Bamboo Forest Manager

53 – 53. Kitchen Team

“Open the door…!”

Yu Arin forcefully banged on the door.

The door finally opened, and she was about to say something irritated to Kim Woojin, who had been annoying her with his antics, but…

“…Huh?”

“Hello.”

Suddenly, it wasn’t Choi Iseo who opened the door and came out. Furthermore, she seemed slightly out of breath and her face was blushing, giving off an unexpected appearance.

Choi Iseo always had a sensual vibe due to her regular exercise, but…

I don’t know how to explain it.

Right now, she seems s*xy.

“Why are you here?”

Surprised, Yu Arin asked, and Choi Iseo answered with a relaxed smile.

“I came to bring medicine. Woojin said he’s not feeling well.”

“Ah…”

“But, as you said, he was indeed full of energy. A lot of energy, in fact.”

I flinched.

Why is that?

Yu Arin’s shoulders trembled for a moment. Kim Woojin appeared, striding confidently in some subtle situation.

“What the hell, why are you here again?”

“….”

Kim Woojin’s face was also red, and he was breathing heavily. I noticed that his clothes were slightly disheveled.

“Did you have dinner? If you haven’t, let’s eat together.”

But suddenly, Choi Eiseo’s invitation into his house seemed out of place. It gave the feeling that he shouldn’t enter.

“Excuse me.”

Yoo Arin, who had been practicing Taekwondo since she was young, stepped forward without hesitation.

She entered with some confidence.

“….”

The scent of a male that stung her nose.

She had opened the window to ventilate the room, but because it was chilly outside and she had left it slightly open, the smell hadn’t completely disappeared.

Moreover, seeing Kim Woojin’s neat and clean body, it was obvious that he had just showered.

“He said we could stay here. Choi Eiseo said I have to work in the kitchen.”

Even though Kim Woojin was making excuses, he knew very well that it was just a defense.

But then, Choi Eiseo added something else.

“Woojin, can I take a shower?”

“Huh?”

“I sweated a bit earlier and I feel stuffy. Since you have athletic clothes, I’ll change into those.”

“Well… I don’t mind.”

Kim Woojin nodded his head in a daze. Choi Eiseo looked at Yoo Arin and flashed a meaningful smile before going into the bathroom.

Thud.

As soon as the door closed.

“Did you sleep with him?”

Yoo Arin asked directly.

Kim Woojin furrowed his brow and let out a sigh.

“I didn’t sleep with him. I just made him a meal.”

“….”

Yoo Arin looked at him skeptically, but Kim Woojin took a bite of the sausage and vegetable stir-fry that Choi Eiseo had made for him.

“It seems suspicious.”

“I’m telling you, it’s not like that. Besides, if I had done it, I wouldn’t be finished yet.”

“Showoff.”

“Pretentious? I can’t even show this.”

When Yu Arin saw Kim Woojin joking around, she felt a bit relieved.

Given the atmosphere, it didn’t seem like they had done something like that.

“What’s wrong? Why am I relieved?”

She didn’t have any special feelings towards Kim Woojin. She had no intentions of joining the unlikely battlefield with Choi Iseo and Seo Yerin.

“Ah, I was the one worrying too much.”

With that, Yu Arin threw a small box from her pocket directly at Kim Woojin’s face.

“What is this?”

Since it didn’t hurt much when it hit him, he checked and found it was cold medicine.

“What, did you think I was really sick?”

“No? I just brought what I was taking.”

“But this isn’t expired yet.”

“I bought another one for a buy one, get one free deal.”

Kim Woojin questioned how he randomly ended up with medicine, but he just let it go.

“Anyway, just eat this and go. You won’t have the chance to eat anyway, since you’ll be serving.”

When she heard that, Yu Arin grabbed her chopsticks, about to protest, but her movement abruptly stopped.

But she smoothly picked up a sausage and asked, “Why am I serving?”

“Hm? Serving? I heard they made all the half-faced kids serve.”

“….”

“I heard they even asked the junior from the second year Han River. I heard it’s a serious thing.”

It must have been an attempt to cater to both male and female needs.

“Isn’t that right?”

“Yeah, right.”

Yu Arin lowered her head, ashamed. Kim Woojin, who sincerely didn’t understand why she was reacting like that, asked what the problem was.

“Just shut up!”

Yu Arin stood up suddenly, turning her body as if to hide her flushed face.

“Don’t mess around, you bastard!”

“What, what?!”

“I’m leaving!”

It’s similar to the night when I ate Chocomong.

Feeling that something would be weird if I stayed here any longer, Yoo Arin hurriedly ran towards the door.

“No way!”

Yoo Arin repeats to herself.

“It’s not like my heart was pounding just now!”

There’s no way my heart would pound for a guy like that.

“I’m being attracted to the person I was trying to use?”

Isn’t that pathetic?

“Moreover, that place is a battlefield where you shouldn’t get involved!”

I had no intention of competing with the two people interested in Kim Woojin.

“Snap out of it, Yoo Arin.”

Slapping her cheeks with the palm of her hand, Yoo Arin quickly headed home.

* * *

“What’s this?”

Yoo Arin suddenly threw medicine at me and ran outside. Since she practically left right after coming, I wondered if she saw some kind of illusion or something.

The distinct fruity scent that Yoo Arin carries around was still lingering and tickling my nose.

Thunk.

“Woojin, this door doesn’t close properly.”

At that moment, Choi Iseo came out with a towel on her head. When she saw me, she tilted her head in surprise.

“What about Arin?”

“I don’t know, she was just yelling by herself and then left?”

“What did she do?”

She immediately gives me a suspicious look, but it’s a bit unfair.

“I didn’t do anything.”

“You didn’t say you wanted to touch her chest again?”

“No, I didn’t? And why do you think I’m some pervert?”

“It wasn’t?”

“No.”

“If I touch her right now…”

“Don’t touch her! I said I won’t touch her, damn it!”

Who exactly do they think I am, someone driven by carnal desires?

I shout out, and Choi Iseo just laughs softly, reseating herself next to me and drying her hair.

It’s strangely captivating.

“Haven’t you seen the hairdryer? I bought a pretty good one.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen it. Did you borrow Dice’s?”

It’s the hairdryer my ex-girlfriend used to use. I didn’t buy it myself, so I could just throw it away, but I value it more than my ex-girlfriend and use it carefully, checking the price.

“So why didn’t you dry your hair?”

“Just because?”

As I watch her playfully laugh, I realize that Choi Iseo intentionally didn’t dry her hair.

“What drama did you watch? Men get excited when they see someone drying their hair?”

“…No?”

Seems like I hit the nail on the head as Choi Iseo reacts with surprise and slightly leans back.

She breathes out a sigh and covers her face with her hands as she answers.

“The drama is so realistic.”

“Ha, that’s funny.”

Choi Iseo seems pleased with my response as she makes a slight snort. Then she offers the remaining food to me.

“Eat quickly. It’s all cold now.”

“Sure, let’s eat.”

Though my heart was pounding excessively, I forcefully ignore it and just eat the leftover food.

* * *

As I mentioned before, discussions about the festival are active in the Bamboo Forest during the approaching festival period. It was easily possible to obtain information about other departments with little interaction.

From Noble mtl dot com

– Anonymous135: How many departments actually run their own bar? They all seem to just run bars.

↳ Anonymous81: Running a bar is relatively easier.

↳ Anonymous42: Also, it’s great for drinking. Just tell your juniors to do things and ask them to bring snacks.

– Anonymous69: I want se*x!

↳ Anonymous90: I want se*x!

– Anonymous44: Spooky stories about Seoul Station. There have always been a lot of homeless people there……

– Anonymous111: Hey everyone! Hello! It’s BJ Popo! The festival is coming soon! Actually, I’ll be part of the cheering squad this time! We’ll do a live broadcast on the day of the festival, so please enjoy!

↳ Anonymous315: We’ll definitely support Popo.

↳ Anonymous316: We’ll definitely cheer for Popo.

“Anonymous317: Be there for me in the aerospace department whenever.

– Anonymous243: Do you happen to have a maid cafe?

↳ Anonymous11: f*ck off. That’s something you only see in Japanese anime, you crazy asshole.

↳ Anonymous81: Honestly, I kind of want to see it. Especially aerospace and film studies.

↳ Anonymous11: Film studies is theater, you idiot.

↳ Anonymous81: ? How are you so sure? It’s film studies?

↳ Anonymous11: Then what else would film studies be if not theater?

↳ Anonymous81: True.

↳ Anonymous243 (author): Let’s talk somewhere else. I’m getting notifications.

↳ Anonymous11: f*ckin’ otaku.

– Anonymous126: Everyone is excited for aerospace and film studies, but honestly, I’m looking forward to English literature. There’s this one person who really disses film studies.

↳ Anonymous82: That sucks.

↳ Anonymous69: s*x.

↳ Anonymous90: They got rekt!

↳ Anonymous126 (author): Do you have a boyfriend?

↳ Anonymous195: There are a lot of people pursuing him.

“Ugh, seriously.”

I didn’t mention my name, so I could delete it, but I know that Seo Yerim is going through a lot of trouble.

Since it’s Tuesday, I should have been eating lunch with Seo Yerim and Choi Iseo.

But right now, I was heading towards the English literature department’s teaching room.

“Ugh, why are they gathering already.”

Because there’s a kitchen team meeting for the festival.

There was a discussion in the group chat that I had been invited to, about gathering for lunch today.

I originally planned to pretend that I didn’t see it, but Choi Iseo insisted that I should go, so I reluctantly agreed.

“Ugh, it’s already so annoying.”

I didn’t want to do it, of course, but the situation seemed chaotic from the start.

They said that first year students would take charge of running the pub, and only those who wanted to help from the second, third, and fourth year students could do so.

But in reality, there are no third or fourth year students, and who would want to help the second year students when they could be enjoying the festival?

So it should be the first year students doing it. But can those high schoolers, who are slowly losing interest in high school, really do anything productive in the kitchen?

“I really hope there’s someone to help.”

There’s someone who does part-time work in the restaurant kitchen, so I hope they can take the lead.

I arrived in front of the classroom, desperately hoping.

“If only it wasn’t what the professor said, I wouldn’t have helped.”

In the restaurant kitchen, senior Min Ju-hee, who was wearing a black Adidas jersey and had her hands in her pockets, was organizing the freshmen.

“Oh, Jesus.”

How many people can feel relieved just by looking at someone?

“Our team leader has come to look for us this time.”