Gender Reversed Geum Taeyang - Chapter 83

Chapter 83 – The Brave Man

People who meet Seong Yuhan for the first time generally fall into two categories.

Those who are captivated by his handsome appearance and approach him as if entranced.

And those who are intimidated by his eerie and frightening aura.

And the majority of men belong to the latter category.

Just like these two people drinking with Lee Junhyuk.

Junhyuk’s friends sensed that something was wrong.

They had graduated from the same high school as Ari and knew her personality well due to their own friendship with her.

The Ari they knew was someone who could never and would never change into such a person.

While they were experiencing this sense of their common sense being destroyed.

They lowered their eyes after feeling the glaring gaze from beside Ari.

Something must have happened to their friend Ari.

They felt they shouldn’t avoid that gaze, if only for their close friend Junhyuk, who was Ari’s boyfriend.

But their instincts sensed danger.

Beyond fear, they began to feel a sense of defeat as men.

Meanwhile, Junhyuk was in despair at the fact that the woman in front of him had called his name.

Acknowledging, that was Ari meant having to acknowledge that something had gone terribly wrong.

Ari herself had directly ended Junhyuk’s escape from reality, which he had been trying to avoid.

And while he was still struggling to regain his composure.

Like his friends, he too noticed the presence of the man beside Ari.

A man he remembered seeing before. The man he had definitely seen when he went to Ari’s broadcast. The man with the thug-like appearance.

Junhyuk’s brain quickly assessed the situation.

He concluded that the man in front of him must have done something to interfere with his relationship with Ari.

Along with his extremely self-centered thinking, hostility arose.

Of course, fear, threat, and a sense of defeat as a man – the emotions his friends had experienced also approached Junhyuk.

But his reaction was somewhat different from others.

Due to being heavily drunk, he couldn’t properly feel those emotions.

Moreover.

Whether for women or men, whether in this reversed world or not, losing one’s partner is always a terrible pain.

And people who are close to losing their partner tend to develop an inexplicable courage.

For these reasons, Junhyuk gathered his courage.

It felt like if he backed down here, he would never see Ari again. Like he would lose Ari for good.

Also, a happiness circuit started running in Junhyuk’s head.

That thug-like man must have done something to pure Ari.

That if he just dealt with that man, Ari would come back.

That if that man just disappeared, he could spend happy days with Ari again.

In reality, Junhyuk already had no chance at all, but anyway, that’s what he thought.

“Hey… take your hand off.”

Even saying one word was extremely difficult.

But Junhyuk didn’t back down.

“Who are you to put your hands on Ari!”

Shaking off his friends’ hands on his shoulders, he stepped forward steadily.

He saw his hand holding Ari’s arm.

Ari’s short-sleeved shirt that looked unusually short today.

He saw another man’s hand wrapped around Ari’s bare skin.

Junhyuk roughly reached for Seong Yuhan’s left hand and.

Immediately, Yuhan’s right hand caught Junhyuk’s wrist.

“Hey… What are you doing?”

An eerie voice echoes.

Junhyuk was shocked.

Originally, he had almost no experience fighting with anyone, and even if men did fight, it was generally incomparable to women’s fights.

Also, in men’s fights, it wasn’t about strength but about momentum and atmosphere.

However. From this thug-like man who was looking down at him with all expression erased from his face, no ordinary feeling flowed.

An overwhelming aura too intense to be called manly. It seemed like he might throw a punch at any moment.

Of course, he had no intention of backing down because of such things.

“A-are you not letting go?! Do you want to get reported?!”

“Ha… what the hell…”

When he hit the thug’s arm with his other hand, the man released Junhyuk’s wrist.

Seong Yuhan was annoyed by the actions of this dislikeable man who had been making Ari suffer all this time.

He let go of Junhyuk’s arm because he didn’t want to waste energy on unnecessary things and was disgusted by his pathetic behavior.

But that action encouraged Junhyuk’s courage.

He just looks threatening but he’s a man just like me.

Anyway, neither of us probably has real fighting experience, so if I keep up this momentum, I can win.

With such thoughts in his mind, Junhyuk started raising his voice.

###

It’s my first time actually seeing this man called Junhyuk. I mean that I didn’t know he would be such a pathetic human being.

Well, given the timing, he might be uncomfortable with me being next to his ‘ex’-girlfriend.

But it just looks like he’s drunk and causing trouble to others.

From what Ari has said, it seems like things that had been building up resulted in their breakup.

It seems like this man’s behavior was the biggest cause of the breakup in the first place.

Now he’s desperately clinging to Ari like this.

I feel sorry for the time Ari spent dating such a guy, and thinking about how she must have suffered makes me sad.

His appearance is also like that. I’m not someone who judges others by their appearance, nor do I think beautiful people should only date handsome people.

But. If I were such an ordinary-looking man, and with such a face, if I got to date a woman like Ari who has the looks of a celebrity or better.

Moreover, if that woman only had eyes for me.

I wouldn’t have cut off contact with my girlfriend just because of pride.

Probably most ordinary men would be similar. So should I say he’s below ordinary?

While thinking such thoughts, Junhyuk, who had been standing there breathing heavily for a while, started attacking with words this time.

Damn. Is this what they call the reversed world?

If you want to fight, then fight. Earlier, when he reached out his hand, it was utterly clumsy, and when he hit my arm, it was utterly clumsy too.

I let go because it was pathetic, and now he wants a war of words?

In the previous world’s construction sites, at least where I worked, fist fights were the norm, seeing this kind of behavior makes me lose strength.

Listening to what he’s saying, he’s asking what I did to Ari, telling Ari to come to her senses, threatening to call the police if I don’t let go of Ari.

This is driving me crazy. Why do I have to be here doing this?

Ari also looks quite unwell, I want to let her rest quickly but time is being wasted in a strange place.

Should I hit him? No… even if it’s a fight between men in the reversed world, one-sided violence could cause problems.

Looking at it this way, I guess I’m not such a manly man either.

While thinking such thoughts for a moment, people who appeared to be Junhyuk’s friends started trying to stop him from spouting all sorts of nonsense.

I sighed watching that scene.

Well, it’s fortunate there are some sensible people.

I walked past them with Ari, who was pressing her head firmly with her right hand as if she had a headache.

How much did she drink to be acting like this?

She seems to feel quite guilty about doing that to me. I should explain my position once she sobers up. I hope Ari doesn’t feel more troubled.

But then.

“…!!”

“What now…”

Junhyuk shook off his friends and ran in front of us again, starting to shout.

Was he annoyed that there was no reaction to what he said earlier?

The level of his statements was higher than before.

From rumors about what I did to Ari to family insults. He was sitting there saying all kinds of things.

Hmm. Honestly, even though I’m insensitive to insults, I don’t want to hear family insults. Even though I don’t have parents, bringing up family itself is unpleasant.

Being an orphan isn’t shameful, but it’s inevitable to feel bad about such words.

Looks like he succeeded in making me feel bad. Considerable displeasure rises. Blood vessels show on my tensed neck.

I made a fist by tightly clenching my right hand.

I can feel my whole body’s muscles moving perfectly on their own without any thought.

I can feel Geum Taeyang’s instinct and my reason working together.

It’s my first time feeling the sensation of working together with instinct.

I don’t intend to hit him. If I throw this as it is, it really seems like it would cause big problems.

Just. Wouldn’t it be fine to extend it moderately, aiming beside his head?

Just a minor threat.

I, my instinct pulled my arm back slightly at an appropriate angle and.

The moment I was about to thrust it towards Junhyuk’s side.

SLAP-!

A refreshing sound echoed through this alley.

“Ah… Ari…?”

This is… Junhyuk’s voice.

I.

Um.

I can’t speak.

Ari slapped Junhyuk’s cheek.

Looking at her face, she seems very angry. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen Ari this angry.

Is she still very drunk? She’s not the type to use her hands like that.

I’m grateful she hit him instead of me, but won’t this cause problems?

“Ari…? Why did you…?”

“Yu… Yu… Yuhan… how dare you say that to him…!”

A shocked Junhyuk. A slurring Ari.

Ignoring him, Ari looked at me and started apologizing while sobbing.

Saying that she was very wrong, that it was her fault for dating such a man.

Hey, she still seems very drunk. I wonder if she still thinks this is a dream?

As for me.

I just hugged Ari and stroked her head. When I did that, Ari’s words soon stopped.

I plan to accept the remaining apology when she’s sober. That would be better for Ari too.

Glancing at Junhyuk, he’s sitting on the ground stroking his cheek with lifeless eyes.

Ignoring him, I walked past him with Ari.

No sound came from behind us.

(End of chapter)