Bamboo Forest Manager - Chapter 320



Rock-Paper-Scissors

One surprising thing was this:

Among the three of us, suddenly caught up in a chase in this peaceful university,

I was the fastest.

“P-please, wait!”

Gasping for breath, An Hyun-ho collapsed onto the ground.

I wondered how someone who played soccer at the sports festival could be so out of shape.

As for me, honed for the sake of s*x, I was closing in on the peeping tom.

There was no hesitation in catching him; the more I ran, the stronger my legs felt, and I didn’t feel the slightest bit of fatigue.

‘This is bad.’

My head was hot.

Even though I realized I was getting excited, the thought of stopping never crossed my mind.

It was a sign that I was truly furious.

The words of Officer Baek Ho-hwan kept echoing in my mind.

“Phew, we’ve been receiving a lot of reports about incidents like this lately.”

“Especially concerning college students, there are composite photos circulating—”

Composite photos are circulating.

They weren’t just messing around with Choi Yi-seo’s pictures, nor were they trying to make her look prettier with Photoshop.

The malicious intent was all too clear.

And that made it even harder to bear.

“Son of a b*tch!”

Even if it wasn’t real, the thought of them creating such photos of Yi-seo and sharing them among themselves made my blood boil.

If it had been summer, I might have collapsed from rage.

Anyway.

My eyes never left his back.

As the distance between us closed, the moment my shoulder brushed against his—

Gotcha!

He must have thought he couldn’t escape after all, for he halted his steps and lunged a fist straight at me.

Thud!

A clean hit.

My head snapped back, a sharp pain blooming in my skull.

“What the hell?”

“We’re fighting!”

The sounds of students nearby echoed, their curious eyes glued to us, still caught in the university’s embrace.

Normally, I’d be the one to stall for time or shout for help, knowing full well I wasn’t good at fighting.

But this time, a fierce desire to beat that b*stard down surged within me, and awkwardly, I thrust my own fist forward.

Whack!

I aimed for his face, but my punch grazed him instead.

Yet, it caught the bridge of his nose, and blood erupted forth.

“Ah, shit—!”

He instinctively pressed his fingers to the blood trickling from his nose.

In that moment, he swung his next punch.

Unintentionally, I had learned from the many beatings I’d taken: striking the abdomen is far more effective than targeting the face.

Thud!

I mimicked a punch I’d seen somewhere, driving it into his gut. It could be called a lucky shot, but the moment I hit, I felt the impact resonate.

Right in the solar plexus.

“Ugh, huff!”

His body bent forward, breath coming in ragged gasps. At the same time, the phone he had clutched slipped from his grasp.

I snatched it up quickly.

The phone had been unlocked, likely from the rush of taking pictures, and I could easily access the gallery.

“What the fuck—.”

There were numerous photos of Choi Seo.

Scrolling down, I found images of Yeon-Young and a girl I’d never seen before, alongside Lee Seo-A.

Even a blurry shot of Oh Yoon-Ji and Popo arriving at school together was captured.

With a finger pressed firmly, I tapped on the screen.

At the very top was an open chat room filled with about a hundred people.

A chat room name I recognized.

“Hey! You b*stard—!”

The one clutching his belly hurls curses at me.

After slipping my phone into my pocket, I grab his hair and deliver a swift knee to his gut.

Whack!

“Ahhh!”

A solid hit.

Around us, the scene, tinged with brutality, draws screams as people rush to intervene.

But until then, I keep swinging my fists indiscriminately, pummeling him relentlessly.

Whack! Thud!

“You filthy scum! I swear, I will hunt you down and kill every last one of you!”

“W-What did I even do?!”

As people start to pull me away, he shouts, feigning innocence.

“Damn it! Of course I ran when you suddenly chased me! I’m going to sue you for this!”

“Shut up, you piece of trash! Did you enjoy taking and spreading those photos of girls?!”

The crowd begins to murmur.

He trembles, as if shocked I knew, but grits his teeth and retorts.

“Bullshit! I was just taking landscape photos! And what do you mean by ‘editing’? How would I even know how to do that? Don’t pin the blame of a peeping tom on me!”

“Yeah, go ahead and say that at the police station.”

I pull out his phone again, showing the chat room.

“Do you think I’m clueless? You entered this open chat room shared in the bamboo grove of Gahyeondae during break.”

“……!”

“Did you ask anyone to take pictures of girls there? I’ve done my homework on this incident, and I hear there’s a ranking system? If you provide sources, they’ll raise your rank and show you more extreme stuff?”

“N-No, that’s—”

Caught off guard by how much I knew, he stumbles over his words.

It seems the crowd is starting to grasp who the real villain is.

I can faintly hear someone mentioning calling the police.

“Watch closely.”

About a hundred people in that open chat room. Each one using a nickname, making it hard to pinpoint anyone, mere shadows gathered for a common purpose, anonymous to one another.

“I’ll take care of every last one of them here.”

I’m quite familiar with hunting down scum like that, after all.

* * *

If only the incident had come to a close.

Capturing that one b*stard didn’t mean everything was over.

To be honest, nothing had truly ended.

In fact, the situation was spiraling into something quite unpleasant.

In my dorm room.

Yua-rin showed me a short video posted on social media.

“Wow, look at this. Kim Woo-jin is blowing up!”

I couldn’t move my hands, so I merely turned my head to see the footage of me catching that criminal earlier.

– Watch closely.

– I’ll take care of all these b*stards here.

“Hey, turn the sound off. It’s embarrassing.”

“What’s embarrassing? People are commenting how cool it is. They even found out you’re the youngest son of the Universe Group.”

“Ugh, thanks to this, all those punks in the open chat will run away.”

This was the problem.

I had stirred up such a ruckus that the rumors would surely reach those in the open chat.

I distinctly remembered Officer Baek Ho-hwan explaining at the scene that spreading the video carelessly would complicate the investigation.

Yet, seeing it posted on social media, it felt utterly dreadful.

“Ah, I want to leave a comment saying that b*stard is mine.”

Yua-rin hummed, leaning against my shoulder. It was clear she was trying to lighten my serious mood.

“Can’t you see who’s taking care of you right now?”

At that moment, Choi Yi-seo, who had pulled a chair to sit in front of me, grumbled.

Thanks to my clumsy punches, I had actually hurt my hand a bit, and she was applying ointment.

“You overdid it. You could have asked people for help.”

“Your face was in the most clips. Could you just stand by and do nothing after seeing that?”

“…….”

“Those b*stards, I’ll catch them all. If they do anything weird with your photos, they won’t be able to live in Korea.”

Hearing my words, Yi-seo glanced at Yua-rin with her lips pressed tight.

“Ha, so damn s*xy.”

Yua-rin continued to watch the video of me throwing punches, keeping her voice low.

“Arina, let’s talk for a moment.”

“Huh? Why?”

I pull Yoo Arin along, and we slip into the restroom together.

There’s nowhere else in the dorm where we can speak in secret.

The room falls into a hushed stillness.

I recall the chat room I saw earlier.

Before the police arrived, that b*stard’s phone had been in my possession, so I had a rough memory of it, and I even took a picture of the nickname list.

Scrolling up in the chat room, I find hundreds of photos already shared, all of girls from other schools, digitally altered.

If you pay, you can level up, and then you can request edits of individuals as you wish.

There were even claims that with enough sources, you could create videos, with edited clips of girl idols floating around.

‘Crazy b*stards.’

Even without money, there were ways to level up.

According to their chatter, it was through quests.

In other words, providing excellent sources.

The one who seemed to run the open chat room even specified who to capture.

Among them were Choi I-seo, the English major, who was starting to make a name for herself as an actress, and Seo Ye-rin, who was gaining traction on YouTube, along with Yoo Arin.

It didn’t stop there; there was also Yoon Ji and the real name Bae Ji-hye, active as PoPo.

A long list of countless girls’ names sprawled out before me.

‘They know too much.’

Not only the girls from our school but also those from other quests had their names detailed far too precisely.

Moreover, there was one thing that bothered me—

Clatter!

“Woo Ji-na!”

The door swings open, and Seo Ye-rin rushes toward me.

I, perched on the edge of the bed, am caught off guard by her sudden body slam.

“Are you okay!? You’re not hurt, are you? aaah! If I had been there, I would’ve beaten that b*stard to a pulp!”

She had said she was busy with filming, but did she come running after hearing about me?

“I’m fine. I hit him way harder.”

“You bad guy!”

Honestly, I was relieved that Seo Ye-rin was busy. She couldn’t come to school often, so there was no chance of her being caught on camera.

—

Perhaps if Seo Ye-rin had come, she would have been the first to take a shot.

As I held Seo Ye-rin close, I felt her ample warmth enveloping me.

Clunk.

The bathroom door creaked open, and two figures emerged.

Choi Yi-seo wore a face of death, while Yoo Ah-rin was grinning mischievously.

“Ah, what’s this? Why are you here?”

The moment she spotted Seo Ye-rin, her expression twisted into a scowl, irritation bubbling forth.

“Why are you here?! My man’s fight went viral on SNS, and you just sit there?!”

“Haah, he’s not your man today. That was just decided.”

“What do you mean?” Seo Ye-rin tightened her embrace around me, as if to shield me from the world.

Yoo Ah-rin shrugged her shoulders defiantly, a resolve in her eyes that said she wouldn’t back down.

“We just decided it inside with rock-paper-scissors. I’m staying here tonight.”

Huh.

“What?! Why would you decide that when I’m not around?!”

“You were late.”

“Not happening! I’m staying too!”

Seo Ye-rin clung to me like a child, her cuteness undeniable. But there was something I needed to clarify.

“You decided that in the bathroom?”

“Yeah, but don’t get it twisted. I didn’t suggest it.”

Yoo Ah-rin pointed at Choi Yi-seo, who turned her head away in embarrassment.

“She was the one who suggested it first. She wanted to be with you today and asked if she could step aside.”

“…Why?”

I was a bit taken aback; Choi Yi-seo wasn’t one to make such requests.

Was that why the atmosphere had solidified?

When I asked with a dazed expression, Yoo Ah-rin grinned wider.

“Damn, because you looked incredibly s*xy today.”

“…”

“Even the usually reserved Choi Yi-seo wanted to be alone with you, asking for some space.”

“She didn’t say she wanted to be alone with me!”

Choi Yi-seo shouted in flustered protest.

—

—

“In the end, it’s true that I asked you to step aside because I wanted to.”

When I asked for confirmation, Choi I-seo averted her gaze once more but gave a slight nod.

It’s somewhat touching.

“Not a chance! I’m going to take it! It doesn’t count since I wasn’t here! Do it again! Let’s play rock-paper-scissors again!”

“That’s nonsense! If you’re late, just get lost!”

“Ahem, Arin, extend your hand.”

Seo Ye-rin and Choi I-seo both reached out, proposing to play rock-paper-scissors.

Seeing this, Yoo Ah-rin opened her mouth, staring at Choi I-seo with a shocked expression.

“How shameless can you be?!”