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This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 54

After finishing the task in a somewhat neat manner, the moment I stepped out of the pension, the scene before my eyes left me stunned.

It was no wonder, considering that astonishingly, the tent had still not been set up!

I mean, there were only four people who had been at it for hours, so why was he still in such a state?

Dumbfounded, I couldn’t hold back my laughter as I approached Jinho, who had come to tease me, and asked him what they had been doing instead of setting up the tent. His response was a real spectacle.

“Dehet…”

“Dehet, my foot… Did you catch a heatstroke in the middle of winter? Huh?”

“Ah, I don’t know how to set it up, what should I do then?”

“Isn’t there, like… an instruction manual that came with it?”

“There was, but honestly, I wouldn’t understand it even if I looked at it.”

“What? What kind of…?”

Is this what they call a ‘do it for me’ generation?

To not be able to set up a tent even with the instruction manual included?

“Look, who are you staring at like I’m some kind of idiot for not being able to set up a tent when you can even do it?”

“That much should be a piece of cake as long as there’s a manual.”

“That much is a bit much to say considering the size of the tent, you know?”

“Well…”

That was true.

While we were picking out the gear from the storage, it was true that Mr. Oh had gotten a bit carried away with what equipment he picked out.

“Hey, can we just… go down now and switch for a different tent? We’ll be sleeping inside anyway, and that one is a bit… excessive.”

“Nope, no can do. No exchanges. Go back.”

“Why not!”

“Well… that’s ‘aesthetic’ for you.”

Nowadays, with the advanced technology, there are one-touch tents that inflate automatically when you throw them, meaning you don’t have to hassle with setting them up piece by piece. Considering how all sorts of camping gear are piled up inside that storage, maybe we could dig through and find one like that…

But honestly, what fun would that be?

That would be for people who’ve turned camping into a daily affair and no longer feel the freshness of the experience.

Therefore, for newbies like us who don’t even know the ‘cam’ of camping yet, this set-up was the right choice, no matter how you looked at it.

Of course, it would be a bit… tough, but isn’t there a saying that youthful struggles are self-imposed?

So—

“Alright, let’s get to it.”

“Ugh…”

“After we finish this, we can rest a bit and BBQ; that’ll be heavenly.”

“It’d be tastier to eat while resting.”

There were some petty objections, but somehow, we managed to get the two fools to start setting up the tent.

While the three guys, including me, focused on setting up the tent, the girls were not just standing there.

Making the most of this, they disappeared in a hurry, bringing back necessities for the BBQ we’d have for dinner, like lettuce.

‘Sigh…’

Looking at that, it’s true that Yoonseo made a good friend.

If it were other girls, they would be far too busy doing their own thing, totally ignoring the guys struggling with the tent.

They were probably just fiddling with their mobile phones or watching us struggle.

How can I be so sure?

In this world, that’s just the way it is.

So I can’t doubt it.

‘Now that I think about it…’

It’s quite remarkable.

When I was a kid, I mean, back in elementary school, even if I felt a bit of a difference, it wasn’t like this openly obvious.

Could it really be that just a few years older and with a clearer head, people could change so much?

Thinking about that made me a little worried as I entered high school.

Even now, talking to girls other than Yoonseo and her close friends makes it painfully clear how much they look down on us guys.

How much worse would it be in high school, which is supposed to be a whole level above?

Since the school has split apart, I won’t be able to rely on Yoonseo’s support as I had been so far, and I fear I’ll get trapped in my shell over there.

As I imagined those not-so-distant future scenarios—

“Hey, hey!”

A voice calling me snapped me out of my thoughts.

“Uh…?”

“What on earth are you deep in thought about?”

“Oh, just… this and that? By the way, why did you call me?”

“I was wondering if this goes here.”

“Huh? That? Hold on… ah, yes, it fits there! You just plug it in and anchor it to the ground.”

“Really? Hmm… by the way, I feel like there was a hammer-like thing around here earlier…”

As Jinhee was busy trying to tension the tent on the ground rather than on his pants, some sort of conspiratorial plotting was secretly taking place at the sink that had been commandeered by the girls.

*

“So what’s this… Plan B you mentioned?”

What could it possibly be to drag someone all the way here?

Curiosity got the better of me, and when I asked, the response I got had a surprisingly serious look on their face.

“Yoonseo.”

“Huh?”

“What do you think is the biggest obstacle in advancing your relationship with Dogun?”

“That would be…”

I couldn’t easily answer that question.

It wasn’t that there was nothing coming to mind.

In fact… there were so many things that it was a problem.

“If you had to pick just one?”

Just one…?

Then there was only one clear answer.

“…He’s oblivious.”

So that’s it, the biggest hindrance.

He’s the type who seems oblivious to everything unless he’s feeling something strongly.

If it weren’t for that, we wouldn’t be in such a frustrating situation now, would we?

On one hand, I wondered if that’s also why we could maintain the current state.

If, hypothetically, Dogun were even a little aware of my feelings…

He would’ve figured them out long ago.

If that were the case… things might have ended one way or another.

Thinking about that, I felt it was hard to view that point purely as an obstacle.

That’s how I thought about it, but still picked that one when asked…

“Yeah, it definitely seems… that way.”

I’m not sure if I should be glad about this or not, but the reaction I got seemed to agree with my assessment.

And following that reaction came—

“But… have you ever thought about something?”

What possibility could they mean?

“I mean, what if he’s not oblivious, but just pretending to be?”

“Pretending to be oblivious… what reason would he have to do that?”

“Why do you think it wouldn’t make sense?”

“Well, that’s…”

“Think about it. What’s keeping you from confessing to Dogun?”

“Well, that’s only one thing.”

The fear of ruining our current relationship.

If my confession succeeds, I couldn’t ask for more, but if I failed, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy our current relationship either.

“Yeah, that could be the case. But why do you think you’re the only one feeling this way?”

“…What?”

The moment those words flowed into my ears, it felt like I had been struck on the back of my head with a blunt object.

I hadn’t even considered that point, and if it were true, it felt exceedingly harsh.

What if, just as Sangah said, Dogun was deliberately acting oblivious for that reason?

If I were to muster up the courage to confess, it’d never be accepted!

All this time he had just been feeling down for that reason—

“No, that’s something nobody knows until actually confirmed.”

The suggestion Sangah put forward seemed subtly different.

“We won’t know until we confirm it.”

Hmm. A slight twist there. Does that mean the playacting isn’t over yet?

“Well… considering normally that does make sense… but you know, human feelings are like that. They can seem simple but are incredibly complex…”

“…So?”

“So now, we need to find out what he really thinks.”

But how?

No matter how hard I tried to think, nothing definitive came to mind.

Of course, it would be pointless to go up to Dogun and ask him directly—it’s not like he’d just spill it.

If it were something he could easily share…

He wouldn’t have to go through the trouble of pretending to hide it.

“By the way, have you ever heard this saying?”

What could it possibly be?

I couldn’t comprehend her meaning when she left out any specifics.

“Drunken truths.”

“…What?”

Drunken truths?

I mean, I’ve heard of it, but isn’t that something you would need to get him drunk for first?

Realistically, getting him drunk was not an option.

After all, I was still underage and couldn’t even buy alcohol!

But where would one find the alcohol to get him drunk?

Trying to dismiss it as just nonsense, I had almost brushed it off, but then I caught a glimpse of the sly and scheming look on my friend’s face.

Ah, so this girl really has gone off the deep end again.

“Do you know what my mom always says? To learn someone’s true feelings, first you have to get that person drunk.”

“You can’t be…Seriously?”

“Isn’t there a thermos in the pension fridge? Guess what’s inside that?”

“No way, I can’t believe you’re suggesting that…”

Just when I was about to point out that my conscience was flaring up, she jumped in before I could speak.

“…Don’t you wanna check it out at least once?”

The sweet voice wrapping around my ears made it nearly impossible to say no to the suggestion.

“How Dogun really feels about you?”

This World is too Cruel to Men

This World is too Cruel to Men

Score 10
Status: Completed Type: Released: 2021
In this world, a man’s fate is one of two things. Either he becomes a cog in the wheel of society that can be replaced at any time… or he becomes a trophy.

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