Bamboo Forest Manager - Chapter 18



18 – 18. Two in the World!

“What are you up to today?”

Saturday has passed, and it’s now Sunday.

Yesterday was quite a meaningful day.

I deleted the sniper post accusing me of being a s*x offender, and toyed around with the anonymous user 287 who wrote it.

I can’t help but wonder what Ahn Hyun-ho’s expression would be like, so my shoulders twitch with excitement.

But as the day goes by, those joyful emotions quickly subside.

Playing is fun when you’re playing, but once it’s over, you feel a sense of emptiness.

“Oh, I don’t snipe anymore.”

Out of boredom, I quickly skim through the posts on the bamboo forest community.

But seeing that there wasn’t much difference from yesterday’s posts, I felt even more bored.

It’s a school community, so even the bamboo forest takes a break on the weekends, but I still felt a bit disappointed.

“I should exercise instead.”

After thinking about trying some exercise for a few minutes, I finally made up my mind and stood up from my seat.

As I put on my running shoes and stepped outside, I received a call.

It was Choi Yiseo.

“She sure knows how to time it.”

There’s only one reason why Choi Yiseo would contact me, so I answered the call right away and said,

“Yeah, let’s go. Let’s exercise.”

Since Choi Yiseo doesn’t have anything to do on weekends anyway, she probably knew I was going to suggest exercising.

She’s addicted to exercising, isn’t she?

– Huh?

But there was confusion in her voice. Wasn’t this why she called?

“What’s wrong? Weren’t you calling to exercise?”

When I asked, Choi Yiseo quickly replied in a flustered manner,

– Yes! Right now! Let’s meet at our usual place!

With that, she hung up the phone.

Come to think of it, maybe she contacted me because of the sniper post yesterday.

“Oh, that could be it.”

Since the sniper incident ended so quickly and insignificantly, I hadn’t been paying much attention to it.

“Well, we can talk when we meet.”

Choi Iseo had already arrived at the starting point of the walking path. It seemed that her house was quite close by.

“You came early?”

“Yeah, it’s nearby.”

A blue hoodie that suited her navy blue hair. The blue color reminded her of the time in elementary school when boys used to playfully interact with each other, saying that blue was a boy’s color.

Certainly, there seemed to be no distinction between the s*xes based on color.

Even though she was wearing a blue hoodie, she looked quite elegant.

After a brief stretching exercise, we started jogging slowly. Choi Iseo glanced around carefully and cautiously approached me.

“Woojin.”

“Hey, why are you talking while we’re running?”

If you have something to say, you should have said it earlier.

What’s the point of talking now when we’re doing warm-up exercises?

However, Choi Iseo had her own reasons.

“My senior friends are following us from behind.”

“What?”

What is she suddenly talking about? I almost looked around instinctively, but when I turned my head, my gaze stopped as I met eyes with Choi Iseo.

I almost realized that they might notice if I was looking for them.

“So, let’s just keep running. Act naturally as if we’re exercising and run until they get tired over there.”

“But you know I’m not good at endurance.”

“That’s why.”

Choi Iseo clenched her fist.

It seemed as if she was cheering me on.

“We have to stay strong.”

“Yeah.”

“They’re all people who smoke. Let’s try our best.”

“Why are they following us? Is it because of O Yunji?”

“In a broad sense, yes.”

Intuitively, Choi Iseo drew her own line, claiming that O Yunji had nothing to do with it. Even though O Yunji had a slightly strange personality, I couldn’t imagine her causing harm to others to this extent.

Anyway.

“Our friend really messed up.”

While scolding Choi Iseo, she also bowed her head deeply and apologized.

“I’m really sorry.”

From Noble mtl dot com

With those words, we kept running. I was out of breath, my calves felt like they were about to burst, and I wanted to stop immediately, but I kept running anyway.

When we reached the end of the long hiking trail, I collapsed onto the ground, feeling my legs go weak.

“I can’t run anymore. Just kill me.”

If those seniors followed us all the way here, it seemed like it would be okay to fight back now.

First, I need to call the police.

Even as I struggled to catch my breath, I took out my phone and prepared to call 112 for help. But Choi Iseo, who was wiping her sweat, looked around and sighed.

“It doesn’t seem like they’re coming. Maybe they gave up halfway.”

“Ugh! It’s really damn tough!”

Still sitting on the ground, barely breathing, Choi Iseo sat down in front of me.

“I’m sorry, really.”

“Ugh, it’s fine! Let’s just rest for now. We can talk later!”

I felt like I was going to die from exhaustion.

I wanted to go home first and take a shower, or maybe go to a convenience store and buy an ion drink.

Before the uncomfortable feeling in my mouth and the heat of the flowing sweat even cooled down.

Buzz.

A slightly unfair scene unfolded before my eyes.

“Electric kickboard?”

I spotted a group riding electric kickboards coming towards us on the hiking trail.

“Wow, this is really ridiculous.”

I thought I barely escaped by running like a madman, but some were riding electric kickboards and smoking cigarettes as they approached.

Of course, judging by the sweat dripping from them, it seemed like they chased us at first but gave up at some point.

“Did I do something wrong to deserve this?”

I asked Choi Iseo in a glance, but she only darkened her expression and couldn’t answer right away.

“Sigh.”

I let out a sigh and put my phone to my ear while still sitting.

“Is this the police station?”

First, I’ll call the police and then think.

How dare they try to act like gangsters in a country like South Korea with good public safety?

“Hey! I’m reporting that!”

“Grab him!”

Stupid idiots.

I’ve already said it somewhere around here.

“Yes, yes. Please come right away. There are weird guys here bothering me for no reason. It seems like they might hit me.”

Riding an electric scooter, he reached me, but I had already hung up and was sitting, recording a video with my phone.

“It’s not a crime movie, just rushing in thinking they can get away with hitting people?”

They faltered as I smiled and spoke.

“What? Did you think it would work that way? That’s why people need to study. In school, even if you hit someone, the teachers hush it up and cover for you, so it’s fine, right?”

But here, it’s society now.

Do they know that the crappy school they were talking about was actually protecting them?

“You cursed at the teachers, fought with classmates, right? But actually, they were preventing your incidents from becoming a big deal.”

“You bastard! Are you confident? Calling the police? Calling a s*x offender!”

“Why the hell are you calling me a s*x offender? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

It was really unfair, but it was better this way.

“Yeah, let’s call. Call everyone. Police, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, call them all and investigate everything. If I’m guilty, I’ll go to jail. Call the FBI too.”

If they’re going to mess with me to this extent, I won’t stay quiet either.

I get up and approach them. Since it was a walking path, people gathered, curious about the commotion.

A lot of people gathered.

“People who don’t know that hitting others when their head is empty is wrong! Where are…!”

Suddenly.

My vision sharply turned.

The sound of the phone dropping, and the pain felt on my cheek.

“Oh, damn.”

I couldn’t believe it happened in such a crowded place. The guy who couldn’t control his emotions eventually lost it and hit me.

“He talks too much!”

Luckily, only one guy rushed at me.

This was my mistake.

Who would have known that even as an adult, I wouldn’t be able to control my emotions and would end up causing something I couldn’t handle later.

Anyway, there are many people in the world with the courage to face life.

“Woojin!”

Choi Iseo urgently approached me. She embraced me tightly, as if to prevent me from hitting someone.

“Hey! Hey! You might get hurt!”

“Just stay still!”

As she held me tightly, I could feel not only her warmth but also her subtle touch.

It wasn’t just one side of my face that felt hot from being hit, but my whole body was burning for no reason.

However, the situation was urgent.

“Choi Iseo? Isn’t she Minji’s friend?”

“Don’t hit her! What did she do wrong to deserve being hit?”

“Are you crazy? Your friend was s*xually assaulted by that jerk!”

“Who the hell said that! Yoonji never said anything like that to me, and I can’t even contact her now!”

The man who had hit me sighed in disbelief and approached me.

Since he had tried to grab Choi Iseo’s hair and pull her towards him, this time I pulled her into my arms to protect her.

Thanks to that, we ended up in a tight embrace.

But I couldn’t help but feel a tickle from Choi Iseo’s hair brushing against my cheek and nose.

“Oh, if only I had exercised more.”

As I laughed and mumbled, Choi Iseo turned around in surprise.

“Are you laughing right now?”

“Yeah, I am. I’m just excited because I thought I could show you how reality isn’t as smooth as you think.”

“What does that mean…!”

Anyway, until the police officers arrived, it was supposed to be the time when we would have to endure being hit.

But at the moment when Choi Iseo tried to avoid getting hit.

“Hey.”

A very unexpected voice suddenly echoed among the people, overwhelming the audience with a sense of tension and pressure.

Unconsciously, I turned my head to confirm the direction from which the voice came, and there was…

“Senior Min Joohee?”

The remnants of our group assignment.

My team leader, with her hands stuffed in her checkered jumper, was walking towards us.

I wondered why Senior Min Joohee suddenly appeared, but that wasn’t the problem.

“Senior…!”

“Senior, it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you!”

The delinquents who had been following us lowered their heads respectfully and greeted Minjuhee senior.

I had thought they were just going to watch some random movie, but Minjuhee senior walked over to me and stood in front of us.

“Hey, you’re the only one in our class who can edit, so what should I do if I mess up?”

“It’s fortunate that you can edit.”

As I promised to make my class project impressive, I immediately turned to Minjuhee senior and said,

“I’ve subscribed to all the editing YouTubers and professional editing programs!”

“What…?”

I don’t know what he was thinking, but Lee Seo was looking at me with an expression of disbelief, while Minjuhee senior grinned and sat down in front of me.

“You’re in trouble. When you make your schedule next time, tell me. Let’s share some listening time and work on the assignment together.”

“Thank you, senior!”

“Uh, you’re a good one.”

The senior reached out and gently stroked my head. I also followed suit, adjusting my hair a bit.

“Girlfriend? Sophomore? You’ve met a guy, haven’t you?”

“Yeah, I have!”

“What kind of thing is that!”

I started to laugh a bit, but Lee Seo immediately punched me in the chest.

“Ouch!”

I fell to the ground and naturally let go of Lee Seo, who had been hugging me.

“You’re also the same.”

“Huh?”

There was a brief moment of confusion, but in any case…

Juhee senior straightened up and looked at the delinquents. The guys couldn’t help but be flustered just by Juhee senior’s presence.

“Just go. What’s the reason you’re bullying the kids? And don’t come near me.”

“Uh, butnoon!”

“Butnoon?”

Minjuhee senior looked up as she spoke, walking over to the guy who had answered her.

“You answered me? Do you remember the old days? Should I go home wearing just a skirt? It’s been so long that I don’t remember, right?”

“I’m sorry!”

“I’m sorry!

The delinquents who bowed their heads to apologize quickly grabbed their traditional kickboards and tried to leave in a hurry.

“There.”

Standing up straight, I caught the shoulder of the delinquent I had punched and smiled.

“Where do you think you’re going? You should face the judgment of the law.”

“Huh, why don’t you just hit me too? Don’t make things complicated.”

Look at this.

“Oh, you’re daring, aren’t you? I’d like to see if you can be daring at the police station.”

While laughing, I advise the guy who is trying to run away.

“If it were me, I wouldn’t run away. In the end, we’ll end up seeing each other at the police station, so if you run away now, it’ll just make you look bad.”

“Huh, how much do you want? You’re only after the settlement money anyway.”

Oh.

I manage to hold back from exploding in anger and respond.

“hahahahaha! What nonsense are you talking about? You should take responsibility.”

“….”

“I have a lot of money. No need for a settlement.”

“Well….”

“What’s wrong? Are you getting angry again? Do you want me to hit you again?”

I see police officers running towards us in the distance. The guy noticed that too and hurriedly apologizes, bowing his head.

“I’m sorry…!”

“No, no! Don’t do it! Don’t apologize!”

I refuse firmly and stand back up.

“Even if you apologize, nothing will change.”

“Well, wait a minute. Actually, I’m currently on probation!”

“Holy?! Let’s go to jail right away!”

“P-Please! I was just a little excited!”

“Let’s go to jail right away! Let’s make it a festival and show the tattooed guys!”

Still on their knees, the guy grabs onto the corner of my clothes.

“Please! Please!”

With a sigh and a tap on the guy’s shoulder, I wiped away the smile on his face.

“Move your hand, you criminal.”