“Hey, you.”
“H-huh…?” Minjae stammered in fear.
“You fucking asshole.”
“W-what…?”
His fear built up as I approached him.
“Y-you’re…S-sian, right?” he asked.
“Yep.”
“Oh…”
He clearly didn’t know what to say, so I pushed him in the chest. Hard.
Whack!
“Argh!”
The guy flew up about a meter into the air as he flew backwards.
Thud.
“Oh…”
He clutched his butt in pain as he stared up at me. His eyes were wide, shocked at my strength. He also looked extremely confused.
“Sian…why…why are you doing this to me all of a sudden…?” he asked, slowly getting up. Then again, he made sure to remain far away from me as possible.
“Break up with Jia,” I said immediately.
“We’re not a couple yet.”
“If so, don’t meet with her again.”
“But why…? Seriously, what’s your problem?” he asked, still looking quite confused.
“You want to know why?”
“Yeah. Why? Also, isn’t this our first time meeting each other? This is rather rude of you, don’t you think? And what’s it to you whether Jia and I date or not? Is that why you pushed me?”
This guy sure asks a lot of questions.
“Yep.”
“What?”
“Jia is already taken, so don’t touch her,” I said, taking a step closer to him. He immediately tried to run away. I lifted my leg and gave him another good kick.
Wham!
Thud.
“Ow…”
He rubbed his butt in pain as he got up again. This time, he began to taunt me.
“I was going to let this go because you’re a girl, but are you mentally insane? Also, what do you mean by Jia is taken? She told me she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
“She doesn’t.”
“So?”
“She has a girlfriend.”
“What?”
Minjae tilted his head to the side, clearly not getting what I was saying. I could hear his brain rolling around in his head, trying to make sense of what I said. But to be honest, even I didn’t fully get what I just said. I just said it because I was infuriated. Anyways, he began to talk again as he backed away from me.
“A girlfriend? You mean like…a friend? Don’t all girls have that?”
“Not that kind of girlfriend.”
“Then…like a real girlfriend?” he spat out.
“Yep,” I said.
“What?” he shouted.
“J-Jia is…she’s a lesbian? Then why would she like me?” Minjae shouted, clearly not wanting to believe it.
“She’s not a lesbian, but there is a lesbian who likes her.”
“Who is it?”
“Me.”
“….”
The guy remained frozen. Stiff like ice, and it was nowhere near winter. I approached him once more, and he immediately began to back up. I aimed another kick at his chest.
Wham!
“Argh!”
Thud. He fell backwards.
This time, he merely rolled over, unable to get up. Not because he was hurt, but because he was in a state of shock. Looking at his passed out state, he sort of reminded me of a cockroach. But you know, cockroaches are hard to kill. Anyways, I walked up to him.
“So like I said, stay away from Jia if you want to live,” I said to him. “When you were holding hands with her, I really did consider the thought of killing you.”
I stepped on his butt for a bit before turning him over. All of a sudden, he grabbed me by the ankle.
“What?”
“Are…are you really…h-human?” the guy asked me, looking incredibly fearful. I couldn’t blame him to be honest. He probably didn’t even see that kick coming. Only that I have skills way above an average human.
“What else am I? A dog?”
I gave him one last kick for good measure, then walked away.
***
After handing out my thorough(ish) punishment, I returned to the dorms.
“Sian! Why are you back so late?” Hainan asked, running up to me like an excited puppy.
“I was just out for a walk.”
“Aren’t you going to take a shower?”
“I don’t think so. I think I’ll be fine.”
Giving Minjae a piece of my mind had been enough to relax me for the day.
“Still, you should. Jia is in the shower as well.”
“Oh. Well, I guess I should go then.”
“Yeah. Go ahead. I’ll make you some hotteok.”
“Thanks!”
I ruffled Hainan on the head before heading towards the bathroom.
“Hey, Sian! Where did you go?” Jia asked, standing in her naked glory. She was covered in soap lather and it was so sexy. Dirty thoughts immediately began to run through my head.
“I just went for a walk,” I replied with a big smile. I’m not smiling because of Jia’s body. I was smiling because I knew Jia was never going to see that guy again. The thought made me very happy.
“Oh, really? I just got back as well. Let’s take a shower quickly so we can have hotteok.”
“Okay. Oh, how was your date?”
“Hm…I’m not sure. Minjae kept trying to hold my hand. It was a bit uncomfortable,” Jia replied honestly.
“You should have slapped him.”
“But I do like him, so how can I do that?” Jia asked with a smile.
That made me a bit sad. I should’ve slapped his face for her when I had the chance.
“Anyways, I’m done so I’ll leave first. Don’t take too long, okay?”
“Okay.”
Jia left, swaying her pretty little ass the whole way.
“I’m sorry, Jia. Unfortunately, I can’t let you be with Minjae.”
With that, I smirked to myself.
***
We were sitting in the living room, munching on the hotteok cakes that Hainan had made.
“Hainan, this is really good.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’ve never had hotteok this good before. You should make it more often.”
“Okay!”
Hainan seemed really happy at that. After that, I looked at Jia. Jia was looking at her phone, barely touching her hotteok. Her face didn’t look that good.
“Jia, what’s wrong?”
“Minjae isn’t answering his messages.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Jia answered, sounding down.
Why would he, though? He was passed out on the street last time I checked. He’s probably still there.
All of a sudden, Jia received a text message. She immediately grabbed her phone to check.
The message read:
[Jia…by any chance, do you like girls?]
“Huh? Why is Minjae asking me this stuff?” Jia asked, looking confused. She replied ‘yes,’ thinking he was talking about having girls as friends. I never told her to do that. That was all Jia. Not long after, she got another message from Minjae.
[Oh…Jia, I’m sorry…I’m really busy right now so I don’t think I’ll be able to see you again…I’m sorry…]
Jia remained speechless as she read that message. She looked like she lost the ability to speak. Her face didn’t change at all. Was she trying to decipher the meaning of the message?
After a while, Jia turned to look at me.
“Sian.”
“Yeah?”
“This message…was I just dumped?”
“I think so,” I said solemnly with a nod. I looked at Jia. She didn’t look too good, but she was still beautiful.
“I think you were dumped,” I repeated.
“This bastard,” Jia suddenly spat out.
For a second, I thought she was saying that to me and looked at her in alarm. Jia was typing furiously and suddenly sent another message to Minjae. This one read:
[Fuck off, you perv!]
Wow, that was hot. I had no idea Jia had such fire in her. Anyways, that ended that relationship and Jia came back to my side where she belonged in the first place.
***
The next morning.
It was a beautiful morning, because I wasn’t in the military. It was also because Jia was by my side again. I’ve never felt so at peace before.
“What time is it?”
I looked at my phone to check the time and saw that I had a message.
“Hm?”
I opened it. It was from Jinwoo.
“What does he want now?”
I looked at the message. It read:
[Sian, are you free today?]
He had sent it at four in the morning. What did he want now…I sent a reply.
[Yes, I am.]
I received a message back almost immediately.
[Now?]
[No, not now.]
[Why not?]
[I just woke up.]
[Let’s get chicken.]
[Where?]
I immediately changed and was out the door.
I came out of the dorms to find Jinwoo waiting for me outside. He waved when he saw me.
“Good morning, Mr. Park,” I said with a bright smile.
“You sure look happy this morning.”
“I had some things to take care of, but I wrapped them up well,” I said, my smile becoming wider.
“Huh?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Oh, okay. Well, get in. We’re getting chicken.”
“Let’s just go to a place nearby.”
“There’s a famous restaurant I want to take you to. You’ll love it.”
“Okay.”
I got into Jinwoo’s car.
We entered the chicken restaurant. It really was famous. It was actually on TV!
“Wow, you weren’t kidding.”
“Of course. Have I ever lied to you?” Jinwoo said, looking proud of himself. We haven’t even gone inside yet.
“I’ll save my judgement for after we eat.”
I swallowed my drool as I walked in, with Jinwoo right behind me. I was so hungry. I couldn’t eat yesterday because of Jia and my stomach was about to reach heaven. All thanks to Jinwoo.
“What would you like to order?” a part-timer asked us.
“We’ll take the garlic roast chicken, the seasoned chicken, and the soy sauce marinated chicken.”
There. I ordered three to start us off. The part-timer looked surprise, but Jinwoo barely batted an eyelash. I guess he had now fully adapted to my appetite.
“Are more people joining?”
“No.”
My answer made the part-timer more shocked than ever. She then spoke up.
“I think three whole chicken might be a lot….”
“Nope. We plan to order more.”
“….”
The part-timer looked at me with a perplexed look before leaving. I turned my attention back to Jinwoo.
“So, what do you want?”
“Oh? How did you?”
“You only invited me out here because you wanted something from me.”
“You’re right,” Jinwoo said with an acknowledging nod and smile.
“The thing is,” he said, “You were booked for another show.”
“What is it this time?”
To be honest, at this point, it was no surprise.
“There were two shows actually. One is a mukbang.”
“Wow!”
My excited cry rang throughout the restaurant.
“But the other one…”
Jinwoo began to hesitate.
“What is it?”
“24-hour Jungle…”
“….”
I was speechless.
24-hour Jungle. As the name implied, it was a show where people go into the jungle and live for a few days. It’s definitely a survival show and it’s really famous. You have to live in the wild for a week and when you come back, it’s most likely for you to end up feral and traumatized so most people try to avoid it. Then again, you also become really popular so some people choose to endure through all of it. I was supposed to go on a show like that? Fuck me.
An awkward silence passed over us.
“I’ll do the mukbang.”
“That’s not the important one.”
“….”
“Let’s do it.”
“Where?”
“24-hour Jungle.”
“Sigh…”
Was this guy serious?
“Sian, that show will send your popularity through the roof,” Jinwoo said, trying to convince me.
“I’m popular as it is.”
“We have to make you more popular. You know it very well. 24-hour Jungle is a co-ed program. It has a 25% rating!”
“Sigh…”
I wanted to vomit. Yeah, 24-hour Jungle. A popular show for the whole family every Friday night. If I were to go on this show and make an impact, it could make my whole future. But…but…it’s so far and it’s incredibly annoying…I seriously wanted to cry.
“Let’s try it, Sian. If you go, I’ll give this to you.”
Jinwoo held out his credit card.
“This…”
I almost puked all over him.
“Don’t try and bribe me with this stuff,” I said, pushing the card back to him.
“It’s unlimited.”
“Really?”
I took the card back and slipped it into my pocket.
“I can really use it, right?”
“Yep,” Jinwoo said with a nod that exuded intense certainty. He also gulped nervously as he nodded. I could see him sweating bullets already.
“Then, I’m really going to use it as much as I want.”
“Alright,” Jinwoo said with another nervous gulp. I smirked. Hey, Jinwoo said I could use it as much as I wanted. I definitely planned to take him at his word.
“So you’ll do the show, right?”
“Hm…okay, fine. Why not?”
“Great.”
And just like that, I was casted for 24-hour Jungle.
