Bamboo Forest Manager

25 – 25. After Story

Choco.

After attending a lecture at 9 AM on Tuesday and having lunch with Kim Woojin, Choi Iseo spends time with Seo Yerin at a cafe.

“It seems like we did the same thing last week.”

Choi Iseo felt that despite spending the same day, the relationship between the three of them had strangely become closer in just one week.

“Is Yeo only drinking iced Americano?”

“Yeah, for my diet. I’ve been eating a lot of things that make you gain weight recently.”

“You don’t seem to have a place to lose weight.”

Seo Yerin had been complimenting her while laughing.

Usually, when I received such compliments, it was often out of jealousy or empty words, but Seo Yerin’s tone contained sincerity.

Because of that, Choi Iseo quite liked spending time with Seo Yerin.

The impression she gave was that of a genuinely kind person, and her actions matched that.

“How’s the exercise? Is the teacher teaching you well?”

“Yes! It’s really great! It feels like I’m becoming healthier.”

“PT members can also use the gym freely, so try going when you have time. Or should we go together later?”

“Oh? That sounds good! There’s something exercise equipment I want to try, but since the teacher is busy with other PT members, I haven’t asked yet!”

Thanks to the common ground of exercising, the conversation flowed naturally.

They were even discussing going to the gym together as soon as tomorrow.

“By the way, I jog with Kim Woojin.”

“Together with Woojin? Ah, we did that at the PC bang, exercising together.”

Coincidentally, when the story about Kim Woojin came up, a strange silence passed between the two of them.

“What’s wrong? It feels awkward.”

“Why is this happening?”

But neither of them knew why they suddenly became speechless.

Choi Eiseo, who was about to change the subject because it felt uncomfortable, unexpectedly broke through head-on from Seo Yerin’s side.

“But why would Woojin have any plans?”

“Yeah, he probably doesn’t have any friends.”

“….”

Both of them closed their mouths again. They didn’t like this strange feeling in the situation.

Snap.

Both of them were only going to have coffee.

* * *

If you take a taxi from the main gate of Gayeon University, you can arrive at another university called Chungsim University in just 20 minutes.

Although Chungsim University was smaller in scale and had a lower level of difficulty for admissions compared to Gayeon University, there were a few outstanding departments that were said to be better than Gayeon University.

A man who attends Chungsim University.

His name is Choi Seojun.

With a refined appearance, fashionable clothes, and sharp intuition, he was loved by many people.

“Oh, don’t lie!”

“Are you serious?!”

Walking with his girlfriend and openly bragging about their relationship, but his phone was filled with chat records with other girls.

From the way he handled his girlfriend with a smile while having slept with another girl just yesterday, it meant that he was an expert in this area.

“What do you want to do?”

In response to his girlfriend’s question, Choi Seojun briefly contemplated and grinned.

“Should we go to my place?”

“Hmph.”

His girlfriend tried to hold back her laughter as she responded to Choi Seojun’s blatant demand.

Even though it was just after lunchtime, she found it cute and felt good that her boyfriend, who was famous even outside of their own university, wanted her.

“The convenience store to buy something to eat while we watch a movie on Netflix, let’s go there.”

Since she didn’t dislike it, she reluctantly agreed while giving another reason. The reason for going to the convenience store was not to eat, but to buy contraceptives.

“Let’s go quickly,” said Choi Seo-Jun, placing his hand on the shoulder as he received agreement. He urged them to go right away.

“Hey,” said a man standing at the entrance of Chungsimdae.

His appearance was not too bad, but it seemed like he didn’t care much about grooming.

He wore a loosely fitted black hoodie and jeans, with converse shoes. It could be said that this was the standard look when a college student who doesn’t care about clothes throws something on without much thought.

At first, Choi Seo-Jun didn’t know that the man was calling him, so he just tried to pass by.

“Hwang Ha-Yoon.”

As soon as Choi Seo-Jun heard a name, his steps stopped and he looked at him.

“Why are you like that?”

His girlfriend looked confused and stared at Choi Seo-Jun, but there was no chance for him to answer.

The man continued to utter names he knew.

“Choi Ji-An, Jung Ga-Eun, Shin Seo-Woo.”

And then.

“Jeong Min-Ji.”

The man, who locked eyes with Choi Seo-Jun, walked steadily towards him. His eyes contained cold sarcasm and even colder anger.

“We’ve met a lot in the past two years, haven’t we? People’s lives have changed a lot.”

“Excuse me! Who are you to talk like this!?”

His girlfriend angrily confronted the man, but he only laughed in response.

“Just ask him who the five people I just mentioned are.”

“What?”

“Who are you?”

Choi Seo-Jun raised his voice and stepped forward. The veins on his forehead bulged, as if he was about to punch and kill someone, which was quite impressive.

“Me?”

In contrast, the man replied with a smirk, saying that such a sight was the same.

“The person who used to be fooled by you.”

“What?”

I wondered what he was saying, but at that moment, a crowd of people rushed towards the entrance gate.

As soon as Choi Seo-Jun saw them, his eyes widened.

“Huh?”

Even if the people who looked like gangsters were as such, the people who followed behind were familiar faces that were known to themselves.

The men who were waiting in Choi Seo-jun’s studio apartment.

They were the club friends who had promised to give Choi Seo-jun 200,000 won each and spend time together with his girlfriend today.

All of them had swollen faces, as if they had been beaten up, and tears streaming down their faces as they lowered their heads and followed.

“Well, what’s going on? What happened?”

The girlfriend, who knew nothing, looked confused and the man smiled and explained.

“Girlfriend? If you had gone to his apartment with him today, you would have had to deal with those guys. I heard they were each paid 200,000 won to be with you.”

“What did you say?!”

“The five people I just mentioned. Those five people couldn’t even stop you like they did.”

The chilling voice sharply pierced her heart. The wind blew like a knife, cutting through her skin.

“Go on. From now on, date better men.”

The girlfriend looked at Choi Seo-jun in confusion, but Choi Seo-jun couldn’t say anything and simply assessed the situation.

“Explain yourself! What is this nonsense?”

Even when the girlfriend shouted in frustration, there was no response.

Should she report this to the police?

Would that be better?

Even if she had such thoughts, the man’s smile revealed everything.

“I already, already knew, you bastard!”

Since he accurately named the five women, there is a possibility that he even has evidence for what he has done so far.

He must have checked and erased all the phones and computers of the women he used and discarded, right?

Furthermore, with the element of blackmail involved, he made sure the women couldn’t move recklessly.

“If you want to report, go ahead.”

“….!”

“Are you confident?”

After the man’s words, Choi Seo-jun was sure that he had no power to do anything.

Seeing that he even brought people who blatantly looked like gangsters, it meant that he had power.

“Or follow me. We’ll go to the studio apartment together instead of your girlfriend.”

In the end,

Choi Seo-jun had no choice but to follow the man.

* * *

“It’s a nice studio apartment.”

As I entered Choi Seo-jun’s studio apartment, I looked around with a smile.

There were communication devices such as phones and laptops on the desk. They were all unlocked, revealing the secrets they contained.

And in front of them were five men kneeling.

Starting with Choi Seo-jun, the members of a clique who had gathered under the name of a club called “Friendship Club” were continuing their crazy relationship of sharing women for money.

“I-I’m sorry!”

“I won’t do it again! I promise!”

The two people shouted while bowing down.

Thanks to the dust that had made them dirty in front of the studio apartment, they had already received a clear education.

“I heard that you have some blackmail material. They said the reason you had a relationship with the woman was because she wanted it?”

“……!”

“I’ll give you my phone and everything. Delete everything you’ve saved on email or cloud and let it be inspected. I’ll forgive the first two in line.”

As he declared while sitting down on a chair, the guys quickly grabbed their phones and laptops and started moving.

“Do yo-you want a cigarette?”

A delinquent approached me quietly as I was sitting.

He was Minji’s senior, who had hit me on the walking path last time.

“No, don’t smoke in front of me either.”

“Yes! I understand!”

I liked how he promptly responded. In addition to the guy who hit me, the other Minji seniors were also standing behind me with tension.

I smiled warmly as I saw them.

“Don’t be too scared. We had an ‘agreement’, remember?”

Agreement.

Originally, I had thought of drawing a red line, but my thoughts changed after hearing Minji’s circumstances.

I would receive money, but instead of sending them to prison, I came up with a different agreement to prevent that from happening.

“We deleted everything!”

“I’m done too!”

“Here…!”

Since they had to go in line, they all crowded around and handed me their phones. After satisfyingly checking them one by one, I took all the phones and placed them back on the table.

“If any of you missed deleting something and get caught separately, you’re in big trouble. How do you think I found you?”

After a simple threat, I took the hammer that I had told the delinquents to bring for me.

Bang!

And then they smashed each of the cell phones that were submitted.

From Noble mtl dot com

Bang!

One by one, they destroyed them.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

“These days, the technology is impressive. They make the cell phones really durable!”

Bang!

“Is it properly broken? Is that the SIM card?”

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

After smashing five cell phones, my arm started to hurt. I thought about it this time, I definitely need to exercise.

“Ow, my arm.”

As soon as I handed over the hammer, the delinquent accepted it politely.

Sitting back in my chair, I sighed as I looked at the still trembling men.

“Now, you said you would send two people, right? Who was it?”

“Me! Here!”

“Me too!”

“I was faster!”

“Oh, it’s okay. No need to compete.”

This shouldn’t be happening.

“You were lying.”

It’s hard to hold back laughter when I see their faces full of despair. It felt like watching a play.

“I know exactly what you garbage did. Technically, you should face legal consequences, but many of the victims said they just want to forget about it and that they don’t need that kind of thing.”

In the end, in order to prove the crime, the victims have to be present.

Bringing up trauma usually requires courage, and I respect that as well.

“Well, I’m not really keen on putting you in our court just because I persuaded the victims… It just feels shady, you know?”

“Wait a minute!”

“We made a mistake too!”

“Yes! It’s because Choi-Seo Jun insisted on doing it…!”

I didn’t think of unnecessary words.

I wasn’t on the side of justice either.

But I wasn’t a complete villain either.

Just an ordinary person.

Even if I say that private revenge is prohibited by law, I mutter that it is worth retaliating when I see a pitiful situation and an incomprehensible punishment.

Because I had just that level of moral compass.

“You’re saying this happened because you fought among yourselves at the hospital. Got it?”

“……!”

“It’s okay to report it to the police. Let’s see who falls into the abyss.”

I’m sorry.

“I, have a ton of money.”

I say that and pat the shoulders of the delinquents as I walk outside.

“You guys made me dependent on the hospital for at least two months. If you played around with my balls, you should pay for it.”

“Yes, understood!”

“Take care!”

“Thank you for your agreement!”

Thunk.

As I close the door and step outside.

I can hear the desperate screams of the men inside.

“Haa.”

Of course, it wasn’t just because I agreed that they followed me like that.

Being able to gather information about the victims was also something that took a long time for a regular college student like me.

It was something I couldn’t do alone.

I discreetly checked my phone and there was a stern message.

– Big Brother: Since you helped this time…

I was about to ignore it and close my phone when…

Ring!

I received a call.

I thought it was Hyung, but the displayed name was ‘English Literature Choi Seo Jun’.

“Hello?”

Choi Iseo asked cautiously as she picked up the phone.

“What are you doing? Are you still meeting that person you promised to meet?”

“Wujin, I promoted to Bronze 3!”

Her voice overlapped with that of Seo Yerin.

She replied, moving further away to not hear the screams coming from behind the door.

“We just broke up. I’m going to go to school now.”

“Really? Do you know what time it is now?”

“Hmm?”

Come to think of it, what time is it now?

She unplugged her phone from her ear and checked the time. It was still 3 o’clock. There were still 2 hours left until the next lecture.

“3 o’clock.”

“Eat, meet the person you promised, and break up, but there are still 2 hours left until the lecture. What’s going on? Are you teasing me?”

“Then let’s go to a PC bang together…”

She was about to suggest going to a PC bang together, but…

“We’re done with lectures. Good job.”

“I’m going home!”

“Wujin, your Iron form is amazing.”

“It’s like I’ve been shot.”

“If you have a 5-hour gap, it doesn’t mean there’s a hole in your heart, it just means you’re dead, right?”

“Cut by Kim Wujin!”

Click.

The call was cut off.