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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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The next day, after my classes ended.
I headed to the club room with my friends.
Before the senior members arrived, I gave the proposal one last check. The more I looked at it, the more serious my expression became.
‘What am I going to do? No matter how I look at this, it’s so obviously about me….’
The protagonist is a hikikomori, a shut-in who confined himself to his house because of school bullying.
I could let that much slide. It was a common enough cliché in school-life webtoons, after all.
But the character’s subsequent actions and other elements were the real problem.
Specifically, the story’s setting and the characters’ appearances.
I’d been so rushed by the deadline yesterday that I hadn’t paid it any mind, but looking at it again now, the characters looked way too much like our club members. It was because I had unconsciously used them as a motif when creating the characters.
Worse yet, the main setting of the story was the animation club at Cheong-gwang University—the very one I attend. Of course, I’d changed the names of the university and the club, but the building’s appearance and layout were a dead giveaway.
‘And I can’t just fix it now….’
There was already too much content for that. The seniors would be here any minute, and it was physically impossible to revise it now.
“Sigh. I guess there’s no helping it…?”
Showing my past to someone else was not something I was keen on doing. It might have been different if it were a bright and cheerful story, but this was dark and unpleasant.
But I didn’t want to skip out on the very first official club activity. Everyone else must have worked so hard to prepare; I couldn’t stand the thought of being the only one to show up empty-handed and become a burden.
As I was sighing with an uneasy expression on my face,
“Kang Cheol, what’s wrong? Something on your mind?”
A-reum, who had been sitting next to me reading a comic book, leaned in close.
I stared at her blankly and thought.
‘Come to think of it, A-reum already has a rough idea, doesn’t she?’
I had told her a brief version of my past at the laundromat a while back. She was the only person at school who knew about my past.
‘No, wait. There’s Sung-hyun, too.’
Ahn Sung-hyun, who had flopped onto the sofa and fallen asleep the moment he got to the club room.
That guy Sung-hyun didn’t just know about it; he was a direct witness who had seen the whole thing unfold right beside me. There was no need to even explain it to him.
“What is it? Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Umm….”
“Huh? Is it something serious?”
As I hesitated, A-reum asked again with a worried look on her face.
Then she tilted her head and…
“Gasp!”
…exclaimed in shock.
“Don’t tell me you got a girlfriend! Does this mean we can’t have sex anymore?”
“Hey, you…! What are you saying with Sung-hyun right here? What if he hears you?”
I quickly checked on Ahn Sung-hyun. Thankfully, he seemed to be asleep and hadn’t heard.
As I let out a sigh of relief, A-reum continued, her expression still grave.
“This is a matter of grave importance! How dare some bitch try to take my living dildo…!”
“Hey!”
I clamped my hand over A-reum’s mouth. Is there anything she won’t say?! No matter how close we are, you have to know there’s a time and a place for things!
‘No, wait a minute—what? Living dildo?’
I whispered in disbelief.
“Who are you calling a living dildo? Why do you treat me like this?”
What on earth am I to you? Am I literally just a living dildo?
A-reum said with a shameless expression,
“What do you mean, ‘why do I treat you like this’? I’m giving you the highest praise, you know. You’re a top-shelf model that’s hard to find anywhere else.”
With that, she shot me a grin and a big thumbs-up.
…I really want to peek inside her head to see what on earth she’s thinking. I’m starting to suspect there’s something other than a brain in there.
“It’s not that. We promised to tell each other if we ever got a girlfriend, remember?”
We had a deal to tell each other immediately if one of us started seeing someone. Because that would be when our current arrangement would have to end.
“Hmm. Then what is it? Is it something you can’t talk about?”
“Well… it’s something I could tell you.”
“…Oing?”
In fact, it might be better to tell her beforehand. If she made a huge fuss about it later when everyone was around, I’d definitely be exposed.
But then, A-reum suddenly cupped her cheeks with her hands and let out an uncharacteristically high-pitched squeal.
“Oh my gooood. Is this a confession? Are you promising to be my dildo for life…?”
Smack!
“Gah?! Ouch! What was that for?!”
“Do you really have to ask? How the hell is your brain wired? And besides, I’m being serious right now.”
“Hmph. Fine, so what is it then?”
“Hold on. I’ll email it to you. Look at it on your tablet.”
“Huh? Tablet?”
“It’s a comic. A concept storyboard.”
When you join our club, you get a brand-new tablet as a gift. Paid for out of Bam Noona’s own pocket, of course. Having a rich noona is amazing…
While I was at it, I decided to call Sung-hyun over, too. Since he was involved too, there was a high chance he’d make a big deal out of it later. I shook the guy sleeping on the sofa awake.
“Hey, Sung-hyun.”
“Who is it… I’m tired…”
“Sorry to wake you, but I need your help with something.”
“…Cheol-jin? What is it?”
Ahn Sung-hyun sat up, rubbing his tired eyes. He had dark circles under his eyes, too; it looked like he hadn’t gotten much sleep either. I felt a little bad.
“I emailed you a comic. Take a look and tell me if it’s too obvious.”
“Obvious how?”
“You’ll know when you read it.”
“Alright. If it’s a comic, I’m in.”
An Sung-hyun pulled out his tablet.
Meanwhile, A-reum, for some reason now angry, started pummeling me with her soft, cotton-puff fists.
Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack!
“Ah, what now? What is it this time?”
“You made it sound like you were only going to show me!”
“No, it’s just that it’s fine for Sung-hyun to see it too. In fact, he found out even earlier than… anyway, just read it.”
“Hmph.”
She grumbled but ultimately did as I asked. Once the download finished, A-reum looked down at her tablet with a serious expression.
“Oh, as expected of Kang Cheol. Your art is fucking amazing. But the art style is different from the stuff I’ve seen before, huh?”
A-reum knew that I was an R-19 illustrator. She’d found out because she was in and out of my room all the time. But the art style of the storyboard I was showing her now was completely different from the one I used for my erotic art.
“It’s because it’s an all-ages art style. Pretty different, right?”
“Yeah. If I hadn’t known, I don’t think I would’ve guessed you drew it.”
No wonder. I’m the guy who’s run two separate Twitter accounts without ever being suspected of being the same person. That’s just how different my art styles were.
Sung-hyun also looked at my art and said,
“The quality is pretty high for a storyboard, don’t you think? The line art is super clean, too. I knew you were good, but… wow, Cheol-jin, you really know how to draw.”
“Just hurry up and read it.”
I waited for the two of them to finish the comic.
But for some reason, I started getting a little nervous.
‘It’s just a storyboard, but I’m really anxious.’
It was pretty long, but because I was short on time, I’d rushed through some of it. It was a little embarrassing showing them something that wasn’t the finished product.
A little time passed.
“Sniffle, sob…”
Suddenly, A-reum started sobbing!
Startled, I patted her on the back.
“Hey, why are you crying? Don’t cry. Stop.”
“Hic…”
I was completely flustered. A-reum’s eyes, glistening with moisture, looked like they were about to spill over with tears at any moment. Seriously, she’s so driven by her emotions; her mood swings are a rollercoaster.
Meanwhile, Sung-hyun…
“…Hey, are you crying too?”
He was already crying silently. He wasn’t making a sound, but tears were streaming down his face with an expression even more sorrowful than A-reum’s.
The reason they were both crying?
Obviously, it wasn’t because the comic was that well-drawn. It must have been because they knew my past and got completely absorbed in the story.
But then, suddenly.
The blubbering Sung-hyun shot up from his seat and knelt right in front of me!
“Y-You crazy bastard! What are you doing!?”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, Cheol-jin. I really… hic, I’m so sorry. I’ll do better from now on. I promise I’ll do better….”
“Hey, I didn’t show you this to make you apologize… Ah, come on! Stop crying and get up!”
Seriously, when did this bastard get so fucking melodramatic? Was he always like this? I mean, it’s one thing to apologize, but isn’t it a bit much to be blubbering and kneeling over something that’s long in the past? Especially since I already forgave him and we made up!
While I was still trying to process that,
A-reum came running into my arms, bawling her eyes out.
“Hwaaaah! Cheol-jiiiin…!”
“Agh, what’s with you now?!”
“Sob, sob. It must have been so hard for you. It’s okay now that your noona is here….”
“Who are you calling noona?! Who!”
For God’s sake! Both of you, just stop!
Kim Sung-joo, who came in late after a smoke break.
Sung-joo hyung’s face became a mask of utter confusion as he took in the sight of A-reum clinging to me and crying, and Sung-hyun kneeling on the floor, sniveling.
…It would have been weirder if he wasn’t confused.
The fortunate thing, I guess, was that he calmed down quickly. He had every reason to be stunned, but Sung-joo hyung immediately tried to assess the situation.
“Cheol-jin, what’s going on?”
“Well, it’s…”
“Did you guys get in a fight?”
“Ah, no. It’s not like that, hyung. The kids are just overreacting after reading a comic.”
“A comic?”
“Yeah, it’s… something like that. Anyway, it’s nothing serious.”
I said, quickly pulling Sung-hyun to his feet. He scrambled up in a hurry when I threatened to cut ties with him if he didn’t get up that instant.
Sung-joo hyung scratched the corner of his eye and said,
“Well, that’s a relief if it’s nothing serious… For a second there, I thought maybe…”
“Huh? What did you think, hyung?”
“That maybe you’d lost A-reum to Sung-hyun or something…”
“What! What are you talking about, hyung! You know A-reum and I are just friends.”
“Haha. I know, I know. It was just something I said because it reminded me of something from my past.”
“…Your past?”
What was he talking about? Don’t tell me Sung-joo hyung once had his girlfriend stolen by a friend?
“We were just close, but I was misunderstood… I was almost made out to be the bad guy. Hmm.”
…So he was the one misunderstood to be the one doing the stealing.
I made a mental note to get him to tell me that story in detail sometime later. It sounded like a real Pandora’s box.
Anyway, now that those two had calmed down a bit, I was about to ask for their impressions.
“Oh, our freshmen are all gathered here. Great!”
Bam Noona walked in, along with all the other club members.
‘Oh, for fuck’s sake.’
I let out a sigh.
At this rate, there was no point in having shown it to them first.
‘Whatever happens, happens.’
Right, what’s the big deal if I show them a bit of my past?
It’s all over now.
…Still, I should probably at least lay the groundwork by saying it’s not based on personal experience.
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