Chapter 2.1

Chapter 2

I shouted with all my heart at the center of the world.

“Ahhh~! I want to have sex~~!!”

Then, people passing by looked at me as if they were staring at an idiot.

It was a crowded alley with high foot traffic.

A hot place filled with bars, popular restaurants, and dating spots.

Pretty girls and cocky guys swarmed around like cockroaches.

I was the only one there alone.

Because I had just been dumped by my girlfriend.

No, actually, calling it a breakup is a stretch. I’m not even sure if she was really my girlfriend to begin with.

We said we were dating, but we never really did anything a couple would do.

So, before breaking up, I tried to at least have sex with her once.

But what I got wasn’t sex—it was a slap to the face.

“Damn… I know I could do a good job, too.”

I rubbed my still-stinging cheek and looked enviously at the couples passing by.

I was confident I could do well if I only got the chance.

But the problem was I couldn’t even reach the starting line of actually “doing it.”

What’s the difference between me and that guy walking with a pretty girl on his arm?

Is it the face? Yeah, it’s probably the face. Damn it!

“Eek?!”

I glared at some guy nearby, who looked like he was trying to be a ladies’ man, and he bolted away as if escaping a madman.

“Damn it.”

I swallowed my frustration and hurried on my way home.

That’s when I noticed a group of women.

About seven or eight young women were walking in a line coming toward me.

Typical girls. Always in groups, yet never make way for others.

Oh, the epitome of self-centeredness!

Why do women walk in a line even in a narrow alley?

And they keep walking straight ahead, not caring if there’s someone in front of them.

In dramas, when a man and woman bump into each other on the street, it often leads to romance.

But that’s because they’re good-looking, like actors.

For someone like me, bumping into a woman would probably only lead to a fight.

Thinking about it made me even angrier.

“Ah!”

-Thunk!-

Was it because I was distracted by my thoughts? Something happened in the end.

I tried to turn my shoulder slightly to avoid the oncoming women.

But the woman directly in front of me didn’t move an inch. It was as if she expected that I, the man, should naturally step aside to avoid her.

As a result, her shoulder slightly brushed against mine as I tried to dodge. (Though she was my type, I didn’t bump into her on purpose.)

Slightly. Very slightly. It was a barely-there touch, like a butterfly landing and then flying away.

To me, it barely felt like anything at all.

But apparently, it wasn’t the same for her.

“What the hell?!”

The woman shrieked, making a big fuss.

Wow. Right on cue.

Just the reaction I expected.

As if someone like me would ever have a romantic encounter.

“What happened?”

“Are you okay?”

“Did you bump into that guy?”

The women who had been walking in a line quickly gathered into a group.

Damn it. If they could do that, why didn’t they walk that way in the first place?

“Hey, mister! You should apologize if you bump into someone!”

The woman I had brushed against glared at me, seething.

Of course, I was partly at fault for not avoiding her completely.

But if we’re talking fault percentages, it was 30:70 or at least 40:60, with her being more at fault.

Even an accident expert would be rubbing his neck over this.

Above all, her tone was beyond annoying. Damn it.

“No, I didn’t bump into you. It’s just that you…”

“What did you say?!”

I tried to speak calmly, but she came at me like she was ready to punch me.

Damn it. Should I really hit her once?

Typical of women—they’ve never been hit, so they don’t even think about the possibility of getting hit.

That’s why they cross the line and act up without any hesitation.

But since she was with a group, I’d automatically be at a disadvantage.

Even if the police got involved, they’d side with her without question.

If I ended up with a false accusation, wouldn’t my life be ruined?

“Ha…”

I had just come outside to get some fresh air. I didn’t want to mess up my life over this.

So, even though it sucked, I held it in. I decided to apologize and end it.

Just then.

One of the women, who had been watching with a bored expression, called out loudly.

“Hey! Aren’t you the Jjooji King?”

“Uh…”

The Jjooji King.

I hadn’t misheard her. And she probably hadn’t misspoken, either.

Because Jjooji King was, in fact, my nickname back in the day.

The reason for that nickname was pretty simple.

…My name is Joo Ji-wan.

Even though my “jjooji” is big, that’s not why I was called Jjooji King.

For elementary kids, names are like a spring of nicknames.

Twisting my name Joo Ji-wan into Jjooji King or even Jjazi King just came naturally.

But that was all in the past.

After high school, no one called me that anymore. I mean, we weren’t elementary kids anymore.

But to hear that name from a girl my age now… should I be happy about this?

“Uh, who… who are you? Shin Ji-yo?”

Given that she called me Jjooji King, there was a high chance she was an old friend.

So I almost spoke informally. But for some reason, as soon as I was about to, the atmosphere among the women turned icy. That’s why I quickly switched to formal speech.

Seriously, what’s with this? Even when I was arguing with that woman, it wasn’t this tense.

Do they really have to look at me like they’re ready to kill just because I almost spoke informally?

“Haha! Look at this guy. It’s me! Don’t you recognize me?”

“Uh…”

But the woman ignored the atmosphere and patted me on the shoulder as if we were close.

Uh… what’s going on here?

The nickname Jjooji King was familiar, but I didn’t recall ever being called that by a girl.

Naturally, it was a nickname only the guys used, and any girl who overheard it would cringe in disgust.

So I was baffled to hear a girl call me Jjooji King now.

If there had been a pretty girl like this around me, there’s no way I wouldn’t remember.

“Sis, do you know him?”

“Senior, let’s just go already.”

“Seriously, look at his stupid face. So annoying.”

“…What?”

Anyway, just as things seemed to be winding down…

Even someone like me, who’s often called the reincarnation of Buddha, couldn’t let that one slide.

I can handle insults about my face. It’s true I’m not handsome.

But I won’t forgive anyone who insults my face to my face.

“Hey, what the hell did you just say?”

The one who insulted my face was the woman I’d bumped into.

She started muttering again, blaming me.

“I mean, you bumped into me and didn’t even apologize…”

At that moment.

-Smack!-

The sound of a slap echoed through the air.