Bamboo Forest Manager

47 – 47. Game

“What is it?”

While chatting with the seniors, we decided to move inside because of the cold, and the atmosphere at the table turned chilly.

Choi Yiseo rested her chin on her hand, staring intently at Yoo Arin, who was smiling brightly and glancing in my direction.

Lastly, Seo Yerin was impressively stuck between the two, unable to take a definite stance.

“What’s going on again.”

Today’s drinking session seemed eventful in various ways, but no one bothered to explain.

Just.

“Woojin-ah, come sit here.”

“Kim Woojin, over here.”

Both of them pointed to the seats next to them while looking at me.

I had sat next to Yoo Arin earlier, but that was because I forcefully pushed my way through. Sitting elsewhere wouldn’t be a problem, but the issue was that I got caught up in their silent struggle. Anyway, something was going on.

“What’s this? Feels like I’ve become Jung Chanwoo.”

It’s not bad feeling like a popular guy. When will I ever experience being seated between two beauties who are trying to place me next to them?

“Woojin-ah?”

“…”

Both of them looked at me again simultaneously. Yoo Arin was smiling brightly, but there was a subtle pressure within it. Choi Yiseo was blatantly staring at me.

“Why are you doing this?”

Even if I didn’t understand the situation, was there anything to worry about? I went straight to the seat next to Choi Yiseo; after all, I couldn’t be caught up between Yoo Arin and Choi Yiseo.

“Hmm.”

Choi Yiseo, who subtly turned her head, covered her mouth with her hand. Upon closer inspection, she was making an effort to hide a faintly formed smile.

On the opposite side, Yoo Arin, looking at me, was holding a paused fry.

“So, what’s going on?”

Not understanding why the two were in a standoff, I asked again. Choi Yiseo, who had appeared out of nowhere, put a fried potato in my mouth without saying a word.

“You don’t need to know.”

“I’m glad you seem in a good mood.”

As I mumbled and ate the potato, Choi Yiseo just lifted the corners of her mouth without saying anything.

“Eat more.”

And yet, she continues to feed me a piece of potato fry after another, as if she’s in such a good mood.

Normally, I would have asked her why she’s doing this, but I didn’t want to disturb the apparent joy she displayed.

“Nom nom.”

She makes the sound while feeding me without saying a word.

“You eat well.”

“But did you only order potato fries?”

As I asked with a tingling feeling on my tongue from the saltiness, Choi Iseo lowered her head.

“I also ordered sous-vide pork belly. You can order rice with that.”

“Oh? That’s thoughtful.”

“It comes out already cooked, so there’s no need to grill it, but if you don’t like it, you can ask them to grill it again.”

“That’s interesting.”

Choi Iseo definitely knows the food that suits my taste. Actually, it’s not just about taste; I like anything that goes well with rice.

“But do you like Korean food, or is it that you like rice?”

“I never really thought about it.”

From Noble mtl dot com

“Still.”

Iseo Choi seemed unusually interested in me today. So, I answer after thinking about it for a while.

“I think I like rice. I like eating it with other dishes.”

Whenever I go to a meat restaurant, I always order soybean paste stew and rice. I wondered if it was because I like rice.

“What about risotto or pilaf?”

“Risotto feels a bit like porridge, so I don’t like it very much, but pilaf is like fried rice, so it’s not bad.”

“Hmm, then let’s go to a pilaf restaurant later.”

“But you’re on a diet because of your profile picture.”

I wondered why she suddenly said that, but Choi Iseo casually brushed her shoulder against mine and mumbled.

“It’s already too late since someone treated me to pork or tonkatsu for lunch. I’ll take the photo during winter break.”

“Will you take me along?”

“To see you taking photos?”

“Yeah.”

“You pervert.”

She said with a hint of affection, and though Choi Iseo lightly tapped my shoulder with her elbow, it didn’t hurt much.

“Well, I guess someone has to go with you since we’ll be eating after taking photos.”

“Are you really drunk?”

Judging by the way he’s speaking, it seems like he’s quite intoxicated. Maybe he got into a fight with Yu Arin because of his drunkenness.

“Hey, where’s the food?”

“Cough.”

Min Ju-hee and Han Kang came back after smoking and sat at the table.

As Ju-hee sat next to Yu Arin and Han Kang sat next to her, the seating arrangement became 3:3.

The atmosphere started to lighten up as Yu Arin, who had been swearing at me earlier, started talking with Min Ju-hee and Seo Ye-rin.

* * *

“Sigh.”

The next morning.

I didn’t drink excessively at the bar, so I didn’t have a hangover.

Nevertheless, while eating a hangover soup, I received a message on my phone.

– Seo Ye-rin: What time will you go?

It seemed like she was asking about our promise to go to the PC Bang together, like yesterday.

– Kim Woo-jin: I’m going now after eating.

– Seo Ye-rin: I’ll also go now. I watched a challenger lecture on YouTube.

– Kim Woo-jin: Trying out a new champion?

– Kim Woo-jin: Why no response?

– Kim Woo-jin: Hey.

“This guy.”

He’s probably expecting me to tell him not to do it, seeing me keeping my mouth shut. After finishing the soup, I headed to the PC Bang where I went with Seo Ye-rin last time.

I received a message from Yu Arin regarding Daum’s Bamboo Forest, but I made him handle it alone today as punishment for annoying me yesterday.

– Yu Arin: Easy, isn’t it? LOL

Yeah, whatever.

I guess it’s easy now.

– Kim Woo-jin: You said it yesterday. You’ll handle all the work for a week.

– Yu Arin: I get it. Kim Woo-jin and his show of false bravado.

I needed to get used to the tasks of a manager, and since Yu Arin suddenly came to our house yesterday, I decided to have him handle Daum’s Bamboo Forest by himself for a week.

It’s still early, so there shouldn’t be any problems for now, but today is the weekend. And it’s not just any weekend, it’s Sunday.

“Figure it out on your own.”

Now it seems like they’re already talking about that when they’ve just taken on the role of management.

If you don’t have a proper method, it’ll be quite difficult and it will take some time to grasp it.

– Yu Arin: You’ll probably give me work and go meet a woman again.

“…….”

It was not an incorrect statement, so I hesitated for a moment but didn’t reply and headed to the PC Bang.

Jeong Chan-woo, who had said he would continue working part-time on the weekends, greeted me and gestured towards a corner with his finger.

“Yerin is waiting over there.”

“Good luck.”

“It’s just work.”

It was hard to understand why Yu Arin disliked Jeong Chan-woo when he smiled so pleasantly and told me to have fun playing games.

“Well, that’s his personal matter.”

I was curious, but delving too deeply could be crossing a line.

I walked towards Seo Ye-rin, who was sitting at her desk.

She had her headset on and was practicing with a newly released character as she moved her hands around, seemingly having seen something during her practice.

“Oh.”

I grabbed both sides of her headset and pulled them straight, releasing them.

“Huh?!”

She made a unique sound and looked up at me, smiling brightly.

“Woo-jin, you’re here! I saved the seat next to me for you.”

“Why are you practicing something strange?”

“No, Woo-jin, listen. This character is really good. I practiced a lot.”

“Please, don’t practice those kinds of things. Just do what you’re good at.”

She pleaded with me, asking me to believe her just once, and I sighed and sat down in the empty seat next to her.

“Did you eat?”

“No, I was going to order ramen…”

“Then order it. Let’s eat and play.”

“…….”

Seo Ye-rin looked at me with a pouting face. It seemed like she had something she wanted to say.

“Can you order for me instead?”

“You want me to order for you?”

“No! I’m the one paying… I just want to see Chanwoo’s face.”

Both Yoorin and Seoyerin were like that.

It had been bothering me that I’ve been avoiding Jung Chanwoo since last time.

I had just promised myself not to care, but I couldn’t keep that for long.

“Is it because you don’t like Chanwoo?”

“It’s not like that. It’s just… there’s something uncomfortable about it.”

“Something uncomfortable?”

“Yeah…”

Seoyerin’s reaction of not being able to speak was the same as before.

If she’s hiding it to this extent, it must be something about someone else’s flaws, not her own, so she can’t say it.

“Well, if you’re the one paying, then it’s no problem. What do you want to eat?”

“Fried udon.”

“You have good taste. Just one order?”

“Yeah, I don’t eat much.”

As I was about to move the mouse to order on the computer, I had a good idea and glanced at Seoyerin.

“I’ll order for you instead.”

“Instead?”

“Don’t blame me afterwards.”

“Chanwoo! Bring me an order of fried udon!”

“…”

Looking at Seoyerin who immediately raised her hand and called for Jung Chanwoo, I almost cursed without realizing it.

With Seoyerin’s firm determination, we ended up losing three consecutive games in the rank game, but our ranks increased.

“Can I ask you one thing?”

I asked, staring blankly at the two letters that spelled defeat.

“Why do you stubbornly go top lane when I told you not to.”

“…I got a solo kill.”

“Why do you keep falling behind in CS then?”

“I got a solo kill!”

“I want to tear you apart! If this is how it’s going to be, let’s settle it in Tekken! What’s the point of winning 1:1? Our team is losing! You’re so individualistic!?”

At the moment when Ye-rin asked why she was doing that, a message arrived.

“What now.”

It was a massive set of photos from Yu-arin.

– Yu-arin: Hey, what’s this?

– Yu-arin: Why the hell are crazy people posting pictures of their excrement and butt?

– Yu-arin: I’m seriously feeling nauseous and can’t take it.

– Yu-arin: And they’ve taken over the bulletin board in the religious club. Is this for real?

– Yu-arin: I keep deleting, but three new ones pop up every 10 seconds!

– Yu-arin: Help! (various unintelligible characters)

Huh.

Now you’re starting to appreciate the efforts of managing the bulletin board, newbie.

Posting suggestive images, like Anonymous69 and others do, might be okay for both you and me.

There are also those who, from time to time in their lives, post images that make you wonder why they even bother, and it’s the administrator’s job to see and delete them all.

Moreover, every Sunday, they go crazy in the religious club.

You just have to let it go quietly according to the natural order.

If you leave it alone, they won’t write much, but the moment you delete something, they’ll start making a fuss, claiming religious oppression.

“It’s a learning experience.”

For the next week, you’ll get a taste of hell, Yu-arin.

You’ll have to sincerely delete all sorts of nonsense and respond to it.

It’ll be a time when you can see how dirty and ugly the existence of humans in anonymity can be.

I hope you have a strong stomach.

Feeling a sense of popularity, I looked at the computer screen, and suddenly the game had started and was in the loading phase.

I wondered what was going on, and it turned out that Seo Ye-rin had started the game while I was texting Yu-arin.

“Hey.”

“Woo-jin, the game has started.”

“You lit up again. I told you to turn on your mic.”

“Specially for the top player.”

“A real man doesn’t discriminate between women and men. Come on, let’s go, let’s shed some blood.”

“Specially for the top player, no exceptions.”

“Is that a s*x joke?”

“….”

Seo Yerim’s face turned bright red as she stared at the screen, trying to avoid eye contact.

“No, it’s not that kind of meaning.”

It was quite fascinating to see someone like her, who was shy and embarrassed, engage in online activities with the username “anonymous69.”