Chapter 35: Exam Period
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 35: Exam Period
“Haaaah.”
Choi I-seo, finally having calmed down, let out a long breath and stroked her chest. Perhaps it was because she was in such good shape, but her breathing wasn't even labored despite having rained down hammer fists just moments ago.
“I’m the only one who’s a wreck here.”
When I pointed out the marks of my suffering from being her punching bag, she looked a bit sheepish and offered a hesitant apology.
“S-Sorry. I got a bit carried away without realizing it.”
Well, at least she’d calmed down. That was a relief.
A brief silence followed.
Having regained her composure, I-seo seemed to take my previous words as some kind of joke. She idly scratched the surface of the desk with her fingernail. It looked like she was feeling both sorry and embarrassed for losing her cool and swinging her fists so recklessly.
“First off, can you tell me why you thought Seo Ye-rin and I were sex friends?”
Since it seemed like everything that needed to be said had been said, I asked for an explanation. I-seo glanced at me before finally speaking.
“Because… because you had a semi-nude photo of Ye-rin.”
“…?!”
That actually caught me off guard.
My back snapped straight, and my entire body tensed up. Seeing my expression twist into something bizarre, I-seo nodded with a look of absolute certainty.
“I knew it. That really was Ye-rin.”
“N-No… wait.”
“Remember at the pork cutlet place when I asked what you were looking at? You were looking at a semi-nude photo then.”
“Ah, that was because I told you that you weren't a turn-on…”
I shut my mouth the moment I saw I-seo clench her fist. If I let this conversation drag on any longer, it wouldn't be over by the time class started.
“I didn't know back then. But when I saw Ye-rin changing in the gym locker room recently, it just clicked.”
“Ah…”
A low exclamation escaped my lips.
Finally—truly, finally—the puzzle pieces were falling into place.
“But since you two don't look like you're dating… I wondered if you were in that kind of relationship.”
“Hah.”
“I thought… maybe that’s how male-female relationships can turn out in college, unlike in high school.”
How was I supposed to explain this?
I racked my brain, then let out a sigh and held out my phone.
“First of all, I don't have a photo like that. Go ahead, look through my gallery.”
She hesitated for a moment but eventually took the phone to check. I wasn't much of a photo-taker anyway, so there were hardly any pictures in the gallery to begin with.
It was a stroke of luck that I hadn't saved any of Seo Ye-rin’s photos.
“But I definitely saw it then?”
I began my explanation.
“Let me make one thing clear. Seo Ye-rin and I are not sex friends. We don't see each other as the opposite sex at all.”
At most, we’d recently become something like friends.
“Liar…”
I-seo pouted, her eyes full of suspicion, but I pushed forward.
“It’s true that I had a photo like that of her. But Ye-rin doesn't know she sent it to me.”
“Hmm?”
“I can't tell you how I got that photo. This isn't for my sake, but for hers. But I’ll tell you one thing for sure.”
“…”
“Everyone has secrets they find hard to tell others. If you’re her friend, just pretend you didn't see it and move on. If you can't do that, then don't bother getting involved with her.”
“W-Wait a second.”
Startled by my firm stance, I-seo jumped to her feet.
“What do you mean by that? Are you telling me to cut her off?”
“I’m just putting it in extreme terms. If you feel disgusted by people like that, then just don't deal with her.”
While Seo Ye-rin’s behavior certainly wasn't ideal, everyone has a side they want to hide from others.
The fact that she had to become Anonymous 69 to vent her desires meant she was backed into a corner in her life as 'Seo Ye-rin.' Knowing that, I continued to hang out with her while pretending not to notice.
“…”
I-seo glared at me, clearly dissatisfied with my answer, but she eventually let out a sigh.
“Just confirm one thing. There really isn't anything more to the relationship between the three of us than what I know, right?”
“We have a Tuesday morning lecture together, so we eat lunch. If we’re bored, we go to a PC Bang, and we work out together for an hour.”
That was the extent of it.
“There’s nothing more than that. I’m not lying.”
When I spoke with such finality, she brushed back her bangs and finally nodded.
“Fine, okay. I’ll believe you.”
“…Really?”
To be honest, I thought it would be hard for her to believe me even after I said it. After all, the mere fact that I’d seen a semi-nude photo of Ye-rin was enough to raise suspicion.
“Sigh, I’m believing you because you’re the one saying it. I’ll treat Ye-rin like I always do, and I’ll just ignore what I saw.”
“That’s impressive.”
She was actually accepting this?
In that moment, I felt a renewed sense of respect for Choi I-seo.
“However!”
Standing up, I-seo looked down at me and gave a stern warning.
“Don't you dare try to use this to do anything weird to Ye-rin. Got it? I really won't forgive you if you do.”
“Don't worry about that. I have no intention of saying anything to her either.”
“Phew, I’ll trust you. Because it’s you, and not anyone else.”
I felt like I was being trusted to an almost strange degree. I wondered if it was because I’d helped resolve the incident with Min-ji. I didn't think I’d done anything particularly grand back then, though.
She probably didn't know about Choi Seo-joon, Min-ji’s ex-boyfriend, since I’d handled that quietly.
‘It’s strange.’
Well, being trusted was a good thing.
I expressed my gratitude to I-seo for believing me and added one more thing.
“But if Seo Ye-rin makes the first move, I’m not saying no.”
When I declared this with a thumbs-up, I-seo actually curled her lip into a mocking smirk.
“To you? Ye-rin?”
“…Wow, the disrespect is real.”
*
“Sigh.”
Seo Ye-rin turned back from her path to the library after seeing the post on the Bamboo Forest.
Since it was exam period, finding a place to study was no easy task. She didn't want to go home, feeling like she wouldn't get any work done there.
‘A cafe… is too noisy. And the study cafes are probably all full too.’
She’d used studying as an excuse to distance herself from her friends and naturally shake off the guys who kept trying to talk to her. But now, she was just wandering around campus with nowhere to actually sit down.
She’d already finished half the coffee she’d bought to drink while studying.
Ye-rin was about to head toward the bus stop with a sigh when she spotted them.
“Are you sure you actually studied to get into this school?”
“You’ve been really harsh for a while now, you know.”
Two familiar faces were sitting at an outdoor table usually used for lunch, busy studying.
Choi I-seo and Kim Woo-jin.
“Oh.”
Ye-rin, who had been worried about the two of them growing distant lately, felt a smile spread across her face when she saw them hanging out like usual.
Before she knew it, she’d changed her course away from the bus stop and was heading toward them.
“Are you two studying?”
*
I could accept being caught by Choi I-seo to check the exam range and ending up studying even after lectures were over.
I could even accept Seo Ye-rin joining us after wandering around looking for a place to study.
After all, we were all preparing for midterms.
“Sigh, you can't translate this?”
“Woo-jin, you really need to memorize more vocabulary.”
But I didn't think I could stand the two of them pressuring me from the front and side about my English skills.
“Excuse me, but could you two just focus on your own work?”
When I glared at them while covering my notebook with both hands, Seo Ye-rin scratched the back of her head sheepishly, while Choi I-seo clicked her tongue.
“Idiots always try to protect their pride.”
“Were your grades even good in the first semester? Mine weren't that bad. I even had an A!”
When I snapped back at I-seo in annoyance, she pressed a hand to her forehead and replied.
“I had an A, too.”
“See—”
“The rest were all A+s.”
“…”
“Good grief, don't let your weird pride get in the way and just ask if you have questions. I can already see your future where you claim you're enlisting in the military because your GPA tanked.”
“Pfft.”
“You laughing?”
When I glared at the laughing Ye-rin, I-seo, sitting next to me, immediately pushed my head down with her hand to make me look at my notes.
“Study.”
“Dammit.”
I could feel the gap in our levels just from our notebooks. I was using the kind of notebook you’d find at a corner stationery store, while these two were using laptops or tablets, looking like actual college students.
Not that I was studious enough to use things like that.
I tried to focus on my studies again, but then…
“Hey! Loser! What are you doing?!”
A unique voice and a distinct fruity scent suddenly enveloped me, and I felt a weight on my shoulders.
I whipped my head around to see Yoo Ah-rin, who seemed to have been passing by, laughing as she pressed down on my shoulders with both hands.
“I-seo’s here too? Hi!”
“Hey.”
“Ye-rin, I thought you were going to the library. Did you fail?”
“Yeah, it was packed.”
The moment she appeared, it felt like the atmosphere shifted entirely toward Yoo Ah-rin. It was annoying how she kept her hands on my shoulders, but I tried to focus on my work.
“Is the loser actually studying?”
“Get lost if you don't want to die.”
“Well, if your face is a loser, you should at least be good at studying.”
After saying that, she pulled her hands away and shoved her phone right in front of my nose.
“…!”
On the screen was a photo from the time we’d gone drinking with Senior Min Ju-hee and Yoo Ah-rin. It was a bizarre photo of the two of them, completely wasted, shoving wooden chopsticks up my nose.
“You…! When did you take this?!”
I immediately tried to snatch the phone, but Yoo Ah-rin had already skipped backward.
“Hehe.”
She covered her mouth with her phone, wearing a devious smile, and started to run.
“If you don't want this spread to the department group chat, go to the convenience store and buy me Pepero in five minutes! Loser!”
“Bullshit! Five minutes is more than enough time to smash your phone, tear you limb from limb, and scatter you across Gahyeon University!”
I jumped up and charged at Yoo Ah-rin, who began to lead me on a chase, circling around the tables.
But who was I?
I was a man who ground through workouts with the human weapon, Choi I-seo.
“Hahaha! That tickles!”
I managed to catch her in no time. But just as I was about to forcibly take the phone from the struggling girl…
“…”
“…”
The icy glares of the two women sitting at the table were piercing right through me.