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Episode 3
“Nothing. So just lighten up.”
“Nothing?”
“Yeah.”
“Nothing, but… why are you acting like this?”
“Just because. It’s fun.”
As Yeon-jae scowled deeply, Hyun-oh smiled boyishly.
“When you make that face, you look really ugly.”
Yeon-jae’s lips were tightly sealed, let alone showing any sign of a smile.
“Smile a bit. Don’t you know that smiling brings good luck?”
“I need something to smile about first.”
“You’re not having fun eating with me right now?!”
“No.”
“Oh dear. How unfortunate.”
Hyun-oh smiled with an expression that wasn’t the least bit sorry. After that, the conversation continued to dart around without settling on any one topic.
Hyun-oh neatly finished his remaining pork blood soup. Meanwhile, Yeon-jae’s pork bone soup looked almost the same as when it first came out.
Yeon-jae stared blankly at Hyun-oh eating and thought:
I retract all the positive assessments I’ve ever had about Kang Hyun-oh as Dohan’s friend.
As soon as she got home, she planned to erase everything about Kang Hyun-oh in her notebook. And she would open a new page and write this:
Total old-timer. Insolent. Sullen bastard.
When Hyun-oh finally put down his spoon, Yeon-jae started to get up. Then Hyun-oh said,
“You don’t smoke, right? I’ll go out first and have one. Come out in 3 minutes.”
“Oh, okay.”
Yeon-jae, halfway up, awkwardly sat back down.
Hyun-oh stood up, holding his textbook along with a pack of cigarettes he’d just pulled from his pocket. He turned back to look at Yeon-jae as he was about to walk away and threw out a comment.
“Oh, by the way. You’re paying. I don’t have any money.”
ha.
Need to add one more. Beggar bastard.
However, the meal had already been paid for.
The part-timer said casually,
“Your companion paid earlier when he went to the bathroom.”
Feeling somewhat dumbfounded, Yeon-jae left the restaurant.
As soon as she came out, she spotted Hyun-oh. He was smoking in front of an ashtray made from a jar filled with sand.
Spotting Yeon-jae belatedly, Hyun-oh stubbed out his half-smoked cigarette in the ashtray.
And he walked ahead towards the school.
Yeon-jae followed behind and asked,
“Why did you pay?”
Hyun-oh shrugged. Then, out of the blue, he asked,
“Wanna go to a cafe?”
“Why would I?”
“So you’re going to treat me like this now?”
“You said you didn’t want anything from me.”
There was still some time until the next class. But Yeon-jae had no desire to drink coffee with Hyun-oh after already having a meal.
Just then, Hyun-oh added,
“I’m just saying let’s talk a bit. If you just go now, you’ll definitely regret it?”
“Regret what?”
“I don’t want anything now, but who knows if that’ll continue in the future?”
“ha. Fine. Let’s go, go.”
I have no idea what this guy is trying to do.
Making a face of disgust, Yeon-jae vaguely pointed to the cafe right in front of them.
“There. That place right there.”
Without any objection, Hyun-oh followed the direction Yeon-jae pointed.
Even as they walked straight ahead, he ran into familiar faces several times.
They all greeted Hyun-oh cheerfully.
“Oh, Hyun-oh~ Where you going?”
“Yeah. Me, cafe.”
Hyun-oh generally just waved his hand dismissively, as if bothered.
‘He’s a total social butterfly.’
Yeon-jae already felt drained.
It seemed like all the friends Yeon-jae had ever had in her life, combined, wouldn’t match the number of people greeting Hyun-oh right now.
Moreover, Hyun-oh’s acquaintances kept glancing at Yeon-jae with curious eyes.
Those curious gazes weren’t just from Hyun-oh’s acquaintances but also from people occupying tables at the cafe they entered.
Still, no one directly asked Hyun-oh about Yeon-jae’s existence.
To be precise, they seemed unable to ask.
And through that process, Yeon-jae naturally realized something. The fact that people found Hyun-oh a bit intimidating.
Yeon-jae oddly felt like defending herself.
‘He’s not my type.’
I’m devotedly focused on someone else, thank you very much.
“What do you want to eat?”
Hyun-oh, who had reached the kiosk first, turned to ask Yeon-jae. Yeon-jae tapped Hyun-oh on the shoulder.
“I’ll buy the coffee.”
“Oh, no. The senior should buy it.”
“You said you had no money earlier.”
Saying that, Yeon-jae nudged Hyun-oh aside. She inserted her card into the terminal first and then said to Hyun-oh,
“Choose.”
She’d gotten a free meal, so she felt she should at least buy the coffee. Otherwise, who knew what excuse he might come up with using this.
Hyun-oh laughed incredulously. Still, he hummed a tune, saying it was good and he’d have to order something really expensive.
She thought he was just saying that, but he actually ordered something expensive.
Double chocolate latte. With whipped cream. Add Oreo. Extra sweet.
Even though the price at this low-cost franchise cafe wouldn’t exceed 5,000 won.
Yeon-jae just found it a bit surprising. That someone with a look that suggested he’d only drink American, let alone lattes, actually preferred sweet drinks.
Yeon-jae added Hyun-oh’s order to the cart. And as she ordered her own iced American, she resolved:
‘As soon as the drinks come out, I need to head straight back to school.’
She got her notebook back, and since he said he didn’t want anything, she had nothing more to say to Hyun-oh.
Of course, she planned to get a firm promise that he wouldn’t tell Dohan about the notebook.
Out of school habit, she’d stubbornly stuck to a paper notebook, but over the weekend, she would transfer everything from the notebook to her phone’s memo app.
After that, she’d burn the original notebook.
While she was thinking this, the coffees came out, and Hyun-oh handed her the American.
She expected him to suggest drinking at the cafe, but surprisingly, Hyun-oh didn’t say much. The two of them, holding their coffees, walked side by side towards the school.
Yeon-jae hadn’t even taken three sips and was just holding hers. The weather was already getting warm, and water droplets quickly formed on the surface of the plastic cup. Staring blankly at the droplets, Yeon-jae cautiously opened her mouth.
“…About that notebook. You’re not going to tell Senior Dohan, right?”
“Well, I don’t know.”
At that, Yeon-jae felt a surge of irritation. But who could she blame? Losing the notebook was her own fault.
“What do you mean? You said you didn’t want anything from me. Please don’t tell him. I’ll do whatever you ask. Okay?”
“What makes you think I’d ask you to do something? Hey. Don’t go around saying things like that.”
“Then just promise you won’t tell him.”
“Is that so?”
“You won’t, right?”
“I won’t. I won’t.”
“……Can I record this conversation as proof?”
At that, Hyun-oh turned to look at her incredulously.
“Hey.”
Instantly, Yeon-jae gripped her phone tightly.
To be honest, until just a moment ago, she had been seriously considering recording it.
But an unexpectedly strange answer came back.
“I’ll help you.”
At the sudden remark, Yeon-jae’s walking pace, which had been ahead, came to an abrupt halt.
The content of his words was somewhat out of the blue. At the same time, she was taken aback.
What is this guy talking about right now?
Perhaps that’s why Yeon-jae’s next words came out a bit sharply.
“Don’t say things you don’t mean.”
“Why do you think I don’t mean it?”
“You don’t know anything about me… And honestly, you don’t seem like the type to help others like that.”
At that, Hyun-oh looked quite wronged.
As Yeon-jae, flustered, quickened her pace, he followed closely at her heels, adding words almost like an explanation.
“I’m not that bad of a person.”
“Oh, sure.”
Yeon-jae half-listened and kept walking. Before she knew it, they had passed the main gate and were back on campus.
“I’m saying I’ll help you get together with Lee Dohan? That’s purely beneficial for you, isn’t it?”
It was a sentence with such clear subject and object that she couldn’t just let it slide.
Yeon-jae’s steps halted again, and this time her head turned involuntarily.
Yeon-jae stared intently at Hyun-oh.
Hyun-oh looked back at Yeon-jae.
Their gazes met from a slight distance. Neither looked away first.
‘Is that guy making fun of me right now?’
Maybe he was trying to gauge her reaction, to see if by happily agreeing, she would confirm herself as “someone who truly likes Do-han.”
Not that she knew what significance that would have.
So Yeon-jae answered defensively.
“Don’t make a fool out of me.”
But without backing down an inch, Hyun-oh asked back.
“Why do you think I’m making a fool out of you?”
Hyun-oh genuinely looked curious.
If he was doing this out of pure goodwill without a hint of bad intention, that made it even more curious.
Eventually, Yeon-jae asked once more.
“Why are you helping me?”
To this question, there was no immediate answer like before. Yeon-jae laughed lightly.
See? I knew it. All looks, no substance. A weirdo.
Just as she was about to turn her back and walk away again. Hyun-oh’s mouth opened slowly.
“Because it’s fun.”
It was an absurd answer.
Just for fun, he’d set up his friend with a girl who stalked his friend.
“Is that really it?”
Yeon-jae’s eyes narrowed.
“I wonder.”
Hyun-oh muttered inaudibly and shrugged his shoulders.
