Areum Rushed Into My Arms and An Seonghyeon Fell to His Knees
The next day, after class.
I headed to the clubroom with my friends.
I gave the proposal one final review before the sunbaes arrived. The longer I stared at it, the more serious my expression became.
'What am I going to do about this? No matter how I look at it, it's clearly about me....'
A hikikomori protagonist who shut himself in after school violence.
Up to that point, I could let it slide.
It was a cliché that popped up in school-setting webtoons all the time.
But everything that came after, and the other elements — those were the problem.
Especially the comic's setting and the characters' appearances.
Until yesterday, I'd been so swamped with the deadline that I hadn't noticed, but looking again now, the characters looked way too much like our club members. I'd unconsciously used the club members as motifs and turned them into characters.
And the main stage of the comic was the anime club at Cheonggwang University — the very school I was attending. Sure, I'd changed the university name and club name, but the look of the buildings and the layout made it way too obvious.
'And now there's no way to revise it....'
The volume was already substantial. The sunbaes would be arriving soon, and revising at this point was physically impossible.
"Eugh. Do I have no choice...?"
Showing someone my past wasn't exactly something I was eager to do. It wasn't a bright, cheerful story, but rather a dark and unpleasant one.
But I didn't want to skip the very first club activity. Everyone else had worked hard to prepare — showing up empty-handed and being a burden on my own was something I couldn't tolerate.
I let out a sigh, my expression uneasy.
"Kkang-cheol, what's wrong? Something on your mind?"
Areum, who'd been sitting next to me reading a comic book, leaned in closer.
I stared blankly at Areum, thinking.
'Come to think of it, Areum kind of knows already, right?'
I'd briefly told her about my past at the coin laundry before. Areum was the only person at school who knew about my past.
'No, wait. Seong-hyeon knows too.'
Ahn Seong-hyeon, who had been lying on the couch sleeping ever since he got to the clubroom.
That bastard Seong-hyeon didn't just "know" — he was the one who'd witnessed the whole thing right next to me. There was no "telling him" or anything to even discuss.
"What is it? Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Umm...."
"Oh? Is it something serious?"
When I hesitated, Areum asked again with a worried expression.
Then she tilted her head.
"Gasp!"
She looked startled and blurted out,
"Did you get a girlfriend? So now you can't have sex with me?"
"Hey, you... Seong-hyeon is right here. What are you talking about? What if he hears?"
I frantically glanced at Ahn Seong-hyeon. Thankfully he was asleep, so it didn't seem like he'd heard.
I let out a sigh of relief, but Areum kept talking with a dead serious expression.
"This is a major crisis! How dare some bitch try to take my living dildo...!"
"Yah!"
I clamped my hand over Areum's mouth. There was no stopping this girl! No matter how close we were, there was a time and a place, wasn't there!
'No, more importantly — what? Living dildo?'
I whispered quietly, completely dumbfounded.
"Who's a living dildo? Why are you treating me like this?"
Just what kind of existence was I inside your head? Seriously, literally a living dildo?
Areum replied shamelessly.
"Why am I treating you like this? I'm rating you very highly. You're a top-tier model, hard to find anywhere else."
She said that and grinned, throwing me a thumbs-up.
...I really wanted to peek inside her head and see what she was thinking. It felt like there might be something other than a brain in there.
"Anyway, what is it? Did you really get a girlfriend?"
"It's not that. We agreed we'd tell each other if we got a partner, right?"
We'd promised to tell each other right away if either of us got a partner. Because when that time came, we'd have to end this current relationship of ours.
"Hmm. Then what? Is it hard to talk about?"
"It's... well, you're someone I could tell, actually."
"...Huh?"
Actually, telling her ahead of time might be a good idea. If she made a scene later when everyone was gathered, we'd definitely get caught.
But then Areum suddenly cupped her own cheeks and, totally out of character, started squealing.
"Oh my, oh my. This is you confessing you'll live as my dildo forever, isn't...."
Ttaak!
"Kkyeok?! That hurt! Why'd you hit me!"
"You're asking like you don't know? What the hell is wrong with your thought circuits. I'm being serious right now."
"Tch. So what is it, then."
"Wait. I'll send it to you by email, so look at it on your tablet."
"Huh? Tablet?"
"It's a comic. The concept proposal conti."
When you join our club, you get a latest-model tablet as a welcome gift. Purchased out of Bam Nuna's own pocket, of course. Rich nuna is amazing....
I decided to use this opportunity to call Ahn Seong-hyeon over too. Since he was also involved, there was a high chance he'd make a scene later. I shook the bastard sleeping on the couch awake.
"Yo, Seong-hyeon."
"Who... I'm tired...."
"Sorry for waking you, but I need your help."
"...Cheol-jin? What is it?"
Ahn Seong-hyeon got up, rubbing his eyes with a tired face. His eyes were sunken underneath too — seemed like he hadn't gotten much sleep either. It made me feel a bit sorry.
"I sent the comic by email, so take a look and tell me if it's too obvious."
"Obvious how?"
"You'll know when you read it."
"Got it. A comic, sure."
Ahn Seong-hyeon pulled out his tablet.
Meanwhile, Areum, who seemed pissed off for some reason, started pelting me with feather-light fists.
Tudadadadak!
"Ah, what. What now."
"You made it sound like you were only telling me!"
"No, I was gonna tell Seong-hyeon anyway. Actually, before you even... Never mind, just look at it."
"Hmph."
She grumbled with her mouth but ended up doing what I asked. After finishing the download, Areum stared at the tablet with a serious expression.
"Oh, as expected of Kkang-cheol. You draw so damn well. But the art style's different from what I've seen before?"
Areum knew I was an R-18 illustrator. She'd found out since she was in and out of my room so often. But the art style of the conti I was showing now was completely different from when I drew explicit illustrations.
"It's an all-ages art style. Pretty different, right?"
"Yeah. If I'd seen it without knowing, I don't think I would've guessed you drew it."
Well of course. I was someone who'd run two Trickster accounts without ever once being suspected of being the same person. That's how different the art styles were.
Ahn Seong-hyeon looked at my art and said.
"For a conti, the quality's pretty high. The lines are incredibly clean too. I knew vaguely, but... Cheol-jin, you're seriously good at drawing."
"Just hurry up and read it."
I waited for the two of them to finish reading the comic.
But for some reason, I was getting a little nervous.
'It's just a conti, but I'm weirdly anxious.'
The volume was quite large, but I'd drawn it somewhat sloppily because of the time crunch. Showing something that wasn't the finished version was a bit embarrassing.
Some time passed.
"Hic, ugh...."
Suddenly Areum started sniffling!
Flustered, I patted her back.
"Why, why are you crying? Don't cry. Stop."
"Hnnng...."
It was bewildering. The way Areum looked at me, her eyes were moist, like tears would spill any second. This girl really did have an extreme F tendency — her mood swings were so drastic.
Meanwhile, Ahn Seong-hyeon....
"...Hey, are you crying too?"
He was already crying quietly. He just wasn't making noise — with an expression even more miserable than Areum's, tears were streaming down his face.
The reason the two of them were crying?
Obviously it wasn't because my comic was drawn well. They knew my past, so they'd gotten immersed in that.
But then, all of a sudden.
Ahn Seong-hyeon, who'd been weeping, shot up from his seat and dropped to his knees in front of me!
"You crazy bastard! What are you doing!?"
"Sorry, I'm sorry, Cheol-jin. I really... *sniffle*, I'm sorry. I'll do better. I'll really do better...."
"No, I didn't show you this so you'd apologize... ah, come on! Stop crying and get up!"
Why the fuck did this bastard turn into such a dramatic little bitch? Was he always like this? Apologizing — sure, that's one thing. But bawling his eyes out and kneeling over something long past was a bit much, wasn't it? We'd already forgiven each other and made up!
In the midst of all this chaos,
Areum came rushing into my arms, crying her eyes out.
"Hwaaang! Cheol-jiiiin...!"
"Oh my god, what now with you!"
"Waaah. It was so hard for you. Now you have this nuna, so it's okay...."
"Who's a nuna, who!"
Please! Both of you, just stop it!
*
Kim Seong-ju came in late after having a smoke.
Seongju Hyung looked at Areum clinging to me and crying, and at Ahn Seong-hyeon on his knees weeping — his face a mask of sheer bewilderment.
...It'd be stranger if he weren't bewildered.
If there was a silver lining, it was that they'd calmed down fairly quickly. He could've been stunned into silence, but Seongju Hyung immediately tried to assess the situation.
"Cheol-jin, what happened?"
"Well...."
"Did you guys fight?"
"Ah, no. It's not like that, hyung. They just read a comic and are overreacting."
"A comic?"
"It's — there's this thing. Anyway, it's nothing serious."
I answered like that and quickly pulled Ahn Seong-hyeon to his feet. When I told him I'd cut ties if he didn't get up right this instant, he scrambled up in a hurry.
Seongju Hyung scratched the corner of his eye and said,
"If it's nothing, then that's good... I just wondered, you know."
"Yeah? Wondered what?"
"Like maybe Areum got taken from you by Seong-hyeon, or something...."
"No! What are you talking about, hyung! You know Areum and I are just friends to begin with."
"Haha. I know, I know. Just something from the old days came to mind, that's all."
"...From the old days?"
What did he mean? Was he saying Seongju Hyung had once had his girlfriend stolen by a friend?
"Just someone I was close with got misunderstood and... almost became trash. Hmm."
...Ah, so he'd been the one misunderstood as the stealer.
I made a mental note to really sit down and listen to this hyung's stories sometime later. He seemed like a Pandora's box.
Anyway, the two of them had finally calmed down, so I was about to get their feedback —
"Oh, so the freshmen were all gathered here. Greaaat!"
Bam Nuna and all the club members came in together.
'Ah, fuck.'
I let out a sigh.
In that case, there'd been no point in showing them, had there.
'Let the chips fall where they may.'
Yeah, so what if I showed a bit of my past.
It was all long over.
...Still, I should at least lay the groundwork and say it's not based on personal experience.