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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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A firm denial.
Pi A-reum, who had been glaring at Kang Cheol-jin, was now painted with confusion.
“Huh…? You’re not dating Soyeon unni?”
“No.”
“Uh, huh?”
Pi A-reum tilted her head from side to side. Then, she glared at Kang Cheol-jin again, but the venom was gone.
“D-Don’t lie. You’ve been with her all the time lately. Always sitting next to her, eating with Soyeon unni more than us, and even spending evenings together!”
“That’s because of the project. You know we were in the same group for the group project.”
“…Right? B-But even if you’re in the same group, you wouldn’t stick together that much! I’ve done group projects too. I never spent the whole day with my group members!”
“You were in a group of five, right? Three people dropped our class. It was practically just me and the two noonas. Wouldn’t we naturally have more work to do?”
“…I guess so?”
“That’s why we spent so much time together.”
“I-I see…”
Pi A-reum, now deflated, nodded. Then, she bowed deeply at the waist.
“I-I’m sorry! I really thought you were dating!”
“I told you I’m not dating.”
Kang Cheol-jin scratched his head with an awkward expression. While he spoke confidently, the real reason he spent so much time with Lee Soyeon wasn’t because of the project, but because they were having sex.
Feeling a pang of guilt, he said,
“I haven’t told you this before, but I have some trauma, so I have a hard time trusting people. Especially women.”
“Huh, what?”
Pi A-reum was even more flustered by the sudden serious topic.
He didn’t want to make the atmosphere too heavy. He only brought this up to appease her. He explained as briefly as possible.
“Something happened in the past. I was bullied in middle school… and the girl I was dating at the time suddenly dumped me and then took the lead in bullying me.”
There was a girl who confessed to him first, then dumped him, and then spearheaded the bullying against him.
It was still absurd to think about. He could understand breaking up because of the situation, but he never imagined she would join in the bullying.
Because of that experience, Kang Cheol-jin was uncomfortable dating.
Meanwhile, Pi A-reum immediately erupted in anger. Her expression was fierce, incongruous with her petite frame.
“What kind of crazy bitch does that?!”
Pi A-reum’s anger went from zero to sixty in an instant.
However, she suddenly stopped, sensing something odd. She knew Kang Cheol-jin had supposedly never dated.
“Didn’t you say you’ve never dated?”
“That was so young, it doesn’t count. Even if you could call it dating, it only lasted a month.”
Kang Cheol-jin spoke defensively, but there was a bigger reason.
‘I don’t want to consider that thing dating.’
He didn’t want to remember his first relationship like that. It was a sentimental reason, but he felt a psychological aversion to it.
“I see. No, that’s not important… uh, um, I’m sorry. I didn’t know…”
Pi A-reum looked distraught, like she had committed a crime. Her already small frame shrunk further, making her look quite pitiful.
To lighten the heavy mood, Kang Cheol-jin laughed as if it were nothing.
“I’m sorry too. I’ve just been saying I’m busy lately. It’s not that I dislike you.”
Far from disliking her, he actually liked her. He enjoyed being with Pi A-reum more than with his other male friends.
However, he wasn’t sure if it was romantic attraction. While his trauma had improved compared to the past, he was still uncomfortable with the idea of a “girlfriend.” A psychological barrier unconsciously blocked his romantic feelings.
He was at least relieved that his aversion to women had disappeared. And Pi A-reum had played a significant role in that. Lee Soyeon and Ahn Seora also contributed, but not as much as Pi A-reum.
That’s why Kang Cheol-jin wanted to maintain his current relationship with Pi A-reum, so he was flustered to see her jealous.
He hesitated for a moment, then carefully asked,
“A-reum, were you jealous?”
“…Huh? Jealous?”
“Yeah. Because I was close with Soyeon noona…”
He felt embarrassed even as he asked. This cute girl liked him and was jealous of another woman? But he couldn’t think of any other explanation.
Pi A-reum blinked at Kang Cheol-jin, then frowned. Why was she angry at him?
‘Why was I angry? It wasn’t jealousy.’
The answer came quickly.
Pi A-reum declared confidently,
“Because if you date Soyeon unni, you can’t have sex with me.”
“…That’s it?”
“What’s with that expression? This is a very serious problem!”
Pi A-reum, arms crossed, launched into a lecture.
“Think about it. If you’re dating someone else, is it okay for you to sleep with me?”
“…Of course not.”
“Right. Then you have, no, we have an obligation to tell each other if we start dating someone. You can’t just hit on someone if you’re already seeing someone else, right?”
Logically, she was right. He had no rebuttal.
“I thought you were dating Soyeon unni. And I thought you weren’t telling me. Why wouldn’t you tell me?”
“……”
A-reum, Defeated
“You wanted to date unni and sleep with me at the same time! That’s your conclusion! What a scumbag! Right?”
“W-Well, yeah.”
“But you weren’t. I’m sorry for thinking you were a scumbag…”
Pi A-reum bowed her head again and apologized.
“Ah, no. It’s okay, you don’t have to apologize anymore.”
Kang Cheol-jin said this, but cold sweat trickled down his back.
‘Am I a scumbag? What A-reum said… it kind of sounds like me.’
He hadn’t dated Lee Soyeon, but they had slept together. And he hadn’t once considered ending things with Pi A-reum. So, essentially, he had been intending to be with both of them.
Kang Cheol-jin wondered if he should confess the truth now.
But he concluded, ‘no.’
‘It’s not right for me to blab about it.’
Aside from being judged himself, he felt it would be incredibly disrespectful to the people involved to announce that he had slept with them.
In the end, despite feeling uneasy, Kang Cheol-jin didn’t tell Pi A-reum about his relationship with Lee Soyeon. He wasn’t even officially dating Pi A-reum, so it felt even stranger to bring it up.
‘Hmm. Thinking about it, it’s completely different.’
Having conveniently rationalized it, Kang Cheol-jin pointed to the door with a relaxed expression.
“Now that that’s settled, shall we go? Class must have started.”
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After all the classes ended.
His classmates immediately started organizing a drinking party.
“Let’s drink till we drop today! We have less than a month until exams, so this is our last chance!”
“Cheol-jin, come with us!”
“Sorry, I’ll have to pass. I have something to do.”
He firmly declined. At first, refusing was difficult, but he had gotten used to it. It was easier to get out of things by being firm rather than giving vague excuses.
“Aw, man. Kang Cheol-jin always skips out!”
“Cheol-jin’s ditching us again!”
“Ditching us? That’s harsh.”
“You’re the one ditching us, so we’re the ones who are upset!”
Ignoring his whining friends, he headed home.
“Ah, I want to drink too.”
He wasn’t skipping out because he didn’t like alcohol. And certainly not because he didn’t want to hang out with his friends.
“I have to resist. I just started working out again…”
It hadn’t even been a day since he signed the PT contract with Seora noona. He briefly considered starting his diet tomorrow, but he knew that once he started postponing it, there would be no end.
More importantly:
Ahn Seora: Send me a picture of your dinner. You ate at the school cafeteria for lunch, so you know you have to eat a diet meal for dinner, right? ^^
Me: Yes. I bought chicken breast…
She was keeping close tabs on him, so he couldn’t send her a picture of himself partying and drinking on the very first day. He could sneakily send a picture of chicken breast and drink anyway, but if he got caught, it would be a disaster.
Seora noona’s punches were qualitatively different from A-reum’s soft fists. He could actually die.
Arriving home, I immediately prepared dinner. These days, chicken breast products came in all sorts of convenient and easy-to-eat varieties. No need to boil them; just pop them in the microwave.
Today’s dinner:
Chicken breast, steamed broccoli, two boiled eggs, and a little kimchi. Brown rice instead of white rice. He’d heard it was good for diets because it caused a slower rise in blood sugar.
As soon as he sent the picture, Seora noona replied. Was she waiting? A little scary.
Ahn Seora: Good. Adding a few almonds would be perfect. And since it’s still early days, you can have a fried egg or something.
Me: Okay. Oh, should I buy protein powder?
Ahn Seora: Don’t buy protein powder. I’ll give you some good quality stuff.
“Oh, thanks. Money saved.”
She had already halved his PT fees, and now she was giving him protein powder. Was she an angel?
As soon as he thought that, another message arrived.
Ahn Seora: Don’t eat snacks after dinner because you’re hungry. If I catch you, you’re dead.
Me: Yes…
Looks like I won’t be eating anything tasty for a while.
After dinner, I started studying, something I had been putting off. Self-studying drawing, video editing, and 3D modeling. These were all my hobbies and studies.
My short-term goal was to create a virtual avatar. And beyond that, to project the virtual avatar as a hologram.
Someday, a world for the virtual, by the virtual, will come!
With that conviction, I honed my hobbies today. Someday, I would make a living with these skills. The integration of hobby and work, that was my ultimate goal.
Late at night.
Suddenly, I received a phone call. It was A-reum.
“Hello?”
….
There was no response. What? Bad connection?
Puzzled, I waited for a moment.
“Ah, I said I have a boyfriend…”
“Don’t do tha… Ooh… Let’s play. Hey…”
A-reum’s drunken voice and a strange man’s voice.
I shouted in surprise,
“A-reum! A-reum?”
“I said no…”
“Come on, wake up.”
“Hey, Cheongsa… mak… meet…”
I immediately grabbed my jacket and left the house.
‘Mak? Jumak? Is it the Goryeo Jumak at Cheongdae Intersection?’
I ran towards the pub.
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