My Girlfriend Is Very Good To Me [EN]: Chapter 14

Ep. 13

I continued my unproductive thoughts for a while before my older brother called me to the living room for fried rice.

What is this?

Soy sauce kimchi egg fried rice?

Anyway, it’s delicious.

After finishing the meal and chatting about the RPG online game we used to play together, I conscientiously did the dishes myself, and then:

“I’m going out to play!”

“Okay.”

“Yeon-hoo is abandoning me~~~~”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I headed to the PC cafe [internet cafe]. To see my pathetic friends. Honestly, they’re the guys I used to play games with every day, but I’d kind of abandoned them last week because I was spending time with Hee-na.

Everyone I see often lives in different places, but when we go to the PC cafe, we gather in a place located about halfway between school and my house.

There are relatively many kids living around there, and once you go, there’s always someone you know, so it’s almost like a hideout. Not only us, but also other classmates who aren’t that close but know each other’s faces can be seen quite often, so there’s never a dull moment once you go.

After walking for about 10 minutes, I arrived at the place.

“Ah, that jerk is playing so damn badly, like Han Yeon-hoo.”

“Hey, give up. Looking at the magnetic field [a metaphor for luck or skill in the game], you’ll never get in. The luck is just like Han Yeon-hoo’s.”

“I’m going to kill that bastard, I swear!! Han Yeon-hoo!!!!”

“???”

My so-called friends were chanting Yeon-hoo’s name.

Why are these guys using my name like that?

Without saying anything for a while, I quietly watched from behind, and the crazy bastards kept attaching my name to the end of every sentence as they talked. Watching them, I felt the need to seriously consider whether I had been that bad, or if these guys were mentally ill.

I felt like my mind would be destroyed if I just left them alone, so I tapped them and called out, and a fiery welcome followed.

“Hey, the boss is here.”

“The magnetic field luck is really Han Yeon… oh? This bastard is here!!”

“Oh my, Han Yeon-hoo, have you arrived? It’s so hard to see your face!”

“Fucking hell, he must have seen his girlfriend since morning.”

“I didn’t see her today, you crazy bastards. My girlfriend came to my house and ate with us.”

“Then why don’t you go see her now~ We have to play games, damn it~”

“Tell me about it. Ah! Maybe you came to check on us miserable single losers because you felt sorry for us?”

“Humble thanks for your grace!!”

“……”

I felt dizzy from the insane amount of sarcasm and clinginess.

Are you guys my girlfriend?

Barely ignoring their nagging, I sat down at the end seat and turned on the computer. Soon the screen turned on, and after logging in with my ID.

“Alright~ shall we go grab some food?”

“Cheese rice?”

“Is it open now?”

All my friends get up from their seats.

“…Go ahead and eat.”

I didn’t have the strength to say anything to them. I just quietly let them go, afraid that they would start nagging again if I said something. Anyway, it’ll all be resolved when they come back and we play games together. Except for one person. The short-haired guy with glasses sitting right next to me didn’t go with them and stayed behind.

“Jung Yoon-sung, aren’t you going?”

“I ate a hot bar [a type of Korean street food] earlier, so I’m not really hungry?”

“Is that so.. ugh..”

“Why the sigh. I’m telling you, stop hanging out with your girlfriend so much and come play games.”

“No.. it’s not like I’ve been gone for 40 days, it’s only been about 4 days since I haven’t played with you guys, is it my fault?”

“We can’t do a 5-man squad without you, you bastard.”

“Have Ui-hyun join.”

“He goes to academy [private tutoring] on weekends.”

“Oh, right.”

We can’t play 5-man squads because I’m not there! I guess I did something wrong.

Even though there are nearly 10 members in this group chat where we gather the guys who play games together, it’s not like everyone plays the same game, so this kind of thing happens occasionally. Well, I guess I’m just too used to playing games with the 8 PM study hall team.

A moment of silence passed, and while we were just browsing the web since it was awkward to play games with just the two of us, Yoon-sung opened his mouth.

“How is it?”

“What?”

“Your girlfriend. Do you think she’s good?”

“Well.. yeah. Honestly, she’s too good for me.”

“Because she’s so pretty?”

“That too. She’s just so good to me.”

“It hasn’t even been a few days, has it?”

“Even though it hasn’t been a few days, I feel it every day.”

“Hmm.. then that’s good.”

“Yeah.”

Even though he usually acts crazy with the other guys, we sometimes have serious conversations like this when it’s just the two of us. We’ve been together since middle school and even in high school, so he’s my closest friend now.

I think the reason he didn’t go out with the other guys was to bring up this kind of conversation.

A conversation that would be a little embarrassing to have if someone else was there.

“Why, do you want to meet her too?”

“No, please. If you call me when you’re on a date, I’ll cut off your air supply.”

“Your shyness is still as bad as ever. How on earth do you help your mother?”

“Is dealing with customers the same as that?”

I guess that’s true.

Yoon-sung, who lives with his mother who runs a snack bar, sometimes helps out because the business is doing well. I’ve helped out a few times too.

“How’s the Lego tech going?”

“..It failed..”

“It’s not a big loss, is it? You can just resell it a little cheaper than the original price and it’ll sell well, right?”

“The time loss is huge.”

“Says the guy who does nothing.”

“Fuck you. Are you suddenly trying to study because of your girlfriend?”

Is he talking about what I said during study hall?

“Yeah. I think she’s good at studying.”

“Are you feeling inferior?”

“I already feel inferior.”

“Are you going to study hall from tomorrow too, and then go see your girlfriend after it’s over?”

“Maybe?”

“Hmm.. is that so?”

I wonder what this ambiguous way of speaking means. I was thinking if he had something to ask me, and then I remembered what happens at his house almost every month.

“Did your part-timer run away again?”

“Ugh, damn it. He suddenly didn’t show up on Friday.”

“Weekday evening part-timer?”

“When else would our constantly changing part-timer be working?”

“It’s a bit tough there..”

“But the pay is good.”

“It’s hard to say this, but it’s harder than the good pay..”

Yoon-sung’s mother runs a snack bar. There are quite a few seats, there are not many other snack bars around, the prices are cheap, and his mother is very kind. It’s an environment where the business can’t help but do well.

And there’s a university nearby, and I heard that it’s always introduced as one of the top 5 famous restaurants in that university.

Thanks to that, there are always customers regardless of the time, and there are elementary, middle, and high schools a little further away from the university, so it’s especially crowded with kids in the evening.

Besides, kids of that age talk, joke around, and spill food a lot, so once they sweep through, it’s like hell.

That’s why the evening part-timers either run away before even a week is up, or even if they don’t run away, I’ve never seen them work for more than three months.

“But isn’t there one more person?”

“That hyung [older brother/male friend] asked if he could take next week off. He told me at the beginning of last week that he was going on a family trip, so I can’t call him.”

“Ah~ then what, should I help?”

Honestly, it’s really tough, but his aunt gives me a lot of allowance for the part-time job, so helping out for about a week wasn’t a problem. I’ve done it before too.

Probably, given his aunt’s personality, she would have waited for contact until yesterday, and since there was no contact, she would have started looking for someone new from today. About a week should be enough.

While I was thinking that, Yoon-sung shook his head.

“No, it’s okay. You said you were going to study. And meet your girlfriend.”

“Ah, um…”

“If you help, you’ll have to skip study hall.”

That’s true. Um..

There’s probably no one else who can help besides me. Even if I force one of my other friends to help, it could be more of a hindrance if we haven’t worked together before.

Then if I don’t go, he’ll probably have to do it alone, which is seriously damn hard. There’s a reason why the part-timers run away.

But I’ve decided to study, and I want to see Hee-na, and Hee-na probably wants to see me every day too.

Huh.

As I frowned and pondered, he even waved his hand next to me.

“Hey, it’s okay, dude. I can handle it alone.”

“Ha, don’t talk nonsense. I wouldn’t be saying this if I hadn’t done it before.”

“If my aunt helps with serving..”

“The kitchen is a war zone, how would she help.”

“Ah, what do you want me to do!”

“I’m saying I’ll help, you bastard!!”

Ah, damn it, you useless bastard!

“What about your girlfriend!”

“Is there a problem with not seeing her for a few days?”

“What about studying?”

“Is there a problem with not doing it for a few more days when I haven’t been doing it until now?”

“Okay, accepted. Kya! As expected of Han Yeon-hoo! A man of loyalty! Our house’s dinner business would have been ruined without you!”

“You’re going crazy.”

Hah, I want to see Hee-na.

—

Maybe it’s because summer is approaching, but it’s not that dark even in the evening.

Hee-na came to find me without fail.

When I asked her if we didn’t promise to go on Monday, she said that was for Monday, and today is Sunday, so it doesn’t apply?

I had nothing to say to her perfect logic.

Anyway, as soon as we met, we held hands like we do on dates, and today we slowly strolled around the neighborhood and talked.

That I was sad that we broke up too early yesterday.

That Hee-na’s older brother’s discharge is not far away.

That I’ve decided to try to study harder from now on.

And.

“Hee-na, um… I don’t think I can meet you next week, is that okay?”

“………………………Why?”

As soon as I finished speaking, her eyebrows and the corners of her eyes drooped, and she looked up at me pitifully with a face that looked like she was about to cry.

My heart ached with the feeling that I had committed a deadly sin.

“I have a friend named Yoon-sung, and his family runs a snack bar, right? But they don’t have enough people, so I think I need to help them out a bit..”

“..Do you really have to go?”

“It’ll be okay somehow even if I don’t go, but it’s really busy there. He might die if I don’t help him.”

Real facts, seriously.

That’s why I’m even giving up meeting Hee-na to help him.

At my words, Hee-na was silent for a moment, then smiled again.

“Yeah, it can’t be helped.. But can’t I help too?”

This is unexpected again.

“I appreciate the thought, but the store size is a bit small for three people to move around.. The flow lines will get tangled. Besides”

“Besides?”

“If you’re there, my friend won’t be able to work properly. He’s really shy before he gets close to people.”

“……..Ah, was it Yoon-sung?”

“Yeah. Jung Yoon-sung.”

“I see… I understand. But you’ll still text me, right?”

“Of course. I’ll do it whenever I have time.”

Fortunately, it seemed like she understood.

Well, it’s not like I’m going out to play, and it’s not that strange to help a friend.

After that, we talked for another couple of hours, and when it was almost time to say goodbye.

“But Yeon-hoo.”

“Huh?”

“Instead of not seeing you next week, can I receive a reward?”

“What is it? Is there something you want to buy? Just tell me!”

“It’s not that. Can you look over there once?”

Following the tip of Hee-na’s finger, I turned my head and saw nothing but an alleyway where darkness had fallen.

What is it? Just as I was about to turn my head again.

-Chu

I felt a very soft sensation on my cheek for a moment.

“…………Huh?”

“Then I’ll go first from here today? I’ll text you when I arrive! Good night!”

While I was briefly stunned, not knowing what had happened, Hee-na smiled brightly and waved goodbye as she walked away.

I blankly stared at her back, then gently touched my cheek where something had touched a moment ago.

Hee-na’s face, who was giving me a gift instead of receiving a reward and smiling happily, flickered before my eyes.

After a while.

Joy welled up from the depths of my heart.

I was happy.

Because my girlfriend is so cute and pretty.

At the same time, I deeply wished.

Hopefully.

That my feelings would grow as big as hers.

Someday, at the same level as her

That we can give and receive this happiness to each other.