Chapter 125: Oh Dae-sik (28 years old), embarrassed

If I were asked to choose between my life before and after becoming Lee Ji-eun, I would choose the latter without hesitation.

There are many reasons, such as youth, appearance, and economic conditions, but the biggest is this environment where I’m surrounded by people and have no time to feel lonely.

I didn’t particularly feel lonely in my previous life,
where I drew a line between myself and others and only maintained relationships with a few friends,
but after experiencing this, I realized that it was more accurate to say that I had become numb over time rather than not feeling lonely.

An emotionless, robotic life where I didn’t feel any particular excitement in anything.

Now, with a richer range of reactions and fluctuating emotions after meeting people and experiencing many things, there’s no way I can go back to that time.

I don’t know who made me Lee Ji-eun, but I can say that I’m very satisfied now.

I’d say it’s about 4.9 out of 5 stars. That’s a pretty high score.

Where did the 0.1 point get deducted? It stems from a slight regret I have after becoming this body.

It’s not the huge breasts that always make my shoulders stiff or the period that comes once a month.

Breasts are part of my appearance, and I think I’ve benefited a lot from my looks. I have no intention of denying that.

In a similar vein, periods are an unavoidable part of being a woman.

I don’t have such an immature mind that I’d whine about a natural bodily reaction. I have to admit what I have to admit.

So what is it? What is that one regret I have in this seemingly perfect life?

The burdensome attention that always follows me? The occasional malicious comments that bother me? All wrong.

What I feel is missing is a boyfriend.

Don’t misunderstand, it’s not the kind of boyfriend you’re thinking of.

I’m still struggling to come to a conclusion about my changed body’s sexual identity, so I have no intention of dating anyone yet.

You probably guessed it by now. Yes, the boyfriend I’m talking about is a male friend.

In other words, I mean a male friend.

Haven’t you thought, “Does it have to be a man? You’re a woman now, and you have female friends like Ryu-A and Shi-Young, and other girls your age?”

It seems like the two of them are ‘real’ women unlike me, so there’s a slight level of discomfort when dealing with them.

It’s possible that it will change as I adapt to the life of a woman over time, but so far, it’s not as comfortable as my friends from when I was a man.

There are men everywhere around me, but I can’t just befriend any man.

My overwhelmingly beautiful looks, to the point where you could call them devastating, can easily earn me favors from anyone, but they also come with some side effects.

Women who are blinded by jealousy badmouthing me behind my back… Men who aren’t interested in me seeing me as a romantic interest and liking me on their own.

The former was something I could ignore, and the latter wasn’t something I couldn’t understand.

It’s not like I’ve never had a similar experience.

I also had a crush on a female student in my class who was said to be pretty when I was in school.

I didn’t have any particular friendship with her and didn’t exchange many words, but I was secretly nurturing my affection for her.

Later, as I moved up a grade and the class split, my feelings naturally cooled down.

Why did I have a crush on that girl back then, and why do men see me as a romantic interest? Even though we didn’t have a deep relationship with each other.

The reason is simple. Because I’m pretty.

There’s a reason why wars broke out to claim pretty women.

Appearance is such a big factor that has a big impact on people.

Yes, I know.

This is unavoidable.

It’s perfectly normal for a normal man to have feelings for Lee Ji-eun (24) and have his romance cells stimulated by hormones.

So did I give up? No. I didn’t give up.

I’m still looking for someone.

Someone who understands my old man-like sensibility, who can talk to me about stupid topics for 1-2 hours, who can go to PC cafes, bowling alleys, and billiard halls with me, and who won’t feel any romantic feelings for me.

I thought about the men around me and briefly narrowed down the candidates.

1. Bang Hyung-jae and Kang Seong-hoon, who commentate on the league together.

We have a common interest in the Aeowor League, and our personalities don’t seem to be incompatible, but

Rejected.

1. Tex.

We became connected through the Aeowor streamer match and became close enough to joke with each other after meeting several times.

In fact, he was a strong candidate until recently, but he recently got a girlfriend named Papi Joa.

I have no intention of becoming a source of discord between a couple who are dating well.

I don’t want to see Papi Joa, who will be my cooking teacher, glaring at me.

Rejected for a similar reason to number 1.

1. Cheol-woo.

Like Tex, we were grouped together as a team, played games together, and became friends after meeting a few times.

He doesn’t have a girlfriend or a wife, so there are no restrictions on acting with me.

But we don’t have good back-and-forth banter.

I want a relationship where we can joke with each other and treat each other somewhat roughly.

No matter how I think about it, I can’t even picture that with Cheol-woo.

Even if I play with him, it’s obvious that it will lead to an atmosphere where a young friend is just playing with an old man.

Rejected for that reason.

1. Coach Jackie.

Getting married soon.

Rejected.

1. Oh Dae-shik.

Decent sense of humor and a sense of solidarity as a fellow streamer.

My second student, who I tutored before.

At first, he showed signs of being obviously uncomfortable with me, but after several encounters, he has grown to the point where he can even talk back to me recently.

Still, it’s not quite a back-and-forth banter, and it’s closer to a relationship where I unilaterally beat him up like a punching bag.

But that’s, well… Wouldn’t it be solved if Dae-shik treated me more comfortably?

I wouldn’t mind if he swore at me? It’s still ambiguous to call him a friend, but I saw potential.

At this point, it’s worth investing time in.

He might have romantic feelings for me, but I think I can just draw a line from the beginning.

I have no intention of dating you.

It’s a statement that sounds like a delusional patient, but I thought there couldn’t be anything safer than this.

If Dae-shik crosses that line and confesses, then… I’ll have to find another friend again. What else can I do?

After repeated deliberation, considering these and other factors.

Oh Dae-shik, barely passed.

“Is Dae-shik the only one…”

I felt disappointed that I could only salvage one person, but I also thought, “It’s better than nothing.”

The result was “Become friends with Oh Dae-shik,” but what should I do now?

I think he’d feel burdened if I suddenly made an appointment with him. Should I ask him to do a collaboration stream?

I was thinking briefly when.

-Oh Dae-shik: SOS.

Speak of the devil, a message came from Discord.

According to the message, he was asking if I could help him climb the Aeowor ranks.

His form has been declining lately, and his tier has dropped a lot.

“What timing.”

There was no reason to refuse.

To Oh Dae-shik, the human being Mollru was a type of person he had never seen before.

First of all, starting with her inhuman appearance and beautiful voice to match.

The above elements were unbalanced with her excellent game skill and her unpredictable personality that could be called 4D.

The fact that he couldn’t understand her inner thoughts was the human being Mollru that Dae-shik had grasped, and that thought was continuing in real time.

“You really came?”
“Yes, then I’d come for real. Would I come for fake?”

She answered naturally, but that wasn’t what Dae-shik was asking.

The reason he asked her to help him was because he remembered her saying that he could call her if he was bored during their last meeting.

Coincidentally, as Aeowor was entering the end of the season, his tier was plummeting.

It was enough of an excuse to call Mollru.

But he didn’t expect her to actually come when he called her.

She must be a busy person, so is her schedule okay? What about her stream today? Is it okay to do this without making an appointment in advance?

Those questions were naturally put to rest by Mollru’s next words.

“I’ve hosted your channel on my stream. Everyone will flock to your side.”
“Yes?”

Mollru spoke as if it was natural. Dae-shik thought with his head.

‘Is this the big company’s way of giving viewers?’

Mollru is the undisputed number one streamer in Korea with a large audience.

For some reason, it seemed that today she was trying to bring all of those viewers to Dae-shik’s channel.

He wondered if this was her usual collaboration style, but he didn’t think too deeply about it.

Whatever it was, it was a good thing for Dae-shik.

While Dae-shik’s assessment of Mollru was being revised to ‘strange but good person’.

“I see you had time. What were you doing?”
“Um, can I say this?”
“Was that too insensitive of a question? You can just skip it if it’s hard to talk about.”
“No, it’s nothing weird…”

Mollru said, as if it wasn’t anything important,

“I was thinking about Dae-shik.”

She dropped a bomb.