When he entered an all-boys high school, he wondered if his popularity would die down a bit, but it was wishful thinking. Many older girls talked to him on the way to and from school. He received countless street castings too.
“You got a new girlfriend again? You’re really addicted to dating.”
Even at his friends’ teasing, Jae-min didn’t particularly add anything. Because Jae-min was indeed addicted to dating at the time. But he didn’t think that was a bad thing.
Though he’d never dated anyone for long, the feeling of always having someone who liked him filling the seat next to him was satisfying.
He wanted to remain popular forever like this. Dating big-breasted girls he really liked easily.
He even made efforts to maintain his sweet popularity. During his school days, he tried almost everything that looked cool.
Because girls squealed at idol singers, he did music too. Fortunately, Jae-min was the type to quickly learn and master anything, and he had talent. He sang songs and learned guitar, strumming the strings. When he gained the title of ‘band club senior,’ his popularity became even more solid.
Since just playing around seemed frivolous, he thought he definitely needed to go to college, so he studied too. Since going to a good university after doing well on the college entrance exam would look stylish, he attended several academies in his senior year.
His grades actually improved, but he was also lucky. Jae-min did better on the entrance exam than his usual abilities, and successfully entered a university he’d applied to as a reach school.
“I got in!”
Everything was smooth sailing. Jae-min believed he would undoubtedly enjoy a more sparkling campus life than anyone else even after entering university.
Every night he imagined a future where he’d enjoy endless popularity, with a girlfriend with an incredible figure rivaling Hollywood stars by his side, giving appropriate openings to women lined up wanting to become Jae-min’s next lover.
Actually, Jae-min’s plan seemed to be coming true to some extent. At the freshman orientation before enrollment, Jae-min received more attention than anyone else, and he immediately had a girl he was flirting with.
“Her name is Lee Yun-ji.”
Among the fair-skinned girls, she was Yun-ji, a classmate who stood out with her particularly dark skin, large breasts and buttocks that couldn’t help but draw the eye even without trying to look. He’d overheard male classmates who loved gossiping joking that with G-cups she should be called ‘Yun-G,’ and he was a bit surprised when he later learned her cup size was actually larger than that.
Jae-min started dating Yun-ji around April and continued the relationship without any problems. His popularity didn’t completely cut off just because he had a girlfriend, but whenever another woman showed interest in Jae-min, Yun-ji handled it in the blink of an eye. Though he was somewhat disappointed, he let it be since there wasn’t anyone else he liked more than Yun-ji anyway.
Dating Yun-ji was enjoyable. They fought sometimes, but Yun-ji easily cooled her anger at Jae-min’s handsome face, and Jae-min laughed whenever he saw Yun-ji’s figure.
And so it seemed he might surpass the first anniversary with a lover for the first time in Lim Jae-min’s life.
Second year of university, early March when the new semester began. At a restaurant famous as a hot spot near school, just as they were about to order food, Yun-ji, who was naturally looking at Jae-min’s phone, opened her mouth.
“Hey, what’s with Kim Se-na?”
Se-na was a business administration senior. Ignoring Yun-ji bluntly calling the three-character name of the senior one year older, Jae-min only skimmed the menu.
“Se-na noona, what about her?”
“Did you promise to go to the pool with Kim Se-na?”
“No?”
“No my ass! You talked so excitedly about it!”
Yun-ji flared up and held out the phone. On the phone screen was the message window where he’d chatted with Se-na the night before. Along with several bikini photos Se-na had sent asking him to help her choose a swimsuit.
“She just said she wanted to go to the pool, so I thought okay. Who said we’re going?”
“You didn’t say you weren’t going either. Why are you saying things like ‘Noona, you’d look pretty in a bikini’?”
Well, because Se-na also had such a great figure that he was looking forward to it. Honestly, if you were to pick the second-best glamorous woman in the business department after Yun-ji, he’d choose Se-na.
But if he laid bare his naked thoughts as they were, Yun-ji would obviously blow up, so Jae-min kept his mouth shut. Though she already seemed quite angry.
“Are you going to keep giving openings to other women like this?”
“What openings.”
“Every time you do this, I really want to break up.”
“There you go again.”
“No. Let’s just break up.”
At that moment, he thought lightning had struck above his head. Jae-min, who’d been leisurely resting his chin in his hand, wobbled and slipped his arm. Ignoring Yun-ji’s pitiful gaze with effort and clearing his throat a couple of times, Jae-min put on a calm face again.
“Lee Yun-ji, think seriously about this.”
“Think about what?”
“After breaking up with me, do you think you can meet someone better than me? Don’t do something that’ll make you lose out.”
“Why can’t I? You think only you’re popular and I’m not?”
Seeing Yun-ji snort as if absurd, Jae-min shook his head.
“It’s not that you’re not popular, it’s that there’s no one better than me. At least not at this school.”
Jae-min knew it all too. That objectively he was extremely handsome, and that Yun-ji incredibly loved this pretty face. So no matter how angry she got, he thought Yun-ji would never be the one to give him up first.
At Jae-min’s confident words, Yun-ji’s face twisted.
“Lim Jae-min, stop being delusional. You are handsome, but you’re not the type that’s so popular women take numbers and wait in line, okay?”
“Huh? You’re denying reality.”
“It’s true. Someone like you who looks like an idol or model is rather the type you want to watch from afar. You were popular when you were young, sure. But to adults, completely different types are more attractive.”
Yun-ji argued passionately with venom, but her words seemed to bounce off, unable to enter Jae-min’s ears. Jae-min shrugged as if it didn’t work at all.
“Anyway Yun-ji, if you break up with me today, you’ll regret it right away. You’ll want to act like it never happened tomorrow, right? I guarantee it.”
“Ha, no? I’m going to date a new boyfriend right away though?”
“Right away? Come on, say something that makes sense.”
“Just wait. You’ll see.”
Flaring up, Yun-ji shot up from her seat. At the scraping sound of the chair, surrounding people’s gazes focused on them.
“Even among the guys who like me! I’ll show you someone way better than you within a few days.”
Glaring at Jae-min with burning eyes and pointing at him with her long finger, Yun-ji grabbed her bag and turned around. Jae-min watched blankly as she roughly opened the restaurant door and left. He took a sip of water.
“Like there’d be a guy like that.”
His stupid girlfriend would surely regret today’s impulsive choice right away tomorrow. Jae-min smiled crookedly with a confident face.
But the next day, an incident occurred that cracked Jae-min’s rock-solid confidence.
“You’re here, Jae-min?”
He’d expected contact to come as soon as night fell, but the contact from Yun-ji came the morning after a day had passed. It was a text asking to meet briefly at ‘Coffee Bear,’ a café they’d often visited together for dates. As soon as he arrived at the café decorated with bear dolls of all shapes and sizes, the first thing that entered Jae-min’s eyes was a living, moving bear.
One giant bear planted firmly next to his girlfriend.
Jae-min narrowed his eyes and watched quietly to gauge what on earth this situation was, when Yun-ji, who spotted him first, stood up and waved her hand. Then she grabbed the arm of the bear next to her—no, the unfamiliar man—and stood him up.
“Honey, say hello. This is the trash I broke up with yesterday.”
The man slowly turned his head to look at Jae-min. A height that seemed to easily exceed 180cm, broad shoulders and back, dark skin and sharply slanted eyes. Though he involuntarily swallowed at the threatening appearance, Jae-min pretended not to notice and trudged forward.
Yun-ji smiled brightly and lifted her chin slightly. Jae-min looked the man over once and opened his mouth toward Yun-ji.
“What the hell are you doing right now?”
“What do you mean what? I told you I’d show you. A new boyfriend better than you. You know who this is, right?”
At Yun-ji’s words, Jae-min looked at the man again. Do I know who he is? Jae-min had no interest in anyone other than big-breasted women. As he silently glanced at the large man, he opened his mouth.
“…Kang Hyun-woong.”
A heavy voice rumbled as it was heard.
‘Kang Hyun-woong?’
At the three syllables that came from his mouth, Jae-min narrowed his brow. Come to think of it, it was a name he’d heard a few times. The man stared at Jae-min with an expressionless face, then added a word.
“We’ve probably met before.”
