Chapter 18
Then, the next mission.
“When you return the shirt, tuck in something like chocolate.”
“Just grab anything from the convenience store.”
“Then there’s about a 66.6% chance he’ll message you separately.”
…Why 66.6% of all numbers?
And chocolate? She wasn’t some elementary school kid offering MyChew to make friends. Giving someone sweets to show affection—wasn’t that a little too childish for a college student’s idea?
Even so, doubtful as she was, her body moved on its own.
Yeonjae had always been good at doing exactly what she was told. The moment she got the message, she stopped by a convenience store and picked out some decent-looking snacks.
At first, she planned to slip in just one item like Hyunoh suggested, but it somehow looked too empty, so she added candies, gummies, and different kinds of chocolate as well.
“…Yeah.”
When Yeonjae answered belatedly, Hyunoh chimed in with something that sounded half like praise, half like mockery. “You’re so~ good at following instructions.”
“Why didn’t you go early in the morning and give it to him at the library? You’re such a model student, you don’t seem like the type to sleep in.”
“I love sleeping in. And that would make it too obvious that I like him. Wouldn’t that be burdensome…?”
“Haven’t you already been making it pretty obvious?”
“Ah… well, that’s true. But I don’t want to come off as a burdensome girl.”
“Don’t you think you passed the ‘burdensome’ stage a long time ago?”
“No, sunbae. Unrequited love isn’t that simple. There’s a whole world of agony that people without experience just wouldn’t understand.”
“Oh, is that so? Yaaawn. I’m too tired to live like that.”
Hyunoh replied indifferently and strode ahead of her.
After a few steps, a thought suddenly struck Yeonjae. She stopped walking and rummaged through her bag on the spot.
Though he had seemed like the type to walk on without paying attention to the person behind him, the moment her footsteps ceased, Hyunoh immediately stopped and turned around.
After digging around for a while, Yeonjae pulled something out and handed it to him.
“What’s this?”
It was chocolate.
“It’s nothing much. I don’t usually eat sweets, but during exam season I always crave chocolate for some reason. I feel like I have to eat some before a test, too… So while I was buying some for Dohan sunbae, I got one for myself and one for you as well. You like sweets, right…?”
“Oh. One for me too?”
Hyunoh lightly shook the chocolate now in his hand.
“Can I misunderstand this?”
“W-What?!”
“Kidding.”
He smiled in a way that felt almost unfair.
In an instant, the atmosphere turned awkward. Well, awkward only for Yeonjae. Hyunoh walked on as if nothing had happened.
When they reached the central library, he pushed the door open, then held it as he checked that Yeonjae was following behind.
At that small, casual gesture, Yeonjae felt strangely flustered and gave an awkward little bow of her head before stepping inside.
Once she was fully in, Hyunoh naturally let go of the door and it swung shut.
For a fleeting second, it seemed like she saw Hyunoh’s faint smirk reflected in the glass window—or maybe it was just her imagination.
—
While riding the elevator, Hyunoh exchanged messages with someone and then said,
“Dohan’s seated in the inner section of the reading room.”
It seemed he had been texting Dohan. Yeonjae nodded slightly.
As they entered the reading room, they lowered their footsteps. Like most libraries, the place was so quiet it felt as if even the sound of an ant crawling wouldn’t be tolerated.
Going further inside, she spotted a familiar black head of hair—so familiar it felt etched into her mind.
It was Dohan.
Broad shoulders. A thin wired earphone trailing down. A black Jetstream pen in his hand. Beside him sat a slim leather pencil case and a half-empty bottle of Icis water that looked like he’d bought it on the way.
Her foolish heart was already pounding.
Not wanting to disturb him, the two chose nearby empty seats. Yeonjae took out the major textbooks she had brought.
After a while, a notification popped up in their group chat.
Around 1, lunch?
Then Hyunoh slid a Post-it toward Yeonjae. Written on it were the words:
“Today’s mission: Private message (Priority: ★★★)”
As if that note had drained all his energy, Hyunoh stood up before 1 p.m., complaining he was hungry and suggesting they go eat.
Since Yeonjae hadn’t bought coffee and her eyelids were already growing heavy, she followed without protest.
“Wait. Bathroom.”
But the moment they left the reading room, Hyunoh disappeared, saying he needed to use the restroom, leaving Yeonjae alone with Dohan.
As soon as Hyunoh—the one who had been neutralizing the awkwardness—vanished, the air grew noticeably stiff.
Silence fell between them.
Yeonjae debated saying something to Dohan but couldn’t bring herself to act.
‘I wasn’t this timid…’
Yet for some reason, whenever she stood in front of Dohan, she felt like she lost her true self and became some ridiculous inflatable balloon figure flapping in the wind.
Just as she was mentally tearing her hair out—
The one who seemed least likely to speak before Hyunoh returned broke the silence first.
“Yeonjae.”
When their eyes met, Dohan smiled faintly and asked in his usual gentle voice,
“Do you have plans tonight?”
“N-No!”
“Really? You’re dressed in a style I don’t usually see, so I thought maybe you had plans.”
“Ahaha, is that so?”
“What’s your eyesight?”
“About minus six. And I have severe astigmatism.”
“Oh, that’s really bad. I thought so.”
And just like that, the conversation fizzled out.
All that remained was her wildly pounding heart.
Yeonjae subtly tugged down the hem of her skirt. It only came to her knees, but her legs suddenly felt too exposed.
After that, they exchanged a few harmless bits of small talk.
“Is your house close to campus?”
“How did you get here?” and the like.
The more she spoke, the more she felt like she was becoming a boring woman, so near the end she simply shut her mouth altogether.
It was strange.
Why was it that in front of the person she most wanted to seem lively and charming to, she became the dullest version of herself?
Her spiraling thoughts only stopped when Hyunoh returned, shaking water from his hands. He grabbed Yeonjae and Dohan each by a shoulder from behind and urged them to hurry.
—
The student cafeteria, open only at lunchtime on Saturdays, was much emptier than on weekdays. The only menu item was omurice topped with pork cutlet.
She had always preferred being alone, so this was her first time coming to the cafeteria with others.
And the fact that one of them was Dohan—if her past self had known, she would’ve fainted from disbelief.
Yeonjae was still thinking about earlier.
“Do you have plans tonight?”
She knew perfectly well Dohan had said it casually, but—
‘He only asked if I had plans. It’s not like he said I looked pretty. Why am I like this?’
She felt foolish for being so worked up alone.
But that’s what unrequited love does. It makes even smart people stupid. For ordinary people, it’s worse—they turn into complete fools.
She stood last in a line of only five people, rubbing her cheeks with the back of her hand, which felt hot.
“Looks like you’re about to cook.”
“Huh?!”
She turned to see Hyunoh wearing a crooked smile.
On his tray, the omurice looked less like fried rice and more like a mountain of steamed rice.
“You do know your ears are bright red too, right?”
“Seriously?!”
“Yeah. For real.”
Damn. So it wasn’t her imagination.
“Something happen while I was gone?”
“Ah, not really. Dohan sunbae just asked if I had plans tonight…”
“And?”
“That’s it…”
“That’s it? Over that?”
“What do you mean ‘over that’?! You really don’t understand unrequited love at all!”
Hyunoh scratched the back of his neck.
He didn’t. To be honest, he didn’t care.
Whether someone liked him or didn’t. He had never liked someone first. Never felt his heart race because of someone.
For a brief moment, he felt oddly embarrassed that he’d never experienced a truly sincere love.
Yeonjae piled food onto her tray and followed him. Hyunoh sat across from Dohan, which naturally left Yeonjae seated beside Hyunoh.
Dohan, who had started eating first, looked up.
“Why did you take so long?”
“The line stalled for a bit.”
Hyunoh brushed it off when Dohan gave them a questioning look.
“Oh, after we eat, we should grab coffee. Shin Yeonjae says she wants some.”
At the sudden claim, Yeonjae’s eyes widened.
…Me? I mean, I do desperately need caffeine.
“Dohan, did you buy coffee?”
“No. I was going to.”
“Perfect. Let’s all go together after.”
So they decided to have coffee together.
As Yeonjae picked at her food, thinking she needed an Americano to wake up—
“Yeonjae, you eat so little.”
Dohan’s voice cut in.
“Huh?!”
“You always seem to eat barely anything.”
Her mind raced.
If he was asking that, it meant her pecking at her food must have looked particularly unappealing.
‘So Dohan likes girls who eat well.’
She quickly defended herself.
“I usually eat a lot! Haha. I just don’t have much appetite today. Why am I like this? Haha.”
But before she could save herself, Hyunoh cut in.
“Liar. You always eat like a bird.”
“That’s not true!”
It wasn’t a lie. She wasn’t a huge eater, but she ate as much as most people.
It was just that food wouldn’t go down easily in front of someone she liked.
“I can eat two packs of ramyeon.”
“I eat three.”
“Then I eat four.”
“I eat five.”
“Are you guys in elementary school?”
Only when Dohan intervened did their childish contest stop.
As they returned their trays—
“Ah, I need to take this.”
Hyunoh suddenly held his phone to his ear.
“This might be a long call. You two go ahead to the café.”
“Oh? What do you want?”
“You’re going to the student union café, right?”
“Probably?”
“Then Java Chip Frappuccino. Extra whipped cream.”
And just like that, he disappeared.
Once again, Yeonjae was left alone with Dohan.
Feeling awkward, she fiddled with her fingers.
Just then, her phone screen lit up.
I’m clearing out so you get your chance V
Do well.
