One-Room Dictator 37

#37

“……”

“But the person next to… do you know him?”

Hyungwoo, who felt the stare piercing his face was stinging, whispered to Bonoh. Because they moved closer together, Taeseong’s gaze became even sharper.

“Yeah, my roommate.”

“Ah, that wife?”

“Ah, crazy, what are you saying!”

Bonoh jumped in surprise and hit Hyungwoo’s arm while shouting. Not knowing that made him look even more suspicious. But Taeseong’s mind was spinning too intensely to pay attention to those words. It was because of the bomb that had burst from Hyungwoo’s mouth.

Did he notice I’m trying to seduce Kim Bonoh? That can’t be… Or does he actually have a wife somewhere? Taeseong’s already dark expression hardened.

But Hyungwoo had pointed at the male Taeseong and asked if he was his wife. Even knowing it could be a nickname given to a roommate living in the same room, Taeseong felt the need to be wary of the men around Bonoh too. Whether male or female, if they became obstacles to his seduction of Kim Bonoh, he couldn’t forgive them.

“Ah, hello. I’m Bonoh’s friend, Shin Hyungwoo.”

“Yes.”

Hyungwoo, who had been joking and laughing with Bonoh, belatedly greeted Taeseong. Taeseong, who was in a bad mood, didn’t want to exchange friendly greetings with Hyungwoo.

“…This is Joo Taeseong.”

Bonoh, caught in the middle, glanced around nervously before introducing Taeseong instead. At that moment, the professor entered and the lecture hall became quiet. The professor gave a stack of handouts to the student sitting in the front seat and told them to pass them back. After waiting briefly for the student sitting in the very back to receive the handouts, the professor began a brief explanation about the lecture.

Taeseong tried to focus on the professor’s explanation. However, his attention was drawn to Bonoh exchanging written notes with Hyungwoo, so he couldn’t concentrate at all. It was orientation, so surely it would end quickly, but as soon as Hyungwoo received the paper, he pulled out a pencil from his pocket and started exchanging written notes with Bonoh.

From the very first class after the semester started, Taeseong felt the limits of his patience. Shin Hyungwoo, who kept glancing at him, was fucking annoying, and Kim Bonoh, who looked dazed whether from lack of sleep or the aftermath of the sexy noona, was irritating too. Seeing how he kept glancing while scribbling, Taeseong thought they must be talking about him. He couldn’t care less what Hyungwoo was babbling about him, but he was curious about what Bonoh had scribbled.

Taeseong was a little disappointed that not a single strategy had succeeded so far. But Taeseong didn’t blame Casa Nongbu or doubt his suggested strategies in the slightest. He just figured he himself was lacking.

It was the same this morning. Casa Nongbu had advised not to wear glasses, but wearing glasses instead was probably a big mistake. He shouldn’t have interpreted it subjectively – he just needed to not wear them. He had a bitter taste in his mouth from regret.

Taeseong trusted Casa Nongbu. He had to. He was someone who had induced confessions from 9 people in just 3 months. (Sometimes he was even troubled by receiving confessions simultaneously) This part couldn’t be verified, so it might be lies or exaggeration, but he had accurately analyzed what type of person the target was just by looking at Taeseong’s short post. He had even correctly guessed that Kim Bonoh had natural hazel brown eyes, was the same age, and was lively and active but very shy.

Facts like more than half of Koreans having natural hazel brown eyes, and that ‘friend’ in Korean society, which strictly distinguishes hierarchy and uses honorifics, usually refers to someone of the same age, were lightly ignored.

Taeseong glared at the two heads still huddled together exchanging written notes. With all their chatter, if you combined their written conversation, it would easily surpass the Tripitaka. Could that bastard Shin Hyungwoo also like Kim Bonoh… Taeseong felt pathetic for not suspecting earlier. Didn’t he say ‘our Bonoh’, and asking if the Taeseong sitting next to them was his ‘wife’ was obviously a challenge. To miss all these signals.

It wasn’t strange. Taeseong himself had such high standards that he’d never liked anyone and hadn’t even had a common relationship. He’d received confessions but never felt inclined to date even casually. If someone like him had fallen for Bonoh, how much more so would others. Sitting side by side but monopolizing Kim Bonoh through written notes was nothing but vixen behavior.

Then Taeseong soon snorted. What Kim Bonoh liked were sexy older women. No matter how generously you looked at him, Shin Hyungwoo wasn’t sexy. His face value was questionable whether he was older or not, but he wasn’t a woman, so he didn’t qualify as ‘noona’ either. Taeseong himself didn’t qualify either, which made his stomach burn.

Taeseong pressed his solar plexus because his stomach was burning.

“What’s wrong, is your stomach hurting again? You’re not having stomach cramps…?”

Then Bonoh quietly whispered while checking Taeseong’s complexion.

“Ah, it seems to hurt a little…”

“Does it hurt a lot? Can’t you bear it?”

Bonoh asked restlessly. Taeseong showed a victorious smile toward Hyungwoo so Bonoh couldn’t see. At the smile that seemed to ask ‘Did you see that?’, Hyungwoo made a sour expression. From this, Taeseong could be certain that Hyungwoo liked Kim Bonoh.

While Bonoh was distracted with him, Taeseong slightly stuck his head out to try to peek at their written notes.

“……”

Noticing this, Bonoh quickly flipped the paper over. He was only quick-witted at times like this. Because of this, Taeseong couldn’t read the conversation where Hyungwoo was badmouthing him and Bonoh was desperately defending him.

-He’s really fucking rude as I heard ㄷ ㄷ How do you live with him?

-He’s just shy ㅜ The kid is nice… And when did I say he was rude? No rumor creation.

-How much did you get paid

-Really, he’s not a bad kid. He’s nice in his own way once you get close

-As expected, only the husband takes the wife’s side ㄷ Does he support you financially? ㅋㅋ

-Ah if you say that wife thing one more time I’ll hit you ㅡㅡ

-Ah okay okay I was rude. To my sister-in-law ㅋㅋ

-Wanna get hit?

-Ah I’m lonely being the third wheel~ ㅜ If only Park Junghwan hadn’t overslept on course registration day~ ㅜㅜ

-He’s hopeless, really.

There didn’t seem to be much to explain, but the professor talked a lot. The speech itself was verbose and kept going off on tangents, so it took a long time to finish for an orientation. As soon as the professor left the lecture hall, sighs burst out from everywhere.

Taeseong also felt relieved thinking that the leech-like Hyungwoo would finally detach. Should they go eat pork cutlet, which Kim Bonoh liked, for lunch? No, there would be many people near the school, so should they drive to the sushi restaurant 20 minutes away? That’s what he was thinking.

“You’re going straight to the cafeteria, right? Park Junghwan already arrived.”

“Huh? Yeah…”

However, the situation flowed differently from Taeseong’s thoughts. Hyungwoo spoke to Bonoh as if it were natural. Bonoh glanced at Taeseong awkwardly and answered vaguely.

“…? Ah, is Taeseong-ssi coming along too?”

At Bonoh’s lackluster response, Hyungwoo, who was looking at his phone, asked. Taeseong was about to refuse. He was about to answer very firmly so they’d never think to ask again.

“Joo Taeseong, you’d probably prefer porridge, right? Should I buy you porridge on my way back after eating quickly…?”

“No? I really want to eat at the cafeteria?”

I came to university to eat at the cafeteria and waited all vacation just for cafeteria food? Taeseong almost said that. Thinking that if he refused, Bonoh would naturally have lunch with him, Taeseong gritted his teeth and answered urgently.

The clueless Kim Bonoh obviously wouldn’t know that Hyungwoo liked him. Well, if he knew, that would be a problem too. With Kim Bonoh being so dense, if he sent just the two of them to the student cafeteria, there was no telling what that fox-like Shin Hyungwoo might do.

“Is your stomach okay?”

“Yeah. Just thinking about cafeteria food made it all better.”

Hyungwoo thought Bonoh’s roommate might be stranger than he’d expected. The three men were already tired despite only attending one orientation on the first day of the semester.

Taeseong secured the middle position while going to the cafeteria. Going down the downhill path, whenever Bonoh and Hyungwoo tried to get closer, he would eagerly squeeze between them to separate them. Bonoh was troubled but couldn’t stop such behavior from Taeseong, and only Hyungwoo was bewildered.

“Hey! Come over here!”

As they entered the cafeteria, Junghwan raised his hand and greeted the three. More precisely, it was directed at Bonoh and Hyungwoo, the two of them.

Junghwan had already gotten his food and secured a seat. When Bonoh, who had gotten food on his tray, sat next to Junghwan, Taeseong quickly sat in the seat next to Bonoh.

Then the expressions of the other three, excluding Taeseong, became subtle. With four people, the normal arrangement would be sitting in pairs facing each other, but with Taeseong sitting next to Bonoh, three people ended up sitting in a row. The most confused-looking was Junghwan, who hadn’t even been introduced yet.

“Hey hey, Park Junghwan, you just come over here and sit.”

“Okay. But who is this person…?”

Unable to watch anymore, at Hyungwoo’s words, Junghwan moved seats and asked.

“Bonoh’s wife.”

“Ah, that…? But how did he end up coming along?”

“…It just happened that way.”

When Hyungwoo whispered to Junghwan, Junghwan made an expression like he understood. Taeseong looked at the two whispering across from him with suspicious eyes.