Nerd Guy Taste Makeover — Episode 3

"Well, then…."

As Ju-ri opened her mouth, every pair of eyes swung toward her. She wasn't the type to shy away from explaining or running things as team lead, but this time she felt a touch flustered.

What an odd combination.

They were all grown adults, and this hadn't even been an organized gathering to begin with, so people had split off into their own clusters on their own — yet somehow, the table where she'd ended up sitting was made up almost entirely of familiar faces.

She rolled her eyes inwardly.

The only person she was meeting for the first time today: Park Hae-seong of the Innovative Products Division. Oh Joo-won, smirking the moment their eyes met. And then… Han Geon-joo, a wallflower born of the shadows themselves.

Ju-ri smiled pleasantly.

This is the worst.

About thirty minutes into the gathering, she was seriously contemplating quitting the club.

"Shall we start by picking a location?"

"Sounds good. Mountains, the sea, or a valley? The weather's warming up, so anywhere would work, but personally I'm partial to the ocean."

Ju-ri had barely gotten the ball rolling before Hae-seong responded cheerfully.

"Isn't it still a bit cold to swim in the ocean?"

When Joo-won voiced his displeasure, Hae-seong merely shrugged.

"Just looking at it is nice enough. I went hiking recently, and there are so many bugs in the mountains this time of year that it might get uncomfortable. If we're saving the beach for summer, a mountain trip now wouldn't be bad. As long as you can put up with the bugs."

"A valley looks better to me."

"A valley works too."

Even under Joo-won's sniping tone, Hae-seong never lost his easygoing smile.

Good-natured guy.

He wasn't a bad person, but Joo-won had a habit of being uniquely prickly toward other men, and his remarks carried more than enough edge to come off as picking a fight — yet Hae-seong kept his composure without a flicker.

Thank goodness someone like him is here, honestly.

"What about you two?"

A born MC by nature, Hae-seong turned his gaze toward Ju-ri and Geon-joo.

The two answered at the same time.

"The ocean, please."

"The ocean."

Ju-ri raised an eyebrow and looked at Geon-joo. The huge lenses of his glasses caught the café's light and flashed.

"There are tons of bugs in the mountains these days, like Hae-seong said. Especially caterpillars everywhere — I think it's better to wait a while before going to the mountains. You don't have to swim at the beach; just watching it is lovely."

"Fair enough, the ocean's good any time of year."

Joo-won jumped in hastily. Hae-seong, who had been easygoing from start to finish, stared at him with a question mark hovering over his face. At that bewildered reaction, Ju-ri quietly turned her head away. Joo-won's the one acting without any class — why am I the one embarrassed?

"Ju-ri, recommend a place you like."

Please, just stop talking.

Unfortunately, Hae-seong and Geon-joo had both turned to look at her as well, so brushing it off was no longer an option.

"If it's a camping ground near the ocean, there's Mongsanpo Camping Ground in Taean — that one's really nice. The sea's right in front of you, so if you get up early you can watch the sunrise, and it's absolutely gorgeous. The facilities are clean, too."

"When did you go there? With friends?"

Joo-won's eyes blazed with the question, but Ju-ri breezily ignored him.

"Sounds good to me? I'm a beginner who's only been a few times tagging along with friends, so I'll defer to the recommendation of someone with experience."

His remark cut off mid-launch, and Joo-won swept a disgruntled look over Hae-seong.

Hae-seong was tall and clean-cut, but Joo-won was the jealous, small-minded type who'd made a scene every time a new guy joined the department. Now that she looked closer, apparently it wasn't just in the department — he did this everywhere.

But only toward men who, in his own judgment, warranted watching. The type who intuitively seemed like they'd be popular with women, in other words.

Joo-won with sparks flying from his eyes, Hae-seong smiling like a friendly golden retriever.

And Han Geon-joo, ignored by both of them.

Nothing in the world is more transparent than a pissing contest between men.

"How old are you, Hae-seong? You look young."

Joo-won threw out his first check swing. The so-called age attack. His plan, clearly, was to slap the youthful-looking Hae-seong down with seniority.

"How old do I look?"

Hae-seong had been the one asked, yet he turned to Ju-ri and bounced the question right back. She pressed a hand to her brow. Look at this guy. He's a step above Joo-won. When she shot a sidelong glance at Joo-won, he was glaring at Hae-seong as if he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

"Twenty-nine?"

"Twenty-nine? Thank you very much."

"You're older than that?"

"Older than I look. I'm thirty-three."

Ju-ri's eyes went round. Joo-won, the same age as her, went just as wide-eyed.

"What about everyone else?"

"Oh, I'm thirty-two."

Joo-won fell silent, wearing the expression of a man chewing something unspeakable. She clicked her tongue.

Transparent. Absolutely transparent.

As if by prior agreement, all three pairs of eyes turned toward Geon-joo. The man's slumped shoulders flinched beneath that overgrown mop of hair. He had the biggest build of anyone here, and somehow the least presence.

Mid-thirties, I'd say. Maybe thirty-five at most?

…Forty?

Those guesses belonged, in order, to Ju-ri, Hae-seong, and Joo-won.

Then Ju-ri's gaze drifted to the cheeks and jaw visible below Geon-joo's glasses. Huh, his skin's actually clear, though?

Younger than thirty-four… maybe?

"I'm twenty-nine."

"…I'm sorry?"

"……?"

The mood turned frosty.

…Twenty-nine? He has to be joking.

She stared at the man's tightly sealed mouth. It looked like there wasn't the first syllable of a joke anywhere in it.

Ju-ri studied him again. The trinity of bottle-thick glasses of a prescription severe enough to warp the face behind the lenses, a shaggy mess of hair that a magpie might mistake for prime real estate, and a plaid shirt that appeared never to have followed a single trend in its existence. To any observer — wasn't that the portrait of a confirmed bachelor, mid-to-late thirties, never married?

"Ah, haha. Well, you carry yourself very maturely. You must be great at your job."

Hae-seong, who had parried every one of Joo-won's jabs so far, was now just saying anything at all. What does looking mature have to do with being good at your job?

Joo-won said nothing, his face a mask of studied indifference, and Ju-ri was still reeling from the shock.

Hae-seong hastily changed the subject.

"So, shall we go with the Taean camping ground Ju-ri mentioned?"

"Yes, let's do that."

It seemed settled.

"That would be difficult for me. It's quite far."

Geon-joo pushed up his glasses and held out his phone screen for them to see. A map glowed on the display.

"It takes a full two hours to get there."

"Well, two hours by car isn't…."

"It'll be longer on a weekend. That's four hours of round-trip time spent purely on driving."

God, he's blunt. Ju-ri kept smiling while she thought it. Just let the little things go — no, he has to nitpick every last detail. Honestly, his own fashion sense is a far more urgent emergency than that campsite. Ugh, those trash-tier glasses hurt just to look at….

"Then where would you like to go, Geon-joo?"

"Anywhere is fine. I'm a complete novice at camping, so I'll go along with everyone's preference."

"……."

"I only brought up the distance to the Taean site because it seemed far. For a first camping trip, I thought it might be better to pick somewhere more accessible."

Oh, how considerate.

"If we're going at all, might as well go somewhere nice."

Joo-won spoke in a tone of vague detachment and slid Ju-ri a glance, grinning as if he'd just taken her side.

"Are you planning to drive yourself?"

"What? Why would I?"

"If you're driving there and back yourself, I certainly won't stop you."

"……."

Joo-won, who didn't have a license, scowled.

"Hmm, that's a reasonable point. So what shall we do?"

When Hae-seong looked at her, Ju-ri sighed.

"Then let's find somewhere closer."

Well, it's not bad that he's actually voicing opinions. Deciding to take goodwill where she could find it, Ju-ri searched for relatively nearby camping grounds in the greater Seoul suburbs. This time even the wallflower didn't object, and they settled on a glamping-and-auto-camping site near Yangpyeong.

"Ju-ri, what should we do about equipment?"

"Each department can request what they need and there's a budget for it, so let's talk about what's worth buying first."

Ju-ri wrote Equipment on her phone screen with her stylus as she spoke.

"With the company subsidy we can't buy anything expensive anyway — we'd have to dip into the personal-activity fund too. Anything the company buys counts as communal gear, so returning it afterward is a hassle. How about we use the subsidy for something like a grill, and buy our own tents out of pocket? Sharing a tent someone else used feels a bit off, doesn't it? And they're not even that expensive."

Hae-seong and Joo-won nodded along in agreement.

Then—

"I'd suggest not using personal money unless absolutely necessary."

There it was. Han Geon-joo again.

"…Why?"

"Looking it up just now, the cheaper ones run about a hundred thousand won. We haven't even tried the activity yet — there's no need to buy expensive equipment up front. Try it out first, then buy only if we decide we need it. Wouldn't that make more sense?"

Hae-seong and Joo-won both turned to Ju-ri. She was silent for a moment, then curled only the corners of her mouth into a smile.

"Then let's make it optional. Whoever wants to buy one, buys one."

A hundred thousand won and he calls it expensive equipment.

If he found out what my tent cost, he'd faint.

Hers had set her back 2.1 million won.

Ugly plus wallflower plus cheapskate equals…?

Extinction event?

Well, fine. Everyone spends differently, I guess.

She studied Geon-joo for a long moment. Whether it was the glasses or that last exchange, an already severe expression had grown even more forbidding. She didn't need to ask how he enjoyed his hobbies to know the answer.

Cost-performance.

She could practically see the two syllables branded onto his forehead.

A sense of foreboding crept over her.

Somehow, she had a feeling this man and she were going to keep colliding, over and over again.