibrate!
A call came in at the perfect timing.
It was Yoo Ah-rin.
— Hey, it's a video call. Look at the screen.
When I looked at the screen, I saw Yoo Ah-rin at the school basketball court.
When I tilted the screen slightly, Seo Ye-rin and Choi I-seo were there too.
I quietly went to the restroom.
I didn't want to show the girls to these idiots.
"Why? Weren't you three hanging out?"
— I wanted to check if you were really hanging out with guys.
"Sigh, I'm busy right now. I've been insulted!"
— What kind of bullshit is that?
"Never mind. Hang up. This is a battle I have to win, if only for your self-esteem so you don't feel like you're with a loser."
— ...Why do I already have a bad feeling? What's it about?
"They're saying Woo-jin is small!"
— Oh, for fuck's sake.
— Woo-jin...
— Isn't Woo-jin's size pretty big?
Different reactions from each of them.
Yoo Ah-rin and Choi I-seo sighed, while Seo Ye-rin asked with pure curiosity.
"Anyway, don't call me. If you see on the news that someone was arrested for public indecency, that's me."
— I told you before. I hate everything about you, but sometimes I like you, right? But there are times I especially hate you. That's right now.
— Why does that matter, Woo-jin? Do you think we like you because of that?
— I don't care either! Really!
"Girls..."
I felt a surge of emotion, and my heart felt full.
Yes, this is love.
— Just go and lose, you bastard. Just say 'Yeah, you're right' and lose. What's the point of winning such a pathetic fight?
— She's right. Let's not cause a scene for nothing.
— But I think Woo-jin would win everything.
Receiving all sorts of comfort that wasn't quite comfort...
It really felt like it didn't matter at all.
I hung up and returned to my seat with a peaceful mind.
"Hey, cutie."
"Are you cold, Woo-jin?"
"Did you check in the restroom?"
"You motherfuckers, where's the nearest sauna? Follow me, you sons of bitches."
Where's a stationery store?
I need to buy a ruler too, you bastards.