Bamboo Forest Manager - Chapter 371



The Male Nature, As They Say

While Kim Woo-jin and his group were messing around inside the pension.

Outside, even though it wasn’t quite dinner time, they were blasting music and having a party.

The idiots were thrilled and welcomed the chance to meet beautiful women they’d never seen before.

Especially Kang Han-gang and Pyo Jin-ho, who were trying their best to rub up against the girls even just once.

The only one showing any restraint was Ahn Hyun-ho.

His girlfriend, Lee Gyu-ah, had been mistaken for cheating, but it turned out to be her cousin, which strengthened their bond.

But he was feeling a bit regretful in this situation.

If he hadn’t come with his girlfriend, he could’ve been hanging out with the model-level beauties, couldn’t he?

Jung Chan-woo was the center of attention, receiving love from all the women.

He was such a handsome man, even for models, that it was the opposite scenario for him.

James, who’d brought these beauties, was sitting at a shabby outdoor table, sipping wine.

“I heard you ran away from home.”

He tossed out the question like a loose change.

Choi Jin-ah hesitated, holding her answer in her mouth before finally saying,

“Yeah, that’s right.”

She answered as if it were no big deal.

“That’s not like you.”

“Really?”

“Most guys our age are paying attention to you.”

“To me?”

“They did at the reunion too.”

“……”

“You’re quite the high-quality product.”

The term “high-quality product” was quite annoying, but Choi Jin-ah didn’t bother to point it out.

She was used to people like this valuing others based on their worth.

After all, wasn’t her own father like that?

“The rumor your chairman spread is still going around. Surprisingly, quite a few people asked me if I knew where you were.”

Choi Jin-ah took a sip of wine.

She forcibly neutralized the sharp bitterness on her tongue.

“I already told my father that I’m going to marry Woo-jin.”

“Your chairman doesn’t acknowledge that, so everyone is still interested.”

“……”

“That was a lie from the start, wasn’t it? You’re just using Kim Woo-jin as a shield, right?”

James was quite sharp.

He quickly saw through the fact that Kim Woo-jin and his father had pretended to be engaged to give Choi Jin-ah some time.

“So? Did you come to tell me to go back?”

“I’m telling you to be careful.”

James sighed and warned Choi Jin-ah as he watched her.

“Among these people, you’re a kind of unicorn. You don’t live a promiscuous life, there are no particular rumors about drugs or alcohol, and you’re highly regarded as a violinist.”

It didn’t sound like a compliment.

It felt like she was an animal being told why she was being sold at a high price.

“You know, there are a lot of people with peculiar tastes around here. Guys who want to defile you… there were quite a few at the reunion too.”

“Stop it, I don’t want to hear it.”

“When your father picked such a person and handed them to you, you couldn’t refuse-.”

“Stop it.”

Choi Jin-ah glared sharply.

James’s eyes slowly widened as he looked at her.

And then.

“Yeah.”

He nodded with a smile that showed a slight sense of relief.

“You have changed.”

If it were the old Choi Jin-ah, she would have kept her mouth shut and just listened.

Seeing her push herself away like this, he felt a bit more trust.

“Who are you?”

“Who are you really?”

And the two people who were listening to the conversation right next to them.

Oh Yoon-ji and Min Joo-hee were looking at Choi Jin-ah with surprised eyes.

“……”

Choi Jin-ah glanced at them and then lowered her face, hiding her expression.

She felt like she had been caught doing some embarrassing role-play.

“Ahem, ahem! J-James? Can you leave now?”

“No.”

James took another sip while sitting there.

‘They are quite beautiful.’

He honestly admired Oh Yoon-ji and Min Joo-hee while looking at them.

The models he brought were, of course, beauties too.

They always did their best to adorn themselves, and that was almost their life’s purpose.

But somehow.

It felt like looking at wild ones compared to the cultivated ones.

Not the charm that tries hard to show off, but the charm that naturally radiates refreshingly was quite impressive.

“Jin-ah, I thought you became a different person. Our cute little piggy.”

“Don’t call me piggy.”

‘Piggy?’

Was he talking about Choi Jin-ah?

Come to think of it, she seemed to have gained a bit of weight since last time.

“You should drink moderately, Jin-ah. You really have to be careful with a beer belly.”

“Yes… Unni.”

Jina Choi’s atmosphere felt somewhat different from before.

James, who was staring blankly, couldn’t help but ask, tilting his head.

“This side is Woojin Kim’s guard. And this side is Woojin Kim’s ex-girlfriend, right?”

Minjoo Hee was seen at the reunion, and Yoonji Oh was already quite famous.

As James guessed correctly, the two people answered affirmatively, and naturally, the glasses of alcohol started to flow.

However, James didn’t really have a chance to join the conversation.

Before he knew it, they were just talking among themselves, and James was just sipping his drink and watching.

“Why can’t you be honest with yourself?”

“Here she goes again.”

“Yoonji, Yoonji…”

To James, Yoonji Oh seemed to have a personality as fiery as her hair color.

She was straightforward and driven, but there seemed to be some hesitation in certain areas.

“Isn’t three or four the same thing?”

“It’s not the same, you fool.”

“You’re getting drunk faster than soju.”

“Hoo, am I… am I the only one living in the past?”

Yoonji Oh, panting.

She grumbled, saying it was unfair.

“Yoonji, let’s calm down for now.”

“Yeah, James is here too.”

Minjoo Hee and Jina Choi tried to calm the gradually intoxicated Yoonji Oh.

Especially in the presence of James, this kind of conversation didn’t seem appropriate at all.

“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars.”

No one here failed to understand James’ casually thrown words.

“It’s a famous quote by Les Brown. It means that if you set high goals, even if you fail, you’ll achieve great things.”

James, wetting his tongue with wine.

“When you look at successful people, giving up was never an option. Even if they failed, they definitely left something behind through it.”

“…Do you even know what situation you’re talking about?”

Jina Choi warned sharply, telling him to realize what he was saying.

James replied with a smirk.

“A gathering of defeated losers.”

“Hoo, logically. It’s natural to give up on a man who already has a girlfriend.”

“Really?”

But in this situation, would logic prevail?

“The other party isn’t logical.”

“……”

“And the place where Kim Woo-jin is, is also beyond logic. He’s the youngest of the Wooju Group. Why are you expecting logic from such a person?”

In fact, Kim Woo-jin was the man who least suited the word ‘logic.’

Especially the bad thing was that he often pretended to be logical.

“To begin with, my friends all have at least two or three lovers.”

This was sincere.

There were indeed many wealthy people with numerous lovers, and even James, who had a fiancée promised through an arranged marriage, didn’t have clean relationships with women.

“Fortune favors the bold.”

James whispered to Min Joo-hee and Oh Yoon-ji as he looked at them.

“Surprisingly… that man might have been the greatest fortune in your lives.”

“Hey, wait! Come over here for a moment!”

In the end, Choi Jin-ah couldn’t hold back and dragged James away.

Past the men who were eagerly mingling with the models, to the front of the pool filled with warm water.

Choi Jin-ah crossed her arms and questioned James.

“What are you up to? Why are you trying to drag ordinary people over here?”

“……”

“Mr. Woo-jin already has many lovers. So why again?”

“If you think three is a lot, my friends would all laugh.”

“Mr. Woo-jin is different from you guys!”

“He is different. If you compare him to that guy, even a second-generation chaebol would look like a nouveau riche boasting about money.”

“Ah, seriously! That’s not what I’m talking about!”

Choi Jin-ah knew.

That James didn’t have such good feelings towards Kim Woo-jin.

Of course, he’d helped out with some things too. Like, he’d somehow gotten chummy with the dimwits without Choi Jin-ah knowing.

They’d gotten kinda close, in a way.

But it wasn’t like he was some self-sacrificing guy, pushing women towards them or anything.

“……”

“Honestly, tell me. Why the hell are you doing this all of a sudden?”

Choi Jin-ah’s way of questioning him, so pointed, was kinda refreshing.

So James decided he might as well give her an honest answer.

“I wanted to see him squirm, lost in the throes of womanizing.”

“What?”

“Honestly, it’s not like Kim Woo-jin or the Ujoo Group is gonna crumble just because he’s got a few more girls around, right?”

“……”

“But I kinda want to see Kim Woo-jin struggle a bit.”

Actually, to be even more honest.

“I want to see him have a hard time! Just as much as I had a hard time because of that b*stard! I want him to go through it too!”

Choi Jin-ah was speechless.

“So,”

He was speaking with such confidence, like he’d hatched some grand scheme.

But to put it simply, summarized concisely, it was…

“You’re just taking out your childhood grievances as revenge?”

“……Don’t sugarcoat my revenge like that.”

“No, no matter how I hear it, that’s exactly what it is.”

“Ughhh!”

Just then, Kang Han-gang’s scream ripped through the air.

Everyone’s gaze instantly snapped towards him, where Kang Han-gang was kneeling, a look of utter despair on his face.

The sheer hopelessness emanating from his expression was enough to leave people perplexed.

“Jin-ho-yaaa! You b*stardddd!”

From noble mtl dot com

“Huh? What’s wrong?”

Pyo Jin-ho, who’d been having a good time with the ladies, looked at Kang Han-gang, startled.

“We’re supposed to enlist on Tuesdayyyyy! You got tofu for brains or whatttt! Nonsan’s enlistment is on Mondayyyy! They already finished the welcome ceremonyyyyy!”

“Huh?”

“What do you mean?” Pyo Jin-ho asked again.

Then he checked his phone.

Seeing how much his hands were trembling and how he dropped his phone, everyone realized what was happening.

“I, I didn’t properly check the military-related messages… It said enlistment on Tuesday if it’s a holiday-.”

Pyo Jin-ho started making excuses.

But can we really blame only Pyo Jin-ho for this?

Since they were enlisting together, all the messages that came to Pyo Jin-ho also came to Han Kang.

In the end.

Both of them were responsible for not checking properly.

“They said to come immediately! They said they’d accept us even if we’re late!”

“Really?!”

Fortunately, they had only had a few sips of alcohol since they were planning to drink with their university friends tonight.

Their minds were still clear.

“Get rid of the alcohol smell on the way! Get in the car-!”

They had to go.

But they were in a rather remote pension.

There was no public transportation, and it would take forever for a taxi to come.

There were several cars, but.

“I drank.”

Starting with James.

Min Joo-hee, who came on a bike, Choi Jin-ah, who came in a Porsche, and finally Oh Yoon-ji.

Most of them had at least a sip of expensive alcohol, so driving now would be drunk driving.

“Ah.”

With weakened steps, Kang Han-gang approached Pyo Jin-ho.

“My, my father said he’d really kill me if I didn’t enlist this time…”

Han Kang, who had a soldier father, was tearing up.

“I have nothing to do if I don’t go now! I have no money!”

Pyo Jin-ho, too, if he delayed any longer, it would mess up everything from school onwards.

But there was no way to go.

Why is life like this?

Why are we such fools?

“Ahhh!”

“Sniff! Sob!”

The two knelt down, hugging each other like children, and cried.

They cried sorrowfully.

Let’s become.

Let’s become human.

Having been burned so hotly.

Let’s melt ourselves through this day called today and be reborn anew.

Their cries contained such meaning.

Did God hear that?

Kim Woo-jin, whose face was slightly swollen from being beaten somewhere, placed his hands on their shoulders.

“There’s still one more person.”

It was the sound of a fierce engine.

The menacing growl proved it was the most dangerous beast in the valley.

As they lifted their heads.

A massive off-road vehicle entered the parking lot.

And there was.

Homo, who always saved them from crises.

“I called him.”

With Kim Woo-jin’s proud smile, the vehicle stopped.

And from it emerged a bald man.

The man had no idea what was going on.

He just came because Kim Woo-jin called him to hang out.

But seeing the gazes pouring onto him, he quickly crossed his arms.

“A man, after all.”

The darkening sky.

“Must know the exact timing to be cool.”

His shiny bald head, reflecting the newly lit streetlight, looked like a beacon of hope to them.

“This is the place.”

The bald man took a deep breath and declared with a grin.

“This is where I will shine.”