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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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The short yet long exam period was finally over.
Perhaps because I hadn’t slept much during the exams, the week felt like two.
“I feel completely drained now that exams are over.”
“Same. I don’t want to come to school. Well, the club room is nice, though.”
“Agreed. It’s a great place to hang out when you suddenly have free time.”
After classes, we gathered in the club room. We didn’t have anything specific to do, but it was so well-furnished that we naturally gravitated towards it.
The club room’s supply closet was stocked with a state-of-the-art coffee machine, premium coffee beans, and various snacks. The library area had all sorts of novels and manga, and there was even a large screen and projector, making it feel like a movie theater where we could watch anime.
At this point, it felt more like going to a manga cafe than a club room.
Today, the first-year classes ended earliest, so A-reum, Sung-hyun, Sung-joo, and I were there first.
A-reum and I sprawled on the sofa, chatting listlessly. We were already drained, and sinking into the plush sofa sapped what little energy we had left.
‘This is really comfy. I wonder how much it cost?’
There was no way the school would provide such a luxurious sofa for a mere club room. It must have been Yoo Bam noona who bought it with her own money. I was curious about the price.
Suddenly, Sung-hyun, who was doing pull-ups on the chin-up bar, spoke.
“Speaking of exams, I noticed a lot of people didn’t study much. It felt like everyone just did the bare minimum.”
“Right, right.”
A-reum, the empathy monster, immediately nodded in agreement.
B-
“I wondered if we were overdoing it. We stayed up all night at school.”
“You got banned from leaving after two days.”
“Ugh, anyway! Don’t nitpick!”
Thwack, thwack, thwack!
A flurry of soft punches flew at me after my teasing. This girl had made a habit of hitting me. It didn’t hurt, so it was fine.
Anyway, it was true that fewer people studied hard than we expected, as Sung-hyun and A-reum had said. Whenever we compared answers after each exam, the error rate was quite high. In reality, there weren’t many people staying up all night at school.
Sung-joo, who was reading a manga, chuckled as he listened to our conversation.
“It’s because you’re still first-years and it’s the beginning of the semester. It’ll get harder to get good grades as the semesters go by.”
“Sung-joo oppa is a first-year too. How do you know?”
“Well, my friends are all second and third years, so I’ve heard things. They say first-years not studying hard is the same at every school.”
“Ah.”
A-reum nodded as if she understood.
Actually, I had heard the same thing from Soyeon noona. She said that first-years are often too busy enjoying their freedom after the college entrance exams to study hard. That’s why she told me to work hard while it was still easy to get scholarships.
Sung-hyun, finished with his pull-ups, approached Sung-joo.
“Sung-joo hyung, what are you reading?”
“The one you recommended. It’s really good.”
“Ah, One-Punch Man. There’s an anime too.”
“I wanted to read the manga first. I figured I wouldn’t read the manga if I watched the anime first.”
“Nice. You know what’s up. You should always experience the original work in the order of novel, manga, then anime to fully enjoy it. I’ll recommend some others when you’re done with that one.”
“Thanks. I’m reading it at home too, so I think I’ll finish it soon.”
The two of them happily chatted about manga.
I looked at Sung-joo with a surprised expression.
“I never thought he’d get so into manga.”
“Right? Sung-joo oppa seems like such a social butterfly. I thought he’d be out partying all the time.”
“…?”
“Huh? What’s with that look?”
“Nothing, I just thought it was a funny thing for you to say.”
“What about me? I’ve been into this since the Two Toons era.”
I knew A-reum was a hardcore otaku. I just said it because it didn’t match her appearance. Look at her, with her looks, you’d think she’d love going out and taking pictures. It was fascinating that she was actually a homebody.
Did she read my expression?
A-reum pointed at me and said,
“If you’re going to say that, it doesn’t suit you either.”
“…Me?”
I was a hardcore otaku and a hikikomori, so what was she talking about? I wasn’t just a consumer, but a producer of sorts. It was absurd to say that being an otaku didn’t suit someone who had earned tens of millions of won drawing NSFW art.
As I was about to retort…
“I find Cheol-jin the strangest. You weren’t interested in manga or anything until elementary school. You probably didn’t even watch Tooniverse, did you?”
Sung-hyun, who knew my past, said.
A-reum’s eyes widened, and she added another finger, pointing at me with both hands now.
“You didn’t watch Tooniverse? You traitor! And you call yourself an otaku? You newbie!”
“Hey, it’s not that big of a deal that I didn’t watch it… I just got into it a little late.”
“You traitor! You newbie!”
“Stop it…”
“You noob… Ungh!”
I grabbed A-reum’s head, and a strange moan escaped her lips. Her head was so small that I could hold it in one hand.
As I was holding down the struggling A-reum…
“Oh my? Our freshmen are here already. I’m so happy. So diligent!”
Yoo Bam noona entered, a blissful expression on her face. She was so touched that she dabbed at her eyes.
Following her, Han Saebyeok also entered. She saw A-reum being held by me, strode over, and pulled me away.
Han Saebyeok glared at me with sharp eyes and said,
“Why do you keep bullying her?”
“I’m not…”
“Every time I see you, you’re hitting her. It’s awful.”
“What the…”
This was ridiculous. Was she making me out to be a thug?
I said to A-reum with an aggrieved expression,
“A-reum, I’m so frustrated. Please explain for me.”
“Okay! I’ll definitely clear things up!”
A-reum nodded resolutely, as if she understood and I could trust her completely.
Go, A-reum! At least she’s nice to you!
I cheered her on with clenched fists, but…
“Wah! Saebyeok unnie! He keeps bullying me! Just now, he grabbed my head like this, so hard! Waaah!”
“Hey, Pi A-reum!”
She was whining in a baby voice, clinging to Han Saebyeok and turning on the aegyo full blast.
And Han Saebyeok, lapping it up, stroked her hair. Then she glared at me as if I were trash. I was so frustrated I felt like exploding.
“Ugh! If anyone was hit, it was me! I got hit ten times and retaliated once, and I’m the bad guy?”
“You’re picking on someone who weighs a third of what you do…”
“How is it a third? It’s barely over half at most!”
“Whatever.”
Han Saebyeok scoffed and pulled A-reum away from me. Was I some kind of hazardous material? She wasn’t like this at first, but she seemed to be getting more and more brazen.
But A-reum, peeking out from behind Han Saebyeok and sticking her tongue out at me, was even more annoying. Just you wait.
As I was grinding my teeth, our club president, Yoo Bam noona, spoke obliviously,
“Ahaha. Cheol-jin is so sociable. You’ve already become close with Saebyeok. I was worried, but I’m glad.”
“Huh? Close? Me? With who?”
“With Saebyeok!”
“…”
No, I wasn’t asking again because I didn’t hear you.
I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t respond, and then Sung-hyun, that jerk, agreed.
“Cheol-jin has always been sociable since he was young. He makes friends easily with anyone.”
What ancient history was he talking about? Sung-hyun had a tendency to praise me excessively whenever he felt he had wronged me.
And then, what was this?
Even Sung-joo hyung said,
“You’re definitely the closest to her among us. Besides A-reum, I probably talk to you the most.”
“No. I haven’t really talked to anyone besides A-reum…”
If A-reum wasn’t involved, there was no reason for me to talk to them. Even during exams, we just exchanged brief nods.
Anyway, while we were chattering, two more people arrived.
Seora noona and Ju Hana.
I waved to Seora noona.
“Noona, what brings you here? You seemed busy.”
“I stopped by since exams are over. Cheol-jin, are you sticking to your diet?”
“O-Of course. Haha…”
I averted my gaze slightly as I answered.
I had something to hide.
My appetite had exploded during exams, and I hadn’t been following my diet as strictly.
Tteokbokki, fried food, sundae, Chinese food, kimchi stew…
Not only did I binge, but once I started, I would eat extra portions or grill meat as I pleased.
‘Phew. Seems like she hasn’t noticed the pictures yet.’
As my personal trainer, I had to report my meals to Seora noona, but lately, I had been recycling old photos. Of course, I didn’t send pictures of the extra food I ate.
Then, Ju Hana, who had entered behind Seora noona, quietly sat next to me.
“Ah, hello.”
She greeted me and then lowered her head.
Since it was our first time seeing each other since we had sex, she seemed incredibly awkward.
If this continued, I felt like I would become awkward too, so I quickly continued the conversation.
“Hana, did you do well on the exams?”
“H-How about you?”
“I think I did okay.”
“I see. Congratulations. I just… I’m not usually good at exams…”
She suddenly became gloomy.
Did I step on a landmine?
As I racked my brain for a change of topic, Yoo Bam noona looked at us and smiled warmly.
“As expected, you’re so sociable. You’ve become close with Hana too.”
“…”
Well, we had become close… very close, in fact. I didn’t know what to say anymore. It was good to be sociable, right?
I gave up on responding and shrugged.
A moment later, Yoo Bam noona stepped forward and said,
“Ahem. Now that everyone’s here, I have an announcement.”
“An announcement?”
“It’s nothing new. Is everyone prepared for what we talked about before? April is almost over. You have ten days left to submit your assignments.”
“Ah!”
The club assignment.
We were supposed to create concept proposals for the anime we wanted to make.
‘I completely forgot about it.’
This was bad. What should I do?
I was terrible at creative work.
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