Bamboo Forest Manager

Updat𝓮d from freew𝒆bnovel(.)com

“I’ll go talk to the kids first. You don’t have any reason to feel hurt.”

“I won’t feel hurt.” fr𝐞𝐞𝚠e𝗯𝗻ovel.c𝐨m

I reply with an awkward smile, and senior Min Ju-hee reassured me by patting me lightly on the shoulder.

“Right, you don’t seem like someone who would get hurt over such a thing.”

“……”

“Still, you might feel this is unjust, so I’ll talk to them to avoid any misunderstandings.”

Even though I think the kids won’t believe it just because she takes my side.

The fact that senior Min Ju-hee doesn’t get swayed by such rumors and trusts me made me feel good.

After all, it means she trusts me unconditionally.

‘I don’t have such a bad uni life then.’

Still, it’s nice to have a cool senior trust in me.

Leaving the explanation to the other kids to senior Ju-hee, I started to get back to my work.

“Sex God, you’re here?”

Yu Arin’s voice came from behind.

As I frowned and turned back, Yu Arin was looking at me with an amused smile.

“Aha, so this is what you were looking for? You wanted to have sex that badly?”

“……”

“So, should I set you up then?”

“If you don’t want to die, then leave.”

“Haha! That’s funny! No, isn’t that Anonymous90 targeting you? How does it all fit so right?”

“A coincidence. That guy doesn’t know it all.”

From the start, even the gender was wrong, so there is no way Anonymous90 knew about Seo Yerin.

At my firm answer, Yu Arin sighed.

“So, hearing you say that, Anonymous90 was wrong?”

Without saying much, I affirmed and she smiled.

“The part about being from the English department? That part was correct then?”

“It has to be a coincidence.”

“Tsk, tsk. Moron.”

Yu Arin crossed her arms with a click of her tongue. Her voice was filled with confidence.

“The second and third days, even I could tell they were guesses. It was essentially one or the other.”

-Anonymous90: Second – Anonymous69 tends to avoid people.

“Whether an outsider or not, it’s rare for someone who wants to have sex anonymously and spams it every day to be a social butterfly.”

It was a gamble worth trying.

-Anonymous90: Third – Anonymous69 is a guy.

“Male or female, it’s also one of the two. Similarly, since it’s more likely to be a man, it’s what was guessed then.”

“……”

Watching Yu Arin’s confident look, I began to get drawn into her talk.

“Then what about the English department? Our university has so many departments, how could they pinpoint this?”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Tsk.”

Yu Arin, claiming to be bored, handed me her phone. It displayed the posts of Anonymous69.

“Anonymous69?”

“How did they know? To find out, I did exactly what Anonymous90 did. And it became clear.”

In the end, it wouldn’t be wrong to think of Anonymous90 as a stalker of Anonymous69. It means Yu Arin read the posts by Anonymous69.

“Most of them were useless spam, repeating the same thing. Always up to some sex-crazed stuff.”

Tak.

Yu Arin pointed her finger at the comments section.

“Anonymous69 doesn’t normally leave comments, but do you see what the posts they commented on have in common?”

Looking at the screen she showed me, I couldn’t help but naturally understand even though I didn’t want to.

“…They are all related to the English department.”

“That’s right!”

Upon hearing my words, she nodded and smiled brightly. It seems she wanted more praise for the answer she found.

“In posts related to the English department, Anonymous69 commented on every single one. Be it about the karaoke sniping or when they spoke about the tripe restaurant or when it was about Yerin.”

“……”

“All of them were posts about the English department, so Anonymous90 was making a guess, wondering if Anonymous69 might be from the English department.”

Even if that wasn’t the case.

“If not, just brush it off by saying ‘oh well’.”

Because it’s anonymous.

A stabbing pain began at the back of my head.

Even though I felt fine a moment ago, a subtle emotion arose for the person known as Anonymous90.

They probably wrote this with a laugh.

Thinking it’s no big deal if it’s wrong, they took a casual stab.

Actually, Seo Yerin and I responded to it fussily and seriously.

“I need to meet them.”

I wanted to meet.

I felt I could only discern my emotions by seeing Anonymous90 in person.

“Uh? Meet? Are you still trying to find them?”

“Yes, I will clear my name in the process.”

“…Can I help?”

When Yu Arin asked, I shook my head.

“It’s okay, I’ll look by myself. You’ve helped enough.”

Yu Arin seemed dissatisfied with my unimpressive answer, puffed her cheeks, and quickly left.

After that, I also began to focus on the kitchen work. The part I was in charge of was spicy pork.

It’s surprisingly labor-intensive, but it’s a menu that can be quickly prepared if done in advance.

To taste it and to see how long it would take to cook here, I started cooking as a demonstration.

“……”

Before I knew it, Seo Yerin was standing next to me, staring blankly. She was wearing a white shirt and a black skirt, the same outfit as Yu Arin.

It seemed to be the uniform for the ones serving.

“Wanna try?”

As I asked, still focusing on the pork, Seo Yerin nodded.

She must be hungry.

“Step back a little. The sauce might spurt on you.”

“Ah, yes!”

Seo Yerin scurried behind me. She seemed quite excited, standing close and continuing to watch the stir-fried pork.

“Woojin.”

“What? Just wait.”

“The other kids are saying that you wrote something weird in the Bamboo Forest.”

“……”

What is this situation now?

With an expression of disbelief, I turned my head, and Seo Yerin began to comfort me with a smile similar to that of the Virgin Mary, patting my shoulder.

“It’s okay. I know it’s not you.”

Right.

Because it is you.

“And it’s not a bad thing, right?”

Really?

“Se… sex isn’t weird. We’re adults now, so it’s time we get used to that sort of thing.”

“……”

“Well, I support you Woojin. Even if you write such posts in the Bamboo Forest! I am always…!”

Clatter.

Eventually, I put the frying pan down and turned the gas off.

“Sex fiends are bad people.”

Then, turning to Seo Yerin, I declared.

“Uh?”

“They’re bad. Because they’re plastering such posts everywhere. Right?”

Seo Yerin, not expecting me to react like that, was flustered, moving her hand back and forth as she spoke.

“B-b-but I thought there was a line being upheld….”

“Ah, where’s the line being upheld for spamming? It’s just crossing the line if it makes a person frown.”

Seo Yerin, with her face red, tried to speak, her mouth twitching.

“If-if the line was crossed, the Admin of the Bamboo Forest would have intervened!?”

She looked so shocked that she misspoke. I smiled and shook my head.

“The Admin might have given you one too. How could anyone look kindly upon someone who constantly speaks about sex and sex?”

“Se…!”

“Uh? See. You can’t say it now. How can you call someone who talks so crudely every day as if it’s alright?”

“I-it doesn’t mean they’re a bad person if they’re not nice!”

Seo Yerin’s eyes were trembling. I stepped closer to her and placed my hand on her shoulder to not let her escape.

“You can’t even say ‘sex’. You think it’s a word that shouldn’t be said, right?”

“N-no! Se…x isn’t bad!”

“You cannot say it, Se.”

“Se…! Se…!”

“Se? Se? In the end, you can’t say it either! You think Anonymous69 is a bad person, right?”

“No!”

“Then say it!”

“Se,x!”

Perhaps this is what it feels like to shout softly. Seo Yerin clapped her hands and shouted to the sky.

I shook my head like a boxing coach, pressing her more.

“Right! You jerk! Sex isn’t bad! Why are you so flustered then!”

“Sex!”

“Again!”

“Sexx!”

“One more time…!”

Just as I was about to make her shout again, what entered my view was Choi Yiseo with an expression that indicated she couldn’t understand what was happening.

“Sex! Sex! Sex!”

The moment our eyes met.

“Sex! How can an adult woman spout such words so recklessly; how unladylike!”

Even though I tried to cut her off.

“Sexxx!”

Despite being stopped, Seo Yerin couldn’t regain her consciousness and continued to mumble.

Eventually, with her head heated up, Seo Yerin went out to get some air.

“What’s this?”

Choi Yiseo looked at me with an expression of disbelief.

“What happened for her to be like that?”

“……”

“I can’t even imagine how the situation got to that.”

Of course,

I, too, am regretting reacting so strongly to Seo Yerin’s behavior in frustration.

Let me say one thing.

“It’s not my fault.”

It was clearly Seo Yerin’s fault, and she was being punished.

“……”

Choi Yiseo, who had been glaring at me sharply, sighed and said,

“Did you see the work schedule posted in the group chat?”

“I did. I had to hold myself back from reporting it to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.”

Seeing the schedule of working from night till dawn with hardly any break time disgusted me.

“We have no choice, but I’ll buy you something delicious when we can rest.”

“Well, if you’re offering, I won’t refuse.”

There is no need to refuse when someone is offering to help us out.

“Right? Our breaks overlap. So let’s hang out then.”

“Ri…ght?”

I was about to respond without thought when my lips suddenly tightened.

It felt like it wasn’t quite a date. But already, Choi Yiseo was moving to the servers.

‘…Or am I mistaken?’

I wondered if it was something we said without much thought.

But before leaving the kitchen tent, Choi Yiseo turned her head and gave me a small smile, as I stood there, confused.

“It’s a date.”

Ah.

“Ri-right.”