Surveillance
From that day on, what should have been my enjoyable campus life began to fall apart—not because of any sex life with Yu-rin, but because of rape.
She followed me everywhere, from the orientation I was half-forced to attend all the way through the after-party of the semester kickoff assembly that doubled as a freshman welcome, never once willing to leave my side.
As if showing off for everyone else, she always stood next to me saying my Seon-ah, putting her hands on my body and constantly advertising that we were dating.
Once people learned I was a guy who already had a girlfriend, nearly all the women who'd shown interest in me vanished.
Barging into an existing couple was the kind of insane stunt that could brand you as trash and wipe out your entire campus life.
She'd bring up how, back in our teenage years, I'd gone through her room looking for books and tried to scrub dirty videos off her computer under the pretense of rewriting her sexual knowledge however I pleased—and sometimes she'd even inspect my smartphone. So whenever I exchanged numbers for department communication or group projects, if it was a woman, I had to get Yu-rin's permission first.
Because of all this, I could barely do anything—from hanging out with other classmates to club activities.
It went well beyond a normal relationship into outright obsession.
Other classmates and upperclassmen initially looked poorly on Yu-rin's clinginess.
But Yu-rin had a strangely sharp sense for these things. She could read almost everything about what people thought of her and how they looked at her. Whether it was her natural personality or the social skills I'd taught her since childhood—how to maintain good relations with others through that long "education"—her quick wits and skilled tongue meant she was surprisingly good at buttering people up, and that seemed to work better than expected.
As a result, the perception of Yu-rin had been diluted down to something like "a girl who shows excessive affection for her boyfriend."
But among the guys in the department, my reputation wasn't particularly good. Word had gotten around that I was the psycho who brought his girlfriend to every gathering.
Not every co-ed university gathering was like that, but when the atmosphere was about drinking and fishing for romantic interest, having a couple constantly barge in might be fine once or twice—eventually people start saying you're just there to show off your partner.
The guys among my classmates would talk about how I always brought my girlfriend and ruined the mood, or call me a slut who hit on every girl even though he already had a girlfriend for showing up at drinking parties despite having one.
In this gender-reversed world, a man with a girlfriend who frequently attended drinking parties getting called a slut was somehow both novel and absurd. In my past life, women with boyfriends who frequently went to drinking parties never got that kind of talk. I had no idea why this rumor had spread.
Seon-ah seemed to rather enjoy socializing with other people.
If he kept showing up alone at drinking parties despite having a girlfriend, who knew what kind of rumors would start circulating. If word got out that he was a slut and some woman ended up making a move on Seon-ah, I was confident I'd tear everything apart in a rage.
A man frequently going to drinking parties alone was dangerous, and other bugs might swarm around him—so keeping him under surveillance seemed right even to me.
In fact, at drinking parties, drinks were frequently exchanged with Seon-ah as the target. During the orientation drinking party, Seon-ah kept emptying the cups the upperclassmen kept giving him. His face turned red, his eyes lost focus, and saying he was hot, he undid a button on his shirt.
When that created a suggestive atmosphere, the other crazy bitches kept glancing at Seon-ah and swallowing hard.
When Seon-ah stepped outside saying he needed some air because it was hot, and several upperclassmen and classmates followed him out, I was furious to the tips of my hair. Holding back the urge to start throwing punches, I deliberately advertised that I was dating Seon-ah and drove off the crazy bitches who were trying to hit on him right next to him.
Having spent fifteen years with Seon-ah, I knew he hadn't done that on purpose to seduce anyone. Seon-ah often acted without any guard up. He frequently behaved in ways that matched most women, so people took a lot of interest in him, calling him easygoing and unusually understanding for a man.
Because Seon-ah was popular, other women would sometimes subtly make moves suggesting they wanted to date him. Even when I stood next to Seon-ah showing we were together, the occasional crazy bitch would still appear.
Back in elementary, middle, and high school, I'd call every single girl who approached Seon-ah aside—to the bathroom, the rooftop, wherever—and threaten them, or for the ones who wouldn't listen, beat them up myself to keep them away.
But now that we were adults in university life, protecting Seon-ah through violence was nearly impossible. Even if someone hit on a guy who had a girlfriend, if I got reported it could cause Seon-ah major trouble, and if I got expelled, I clearly wouldn't be able to go near him until he graduated.
For the time being, the only option was to stay by Seon-ah's side and make sure no other bugs came swarming.
While heading to the lecture hall, I overheard two guys talking about Seon-ah.
"With a face like that, I bet his dick's all black and floppy from every bitch tasting it."
"Heh heh heh. Looking at how he flirts with other girls, you can tell how often he spreads his legs, right?"
Jealousy and envy dripped from their mouths as they slandered Seon-ah with the most vulgar words.
Misunderstandings about Seon-ah's looks and unmanly behavior leading to other guys badmouthing him behind his back had happened quite a bit even in high school. Back then, when rumors reached me, I'd go find them myself and resolve things nicely with a friendly fist-first conversation—but that was impossible at university, so there was a high chance this would reach Seon-ah's ears.
In a situation where I couldn't use violence, matters between guys were often hard for me to resolve directly. The world of rough women and the world of men who constantly evaluated others and led with their emotions were completely different, after all.
If I charged at them in anger over what they said, I might end up becoming the perpetrator.
Still, I should say something this time.
As I approached the two guys, slightly angry, I suddenly heard another woman's voice. She seemed to be arguing with the two men.
"Hey, Choi Min-ji, is that guy your boyfriend or something? What business is it of yours to eavesdrop on what we're saying and defend him? Did you fuck him too?"
"Look at her, eavesdropping on other people's conversations and butting in. Do you always jump out of nowhere and act like that after listening in? You really have no sense."
Looking a bit flustered, the woman tried to reason with the men.
"Even so, we're in the same year. And Seon-ah has a girlfriend—he's not the type to do that at all. You guys won't gain anything from running your mouths either."
Even though I hadn't heard what the woman said from the beginning, it seemed she'd been trying to clear up the misunderstanding about Seon-ah amid the two men's vicious gossip.
"Ugh, so annoying. What a freak show. Let's go."
"Look at her, eavesdropping on people and defending a guy who already has a girlfriend. Birds of a feather—I bet she hangs out in the filthiest circles."
After the two men left, still acting disgusting to the end, the woman also went her way, as if remembering whatever she'd been about to do.
I felt a little grateful toward the woman who'd done what I should have done myself.
Choi Min-ji? I feel like I've seen that name somewhere.
From a vaguely passing memory, she was clearly a department classmate and friend who'd exchanged numbers with Seon-ah, saying she'd invite him to the department group chat.
She said they first met at the entrance ceremony, right?
Since I'd been practically glued to Seon-ah even before enrollment, it was clear I hadn't known this Min-ji from before admission.
It was nice that someone other than me was trying to clear up misunderstandings about Seon-ah, but if she was acting this way because she had an interest in Seon-ah, I couldn't just stand by and watch.
In that case, the best method was—
To become friends with the enemy.
To become "natural friends" with Choi Min-ji, Yu-rin used her connections with other upperclassmen to join the group chat Min-ji was in.
At first, she exchanged occasional silly jokes and various bits of information, showed her face at the occasional drinking party, and made her presence known.
After some time passed and two months had gone by, she and Min-ji had become friends who talked quite a lot.
What she learned from becoming friends with Min-ji was that she was a friend overflowing with a sense of justice—and a friend who put her own convictions before others' opinions.
So the conversation she'd had with those two guys last time must have been an act of justice rather than an attempt to defend Seon-ah specifically. Apparently the Hanil University student council had frequently called on her as well.
Getting to know Choi Min-ji, it didn't seem like a friend like this would try to make a move on a guy who already had a girlfriend. Especially after becoming friends with her, given Min-ji's personality, it seemed nearly impossible.
Still, since nothing in this world was absolute, she decided to stay as "friends." Because Min-ji was, more than expected, a friend whose heart matched hers.
Especially her taste in men was similar enough to her own. Looking at the photos on Min-ji's phone—several pictures of men who resembled Seon-ah—that much was certain.
There were bare male bodies saved for masturbation purposes, so she was definitely the type who might target Seon-ah.