Chapter 524: Reminiscing
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 524: Reminiscing
Explaining the situation with Seo Da-mi didn't take long.
It wasn't like there was some grand, epic saga to tell in the first place. If you added up all the time we’d actually spent together, it wouldn't even fill an hour.
However, because the content was so impactful and destructive that it transcended the concept of time, everyone looked a bit dazed.
"She’s your fan?"
Yoo Ah-rin asked, her face full of disbelief.
As I nodded while holding Yu-na, Yoo Ah-rin let out a hollow, bewildered laugh.
"Ha, a Kim Woo-jin fan? Is she mentally unstable or something? Right, Chae-rin?"
Ah-rin lifted the baby she was holding, Chae-rin, to face her. Then, she started giggling and acting cute toward the infant.
"Sigh... This is so far beyond anything I could have imagined that I don't even know what to say."
Choi I-seo let out a long sigh while holding Seo-woo. Seeing Seo-woo pat her arm as if comforting his mother, I-seo managed a small smile.
But she immediately turned her gaze back to me and spoke.
"That’s one thing. But you need to understand this clearly. It’s a fact that she crossed the line, and someone who asks for photos like that could be considered a stalker."
"Can you really call it stalking if the person sends the photos themselves?"
Yoo Ah-rin tilted her head and muttered from the side, but Choi I-seo pointedly ignored her and continued.
"Woo-jin, I get that she likes you as a fan. But strictly speaking, that could have been a very dangerous situation."
"...Yes."
Why was this happening?
At some point, I found myself kneeling on the floor.
Yu-na, sitting on my lap, giggled as if she were enjoying the show.
"If this were the past, it wouldn't matter. Sure, you were a junior in college, so it could happen."
"Back then, it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't give a damn about each other."
"Ah-rin, the kids are listening."
When Choi I-seo stopped mid-sentence to give a warning, Yoo Ah-rin gasped and covered her mouth.
"Oh my, sorry babies. Mommy is trying to use gentle words in front of you."
"Kyaa!"
Fortunately, the children weren't old enough to understand yet, so they didn't react much.
Still, I’d have to be careful later on.
"Ahem, back to the point. If you were a junior in college, it’s understandable. It would be weirder not to feel a little flutter when someone says they're your fan."
"True. When I was doing Neutube, I felt surprisingly proud and wanted to buy things for people who said they were my fans."
I really wanted to give her a noogie for that commentary.
Why was she being so obnoxious?
"But you’re a father now. A father of three children, no less. I don't want to speak ill of Seo Da-mi, and she hasn't actually caused any major harm, but you still need to be cautious."
"Yes, ma'am..."
"What would happen to our kids if something happened to you? And what about us?"
"...You're right."
I nodded reflexively.
Choi I-seo wasn't just talking about Seo Da-mi.
Right now, Seo Da-mi was just a junior from school, but what if a truly dangerous person decided to deceive me by claiming to be a fan?
I realized there was a decent chance I might actually fall for it.
Just then.
"Uuuugh, is Woo-jini here?"
Seo Ye-rin, who had been sleeping by the front door, came crawling toward us.
She had been wrapped in a blanket and tied up with a jump rope, but seeing as she was moving just fine, it seemed it really had just been a "concept."
"Kyaa!"
Yu-na, who had been in my arms, immediately crawled toward her mother. Seo Ye-rin hugged Yu-na and showered her with kisses.
"Oh, my little Yu-na. How are you so good at crawling? Shall we crawl together?"
Seo Ye-rin started crawling around with her. Watching them, I couldn't tell if she was playing well with the kids or if she was just enjoying herself.
Eventually, Seo Ye-rin crawled all the way over to me. Resting her head on my thigh, she asked, "But what's going on?"
"Well, you see—"
Choi I-seo explained the situation to Seo Ye-rin on my behalf. After hearing the whole story, Seo Ye-rin nodded with a blank expression.
"Wow, what a throwback. Right, Woo-jini fought those seniors to protect me back then. It was at that gopchang house."
Since we were talking about why she became a fan, the conversation naturally drifted toward those old days.
"Whoa, seriously. That’s a total blast from the past."
Yoo Ah-rin, who wasn't taking the situation very seriously, chuckled and nodded.
"I was the one who told him about that gopchang place. I found out he was the Manager when I stayed over at Kim Woo-jin's house."
"What? Ah-rin, you knew back then? I only found out during the festival."
As the two women laughed and chatted, Choi I-seo grumbled slightly.
"...I found out really late."
That was true.
Choi I-seo had been the last to know by a long shot.
She shot me a pouting look.
But it couldn't be helped; Choi I-seo didn't have much to do with the Bamboo Forest back then.
"Back then, Kim Woo-jin was all like, 'I'm a social misfit,' acting like a total—ah..."
Yoo Ah-rin cut herself off and slapped her own mouth repeatedly.
Seo Ye-rin and Choi I-seo frowned simultaneously while covering the children's ears.
"Watch your language in front of the kids, you idiot!"
"Ah-rin, please. What if the kids pick that up?"
Choi I-seo went as far as snatching Chae-rin out of Yoo Ah-rin's arms to hold the baby herself.
Yoo Ah-rin shut her mouth, unable to say a word.
Her habit of speaking recklessly in front of the kids was definitely something that needed fixing.
Still, since I was her husband...
I continued the nostalgia trip to divert the arrows aimed at Yoo Ah-rin.
"I ruined the mood at that gopchang place by fighting those seniors. Then Yoo Ah-rin kept acting up, so I made her a Bamboo Forest Moderator starting from then."
"So that's when it started."
Seo Ye-rin nodded in understanding.
Then, a question suddenly occurred to me.
"But Ye-rin, weren't you gone by then? I asked Chan-woo to take you out of there."
I had used Chan-woo to save Seo Ye-rin back then. I wondered how she knew what happened.
"Hehe, that's a secret! Right, Yu-na?"
But Seo Ye-rin had no intention of telling me, giggling as she held Yu-na.
She sure had a lot of secrets.
"The festival was next. I'm saying this now, but Choi I-seo was flirting up a storm with me at the festival. Seriously, don't even get me started. She kept asking me on dates—"
Thwack! Thwack!
Choi I-seo immediately kicked my leg. Her face was flushed with embarrassment, while Seo Ye-rin and Yoo Ah-rin smirked.
"No way! Was I-seo already conquered back then? What a pushover!"
"Damn, that was fast. You look like the type to have the strongest 'iron wall,' but you crumbled the fastest."
"I did have an iron wall. For other guys."
Ahn Hyun-ho suddenly flashed through my mind.
Well, he’s doing fine with Gyu-a now, so I guess it all worked out.
Though I might get scolded later for my slip of the tongue regarding the drinking party earlier.
"Back then, Kim Woo-jin was also like, 'I'm never doing a Campus Couple thing again. I'm too scared to love someone.' He actually said crap like that."
"Pfft!"
"Too scared to love someone? Yet you have three wives and three girlfriends. Good grief, you're the scary one."
"..."
I felt like I was going to die of embarrassment.
With my face turning beet red, my head naturally slumped forward.
After that, we spent quite a while reminiscing about the past.
How Seo Ye-rin found out my identity during the festival and how we spent our first night together.
How Choi I-seo realized it and came to my room, but I threw the condoms out the window and we just slept holding hands.
How Yoo Ah-rin asked me to pretend to be her fake boyfriend because of Pyo Jin-ho, but I just flat-out told everyone I wasn't her boyfriend.
And so on.
I felt a sense of pride realizing how many things had happened, and the more we talked, the less strange it felt that I had a fan.
I’m pretty damn cool.
"Look at him, his shoulders are already bunching up."
"Woo-jini is cool!"
"Sigh, it's going to be exhausting if he gets too full of himself."
But what could I do?
I really was damn cool.
"But Woo-jin, you really lived a busy life."
Seo Ye-rin muttered, seemingly fascinated as she listened to the stories.
"You seduced three women without taking a single break?"
"Pfft! You're right! Seriously, this guy didn't study at all in college, he just chased girls. That's why he has three kids at this age."
"Tsk, that's true, Woo-jin."
"...That's unfair."
It just happened that way as I lived my life; I never specifically tried to seduce anyone.
"In the first place, weren't you the ones who refused when I said we should stop?"
I clearly remember going around to each of them during the 2nd-year MT and saying we should end this, but they all ignored me.
"Do you not remember what you said the next day after saying that?"
Choi I-seo shook her head, pressing a hand to her forehead.
Yoo Ah-rin even reached out her hand, imitating my past self.
"I love all three of you! Sincerely!"
The moment she heard that, Seo Ye-rin burst into fits of laughter.
"Do you remember how Ah-rin and I-seo's fists flew at the same time back then? I thought I was watching Superman and Batman. Their teamwork was perfect!"
I didn't remember that.
Because I got hit and blacked out immediately.
My only memory from that time was waking up in the hospital.
Just as the trip down memory lane was about to start up again...
Vrrr! Vrrr! Vrrr!
A phone started vibrating.
— Junior Seo Da-mi —
It was Seo Da-mi, the culprit who started today's conversation.
The moment they saw the name, the three women frowned and immediately looked at each other.
"Who wants to take it?"
"Isn't I-seo good at this kind of thing?"
"If I take it, I'll probably just start swearing."
"..."
Apparently, me answering the phone wasn't even an option. In the end, Choi I-seo, who could dismantle someone calmly without using harsh words, answered the call on speakerphone.
— Hello? Woo-jin Senior! Are you perhaps—
"This isn't Woo-jin. It's Woo-jin's wife."
"Shit."
"Bam!"