DI Ch 31

It was also saddening to see that I didn’t get along with my colleague. When I accepted, thinking we should meet occasionally, the student rep smiled broadly, looking really happy, and told me to go, that he would be waiting for me on the first floor. It’s nice to see him so happy. When I got to the second floor, Woo Ji-min and Kang Moo-hyun were the first to arrive and take a seat. When I looked at Woo Ji-min and our eyes met, I could tell that he had come to his senses. He looked at me apologetically, realizing that he had not treated me well and had been asking me for things about Kang Moo-hyun. After we greeted each other, Woo Ji-min cleared his throat and spoke to me.

“Do you have another class after International Trade on Tuesday? Do you want to have lunch next week? I’ll buy it.”

“Sure. That’s great.”

I nodded quickly. I couldn’t help but smile because I finally had a chance to get to know Woo Ji-min. I had been waiting for this moment. It felt like I had finally taken a step forward. I thought it would be a good idea to take two more steps, so I said to him.

“I’m going to have dinner with the student rep and Kim Young-ji from the first year. Would you like to go with me?”

“S-Seung-won!”

Kim Young-ji looked at me uneasily. There was a forced smile on her face with a hint of embarrassment. When I asked her what was wrong, she blurts out that it was nothing. Ah, was it inconvenient to eat with your seniors? I thought I was too ignorant.

“Let’s just eat with the two of us later.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll call you, I have your number.”

Even while taking out the laptop and USB from the backpack, the atmosphere was friendly. Kang Moo-hyun was the only one who remained silent and did not interrupt our conversation. I was a little concerned because his attitude didn’t match the image he had. Was it because he was in charge?

“Then, shall we check and organize each of our research?”

Kang Moo-hyun finally said it with a straight face. Kim Young-ji first showed the part she had researched to Kang Moo-hyun. When I took out my laptop to look for the data, there was an issue with Woo Ji-min’s laptop. 

Woo Ji-min said nervously in embarrassment.

“Why is this like this? Does anyone know how to fix a laptop?”

Despite saying that, Woo Ji-min’s gaze was fixed on me. I couldn’t help it, but I moved my seat next to him, thinking that putting our heads together might help. I’m not an expert in this field, but Woo Ji-min’s laptop had only one issue. It was too old.

“Seung-won. I saw everything Young-ji did. Can I see yours?”

“Yes. If you click the ‘Assignment’ file, you will find ‘Group 1’.”

I was struggling with the old-fashioned laptop that kept lagging after answering roughly and suddenly opened another file. At that moment, Kang Moo-hyun said.

“There isn’t?”

“What?”

“There is no data.”

After staring at the motionless cursor for a long time, I looked up. Kang Moo-hyun’s expression was suspicious. I could understand his expression if I hadn’t done the research and didn’t have the files. However, the data was available the last time I checked the files. Even if it was there by then, it would be a huge problem if the file was not there now.

This was a group assignment., not an individual assignment.

“What are you talking about? There’s no data?”

“I thought Seung-won deleted it by accident, so I checked the trash bin, but there was nothing there.”

Woo Ji-min and Kim Young-ji’s expressions turned bad at Kang Moo-hyun’s words. The part I was in charge of was easy to research, but it was a cumbersome task because there was so much data. It takes a long time to do it again as you have to organize the huge amount of data sequentially. Kim Young-ji, a first-year student, might not know that, but there is no way that Jimin Woo, a third-year student, would not know that.

Just in time, Woo Ji-min’s laptop was working properly. When he clicked on the group assignment file, the data he researched popped up. It must have been difficult, but the meticulous arrangement of the terms in an easy-to-understand manner showed his personality.

“You did it, right?”

Kang Moo-hyun smiled with a troubled face. The two people who were listening quietly frowned. I couldn’t trust him anymore, so I stared at Kang Moo-hyun and said,

“I did.”

“But there isn’t.”

“…”

“Well. It can’t be helped. The part that Seung-won decided to research…”

Then Kang Moo-hyun said, closing my laptop as if he was regretful. I jumped up and blocked Kang’s hand before it could close. The power hadn’t turned off, so the screen was still bright.

“It’s okay. I have a backup in the cloud. It’s also in the mailbox and in my USB.”

So it makes no difference if he did something like this. The corners of my mouth raised, but my hands tightened. It was understandable that Woo Ji-min went crazy whenever Kang Moo-hyun did something secretly behind his back. If I continued to catch him like this, he’d become suspicious and develop a suspicion disease. It’s difficult for me to say how much Woo Ji-min suffered. I could understand Woo Ji-min thinking Kang Moo-hyun was disgusting because he was always calm when he did something like this. He was so convincing in pretending to be someone he wasn’t that I thought I’d throw up if he kept doing it.

But let’s not touch the group project. Even if your love makes you childish!

Since ancient times, people have said not to associate with a guy who ruins group assignments. I made a backup in case something went wrong, but I never expected to use it in this way. I was uneasy throughout the assignment as a result of this scene. Woo Ji-min thinks that the junior, who appeared to be fine, did not properly care for the materials and that the kid was not who he appeared to be. Seo Seung-won responds that while he did not have the file, he had done the assignment.

Then Woo Ji-min cooled down the atmosphere by asking if he was proud of not checking properly, even if he had done so. It was true that nothing else could be said. At this point, Kang Moo-hyun intervenes, stating that he has prepared something for his own study and that they should use it to fill Seo Seung-won’s portion. They were able to move quickly because the data was abundant.

However, in this scene, I strongly thought that there was no way Seo Seung-won would not do the group assignment. Seo Seung-won was a sincere and hard-working person. It didn’t make sense that such a person hadn’t done the homework.

In addition, when I was doing a group project in the reality where I used to live, a senior deleted all of the files I had researched and accused me of doing nothing because a girl was nice to me. The senior was furious, but I felt so unfair because of the other members’ disdainful stares. I searched the trash bin, but there was nothing there, and the senior ran amok even more, ranting about how I was now doubting him. I ended up feeling like an incompetent asshole for failing to complete my assignments.

I couldn’t manage my expression properly because of the resentment I couldn’t resolve at that time, but I couldn’t help but feel an unexpected sense of relief that I’d gotten away with it this time. But it wasn’t a good feeling. It’s good to be reminded of reality, but I didn’t want to be reminded of things like this.

The meeting ended well because of how it was concluded, but because of Kang Moo-hyun, who pretended not to know until the end, even if he laughed, it was not a laughing matter. I was tired and had no appetite, and all I wanted to do was go home. My mouth dropped shut when I saw the bright face of the student rep waiting for us on the first floor. I went to the meat restaurant to follow Kim Young-ji, who had taken the lead.

It was time to eat, so the place was bustling and noisy, and the commotion made my head spin. I was excited to get drunk and nervous. I wanted to get drunk as soon as possible, so I started drinking as soon as the drinks were served. I sighed, feeling as if I was ruining the mood. I felt bad for the student representative, who kept staring at me and trying to talk to me.

In the end, I got up from my seat to get some fresh air. Across the street was a convenience store.  I remembered the cigarette Tae Seong-je was smoking and bought one on a whim. I went into the alley and shook the cigarette pack in my ear to hear the rattling sound, and I smelled it with my nose. For some reason, the experience both relieved and troubled me. I wasn’t sure how this was relaxing, so I took out my lighter. The phone rang. It was Tae Seong-je.

“I heard that even a tiger will come if I say its name…”

I clicked my tongue and tried to answer the phone, but my hands fumbled, and accidentally turned it down. Ah, a mistake. When I called again, Tae Seong-je’s face suddenly appeared on the screen. I was wondering if it was broken. I squinted away from the screen, wondering what was wrong, and then I heard laughter coming from somewhere. When I realized that it was the sound coming from the speaker, I realized that I had making video calls.

[Have you been drinking?]

“Uh, a little…”

How did he know I was drinking? I rubbed my cheek lazily as I watched Tae Seong-je grinning across the screen. He should have been surprised when I video-called him out of nowhere, but he didn’t appear to be. He looks as relaxed as ever. Even if this person had gone through something similar, he would not have been bothered. That made me wonder if I was acting too childishly. Tae Seong-je will have no idea why I am so down.

[What’s wrong? You don’t look good.]

Weird. I’m not that expressive, so how did he know? What did he see in my blank expression? When I hesitated for a while and didn’t say anything, he asked me one more time.

[Why. What’s going on?]