Gender Reversed Geum Taeyang - Chapter 16

Chapter 16 – Heading Home

“So, you’ve already made up?”

“Of course. Who do you think I am?”

“And that person just got away with an apology after pulling that stunt?”

“I told you I’m fine with it, Sehee…”

Sehee seems even more displeased seeing us return laughing and chatting after leaving in such a terrible atmosphere.

“Oppa. If you keep letting things slide like this, people will call you a pushover! I can’t stand seeing you get called that!”

“I’m only letting it slide because it’s Ari… Do I look like someone who would get called that?”

“Yes.”

Ah… such a worried kid. Or has my credibility just hit rock bottom?

She might think I’m someone being threatened by a big company streamer.

Anyway, I’ve been getting an earful from Sehee for almost 30 minutes now.

Even before coming to this reversed world, whenever I got hurt at work and came back, Sehee would lecture me endlessly. I guess some things don’t change even in a reversed world. Really, it’s disappointing in many ways.

Ari, the main cause of this situation, is now busy walking around gathering footage for her video.

Being in the reversed world, there’s still an unsettling feeling watching Ari do mostly physical work, but she seems to be helping with odd jobs around our orphanage along with her managers.

Though they seem to joke around occasionally for the broadcast, they’re basically doing solid work.

It’s quite admirable to see someone who got into a good university and makes good money from streaming willingly handle physically demanding, bothersome tasks.

Maybe it feels more so because I’m prejudiced to think such people wouldn’t do physical work.

Looking to the side… Sehee is still watching them with a disapproving expression.

“Oppa… are you close with that person?”

“Not particularly close, since I just met her today. You know I don’t have friends. You’re probably my closest friend.”

“…Is that so?”

Finally, Sehee’s expression softens… no, it wrinkles again as she looks back at Ari.

“If you keep furrowing your brow like that, you’ll get wrinkles later.”

I say while pressing my thumb between her eyebrows. She shows a subtle emotion on her face in response.

“…What is it?”

“Oppa. Do you do this kind of thing to other people too?”

“Pfft. Who would I do this to when I don’t even have a lfriend? I only do this because it’s you.”

Ah. Her expression completely softens. Yes, that’s how you should look, pretty.

Even though she’s been acting out a bit lately, Sehee is like the leader of the orphanage children, and many kids tend to follow her opinions.

If the kids had seen Sehee disliking Ari’s group, filming probably would have become quite difficult.

Now I can finally feel relieved that there won’t be any more occasions to show such expressions to anyone.

It would be nice if Sehee could become friends with Ari through this.

It’s not easy to make connections with someone who attends the Business Department at Korea University.

She could be considered a top expert in college entrance exams, wouldn’t that be a great help academically?

It’s unfortunate from my perspective that their first impression was so terrible.

Well, maybe there will be another chance.

“I should go see Minwoo. You should rest too, tomorrow’s Monday.”

“Yeah. Don’t work too hard either, oppa.”

###

Is it because of the bad first impression?

No. This seems to be just a simple sense of dissonance.

Looking at Yuhan over there, it’s really something… how should I put it.

I now know he’s a good person. Seeing how suspiciously close he is with the orphanage children, he must have been coming here for a long time.

Though I learned painfully today what consequences judging people by appearance can bring… this I just can’t help.

Even my managers eating ice cream beside me, given by the orphanage, seem to be thinking similarly.

Everyone would understand.

“Ebin unnie is the mom and Minwoo hyung is the dad!”

“Then what am I?”

“Um… Yuhan hyung can be the dad too!”

“No, what’s that about.”

What grand setup would children have for playing house? House play is where all sorts of weird mindless concepts come out. A family with two dads is perfectly possible concept, isn’t it?

But this is… one of the dads being Geum taeyang somehow. Um.

Even though that Geum taeyang is a man…

“Unnie… I’m not sure if this is right.”

“Why does this play feel so uncomfortable?”

Right. Though it seemed inappropriate to say out loud so I held back, it really was a strange sight to see.

Anyway, Yuhan seemed more and more peculiar the more I watched him.

I asked him honestly earlier. Though it’s not to brag, but I’m treated as a major company streamer, so why did he say strange things that could potentially risk his broadcast?

‘It fits the concept, right? It’s not like I have that many viewers anyway. Well, I thought that much revenge was fair since you made our broadcast atmosphere weird. Hehe.’

A revenge method I couldn’t understand with my common sense. So I asked again.

Wouldn’t it be better for promotion and image if he participated in this content together?

‘Geum taeyang shouldn’t do good deeds. That would be terrible. I’m not keen on using the orphanage to draw attention either.’

Since he said he’s not a college student, he doesn’t need to fill volunteer hours either.

Is he saying he comes here every week purely because he likes volunteering?

Maybe I’m just thinking crookedly, but… isn’t this not something you see often?

Though he mentioned concept up front, his true feelings probably came out in what he said after. That he didn’t want to use the orphanage.

Also, he seemed to think that if he appeared in this content, it might diminish its meaning.

Honestly, though he looks like he couldn’t be more of a delinquent based on appearance, when you actually talk to him, he’s someone who speaks very considerately.

Of course, he seems a bit inconsiderate on broadcast, but that’s well…

Still, I still don’t understand why he deliberately maintains such an appearance.

Tanning that’s hard to see in Korea unless you’re in the West, silver piercings in his ears with unknown meaning, and now even his blonde hair is showing dark roots coming up without any maintenance, giving off a dull shine.

Honestly, just looking at his features, wouldn’t he be considered one of the most handsome men anywhere?

I couldn’t ask because it seemed rude, but I wonder if there’s some profound meaning I don’t know about in that tanning.

“Unnie. Did you really make up with that person? You’ve been through so much stress because of him until now.”

A manager asks while watching Yuhan putting on a performance matching the children’s incomprehensible setup in their house play.

My managers, being the closest witnesses to the conflict between Yuhan and me, seem unable to easily believe my words about making up with Yuhan so quickly.

Well, even I would find it hard to believe, but when two people’s personalities match this well, your heart opens up naturally even if you don’t want to make up.

“I keep telling you we made up. Today’s filming went smoothly because Yuhan helped too.”

“Looking at him like this, he does seem like a decent person…”

Anyone watching Yuhan responding with an unwavering smile to a child spouting words only they could understand would probably think the same as my manager. That he seems like a decent person.

“Unnie, you talked to him directly. What was his personality like?”

“Well… there are some slightly strange aspects.”

Like how he acts surprisingly feminine at times, or his bizarre appearance.

But this one thing I can say for certain.

“He seems like a good person.”

###

“Is all the work done now?”

Ari seems to be the type of person who pays back extremely when she’s done something wrong.

She sent all her managers home in one car and is still here, insisting on driving me to my house separately.

The current time is 8 PM. Didn’t she say she fought with her boyfriend? Shouldn’t she go home as early as possible then? Even though I’m Seong Yuhan, forever single, I think I understand that much.

I tried telling her to go first since I was planning to stay late anyway, but she firmly refused, saying men should be careful at night.

‘Wouldn’t people who run into me at night be in more danger?’

‘Still, it’s better to always be careful, right?’

Well, I’m just happy to save on subway fare and get home faster.

Anyway, I got into Ari’s car and we headed to my house.

“You can sleep if you’re tired. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”

“Thanks, but I’m not particularly sleepy, and they say you shouldn’t doze off in the passenger seat.”

“Who says that?”

“The ahjussi I used to do loading work with.”

“Uh… you did loading work with an ajussi…?”

“Ah… ah, ahjumma! The ahjumma I carried goods with said that!!”

Ahjussi Kim who taught me all the tricks of loading work… could he have become Ahjumma Kim now?

Even though Ari and I had already talked a lot at the cafe earlier, our conversation never stopped due to lack of topics.

Indeed, having similar interests is a big advantage in conversation.

“So you’re just going to keep playing Minecraft on your broadcast? No plans to try other games?”

“My computer isn’t good enough to play games that need control.”

“Even Minecraft is hard to run on a bad computer… how much did your computer cost?”

“1 million won. Including the monitor. Of course I run games on minimum settings when broadcasting.”

Minimum settings. It means adjusting all graphics-related options to minimum to make the game run as smoothly as possible.

Actually, during broadcasts, you can see the rather bitter graphics and visibility distance where even slightly distant areas aren’t visible due to my adjusted options.

Ari looked at me with shocked eyes upon hearing the price of my high-end computer.

Damn it. What can I do about not having money? Even this I bought by scraping together everything I could.

“The signal’s changed. Look ahead. Ahead.”

“Oh… right. But you should really upgrade to a better computer for broadcasting.”

“That’s true, but if I put together a computer now, I’ll barely be able to pay next month’s rent. I need to see how the broadcast grows this month before thinking about it.”

Before coming to this world, a lot of money went to hospital bills so I don’t have much saved up.

The money I earned this week is… about 100,000 won?

I really might need to look into loading work part-time jobs. At this rate, I might be found as a corpse before the year ends.

Though worries suddenly piled up, I put aside thoughts about the future for now.

Thinking about such things while talking to someone else tends to create an awkward atmosphere.

Chatting along while riding in the car made it feel like we reached my house faster than expected, despite the considerable distance. Before I knew it, the car was in my neighborhood.

An overall gloomy atmosphere, roads stained with filth, street lights with weak illumination. One clean car standing among them. A strange combination creating a strange atmosphere.

“Ah. You can drop me off over there.”

Ari stumbles, apparently not having much experience driving on narrow roads. Still, the car inches forward and now it’s time to get out. Next week there won’t be a car… I’ll really miss the comfort of riding in a vehicle.

Putting those thoughts aside, I carefully opened the car door, got out, and knocked on the driver’s side window where Ari was.

“You really worked hard today, Ari. Well, say hi if you see my video on your broadcast later. And you have to do that collab stream, okay? Let me leech off your success a bit.”

“Pfft. Yeah, really thanks for today. I’ll definitely contact you later.”

A man’s farewell only needs one word.

Just as I was about to turn around coolly after exchanging goodbyes, my body stopped. Why are you doing this to me now? I thought you’d calmed down.

My body, moving on its own, turned back around and approached Ari.

With one hand, I grabbed the back of her head and pulled her toward me.

“Send me the video you filmed today first when it comes out.”

I whispered in her ear. Words full of meaning.

“I’ll take your first time.”

My face, filled with intense emotion, was reflected in Ari’s wavering eyes.

“Hehe… get home safely?”

The dull golden hair clinging to Ari’s clothes sparkled in the dim street light.

(End of chapter)