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Chapter 4
As soon as her classes ended on the first day of the semester, Yuna stopped by the café only long enough to check on the orders that had come in, then went straight home.
“Let’s move fast.”
The officetel she was renting—a small studio unit—was cluttered with boxes. The lease was almost up, and she had already packed her belongings in advance.
No sooner had she stepped inside than she tossed her eco-bag aside, yanked open the refrigerator, and pulled out yogurt cups she’d snagged from a convenience store’s buy one, get one free deal. She used a plain rice spoon as her utensil. Before her divorce, she might have bothered with cutlery and table mats, but now, convenience was king.
Standing at the sink, she ate quickly to calm her hunger, rinsed the plastic cup, and sat down at her dining table—which doubled as her desk.
“I really feel bad toward Youngwon… I shouldn’t be surprised if they suddenly replace him as my mentor.”
No matter how hard she tried, Yuna always felt her sense of everyday living lagged a little behind everyone else’s. That was the most frustrating thing for her.
Raised in the countryside, armed with nothing more than a high school diploma, she had been married less than a year after graduation. Life had felt less like marriage and more like imprisonment in a gilded palace.
Those years of living as though she were just an unwelcome boarder had left her utterly alone. In that light, Youngwon—who explained things so clearly and guided her step by step—felt like a compass pointing her toward true independence.
Just then, her phone buzzed. Seeing it was the freshman group chat, Yuna picked it up.
[Reminder for Class 5 Freshman Welcome Party! Please check the notice board for time and location. If you have late classes, feel free to join later. If you can’t attend, let us know by tomorrow morning.]
It was about the welcome party. She had intended to decline, thinking the café would keep her too busy. But she’d put off answering, and now it was time to make a decision.
“……”
She remembered overhearing customers say that the first friends people made usually stuck with them from that point on. Truthfully, Yuna wasn’t confident she could adapt as quickly as a typical twenty-year-old freshman. But she didn’t want to be an island anymore—not like she had been for most of her life.
From now on, it would be her life alone. Han Yuna’s life.
With her heart beating a little faster, she typed slowly:
[I’ll be there.]
“Choi. Young. Won. Sir. I have something urgent to discuss. Might I borrow some of your time?”
Kitae, who had been conspicuously absent all day, finally appeared right as Youngwon’s last lecture ended. Clasping his hands together, bowing respectfully as though before a judge, he looked like a man carrying guilt.
Youngwon slung his bag over one shoulder and asked,
“Why.”
“Please, this way.”
“……”
So he really was guilty of something. Kitae didn’t dare speak there and instead led him away, all the way to the memorial hall—a place students rarely visited.
Once inside, hiding against a wall where a video played on loop, Kitae suddenly wore a tragic expression. Youngwon’s brows knitted.
“What is this about?”
“You knew, didn’t you? That our boss lady is the ex-wife of that dermatologist influencer or whatever he is?”
“……”
Even back at the café, there had been customers who recognized Yuna and whispered among themselves. It wasn’t surprising that Kitae had found out.
Her pictures had mostly disappeared online, but if you searched hard enough, you could still dig them up.
When Youngwon said nothing, Kitae jabbed a finger at him, exclaiming:
“Aha! You did know. I was going to be the one to tell you, and you didn’t even bother. Why didn’t you say anything to me?”
“Why would I tell you?”
“This really hurts, you know! Because of you, I ended up making a fool of myself!”
“…What?”
The sudden chill in Youngwon’s face made Kitae’s bravado crumble. He lowered the hand he’d been wagging. Youngwon pressed him sternly.
“Explain. Properly.”
“Well… the guys were asking who she was because of her looks. So I told them she runs Café Yoon, and they recognized her right away. Said they’d heard rumors. That’s how I found out too…”
“Which guys.”
“…Kim Minji, Shin Hayoung, Hwang Euna.”
They were notorious gossips—the kind who lived to discuss other people’s lives. Not only that, they were overly sociable. If those three knew, it meant the whole department would know soon enough.
And Yuna, already standing out for entering university at twenty-seven, would become the hottest topic of gossip.
Youngwon pressed his palm to his forehead.
“Ha…”
Was that why she hadn’t messaged him all day? He had expected her to ask questions, but she hadn’t sent a single text.
He told himself she wasn’t helpless—she didn’t need him to micromanage every little thing. Still, maybe he should have checked in…
Seeing his expression darken, Kitae glanced at the time and began edging away.
“Anyway! Since I’m clearly the guilty one here, I shall atone by serving as our boss’s knight at the welcome party, so if you’ll excuse me…”
“Where is it.”
“…What?”
“The welcome party. Where.”
Youngwon seized his shoulder. Kitae blinked, startled.
“You’re going? Everyone assumed you wouldn’t…”
Even as a freshman, Choi Youngwon had never attended the welcome party.
But this time, lips pressed tight, he brushed past Kitae without another word.
An hour and a half into the party, most of the seniors who had visited Yuna’s table seemed to have stopped by only out of courtesy. Her classmates had all drifted away as well.
Thankfully, a few kind-hearted fourth-year women, curious about the new freshmen, had decided to keep her company. In the chaos of drinking games and shouting elsewhere in the pub, their table alone remained calm.
Yuna didn’t mind at all. She had no confidence with drinking games, and this felt better. More than that, it was the first time in her life she’d sat at a table with strangers—without her husband, without her in-laws—and that in itself was exhilarating.
Their conversation was gentle, unhurried. Until, all of a sudden, someone pulled out a chair with a scrape and sat down. He reeked of alcohol. Judging by the year on his varsity jacket, he was a senior.
The fourth-year women paled when they recognized him.
“D-Do… Do-hyun sunbae…”
“So this is the freshman, huh? You really do look young.”
Ignoring everyone else, Dohyun’s gaze rested only on Yuna. Startled by his abrupt approach, she ducked her head.
“Hello, I’m Han Yuna. Nice to meet you, Dohyun… sunbae.”
“Why the formalities? Just call me Dohyun. You’re twenty-seven, right? I’m only a year younger.”
“But we just met, I couldn’t possibly—”
“I like it when noonas talk to me casually.”
“…What?”
Yuna blinked in surprise, and Dohyun grinned. Unsure how to deflect politely, she simply reached for a fresh glass and a soju bottle.
“Anyway… pleased to meet you, sunbae.”
“Wow, you even pour first? So you can drink a bit, huh? Perfect.”
The fourth-year women exchanged uneasy looks. They knew Dohyun’s reputation: outside of school, he had a particular obsession with dating older women. None of them had expected him to show up tonight—but clearly, he’d chosen Yuna as his new target.
One of them tried to intercept the bottle as Yuna reached to pour again.
“Sunbae! Let me—”
“No, I want her to pour.”
“…Alright.”
Yuna tipped soju into his glass, and Dohyun accepted it with another sly smile.
The entire time, he pressured the women around the table into drinking more. They couldn’t leave, nor openly refuse, so they downed glass after glass until their faces burned red. Only Yuna remained visibly pale, though her expression hadn’t changed.
Five bottles emptied in what felt like minutes. Then Dohyun leaned toward Yuna.
“Noona, want to go buy ice cream with me?”
Caught off guard, Yuna instinctively glanced at the fourth-years. But all of them slumped against their chairs, flushed and drunk.
“Right now?”
She hesitated, her instincts warning her. Dohyun had already made questionable remarks. The idea of being alone with him felt wrong. Yet it was hard to flatly refuse a senior’s suggestion in the middle of such a lively, convivial atmosphere.
Looking once around at the noisy, laughing room, Yuna slowly rose from her seat.
