Chapter 122: Friends
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 122: Friends
The moment Doah’s sneeze ended, Gyuho and Seongjin’s eyes met.
“...Huh?”
Their slightly surprised voices were what made my own body freeze.
“Hey. This is...”
Seongjin trailed off.
A sense of foreboding trickled down my skin.
No way. Don’t tell me they figured it out just from that?
“...Hm?”
Doah herself, seemingly unaware of the source of this strange atmosphere, simply turned her head to look at me.
“Wow... Han Taemin...”
Gyuho’s eyes weren’t particularly large, but the hostility within them was unmistakable.
“You and I are having a talk later.”
All sorts of thoughts raced through my mind.
“Huh? Why?” Doah asked, not grasping the situation. The guys just waved their hands dismissively, saying it was nothing.
Sitting on what felt like a bed of nails, I had to consider the worst-case scenario.
Really? For real?
Were they such hardcore members of the Pink Army that they could recognize her from a single sneeze?
My already fragile mentality cracked with a loud shatter.
“Aww, no way~ Doah-ssi, what do you like about Taemin?”
Meanwhile, Hyunsu, seemingly the only one who hadn’t caught on, just stared blankly at the others.
“Taemin oppa is, well... for one thing... he’s incredibly good to me, and...”
Doah wasn’t given any more time to ponder her identity.
My friends kept throwing questions at her, and she could only answer them one after another, as if she were playing a tower defense game.
“Ah. Yes. Most people in our department at school know him.”
“Ooh... really? Then wasn’t Taemin popular at school?”
I rarely ever brought up college in front of these guys, so I immediately thought, Oops.
“Um... I guess so? It’s a little embarrassing to say this myself, but... Oppa... is pretty handsome, so... yeah...”
Doah fidgeted with her fingers, embarrassed to be praising me, while I could only watch my friends’ expressions sour in real time.
“Wow. You. All that crap about having no popularity and just hiding away was a total lie.”
“I knew it~ We were the idiots for falling for Han Taemin’s words again.”
No.
I really did try my best to live quietly.
It’s not exactly easy to act cold toward others, aiming for a state that’s neither positive nor negative.
Do you guys have any idea how hard it is to keep a straight face all the time?
Just as I let out a deep sigh, the food arrived, and I was truly grateful.
A plate of pasta was placed in front of each of us.
A large pizza, cut into eight slices, also came out.
Without anyone needing to say a word, the guys dug in. Doah just blinked, watching them eat so fervently.
“Uh... you must have been very hungry...”
My friends just chewed their food, not saying a word.
It was clear Doah had no immunity to the way guys interact with each other.
“Huh? Doah-ssi, you should eat too!” Gyuho answered, stretching a long string of cheese from his slice.
Before the guys could unconsciously invade Doah’s share, I placed a slice of pizza on her plate.
“Doah. You can just relax and eat.”
These bastards have been like this since we were eating school lunches.
And honestly, I wasn’t much different from them.
Even when we go to a restaurant, we’ll be chatting away, but the moment the food arrives, silence falls.
It was partly the act of eating itself, but if we were sharing a dish, that day would turn into a battle to claim your share.
“Mmm... this is delicious...”
I gave her pizza to eat, but she was busy nibbling on the breadsticks.
I considered chiding her, but seeing her beaming smile, I picked up my own fork as well.
“Ah, that was good.”
Seongjin’s plate was wiped clean.
He ate so neatly there was barely any sauce left on the bottom.
“Oh...? You’re already finished?”
Doah’s pasta was still about half-full.
It was obvious she’d try to rush, thinking she was holding everyone up again, so I tried to preemptively smooth things over.
“Doah, take your time. These guys just eat really fast.”
“Ah, but still...”
“It’s fine! Doah-ssi! Please, eat slowly!”
Despite our words, Doah seemed self-conscious and focused on eating rather than talking. The guys, having completely forgotten what I’d just said, launched into some hardcore otaku talk.
“Any good new anime this year?”
“Hiki the Rock was fun.”
“Huh? Isn’t that just a bunch of girls laughing and giggling?”
When a topic they liked came up, these guys had no brakes.
If it were just the four of us guys, I would have joined in on the impassioned debate, but today, I had someone to look after.
I refilled Doah’s empty glass with water.
“Drink some water. You might choke.”
“Thank you.”
She was eating so earnestly she didn’t even notice the sauce on her mouth.
She must have been bothered by the fact that she was the only one not finished.
“Hold on.”
I took a napkin and wiped the corner of her mouth. A sudden, deep silence fell over the once-boisterous other side of the table.
“...What.”
The chilly air compounded my embarrassment.
“Ah... seriously... Han Taemin... have some manners. We came because you invited us, but still, man.”
“Ugh... it’s painful to watch... I’m so jealous... Jeez...”
Meanwhile, Seongjin, biting his lip and glaring at me as if he genuinely wanted to kill me, kept stealing my attention.
Alright! I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!
In the end, Doah managed to finish her meal quickly. She excused herself to go to the restroom and left the table.
The moment my friends confirmed Doah had disappeared down the hall, the atmosphere shifted dramatically.
As if on cue, the three of them clasped their hands, rested their elbows on the table, and leaned forward like the Three Admirals from that one manga.
“...Taemin-kun.”
Gyuho, sitting in the middle, lowered his voice.
“I thought you were at least a decent human being.”
I knew he was just being dramatic, but the tension shot up anyway.
“See? I told you. I knew this bastard would cause trouble someday! A guy with that face acting like that? I knew he was planning to score big someday!”
As this baseless rumor spilled from Seongjin’s mouth, Hyunsu, sitting on the right, chimed in.
“Poor Doah-ssi... what is she going to do...”
...Poor Doah?
That statement seemed quite contradictory.
Why would Doah be pitiful?
His next words immediately made me understand why.
“I know you’re a diehard Luka fanboy, but still! How could you bring a girl who’s like a cheap knockoff of Luka-tan!”
Gyuho’s fist slammed down on the table, making the cola in the glasses ripple like a wave.
“Hear, hear! What are you going to do if your girlfriend finds out about this, Han Taemin? Huh? Don’t you think this crosses a line, as a human being?”
Seongjin also protested vehemently, as if he couldn’t possibly forgive my transgression.
“Hey... even though we’re friends... haa... You shouldn’t be doing this.”
It was better than them mistaking her for the real Luka, I guess...
Still, being framed as a piece of trash wasn’t a pleasant feeling.
“It’s not like that. We’re just together because we get along well. It’s not because she looks like Luka.”
“Hey. You remember how yesterday we saw Doah-ssi’s picture and wondered why a guy like you would settle for her? Seeing her in person today, it was immediately obvious.”
The most direct way to clear this up would be to tell them she isn't a lookalike but the real person.
But having become their punching bag, I just closed my eyes, as if to say, Go on, keep hitting me.
“Hey, you. Huh? What are you going to do if, by some chance, the real Luka-tan appears in front of you and says she likes you?”
“Like that would ever happen. Right?”
I really didn’t know either.
That something like that would actually happen to me!
My friends passionately argued, using an event that had already occurred as a hypothetical.
They were so worked up, it felt like their spit would fly onto my face any second.
“Hey! But still, as a decent human being, you have to at least tell Doah-ssi that you like Luka-tan!”
A familiar silhouette stopped in front of our table.
Time seemed to slow down.
The four of us froze completely, like a paused video.
Our reflections were captured in Doah’s dark brown eyes.
“...What were you talking about?”
The Three Otakus, who had been leading the charge just moments ago, were silent.
Doah’s face turned to me, as if demanding accountability.
“What were you talking about? Oppa?”
Her informal tone felt incredibly sharp.
I swallowed hard.
“Ah, there’s just this streamer named Luka. We were talking about her...”
“Then why did my name come up? I’m pretty sure I heard you say ‘Doah-ssi’.”
“That’s...”
My brain wasn’t working properly, and I couldn’t come up with a proper answer.
It seems like Doah is misunderstanding something, too... Ah... should I just let this...
“Doah-ssi.”
Hyunsu, his voice low, looked Doah straight in the eye.
“...There is something I must tell you.”
No! Fuck! Don’t do it!
Hey! What are you about to say!
Stop making that face like a determined companion in a shounen manga right before they die! You bastard!
Otakus sometimes have this tendency to think they sound cool when they say things like this.
And most of the time, those words just end up becoming a cringey memory.
...At Hyunsu’s words, Doah’s eyes widened.