Chapter 55 …
A Dating Sim Without Any Romance
Between the girls’ dorm and the boys’ dorm.
There was no other presence on the emergency staircase. The round crown of black hair I’d seen from below looked almost perfectly circular.
Do Yeyeon had been staring this way from the moment I opened the door.
“Lights out in five minutes.”
What was he doing here at this hour?
‘I was startled when I got his text.’
Like me, he must’ve just finished washing up—his hair was still slightly damp at the ends.
Under the sensor light, his eyes looked more moist than usual. I stood on the landing, facing him.
“What’s up?”
He didn’t answer right away.
Click—the light went out. His slightly subdued voice echoed softly in the dark.
“I heard you rolled.”
Ah.
‘So it spread to the boys, too.’
No matter how much the story got buried under a certain celebrity’s name, we were in the same class. It was bound to get around.
“How badly were you hurt?”
“I’m fi—”
Click—the light came back on.
I instinctively corrected myself.
“A little.”
For some reason, I couldn’t lie.
‘Maybe it’s because we’re on the emergency stairs.’
I remembered the day we’d sat side by side on these steps. I’d cried. He’d listened.
“Gu Eunjin told me. I….”
His thin lips pressed together. An unnatural silence followed.
The sentence came three beats late.
“I only found out around dinnertime.”
This wasn’t really Do Yeyeon’s fault.
The rumor itself had spread late. Most of the students only heard about the incident in the evening.
‘Everything got sorted before the others came down the mountain.’
The gossip picked up speed after Vanessa returned from the hospital.
Who pushed whom. What the situation was.
Benny had neatly summarized the conflict to a few people. Those few told others, and those others told more….
‘Most of them probably found out around then.’
But it didn’t seem like that was the answer he wanted to hear.
For someone who didn’t talk much, he’d gone out of his way to text me, meet right before lights out, and bring this up….
‘This is hard.’
It wasn’t that I didn’t understand his intention.
It was too clear. There was a faint note of reproach in his tone—like he was saying, I’m hurt.
‘Should I say I’m sorry?’
After all, he and I were “friends.”
He was always hovering around calling himself my friend—so if he had to hear through rumors that I’d nearly gotten stranded and hurt, that would feel pretty ridiculous.
‘But is apologizing the right move?’
Lowering my head and admitting fault wouldn’t be hard…. But was that really what he wanted to hear?
Click—the light went out again.
I waved my right hand over my head. The yellow glow flickered back on, revealing dense eyelashes, pale cheeks, and a mouth that looked faintly sulky.
“Hey, Yeyeon.”
“Yeah.”
“Were you really worried about me?”
“You seriously… that’s such an obvious—”
His tightly wound expression twisted visibly. He roughly swept his bangs back and let out a long sigh.
‘It’s not obvious at all.’
At the beginning of the semester, he wouldn’t have cared if the person next to him got hurt or skipped class.
“Hey, Yeyeon.”
“What now.”
“When we go to the beach tomorrow… want to stick together?”
The tension drained from his scrunched-up eyes.
“…Okay.”
Click—the light went out. As he nodded, I couldn’t see what expression he was wearing.
The afternoon of the third day was unbelievably clear.
The wide stretch of ocean shimmered emerald. A few students ran straight into the water without even warming up.
“Wow, Yeyeon, do you want to do that too? Dive?”
“No.”
Figured.
With his shirt buttoned all the way up to the collar, Do Yeyeon didn’t suit the beach at all.
“It’s free time anyway. Let’s just walk around slowly.”
“Come to think of it, where’s your camera?”
“The lens shattered.”
After rolling that dramatically, there was no way the lens survived.
‘Vanessa said she’d make them pay for it.’
In any case, there was nothing I could do as a photography club member right now.
Vanessa couldn’t walk around because of her ankle, and my phone was a flip phone.
“Oh right, can I borrow your phone for a sec?”
When I held out my hand, Do Yeyeon handed it over without even asking why.
“After you’re done….”
“Hm?”
“After you finish taking pictures, take one with me.”
“So you’re saying you want to take a picture with me?”
“Yena told me to.”
He added it quietly, as if making an excuse.
‘So shy.’
If not for his little sister, he probably wouldn’t have taken a single photo of himself.
“That’s no big deal. Let’s take it now.”
I switched to camera mode and stood close beside him.
Our elbows brushed lightly—cool against each other. Immediately after, he stepped away.
“Your arm….”
“Hm? My arm?”
Following his gaze, I looked down at my bare arms. Nothing seemed especially wr—
“Oh, the bruises? They’re kind of bad, right? Got them from rolling yesterday.”
“I saw those yesterday. …Where’s that jacket you always wear?”
“It’s hot, so I left it on the bus.”
The hem of my black skirt fluttered near my ankles. I deliberately grabbed the edge of my dress lightly and swung my knee.
“How is it? I bought it new for this school trip.”
“How is what?”
“Isn’t it pretty? It’s sleeveless, so it’s cool. Sobin said dresses suit me.”
“Who’s Sobin?”
“A friend of the class president. She recommended this. The sandals too.”
As expected, Do Yeyeon’s reaction was lukewarm.
‘Well, he probably can’t even tell whether I curled my hair or not.’
After tidying the curls the class president had carefully styled for me, I took the photo—keeping a slightly awkward distance, just the way he seemed to prefer.
Click, click.
“That’s enough.”
“We’ve only taken two?”
“That’s enough. …Let’s go get something to drink.”
Without even checking how the pictures turned out, Do Yeyeon turned and walked away.
The convenience store closest to the beach was packed from the entrance.
“Wow, is this the only store around here?”
“Seems like it.”
“There are so many people. What if someone faints?”
“…I’ll buy it. You wait in the shade.”
“I’ll be bored waiting alone, though?”
“It’ll just get more crowded if we both go in.”
No wonder he was first in the entire grade—so logical.
After telling him what I wanted to drink, I strolled leisurely back toward the beach.
Maybe because it was school trip season, I could hear different regional accents here and there.
‘Looks like a lot of other schools came too.’
Some people were boldly striking up conversations with total strangers.
“Which school are you from? Where’s your dorm?”
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Oh, I’m flying out tomorrow too. Then maybe at the airport….”
It was youth in its purest form.
“Excuse me.”
Of course, at this age—or even ten years later—I’d never asked for someone’s number or had someone ask for mine.
“Excuse me, I—!”
“Huh? Me? Are you talking to me?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
When I came to my senses, some random guy was standing in front of me.
He smiled a little shyly and spoke up.
“Where are you from? How old are you?”
“Ei— eighteen.”
“Same age as me?”
Is this… hitting on me?
“Can I get your number?”
Wow. It really is.
It was kind of novel, but my answer was obvious.
“No. I can’t.”
“…Huh? Oh, do you have a boyfriend?”
“I don’t.”
“Then can’t you give it to me? We can just stay in touch.”
I should’ve just said I did.
“Huh? Honestly, I’m pretty popular at my school.”
“Congratulations. I hope you enjoy that popularity.”
“No, what I mean is—”
“Sunbae!”
A bright, sing-song voice full of cheer.
There was only one person in the world who called me that.
“What? What is it?”
His forehead, flushed from the heat, was red like a slice of watermelon. Ma Hae-won casually draped an arm around my shoulders.
“Were you trying to get our sunbae’s number? Hm?”
“She said she doesn’t have a boyfr—”
“We’re not dating.”
His lips curved high in a fresh smile. The next words were just as breezy as his expression.
“I just like her on my own.”
