Bamboo Forest Manager

132 – 128. Bad Guy

I had never been to a concert before, but as I entered and found my seat, my heart pounded strangely.

The stage was only occasionally visible due to the people passing by, but that alone filled me with anticipation.

“Wow, to be honest, I thought it would be similar to watching a movie, but it’s much different?”

“Yeah. It’s my first time too, so I’m a little nervous.”

Choi Iseo was also excited because it was her first concert, and a faint smile spread across her lips.

The atmosphere was not bad.

Because I was holding her in line, other people often glared at me with jealousy, but that was part of it.

In the first place, it was rare for people to come to a concert alone, so everyone was busy with their own partners.

“What should we do? I’m so excited.”

Choi Iseo, who was suppressing her excitement by tapping her feet.

It was also the first time I had seen her act like a child, so I felt a different kind of cuteness.

I was also proud of myself for succeeding in getting tickets.

When I offered Han Gang and Pyo Jin-ho as sacrifices, I occasionally felt guilty.

But seeing Choi Iseo so happy, I thought it would be okay to offer a few more.

“Oh, I think it’s starting.”

Just then, some of the lights went out, and the remaining lights began to focus on the stage.

The moment the singer appeared on stage, I thought there would be an outburst of cheers.

However, the audience was captivated by the voice that echoed in the silence, and they couldn’t even think of cheering.

* * *

“Wow.”

After sitting in one position for three hours, I turned my stiff neck around.

Choi Iseo massaged my neck as I walked, which helped a little.

After receiving a massage, I did the same for Choi Iseo, and we shared our impressions.

“I didn’t know that concerts were so grand. It’s amazing to see it in person.”

When I stuck out my tongue, Choi Iseo agreed enthusiastically.

“It’s really different from listening to it on a music player. It felt like I was receiving the song with my whole body.”

“Oh, that’s a good analogy. That’s exactly it.”

I nodded as I massaged Choi Iseo’s slender neck. The expression seemed to be just right.

“What should we do now? Should we get dinner?”

The concert was over, and it was already dinner time.

The sky was getting dark and my stomach was growling, so I checked my phone to see if there was anything to eat nearby.

“No.”

Choi Iseo gently pushed my hand away.

I thought the massage was enough, but the tone of her voice was strangely damp.

The atmosphere that had been so fresh until now was cooling down like a winter wind.

Choi Iseo, who had taken a step forward, distanced herself from me, and my hand, which had been massaging her neck, was left there.

As if regretting her departure.

“Choi Iseo?”

I called her name anxiously, without realizing my unease.

Otherwise, it seemed like Choi Iseo would leave without even looking back at me.

“Woojin-ah, listen carefully from now on.”

Choi Iseo’s blue eyes were filled with tears.

However, as if she wanted me not to notice, it was only held back and did not flow.

“During the break, I worked with Yoonji.”

“…….”

It was not a very welcome name.A name that still lingers in my heart like a clot, giving me a sense of heaviness.

“Yoonji is working with your older brother right now.”

“I know, she’s working with my little brother.”

I found out from my older brother last time.

But I don’t know what kind of work they’re doing.

“I helped Yoonji there. Actually… I wanted to hear about you from Yoonji.”

“……”

“So what I’m trying to say is, Yoonji hasn’t forgotten you yet.”

When my older brother said something similar last time.

I had imagined something like that.

What if Yoonji left me for some unspeakable reason?

If so, how should I react?

“Yoonji is working for you now.”

“For me…?”

“Yeah, to free you from the family business. So that you don’t have to rely on your family.”

I felt a chill.

Family business and family.

The blood of my father inside me was boiling, telling me to live as the successor of the company. My body felt hot.

“There was a bit of a misunderstanding… no, a difference, and that’s why you two broke up.”

“……”

I felt a lump in my throat.

During the vacation when I lived like a廢人 after the end of the first semester.

I had imagined and wished for it countless times, and it was true.

Choi Yiseo was telling me.

She who had helped me the most to get over the woman named Oh Yoonji.

She of all people.

She was forcing me to remember that day and the truth I didn’t know.

My heart ached with a lump in my throat.

My tongue wouldn’t move with the heaviness.

It seemed like my eyes were a little moist.

Choi Yiseo smiled bitterly at me, who couldn’t answer and was just confused.

“I’ll say it first, Woojin-ah.”

Without hesitation.

And honestly.

Choi Yiseo calmly uttered words that she couldn’t say to others.

“I feel guilty.”

Why?

I should have said something like that.

But all that came out of my pursed lips was white breath.

“Yoonji is my friend. You were my friend’s boyfriend. Even morally, this isn’t right.”

Choi Yiseo’s expression gradually distorted.

Because of that, Choi Yiseo hurriedly wiped away the tears that were about to flow with her hand.

“Woojin-ah, do you know what I thought after I found out about all this?”

I tried to force a smile, but my cheeks were awkwardly stiff because I couldn’t do it as I pleased.

“A little.”

“……”

From Noble mtl dot com

“Just a little.”

A wish that was close to a complaint.

An earnest desire in the midst of regret.

“I wish I had met you sooner.”

Only then.

Choi Yiseo smiled at me.

A smile without tears or awkwardness was a confession of love and a farewell gift for me.

One day.

When I recall the memories of the two of us.

This time.

Choi Yiseo’s bright smile.

It will be the epilogue of the memory and the end of the short love.

“Again.”

I realized that.

“Do I have to go through the same thing again?”

I walked briskly towards Choi Yiseo.Just a moment ago, my hardened self felt like a lie. I was curled up in the corner of my studio apartment, sobbing and missing the one who had left.

It didn’t suit the person I was now.

“When Hyunho confessed and you went home that day, do you remember what you said to me?”

I reached out my hand.

Yiseo took a step back and avoided it.

“You said you’d give me the right to hold onto you.”

I didn’t give up on holding her.

I reached out my hand again.

“Don’t touch me. Things are… different now than they were then.”

This time, Yiseo slapped my hand away.

But even then, I reached out my hand again.

I grabbed her wrist as she tried to push me away again and closed the distance between us.

The distance was so close that I could feel her breath.

I scolded her with a mix of anger and resentment.

“Do you know what really bothers me?”

My head was burning with anger, and there was one thing that was really pissing me off in this situation.

Someone who had broken up Oh Yoonji and me?

My second brother, who hadn’t explained anything properly when I was working with Oh Yoonji?

Oh Yoonji, who had told me to work with Yiseo and then called me separately to explain?

No.

It wasn’t any of them.

None of them.

“I’m, I’m really mad at!”

It was you.

Yiseo.

“Why do you feel guilty!”

I hated that she felt guilty.

“What did you do wrong that you’re bowing your head like a sinner!”

I hated that she regretted the past.

Because I.

“You saved me!”

Because I had received help from her.

Thanks to her, I was able to love someone again and start over.

Yiseo was the one who had made that possible.

She was the one who had fixed me.

“Why do you regret that! Why do you think of it as a sin! What, what did you do wrong!”

If anyone had done anything wrong, it was me and Oh Yoonji, or someone related to us.

At least it wasn’t Yiseo.

“I’m, I’m not going to let you go.”

I let go of her wrist, which was clenched tightly and shedding silent tears.

Then I gently hugged her as if to hide her in my arms.

“You’re definitely not the perpetrator. No one can point a finger at you.”

A bad girl who loved her friend’s lover?

No, no.

If anyone points a finger.

“It’s not you, it’s me who’s the bad guy.”

It had to be me.

“I’m a piece of trash who flirts with this girl and that girl without thinking.”

It’s the same with Seo Yerim and Yoo Ah-rin.

They have feelings for me, and I’m the one who put them in this awkward situation.

“I’m the bad guy, so don’t worry about it.”

It’s just that she had the misfortune of meeting the wrong man.

Rather, I would be the one who would be stoned as a piece of trash who had even reached out to his ex-girlfriend’s friend.

“Do whatever you want. Whatever you do, I’ll be the bad guy in the end.”

If you want to love, love.

If you want to leave, just leave.

If you want to forget the past and pretend you don’t know, do it.

But.I wished that it was my own feelings.

I wished that it wasn’t because of the guilt I felt through someone else like right now.

Choi Iseul, who was sobbing, hit my chest with her fist.

A powerless reproach.

“How could you do that?”

“…….”

“Even though I’m here, you’re going to meet someone else…… As if you could do that for me?!”

“Because I’m trash?”

I smiled bitterly and slightly tightened my grip on Choi Iseul, who I was holding in my arms.

“That’s why you can’t help but like me, right?”

“You son of a b*tch! You bastard!”

Choi Iseul’s hand, which was hitting my chest, gradually grew stronger.

Rather, it felt like she was returning to her original self.

A refreshing laugh escaped my lips as I faced the winter wind.

Choi Iseul, who looked up at me like that, clenched her fists and caught her breath.

“You bad guy.”

She gave me a hint like when we were standing in line earlier.

“Kiss me at a time like this.”

Ah.

“I have a lot to learn.”

I lowered one hand and wrapped it around Choi Iseul’s waist, and with my other hand, I supported the back of her neck and kissed her.