Bamboo Forest Manager

57 – True Education

“I’ll tell the others first. Don’t get hurt for no reason.”

“I won’t get hurt.”

She answers awkwardly and smiles, and Min Joo-hee senior, after examining my condition, pats my shoulder.

“Yeah, I didn’t think you were the type to get hurt over this kind of thing.”

“……”

“But it might feel unfair, so I’m going to tell the others. Don’t misunderstand.”

Even if I say it, I don’t think the others will believe it easily.

But Min Joo-hee senior is willing to believe me without getting swayed by such rumors, and that doesn’t make me feel bad.

Anyway, she trusts me unconditionally.

“She made my college life not so bad.”

Because even one cool senior believes in me.

I leave it to Joo-hee senior to explain to the others and start working again.

“Did you see Secretary Seok x here?”

I hear Yoo Ah-rin’s voice from behind.

When I frown and look at her, Yoo Ah-rin is looking at me with a mischievous smile.

“Oh, so that’s why you were looking for me? You wanted to do Secretary Seok x?”

“……”

“Hey, how about arranging it for once, big sister?”

“If you don’t want to get beaten up, go away.”

“hahahahaha! This is hilarious. No, isn’t it Anonymous90 who sniped at you? How did it hit the mark so perfectly?”

“It’s just a coincidence. They don’t know anything about it.”

From the start, the gender was wrong, so there’s no way Anonymous90 would know about Seo Yerin.

With a firm response, Yu Arin asked with a soft breath.

“From the way you’re talking, it seems Anonymous90 was wrong, right?”

Without saying a word, Yu Arin affirms with a smile of satisfaction.

“English Literature, right? You got that right.”

“It must be a coincidence.”

“Eh, tsk tsk. You’re dumb.”

Yu Arin crosses her arms and sticks out her tongue. Her voice is filled with confidence.

“On the second and third days, even I could see that it was a hit. In fact, it was one or the other, right?”

– Anonymous90: The second Anonymous69 tends to avoid people.

“Whether it’s a yes or a no. But it’s rare for someone who claims they want to have s*x as an anonymous person every day to be popular.”

It must have been a gamble worth trying.

– Anonymous90: The third Anonymous69 is a man.

“Whether it’s a man or a woman. It’s one or the other. Likewise, since the likelihood of it being a man is higher, I said it was a man.”

“….”

While looking at Yu Arin’s confident appearance, I began to sink into the conversation.

“But English Literature? How can you pick that out when our university has so many departments?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Eh.”

Yu Arin handed me her phone, saying it was boring. There, I saw the writing records of Anonymous69.

“Anonymous69?”

“How did you know? I did the same thing that Anonymous90 did to find out. So I just figured it out easily.”

In the end, Anonymous90 is the one who could be considered a stalker of Anonymous69. Yu Arin says that she read the same writings of Anonymous69.

“Most of it is just useless spam and the same words. They claim to have s*x every day.”

Snap.

Yu Arin’s finger hit the “comments” section.

“Anonymous69 doesn’t leave comments often, but I can tell what the common point is in the posts they leave.”

Just by looking at the screen she handed me, I naturally figured it out, even if I didn’t want to know.

“…English and literature related articles.”

“That’s right!” Yuarin nodded vigorously at my words, smiling brightly. It seemed like she wanted more praise for finding the answer.

“All the articles related to literature have comments from someone named ‘anonymous69.’ Whether it’s about targeted attacks at a karaoke bar, beef intestines at a restaurant, or something related to Yerin.”

“….”

“All of them are about literature. So, anonymous90 is my guess. Maybe it’s anonymous69 who is into literature.”

Even if it isn’t.

“Just let it go without saying anything.”

Because it’s anonymous.

A sharp pain pierced my skull.

Until just now, I didn’t care much, but a subtle emotion towards the person called anonymous90 arose.

They probably just wrote it while laughing.

Since it doesn’t matter whether it’s true or not.

Yerin and I just responded in a flippant and serious manner, respectively.

“I should meet him.”

I wanted to meet him.

I felt like I could only know what emotions I held in my heart right now by meeting anonymous90 in person.

“Huh? Meet him? Are you still trying to find him?”

“Yeah, while resolving the misunderstanding I caused.”

“…Can you help me?”

I shook my head subtly in response to Yuarin’s indirect inquiry.

“It’s okay, I’ll find him alone. You’ve already helped me enough.”

Seemingly unhappy with my answer, Yuarin puffed up her cheek slightly and left with a pout.

Afterwards, I focused on my kitchen work again. I was in charge of making stir-fried pork.

It was a dish that required some skill, but if I prepared in advance, it could be done quickly.

I wondered about the taste, appearance, and how long it would take to cook here, so I started cooking it as a demonstration.

“….”

Suddenly, Seoyerin stood next to me with her arms crossed. She was wearing a white shirt and a black skirt, just like Yuarin earlier.

It seemed like that was the uniform for the servers.

“Wanna try it?”

While staring fixedly at the stir-fried pork, Seo Yerin casually nodded her head. It seemed like she was subtly hungry.

“Move back a bit. The seasoning might splash onto your clothes.”

“Oh, okay!”

With that, Seo Yerin swiftly ran behind me. It seemed like she had high expectations as she stood close to my back, still watching the stir-fried pork.

“Woo Jin.”

“Why? Just wait a moment.”

“The kids were saying that you were posting strange things in the bamboo forest.”

“….”

What is happening right now?

Seo Yerin turned her head with an incredulous expression, then started patting my shoulder with a smile resembling the Virgin Mary, comforting me.

“It’s okay. I know it’s not you.”

That’s right.

Because it’s you.

“And it’s not a bad thing, right?”

What the heck?

“I-it’s not weird at all about…. about s*xual relationships. We’re adults now, so we’ll get used to it.”

“….”

“Anyway, I’ll support you Woo Jin, even if you write those things in the bamboo forest! I will always…!”

Sobbing.

In the end, I put down the frying pan and turned off the gas valve.

“s*xual harassment is a bad thing.”

Saying that, Seo Yerin turned towards me and made a firm declaration.

“Huh?”

“It is bad. You’re flooding those writings everywhere, aren’t you?”

Suddenly, Seo Yerin moved her hands anxiously, trying to retort.

“B-but, but I know the boundaries…”

“Hey, where is the boundary for flooding? If your eyebrows frown, then it’s crossed the line.”

As Seo Yerin’s face turned red, she mumbled something, trying to speak.

“If you, if you crossed the line, wouldn’t the bamboo forest administrator take care of it?!”

(Note: Some words or phrases may have been adapted for better flow and readability in English)

I raised my head with a broad smile, clearly surprised by her flustered appearance, even to the point of stammering.

“The manager might have given up. How can you see a promiscuous person in a good light in the first place?”

“s*x…!”

“Huh? Look, you can’t even say it now. How can you call someone who casually uses such filthy words every day a good person?”

“Even if they’re not good, they might not be bad!”

Seo Yerin’s eyes were darting around. I took a step towards her, placing my hands on both shoulders to prevent her from escaping.

“So you can’t say ‘s*x’ either. Is it because you think it’s a word that shouldn’t be said?”

“No, no! It’s not something bad!”

“But you can’t say it, right?”

“s*x! s*x…!”

“s*x? s*x? In the end, you can’t say it either! You actually think ‘anonymous69’ is a bad person?”

“No!”

“Then say it!”

“s*x, xxx!”

It feels like she’s whispering softly. Seo Yerin shouted towards the sky, hands clasped together.

I shook my head vigorously like a boxing coach, pressuring her even more.

“Exactly! You brat! ‘s*x’ is not bad! Why are you ashamed of saying it?”

“Ddeokddu!”

“Again!”

“Ddeoddwoo!”

“One more time…!”

Just as I was about to shout again, I noticed Choi Iseo’s expression, which seemed to indicate that she couldn’t understand what was happening.

“Ddeoddoo! Tteaeaktteu! Tteaeak!”

In that moment when our eyes met.

“Ddeok! Why is an adult woman casually spewing such words and acting indecently!”

I tried to stop her while waving my hand.

“Ddeoddugedeuk…”

Even though I tried to stop her, Seo Yerin couldn’t regain her composure and continued muttering with her eyes tightly shut.

In the end, I let Seo Yerin, whose head was getting hotter and hotter, go outside to get some fresh air.

“What’s wrong?”

Choi Iseo stared at me with an expression of disbelief.

“What on earth happened to make her so upset?”

“….”

“I can’t imagine how I ended up in that situation.”

Of course, he wouldn’t understand.

I also regretted my strong reaction to Seo Yerin, but there was one thing I wanted to make clear.

“It’s not my fault.”

It was clearly Seo Yerin’s fault, and I was just being punished.

“….”

Choi Iseo, who had been glaring at me sharply, sighed and got straight to the point.

“Did you see the work schedule on the group chat?”

“I saw. I barely held back from reporting it to the Labor Department.”

I felt disgusted seeing how little time there was to rest from working late at night until dawn.

“There’s nothing we can do about it. Instead, I’ll buy you something delicious when you rest.”

“Well, I won’t refuse if you offer.”

There was no need to reject his offer since he was taking responsibility as the supervisor.

“Right? We’ll be resting at the same time. Let’s hang out then.”

“That… Really?”

I was about to answer without thinking, but my lips froze for a moment.

It felt like a date. But Choi Iseo was already heading towards the serving staff.

“…Is it just my imagination?”

I wondered if I had just said it without any thought.

Before exiting the kitchen tent, Choi Iseo turned his head slightly to see me looking confused and smiled softly.

“It’s a date.”

Ah.

“Well, that’s right.”