Bamboo Forest Manager

116 – 115. The Eldest And The Youngest

“How did you know I was dating Oh Yoon-ji?”

The words hung heavily in the hotel room. The eldest brother must have known that my response to this would determine his future actions.

As if it didn’t matter.

The eldest brother’s indifferent expression remained unchanged.

“Oh Yoon-ji.”

The way he said Oh Yoon-ji’s name, as if it were familiar, grated on me, but I listened to what he had to say.

“Do you really think it’s okay to date someone like that?”

“……What?”

“Just in case, I did some research. You know where her father is, right?”

This was the first time I had ever felt such a surge of heat. My heart pounded so hard that I felt like I could burst, and I had an urge to cover his mouth right then and there.

“You even did a background check?”

“She could be part of our family. It’s a necessary step.”

“You son of a……!”

“Even though you’re angry.”

My eldest brother looked at me with cold, dead eyes. There was a faint hint of disgust in his gaze.

“You’re dating other women just fine.”

“……”

“Woo-jin, was Oh Yoon-ji really that precious to you?”

“……!”

I was speechless.

I didn’t know what he meant, and I knew that no matter what I said about Oh Yoon-ji, it wouldn’t be convincing.

How hard I had it?

I could have talked at length about how I had spent my time after the first semester, during the vacation, as a living corpse.

But that would just end up being dismissed as the past.

“I won’t bother you as much as possible while you’re in college.”

“……”

“You said it yourself? You’re going to cut off support from now on. It’s good that you applied to the dormitory. You won’t have to freeze to death outside.”

“Son of a……”

I wanted to curse at him, but I still couldn’t speak. My eldest brother’s indifferent, mechanical words sounded like he was just doing his job.

“Experience everything you can outside. Then, if you really think you don’t need our family’s help anymore… then you can live as you wish.”

My clenched fists trembled, lost. After all, I couldn’t properly refute what my eldest brother was saying.

Unlike my words that I missed Yoon-ji, my actions were nothing short of reckless.

“Yoon-ji……”

But as a last resort.

I looked at my eldest brother and uttered a word of appeal.

“Where is Yoon-ji?”

I wanted to know.

I wondered if something had gone wrong with her, who had suddenly disappeared.

I was worried that she might be somewhere being mistreated because of me and my family.

My eldest brother, who had been staring at me, exhaled softly and opened his mouth.

What surprised me a little was that.

His last words didn’t sound like a business report like before.

He sounded like a brother who was genuinely worried about his younger brother.

“I heard she’s doing business with Kim Woon.”

“She’s doing business with my younger brother?”

What does that mean?

I looked at my eldest brother with bewildered eyes, but he said he had nothing more to say and turned his body away, looking out the window.

“Hey, if you’re not going to eat this, I’ll take it.”

Annoyed by his unresponsive demeanor, I grabbed a pillow and threw it at the back of his head. It hit him with a thud.

“……Kim Woo-jin.”

“Don’t act so cool! You’re like a walnut!”

“Ha, I wonder when you’ll ever grow up.”

“You’re one to talk! How old are you and you don’t have a single woman around you!”

“……The woman who just left is going to be your sister-in-law.”

What?

“Mother knows about it too.””What the f*ck?”

She was really my sister-in-law?

“Go on. You’re just going to cause trouble if you stay with me.”

I grumbled as my older brother waved his hand, and I pulled the cart out.

My eyes met the secretary who was waiting outside, and I awkwardly scratched my cheek.

“Hello.”

“You’re greeting me again?”

I never thought that my brother would be dating a woman. She was a beautiful woman, but it wouldn’t have been easy to win over my brother.

“Excuse me, please choose your clothes carefully. Don’t just wear them comfortably.”

I said a word because I was worried about the past, and the secretary smiled.

It seemed that she realized that I was not speaking as the chairman’s son or the vice chairman’s brother.

I was just giving advice to my sister-in-law.

“I was wondering how the young master would react. I wondered if he was really just messing around with any woman without any principles. But he’s not like that.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Yes. I don’t know what he said, but I support the young master. He’s a college student, so he should try different women.”

“What? Did my sister-in-law say that?”

I asked with my eyes wide open, and my sister-in-law replied with a giggle.

“That’s what he said.”

“That f*cking bastard?!”

What did he say to me?

“My older brother wouldn’t have been interested in women, would he?”

“Women were interested in him.”

“Huh, if you want to hit him, tell me.”

My sister-in-law laughed at my words and continued.

“Anyway. It’s a way to find a good woman by having different experiences like that.”

“……”

“Just like that man chose me in the end.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at my sister-in-law, who was appealing that she was a good woman.

She definitely seemed to have met a good woman.

I nodded and said, “I understand,” and before I left, I sighed deeply and said to my sister-in-law.

“Please take good care of my brother.”

My sister-in-law, who seemed surprised that I would say such a thing, smiled and nodded.

“Of course.”

* * *

“That punk is definitely pissed at me.”

Kim Woo-jin, who was called back after some time since returning from room 1007.

Yoo Ah-rin felt something complicated as she watched his back as he grumbled while carrying cheese and snacks.

‘Do they know each other?’

Kim Woo-jin, who had been taken to room 1007, felt different from usual. It felt like he was distancing himself.

It was unexpected that he had ordered room service in the guest room again, but this time she didn’t follow him.

She crossed her arms and thought about Kim Woo-jin.

“Hey, come here!”

Manager Lee Chan-song suddenly called out.

Yoo Ah-rin approached the manager, grumbling that she was already in a bad mood from the way he spoke, and there was a strange document on the desk.

“Sign this.”

“What is this? A document?”

“Oh, just do it. There’s nothing wrong with it.”

Yoo Ah-rin read it blankly and then suddenly frowned.

“What? That I didn’t have any contact with the manager? That there were no s*xual remarks?”

“It’s a document! I’m just getting it in advance so that you guys don’t do anything stupid after you finish your part-time job.”

“Huh.”

She was not only speechless but also heartbroken.

Is this really legally binding?

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to sue you. I don’t have time to waste on the manager.”

“So sign it.”

“Oh, if you’re so confident, you don’t need to get something like this, right?!”

“Ha, why are kids these days so frustrating?”

Manager Lee Chan-song was annoyed.

Thud, thud.The sound of footsteps could be heard from outside.

Yoo Ah-rin thought that Kim Woo-jin had returned and was about to go out of the office, but instead, he came into the office.

“Miss Yoo Ah-rin?”

He was tall.

His hair was slicked back, but instead of looking rustic, he exuded a heaviness and dignity that did not match his age.

His low, resonant voice made her whole body tense up.

It was the first time she had seen him, but…

‘They look alike?’

She thought he looked like Kim Woo-jin.

Yoo Ah-rin was the one who was called, but the response came from the side.

“V-V-Vice President!”

Manager Lee Chan-song stood up from his chair and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

‘Vice President?’

Wasn’t he the culprit who had put the entire hotel on emergency alert? Yoo Ah-rin, who was not yet used to this kind of experience, stared blankly at the vice president, but the vice president’s gaze was fixed on the strange document on the desk.

“Hmm.”

The vice president read it all and put it away without saying a word.

Manager Lee Chan-song bit his lip nervously, but the vice president didn’t pay any attention to him and called Yoo Ah-rin.

“Let’s talk for a minute.”

“Me, me?”

“Yes.”

The vice president said and went outside. Yoo Ah-rin followed him, leaving the manager with a pale face.

They went outside the hotel building, and from the way he was walking a little fast, it seemed like he was worried about running into someone.

In front of a bench outside the hotel…

It was still early morning, so there were hardly any people around, and it was dark, so it was hard to recognize the vice president.

The conversation was not something that could be ended quickly, so they did not sit down separately.

“Do you know Kim Woo-jin?”

“Oh, yes?”

“Are you dating?”

“What? No, I’m not?!”

She denied it vehemently because it was so out of the blue, but Vice President Kim Jae-woon looked even more bewildered.

“……Then?”

From Noble mtl dot com

“We’re friends, for now.”

“Hmm, for now?”

Kim Jae-woon frowned and looked at Yoo Ah-rin with a strange look in his eyes.

“Did you ever have a relationship with Kim Woo-jin?”

“……Relationship?”

“Did you have s*x?”

“Oh, no… not yet.”

She said it herself and her cheeks flushed slightly, but Kim Jae-woon tilted his head bluntly.

The vice president was confused!

“Let me talk to you. Anything.”

“What are you doing now?”

“That’s right.”

Kim Jae-woon was convinced because Yoo Ah-rin had a rather unusual voice.

“Weren’t you the one moaning on the phone with Kim Woo-jin?”

“……”

Yoo Ah-rin was wondering what the vice president was talking about.

“aaah?! When you said you were talking to your older brother!”

Now she remembered that she had joked with Kim Woo-jin about moaning on the phone with his older brother at the PC room.

Wait a minute.

If so.

“……U, Woo-jin is your older brother?”

Yoo Ah-rin asked in a panic, and he nodded slightly.

“Oh, that’s embarrassing.”

Yoo Ah-rin scratched her cheek and looked at Kim Jae-woon blankly before bowing again.

“I’m Yoo Ah-rin. I’m Kim Woo-jin’s friend.”

“Kim Jae-woon. I’m Kim Woo-jin’s older brother.”

“Wow, Kim Woo-jin was on a diet? He’s crazy. He hid it? And then he made a big deal about buying me a Choco-Mong at the convenience store earlier. I even bought it for him yesterday!”

Kim Jae-woon thought that Yoo Ah-rin’s laughter was not bad.

Most of the women who had approached him were interested in his company and wealth.Therefore, Kim Jae-woon knew all too well about eyes filled with greed.

Yoo Ah-rin didn’t seem to care much about that. Or maybe she was still a college student and didn’t feel it yet.

“But Kim Woo-jin won’t inherit anything separately. He gave up everything. He’s going to pay for his own living expenses now.”

Kim Jae-woon said it openly, just in case.

“Wow! Kim Woo-jin, you gave that up!”

Instead, she clapped her hands and laughed, saying it was a good thing.

‘Oh Yoon-ji too….’

Kim Jae-woon smiled faintly, thinking he had met some good women, and reached out to shake her hand.

“I didn’t come to see you for anything special.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know how your relationship will end, but… please take good care of Woo-jin.”

“Aha!”

At those words, Yoo Ah-rin smiled broadly and replied confidently.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take good care of him, although I’m a little worried because he has a lot of women around him.”

There are many women.

Kim Jae-woon, who had been thinking for a moment, was already one step ahead.

“You’d better know in advance.”

“Yes?”

“Do you know Oh Yoon-ji?”

He began to tell Yoo Ah-rin about Oh Yoon-ji.