Chapter 331: Darkening
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 331: Darkening
"……Come again?"
Senior Ju-hee, who had been about to take a massive bite of her sandwich, froze and stared at me.
I knew she’d heard me the first time.
Regardless, I repeated myself.
"Please teach me how to kill someone."
"I don't know how to do that either, Woo-jin."
"Please, just tell me. There are too many pieces of trash in this world. Killing them would definitely be a service to society."
"I know the group project is stressful, but killing people is illegal no matter how you look at it."
"I suppose so."
I buried my face in my hands and let out a long sigh.
I couldn't remember the last time I’d been this stressed.
"Our project score is already low. Should I just blow the whole thing up?"
"Grades are decided by the smallest margins. Everyone else is sprinting at full speed; if you take a break now, how are you going to make up the gap?"
I knew.
I knew that already.
That was exactly why I was here, seeking counsel.
"I’m starting to truly respect you, Senior."
The sheer majesty she displayed when leading a group project as 'Captain Ju' was beyond words.
With her charisma, she had whipped Han-gang into shape, chased off the second-year girls, and completed the assignment perfectly.
It had ended on a heartwarming note with an A+.
"You can do it too. Just lead them while telling them to trust you. You have more than enough capability for that."
"I’d have to actually meet them to lead them."
Our plans had fallen through three times already.
I’d finally suggested we just meet after the lecture, which meant we were starting a full week behind everyone else.
"So, you're heading to the lecture now?"
"Yes. If they don't show up today, I’m going to demand a group change. I can't do this anymore."
"It does sound pretty bad."
I was glad Ju-hee could at least empathize. She bought me a coffee to cheer me up, and I carried it into the classroom.
Choi I-seo was surrounded by her group members, and they practically radiated an 'elite' aura.
‘Why don't I have even one person like that?’
I felt like Cao Cao looking at Liu Bei.
Wait, no, Cao Cao had plenty of talent under him.
Why was there no talent in Group F?
Actually, there was plenty of 'talent'—if you defined talent as 'man-made disasters.'
Looking around the room, it seemed every group had gathered. The other teams were all engaged in heated, passionate discussions.
Usually, people don't sit together until the lecture actually starts, but these guys were dedicated.
There were about a hundred people in the room, and every single one of them looked brilliant.
Was this the sacrifice of the few for the sake of the many?
Had I absorbed all the evil in this classroom so that everyone else could live in a happy world?
‘Dammit, I want to be happy too.’
On the bright side, because everyone was gathered in groups, the dregs of Group F stood out like sore thumbs.
"Hello. This is Group F, right?"
When I greeted them, they all looked at me with bewildered expressions. It seemed they hadn't even realized they were sitting together.
"Yes. I'm Hwang In-woo, a junior in Architectural Engineering."
Hwang In-woo stood up abruptly to introduce himself. He was one half of the couple.
"Heo Jeong-ah, sophomore in Architectural Engineering."
The woman sitting next to him introduced herself as well.
"……Architectural Engineering?"
Their faces were actually familiar.
Both of them.
I wondered if I’d seen them when I went to find Jeong Chan-woo, and the memory surfaced almost immediately.
‘They’re the ones who dumped Chan-woo and cheated together!’
Back then, I’d barely managed to hold Yoo Ah-rin back as she tried to charge in and beat them up at the cafe.
They didn't seem to remember me. I’d been overshadowed by Jeong Chan-woo and Yoo Ah-rin and had stayed quiet.
‘I heard they broke up, though.’
I’d heard Heo Jeong-ah dumped Hwang In-woo because she still had feelings for Chan-woo.
I guess they got back together.
‘What a pair of scumbags.’
Of course, Chan-woo had started dating someone else just a few days later, so it wasn't like he was deeply scarred.
Regardless, my already thin faith in the two of them grew even thinner.
The other two were eye-catching in different ways.
There was Im Dong-gyu, the guy who only gave one-word answers.
The moment I saw him, I felt a slight dizzy spell. He had merchandise of a half-naked anime character dangling all over his bag.
"Im Dong-gyu, Japanese Language Education."
He gave a curt greeting and immediately turned his attention back to his phone.
He was busy watching anime; he didn't even wait for my response before plugging his earphones back in.
Finally, there was the woman who was heavily made up.
She was quite beautiful—enough that I wondered if she was a model—and she sat down next to me with a flirtatious smile.
"I'm Shin Se-rim from the Film Department. I'm a sophomore."
"Ah, yes."
So she was the one who kept sending nothing but rabbit emoticons. I’d hoped she would at least be capable of conversation.
"You're Kim Woo-jin, right? You've been the talk of the town lately."
"Yes, that's me."
"Wow, I couldn't tell over text, but you're really handsome in person."
"……."
What was with this girl?
She was leaning in way too close.
"Right. I see. Thanks."
I gave a short reply while gently nudging her away to get some space. Shin Se-rim gave me a thumbs up.
"I'll be counting on you since you're the leader. To be honest, I've been pretty busy lately."
"Busy?"
"Yes. I was recently scouted by an agency. I have a lot of meetings and lessons—"
In other words.
She was telling me she was busy, so I should just handle everything myself.
"It's truly impressive that you're still committed to your work despite being so busy."
"Yeees……."
I wanted to tell her to cut the crap, but these were the people I had to work with.
Next was the girl who seemed to live in a different time zone.
‘She’s not here.’
Right, I should have known.
It seemed she planned on being a professional student for the rest of her life.
Just as I was cursing her in my head, she walked in right before the professor arrived and sat down near us.
"I'm Bang Da-ye. Creative Writing."
She was an ordinary-looking woman.
The kind of person you could see anywhere, which made it even more dizzying that she was the one who had completely ghosted the chat.
She looked like she’d be average at everything.
At any rate, Group F was finally all here.
They say even trash becomes the Avengers if you gather enough of it. Now that we were together, surely we could get something done!
* * *
After the lecture, I caught the bastards who were trying to sneak away and made them sit back down.
"Our group is a week behind everyone else. I’ve already decided on the topic myself. So, let's start by dividing the roles."
They all responded with half-hearted mumbles.
I felt the energy draining out of my body, but I pushed forward.
"First, I need two people for data research. You just need to take the sub-topics and research your assigned parts—"
Two hands shot up instantly.
It was the couple, Heo Jeong-ah and Hwang In-woo.
"We'll do it."
"Yeah, since we're a couple, we can just share and look things up together."
"No. I've seen too many people use that as an excuse to slack off and not find proper info. Denied."
"What?"
"Hey, we're not like that."
I was dying to say some really harsh words.
‘Being famous is such a pain.’
If I lost my temper here, who knows what kind of rumors would spread about the 'Uju Group's youngest psycho.'
"Then I'll do it."
Shin Se-rim raised her hand.
"Okay, then Se-rim and—"
It was obvious Heo Jeong-ah disliked Shin Se-rim. Was it because of her flashy appearance?
"In-woo, you do it."
"In-woo, I'll be in your care."
"Ah, yes! Same here."
Shin Se-rim winked and flirted with Hwang In-woo. Heo Jeong-ah looked appalled, but Hwang In-woo was grinning from ear to ear.
‘……Did I pair them up wrong?’
But if I’d paired Heo Jeong-ah and Hwang In-woo, they would have just slacked off openly.
"We have data organization, PPT, and the presentation left. Any volunteers?"
"Me! I'll do the data organization."
Heo Jeong-ah raised her hand high.
‘Whatever, I don't care anymore.’
I was past the point of caring.
She was at least offering to do something, so I had to let her.
"Fine, you do it."
That left two people.
Im Dong-gyu and Bang Da-ye.
Seeing that only PPT and the presentation were left, Im Dong-gyu raised his hand.
"I'll do the PPT."
"Okay, great. Dong-gyu will do the PPT, so Da-ye, you handle the presentation."
"I'm not good at public speaking."
"……."
I stared blankly at Bang Da-ye, and she stared right back at me.
I felt a sudden urge to poke her in the eyes for glaring at me, but I suppressed it and spoke calmly.
"Then why didn't you volunteer for something else?"
"The other roles seemed a bit vague too."
"Then what exactly do you plan on doing?"
"But what are you doing, Leader? Isn't the leader usually the one who presents?"
"I have to synthesize everything you guys make and write the final report. The professor said he’d give extra points for that."
"……But I really can't do the presentation."
"Da-ye."
"Yes?"
"Just do it."
Before I lose it.
"I'd rather do the data research."
"……Then In-woo, would you like to present?"
Actually, this might be better.
It was bothering me to have Hwang In-woo and Shin Se-rim together; this was a good way to split them up.
"Huh? I'm doing the research."
"Sigh…… then Se-rim?"
"Sure, that's fine. I'll present."
Shin Se-rim seemed like the most reasonable one so far.
She was the least 'trashy' among the trash.
"Then it's settled. In-woo and Da-ye will do the research. Jeong-ah, you take their data, filter out the useful parts, and organize it for Dong-gyu to make the PPT. Se-rim will present. I'll work with her to finalize the script."
Done.
The roles were finally assigned.
I thought I’d cleared the biggest hurdle.
Or so I thought.
* * *
The next day at 5 PM.
I received a text.
"That bitch."
With a sinking feeling, I checked their profile pictures.
‘Ah, it’s a disaster.’
They’d broken up.
They were all over each other just yesterday, and now this.
I immediately contacted Hwang In-woo.
Great.
Oh, wonderful.
Let's see how far this goes.
So, because I seemed like I’d shut her down, she went and flirted with Hwang In-woo?
It was obvious she was just playing with him.
‘Why are there so many people like this at our school?’
Or was it just the people around me?
Everyone in the lecture hall looked like a straight-A student.
‘Is Heo Jeong-ah being sensitive because she has a history of cheating herself?’
But then again, this girl was also something else for secretly texting a guy with a girlfriend.
I tried contacting the other members.
No reply.
I was about to contact Im Dong-gyu when a text arrived.
The data shouldn't even be ready yet.
I took a look to see what he’d made.
I really couldn't take it anymore.
[Required Humanities Group F Team Chat]
I threw on my clothes and ran to the professor's office. Fortunately, he hadn't left yet.
I poured out every single unbelievable tragedy I’d endured so far.
"I see."
The professor nodded, then spoke.
"But I don't think I can let you do a solo project."
"……What?"
What was he—
"It wouldn't be fair to the others. It's a group project, after all; you have to work with your teammates."
"……."
"Even if you did it alone, I would grade you in comparison to the other students. Unless you can produce something on your own that matches the quality of a full team—"
He was telling me to just deal with it.
The emotion in his eyes was pure annoyance.
He looked at me as if I were pathetic for wasting his time with something like this.
‘Ah.’
I’d heard it somewhere before.
Group projects are hell for students, but they're incredibly convenient for professors.
Right.
I should have known when he assigned a group project at the very start of the semester.
"Heh."
Having gained nothing, I let out a hollow laugh.
"Hehehe, hahahaha—!"
I couldn't believe this was reality.
"……Fine."
I really wanted to have a normal college life.
"If that's how it's going to be."
I really, really wanted to have a quiet college life.
But you guys started this.
"You're going to be begging me to let you do the project, you bastards."
If you're going to be this reckless, I'll force you to take the wheel.
It wasn't about grades anymore.
I would correct these F-tier losers, no matter what.
For the sake of society.
The team chat had already been nuked.
Biting my lip, I created another chat room.
[Bamboo Forest Administrator and Moderators Chat]
An awkward silence filled the chat, as Yoo Ah-rin had often used her position to discipline the junior managers.
Anyway.
That wasn't the important part.
If you don't want your antics in the Bamboo Forest to be exposed, you'd better be there.
Anonymous 407.