Chapter 3: Chapter 002: Nice But Not Turned On
*Wooong*
*Wooong*
*Wooong*
A dark room.
Even at dawn, the light from the ringing cell phone brightly illuminated the small studio apartment.
"Ugh, shit. Just what time is it now?"
With no one to contact me, I squint at my phone only to see notifications blasting from the Bamboo Forest app.
As the sole administrator of Gahyeon University's Bamboo Forest, it's naturally impossible for me to manage it at dawn.
Because of this, posts causing incidents and accidents often appear during the early hours, though it's initially an anonymous community.
Rarely do posts that pose such problems not appear.
Naturally, mentioning someone's real name results in an immediate ban and deletion of the post, albeit sometimes belatedly.
Therefore, posts targeting individuals often appear, usually targeting when I, the administrator, am asleep.
Well, whatever.
Usually, when there is such a noisy alert, it is because something has gone wrong in the bulletin board.
"Who is it this time?"
Last time, it was a female student who targeted a professor but was caught forcing her own unreasonable argument.
Curious about what it might be this time, I turned my phone on.
[01:47]
The time displayed on the screen is quite early. Although I went to bed early, isn't it the time when people in their twenties are usually lying in bed scrolling through their phones between 1 to 2 a.m.?
"Ughh."
And it is also the time when most incidents happen.
But when I actually enter the Bamboo Forest, I am greeted at dawn with a sentimental atmosphere—photos of beer, nightscapes, a few lines of poetry, etc.
It seems like inside the Bamboo Forest, only emotionally charged people who got caught up in the sentiment of these hours were active, and there was no incident this time.
'Ahh.'
Only then did I realize that something had come through at the 1:1 inquiry chat and I checked it out.
"Seo Yerin?"
Anonymous69.
So Seo Yerin had sent quite a numerous of messages.
-Anonymous69: Answer me, answer me, answer me, answer me, answer mee.
Seeing the most recent message there had actually given me creeps. I wondered why she was doing this so I scrolled up.
"What is this!"
There was another photo in the middle and this time it was just slightly revealing her thighs by lifting up her skirt.
However, the mole on the inside of her thigh said it was likely to be Seo Yerin.
-Anonymous69: Admin, it has been a day and I am still blocked.
-Anonymous69: Didn't you say you would remove the ban after a day?
-Anonymous69: Unblock me, please.
-Anonymous69: I will be good from now on the BB.
BB means Bulletin Board.
-Anonymous69: Unblock me, damn it!
-Anonymous69: Are you jerking off to the photo I sent earlier?
-Anonymous69: Admit it, that was pretty hot, right?
-Anonymous69: Fucking bastard
-Anonymous69: (photo)
-Anonymous69: I guess I'll need to send an explosive one, haha.
-Anonymous69: Review it, please.
-Anonymous69: Answer.
-Anonymous69: Answer, answer.
-Anonymous69: Answer me, answer me, answer me, answer me, answer mee…
And after that she continued texting the same thing.
Apparently, the admin to user 1:1 chat doesn't show when messages are read, so she must have thought that she was being ignored.
-Admin: It's 2 a.m. right now.
When I answered, holding back my annoyance, a reply came fairly quickly.
-Anonymous69: You're so slow to answer, give me your number.
I wonder if this is what being an Internet troll feels like.
Thinking back to how Seo Yerin acted in the department, it was giving me the complete opposite feeling.
What kind of expression would she be having when sending these texts?
-Admin: Asking for the personal details of the admin will result in a 3-day ban.
-Anonymous69: Bro, I apologize, I had a bit too much to drink and stepped out of line.
Bro my ass.
-Admin: and because it is a 24 hour ban, you will have to wait for about 10 more hours before it is lifted.
-Anonymous69: I even gave you a bribe, please let me off the hook just this once.
-Admin: That's not possible.
-Anonymous69: Ah, come on now, you know you're tempted right.
Ah, this is getting so annoying.
There was no way to block the 1:1 chats, so her replies kept coming.
-Admin: I am not.
To be honest, how could I not be? But I had no choice but to say that to not disappoint myself as a human being.
I glanced at it casually without bothering to save the photo or anything. I was a person that still possessed at least a modicum of decency.
Seo Yerin did not respond.
Maybe she fell asleep?
Just as the thought came in, the reply came.
-Anonymous69: Tsk.
She is so full of herself.
Well considering how those around her constantly hype her up and how Seo Yerin herself views herself.
I am well aware of just how proud she was of herself.
-Admin: FR (for real).
-Anonymous69: Are you gay? Or impotent? Or maybe into lolis (young girls depicted in a cute manner).
-Admin: No no. I have normal tastes. But those pictures just don't please the eyes.
-Anonymous69: _|_ (middle finger)
-Admin: NG (No Good)
-Anonymous69: _|_|_
Is this how the conversation will continue?
I switched the phone to silent mode, annoyed with all the notifications and closed the app.
Silence takes over the room and darkness descends once more.
Pulling the blanket up, awake, I am tickled by the distinctive scent of a rose-scented shampoo from somewhere.
It's not the scent of my shampoo.
I bury my face in the pillow pretending I can't smell it.
The violently overpowering scent of phytoncide deodorizer envelops my nose, competing with the other smell.
And like that.
I was able to gradually fall asleep.
Damn it.
Early in the morning.
Arriving at the lecture hall at 9 a.m., I rub my sleepy eyes forcefully as I let out a huge yawn.
I was really feeling the difference between 9 a.m. as a high school student and 9 a.m. as a college student.
'Why on earth did I pick a class scheduled at this time?'
I remember being incredibly preoccupied back then. As a result, I just haphazardly added the classes with available seats and that led to this situation.
'I must be mad.'
I promised myself to never schedule a class at 9 a.m. again and took my seat.
Well, since this is a major course it is better to get it over with early.
But I couldn't understand why a required course was at 9 a.m..
Later in my college life, when I am thoroughly worn out, doing this will feel like death.
"Ugh."
It wasn't just me, even the others seemed to be in a similar state. It felt like a gathering of the defeated. There seemed to be quite a few people who hadn't even come.
I sat in my spot and used my textbook as a pillow to squeeze in a brief nap.
*Tap*
*Tap*
Did I doze off?
Startled by the thought that I fell asleep, I quickly lifted my head. The professor was standing in the hall, greeting the students.
"The professor just arrived."
Whispering to me after tapping with her pen, is the class representative, Choi Yiseo.
She spoke with an unbothered face, but a cool scent wafts to me.
It smelled more of a deodorant than a perfume, to mask the smell of sweat?
Dressed in a violet hoodie zip-up and sweatpants, it was obvious at a glance that she had rushed to class after working out.
"…I almost came late because of working out this morning, that's why I look like this."
Noticing that I had scanned her attire, her posture retreated slightly. Her expression stayed the same, but she seemed to be discreetly conscious of it.
"Yeah, seems like it."
I answer nonchalantly but subtly tilt my head to check if I smell like sweat.
Her expression didn't show it, but it seemed like she was subtly concerned about smelling too.
The professor began the roll call and I responded with my chin propped on my hand.
But then.
"Seo Yerin?"
"Yes."
I see Seo Yerin sitting right next to Choi Yiseo, raising her hand when her name is called.
She'd put on some simple make-up, but one could notice the exhaustion on her face, probably because she slept late.
'Slept late?'
Leaving aside as to why Choi Yiseo was seated next to me for now, I turn my phone on with a sense of disbelief.
Choi Yiseo frowned at me for playing with my phone, but this isn't high school, this is college.
I'm responsible for my own actions, so I discreetly tilt the phone to check the Bamboo Forest app, without her seeing.
This morning, I woke up in such a hurry that I didn't get to check it.
The community board was the same as usual, chaotic and yet peaceful.
This is how it normally is.
And.
'Woah.'
[Inquiries 101.]
Anonymous69.
So, it was the stack of notifications that came in from the 1:1 chat with Seo Yerin.
It seemed like she continued babbling on alone after I fell asleep. And now I'm scared to read it.
'Could she have stayed awake until I answered?'
Looking at the time, it seems like she kept sending messages until just before she left for the lecture.
'This is nerve-wracking.'
Since I blocked Anonymous69 yesterday during lunchtime, there are still another four to five hours left.
Glancing over the messages, most of them were spammy messages seeking validation whether the photos were good.
She sent a few more photos, but most of them were within the limits of showing her panties.
'What do I do with her?'
While I pondered it over, Choi Yiseo had turned her head, worried about Seo Yerin.
"You look pale. Did you keep up with the seniors who wanted to go drinking yesterday? I told you that you could skip it if you didn't feel like it."
So it was true that she was out drinking yesterday.
In response to her question, Seo Yerin forced a smile and shook her head.
"No, I can't be the only one dropping out when the entire department goes."
For the record, I skipped out too.
Despite being from the same department.
I didn't know.
'Is there a department group chat without me in it?'
I felt a bit of needless disappointment, but honestly, even if they invited me, I wouldn't have gone.
Maybe a lot of people had dropped out like I did, even though she said the entire department went.
And Seo Yerin, who met my gaze, waved at me with a bright smile.
"Hey, Woojin. You're attending this lecture too?"
"Yes, kinda messed up my schedule."
"I feel the same way. I guess we'll see each other often then."
"Guess so."
"Then shall we have lunch together after this ends? It's a three-hour thing, so it should be done by noon."
"Sure, sounds good."
She is so kind.
Before, she couldn't even remember my name but now she calls it out with certainty after just one meeting.
Besides, there is this thoughtfulness in how she looks after me, a complete stranger to her, as if we are colleagues in the same department.
The way she asked if I had any preferences with such warmth and tenderness made me feel the warmth from her kindness.
"Yiseo will eat with us too right?"
"Uh-huh, yep."
By including Choi Yiseo, she maintained her natural persona which prevented anyone from getting the wrong idea.
Could this really be the same person who was whining about wanting to use the bulletin board till dawn and sent inappropriate photos?
Was I mistaken?
Could it be that all that was just coincidence, and I'm actually misunderstanding Seo Yerin?
That thought crossed my mind.
With a feeling of 'just in case'.
I moved my hand which was holding the phone and tilted the phone to respond to Anonymous69.
-Admin: NG
Unable to send a long message, I decided to keep it clean and simple with this one.
*Woong*
At the same time, the notification on Seo Yerin's phone went off and, startled like a beggar who hadn't eaten three days sitting down for a feast, she checked her phone.
And her previous expression of affection turned stiff.
"What's the matter?"
Her behavior was so conspicuous that even Choi Yiseo asked with concern, to which Seo Yerin smiled and shook her head.
"Nothing."
It was obviously not nothing.
And then.
She began to type out a message with her thumbs.
'Thank goodness I put my phone on silent.'
-Anonymous69: Fucking bastard. Just do it.
After leaving that one line behind,
"I'll be back from the restroom in a moment."
Seo Yerin got up from her seat with a chilly smile.
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