Bamboo Forest Manager - Chapter 374



Lies

Should I be relieved?

News about what just happened didn’t spread or anything.

Oh Yoonji did say something, but since the music was already blasting, no one around heard it.

“C-cough, cough. I’m gonna go.”

Senior Juhee, awkward, wiping her mouth, and then running away.

Is it really okay for her to just take what she wants and then leave like that? But then again, trying to explain with her right there would feel like an interference.

What kind of persuasion would there be if I said that a person, red-faced and panting next to me, had actually initiated things?

“Uhm.”

Oh Yoonji is looking back and forth between the bottle in her hand and me.

Seeing that you haven’t gone and told the other kids, I wonder if you have some kind of intention.

“Yoonji, so this is the thing.”

I thought it was an opportunity to explain, but Oh Yoonji shook her head and simply replied.

“Wait. I’m thinking right now.”

“…Thinking about what?”

“Where to hit you with a bottle to knock you out in one shot. The head has the highest probability.”

“Ha, listen. I’m really wronged here.”

“Was there a point to feel wronged about just now…?”

Well, if you put it that way, it’s true.

Anyway, I’m telling you, I’m wronged.

“Senior Joohee started it first.”

“…”

“Oh, please. Don’t look at me like that.”

“How am I looking at you?”

“Like a dog barking.”

“…Sharp.”

Oh Yoonji was a bit surprised that I hit the mark so accurately.

I didn’t know how to explain this, so I just kept talking incoherently.

“I’m serious! So, the senior started it first, but I used a counterattack strategy to push her away-.”

“Sigh, I know.”

“So I took the initiative… What?”

What did she just say?

When I stared at her, Oh Yoonji shrugged her shoulders as if asking why I was explaining such a thing.

“I know you didn’t start it. I believe you were attacked.”

“Why?”

Even from my perspective, it looked like I was the one who attacked, but she believed me?

I was suspicious that she was just trying to make me lower my guard, but Oh Yoonji replied indifferently.

“Do you think I haven’t seen you for a day or two? I can tell if you’re lying.”

“…”

“I heard from Senior Joohee that you were attacked, so I came to find you on purpose. It didn’t seem like you were lying.”

“Wow.”

This isn’t sarcasm or anything, it’s genuinely impressive.

I knew Oh Yoonji knew me well, but I didn’t expect it to be to this extent.

“Still, we’ve known each other the longest here.”

Oh Yoonji said, shrugging.

“If you insist… that’s true.”

Well, we had known each other the longest.

Since the first semester of the first year.

Oh Yoonji slyly handed me a bottle of alcohol.

“Gargle.”

“……”

I took a sip, and it had a slightly bitter yet sweet taste that suited my palate quite well.

“Oh, what is this? What kind of alcohol is this?”

“Isn’t it good? I thought you’d like it as soon as you tasted it.”

“…You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Did it show?”

Oh Yoonji laughed, sticking out her tongue.

Both I and Oh Yoonji.

Maybe it was the alcohol, but the cuteness mixed with a bit of aegyo (cutesy behavior) was endearing.

‘I shouldn’t be like this.’

I shook my head to clear my mind and handed the bottle back to Oh Yoonji.

“Thanks for trusting me. I’ll handle things with the senior, so you enjoy the party.”

“Why are you wrapping things up so awkwardly?”

“Huh, isn’t it awkward? You’re my ex-girlfriend.”

This isn’t Hollywood.

This is Korea.

In Korea, exes are usually the last people you want to run into.

“Didn’t we already shake all that off?”

“We did. But recently, you’ve been saying weird things. Like how you need to take responsibility.”

There were times when I called you drunk, and when we ran into each other at the gukbap (rice soup) place, it was quite a sight.

It would be a lie to say it wasn’t burdensome.

Also, since it could cause anxiety among the kids, I naturally wanted to avoid such conversations or meetings.

“Hmm.”

“So, you got it, right? I’m leaving. Have fun. I saw a lot of guys came too. Meet someone nice there.”

“……”

Turning his back on Oh Yoon-ji, he leaves.

That’s enough, this is sufficient.

How many times have we talked about breaking up?

We ended it well, but the emotions flared up again because of the cyber wreckers incident.

We’ve done it once, so we just need to wrap up our emotions again.

Yeah, then-.

– Yoon-jiyaaa!

His steps halt.

A familiar voice pierces his eardrums and freezes his movements.

– I really miss youuu! I said I miss youuu! Where did you gooo!

That was my voice.

But when?

I don’t remember saying that.

“What, what’s that?”

As he slowly turns his body, Oh Yoon-ji is smirking while holding a phone.

What appeared on the phone was a recording screen.

Anyway, it means I said those words.

– I don’t need anyone elseee!

Without responding, Oh Yoon-ji continues to play the recorded content.

– Honeyyyyy! My honeyyyyy! I, sniff! Really! Sniff! I said I miss youuu! Where the hell did you gooo!

– I keep thinking about you! Even if I pretend not to, you keep coming to my mind! Honeyyy! We even named our babyyyy! I really can’t live without youuu!

“Shut upppp! Kim Woo-jiiiin!”

What the hell is that crazy b*stard babbling about!

After a few similar sounds, the recording ended.

Considering that Seo Ye-rin and Choi I-seo were mentioned in between, it contained quite a few slip-ups.

“`

“……”

“……”

We look at each other.

In the silence, Oh Yoon-ji smirks and starts to speak.

“I was surprised. Back then, the company was still finding its footing, so I was working late.”

“……”

“Originally, I wasn’t supposed to contact you until I was recognized. But I was so curious about why you suddenly contacted me in the middle of the night that I answered.”

I contacted Oh Yoon-ji in the middle of the night?

From what I remember, it was after I got close to Seo Ye-rin and Choi I-seo.

If that’s the case.

“Ah… it was the first time I drank with those idiots.”

It was the day I first met the bald guy.

When I woke up, everyone had experienced social death, and I had a record of a three-minute call with Oh Yoon-ji.

“So it was then!”

Anyway, those idiots are no help.

I already miss Han Kang and Pyo Jin-ho.

I want to go and blame them, saying it’s their fault.

“……”

In the end, it wasn’t someone holding a knife to my throat that made me drink and call and act like an idiot. It was me.

So what I need to do now is.

Be confident.

“That was a long time ago. Do you think I’d be shaken by something from the past?”

If my memory is correct, it was before I went to Gold One.

So at that time, I had a relationship with Seo Ye-rin, but we didn’t date because of my mother.

Do you think I’d be swayed by that-.

– I want to suck your chest!

After hesitating for a moment, Oh Yoon-ji asks.

“Decide.”

“What…”

“Whether we unravel this and fall into ruin together, or find a compromise over drinks.”

“Sorry, but I’m the youngest son of the Wooju Group. Do you think I’d negotiate with a terrorist like you? Huh?! Do you think I’d negotiate?! Do you think so little of our love? Do you think the kids would care about me just because I got drunk and acted out in the past? What kind of drink should I bring?!”

“Whatever you want.”

“I’ll be right back!”

* * *

Clink.

The sound of the bottles clashing resonates sharply.

I’ve always thought it sounded like magnets colliding.

There was no particular reason.

It was just a thought I had.

‘I’m in a hurry.’

I judged myself as I bit the bottle and shoved the alcohol down my throat.

Right now, I’m in a hurry.

How can I take Oh Yoon-ji’s phone?

That’s all I was thinking about.

Alcohol fuels the brain like gasoline, but it can also become a burning fuse.

Get a grip-!

“It feels like I’m living in the past.”

Her eyes, soaked in melancholy, painfully meet mine.

Sitting on a bench in the corner of the foot volleyball court, prepared for the spectators.

Oh Yoon-ji muttered the same words again.

“It feels like I’m living in the past. Just me.”

“……”

“I recall the conversations we had, and I still have the recordings of you saying you love me.”

“……”

“But on the contrary, you’re trying to distance yourself from me.”

She’s not wrong.

I was trying to distance myself from Oh Yoonji, no matter what.

In fact, more than senior Joohee or anyone else, Oh Yoonji was a person of interest.

“Yoonji.”

I place my hand on Oh Yoonji’s shoulder.

Now, soaked in alcohol, I finally had the courage to speak.

“If you know, just get lost.”

“You b*stard.”

“You b*tch, this is the fifth time you’ve tried to seduce me, even when we were dating.”

“Doesn’t this work?”

Of course not.

“But your hand is still awkward. Are you trying to steal my phone secretly?”

“……”

Got caught, damn it.

If caught, there was no need to hesitate.

“Give it to me!”

I put down the bottle and lunged at her. But Oh Yoonji, as if expecting it, grabbed my face with her palm and pushed me aside as she stood up.

“Get lost, Kim Woojin. Before I play the recording on the speaker.”

Oh Yoonji, posing like a martial artist.

I also glared at her, clenching my fists and mimicking a boxer.

“If you do that, I’ll make sure you can’t live in Korea.”

“Before that, you’ll be dead by Lee Seo and Arin.”

I was speechless.

She was right.

“You’ve always been too right. Am I your student?! Even when we were dating, I felt like I was being taught by you!”

“Then behave properly! I made the rich kid with only money act like a human, and as soon as I disappeared, you started flirting with three women?!”

From noble mtl dot com

“You were monopolizing the blue-chip stocks!”

I go for physical enforcement.

I immediately stretched out both hands and lunged at her.

I’m not the same as before.

Now, I can overwhelm Oh Yoonji with strength and speed.

Being a guy, the reason I worked out was to overpower my ex-girlfriend?

It was worth the effort.

I’ll work even harder going forward.

“Tch!”

Oh Yoonji, knowing she was at a disadvantage, threw her phone towards the jokgu court.

It bounced and landed on the urethane-paved jokgu court.

“……!”

I immediately shifted direction from Oh Yoonji towards the phone.

“You dumb b*tch!”

Thinking there was no need to subdue Oh Yoonji, I immediately went to pick up the phone.

“Huh?”

But when I picked it up, it was different from the phone I had seen earlier.

I was mistaken because the case color was similar, it was a completely different model.

That moment.

*Whack!*

Oh Yoonji’s drop kick slammed into my side.

“Ugh?!”

“That’s my work phone, you idiot!”

I fell over from the kick.

“Agh!”

But Oh Yoonji, having just launched a flying drop kick, couldn’t regain her balance and also fell to the ground.

*Thud!*

In the end, we were both lying on the jokgu court.

“Ah, shit. They make it look so clean in the movies.”

But unlike me, who had just been kicked, Oh Yoonji was about to get up when.

She grabbed a jokgu ball nearby and threw it straight at the back of my head.

*Whack!*

“Agh?!”

Oh Yoonji fell over again after getting hit by the jokgu ball.

“Die, you b*tch.”

“Kim Woojin, you motherfucker….”

We both ended up collapsing on the jokgu court again.

After being exhausted and struggling for a while, Yoonji Oh suddenly spoke, gazing up at the stars in the sky.

“You said you wanted to do it while looking at the stars at the camping site back then.”

“You went inside the tent because you were cold, and we did it there.”

“If we had fought like this back then, we would’ve been so hot that we could’ve done it outside. Admit it?”

“…Fuckin’ admit it.”

“Hehehe.”

“Ha, Yoonji Oh, my side is killing me because of you.”

“My head feels numb, you think you threw a brick at me or something?”

“It was a jokgu ball. Don’t exaggerate.”

“Ah, it was a ball?”

“Tch, you’ve always been like this. Always making a big fuss and saying it hurts over the most trivial things.”

“Then what about the guy who’d stick a bandage on me while making a fuss? When I had indigestion and you pricked my finger with a needle, you sucked on my finger saying ‘What do I do?’”

“That’s…”

“Black blood was coming out, why would you eat that? And you started sucking so s*xily that we ended up doing it, remember?”

“Then what about you? When I had a cold, you suddenly gave me a blowjob. Remember? When I asked you to make me some porridge, you said we had to do this first and then you’d make it.”

“Back then I was, you know, frustrated after my period, and you just happened to catch a cold… But then I caught your cold and got better!”

As trivial stories continued to pass between us,

our bodies, heated from the intense movement, started to cool down and we began to feel cold.

My body felt okay now, so I quietly got up, and Yoonji also stood up with perfect timing.

“Here, this.”

She hands me the work phone I had taken earlier.

“Thanks.”

The party still seemed to be in full swing.

As we walked towards it, I said,

“I don’t have any regrets now.”

Then Yoonji asked,

“Do you think Yiseo and the others will believe you if you say that?”

“…….”

“Practice lying a little. If you’re going to be an owner, you need to know how to do that too.”

Anyway.

“Are you a teacher?”

He knows me too well.