Bamboo Forest Manager - Chapter 326



The Summit

“……”

With my lips tightly sealed, I was eating my meal.

It may seem contradictory to eat with my mouth closed, but since I already had food in there, it wasn’t impossible.

It felt as if that was somehow akin to me.

Was I not turning a contradictory situation into reality?

I wouldn’t mind if someone called it nonsense.

In any case, I was harboring such thoughts.

“What are you doing?”

Oh Yoon-ji, sitting across from me, looked at me with a gaze full of disdain.

We weren’t eating together.

She had simply come and sat across from me while I was eating alone.

“Just…”

After chewing my food thoroughly, I replied.

To be honest, with all the complicated thoughts swirling in my mind, Oh Yoon-ji was a distraction.

“You’re thinking about something pointless again, aren’t you?”

She took a bite of her pork cutlet, making it clear she didn’t want to care.

“What do you know? I’m grappling with a once-in-a-lifetime dilemma right now.”

“Do you realize that every time you make that face, it’s because you’re worrying about something utterly useless? Remember back in the day when I worried with you, and you were debating whether your first outdoor s*x would be in a bathroom or a classroom?”

“……That was a very important matter.”

In the end, we concluded that since we were both inside a building, it wasn’t outdoor s*x after all.

—

“Even now, you wear a face much like back then. No matter how I look at it, it seems like a pointless worry.”

“Haah, then take it as you will. I’m deep in my own kind of turmoil.”

A sort of quest for self, perhaps.

At twenty-one, isn’t it still an age where one can seek their identity?

“Could it be that the draft notice has come?”

O Yoon-ji asks, her voice tinged with a hint of hope. I exhale a sigh before responding.

“I’ve already prepared my heart for that. What’s there to worry about? I’ll take a leave of absence and go right away.”

I had thought so in the past, but seeing these two, who are falling apart just before heading to the military, has solidified my resolve.

When the notice arrives, I won’t hesitate; I’ll go straight away.

I even passed the physical examination with a grade one.

“So what’s the problem then?”

“You said you weren’t interested.”

“You’ve been sighing heavily in front of me. It’s hard not to care.”

Thinking back, it seems that O Yoon-ji is perhaps the only one I can share such worries with.

She knows everything about me, yet can speak with the cool detachment of a third party.

‘She’s my ex-girlfriend, after all.’

There’s a slight discomfort in that, but for now, she’s the one asking.

“Ah, stop stalling. You’re going to say it anyway.”

“Damn, you’re so annoying.”

I needed time to gather my thoughts, to brace myself.

With a deep breath, I set down my spoon.

Whatever it is, what I’m about to say might very well deny the very foundation of my life thus far.

In the end, I spill the feelings I’ve kept hidden.

“Isn’t dating three girls at once ethically wrong?”

“…….”

Clang.

O Yoon-ji drops her fork, mouth agape as she stares at me.

Frozen in that position, her eyes widen in shock.

“Th-then—”

Her voice trembles as she shouts.

“Do you get it now?!”

“Hey, quiet down. People are staring.”

The onlookers gaze upon us.

Some even seem to know about our relationship, snapping photos as if we were a spectacle.

Lately, such things have become all too common.

With all the commotion surrounding Oh Yoon-ji during the break, my face, too, has been exposed in the hunt for this peeping tom, the youngest son of the Wooju Group.

So, here we are.

“Wow, amazing.”

“Hope you have a beautiful love.”

“If you post a picture of the two of you on social media, you’ll get tons of likes.”

To those around us, we must look like the protagonists wrapping up the final act of a drama.

Whenever I’m with Oh Yoon-ji, I’ve half-given up on avoiding the photos.

At first, the three of them had a lot to say, but now it’s just become a part of the scenery.

“Ugh, I wonder when they’ll stop this nonsense.”

Given the nature of college life, popularity tends to swell quickly and fade just as fast; I doubt this little charade will last long.

“Is that really what matters right now? You’re making a sensible comment at the most nonsensical moment?!”

“…Well, I knew, too.”

I respond with a hint of reluctance.

Wouldn’t anyone think it odd to be dating three girls at once?

From noble mtl dot com

But I feel like my senses have been somewhat numbed during this time.

What can I say?

It’s like being in a state of ecstasy, wanting to linger in that place forever.

Just saying.

“It’s not like there’s some kind of trigger, you know? It just hit me out of the blue during today’s lecture.”

“You’re making it sound like a big deal when you were just daydreaming to avoid the lecture.”

“…”

“So, suddenly you had that thought? That you’re a complete piece of trash?”

“No, I didn’t go that far.”

That stings.

“Ugh, so what do you want to do? Are you going to suddenly choose one of the three of us right here?”

“No… well, that’s a bit much, isn’t it?”

Lately, the atmosphere has been strangely charged, as if all three of us are acknowledging something unspoken.

It feels wrong to just let this go, yet a pang of guilt is stabbing at my chest.

“Or, what about another option?”

“Another option?”

Oh Yoon-ji averts her gaze shyly, resting her chin on her hand as she mutters.

“Re, reuniting, I suppose.”

“Ah, Senior Joo-hee!”

“I’d love to swap Kim Woo-jin’s left and right brains around.”

I call out to Senior Joo-hee, trying to ignore the fierce glare Oh Yoon-ji is sending my way while holding her tray.

Without a word, she sits down next to Oh Yoon-ji, and judging by the hat she’s wearing, it seems she just woke up.

“Did you just wake up?”

“Yeah, I don’t have any lectures today. Thought I’d save some money and fill up on school meals.”

Indeed, Senior Joo-hee’s tray holds the cheapest stone pot bulgogi.

“Didn’t you make a lot of money working part-time?”

“Gotta save it. Thanks to that, I don’t have to work during the semester.”

Suddenly, I recall the last time she collapsed while working at the café.

If Senior Joo-hee doesn’t have any financial crises, then the scholarship should be fine.

“Just in time, I wanted to ask you something.”

“Yeah, go ahead.”

She lazily opens the lid of her rice bowl, listening with a casual air.

I finally spit out what’s been on my mind.

“Isn’t it abnormal for a bodyguard to have s*x with their client?”

Clang!

Senior Joo-hee drops her bowl.

Her eyes widen in shock, mirroring Oh Yoon-ji’s earlier expression, mouth agape as she stares at me.

It seems she wants to say something, but her lips tremble with embarrassment.

“W-why are you bringing that up now?! I had forgotten about it!”

“You forgot about it?”

Oh Yoon-ji, sitting next to Senior Joo-hee, snickers quietly.

The senior, caught in a gaze that seemed to mock, pretended not to hear.

But what did it matter?

“No, really. If you think about it, it’s strange that Yuarin suddenly interrupted, and it’s strange that you let her.”

“…….”

“Isn’t it a bit odd that I was there with you too?!”

Juhui, trembling slightly, seemed to want to say something but then sealed her lips again.

This happened a few times.

Finally, she broke the silence.

“First, let me ask you one thing.”

“Yes?”

“Why are you asking about that all of a sudden?”

Why, you ask?

“I suddenly thought about it. That I’ve been living strangely all this time.”

“It took you… 21 years to realize that.”

“Shall we buy a cake today? To celebrate the day Kim Woojin’s brain was fried.”

“My old part-time job café makes the best cakes.”

As we clapped suddenly, trying to designate it as an occasion, it felt oddly fitting yet left a sour taste in my mouth.

“First of all. I’ll tell you just one thing, Woojin.”

Juhui, who had been clapping, leaned in, glancing around cautiously, and whispered softly.

“If you bring up that night one more time, know that you’ll die in a way more painful than you can imagine.”

“……Yes.”

“It was a travel destination, and we had been drinking. So, that’s why it happened.”

“But you didn’t drink—”

Thud.

Her hand wrapped around my mouth.

It felt like a gentle grip, yet I feared my teeth might be yanked out.

“I drank. I was completely wasted.”

Though I didn’t nod, she forced my head to bob in agreement.

Then she released me.

As she began to eat the now lukewarm stone pot bulgogi, we returned to the original topic.

“Anyway, that’s what’s been weighing on my mind. I suppose it’s guilt.”

Once before, Seo Ah from the theater and film department had asked me something similar.

She had wondered if I ever felt self-reproach, and back then, I had said that being flanked by girls made all such feelings vanish.

‘What a fool I was.’

How could I have uttered such words? Doubts began to creep into my understanding of my own humanity.

“Ugh, I can’t even eat.”

“You’ve already devoured it all.”

“Guess it’ll be easy for you to do the dishes.”

Feigning ignorance to their banter, I rose from my seat.

Asking someone to solve my problems felt like an impossible task.

Yet, having spoken, a sense of urgency stirred within me, compelling action.

Stepping out of the restaurant, I pulled out my phone to search for the others.

* * *

“Senior.”

Kim Woo-jin burst forth, all flustered, wearing a face of determined resolve.

O Yun-ji, still finishing her leftover pork cutlet, called out to Min Joo-hee.

“Hey?”

Min Joo-hee, deeply engrossed in her sizzling stone pot bulgogi, turned her head slightly to glance at the junior, who wore a strangely deflated expression.

“Wanna make a bet?”

“A bet on what?”

“Whether that guy will bring a girl to the dorm tonight or take her to a hotel.”

“…….”

With a spoon poised in her mouth, Min Joo-hee momentarily stared in the direction Kim Woo-jin had gone.

“You’re not saying no, are you?”

Just to be sure, she asked, and O Yun-ji let out a soft chuckle.

“That guy’s a hundred percent going for it tonight.”

Whether it would be one girl or two, who could say? But judging by that, he was bound to go for it.

“Hm, hotel?”

“Okay. Then I’ll take the dorm. The loser buys lunch tomorrow.”

After that, O Yun-ji resumed dipping her pork cutlet into the sauce, without another word.

‘What the hell.’

In truth, it was Oh Yoon-ji who had spent the most intimate moments with Kim Woo-jin, both physically and mentally.

‘At most, I’ll see him for half a day.’

She was just nervously shoving pork cutlet into her mouth.