Chapter 94: Apartment
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 94: Apartment
“Yawn.”
The thing about jjimjilbangs is that while they’re great, your body always feels strangely heavy by the time you’re ready to head home.
Still, I felt good after a solid rest, and having sweated it out in the sauna, the refreshing afterglow remained.
Steam seemed to rise from my skin as I stepped into my house, carrying that faint, characteristic scent of sulfur.
Thanks to the warning text I’d received from Senior Ju-hee, I was currently highly motivated to get my assignment done.
I hadn’t been able to do anything for two days, but if I pulled an all-nighter, I should be able to catch up.
Besides, considering my editing speed was decent, it shouldn't be too difficult.
I’ll just grab my materials and head to the PC Bang.
Last time I tried editing video on my laptop at home, the lag was unbearable.
I went inside with the intention of emailing myself the video files and heading straight back out.
“You’re back?”
Lying on the mattress in my room, humming while scrolling through her phone, was Yoo Ah-rin.
I thought she’d gone home, so the moment I saw her still here, my face twisted into a scowl.
“What are you still doing here?”
When I asked as if demanding an explanation for why she hadn't left, Yoo Ah-rin glanced at me briefly before turning her eyes back to her phone.
“Just because. I didn't feel like going home. Besides, I don't have classes on Friday, so I’m just relaxing.”
“……”
“I cleaned the place up, by the way. It’s damn spotless.”
The place was definitely cleaner. She’d mentioned cleaning earlier, but I hadn’t expected her to work this hard at it.
“And you, those used tissues, you should really—”
“Alright! Don’t say it!”
“Hehe, you’re quite healthy, aren’t you, Woo-jin?”
“……Shit.”
When I forcibly cut her off from mentioning something that any man living alone would inevitably have, she let out a mischievous laugh.
I don’t know how she can joke about stuff like that so easily.
“Are you going to eat? I had some dried pollack soup.”
“No, I’m going to a PC Bang. Senior Ju-hee basically threatened me over the editing.”
At my words, Yoo Ah-rin sat bolt upright.
Her interest piqued, she hurriedly started fixing her clothes.
“Let’s go! I want to watch you edit!”
“……It’s faster if I do it alone.”
“Aw, come on, I’ll help. Please? Pretty please?”
If she was going to help, that changed things. Even just having someone handle the subtitles would make it much easier.
“Of course, my Master will buy me something to eat, right?”
Yoo Ah-rin approached me slowly, wagging her hips playfully. I thought she was only acting like that yesterday because she was drunk.
But seeing her today, it felt like the distance between us had shrunk significantly.
“You’ve been enjoying that ‘Master’ thing a bit too much lately.”
It started as a joke because of our roles as the Bamboo Forest Administrator and Moderator, but she’d been saying it a lot recently.
At my remark, Yoo Ah-rin’s expression shifted instantly, and she gave a nonchalant shrug.
“I have to do this so you won’t boss me around as much. Don’t you know you actually listen to me more when I call you Master?”
Did I?
“I guess that means your tastes lean that way, huh?”
She tapped my shoulder with a grin, as if she’d discovered a weakness. I felt a sudden urge to deny it.
“It’s just because I felt bad making you a manager. It has nothing to do with ‘tastes.’”
“So, it’s not Master’s type, then?”
“……Do we really have to keep talking about this?”
Even if Ah-rin and I usually traded insults, talking about this kind of stuff felt uncomfortable.
Seeing my reaction, Ah-rin shrugged, seemingly losing interest in pushing further.
Anyway.
Since we decided to go together, I transferred the files from my laptop to my email and headed to the PC Bang with her.
It was the Zero PC Bang where Chan-woo worked part-time, but he wasn't there—either it wasn't his shift or he had the day off.
“Bummer. I was hoping for some freebies.”
It seemed her relationship with Chan-woo was completely settled now, given that she actually sounded disappointed he wasn't there.
Seeing her like this left me with mixed feelings, but I suppose the two of them had reached their own conclusion and put a period on their relationship.
In the end, despite telling Chan-woo I’d help, I felt like I hadn't actually done anything for him.
We took seats in a corner of the PC Bang. Before starting the edit, since I hadn't eaten properly yet, I ordered some simple ramen and dumplings.
“Order me a roasted grain latte.”
“Buy it yourself.”
“Maaaaster!”
“Stop doing that. It’s giving me the creeps.”
“Maaaasteeeer!”
“Shit, I really want to flick you in the forehead.”
“You shitty master.”
After finishing our quick meal, I started editing with Yoo Ah-rin.
“Just put subtitles on the files I give you. That shouldn't be hard.”
“It’s not hard, just tedious, right?”
Spot on.
However, Yoo Ah-rin added the subtitles to the clips I passed her without a single complaint.
“Wouldn't it be better to use a different angle here?”
Surprisingly, she started offering various bits of editing advice.
“Can’t be helped. That’s the only angle I have for that part.”
“Why? I remember we filmed from a few different directions.”
“Because the other angles were filmed on my phone, and the quality difference was too noticeable.”
“Ah, right.”
“Senior Ju-hee’s phone battery died back then, so we didn't have a choice.”
As we chatted and worked, time flew by, and before we knew it, evening had arrived.
Phew, having Yoo Ah-rin help definitely made this go faster.
We’d made much more progress than I expected. Just having one extra person to handle the tedious manual labor significantly boosted the work speed, which was satisfying.
I didn't need to finish everything right now, but I planned to spend the whole day on the assignment just in case.
“Hey, you should probably head—”
I turned to tell Yoo Ah-rin to go home, only to find her already fast asleep.
“She must have been tired.”
Come to think of it, she’d woken up after a night of drinking, had a hangover meal, cleaned my place, and then helped me with this.
Feeling a bit guilty, I scratched the back of my head and thought for a moment.
I considered telling her to go home and sleep, but even if she woke up now, I couldn't walk her back yet.
“I’ll just finish up what I’m doing and then go.”
I decided to work for one more hour, take her home, and then come back to the PC Bang.
*
“Yawn.”
Yoo Ah-rin yawned as she stared intently at her phone. She’d been half-dazed and leaning on me while we walked earlier, but now she seemed to have woken up and was focused on something on her screen.
“Hey, do you know there’s a fight breaking out on the Bamboo Forest?”
“Are you looking at the Bamboo Forest right now?”
I couldn't tell if she was addicted to the community or if she just had a strong sense of responsibility.
Probably a bit of both.
“Anonymous 11 and Anonymous 288. These two are going at it.”
“Yeah, I saw earlier. They aren't trashing the board that badly. It’s Friday night, so not many people are on anyway, so I just left them be. It’s kind of entertaining to watch.”
“……You’re surprisingly lax with management, aren’t you?”
As if she wanted to block them both immediately, Yoo Ah-rin tapped her phone screen aggressively.
It looked like she was sending out a warning message telling them to stop fighting.
“It’s just a college community. As long as they don't get too filthy, I tend to take a hands-off approach.”
Unless it was gross pictures or someone distributing porn like a certain someone, I didn't really interfere much.
“But is this really okay?”
“It’s fine.”
“……They’re talking a lot of shit about you, though?”
“What?”
I immediately logged into the Bamboo Forest to check, and sure enough, several posts bashing me had gone up.
Even though they were the ones fighting on a Friday night, they were complaining about why I wasn't stopping them, and the conversation had devolved into insulting me.
Seeing that, I let out a hollow laugh and put my phone away.
“Well, that’s fine then. At least they’re just insulting me and ending it there.”
They probably don't even remember what they were fighting about anymore.
This is the true mindset of an administrator.
“Hmph. If someone insults me, I go straight for their throat.”
“I know. That’s why I’ve thought about banning you a few times but held back.”
“……”
Since she always jumped in to argue whenever someone insulted the manager, I’d been meaning to tell her.
“Just ignore it. It’s easier if you just think of it as a dog barking.”
They were anonymous comments anyway, and people usually insulted the admins for the most trivial reasons, so ignoring it was the best policy.
As we chatted about the Bamboo Forest, we arrived at Yoo Ah-rin’s place.
I’d wondered if she lived alone, but she lived in an apartment with her family.
I was about to see her off in front of the building, but Yoo Ah-rin just stood there, staring at me.
Wondering what was up, I looked back at her, and her face darkened as she glanced toward her home.
“How am I supposed to explain staying out last night?”
“……You haven't told them yet?”
“My dad and mom told me to come home and explain.”
“And you still spent all that time at the PC Bang with me?”
“I was only there because I’m dead if I go home.”
“If it were me, I would’ve gone straight back. If you’re going to die anyway, better to get it over with.”
Yoo Ah-rin ignored my advice, lost in her own thoughts. She crossed her arms and tapped her foot anxiously on the ground, looking quite desperate.
“Let’s put our heads together. What can I say to get in the least amount of trouble?”
“What is there to say? Just tell them the truth. You drank with female friends and blacked out. So you slept at a friend’s house, you’re sorry, and it won't happen again.”
“Come inside with me and help me explain.”
You’ve got to be kidding me.
“I’m sure they’d love it if a male friend walked in to explain for you.”
Maybe if she called one of her female friends. Bringing me along was a much worse move than going in alone.
But Yoo Ah-rin, growing more frantic, bit her nails, took a deep breath, and spoke.
“Let’s go in together. I have a plan.”
“Wait a second. I’m not doing that ‘pretend to be my boyfriend’ thing like last time, okay?”
“I know what you did to Pyo Jin-ho, you think I’d ask for that? It’s nothing big. Just come in for a second.”
“……I have a bad feeling about this.”
“I helped you with the subtitles today, and it was honestly so much easier for you, right? It was way faster than your usual speed, wasn't it?”
“That’s……”
She was right.
Subtitles weren't hard, just tedious.
Unable to win the argument, I cautiously followed Yoo Ah-rin into the house.
“Excuse me.”
“Come on in.”
The interior was just a typical family home.
One thing that caught my eye was a photo of a young Yoo Ah-rin in a Taekwondo dobok, performing a kick.
Her hair was blonde even back then, and unlike now, she looked quite cute.
The house was quiet even after we announced our arrival, making me wonder if her parents were extremely angry.
“Wait.”
How should I put it?
It was more like… I couldn't sense anyone’s presence at all.
As I stared at the master bedroom door, Yoo Ah-rin flopped onto the living room sofa and burst out laughing.
“Hahaha! My parents went on a trip. Japan, five days and four nights. Were you scared?”
“……”
“Go boil some ramen for me.”
This little bitch.