—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The atmosphere at the after-party was fantastic.
“Whoa, you saw that too? It’s got a high entry barrier.”
“You’re the first girl we’ve met who’s seen it.”
As it was an anime club, naturally everyone loved anime. Perhaps because of this common ground, the new and existing members quickly became close.
Among them, the most boisterous was A-reum.
“You’d have to be a spy to not know Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation! The animation is amazing, and the fight scenes are awesome! Like, whoosh, bam!”
A-reum flailed her arms, depicting the fight scenes, and honestly, it was just cute.
The senior members watched A-reum with smiles on their faces. The tiny girl moving so dynamically must have looked like a performing pet.
Meanwhile, knowing A-reum’s true nature, I found it rather fascinating. This cute girl was usually such a perv. If I told them I picked up her vibrator on our first meeting, no one would believe me.
As we talked about anime, the conversation naturally shifted to our favorites. It was an inevitable progression, considering the gathering of otaku.
Surprisingly, Seora, who seemed the most “normal,” spoke first. It turned out she was the club president before Yoo Bam.
“Mine’s Mushoku Tensei, like I just said. I love isekai and I’m picky about the quality of fight scenes.”
“I like The Pet Girl of Sakurasou. I love slice-of-life.”
Mm-hmm. Sakurasou is a classic.
I nodded in agreement with A-reum’s choice.
“What about you, Saebyeok?”
“…Yuru Camp. I like iyashikei.”
Iyashikei? I thought she’d be into apocalyptic or dark fantasy.
“Oh, that’s unexpected… uh.”
I quickly shut my mouth, but I’d already made eye contact with Han Saebyeok. Her glare was sharp, as if asking if I had a problem.
I desperately tried to explain myself.
“Y-Yuru Camp is great. The camping atmosphere is nice, but the food animation is top-notch too. With those landscapes, that feeling, and the high-quality food, watching it at night is pure food porn. I’ve seen both seasons.”
I practically gave a review, chattering away, but…
“…….”
There was no reply.
However, it wasn’t entirely fruitless. Her eyes seemed to soften a bit. Did that mean I was forgiven?
Han Saebyeok passed the turn to Ju Hana next to her. Ju Hana, who was eating meat, startled and said,
“I, I like One Piece.”
“Oh, I like One Piece too!”
Sung-joo, who had been listening blankly, quickly jumped in. He seemed happy that a topic he knew came up.
But Ju Hana, glancing at Sung-joo, added,
“J-Just so you know, I’m not a fake fan. I’ve seen all the anime mentioned so far.”
Subtly drawing a line.
“…….”
Sung-joo shut his mouth again. Unlike Ju Hana, he probably didn’t know any of the other anime.
“What about you, Yoo Bam?”
“Um, hmm. It’s hard to pick just one. I like everything you guys mentioned. What about you, Cheol-jin?”
Thousands of anime titles flashed through my mind and disappeared. If I had to choose just one, it had to be this.
“Fullmetal Alchemist.”
I said confidently.
It’s an older anime, but I consider it the GOAT. From the characters to the story’s build-up and conclusion, it’s flawless.
But the reactions were strange. Someone even said,
“That one was boring. I dropped it after the first episode.”
It was Han Saebyeok. What? Was she picking a fight?
I stared directly at the short-haired girl, whom I would usually avoid eye contact with. Say that again, you bitch.
But it wasn’t just Han Saebyeok. Even A-reum, whom I trusted, made a disgusted “Eww” sound.
“I heard Fullmetal was good, but the animation is so old. The fight scenes are lame too.”
“And there are no cute girls. The guys aren’t particularly handsome either.”
T-These… Are they dissing Fullmetal Alchemist? Cute girls… might be lacking, but! There are plenty of cool guys! One snaps his fingers and makes fire, and another swings a blade with his dreadlocks. How is that not cool?
My face flushed red, and I trembled with rage.
“Y-You fake otaku! How can you judge it without even watching it? Has anyone here even finished Fullmetal? Especially you, saying it’s boring after just one episode?!”
I jumped up and pointed my finger, and Han Saebyeok flinched and recoiled. People at other tables looked at me.
After fuming for a moment…
…my reason returned.
I quietly sat back down.
“I’m sorry……”
I hung my head. I was incredibly embarrassed that my hidden otaku nature had exploded. I’d completely ruined the mood….
“I-It’s okay, Cheol-jin. That just means it’s really good for you, right? I’ll give it a try sometime.”
Yoo Bam, whose heart was as big as her chest, consoled me.
“You haven’t seen it either, Yoo Bam……”
Oops, the words slipped out without thinking.
Yoo Bam looked flustered at my comment.
“W-Well, I’m not very familiar with older anime……”
“…….”
I wanted to die. It was a moment where I physically experienced the meaning of dying from embarrassment.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
At some point, I quietly slipped away from the table. I couldn’t bear to stay there any longer. No one said anything, but I was mortified.
‘I was doing so well hiding my otaku side. Uggghhh!’
A silent scream resonated in my throat.
The problem was that I’d let my guard down after joining the anime club. I couldn’t stand my favorite anime being insulted. Thinking about it now, everyone has different tastes! It was nothing to get worked up about!
Berating myself internally, I stealthily joined another table. I gave an awkward smile to the “ghost members” staring blankly at me and picked up the tongs.
“Haha, I’ll grill the meat. I’m good at it.”
Please let me grill the meat. When I looked at them with that expression, everyone burst out laughing.
“Ahahaha! You’re hilarious.”
“Wow, I’ve never seen an otaku explode like that.”
“You came here because you were embarrassed, right?”
Pretending not to hear, I served the cooked meat onto their plates one by one.
“Why didn’t you take this out? It’s cooked perfectly rare…”
The staff member who had been grilling the meat had left a while ago. They were dismissed so the club members could chat comfortably.
As I served the meat, a female senior member sitting next to me patted my head, giggling. She introduced herself as Jung Mina, a fourth-year digital content creation major.
“Aww, are you shy?”
“…Should I wrap some for you? Beef and vegetable wraps.”
“That means shut up, right? Ahahahaha!”
How did she understand that?
My face flushed as I diligently grilled the meat. The embarrassment still lingered. The only consolation was that the other table seemed to be considerate of my shrunken state and didn’t call me back.
‘I hope they’re not avoiding me?’
…No way. At least A-reum and Sung-joo wouldn’t. And if Ahn Sung-hyun ignores me again, I’ll actually kill him.
“Here’s to our otaku Cheol-jin.”
“…I’m on a diet, so I’ll pass on the alcohol.”
“What? What kind of nonsense is that at an after-party? Are you going to ruin the mood at this table too?”
“…I’ll drink.”
Everyone except me was already drinking. Even Seora, my personal trainer. If she’s drinking, it’s probably okay for me to have a little, right?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The party went on, and green bottles piled up like a mountain under the table. People started getting drunk. Ahn Sung-hyun was already wasted.
“I heard you had a hard time because of those three?”
“Three? Ah, the seniors who dropped the class? How did you know?”
“Soyeon told me. She was cursing them like crazy. But why did they badmouth you for being ugly? You’re pretty handsome.”
“They said I wasn’t handsome, not that I was ugly……”
“Same difference.”
Meanwhile, I was still grilling meat at the ghost members’ table. As I diligently grilled, Mina, sitting next to me, occasionally fed me meat and poured me even more alcohol.
As I continued to empty my glass without leaving a drop,
“Oh, Cheol-jin, you’re a good drinker? You don’t seem drunk at all.”
Mina, her face flushed, poured me another drink. This girl’s drinking pace was insane. Her face was red, was she okay?
“Are you usually a good drinker?”
“I think I have a high tolerance. I’ve never been completely drunk before.”
“Really? Then I’ll have to give you your first experience today.”
“…Huh?”
Surprised by her choice of words, I asked back, and Mina looked at me with a mischievous expression.
“Why so surprised? I meant your first experience being drunk. Were you thinking something else?”
“Oh, no. I just misheard……”
“Aha. Misheard. I wonder what you heard~?”
“No, it’s not that, I just didn’t hear you properly……”
“Pfft. Mina, stop teasing the kid~”
As I flustered, another ghost member, Yoo Hyun-jeong, stopped Mina. But I couldn’t tell if she was actually stopping her or joining in on the teasing.
Please stop laughing.
The last ghost member was the only male senior. Park Mincheol, laughing breathlessly, said,
“Ahaha. Cheol-jin is cute.”
I don’t want to hear I’m cute from a guy.
Mina, pouring another drink, agreed.
“Right? He’s built like a tank but he’s cute. I like you. You grill meat well, and you drink well.”
“S-So, grilling meat and drinking well is more important than what you said before?”
“Ahaha. Busted? If you know, hurry up and grill the next batch.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
It was time to grill the marinated meat.
I skillfully grilled the short ribs and sighed inwardly. The embarrassment had subsided somewhat, but the two people sitting across from me were bothering me.
‘If you’re going to do that, get a motel room.’
Park Mincheol and Yoo Hyun-jeong. These two had been subtly touching each other. They were doing it secretly under the table, but honestly, it was obvious.
‘Do they think no one can see them?’
Well, Mina seemed oblivious, but I could see everything. Their unnatural movements. They were definitely touching each other’s thighs.
Why were they doing this in front of me, making me jealous? Suddenly, I wanted to have sex.
Speaking of sex, something suddenly came to mind. A topic I had forgotten momentarily due to the embarrassment.
‘Come to think of it, she’s here too, right?’
Back-alley girl, Backsa.
If she really didn’t get the Post-it from her friend, she would be at this party. All the ghost members were here, after all.
Who could Backsa be?
My curiosity piqued, I scanned the room.
First, I excluded the men, including myself. And A-reum, whom I’d already slept with, was also excluded.
Six people remained.
From there, I excluded Yoo Bam and Seora. Why? Because of their large breasts. Yoo Bam had F-cup or larger breasts, and Seora also seemed to be a C-cup or larger.
Through this process of elimination, four people remained.
The cold Han Saebyeok with her short hair.
Ju Hana, who also seemed cold but was actually timid.
Jung Mina, the fourth-year digital content creation major sitting next to me.
And Yoo Hyun-jeong, sitting across from me, touching thighs with a guy.
Who among these four could be the back-alley girl, Backsa? Their breasts, visible above their clothes, all looked around a B-cup…
‘Are they padded? They all seem bigger than Backsa’s.’
At this point, the only option was to distinguish them by their waist or hips, but that didn’t seem possible either.
Everyone was wearing loose-fitting clothes like hoodies or sweatshirts.
The same went for their pants. These days, wide-legged pants were more fashionable than skinny jeans, so unlike in the past, hips weren’t emphasized.
‘And this one’s wearing a dress.’
Yoo Hyun-jeong, sitting across from me, was wearing a spring dress and cardigan. I couldn’t very well ask her to lift her skirt so I could check how big and firm her butt was.
Who among the four could be Backsa?
As I grilled meat and drank, my imagination ran wild.
‘Ah, should I exclude her too?’
Han Saebyeok. That scary-looking girl had a tattoo that ran from below her ear down her neck. On the other hand, I’d never seen any trace of a tattoo on Backsa’s account.
‘She could’ve photoshopped it out. Ah, I don’t know.’
I wondered if she would go through that much trouble, but then again, I thought she might if it was to protect her identity.
In the end, I couldn’t reach a conclusion.
Was Backsa’s identity going to remain a mystery…?
Then Mina, sitting next to me, patted my thigh.
“Cheol-jin, what are you thinking about?”
“Huh?!”
Startled, I turned to her. Partly because I was lost in thought, and partly because she had suddenly touched my thigh.
Her hand quickly retreated. Was it just to get my attention?
Mina, her face flushed from the alcohol, looked at me.
“I asked what you were thinking about. You suddenly went quiet and just kept grilling.”
“Ah, I was just lost in thought, remembering something from earlier. You know how embarrassing memories just pop up sometimes.”
“Pfft. You were thinking about that again? You’re so funny.”
She burst out laughing and patted my shoulder. I didn’t think I said anything particularly funny.
“Cheol-jin, come here.”
“Why?”
Mina grabbed my ear and pulled me closer.
“You know……”
That’s when it happened.
“Cheol-jiiiiin!”
A-reum came running towards me, crying. What was wrong with her now?
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
