episode_0018

30 minutes later, the location is a coin karaoke room.

Referring to the map Jaehyun sent me, I went to the meeting place and found the largest room among the rooms divided into several sections.

Usually, due to the nature of coin karaoke rooms, only a small number of people attend, the room is bound to be small, but since the 2nd class of the first year students decided to gather eight people, including me, they rented the largest room that was operated on a part-time basis. I heard that you only have to pay 10,000 won per hour.

Of course, the cost will be covered by all attendees.

“… … Is this here?”

I stood in front of a door with a handle.

Other booths have glass doors that are clearly visible from the outside, but this room has an opaque door that does not allow light to pass through.

Just looking at it, this room is much bigger than the other booths, and Jaehyun can see right away that it is here. I said I would do it, so it must be right here.

‘But just in case… .’

I listened slightly.

-Let’s run the horse? What, who booked this?

-Nana! Give me the microphone! Hey, Seungwoo Kim! Wake up and sing along!

-Ah, what kind of song is this? Ham Ji-eun, you really…

-It’s done, let’s jump, let’s jump!

-word… … . Come on, Maaal… … !

I’m not sure because it’s so noisy outside, but it’s really noisy inside. It seems that the kids who arrived before me were singing to brighten the mood.

──Good.

I carefully opened the door and entered.

The first thing you see in a dark room with no lights is a male student holding a microphone, raising his head to his chest, passionately singing the old song ‘Let’s Run the Horse’.

Considering that it was my first time seeing his face, he seemed to be a kid from another middle school, but upon closer inspection, I was shocked to see that he looked like a gangster.

‘what… ?’

Seeing that he’s singing a song that’s over 20 years old, is he actually a returning student? .

I seriously doubted it and then looked to the side.

Next to a boy who looks like he could drink alcohol at a moment’s notice, there is a girl who is holding a separate microphone and calling for the horse to run, even though it is not a duet song.

‘… … ?’

No, there was a girl.

The face looks very young. Height is probably around 150 to mid 150’s.

Now, I don’t think anyone will believe me if I say I’m a freshman in high school, and I’m not kidding. Even if I’m an elementary school student, they’ll probably believe me. It’s not that it wasn’t, but at that moment I thought, ‘Who brought my little sister?’, so I said everything.

“Maal~ Dalii~ Ja~!”

“Maaal~~ Daliiii~~ Jaaally~~~~?

“… … .”

Is it my mistake to feel like I’m writing music rather than a song?

There are a lot of songs that can get you in the mood, but it’s not necessary to sing songs that are over 20 years old or close to 30 years old, but watching them all leave and shouting at the karaoke bar to leave, I felt a little lost.

“Zooju, are you here?”

“… … What is this?”

“That is Seungwoo, and Jae is Jieun. They both came from Seoul Middle School.”

I wasn’t asking his name, I was just asking how something like this happened, but I just nodded and sat down next to Jaehyun.

“What about the other kids?”

“Still on the way, only the four of us have arrived.”

“Ah.”

Does that mean there are only three of you, excluding me?

‘… … what.’

So, you’re saying that the commotion you just heard outside the room was caused by just two kids, Jieun and Seungwoo, right?

It was so noisy that I thought everyone would be there except me, but I never thought there would be a twist like this.

I glanced at the two people passionately singing the chorus of the song, and then quietly spoke to Jaehyun.

“Do you think they are close?”

“Uh, I asked you before you came, and I heard you were in the same class for all three years of middle school? It is said that we even went to elementary school together.”

“Oh, really? So you’re almost like childhood friends?”

“Not really, but we were childhood friends, right? If you just count the years, we were friends for 9 years.”

“Um.”

That’s not true.

When I heard it, I thought it was true, so I stayed still, and then the two people finished singing.

The score given by the karaoke machine was 99 points. Considering that I got a good score even though I screamed so hard, I guess the rumor that you have to shout to get a good score on the karaoke machine was true.

“Oh, my neck hurts. Hey Seungwoo Kim, I need some water.”

“What do you do with your hands down? Take it and drink it yourself.”

“Kim Seungwoo is really annoying. If you take what’s right in front of you, what’s the difference?”

“… … .”

The way you speak is strangely similar to my mother.

Without realizing it, I looked at the girl, and at that moment our eyes met.

“… … Huh?”

“Ah, hello. I am… .”

“You. It’s him from Instagram, right?!”

I was about to say hello because I couldn’t stand still, but I heard an unexpected sound.

“Insta”, I didn’t understand what was being said so I stayed still and the girl put down the microphone and came towards me.

“This is my first time seeing it in real life, other than on Instagram! Are you also a freshman and class 2 student at Seoul High School?”

“Huh? Yes, that’s true, but… .”

“Wow, really? Then we are in the same class from now on. Wow, wow-!”

She doesn’t stop at just verbally showing surprise, but also punches the shoulder of the boy next to her.

The boy who got hit suddenly lost his temper and said, ‘Ah, why are you hitting someone?!’ The girl, like a pigeon surprised to meet someone, kept buzzing and her eyes lit up.

“Wow, but you’re really handsome. Since only the photos that looked really good were uploaded, I assumed it was retouched, right? But now that I see it, that’s not the case. You’re so, so handsome… !”

“… … Hey, you know.”

It’s my first time seeing this girl named Ji-eun, and I’m dumbfounded because she makes all kinds of fuss as if she’s an old friend.

But that is that and this is this.

I cut off the waist and looked at the girl while touching the back of my neck.

“You said you just saw me on Instagram. I don’t use Instagram or anything like that, so which account did you see me on?”

The reason I don’t use Instagram or other social media is because Aki told me not to.

I don’t know why, but whenever I wanted to be interested in SNS, Aki would get angry and block me by saying, ‘Uju~chan, Uju~chan shouldn’t do that!’, so while everyone else was using SNS with the DM function, I was the only one using it. I wrote a chat.

So, as the girl said, it would be impossible to see me on Instagram, but where on earth did she see me?

I was curious about that and asked, and the girl tilted her head as if she was asking something like that.

“Nam Jaehyun, a friend from the same school as you always posts pictures… . Don’t you know?”

“… … Nam Jaehyun?”

There is only one Nam Jaehyun that I know.

I turned my head to the side.

When I asked him with a glance if he was the Nam Jae-hyun he was talking about, Jae-hyun did not make eye contact with me and looked away, as if he was being stung.

“Hey.”

“… … .”

“Hey, Nam Jaehyun.”

I grabbed Jaehyun’s shoulder.

“Is that you?”

“… … uh? What.”

“The culprit who took a voyeur’s photo of my face is you.”

“… … What are you talking about? Voyeurism. I posted a picture of you and me together, but why is that a voyeur?”

Since he doesn’t deny it, I guess the culprit who uploaded the photo is Jaehyun.

I was dumbfounded, so I looked at Jaehyun blankly and asked.

“Okay, how many did you upload?”

“Well, about twenty pages… .”

“Twenty sheets? No, why did you post so much?”

They said they posted 20 pictures so they could see the man’s face.

I was slightly taken aback by the amount, which was larger than expected, and Jaehyun stumbled and opened his mouth.

“Well, when I posted a picture of me with you, there were a lot of comments from girls. Please upload more, you look handsome. … … So I uploaded one or two pages at a time, and before I knew it, I had uploaded that many.”

“… … .”

What a thorough explanation… … .

“Hey, Jaehyun.”

“… … Huh?”

Jaehyun seems to know what he did wrong, and he looks very sorry when I call him.

I was about to say something when I saw his expression.

‘… … ‘Okay, that’s it.’

I just kept my mouth shut.

There wasn’t any other reason, he just liked getting comments from girls so he posted a picture of himself with me… … .

In fact, if you look at it, it is clearly a photo that shows your face, and it is not used for a strict purpose, so there is no point in questioning it with a straight face. I wouldn’t know it if I had sold the photos for money.

I don’t mind raising “… .Put it up in the future. Moderately, because if Aki finds out, I’m the one who will get scolded.”

“… … Oh, really? Then is it okay to upload one page every day?”

“Didn’t you hear me just tell you to do it in moderation…? ?”

“Aki? Who is Aki?”

The girl who had been silent intervened.

I glanced in that direction without thinking, and perhaps he misunderstood what I was looking at, so he quickly added something.

“Well, now that I think about it, we haven’t introduced each other yet, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Ham Ji-eun. The guy who looks like an old man here is Kim Seung-woo.”

“… … What do you say, who looks like you?”

“Who is it? Seungwoo Kim, you! Is there anyone else here other than you who looks like he’s in his 40s and looks like he can drink and smoke?”

“Ham Ji-eun, are you belittling your parents? Did you indirectly insult my parents by insulting me, the son of my mother and father?”

“Ah, I’m using Gabulgi again! You go to the lady later and tell her, Ham Ji-eun cursed at her mother. uh? Do you know how exhausted I was trying to explain things back then?!”

“… … .”

Today was the first time I met Ji-eun Ham and Seung-woo Kim, but I suddenly had this intuition.

If I become friends with these two people, my ears will never have a good day.

“Hmm… . Can I call you Jieun and Seungwoo?”

“Ah, yes! Feel free to call me, we’ll be classmates in three days anyway, right?”

“Okay, nice to meet you. Jieun, I am Joo Woo Joo. Please take care of me in the future.”

He smiled kindly and slightly extended his right hand.

The idea was to shake hands, but Ham Ji-eun was startled and blushed slightly.

“Oh… . huh. Please… ?”

“… … How about it?”

Kim Seung-woo looked at Ham Ji-eun as if she was dumbfounded, then frowned and asked.

“What is it, why is your face suddenly blushing? Do you have a crush on him?”

“What, what what what… ?! What, what do you say? It’s not like that… ?!”

“… … .”

It looks suspicious for no reason because he stammers and denies something that would normally have been said.

Jaehyun, who was next to me, put his hand on my shoulder and said, wondering if I was the only one who had that thought.

“Jieun, don’t like this guy. He has a separate girlfriend.”

“Huh? Really?”

“Fujiwara-san, you must have been dating for almost ten years?”

“hours, ten years? We are now seventeen… ?”

“This guy and Fujiwara-san have been dating since we were six years old, so it was about that time. Isn’t that right, universe?”

“… … Yeah, that was roughly it.”

“Oh, what is it? When I asked you if you were dating, you denied it, but now you just decided to admit it?”

“No, I’m not admitting it… .”

Jaehyun is looking at me and squinting one eye.

I took a deep breath and slightly let go of Jaehyun’s arm.

“ done. I shouldn’t talk.”

“Okay, how good does it look to admit it? Congratulations, Universe. I would also like to convey my congratulations to Fujiwara-san.”

“You can say it directly, why do you have to tell it through me?”

“Are you asking because you don’t know that? Because your girlfriend is really scary… .”

“… … Is that person named Fujiwara-san your space girlfriend?”

I realized late that Ham Ji-eun was asking me.

It’s not that there aren’t many people around me who call me by just two names. Because the first and last name are similar, it is common to add the last name and call it ‘Jooju’.

Anyway, I already introduced her as my girlfriend, so why bother saying no? I nodded slightly.

“Yes, Fujiwara Aki. I just call him Aki for convenience.”

“Aha, I see… . The name is very unusual. Are you Japanese?”

“To be exact, I am of mixed Japanese and French descent, but it is a bit strange to say something in a place where I am not present. Since you go to the same school as us, would you like to talk in person when we meet again after school starts? I have a really nice personality so it will be easy to become friends.”

“Aki Fujiwara… … . Yes, I remembered.”

“But, you will be surprised when you meet Fujiwara-san, right?”

Jaehyun says, putting his hand on my shoulder again.

“Why, why are you surprised?”

“Because it’s so pretty. So much so that in three years of middle school, I have never once seen a girl prettier than her.”

“… … Oh, really?”

“Yes, really. Right, the main universe?”

“You talk about all kinds of things in front of someone you’ve never met… . Hey, let’s stop and sing a song. What do you want to sing?”

“What, let’s do a duet? Then please don’t do this unconditionally.”

“Ah, what kind of song are you asking us to sing as a duet? Do something else, do something else!”

* * *

In the end, Joo Woo-joo, who had to sing ‘Please don’t do this, please’ with a man due to Nam Jae-hyeon’s force and unwillingness, was singing quite sweetly in his unique deep voice, even though he was embarrassed.

Ji-eun Ham, a female student who was watching the scene from the sofa across from her, quietly opened her mouth.

“… … Hey, Seungwoo Kim.”

“Why, Ham Ji-eun.”

“He’s handsome, right?”

Ji-eun Ham pointed to the main universe with his finger.

Kim Seung-woo looked up and down at Joo Woo-joo holding the microphone with a frown on his face, as if he was forcing himself to sing even though he really didn’t want to.

“Oh, you look handsome.”

An immediate answer without any hesitation.

Ham Ji-eun nodded slowly as if agreeing with what he said.

“What does a man like you look like?”

“What does it look like?”

“Juju, how does he look to a man like him?”

“What do you think? He’s so handsome that just looking at him annoys me. For the sake of the peace of mankind, I wish it were three centimeters thick… .”

“… … Ah, kinda! Not like that!”

Ham Ji-eun frowned.

“Then, what do you want to hear?”

Kim Seung-woo, who answered indifferently, was scolded. Ham Ji-eun glances at him.

Ji-eun Ham quietly glanced at Seung-woo Kim, then sighed as if he had given up.

“If so, imagine that she is a model for men’s cosmetics. So what do you think?”

“I don’t think I would think much of it.”

“Don’t you think that you want to follow what he uses and buy it, or something like that?”

“Well, maybe so, maybe not… .”

Kim Seung-woo, trailing off his words, glanced at Ham Ji-eun.

She was worried.

“But why are you suddenly asking that?”

“It’s nothing special, I just thought it would be a good idea to ask her to model for a men’s cosmetics ad.”

“Cosmetics advertising model? Oh, is that what you asked me last time?”

“Yes, that.”

“That’s very important. Why are you asking this from someone you’ve never seen before?”

“… … That’s because you refused and there’s no one to take care of it!”

“Why are you suddenly so angry? .”

Kim Seung-woo, feeling prickly, slowly averts his gaze.

Ham Ji-eun crossed her arms and glared at Kim Seung-woo, then turned her gaze back to Joo Woo-ju.

“… … Ah, kinda! Don’t stick around and call away. Man!”

“Don’t you know that duets are usually called this way? Oh, I miss the beat!”

“Oh really, if I come to Kono with you again, I won’t be a human… !”

“… … .”

‘The face is fine, the voice is fine, and as I saw earlier, when he was standing, his physique was pretty good… .’

I think it would be perfect if I could act as an advertising model for this sponsorship, but I don’t know how it can’t work out… … ?

“… … If you ask me to be a cosmetics advertising model right away, you’ll probably treat me like a weird person, right?”

“Oh, of course it is.”

“… … .”

Ham Ji-eun tapped Kim Seung-woo on the shoulder.

“Hey, Seungwoo Kim.”

“Why.”

“Try to ask for me.”

“Huh? What should I ask?”

I’m asking you to be a cosmetics advertising model. Please tell me for me. Since we’re the same guy, there must be something in common, right?”

“No, why do you ask me that? You can do it yourself.”

“I saw you for the first time today, but if you ask me to be a cosmetics model or something, you’ll think I’m playing tricks… !”

“What, no one has that misunderstanding? Also, the height was changed so that a girl like an elementary school student could try it. He also has eyes, but he never goes over them… . Ah, ah!”

“… … Oh, kinda. A little!”