The Plain Girlfriend Is Unexpectedly Targeted (5)
I reflexively crossed both arms, clutching my shoulders and forearms tightly.
My whole body trembled with a shame that felt as if I had been stripped naked in front of countless staring eyes.
Not knowing where to look, my gaze wandered through the air before I finally dropped my head in defeat.
I simply could not open my eyes and stare directly at the photo of my shoes soiled with another man’s semen.
I couldn’t understand it.
Why on earth had my boyfriend—who had always cherished me and treated me with such gentle care—done something so horrifying?
Was it because he desperately needed the hundred thousand won? Or had he simply been swept up in his lowlife friend’s twisted prank? No matter what excuse I tried to apply, none of it made sense.
It felt as though a corner of my heart, the part that had trusted Haru completely, was crumbling away.
I hammered the game icon with double-clicks, as if slamming shut the filthy KakaoTalk window.
When the familiar game music began to play, the suffocating pressure in my chest eased just a little.
Out of habit I checked the game notifications, and a red mark hovered in the upper right corner.
Someone had sent me a new friend request.
“So Taekyung really does play this game…”
I moved the mouse slowly and clicked the accept button.
The instant I did, pink text appeared in the chat window at the bottom left of the screen.
Taekyung had sent me a whisper.
With my hands hovering over the keyboard, I hesitated for a moment before carefully typing my first reply.
After that, we exchanged all kinds of casual conversation while immersing ourselves in the game together.
Strangely enough, during the time I spent with Taekyung, I could completely forget the painful realities that had been tormenting me.
Lost in the game, I didn’t even notice how time was passing until the sunset had painted the sky outside the window and darkness had settled over the city.
“Dasom, it’s getting late. You’re staying for dinner, right?”
“No… I still have assignments left, and I’m tired. I’ll head home early today.”
When I stepped into the living room, Haru was looking at me with a disappointed expression.
The moment our eyes met, an inexplicable rage surged up from deep inside me.
Haru must have checked the messages Dongjin sent on his phone.
Even after seeing those humiliating photos of me being degraded, there wasn’t the slightest trace of displeasure on his face.
If he were really my boyfriend, wouldn’t the normal reaction be to call that bastard immediately and curse him out after seeing his girlfriend treated that way?
Why wasn’t Haru angry at all?
I wanted to grab him by the collar and demand to know why he was letting that lunatic who jerked off with my old shoes get away with it.
But I bit down hard on my tightly closed lips and forced the fury back down my throat.
If I confronted him now, Haru would obviously lock his phone with a password so I could never see it again.
And then I would never know what else he and that creepy Dongjin were plotting behind my back, or what kind of disgusting conversations they were having.
That was unacceptable.
The thought that I had to keep watching and uncover every last thing they were doing to me kept me in check.
“Really…? Be careful on your way home, and text me when you get there.”
I forced the corners of my mouth upward into a smile, mirroring the gentle, unsuspecting smile Haru gave me.
Lately, a huge change had come over my university life.
Even after our group project ended, I found myself spending more and more time with Taekyung on campus.
Since we were in the same department, our required major classes overlapped for the most part, but above all else, our hobbies matched each other perfectly.
Whenever we had free periods or classes ended early in the afternoon, we naturally gravitated toward the campus café or a PC bang. In the evenings we would turn on Discord at home and log into the same game together.
Of course, playing with Taekyung on Discord only ever happened at my own place.
I never turned on my microphone at Haru’s apartment.
I didn’t want him to see me laughing and chatting freely with another man while we played.
As a result, the frequency of my weekend visits to Haru’s apartment—the habit I had kept without fail—began to drop noticeably.
Whenever the weekend approached, Haru would text me without fail, but I always made up reasonable excuses about piled-up assignments or being too tired and avoided meeting him.
Whenever I faced Haru, the image of him selling my worn-out shoes and exchanging filthy jokes with Dongjin kept overlapping with his face, and I simply couldn’t bear it.
Compared to the reality of having to hide my wounded heart and force myself to smile, the virtual world where I could laugh and talk with Taekyung through the monitor felt far more comfortable.
Sometimes, when we sat side by side in the lecture hall or played together at the PC bang, I would sneak glances at Taekyung’s profile.
It still didn’t feel real that someone this strikingly handsome could be so serious about gaming.
He had plenty of classmates and female seniors who approached him first, and there always seemed to be students hovering around him, clearly showing interest.
It was a wonder how he managed to carve out time for games amid what looked like such a busy, outgoing life.
And it wasn’t just the time he invested—Taekyung’s skill level was genuinely impressive.
When I played with Haru, we were always stuck in what gamers called semi-experienced parties—groups of players who hadn’t fully mastered the boss patterns and kept making mistakes.
That was because Haru’s own control and game sense were exactly at that level.
If any party member slipped up, we’d wipe as a collective punishment, and I’d be constantly watching everyone’s positioning and health bars, breaking into a cold sweat the entire raid.
Raiding with Haru was fun, but honestly, it was exhausting.
But the homework parties I ran with Taekyung—experienced groups that cleared weekly raids as efficiently as finishing routine homework—were so smooth it made me wonder if this was even the same game.
Taekyung consistently took MVP with top-tier endgame DPS and flawless, no-frills control.
I didn’t have to worry about the other party members; the boss’s health melted away in seconds, and raids that used to drag on for hours and cause nothing but stress were over in the blink of an eye.
The closeness we built in-game naturally carried over into real life, and we gradually became part of each other’s daily routines.
When we ran into each other on campus, it no longer felt awkward to sit together in class and talk about the previous night’s gaming session while listening to the lecture.
It felt as though a bright, warm light named Taekyung had finally entered my quiet, solitary university life that had always lingered on the outskirts.
That day was just another ordinary one, spent attending lectures with Taekyung as usual.
After our morning classes ended, we headed to our favorite restaurant near campus for lunch.
Whenever Taekyung talked with me, he never looked away or fiddled with his phone.
Those upright, gentle eyes would lock onto mine with steady focus, listening attentively to every word I said.
It was completely different from Haru, who always avoided eye contact and lacked confidence.
I never knew how good it could feel to have someone look at me with such complete attention.
As we ate, our conversation flowed naturally from games to personal topics without any awkwardness.
It was the first time I had ever told anyone else that I had already been dating Haru for nearly two years.
“What about you, Taekyung? There must be tons of pretty girls around you. Aren’t you seeing anyone right now?”
At my question, Taekyung set his chopsticks down and answered.
“I don’t have a girlfriend at the moment.”
“No way… You’re lying.”
With a face and physique like his, women would probably line up to give him their numbers even if he just stood there breathing. Claiming he had no girlfriend was obviously a lie.
When I stared at him in disbelief, Taekyung scratched the back of his head and gave an embarrassed little smile.
“It’s true. I just haven’t met anyone who really caught my interest until now.”
He fiddled with his water cup for a moment, then added in a serious voice.
“Though lately… there is someone I’m interested in.”
“Really? Who? Is she in our department?”
I asked back, eyes sparkling with innocent curiosity.
I couldn’t help wondering just how pretty and accomplished a girl must be to have stolen the heart of someone who seemed so perfect.
“It’s you.”
“Huh…???”
My heart pounded. Thump. Thump.
Taekyung looked at me—frozen in shock—and continued in a voice that didn’t waver in the slightest.
“I know. I know you have a boyfriend. I know it’s wrong… But I wanted to tell you how I feel before I ended up regretting it later.”
His eyes were far too sincere for me to brush it off as a joke.
I stammered, lowering my gaze to the table.
“Don’t say that…! Someone plain like me… doesn’t suit a good-looking guy like you…”
The habitual self-deprecation slipped out again.
Just as I thought, a personality hardened since childhood didn’t change so easily with age.
Even at the sound of my completely deflated voice, Taekyung didn’t back down at all.
“Want to bet on whether we really don’t suit each other?”