Chapter 30

Translator: True Detective

Chapter 30: Freshman Welcome Party (3)

"Haaaa..."

I locked the studio apartment door and threw my body onto the bed. The mattress springs bounced, accepting my exhausted body.

My heart is still pounding. The screams and shouts that burst from behind when I kicked open the pub door lingered in my ears like hallucinations.

'...F*cking dope.'

Anyway, escape successful.

I decided not to think about... what happened to Hyun-woo and the classmates left behind. Originally in war, there is no time to take care of stragglers. The survivor is the strong one.

'Sorry, friend. Be born as a fast rabbit in your next life.'

Catching my breath while looking at the ceiling, suddenly a sense of injustice rushed in.

'No f*ck, said 23 out of 30 men were absent.'

Those wise 23 people must have known this mess would happen and went into hiding. Didn't know the absence of information would be this painful. I should proudly add my name to that 'Missing Persons' list from now on. School my ass.

Buzz- Buzzzz- Buzz-

I took out the phone vibrating like a seizure from my pocket. It's that guy ringing constantly since earlier.

My eyes were dazzled as soon as I turned on the screen. It's on fire.

The department group chat was plastered with bullsh*t like [Finding Seol Jin-hyuk-nim], [Is a rabbit human?], and dozens of personal messages were piled up.

Among them, the one occupying the most overwhelming share was, as expected, my sister Seol Ji-hye.

Fortunate.

Because I blocked her notifications ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long ago. Otherwise, my thigh would have undergone necrosis from the vibration massage that continued for 4 hours.

"Wow..."

Breath blocked as soon as I opened the chat room.

Obsession is just stalker level. The b*tch who used to say "Hey, Seol Jin-hyuk, cook ramen" in the original world, is crying and making a fuss saying "Brother, are you hurt anywhere?" here.

Seeing the attitude about storming the school, if I checked a little later, she would have broken down the pub door accompanied by police cars and private security.

I clicked my tongue. Thankful for worrying, but can't help feeling suffocated.

Annoying to explain in detail. I moved my fingers and sent a short and bold survival report.

Send complete. This is enough. Means I returned alive.

Immediately the '1' disappeared and [Typing...] blinked crazily, but I lightly ignored it and pressed back.

Next is the problem place.

The chat window was truly chaos.

Regret and madness for missing me, and real-time public shaming towards the hostage Hyun-woo left behind.

Saying "Take care of our Hyun-woo-nim!" and pampering with words, but in reality broadcasting the scene and narrowing the siege. Double bind where kids at the scene hold Hyun-woo physically, and pressuring psychologically in the chat room.

'Wow... Hyun-woo that bastard.'

Can draw the picture imagining it. The image of the guy trembling holding a cider glass tightly with two hands at a table surrounded by women on all sides.

In this world, even just being him is treated like a baby prince amidst maids serving the queen bee.

Of course the problem is that prince is a 'hostage' who can only go home if he sells my information.

I quietly turned off notifications.

'Sorry Hyun-woo-ya. Eat that Shine Muscat well, and keep the secret.'

But with his weak mentality, wonder how long he can endure those venomous snake-like older sisters.

'How do I go to school next week...'

Headache rushed in already.

Buzz- Buzzzz-

The phone in my hand vibrated again like a seizure. The name on the screen was [Kind Southern Barbarian].

Seol Ji-hye.

I washed my face dry once and pressed the call button.

"Yeah."

— Brother! Are you okay? Nothing happened?

Urgent voice stabbed the eardrum over the receiver. Breathing rough, could feel instantly how anxious she was.

"Yeah, okay. Nothing special happened."

— Lie. Saw on Facebook earlier captures of Brother's department group chat spread everywhere. Really no one followed you? Where are you now?

"Said home. Studio apartment."

SNS is this scary. Spread already.

— Door? Locked the door? Check double lock. Close all windows too.

"Ah, locked. Locked I said. You're a high schooler just study why looking at such things."

Voice became prickly automatically from fatigue. But Ji-hye didn't stop.

— I'm on my way now.

"......?"

Brain freeze came instantly.

"...Where are you coming?"

— Brother's studio apartment. Took a taxi now. Almost there.

"Hey you crazy b*tch. Why come here leaving your house. Just go home."

— No. Going to check Brother's safety with my own eyes and leave. There are many weird b*tches near that pub. What if someone chased you?

"Ha... Really going crazy."

Dumbfounded, a hollow laugh came out.

"Don't come. I'm tired so going to sleep."

— Already paid taxi fee! Open the door, if not I'll press password and ent...

Click.

Said only what I wanted and hung up.

I stared blankly at the turned-off screen.

'Why did she become so obsessed...'

Seol Ji-hye of the original world was a punk who didn't care whether I died outside or slept on the street. Fortunate if she didn't rip me off asking to buy something for high school entrance gift.

But here ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she trembles like serving an ancestral tablet.

Sister becoming kind is good, but as a price my privacy disappeared.

Equivalent exchange is f*cked up, really.

"Eh, I don't know either."

I threw the phone to the corner of the bed and buried my face in the pillow.

Adding an epilogue to that day, afterwards I had to practically kowtow to my classmate, Park Hyun-woo.

The guy poured out trembling with rage about the living hell he experienced at the table left alone right after I ran away, the terrible times being surrounded by hundreds of women and subjected to conciliation and threats to blow my info.

Of course the guy poured all sorts of curses at me, but eventually accepted my apology.

The guy knew instinctively too. That without me in this crazy female-dominated society, the fire of interest would pour entirely on himself. Like that we became an inseparable community of destiny for each other's survival.

But separate from restoring relationship with Hyun-woo.

My college life got twisted from the start. Very properly.

School community app 'Bamboo Forest' installed out of curiosity.

The [HOT Board] list seen as soon as accessing was enough to turn my mental into powder.

Rumors became feet-less horses going a thousand li, and with distortion and fabrication added spread to ghost story level.

'Some crazy bastard entered Engineering.'