Bamboo Forest Manager

Boredom

“Hoo.”

“Thank you! Thanks to Trainer Teacher here I think my workout went much better than usual! It’s more fun than doing it alone!”

Upon hearing these words from ‘Se-ah’, who used that as her broadcast name, Choi Yi-seo momentarily widened her eyes,

“I’m not a Trainer Teacher.”

She corrected gently with a smile,

She felt far from qualified or professional enough to be called a trainer yet,

What she taught were things learned from PT teachers mixed with personal exercise experience and additional research of her own doing,

“Really? But you teach very well.”

Receiving any kind of praise always felt good,

Grateful they thought so highly of her teachings Choi Yi-seo hesitated before adding,

“But if you don’t mind me asking… Can I ask just one thing?”

“Yes? What is it?”

“That earlier incident with Yoon-ji – that is our boss scolding you?”

“Oh! The bunny outfit?”

Scratching the back of her head, Se-ah awkwardly replied, evidently quite embarrassed.

“I was crazy. I wanted to increase my viewers like senior Po-po, so I tried to stir up some controversy. It was fine at first, but like the boss said, it attracted some nasty viewers and now the managers are having a hard time.”

Is that so?

Since Choi Yi-seo had no knowledge in this area, she didn’t really understand.

“Um, where did you buy it?”

She cautiously asked because she wanted to know where it was purchased.

“Huh?”

Se-ah blinked blankly.

Then her eyes widened as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Ahhh! You’re not a trainer! You must be the new broadcaster! No wonder your appearance and physique are no joke!”

“Huh?”

“Wowww! The boss really has a knack for finding people. Where on earth did he find someone like you? Amazing! You’d totally rock a bunny girl outfit. Please do a joint broadcast with me!”

“Wa-wait a minute. That’s not what I’m here for!”

Se-ah had misunderstood something completely. Choi Yi-seo hurriedly tried to correct her.

“It’s not that. I have this guy—boyfriend? Something along those lines.”

Oh dear.

In her panic, she had revealed too much information.

“Wowww!”

Se-ah became even more dramatic than before; her eyes widened and she jumped up excitedly.

“You’re going to do this as an event for your boyfriend?! Wowww!”

Sighing deeply,

Choi Yi-seo let out a long sigh after sending off the overly excited Se-ah,

and while waiting for the next broadcaster to arrive, warmed up in the gym when a woman with red hair entered.

“Do I call you boss?”

“That’s fine; we’re all friends here.”

Yoon Ji waved off formalities then sighed deeply while pressing on her forehead.

“Se-ah told me to give you her bunny girl costume?”

“…”

Choi Yi-seo resolved that if tomorrow’s workout session with Se-ah happened again,

she would push herself nearly half-dead from exhaustion.

“I didn’t think you’d take up an interest in cosplay. Seeing how Se-ah keeps talking about her boyfriend, I guess you’re dressing up for Woo-jin?”

“Ah, no. That’s not it?!”

She tried to deny it, but Yoon-ji’s sharp gaze accused her of lying.

“Ha, right.”

Eventually surrendering with a sigh, Choi Yi-seo covered her face with both hands and responded.

“You seemed troubled the last time we met; has that been resolved now? Planning to do an event too?”

“Well, that issue was resolved but-“

Now there was another worry she couldn’t discuss with Oh Yoon-ji.

“I don’t know what it is.”

Yoon-ji sighed deeply and handed over a small bag. Inside was a bunny girl outfit.

“He likes this kind of thing less than… appreciating that you’d go this far for him.”

“…”

Advice from an ex-girlfriend.

Useful yet unwelcome words made Choi Yi-seo press her lips tightly together and nod.

* * *

“What’s going on.”

I muttered to myself as I sat blankly alone.

This was Yu A-rin’s unchanged house.

But only I was here alone.

Seo Ye-rin was filming.

Choi Yi-seo was at work.

Yu A-rin was at the taekwondo studio.

Everyone else led busy lives while I just sat idly on the sofa twitching my toes.

‘Damn boring.’

When everyone used to be around making noise, I never felt like this.

Now without them here again, boredom strikes anew.

‘I want to go out.’

Even if just wanting to see their faces—Seo Ye-rin is far away; Choi Yi-seo has Oh Yoon-ji around; Yu A-rin warned me not even come near the taekwondo studio.

So here I am sitting idle because of boredom.

‘Maybe play some games?’

Back in the day, I would have just played games on my laptop when I felt like this. Since I had brought my laptop from the dorm, I turned it on.

‘Boring.’

I played one round and then turned it off immediately.

Maybe it was because I had been having such sweet and thrilling times lately, but the dopamine rush from gaming didn’t appeal to me at all.

Really.

How could a game compare to yesterday’s time-attack s*x?

‘Ah, I’m bored.’

Eventually, I decided to pull out my phone and randomly contact someone.

– Kim Woojin: What are you doing?

The first up was Jeong Chanwoo.

I heard he had completely quit his PC cafe part-time job because he was doing some modeling work now.

His response came quicker than expected.

– Jeong Chanwoo: Why?

What’s with this guy?

– Kim Woojin: What do you mean why? Just curious. Asked because I’m bored.

– Jeong Chanwoo: Are we close?

Huh?

Why is he like this?

– Jeong Chanwoo: Don’t contact me anymore.

– Jeong Chanwoo: And tell others around you who know me not to contact me either. Especially the girls.

“Huh?”

What is he talking about?

If there’s something to be done, shouldn’t he do it himself?

And why suddenly mention girls when he’s openly dating—

‘Wait a minute.’

With a feeling of disbelief creeping in, I cautiously sent a reply.

– Kim Woojin: Everyone? What about that man? He asked when you’re meeting him next?

– Jeong Chanwoo: Suddenly what man?

Look at this?

I replied with a slight smile.

– Kim Woojin: Talking about the bald guy. You’re dating him, aren’t you?

– Kim Woojin: Didn’t you say you met him yesterday too?

No reply.

I immediately created a separate chat room and invited Kang Han-kang, Ahn Hyun-ho, and Pyo Jin-ho.

– Kim Woojin: Idiots assemble.

Minutes pass with no response.

Damn them.

– Kim Woojin: Jeong Chanwoo stepped on a mine. If you message this guy now, his girlfriend will reply.

– Kim Woojin: You guys should try it too. It’s hilarious.

A few minutes later:

– Ahn Hyun-ho: LOL seriously? LOL

– Ahn Hyun-ho: I told her I was his gay boyfriend and now she wants to break up with him LOL

– Ahn Hyun-ho: She asked me to specify how far we’ve crossed the line LOL

– Kang Han-kang: Man, never should have given his phone to his girlfriend.

– Kim Woojin: That’s because you play around so much in your love life.

– Kang Han-kang: It’s me, your brother Kang Han-kang speaking here.

– Ahn Hyun-ho : Hey, but is this really okay? Aren’t we getting Chanwoo dumped by his girlfriend?

– Kim Woojin : His girlfriend pretended to be Chanwoo and told me she wanted to cut ties. He picked the wrong girl.

– Kim Woo-jin : We need to save him.

– Kang Han-Kang : Save him LOL

– Ahn Hyun-Ho : Protect Chanwoo LOL

“These guys only think about playing.”

-Kim Wo-jin “We’re on it”

Me too though…

* * *

“This place.”

In front of a large hotel downtown,

Using the information that Ahn Hyun-Ho got while pretending to be Chanwoo’s gay boyfriend, we were able to find out their hotel room number,

Apparently they’ve decided on a confrontation here,

‘But why meet at a hotel?’

As I stared blankly at the building, Ahn Hyun-ho and Kang Han-gang arrived just in time.

“What’s up, why are you limping like that?”

“This guy doesn’t want to go to the army, so he’s faking it.”

“He’s talking nonsense.”

While flipping them off, I responded.

“What about Jin-ho? I was hoping to have a drink with him after such a long time.”

“Jin-ho is at the taekwondo studio right now. He started something recently.”

I had invited Pyo Jin-ho to the chat room just in case, but seeing no reply from him meant he must be quite busy.

“So your girlfriend told you to come here?”

When I asked Ahn Hyun-ho, he nodded vigorously while giving a thumbs up.

“Yeah, later she didn’t even try to hide that she was Chan-woo’s girlfriend. Since Chan-woo was there too, she suggested we confront him together.”

“Hey, but is it really okay for us to meddle in someone else’s relationship like this?”

At Senior Han-gang’s question, I clicked my tongue.

“If Chan-woo is dating someone weird, we should look out for him.”

From noble mtl dot come

“Look at this guy smiling with his eyes.”

“It should have been his head that got hurt instead of his leg.”

Anyway, we entered the hotel as directed by his girlfriend.

Room 505.

On the fifth floor only Ahn Hyun-ho stepped forward and pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong!

“But what if they’re normal people?”

“Then we just say it was a prank among friends. They tricked us pretending to be Chan-woo too – they can’t complain.”

Thunk!

Crackle!

Thud!

“…”

“…”

Senior Han-gang and I looked down blankly at Ahn Hyun-ho who had collapsed on the floor.

A woman who had jabbed Ahn Hyun-ho with a stun gun tried pulling him inside,

but upon seeing us flanking her on both sides she let out an alarmed shriek.

It was time to think on my feet.

“Oh no! I’ve got a condom delivery, but it seems I’m at the wrong door, it was supposed to be next door. Sorry about that.”

Ding-dong.

I immediately pressed the doorbell of the neighboring room.

Han Kang looked at me with an expression asking why on earth I was delivering condoms.

Since I worked at an adult store, that was the first thing that came to mind.

“…Seems like there’s no one in the next room.”

My plan to quickly get some help had gone awry.

A brief silence fell between us, and as if she thought she couldn’t possibly overpower two adult men anyway, she tried to close the door but—

Thud! Thud!

The body of An Hyun-ho, who had collapsed drooling, prevented it from shutting completely.

Seeing her looking like she might burst into tears any moment, I quickly made a suggestion:

“Look. I didn’t see anything so let’s just forget this and go our separate ways.”

“Guys!”

Just then Chanwoo’s voice came from inside the room.

After taking a deep breath, I changed my tone:

“I didn’t see anything or hear anything. Let’s just forget this and go our separate ways.”

“Kim Woojin you b*stard!”

Seriously how can someone have such poor judgment with women? That’s what happens when you accept every woman who comes your way.

“Hyaah!”

At that moment Han Kang bravely charged forward thinking all he needed to do was snatch away their taser,

Zzzzap!

Only to be electrocuted instantly and collapse on top of An Hyun-ho

“Geez, what an idiot.”

I slapped my forehead and sighed deeply in frustration,

If you can’t handle it don’t act tough,

Especially when I had been handling things well through conversation,

This isn’t working out,

“I’m sorry but I’m leaving! We’ve had our fun all this while and honestly even if something happened to you guys who would care!”

Turning around to flee, I ran down the hotel corridor.

“Ugh!”

I fell over because of my half-casted right leg.

“Ah! Damn, that hurts!”

While clutching my casted leg and cursing loudly, struggling and swallowing tears,

the woman holding a stun gun finally burst into tears and asked,

“What on earth are you guys?”