In my memory, the most entertaining things to watch in this world were probably watching fires, watching fights… what was the last one again? Watching pretty women? I’m not sure, but that seems right. What could be better to watch than pretty women? Even women stop and stare when a pretty woman walks by.
I wonder if it’s the same in this world?
In that sense, I was definitely watching something incredibly entertaining right now.
Four high school girls with lit cigarettes facing off against a blonde, tanned delinquent beauty.
This had to be entertaining. I reopened the window I was about to close because of the cigarette smoke. Even though cigarette smell entered my studio apartment, whatever, I’ll just spray some Febreze. Is that important right now? A once-in-a-lifetime epic match is unfolding!
“Please be satisfying, please be satisfying.”
If this were a movie, the next scene would show all the rowdy high school girls getting beaten up, but in reality, it wasn’t so simple. An adult hitting high school students these days? No, even scolding them might trigger who knows what kind of laws.
Could she overcome this crisis?
“Hey.”
“Ah shit, why are you call…ing…”
“‘Shit’?”
“No… it’s just a habit… ma’am…”
The high school girls tried to talk back defiantly at first, but as she took a step closer every time they tried to finish their sentences informally, they lost their nerve and had no choice but to switch to formal speech.
“Put it out.”
“But why… ma’am…”
“Put. It. Out.”
“…”
“Whoa…”
I let out a small exclamation from my window.
She resolved everything with just those three words. She didn’t have such a cold impression last time – was she different when dealing with women versus men? Anyway, I personally preferred this current appearance over her somewhat playboy-like demeanor from last time.
That aside, the group of high school girls, having lost the battle of momentum, unexpectedly obediently put out their cigarettes and seemed to be planning to head to school, slinking past Geum Taeyang.
However, she apparently had no intention of letting them off so easily. Her tough voice rang out again.
“Hand over the cigarettes.”
“We don’t have any… really we don’t.”
Even though they said they had none, when Geum Taeyang held out her hand, they hesitantly took out an envelope from their bag. Instead of a cigarette pack, an envelope came out, which seemed odd, but it must have contained cigarettes because Geum Taeyang laughed incredulously after feeling its contents.
“So this is how you hide them these days?”
“The envelope… teachers don’t check if it’s sealed with glue or tape…”
It was an ingenious method.
Geum Taeyang lifted the tape-sealed envelope up to the sunlight to check how many were inside, and in doing so, our eyes met.
“Oh.”
“Oh.”
Along with awkward single syllables.
As if I were Medusa, Geum Taeyang froze like stone when our eyes met. No, she just stiffened. I also froze, feeling like I’d been caught peeping since I had been watching.
Still, Geum Taeyang, being the one who had just been acting tough in front of the kids, regained her composure first.
“You’ve got quite a lot here. Here’s 10,000 won, let’s call it even and unnie will take these?”
“No! Do you know how hard it was to get these…ma’am… Yes… take them…”
Even though they tried to protest in shock, they were like foxes before a tiger.
What could they do? The world of power is cold and ruthless. The group of high school girls tucked their tails and ran away. And once they were far enough, they shouted “fu*king b*tch!” as they fled – clearly not ordinary high school girls.
“Those little…”
She scowled fiercely and looked my way.
Having parted like that, we awkwardly smiled at each other in the uncomfortable atmosphere. Though inevitable, it was weird to just talk like this.
While we were within speaking distance, other residents of the building had already looked out their windows once during the commotion, and making more noise would be inconsiderate. So Geum Taeyang waved her phone.
At first I wasn’t sure what she meant.
“Ah right”
I had given her my KakaoTalk ID before when we were trading the bicycle.
<What a… coincidence, huh?>
<Yeah, really.>
Chatting on KakaoTalk made me feel much more at ease.
She seemed to feel the same way, her expression much more relaxed compared to when she was dealing with the high school students.
No, she was even more relaxed than during our first meeting… Maybe dealing with the high school students helped relieve some stress?
<Um… thanks for exterminating them.>
<lololol ‘Exterminating’… if you’re grateful…>
I wondered if she was going to suggest getting a meal again, but unexpectedly, a very simple reply came back.
<Can you give me your phone number?>
<Sure>
What’s a phone number when she already knows where I live?
I’m not sure what meaning there is in knowing my phone number when she already has my KakaoTalk ID, but since she was smiling and happy about it, I just let it be.
KakaoTalk where you can see facial expressions.
This is actually brilliant, isn’t it?
It was nice because it was much more comfortable than just talking, and sometimes it was hard to gauge someone’s true feelings through KakaoTalk alone.
It was definitely good in that regard.
After exchanging a few messages, I learned that Geum Taeyang’s real name was Han Se-na.
I’m sure it was a different name when I saw her on Daangn Market, but she said she just uses a pseudonym there. Apparently she made that decision because she deals mainly in face-to-face transactions and doesn’t like her friends recognizing her ID. Anyway, I decided to call her Se-na instead of Geum Taeyang in my head from now on.
It would be weird to keep thinking of her as Geum Taeyang after she kindly told me her real name.
<Well then, I’m off to work.>
<Okay, take care.>
She said that while waving to me at the window.
I waved back shyly and awkwardly, and she kept turning back to wave as she walked away.
Is she Lu Bu, but only for women?
Well, I’m not one to talk, being an Internet Lu Bu myself[1].
Thanks to all that, time had passed and it was now time for clothing stores to open one by one.
I got dressed and headed outside.
The first clothing store was right in front of my house, and while in my memory it used to be primarily a women’s clothing store, now it was a men’s clothing specialty store.
Even before entering the store, all the clothes displayed in front were men’s clothes, and whether because it was a neighborhood clothing store or because that’s how it is when you buy offline rather than online, most of the clothes had huge “SALE” signs in front of them.
“Looking for clothes, sir?”
Here it comes.
The excessive friendliness of clerks that ranks in the top 5 most annoying things about clothing stores.
I didn’t expect to experience this “friendliness” before even entering the store. I was about to wave off the clerk saying I was fine, but I saw a familiar face.
“Uh… why are you here…?”
“Daeju-nim?…”
With a really surprised expression, the convenience store part-timer… woman was looking at me with shock.
The Daeju-dan who occasionally reported about me at that convenience store. That person.
“Um… wh-what about your convenience store job?”
“…Ah~ Actually, I got fired.”
She said with a dejected laugh.
She seemed to do her job well except when dealing with me, so why did she get fired?
“The manager caught me watching Daeju-nim’s streams too often during work…”
“…I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t something I needed to apologize for, but somehow the atmosphere made it feel like I should.
The convenience store woman waved her hands in response.
“No, no, if anything, I should be the one…”
“Huh? Why?”
What’s this about?
Did she troll in my chat or curse at me? Even if she did, there’s no need to apologize since that’s just average for a Daeju-dan.
Rather, among Daeju-dans who use the message boards, it’s rarer to find someone with gentle fingers.
Does that mean I hate Daeju-dan? That’s not it either. Whatever people say, they’re the reason my average viewership stays steady no matter what kind of streams I do.
So receiving an apology like this was puzzling.
“Actually, you got suspended because of me…”
“…What?… Oh no way…”
The image of that woman in underwear that I even captured came to mind, and without realizing it, I found myself comparing that figure with the woman in front of me, overlapping them in my mind.
No, why am I comparing?
This isn’t right. It’s not humanly decent.
No wait, she’s the one who posted what was basically a half-naked photo, so why do I need to be decent?
The devil and angel fought in my head, but the result was clear.
100% match.
“Actually… I just wanted to make some jokes, so with an alt account…”
The woman was desperately making excuses but nothing was getting through to me.
Actually, I didn’t care about the reasons at all.
“I’ll pick out clothes for you with all my heart! I’m pretty good with clothes, you know!”
“No, um, ne-ne-ne-next time”
My tongue got all twisted.
She meant well trying to help pick out clothes, but that photo kept overlapping in my vision.
She seemed to interpret my words as meaning I was busy, so she said she’d leave her contact info on my phone and to call anytime when buying clothes.
I just held out my phone without any resistance.
For me, a natural-born outsider who already had trouble talking to people in real life.
Not only having to talk to a woman in person, but knowing what she looks like in underwear?
How can she be so nonchalant rather?
The man in front of you knows what you look like in underwear?
I indirectly felt once again how this was truly a reversed world.
The returned phone showed the name Lee Soo-ah.
“Um… I wanna go”
“Huh? Shouldn’t it be ‘I’ll be going’?”
“…I wanna go”[2]
I made a mistake because I was nervous, but I pretended like I meant to say it that way and left.
I thought I heard Soo-ah’s snicker behind me as I left.
* * *
(End of Chapter)
—
T/N:
- “Lu Bu” (여포/呂布) – A reference to a famous Chinese historical figure known for his martial prowess. The MC makes a play on words by calling himself an “Internet Lu Bu,” suggesting he’s only tough online.
- The awkward “I wanna go” vs “I’ll be going” exchange plays on the Korean formal closing phrase “다녀오겠습니다” vs the more casual “갈래요“, where the latter can sound childish or inappropriate in certain contexts.
