Chapter 534: Double Booking
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 534: Double Booking
‘…Why am I so nervous about this?’
It was baffling.
The way my wives were looking at me right now was making me strangely tense.
I felt like a kid whose parents had pushed him into a new kindergarten, telling him to go make friends.
That dazed feeling, mixed with a heavy sense of expectation weighing down on me, wasn't exactly pleasant.
‘Is the reason I feel so pressured because I feel like I have to prove something?’
Their eyes were filled with a mix of anticipation and worry, as if they were desperate to see if I could actually get along with friends of the same sex.
I gingerly approached Kang Han-gang, who was busy at the grill, and offered a greeting.
"Yo... H-hey..."
"Yo? What the hell are you saying, you freaking weeb? Who greets people like that?"
"..."
Damn, he’s sharp, I thought. The bastard.
I took a look at how he was grilling the meat, and despite holding the tongs and scissors, he was doing a pathetic job.
"How can you be so bad at this?"
I frowned at the sight of the meat. It was painful to see such high-quality cuts being ruined.
"Hey, what? I’m doing a decent job."
I looked over and saw him diligently flipping the pink sausages he intended to eat himself.
"Don't guys like you usually go to pensions all the time and drink a lot? Shouldn't you be good at grilling meat?"
Even if Kang Han-gang was considered an idiot among us, he was still technically a 'social butterfly.' Even if his status had slipped a bit lately, he still had years of experience under his belt.
When I pointed at the awkwardly hacked-up pieces of meat and asked, Han-gang replied with total confidence.
"I never grilled the meat. I was too busy hanging out with the girls."
"How can someone be such a piece of trash so casually?"
"Woo-jin, no matter how much of a piece of trash I am, I didn't marry three women and get them all pregnant."
"...This meat is actually grilled quite well."
I immediately stuffed a piece of meat into my mouth and retreated. If the conversation headed in that direction, I was at an overwhelming disadvantage.
'Damn it, why does Kang Han-gang have to be right for once?'
Grumbling, I headed elsewhere.
Jeong Chan-woo and Pyo Jin-ho were together, deep in conversation with Choi Jin-ah.
"No, really! When I first started the violin, I couldn't make a sound. Even my teacher almost gave up on me. How old was I then? Six? Anyway, I was a total disaster at first!"
Jin-ah was brightly sharing stories from her past.
Chan-woo and Jin-ho listened with wide eyes, hanging on her every word. Usually, these guys couldn't care less about other people's stories, but Jin-ah’s tale was engaging enough to command their full attention.
Even I found myself stopping in my tracks, tilting my head in surprise.
'On stage, Jin-ah looks so incredible, like she was born with a violin in her hand.'
To think her start was so rocky.
"You were bad at it even though you're a genius?"
At Jin-ho’s skeptical question, Jin-ah nodded with a smile.
"Of course. Even when I practiced nine hours a day, I didn't improve. I honestly thought there was something wrong with my fingers."
"Nine hours?"
Chan-woo stuck his tongue out in disbelief.
Jin-ho seemed lost in thought as well; after all, he had once aimed for the national Taekwondo team before giving up.
"Anyway, it was really hard. People call me a genius, and I do believe I have some talent... but no matter what, effort is what matters!"
Jin-ah gestured with her chopsticks and took a bite of meat.
Immediately, the smile vanished from her face, replaced by a look of cold fury.
"Who is grilling this meat? What kind of dog-shit—"
"..."
Back when we practiced for the band, she would graciously overlook even our most ridiculous mistakes. Even when Kang Han-gang did something stupid that ruined a whole practice session and forced her to perform alone, she never used profanity.
"Seriously, this... Sigh. I am absolutely livid right now. This is crossing the line."
Fuming, Jin-ah marched straight toward Kang Han-gang. Seeing her clench and unclench her fists as if looking for a weapon, I decided to just keep walking.
Interfering over there right now would be suicide.
I thought I heard Han-gang scream behind me, but I ignored it.
Near the flower bed.
I saw three people who looked like they were enjoying the flowers in the dark of night.
Ahn Hyun-ho, his girlfriend Lee Gyu-a, and Oh Yun-ji were together.
It was a strange combination, but it looked like Yun-ji was giving Gyu-a some sort of advice.
On the other hand, Hyun-ho looked incredibly restless. He seemed worried that stories from his past might come up. After all, Yun-ji would only remember the Ahn Hyun-ho from the first semester of freshman year.
Back then, he was a total lost cause who hadn't quite shed his high school bully persona.
"So that's how you managed him?"
"I think I was a bit crazy back then too, but if I didn't go that far, I had no idea where he'd run off to."
"Ah, I think I need something like that. I have really bad anxiety—"
I listened in on what these two unlikely women were discussing. It seemed Yun-ji was teaching her the methods she used to 'manage' me back in the first semester.
"Well, if I tried that now, the other girls would probably hit me."
Yun-ji glanced my way with a shrug.
Since there were so many women now, the moment any one of them tried to establish a monopoly, a protocol was immediately triggered.
I decided to slip away quietly. If I went over there, I’d just end up hearing a bunch of old stories I didn't want to revisit.
However, Hyun-ho caught me as I tried to escape. Using me as an excuse to slip away from the two women, he asked:
"Hey, she's teaching Gyu-a some weird stuff. Gyu-a’s already been super controlling lately because of some weird jealousy."
"Controlling? Give me a break."
"No, I'm serious. I have a curfew. I have to text her when I go to bed and even send selfies."
"Why are you living like you're back in the military when you've already been discharged?"
Was Gyu-a really that obsessed?
When I asked with a bewildered expression, Hyun-ho sighed and slapped his forehead.
"Well, Gyu-a has a reason to be like that. To be honest, I kind of... Ahem."
"What did you do?"
"Senior Han-gang and Jin-ho kept—you know, telling me to go out and play in secret. They said I was a traitor if I didn't."
"..."
"I got caught a few times, so Gyu-a’s regulations got a bit strict."
Why do I keep forgetting? At the end of the day, even if he’s been with his girlfriend for a long time, this guy is still just one of the idiots.
"Just go die."
"Hey, I only went out for drinks. I didn't act like a prick just because I have money like some people."
"..."
"..."
These bastards. They kept poking at my weak spots.
"Then why don't you go tell Gyu-a? Tell her the reason she's so anxious is because you used to be a three-timer."
"...Kim Woo-jin, you're really crossing the line."
"You crossed it first, you bastard."
By now, this kind of dialogue was basically the equivalent of a morning greeting between us.
While we were busy hurling insults at each other, Gyu-a called Hyun-ho, and he scurried back to her.
"Ahem."
Feeling a bit awkward, I returned to Seo Ye-rin’s side. The girls were already standing there, holding the children.
At first, it seemed like they wanted to watch me play, but at some point, they had just started eating meat and chatting amongst themselves. Choi Jin-ah had joined them too.
"Agoo! Agoo! It's your auntie! Auntie!"
Jin-ah tried to feed the kids some meat but was immediately stopped. Still, unlike the 'idiots,' she wasn't banned from approaching them entirely.
By the way, the Bald Man was the one grilling the meat now. I tried a piece, and he was so good at it that I wondered if there was anything he couldn't do. Since he had no hair, he was also the most superior among us in terms of hygiene.
"Ahem, I'm back."
"Ooh."
As soon as I returned, Ye-rin scurried over and thrust Yu-na toward me.
"Yu-na Punch! Yu-na! Punch Daddy!"
"Pa! Pa-pa!"
I quickly pulled Yu-na, who was now calling me 'Pa-pa,' into my arms. Choosing her father's embrace over her mother's command, Yu-na rubbed her cheek against mine.
"...Yu-na, I taught you the punch."
"Why are you teaching a kid stuff like that?"
What is she, a Pokémon? Learning moves?
"But I don't want our Yu-na to get bullied when she goes to kindergarten."
"...She just turned one."
Kindergarten already? And with three of them, who would dare bully our kids? It’d be a relief if Chae-rin didn't take after her mother and go around kicking other kids.
Just then, Jin-ah approached me with a laugh.
"Woo-jin, make sure you brush your teeth after eating that meat! I don't want to kiss someone whose breath smells like garlic!"
She really had no filter in front of the kids.
Listening from the side, Ye-rin pouted and grumbled.
"I can kiss Woo-jin even if his breath smells like garlic!"
"Today is your night to sleep with the kids, though."
"...Yu-na! Yu-na Punch! Yu-na Punch!"
Ye-rin immediately tried to use Yu-na to hit me. As if she understood, Yu-na actually tapped my chest with her tiny, adorable hands.
Then, Choi I-seo, who had been listening quietly from behind, approached with a tilted head.
"Hmm? Woo-jin, I thought you were supposed to be with me tonight."