There Are Four Top Idol Uncles - Chapter 208

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2, Episode 34
* * *
…I thought it had wrapped up so cleanly.
Yewon conjured a hundred question marks above her head as she made her way to the cafeteria.
What’s going on? Did I mess up somehow? Why… why is she acting like this?
There was only one reason for Yewon’s confusion.
…Seo-ah, whom she’d thought the conversation had ended well with, was now staring with wide, fierce eyes and padding after her like a lost duckling!
‘Good grief!’
There’s no need to watch horror films. She had a live screening running right behind her.
Since Kang Seo-ah, who normally wouldn’t spare anyone a glance, was now shadowing only Yewon, naturally the rest of the class started buzzing.
‘What’s wrong with Kang Seo-ah? Is she nuts?’
‘She always seemed a little off anyway, but she’s actually lost it.’
‘Is this some kind of obsessive fan thing? It’s genuinely creepy. Look at her eyes. That’s not the look of someone in their right mind.’
‘Wow, Yewon. She really does attract weird people. Hyun Si-woo, Kang Seo-ah, all of them. Is that why she has no real friends? Just surrounded by weirdos?’
‘They say stars drive haters and fans crazy… guess she’s just driving everyone around her insane.’
…and so on.
Ugh.
Yewon was practically on the verge of tears inside.
When she read countless malicious comments online, she’d think, ‘My, what a waste of time hating someone else. How bored must you be? That’s pitiful…’ — and it wouldn’t bother her at all.
But now it hit differently. It hit hard.
No… it’s not like everyone around me is abnormal…!
Though she’d remained unmoved by countless rumors before, this one felt more unfair than anything else.
Then.
“…Yewon.”
“!”
As if sensing her distress, Si-woo quietly fell into step beside her.
“If you’re uncomfortable right now… tell me. I can help.”
Hmm.
Yewon found herself at a loss for words seeing Si-woo’s genuinely concerned expression.
I’m grateful, really, but you’re included in the rumors about me too.
And have you forgotten about competing with me? Have you just decided to be friends instead?
She considered trying to gauge his intentions, then thought better of it.
“It’s fine. You were like that at first too, remember?”
“?!?!?!!”
Regardless of Si-woo’s shocked expression, Yewon quietly collected her lunch and sat in an empty spot.
Thunk.
“!”
Clang….
“?!!!”
Then Seo-ah and Si-woo set their trays down one after the other and sat beside her.
How could two lunch trays sound so utterly different when put down?
Yewon deliberately pretended not to see the two of them and focused entirely on her rice.
I really don’t want to hear that I’m a collector of weird people…!
I already have more than enough of that with my uncles from my father’s side…!
“Eat well, Yewon.”
“Mm. You too, Si-woo.”
As if to emphasize that Si-woo was trying to sit across from Yewon, not next to Seo-ah, he deliberately spoke only to Yewon.
And Kang Seo-ah, whether they did so or not, continued eating with an expression that said she was deeply displeased about something.
Actually.
…could what she was doing even be called eating?
Yewon was taken aback looking at Seo-ah’s tray.
A handful of rice grains. One piece of fruit. One bite of meat. One sheet of seaweed.
Did she really just take that as a meal?
Though she’d been trying not to get too entangled with Seo-ah, she simply couldn’t ignore eating like this.
“Seo-ah. Are you planning to go grab something else from the snack bar later?”
“What?”
At Yewon’s words, Seo-ah frowned sharply and shot back a reply.
Then, glancing back and forth between her own tray with its proper amount of rice and Seo-ah’s sparse one, she let out a short laugh.
“You don’t bother with managing your own health?”
“!”
“That’s the dream, isn’t it? Eating whatever you want, as much as you want, and still landing the lead role.”
Was that really how it worked?
Yewon found herself at a loss for words against Kang Seo-ah’s anger-laden remark.
But then, in that moment—
“…Your tone is a little—”
“Seo-ah, I think you and I have different ideas about what self-discipline means.”
“!”
Hyun Si-woo blinked, watching Yewon cut him off mid-sentence.
But from Yewon’s perspective, it was only natural.
She didn’t want to rely on anyone else’s help for matters of the heart.
“The way I see self-discipline, it includes taking care of your health. If you eat like that—carelessly, haphazardly—sooner or later it’s going to take a toll on your body. And when that happens, your acting and your schedule will suffer for it. I don’t want to be known as an actress who can’t even manage her own condition… but I guess you’re fine with people saying things like that about you.”
“!”
At Yewon’s words, Kang Seo-ah’s face cycled through shades of red and purple.
But Yewon didn’t bat an eyelid, her gaze fixed only on Kang Seo-ah’s food tray.
*Tsk.*
That was the expression she wore.
And with that, Kang Seo-ah shot up from her seat and vanished.
Mm…
Yewon exhaled a long, weary breath.
“You okay?”
Hyun Si-woo asked, watching her.
“Yeah. I’m fine. The one who isn’t fine isn’t me, but rather… it’s probably…”
…Seo-ah.
Yewon let her sentence trail off.
But why does this boy keep taking my side like this?
She paused for a moment, then met Hyun Si-woo’s gaze directly.
“Si-woo.”
“Yeah?”
“If you’re here beside me because of Haion, you don’t have to be. I really don’t care about Haion at all.”
Yewon let out a small sigh.
Why should this child have to suffer because of adults?
“Of course I understand your position too. I know how much the adults must be pushing you. But I’m fine, so I’ll tell them myself. I’ll make sure they know that Yewon has no interest in Haion whatsoever.”
Yewon spoke with utter sincerity.
It broke her heart to see this poor boy wasting his middle school years—years that should be filled with happiness—on her account.
Normal middle school boys his age were probably eating like they were vacuuming up their food and kicking a soccer ball around on the playground right now.
“…Is it uncomfortable for me to be around you?”
“…!”
But the response that came back was strange.
“Then I’ll… just keep quiet. Stay out of your sight—”
“Nonsense.”
“!!!!!”
Naturally, that shocking word hadn’t come from Yewon.
Yewon and Hyun Si-woo both opened their mouths in unison and turned to stare at the person who’d reappeared.
“What are you looking at? I said nonsense because you’re being ridiculous. Just eat. And stop putting on a lovey-dovey show right in front of people—it ruins everyone’s appetite.”
Bang.
Kang Seo-ah set down her tray, heaping with rice, with a harsh clatter as she spoke.
Love…
Lovey-dovey? And with Hyun Si-woo, no less?!
Yewon was on the verge of fainting from the shocking words.
For someone who prided herself on being Confucian, they were positively mortifying.
* * *
And then.
There was someone quietly observing the whole scene.
“Wow. These first-years are loud as hell.”
“Why don’t you go over and tell her to shut up?”
“Hell no. You didn’t hear the story about the director? She’s the director’s niece, man. They say once you go into the director’s secret room with him, you come out a completely different person—like your soul’s been swapped out. Seriously terrifying.”
“See? Connections are everything. Blood ties beat academic connections and regional connections every time, right?”
Among the third-year students openly mocking Yewon and her friends.
Yoo Eun-o simply ate his meal in silence.
Today, he’d really just wanted to eat alone.
The moment Eun-o sat down, uninvited guests rushed at him, shouting, “Hey, Eun-o! Why are you eating alone?”
These were people who could barely get a word in otherwise, but now they had plenty to say.
“You hear about it? That guy in Film Studies, Class 2. Kim Hyun-wook.”
“Oh. The congressman’s son?”
“Yeah. Kim Hyun-wook pulled the whole congressman’s-son thing on Yewon, and Yewon just said, ‘So what?'”
“Wow.”
“That’s insane.”
“First-year audacity. Legendary.”
“Man, I’m gonna be born with a Haion spoon next time. Damn it!”
As one of them let out that cry, he felt Yewon — and everyone around her — turn to look his way.
For a moment, Eun-o felt a violent urge to smash every boy’s face here into his tray.
And then he startled at himself for it.
Why was he getting angry on someone else’s behalf, inserting himself into something that wasn’t his? And doing it in a way that didn’t suit him at all.
This was completely unlike him.
Eun-o forced down the rage threatening to burst and the cold, suffocating weight of memory, then rose from his seat.
“What? You done eating, Eun-o?”
“I haven’t eaten anything.”
“You never eat properly but keep growing anyway. You hoarding the good stuff at home or something?”
As Eun-o stood, the tiresome voices clung to him like insects.
“The principal’s behind you.”
“?!!?!?”
“What?!!”
At Eun-o’s words, everyone spun around in panic.
Of course, there was no principal behind them.
“If you’re going to be that scared, you might as well live that way all the time.”
“…!”
“At least then you’d look less of a coward.”
Everyone fell silent at his words.
Without another glance, he turned and walked away.
Curses followed him from behind, but for the first time, Eun-o found he didn’t care at all.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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