Bamboo Forest Manager

Monday was packed with lectures starting from 10 a.m..

It felt like retribution for having created a free Friday on the second semester of the first year to relax.

“Ugh, I’m so tired.”

Perhaps it was a small consolation that I managed to keep my lunchtime at 1 p.m..

When the lecture ended at 1 p.m. and I stepped out, Choi Yiseo was waiting outside the classroom.

She was standing and leaning against the wall, looking at her phone, wearing the department jacket which she must have left in the school’s locker.

“Why are you standing around here?”

We agreed to have lunch together, but she didn’t have to wait like this. She could have waited in an empty room or gone to a café to have some coffee.

I wondered why she bothered to stand around, making her legs more tired.

“We might run into the other guys here and if they ask to join us for a meal, we’ll have to do that too since it’s awkward to refuse.”

“Do insiders worry about that kind of thing?”

I found it strange that I was worrying about something I’ve never cared about before in my life.

Is there really someone who lives like that? Waiting in the hallway because someone might ask them to have a meal together.

“So, I get to choose what we eat for lunch right?”

“…Yes.”

As mentioned on the bus earlier, because of what happened in bed this morning, we decided that she would choose today’s lunch menu.

I thought we would end up eating something like a salad again anyway.

But surprisingly,

“A pork cutlet restaurant?”

Choi Yiseo had brought me to a pork cutlet restaurant, which I was very happy with since I had been oddly craving fried food today.

“Are you serious? There’s no need to be considerate for no reason. I thought you were going to pay the price for being so stiff in bed.”

“Ugh! You, d-don’t say that.”

Choi Yiseo, perhaps embarrassed, her face slightly reddened as she lightly hit my shoulder again.

I wondered if I was getting used to the punching but well, since it wasn’t that painful, I decided to think of it as a form of friendly physical contact.

“I’m going to eat heartily. I have to go and clearly inform Minji today.”

“Aha…”

“So you should eat well too. We can’t afford to be pushed back.”

So that was the reason.

“I always eat heartily.”

I am not one to be pushed around either.

Hearing my words, Choi Yiseo seemed a tad relieved as we entered the pork cutlet restaurant together.

Since I didn’t have anything for breakfast, I ordered something called the jumbo pork cutlet which looked bizarrely large and she ordered a cheese pork cutlet.

“The fried chicken here is delicious.”

As I closed the menu, saying it was an excellent choice, Choi Yiseo looked around.

Was she worried about someone being here?

“Don’t worry, it’s 1 p.m. so it’s past lunch time.”

“Uh? Ah…”

Was that not what she was worried about?

Fidgeting, Choi Yiseo kept looking around and then whispered to me so only I could hear.

“Um, did I do anything weird while I was asleep?”

“Uh?”

Suddenly?

“Is it because of the movement?”

“…I’m anxious, what movement?”

“You were really sprawled out on the bed.”

“Stop making it sound so weird!”

“No, if you are sprawled out, you are sprawled out.”

Though it was a crude way to say it, it was true.

It was fascinating, how one could sleep so sprawled out without a single sign of disarray.

She didn’t come near me and slept so straight that I thought she could be a soldier.

“Ugh, fine, since you keep teasing me with that… I wondered if I did something wrong in my sleep?”

“Ahh.”

Did I make her feel anxious?

She nodded with a smile.

“It was something for sure.”

“…?!”

Choi Yiseo slammed the table, stood up, and immediately grabbed me by the collar.

“F-forget it! Forget it! I don’t know what I did but just forget it!”

I remember her not having this image usually, but seeing her flustered like this is both funny and cute.

She was shaking my head and I slightly felt dizzy, about to consider it as a joke.

Before I could say anything, Choi Yiseo suddenly stopped moving.

“Uh?”

She let out a surprised voice and I wondered if the food had come but when I turned my head to where she was looking.

There, Seo Yerin and Ahn Hyeon-ho with the other department students were bustling in.

---

“Ah, what is this!”

Today, it was 10 o’clock when talks about cheering Ahn Hyeon-ho up together since he seemed to be in a bad mood.

Although it was suggested to drink in the evening, the idea to eat lunch together came up.

In the middle, there was a guy among the guys who grumbled about wanting to eat with his girlfriend from the same department, so naturally, the girls’ group also joined.

Before he knew it, the group had grown to eight people.

Of course, opinion on what to eat continued to diverge and it took a whole hour just to decide on the menu.

Eventually, the meal intended to be had at 12 o’clock had turned to 1 o’clock and exhausted, all entered the pork cutlet restaurant.

“Woah.”

“Eh?”

Everyone was taken aback at the bizarre sight which was unfolding in front of them.

What is this situation now?

Is Choi Yiseo, the popular student, and Kim Woojin, who had a strong loner nature, having their lunch together?

Just the two of them?

This was quite an interesting thing to talk about for people in their 20s, who would try to turn an eye contact into a rom-com drama and who only watched TV dramas of men and women as couples.

Knowing it would be tactless to acknowledge them here, but they had already been noticed by the other side.

The ones who could be called the mood makers rushed in, talking.

“Woah, what!? Is our class rep on a date?”

“Insane! Kim Woojin is a talent holder right? I didn’t see it because he was quiet all the time, but this is amazing!”

“Ah, no! It’s not like that! Say something!”

Contrary to the flustered Choi Yiseo, Kim Woojin very normally said,

“I have no friends so she is eating with me.”

But that only ignited their talks.

“Yah! Why did you two have to eat alone? We can all eat together! Right?”

“Right, right! Then shall we? Uh? What do you all say?”

Their teasing was over the line, prompting Choi Yiseo to consider joining them to avoid misunderstandings.

“No.”

Kim Woojin declared coldly, resting his chin on his hand. Not only Choi Yiseo, who was sitting across from him, but even Seo Yerin among the group, which had never seen Kim Woojin in such a mood before, was surprised.

“I don’t like being around so many people.”

“Ah, haha, I see.”

“Yah, why do you have to make it awkward?”

“What can I do? There might be someone here who spreads rumors like they did with the karaoke incident through the Bamboo Forest and to the English Literature Department.”

It was clear that most of the faces were those they had seen at the karaoke bar, so Kim Woojin’s words weren’t so wrong.

Especially before Seo Yerin stepped forward, everyone knew but they either kept quiet or intentionally spread rumors about Han-kang.

“…Fine, let’s eat somewhere else.”

“Fucking rude.”

“Even when trying to get closer, there’s always something.”

Grumbling, the group moved to another spot, leaving Ahn Hyeon-ho and Seo Yerin.

Unexpectedly, Ahn Hyeong-ho was the first to speak, to Choi Yiseo.

“Yiseo, are you dating this person?”

“Uh?”

“You rode the school bus together this morning, I ride that every day but I have never seen you two in it till today.”

At those words, Seo Yerin flinched noticeably.

“It’s not like that.”

Choi Yiseo smiled awkwardly.

He didn’t want things to get awkward between the representative and vice, so it was clear he was speaking with as much restraint as possible.

‘This is a mess.’

Ahn Hyeon-ho wasn’t just recklessly confessing, he wanted to check if Choi Yiseo had any feelings for him, which is why he was doing this.

Even if she didn’t have any feelings for him, Ahn Hyeon-ho didn’t seem like he would give up on Choi Yiseo.

‘It would be easier if he just said it out loud.’

Feeling frustrated, Kim Woojin scratched his chin and sighed.

He understood this.

Being first years and having to be together in various events in the future, Choi Yiseo probably didn’t want to make things uncomfortable with him.

Although Kim Woojin knew that Anonymous287 is Choi Yiseo, if things continued to be glossed over vaguely like this, Ahn Hyeon-ho’s vigilance to Kim Woojin would likely persist.

So.

Kim Woojin, having momentarily arrived at a rather satisfactory answer and nonchalantly said,

“I confessed and got rejected.”

“…?!”

Choi Yiseo’s eyes widened as she turned to him and Ahn Hyeon-ho’s gaze shifted to him also.

This was an unexpected bombshell.

Kim Woojin with his arms crossed, glanced at Ahn Hyeon-ho and Choi Yiseo.

“She said she had no plans to date anyone. She has to get the scholarship and as the class rep, she doesn’t have the time to date with school events happening.”

“……”

“I asked what could be so busy about it, but with the recent sniper thing and being the class president, she must be quite busy for sure.”

Everyone was in shock, unable to properly speak. They hadn’t expected such a revelation to come from Kim Woojin.

Thanks to that, Kim Woojin was able to continue speaking.

“Even if you say there is no such thing as ‘absolute’. Well, you have to be a sophomore to even consider that direction, freshmen aren’t supposed to be interested in dating.”

“Ahh…”

“I’m not the only one, there are already three more who confessed and got rejected.”

Kim Woojin firmly closed his mouth as if he had finished speaking.

“R-right.”

Ahn Hyeon-ho seemed like he was at a loss for words and awkwardly moving his mouth before finally trudging back to where his friends were.

“……”

Lastly, Seo Yerin, who had been quiet until now, glared at Kim Woojin for some reason before she too left for her friends.

“Phew.”

After the two had left,

Kim Woojin mumbled to himself with a victorious smile, facing Choi Yiseo who was staring at him with her mouth agape.

“I should have been an actor.”

“Ha!”

Choi Yiseo looked as if it was absurd and at a loss of words, and tried to say something but found herself speechless.

Thanks to this, Ahn Hyeon-ho’s attempts to flirt with her would significantly lessen and he won’t be jealous of Kim Woojin anymore, who has already been rejected.

“Woojin’s public rejection is insane. He defeated a living confession with a dead one.”

“Haa, I’m speechless.”

Choi Yiseo could only let out a hollow laugh now. How can he talk about this so nonchalantly?

Even if it was fake, the audacity and mental strength to openly talk about being rejected in front of others had to be acknowledged.

Kim Woojin would surely brush it off as nothing whether she felt sorry or grateful.

Because it was both impressive and something to be thankful for.

Choi Yiseo decided to play it off lightly as well.

“But it isn’t three people who confessed, but four,”

Choi Yiseo said with a smile.

Kim Woojin looked at her with the most surprised expression and mumbled,

“…Choi Yiseo’s form is crazy.”