Chapter 24
He’s still on the phone.
I already know her, so it didn’t work out. Sorry.
That was it.
Hyunoh’s message ended with just those two lines.
Yeonjae had expected him to at least complain—something like “You should’ve told me earlier if she was someone you knew.” But he didn’t say anything like that.
Yeonjae roughly understood why Hyunoh was being so reserved. After all, if you looked at it closely, Yeonjae was a mutual acquaintance of both of them. It wasn’t really something he could ramble on about.
Instead, Yeonjae found herself burdened with one extra worry.
He’s not mad at me… right?
Ugh. Why did she volunteer to set up a blind date when she’d never even done it before?
But the regret didn’t last long. Another thought soon followed.
Still… when was the last time I talked on the phone with a friend for that long?
The thought made Yeonjae feel strangely nostalgic.
* * *
The next day.
On her way to a major class, Yeonjae heard the sound of someone running toward her from behind.
But wait—did that sentence even make sense?
It shouldn’t.
At school, there were only two people Yeonjae interacted with at all.
Hyunoh and Dohan.
And even with Dohan, she wasn’t entirely sure she could confidently say they knew each other.
Besides, Hyunoh was the kind of person who might arrive late—but would never run.
What about Dohan? He was the type who simply never created situations where he’d have to run in the first place.
Am I still half asleep?
Yawning, Yeonjae turned up the volume of the music she was listening to.
That was when someone tapped her on the back.
Then—
“Yeonjae, hi!”
A bright, lively voice greeted her.
When she turned around, she saw Sieun standing there with a wide smile.
“Oh—hi.”
Yeonjae greeted her awkwardly.
But Sieun didn’t care about Yeonjae’s reaction at all and immediately hooked her arm through Yeonjae’s.
“Heading to class?”
“Yeah.”
“Perfect. Let’s go together!”
Her voice was so cheerful and high-pitched that it was hard to believe she had been sobbing the night before.
“Ugh, yesterday I cried for no reason, so this morning I woke up an hour earlier to get rid of the puffiness in my face. So annoying~”
…Yep. Definitely the same person who cried yesterday.
Feeling oddly embarrassed, Yeonjae scratched the back of her neck.
But Sieun kept talking nonstop.
“Seriously, my face was so swollen today that I spent the entire morning rubbing it with a massage tool. Oh right—Yeonjae, do you have another class after this one?”
“No, I don’t…”
“Wow! Then let’s eat together today! What do you want to eat?!”
“Uh…”
“Let’s eat Yupdduk! Yupdduk!”
And just like that, the lunch plan was decided instantly.
Dragged along by Sieun, Yeonjae arrived at the lecture hall. As expected of someone popular, Sieun started greeting seniors and juniors from their department the moment she entered.
“What flavor of Yupdduk should we get, guys? We’re going after class—do you want to come too? I got paid from my part-time job the other day. I’ll treat you!”
Before long, she had assembled a four-person group for tteokbokki.
“And then we can get yogurt ice cream for dessert. Hehe. I should start thinking about what toppings to get.”
Even yogurt ice cream.
“Yeonjae, what toppings do you like?! I always get chocolate rings and coconut chips.”
“…I’ve never tried it.”
“No wayyyyy!”
…That’s the kind of food people with lots of friends eat. When would I ever have a chance to try it?
By the time Yeonjae finally sat down and opened her major textbook, introverted Shin Yeonjae was already completely drained.
But before she could even catch her breath, the phone lying on the corner of her desk lit up.
Lunch at 12?
It was Hyunoh.
Yeonjae made an awkward face. She had just made plans, so she couldn’t eat with Hyunoh today.
Under the desk, she quickly typed a reply.
I’m eating with a classmate today
After hesitating for a moment, she sent another message.
Sorryㅠ
Thinking about it, there was nothing to apologize for. But lately she had eaten lunch with Hyunoh quite often.
Maybe that was why it felt strangely like she had betrayed him.
And the fact that the other person was Sieun only made things more uncomfortable.
Sure enough, Hyunoh replied.
Why did you suddenly get so many friends?
I don’t know ;;
Hyunoh didn’t ask any further questions and simply replied that he understood before disappearing.
Phew. That was close.
Yeonjae sighed in relief.
After that, the class proceeded as usual.
The noisy group around her fell completely silent the moment the lecture started.
As Yeonjae glanced at the classmates sitting around her with no empty seats between them, she suddenly realized how long it had been since she had been part of a group like this.
Probably around the same time she last had a long phone call with a friend.
Back then, Yeonjae had promised herself she would never get involved with groups again.
Still, she had wondered once.
If I ever become part of a group again, what would I choose to do?
Hmm…
After thinking for a moment, Yeonjae made up her mind.
At the very least, she wouldn’t run away just because she was afraid the past might repeat itself.
* * *
A few days later, cherry blossoms fluttered down from the sky.
No wonder I’ve been seeing so many outsiders lately.
Yeonjae’s university was famous for its cherry blossom spots.
Even to her, the campus looked especially beautiful around this time. Everywhere she looked, petals drifted through the air.
But what was the flower meaning of cherry blossoms again?
Midterms.
So distinguishing outsiders from students was easy.
The gloomier ones were the students.
Anyone dragging around heavy textbooks and walking like a zombie straight out of an urban legend was guaranteed to be a student during exam season.
“Sigh… I’m depressed.”
And today was a weekend.
The outsiders who had come to admire the blossoms—dressed like peacocks for the occasion—stood out even more.
Regardless, Yeonjae yawned and headed straight toward the central library.
That was the reason she had come to school early on a weekend morning.
It was full-blown exam season now, and Yeonjae spent most of her waking hours studying.
Normally she studied at home or at a nearby café, but the café expenses were adding up, and studying in the same place all the time was making it harder to focus.
So she decided to clear her head and walk to the central library—the one she had visited before with Dohan and Hyunoh.
Today I’m really going to study hard.
She stopped sighing heavily and started walking again.
About ten seconds later—
“Hey, Yeonjae.”
Someone called her from behind.
A voice so familiar it felt engraved in her brain.
“Oh—Sunbae…!”
It was Dohan.
“Hi.”
“Hello!”
“Why are you sighing so much on a weekend morning? Something wrong?”
Yeonjae smiled awkwardly and fiddled with the arm of her glasses.
Ugh… if I’d known I’d run into Dohan sunbae, I would’ve worn contacts.
A faint smile passed across Dohan’s face as he watched her.
“Going to study?”
“Yes! Are you going to study too, sunbae?”
“Yeah.”
Before they realized it, they were walking side by side toward the library.
Since it was exam season, the reading rooms were already quite full even though it was still morning.
“If I’d known you were coming too, I would’ve reserved two seats earlier.”
Because of that, Dohan and Yeonjae had to sit in separate areas.
Yeonjae’s small hope of studying side by side with him scattered instantly.
Still… at least we ran into each other and came here together.
As Yeonjae comforted herself and set down her bag, her phone screen lit up.
Want to have lunch together later?
Gasp!
Yeonjae clamped a hand over her mouth. The person sitting next to her shot her an annoyed look.
After bowing her head apologetically, she quickly typed a reply.
I’d love to!!!
Then she immediately regretted it.
…Did I really have to send three exclamation marks?
After that, Yeonjae spent the entire morning worrying that she had shown too much excitement instead of studying a single proper page.
Shall we go eat in about 10 minutes?
In the end, Yeonjae hadn’t managed to turn even one page before Dohan’s message arrived.
She quietly got up from her seat.
“Did you study well?”
Dohan looked the same as always when they met outside the reading room.
It looked like he had actually spent the entire morning studying properly.
“More or less… haha.”
Yeonjae wanted to grab her own head in frustration at how boring she sounded.
She felt like an unsuccessful comedian repeating outdated jokes.
“So what do you want to eat?”
Completely unaware of Yeonjae’s inner turmoil, Dohan asked casually.
“Um… whatever you like, sunbae.”
“Hm? What I like?”
“Ah… I mean, let’s just eat whatever you want.”
“Are you sure? There’s really nothing you want to eat?”
Yeonjae traced circles on the ground with the tip of her shoe.
As her head tilted downward, her hair fell forward, revealing the flushed nape of her neck.
Dohan’s gaze lingered there for a moment—
before quietly turning away.
