AMS 12🍓

Chapter 12

A week later, just as evening self-study began, the broadcasting room was filled with the newly accepted students, sitting stiff and nervous with tension.

Not long after, two second-year seniors entered. The first-years quickly jumped to their feet and bowed.

“Full of energy, aren’t they?” one of the seniors chuckled, clearly amused by the sight. She passed out printed sheets to each of them.

“Well, let’s keep this short. As you can see from my nametag, I’m Kim Yeon-hee. This here is Lee Ah-reum. And then there’s Noh Sung-wook… ah, you know, that scary-looking guy with the thick eyebrows? He’ll be late. Two of the others dropped out—said they just wanted to focus on studying. So that leaves three of you. You probably won’t run into the third-years much, but when the time comes, we’ll go greet them together. If I’d known, I would’ve recruited one more first-year… anyway, make sure your grades don’t slip.”

She made it clear: no one would be kicked out of the club just for poor grades, but they should expect a scolding if their scores dropped.

“The handouts cover the machine names, how to operate them, and sample announcing scripts. Sometimes you’ll have to handle everything alone. Practice the scripts at home—next time, we’ll make you read them one by one. Try to keep the dialect to a minimum; we’ll correct your speech based on that. Our supervising teacher is the literature teacher—you probably have them for class too. Anyway, study these carefully.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Click.

Just as the orientation was wrapping up, the door opened. Yeon-hee leaned her head out to check.

“You’re late. We’re just about done.”

The first-years scrambled to their feet again, bowing in unison. Sung-wook gave no reply, just a curt nod and a gesture for them to sit. In his hand was a black plastic bag. He set it on the table. Yeon-hee peeked inside: snacks and drinks.

“Help yourselves. I’m off.”

“Thank you!”

With nothing more than a few nods, Sung-wook slipped out of the room. Yeon-hee pulled out the snacks and drinks, distributing them among the first-years.

“Well, would you look at that. He actually bought food for once.”

Aside from the seniors who only grabbed their milk before leaving, the first-years sat in the broadcasting room eating snacks together.

About an hour later, Summer returned to her classroom. As always, her eyes instinctively searched for Hyun-ho before she took her seat.

Since that day, several days had passed without them exchanging a single word. Hyun-ho didn’t initiate conversation, and even when Summer tried, he would only nod briefly.

It was as though he had locked himself in his own private world. Approaching him felt impossible.

What on earth had happened?
What could make someone act like their soul had been drained, just from a simple encounter?

At first, Summer dismissed it as something trivial—a thoughtless teenage misstep. Something that, after a few days, he’d laugh off as “Why did I even act like that?”

But no matter how much she tried to brush it aside, the darkness in which he’d trapped himself gnawed at her mind.

“Could it be… he confessed to someone and got rejected?”

If it was between a boy and girl, a romance problem seemed most likely.

While she was lost in thought over how to ease his heart, Hae-in quietly tapped her shoulder. He gestured for her to follow.

They slipped out to the empty sports field. The middle schoolers had already gone home, and the high school students were buried in study. The silence made Hae-in’s words heavier as he finally began to speak.

“…I told you I’d explain, but honestly, I thought it’d be better if you heard it from him. But knowing him, he’ll never open up first. I wasn’t sure what to do, but Jung-woo said at least give you a heads-up. Since Si-a already noticed you’re close with Choi Hyun-ho, better you hear it from me than get blindsided by her.”

Silence fell again.

Summer waited patiently. Hae-in wrestled with where to begin. After a moment, he spoke again.

“Back in second year of middle school… a bunch of the boys once got together to talk about who they liked. Some names came up, including Ryu Si-a. And one of them… was Choi Hyun-ho.”

Summer’s thoughts clicked into place. I knew it. She gave a small nod. Seeing her reaction, Hae-in quickly continued.

“They kept egging him on—‘Hey, you’re close with her, right? Isn’t Si-a nice?’ And Hyun-ho just said one line: ‘Yeah, Ryu Si-a’s nice.’ That was it. Nothing more.”

“Then why…?”

“There was this kid, Jung-hoon, who moved to Seoul. Si-a confessed to him. But he turned her down—said he couldn’t date her knowing Hyun-ho liked her. Honestly, that pissed me off. He could’ve just said he wasn’t interested, but he had to drag Hyun-ho into it. And Si-a didn’t even truly like him. She was just calculating—Hyun-ho and Jung-hoon were the popular ones, so she was weighing her options. She never thought she’d get rejected. But when she did, she was embarrassed and started lashing out at Hyun-ho instead.”

Hae-in let out a deep sigh.

“What could’ve been nothing… Si-a blew it into something huge. If things don’t go her way, she throws a fit. She blamed Hyun-ho, said her confession failed because of him, accused him of liking her. And she made sure to say it in front of people—so everyone would know some popular guy had confessed to her.”

“But Hyun-ho… he’s softhearted. He felt guilty. And the guilt only made her attack more, saying he owed her, that he had to make it up to her. She twisted the knife until he shut down completely. Other girls in class eventually stood up for him, told her to stop. That’s when she pulled in her little lackeys—Shin Min-jung, Cha Ae-rin. Those two even picked fights with our classmates once. I lost it and fought back. Anyway, ever since then, Hyun-ho stopped talking to girls altogether. He didn’t want anyone else getting dragged into it.”

Now, Summer finally understood why Hyun-ho had always been so cold to the girls. And why the girls who had once said he’d changed seemed so surprised when he opened up again.

But Hae-in wasn’t done.

“You know how I knew Si-a was faking her innocence the whole time?”

“How?”

“She once cornered me alone and said, ‘Be grateful you’re friends with Jung-woo. Otherwise, I’d have told my brothers about you already.’ Can you believe that? Should’ve crushed her right then. Ha! And the funniest part? She went and dated someone in third year. Total lunatic. Meanwhile, Hyun-ho just kept his mouth shut—took all the blame on himself, said it was his fault for starting it. Idiot. Even the band seniors told him to just endure it, that Si-a’s tantrum wouldn’t last long. And he listens to seniors like gospel.”

“The band seniors… are they the same ones he has now?”

“No. A couple are, but most are from other schools. They meet up sometimes, so they know Hyun-ho well, but not the details of middle school. Well, except for one guy—he’s obsessed with Si-a. Anyway, Jung-woo quit clubs entirely because of that mess. Said there’s no point having seniors if all they do is tell you to endure. Gyeol stayed, just so Hyun-ho wouldn’t be left alone.”

When the story finally wound down, Hae-in carefully delivered the words that weighed most on his chest.

“The reason I’m telling you this is… be careful.”

“Me? Why?”

“Because I don’t know what tricks Si-a’s plotting. The way she talked when we saw her—acting all fragile—it stank of scheming. One thing’s certain: she won’t like seeing you and Hyun-ho close. So I’m warning you. When you’re with us, we’ll bark loud enough to keep her away. But when you’re alone? Who knows what she’ll pull.”

That evening, with her mind heavy from the conversation, Summer logged into messenger to distract herself. She spent a while chatting with Bo-ram, Hae-in, and other friends, laughing here and there.

She was just about to log off when—

Ding-dong.

Choi Hyun-ho is online