Bamboo Forest Manager

"Eating?"

"Yes, eating. Why wouldn't we come here for some pork cutlet?"

"Tsk."

Ahn Hyeon-ho sharply inhaled as if offended by my answer. The reason for his behavior wasn't hard to guess, but I wondered if he had to be this hostile to me.

"Can I join you two?"

Ahn Hyeon-ho, who had shown his displeasure, suddenly smiled and casually asked Choi Yiseo.

"..."

Choi Yiseo's face, which was somewhat relaxed until then, now adopted an expressionless state.

"No."

As I responded from the other side, both of them turned to me.

"Sorry, but I'm in the middle of a private conversation with Choi Yiseo. It would be uncomfortable to have someone else join us now."

Despite my words seemingly apologetic, it was a clear signal for him to get lost.

"Ah… Huh, interesting."

Ahn Hyeon-ho scratched his head and then looked directly at me as he nodded.

"I get it. I was a bit slow to notice."

With that, he left.

He definitely didn't apologize, and even when returned to his table, he continued to give me the stink eye.

'He hasn't yet shed off that high school attitude yet.'

Well, it was expected.

It hasn't even been a year since he graduated from high school. He must have been someone like a typical tough guy in high school.

After all, Ahn Hyeon-ho was handsome and had a good build too.

"..."

Choi Yiseo looked at me with eyes full of complex emotions.

I'm not sure what those looks meant, but rather they informed me that her motives for approaching me weren't just out of friendliness.

"For the running shoes, I think the black ones from earlier would be a safe and good choice."

"…Ah, you seem to like the safe choices. I see."

Choi Yiseo, having agreed, began to search in earnest for running shoes.

She glanced over at Ahn Hyeong-ho in the midst of it, and looked as though she had something to say, but she didn't speak and let it pass.

"..."

After having dinner with Kim Woojin, Choi Yiseo was on the way back to her studio apartment. She was sharing it with a friend from high school, and her steps on the way home felt oddly heavy.

*Woong*

Her phone rang.

Checking it, the name which appeared was Minji.

"Hello?"

-How was it?

Minji asked right away, to which Choi Yiseo responded with a sigh, and using the call as an excuse, she sat down on the bench placed along the riverside.

"What do you mean by that? We just had a meal."

Responding to the detached words, Minji snapped back in irritation.

-No, I'm not asking about that. How is that bastard? You can't be saying that you ate with dick Woojin right?

"Right…."

Do they really have to call Kim Woojin that?

Minji talked about Kim Woojin that way even though she had never met the man, all because of what she heard.

And if she spoke seriously about him, then Choi Yiseo would get asked why she was taking Kim Woojin's side.

-How is dick Woojin doing? Is he struggling because he broke up with Yoon-ji? Or is he looking for another girl?

"He isn't looking for any girl now. There's no indication of that. And we didn't talk about Yoon-ji."

-Ah, pity. You need to do better. You know that Yoon-ji is having a hard time because of him, right?

"…Right."

-Just catch one piece of gossip about him. We can inflate it on the internet using the communities and forums. Your Bamboo Forest has become really active, right?

Bamboo Forest.

An anonymous community at Gahyeon University.

Choi Yiseo doesn't participate in it.

Choi Yiseo, who had been listening to the story with an indifferent look, seemed to have lost her vigor and so Minji provided a more provocative suggestion.

-Then how about tailing him discreetly?

"What?"

Was she hearing it correctly? Choi Yiseo was shocked and asked but Minji continued confidently.

-No, it's for Yoon-ji, since we're all best friends from high school, we might be able to help her out like this.

"No, even so…"

-Yoon-ji dropped out right? She didn't even tell us what happened. That bastard must have done something.

I'm her friend too.

Such thoughts went through Choi Yiseo's mind, but they didn't make it out as a response.

-Well, it's just a suggestion. I don't mean for you to really do it. Ah, and when you come by, bring shampoo, we've run out.

"…Okay."

*Click*

The call ended, and Choi Yiseo exhaled a deep sigh while clutching her cellphone with both hands.

How did it all come down to this?

Surely, until high school, these were the friends she was close with… then how did the relationship get this twisted?

'Minji says it's because of Kim Woojin….'

But Choi Yiseo judged it coldly as shifting the blame.

Moreover, Kim Woojin, whom she had hung out with just for a day, hadn't felt like a bad guy.

Rather it was Ahn Hyeon-ho, who constantly demanded attention from her, that was problematic.

-English Language and Literature Department, Ahn Hyeon-ho: Yiseo, do you have any lectures tomorrow?

As such messages kept coming in, Choi Yiseo closed her eyes, weary with exhaustion.

'I just want to throw my phone away.'

And now that she thinks about it, she hesitated to tell Kim Woojin that Ahn Hyeon-ho was a famous bully in high school.

She avoided talking about it, feeling that it could be considered gossiping, but Choi Yiseo wondered if she was making a mistake.

"Ah, I really don't know."

Choi Yiseo closed her eyes for a moment, squinted against the light from the streetlamp, and, encouraged by the night breeze, tapped her cellphone.

'Rather…'

She thought back to when she was eating pork cutlet earlier; that was when she felt somewhat at ease.

"What's this now?"

Early morning.

Although yesterday I had a 9 a.m. lecture, today's classes were bunched in the afternoon so I could wake up at leisure.

While brushing my teeth, I was browsing the Bamboo Forest posts from the morning when I came across an odd one.

-Anonymous287: There's someone in my major whom I cannot stand. What do I do about him?

It could have been just a normal grumbling post if that was all there was to it.

-Anonymous11: Why?

-Anonymous287: Honestly, it is annoying to see him hovering around a girl who isn't even interested in him.

-Anonymous11: Lolol you are just jealous of watching an alpha male.

-Anonymous287: What the fuck, if this were high school, I would have just beat him up and that would be the end of it.

-Anonymous11: Then go beat him up and then pay settlement money too. I too want to see the popular jerk get smacked.

-Anonymous287: He isn't that popular. Just a loner in class, the anti-social type. Couldn't stop laughing when I saw the sight of him taking a pork cutlet to his date.

-Anonymous11: Lol date lol pork cutlet lol

"Is this referring to me?"

The conversation that continued seemed to be about me. Moreover, the timing was quite coincidental.

Just yesterday, didn't Ahn Hyeon-ho show jealousy after seeing Choi Yiseo and me alone together?

Moreover, pork cutlet was indeed the dish that we had yesterday.

And then, the last part.

-Anonymous287: Haa, if I get a chance, I will beat him up this time.

Such an aggressive comment.

"They really have nothing better to do."

Anonymous287 became known as Ahn Hyeon-ho to me, yet there was no specific reaction in my mind.

If I get hit, I just take the hit and get some money off him, isn't that the end?

Although my wallet isn't lacking thanks to the allowance my parents give me, I think I could practice being filial in this manner.

'I've already got to know two people from the department.'

Anonymous 69 is Seo Yerin.

Anonymous287 is Ahn Hyeon-ho.

Both were popular people in the department, but in reality, they were ugly and fiercely dedicated to their desires.

Even right now.

-Anonymous69: Ahh, I want to fuck so baddd!

I could see the post that Seo Yerin uploaded today. In the past someone would have told her to stop or would have spoken out in annoyance.

But not anymore.

No feeding the morons.

The abbreviation of 'don't feed the morons' was very well-practiced in Bamboo Forest.

Then.

-Anonymous69: (Photo) Today's jerking off material! Swisssh!

The moment I refreshed the bulletin board, I saw a new message that Seo Yerin had posted. Rushing to check the content, there was a photo showing a woman's panties.

"Insane woman!"

I immediately blocked her.

[Dear student, you have been suspended from using the bulletin board for one day for posting sexually explicit material.]

I did wonder if a one-day suspension was too short. Honestly, didn't they cause a huge fuss when they were suspended for just one day, after the last incident through the 1:1 inquiry?

I wasn't confident about enduring her antics for another two days though.

'Did she really just upload her own photo?'

On an anonymous community?

Out of curiosity , I rechecked the post and thankfully, it didn't seem to be Seo Yerin's legs.

There was no mole on the thighs and the legs were thicker than hers.

'At least she isn't stooping that low.'

I just felt relieved.

*Woong*

As expected.

-Anonymous69: Insane speed. Isn't it too early?

Seo Yerin had initiated a 1:1 inquiry.

-Anonymous69: Insane speed, isn't it too early?

Seo Yerin, lying on the bed and looking up at her phone, smiled with satisfaction at the comment she sent.

When the Bamboo Forest, where she had been venting her secret desires, had banned her for a day, she felt completely lost.

She kept checking the time, wondering when the ban would be lifted.

That was why she only whined to the admin and secretly sent pictures of herself.

It was an immensely thrilling pleasure. Perhaps it could be called a provocative sense of liberation.

She couldn't post her own photo on the community for fear of who might see it, but the admin was just one person, and since she had to hide her identity anyway, it didn't matter.

'Why isn't there a response yet?'

Feeling anxious, Seo Yerin kicked the blanket with her feet.

*Woong*

The alert came immediately.

-Admin: Please. Stay within limits.

"Huhu, hehehe!"

Seo Yerin who sat up in bed, had her fingers moving swiftly.

-Anonymous69: Why can't it be posted in the uni community? There shouldn't be anyone under 19 in there at all?

-Admin: Are you not aware of the laws against the distribution of pornography?

-Anonymous69: Instead of looking it up, go jerk off.

Her heart was pounding as she looked at the chat.

It hadn't even been thirty seconds, but Seo Yerin couldn't help but wonder why their response was so slow.

-Senior Han Kang: Yerin, should we go to the café that I mentioned last time?

"Ah, seriously."

She swiped the message away without even reading it, irritated that she got a response from a weird senior but not the one she was waiting for.

After all, she only had lectures in the afternoon, so she could just say she slept in and missed it.

-Admin: Sigh, Anonymous69, please keep it down. This is really hard for me.

"Hehehehee!"

Why is this person's reaction so entertaining?

Although this child-like whining was amusing, she had no intention of stopping.

-Anonymous69: Then unban me, please.

Do not unban.

Honestly for Seo Yerin, getting immediate responses and fulfilling her desires more provocatively through the 1:1 inquiry was better than the anonymous forum with no answers incoming.

-Admin: I only banned you for a day on purpose, you know? I can overlook the weird posts, but please, really, no more pictures.

-Anonymous69: Do you want more? Should I send you the collection from my 1TB hard drive?

-Admin: I really want to curse at you now.

"Hehe!"

Seo Yerin sprang up and immediately turned on the camera.

What kind of photo should she send this time?

Wearing just a baggy T-shirt and sleep pants, she tried out different poses in front of a full-length mirror and then thought,

"I should ask Yiseo to introduce me to a personal trainer."

Last time, in order to get proper revenge for the admin calling her useless, she fueled her passion to the best of her abilities.

*****

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