Chapter 123: The Three Idiots
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 123: The Three Idiots
“Do you… love our Taemin very much?”
“No. Hey! What the hell are you doing!”
I scrambled to stop him, but to my surprise, it was my girlfriend who held me back.
It was Doah.
“…Oppa. Hold on.”
The moment her fingers touched my shoulder, I couldn't resist any longer and had to let Hyunsu be.
But I had a feeling this was doomed from the very first sentence.
I had no idea where this conversation was going, and a cold sweat began to bead on my forehead.
“I do like Taemin oppa. Of course.”
“So, even if Taemin is a little… lacking… can you still love him?”
My friends snickered behind him.
Doah looked at me with a puzzled expression.
With a hesitant look, Doah nodded.
“Oppa, I don't think he's lacking at all, but even if he did have some flaws, I'm sure I could understand.”
No, Doah.
Don't take these assholes seriously!
But Hyunsu looked so dead serious that Doah seemed to be taking his words to heart.
“Hoo… Then, Doah-ssi.”
Hyunsu adjusted his glasses with his fingertip, a classic move for a glasses-wearer.
“Brace yourself for what I'm about to say.”
“…Yes.”
I couldn't take it anymore and tried to clamp a hand over Hyunsu's mouth, but Doah blocked me.
“He said he has something to say. Why do you keep cutting him off, Oppa?”
“No, I’m serious, you don’t need to listen to a word that bastard says!”
“If it’s really nothing, then there’s no harm in hearing him out, is there?”
Her clear eyes, armed with logic, pointed out the flaw in my argument, and I had no choice but to surrender.
“Doah-ssi. Taemin…”
Hyunsu squeezed his eyes shut.
“The truth is, there’s someone else he’s liked for a very long time.”
“Hey! You son of a bitch!”
The curse finally exploded from my lips.
But there was something more important than beating up Hyunsu.
“…Huh?”
A look of complete confusion.
“Wh-what do you mean by that?” Doah stammered, genuinely flustered.
“I don’t think Taemin ever meant to deceive you, but as his friend, I just can’t bear to see him go down the wrong path…”
If you cut it off like that, she’s going to misunderstand!
“Taemin! Apologize, right now!”
Hyunsu pointed at me as if to say, ‘Confess your sins!’ and I felt a surge of murderous rage toward him.
Our raised voices drew stares from the other customers, and a waiter hovered nearby, uncertain whether they should intervene.
“…Let’s take this outside.”
Hyunsu bowed his head, maintaining his dead-serious act to the very end.
Gyuho was cackling as if the situation was the funniest thing he’d ever seen, while Seongjin glanced back and forth between me and Doah with a peculiar expression.
It was a bright winter afternoon.
After we finished lunch and stepped outside, the streets were filled with people wandering about.
We ended up at an ice cream shop.
The guys each ordered their usual, and I told them to go upstairs first, saying I would pay.
“…Doah.”
She hadn't said a single word since we left the restaurant.
She was clearly sulking, bothered by Hyunsu's bullshit.
“…Is it true?”
“Of course not! How could that possibly be true?”
“Then why would he say something like that? Are your friends such jerks that they’d pull a cruel prank on someone they just met?”
…Ugh, my blood pressure's spiking.
But calling my friends a bunch of idiots right now wouldn't do my own reputation any favors, since I was the one who brought them.
Unsure where to begin, I leaned in close to give her a quick, clean summary of the facts.
“Can you lean in a little?”
She gave me a suspicious look but readily leaned in.
“First, that person I supposedly like. The one they were talking about.”
“…Yes.”
“They’re talking about Luka. They’re saying that because they think I’m dating a Luka look-alike in real life.”
Doah blinked, a dumbfounded look on her face.
It seemed to be taking her a moment to process what I’d just said.
“Uh… H-huh…?”
Doah pointed a finger at her own face.
I nodded vigorously in affirmation.
“Yes, yes. Right. You. You’re her!”
“Uh… Sir! Is there anything else you need?”
The clerk called out to us, their ice cream now ready.
“Ah. Then we’ll have…”
When I went upstairs with a tray of five ice creams, the three of them greeted us with solemn faces, as if they’d been conspiring again.
“Doah-ssi.”
This time, the one sitting in the middle was Hyunsu, the king of beating a dead horse.
“Yes.”
Perhaps thanks to my explanation, Doah responded to his call in a much calmer voice.
“You know that Taemin likes… anime and manga, right?”
“Of course. I like them too.”
The guys seemed surprised by the unexpected answer, but after a dry cough, Hyunsu continued with a look that said, even better.
“Well… there’s this VTuber that Taemin has been telling us he likes for a really long time. Ah, you might not know what a VTuber is. It’s a streamer who uses a character avatar for their broadcasts.”
“I know what a VTuber is.”
Just as we'd been talking downstairs, they must have planned their next move, because Gyuho took over.
“Taemin likes this person named Luka, and she’s incredibly similar to you, Doah-ssi. The way she talks, and in many other ways.”
“And?”
Her tone was as calm as a lake.
Having regained her composure, Doah’s voice was now distinctly different from Luka’s.
It was calmer, and it held a sense of conviction.
“We were worried this might become a problem for your relationship later, and as you know, Taemin can be a bit awkward. So we thought it would be better if you knew…”
I was touched, but I also wanted to smack them on the head.
If what they were imagining was true, then I would definitely be doing something terrible to Doah.
If I'd hidden it from her, I'd be a real piece of trash.
I’d have done the same, trying to talk sense into any of them if they said they were dating some streamer's doppelgänger.
But since that wasn't the reality of the situation…
Rather than argue with them, I wanted to let Doah handle it.
“…So you’re saying Oppa has liked this Luka person for a very long time?”
“…That is correct.”
“Is she popular?”
The three idiots turned to gauge each other's reactions.
“Yes. She’s doing really well these days.”
“In the VTuber world, she’s pretty much top-tier!”
“Ah. But I definitely don’t think she’s more charming than you, Doah-ssi.”
Seongjin, perhaps wanting to defend me, added one last comment, but I couldn't tell if it was helping or hurting my case.
“Hmmm…”
Doah nodded as if she found it interesting.
“I see.”
They were the ones who started this mess, but now they were nervously trying to backpedal, frantically throwing out comments to fix the situation.
“Ah! But even if Taemin has that side to him, he said he really likes you, Doah-ssi.”
“That’s right. And we think you definitely have your own unique charm, Doah-ssi… haha…”
“As for me,”
Doah gently closed her eyes.
“I don’t mind if Taemin oppa continues to like that VTuber or whatever she is.”
She met my eyes, as if making sure I heard her clearly.
“Because I’m confident.”
A playful smile formed on her lips.
“Confident that he’ll come to like me more than that Luka person.”
I knew exactly what she meant, so I was fine, but the reaction from across the table was…
Yeah, “utterly shell-shocked” was the best way to describe it.
Hyunsu dropped the pink spoon he was holding, and Seongjin glared at me with a horrified expression.
“So it’s okay! Thank you for your concern.”
After that, they dropped the subject.
[Hey. Han Taemin. I take back what I said about her being too good for you.]
[Why lolololololol]
[Fuck, I had such a massive cringe attack earlier, you have no idea.]
[Seriously, Doah-ssi is a fucking angel. A goddamn saint. Covering for a psycho simp like you.]
[Hey, who are you calling a psycho? By that logic, this whole chat is an insane asylum.]
[Is this what a difference in looks can do? Seriously feels like there's an insurmountable wall between us;;]
[lolololololol but if she can put up with that, just marry her. Seriously, there aren't many people who would accept that.]
[Ah... seriously, she's too good for that idiot Han Taemin. Next time I see Doah-ssi, I'm definitely going to tell her to run and break up with him immediately.]
[Shut up. I'm not kidding, I was sweating buckets trying to clean up the mess you guys made today.]
[Fuck that, I'm not sending you any money. You're the one with a girlfriend, you can pay. Later.]
I put down my phone and gently kissed the forehead of Doah, who was sleeping beside me.