Riser

34-41

Added 2025-07-26 23:15:58 +0000 UTC

Chapter 41

“...You should have told me beforehand if you were meeting a guy.”

“I’m not meeting a guy! He’s just the superpowered person who did my plastic surgery!”

Kim Minji and Ha Jungwoo were left alone, bickering.

Lee Jinwoo and Kim Minji’s friends had long since left for another place, probably the Ja-Ae Cult, where they would get plastic surgery just like Kim Minji.

“...Besides this time, have you been secretly seeing other guys?”

“W-what kind of talk is that? Do I look like that kind of loose girl?”

“....”

Kim Minji looked like a queen bee with many men just by appearance, but Ha Jungwoo knew well that wasn’t true when it came to her personality and life.

‘Well... I don’t know what happened after her appearance changed.’

“Why no answer? Do you really think that?”

“...Sigh. Okay, maybe I got too worked up.”

“...Hmph!”

Kim Minji clearly showed she was sulking, but Ha Jungwoo didn’t want to comfort her because he hadn’t settled his own feelings yet. So they went back together but didn’t speak for a long time.

A few days after Kim Minji introduced her friends to Lee Jinwoo and fought with Ha Jungwoo, a “gyaru” craze swept their school. Starting from Kim Minji, her friends also adopted the gyaru style!

Wow, she’s really pretty.

...Maybe I should try it too.

Their presence enchanted girls who were still pure.

Wow, that figure.

I almost backed out in the bathroom earlier.

They became “semen thieves” for lustful adolescent boys.

But not everyone looked on them favorably...

“Hmph, they’re just girls who got prettier thanks to plastic surgery. I’m a natural beauty!”

“Right, Jisoo. Those girls will sag when they get older.”

Students who disliked the current gyaru, formerly “ordinary girls,” busied themselves gossiping. They said their faces would ruin, their genes were ugly, and that they just acted like prostitutes anything to make themselves feel superior.

Among them, Kim Jisoo was considered the leader.

She felt her status lowered by the rise of gyaru. For example, a male friend who used to be friendly had become cold, or people who once only complimented her now compared her to the gyaru.

What made her angrier was overhearing boys call her a “water rocket” because of her looks.

At first, she didn’t know what it meant, but after learning, she was so angry she couldn’t sleep. Of course, she ruined that boy’s reputation through her connections.

“Sigh...”

“Why, why... Jisoo, did I say something wrong...?”

“No.”

Kim Jisoo looked at the girl in front of her. Not as pretty as herself, but quite cute. She was her favorite “toy.” The way she watched Jisoo sigh was adorable. They’d known each other since middle school.

“Hey.”

“Y-yeah?”

“Do you know how to spy?”

“....”

Kim Jisoo decided to take down Kim Minji’s faction from within. She was sure Kim Minji alone couldn’t threaten her position, but with gyaru increasing, she had to nip it in the bud.

If she stayed still, her influence and even her looks would lose value. Her instincts warned that gyaru numbers would double.

Ha Jungwoo had been awkward with Kim Minji for days after their fight. His friends even asked, “Did you guys fight?”

‘But... I can’t back down.’

Ha Jungwoo was an ordinary person, but before that, he was a man. Losing to a woman was unmanly.

‘Come to think of it, it’s not really my fault.’

He followed Kim Minji secretly? It was wrong, but she didn’t find out. He “accidentally” saw her with another man and got angry.

‘...Maybe I said some harsh words.’

That wasn’t like him. Even seeing Kim Minji with a strange man, he planned to watch quietly and talk calmly, but somehow he spoke angrily first.

‘It wasn’t intentional, but I was right to be angry.’

But not everything in life follows logic. Sometimes emotions matter, Ha Jungwoo knew.

No, all that was just an excuse. The real reason he didn’t approach Kim Minji was that she never came to him first.

Kim Minji clearly liked him. And he liked her because of that passionate love. But...

‘Doesn’t it bother her that we’re apart?’

It bothered him. He thought about approaching her first. But that meant his feelings for Kim Minji were stronger than hers, and the initiative in their relationship would shift to her.

‘But... what if we break up?’

He didn’t want that. But somehow, he felt he could accept it. Maybe he didn’t love “Kim Minji” but “Kim Minji who loves Ha Jungwoo.” If she stopped liking him but he still liked her, it would be a lonely fight.

Ordinary men go with ordinary women his mind was a mess.

Hey! Look, Kim Minji and the others... where are they going?

‘Now... she doesn’t even talk to me and just leaves first.’

Where could they be going?

Ha Jungwoo decided to secretly follow Kim Minji again, like before.

Kim Minji was depressed after fighting with Ha Jungwoo. Her friends (the gyaru girls) tried to cheer her up by inviting her somewhere nice. Before things got awkward with Ha Jungwoo, she would have refused, but today she couldn’t.

“Wh-where is this...?”

Kim Minji entered a board game café near school.

Inside, her friends and some handsome male students sat facing each other.

Hey... I have a boyfriend, why did you bring me here?!

What... You’re going to live with your boyfriend forever? People go on blind dates even with boyfriends these days~

What nonsense...

Come on, don’t be like that!

After checking the room, Kim Minji tried to leave, but her friends grabbed her and wouldn’t let go.

“L-let go!”

“Ah, come on~ We had a hard time too~”

“Yeah! We even made sure the numbers were right because you were coming!”

Kim Minji muttered, “This isn’t right...” but she felt her friends’ determination in their grip. They held her so tightly she got bruises on her wrist.

“Haha, your friends are really cute~”

“We’re just here to have fun, no pressure!”

“Hehe, sorry, this friend recently fought with her boyfriend...”

“Hey... What are you talking about...!”

“...Oh, you have a boyfriend! Don’t worry! These days, relationships are all about freedom, right?”

“...We’ll handle our relationship ourselves!”

“Oops! I think I overstepped...”

Ding!

“Well then! What shall we do? Poker? Dalmuti?”

‘This just proves Jungwoo was right...’

This couldn’t go on. If Ha Jungwoo saw this, it might be the day they broke up. He had to leave quickly.

Wow! Poker!