Ep. 131
Though I ended up showing those latecomers an embarrassing scene, I managed to smooth things over, and we headed to the lecture hall together. However, the two of them kept grumbling beside me the entire way.
“Some people start their day with a kiss from their beautiful girlfriend, while we’re just scarfing down rice soup.”
“It’s our fault for being ugly, who else can we blame?”
“True. Though I never imagined seeing that kind of stuff happening in the middle of a university, a place of higher education.”
“……”
It was morning, and not much time was left before the first lecture. That’s why I thought there wouldn’t be many people around, and I even checked once, but they just had to appear from another path at that exact moment.
“Well, what can’t you do when your sister-in-law is that pretty? I’d just carry her around everywhere if I were you.”
“Real talk. But why didn’t you carry her today, hyung [older brother or male friend]? This hyung is hopeless, seriously.”
They’re the type who would complain even more if I actually carried her.
“You know we’re not saying this because we’re jealous, right?”
“Of course~ Not jealous at all. We’re just worried that you’ve entered the tomb of life and are engaging in deep skinship [intimate physical contact] without caring about what others think.”
—Grinding teeth
Just stop grinding your teeth and say you’re not jealous.
They’re the type who still occasionally go on blind dates or group dates, so I felt bad teasing them since they’re still single. If they were my high school friends, I would’ve immediately jumped in with ‘Are you jealous?’
“Hey, you guys will get girlfriends soon too.”
So, all I could offer were words of hope with no guarantee.
But the two of them scoffed at my words.
“We already screwed up yesterday, though?”
“What happened yesterday?”
“Group date with the women’s college. Of course, they must have thought even going to the second round was a waste of time, because it ended after the first round!”
“……”
There’s no need to be so proud of completely bombing a group date.
“What’s with that look? Are you pitying us right now?”
“Do you think you’re better than us just because you’re married?”
“Wow, I never thought you’d be like this, hyung. You’re being too much, seriously.”
“Who would have known that Yeon-hoo hyung, who’s known for his good impression and being a nice guy, would be like this? Mocking his classmates.”
“We should put this on a bulletin board.”
What can I even say here?
—
After arriving at the lecture hall and listening to these guys’ jealousy-filled complaints for two hours straight, just as I was starting to get a headache from their non-stop nonsense, Yoo-jin even joined us.
Even though the lecture was at two, they had set off a signal flare in the group chat, so she came all the way here.
[Lee Chan-hyung: Breaking news!!! Yeon-hoo hyung’s sister-in-law is back at school!! Spotted on campus!!]
[Shin Jae-hwan: (Shocked) Apparently, they were seen kissing at the crossroads to Sungrim Hall from the morning…]
[Lee Chan-hyung: ㄹㅇ [real/for real] I wanted to kill myself as soon as I saw it.]
[Jung Joo-hyuk: Do you have to share news like that? You bastards are spreading area-of-effect damage.]
[Shin Jae-hwan: Jung-joo’s misfortune is umai~ [delicious/good] ]
[Jung Joo-hyuk: Is this guy crazy;;]
[Lee Yoo-jin: Really?! You guys aren’t lying, are you?! I’m going now!!]
[Lee Chan-hyung: ? Isn’t your lecture in the afternoon today?]
[Lee Yoo-jin: Is that important right now? I’m going to shower and leave, so if you’re lying, you’re dead!]
Of course, no one else was free enough to come all the way here on a day without lectures because of this area-of-effect aggro talk. Only Yoo-jin arrived less than an hour after hearing the news.
And as soon as she arrived, she came next to me and looked at me with sparkling eyes.
“Oppa [term used by a female to address an older brother or close male friend], oppa! Do you know what’s going on?!”
“The lecture just ended. What’s going on?”
“I saw it on my way here, there are so many posts about your sister-in-law finally appearing!”
“In other group chats? Well, Hee-na is bound to cause a stir.”
Because she’s so pretty. Hee-na caused a sensation during orientation, so there were a lot of stories about her last year too.
Even if you don’t know her well, most people in the engineering and social sciences departments have probably heard Hee-na’s name at least once.
“Everyone already knew that you were married and had a kid. But this time, her profile picture caused another sensation. A picture of the three of you!”
“It’s been up for quite a while, though?”
“No one checks the profile pictures of people who have been on leave for over a year and gossips about it. I think it’s because she’s back at school that people are talking about it again?”
“Hmm… But I have the same profile picture. Why didn’t people say anything earlier?”
“Almost no one except people who have your contact information, like us, has seen your profile picture. Everyone just knew, ‘Oh, he’s someone with a kid?’ That’s about it.”
“Really? I’ve been holed up doing homework every day, so I didn’t know.”
True. Unless it’s right in front of your eyes, it’s rare for people to track down every single rumor.
Now that Hee-na, a beauty that you would definitely turn around to look at if you saw her on the street, is right in front of them, they must be burning with curiosity.
“Anyway! You know I’m in a lot of group chats with seniors as the student body president, right? It’s a complete mess there! Especially Sa-rang is a total celebrity, you know?”
“Why Sa-rang too?”
“Because she’s cute! Um, I’m a little sorry to say this… but your and your sister’s profile picture has been circulating in several group chats since earlier.”
“It’s okay. That’s why we put it up.”
Our profile picture was a photo chosen by Hee-na’s strong will. Hee-na would be happy for it to be spread like this.
Of course, there will definitely be people who say bad things about our shotgun marriage. But rumors will spread anyway, and we couldn’t stop those trivial things.
So, we just openly posted a family photo to prevent anyone from hitting on me or her. Especially since Hee-na really hates men approaching her.
So, I expected it, but I was still a little curious.
“But what are they saying? Is there any bad talk?”
“Um~ no! There wasn’t anything like that? It’s mostly about how pretty your sister is and how cute your baby is. And… uh…”
“And?”
“Oh, there are also some… comments about wanting to kill oppa…?”
“Like these guys?”
“Yeah…”
“Ah, what did we do! Do we want to kill hyung? Ha… well, honestly, I do want to kill him.”
“I admit it.”
Yoo-jin looked even more dumbfounded than I did at their honest admission.
“What did Yeon-hoo oppa do? You guys should get girlfriends too!”
“If it wasn’t for that this morning, I wouldn’t have had these thoughts…”
“That kiss scene was the deciding factor. It was so damn enviable, humanly speaking. Enough to want to kill him.”
“I want to see that too…!”
“See what? Hey, let’s go eat. Hee-na called.”
“Oh!! Can I join?!”
“Sure.”
Yoo-jin, who was happily following behind, subtly expressed her desire for a kiss scene. Of course, what was shown this morning was an accident, so there’s no way I’d show it to anyone on purpose. I don’t know about Hee-na, though.
Anyway, after receiving a call that the lecture was over and things were just being wrapped up, we headed straight to the student cafeteria, taking these three classmates with me. Hee-na said she was coming with Ri-ah, so it should be fine.
The student cafeteria was close to the engineering building we were in, so we arrived quickly. As we went inside, we saw Hee-na and Ri-ah, who had already arrived and were waiting for us. I also noticed the men sitting around them giving them subtle glances.
Hee-na had become quite famous within the university, but not all students knew Hee-na. So, there would occasionally be people who didn’t know that she was already married and tried to hit on her. Like that guy at the table behind Hee-na, who seemed to be contemplating whether to talk to her or not.
Just the fact that there might be someone like that annoys me quite a bit, but on the other hand, I also feel proud that my wife is pretty enough to receive such advances.
Because Hee-na will only look at me anyway.
“Ah, honey! Over here~”
Hee-na waved her hand and called me in a loud voice as soon as she spotted me. And I could tell that most of the attention was directed towards me because of the word ‘honey’ in her words.
Well, even if it wasn’t because of Hee-na, people would be curious and look if someone loudly called out ‘honey!’ in such a small space. Of course, the man behind Hee-na was looking at me with a desperate face.
How dare you covet?
I lightly ignored those gazes and walked to the table where Hee-na was and sat next to her.
“You came quickly? It’s been a while, Ri-ah. My classmates came with me, is that okay?”
“Of course, it’s okay~”
“We’re just going to eat and leave. You guys have another lecture in the afternoon, right?”
“That’s true. Ah, Hee-na, you’ve seen their faces before, right? Starting with him, Lee Chan-hyung, Shin Jae-hwan, Lee Yoo-jin. My computer engineering classmates.”
“Hello, unni [term used by a male to address an older sister or close female friend]! This person is… sunbae-nim [term used to address senior students]?”
Yoo-jin greeted me first with a friendly greeting at my introduction. And she seemed unsure as she trailed off while looking at Ri-ah, so I added a word.
“She’s a sophomore. But Hee-na is really ambiguous. Should we go by the year they entered?”
“Why bother with all that? Just call everyone unni~ I won’t be seeing them often anyway.”
“Yes, unni!”
“Oh… hello.”
“Hello, sunbae-nim! And sister-in-law!”
Yoo-jin smiled and answered as I organized Ri-ah’s honorifics. After that, Jae-hwan hesitated a little, and Chan-hyung bowed deeply and greeted Ri-ah and Hee-na in a loud voice.
Hee-na smiled so brightly that she couldn’t have smiled any brighter at the word ‘sister-in-law’ that he mentioned.
“It’s been a while. Chan-hyung ssi [formal title, Mr./Ms.], was it? Please take care of me in the future.”
“No, sister-in-law! Please speak comfortably!”
“Hehe, should I?”
“Yes! Please let me see Sa-rang sometime! She must be so cute, taking after hyung and sister-in-law.”
“Heheheh… contact Yeon-hoo later and come visit. Our Sa-rang likes people, so she’ll be happy if you come.”
“Gasp, I’ll definitely visit!”
This guy knows how to socialize a bit? He’s picking out the words that Hee-na would like to hear.
Chan-hyung led the conversation with a friendly demeanor, checking Hee-na’s reaction. He seems like he would do well on blind dates if you look at that, so why did he screw them all up?
I don’t know much about blind dates because I haven’t been on one, but is face the most important thing after all?
Too bad, Chan-hyung.