The Club Room She Had to Herself
The very day all their grades were finalized.
Yeoncheong was studying alone in the club room.
It was all because of what Teacher Jisu had told her—that if she failed the test scheduled before the Chuseok holiday, a mountain of assignments would be waiting for her.
Suyeon and Hasol had tried to coax her into taking a break from the club for a while and helping with festival preparations instead.
But she was the girl who'd ended up in math remedials because of a careless marking mistake in the first place.
Rather than letting her guard down and failing yet another test, it was far better to study even a little.
Yeoncheong's hand, busy working through the practice problems Teacher Jisu had handed out, suddenly froze.
"...Ugh, aaah! This is so annoying!"
And then, alone in the classroom, she suddenly screamed like a madwoman.
Studying by herself in a classroom, it was only natural that her concentration was worse than when the whole group was together.
'...Kim Nayun, just you wait.'
It was because Nayun kept coming to mind—teasing her relentlessly about how, sure, it was only a one-subject difference, but a win was a win.
Of course, her friends hadn't only been there to tease her.
When Hasol found out she'd landed in remedials over a marking error, she had comforted Yeoncheong with genuine sincerity, and Suyeon—who had come over to her house on the weekend to help her study—had acknowledged her efforts, saying she'd done well enough for herself.
In truth, even while serving as class president and juggling festival preparations on top of it all, her remedials amounted to just one subject: math.
Remembering that it had also been a single subject back at the first-semester finals, it was clear, undeniable growth.
Closing her eyes, Yeoncheong buried the vivid image of Nayun's teasing under Hasol and Suyeon's comfort and praise.
She gave her own cheeks a couple of light slaps to snap herself back into focus, and just as she was about to return to her studies—
The somewhat worn door creaked open.
Most of the students had already headed home for the day—off to the downtown shopping district, mostly, since they were hard to see during the Chuseok holiday—or left school to prepare for the festival.
Yeoncheong lifted her head to see who on earth could be visiting.
"Yeoncheong, hi there."
The moment she recognized Seoha—who had rushed off to the student council room the second homeroom ended, claiming she was busy—Yeoncheong froze solid.
***
A few minutes before Seoha made her way to the club room where Yeoncheong sat alone.
The student council room.
Seoha was genuinely swamped.
All student council work had ground to a halt during midterms, and on top of that, she had to process class applications requesting school permission to use school equipment for the festival.
The student council officers were, after all, still students.
It was especially true now—while the teachers were substituting supplementary lessons with assignments over the break, no student could realistically come to school during the Chuseok holiday over festival matters.
So while Seoha's eyes and hands busied themselves, one corner of her mind kept drifting to the thought of Yeoncheong, who would be studying all alone.
And there was one underclassman who had been keeping Seoha in the corner of her vision for a similar, if slightly different, reason.
Chaerin, self-appointed secret benefactor, asked with careful nonchalance.
"...Senior, have you set up that movie date yet?"
"No. Not yet."
At Seoha's reply, her eyes still fixed on the papers before her, Chaerin reflexively shot back.
"What? Still?"
It had already been over a week since she'd handed over the movie tickets.
Chaerin's eyes went round. She'd assumed that a senior as flawless as the one she knew would naturally have made plans by now.
"I was planning to ask her after midterms were over."
Seoha glanced up briefly with an awkward smile, then her red eyes dropped back to the paper she'd been reading.
"Ah."
Chaerin nodded slowly, as if she understood perfectly.
She'd meant to bring it up once midterms ended, but Seoha had been swallowed by work and never found the chance...
Chaerin had diagnosed the problem—and fortunately, she was in a position with the means to do something about it.
"...Then how about you leave the rest of today to us?"
"Come on. No matter what, the student council president can't just skip out."
Though Seoha's words were at least grateful in spirit, Chaerin refused to give up.
"Senior, why don't we give our student council president the day off?"
"Huh? A day off?"
As the second-year vice president of the whole student body looked up, Chaerin pressed on.
"You gave us time off before midterms, so we should let you rest for a day too, Senior Seoha."
Seoha had been the one who told everyone not to come in, insisting she could handle the work herself and that they should focus on their midterms.
It was the kind of consideration only someone who never let go of first place could afford to give.
Chaerin's eyes sparkled as she waited for the verdict.
Under her junior's pure, innocent pressure, the vice president reluctantly parted her lips.
"Hmm... Seoha, would you like to take today off, then?"
Her workload was still a mountain, and the vice president had only said it as a courtesy...
"Sure. Thanks."
As if that was the very words she'd been waiting for, Seoha slipped out of the student council room like the wind.
"...Huh?"
The vice president, who'd fully expected Seoha to insist she was fine, blinked dumbly.
"Seoha? She actually left?"
She pinched her own cheek, confirming this wasn't a dream, and let out a hollow laugh.
"...I really didn't think she'd actually go..."
What the vice president had overlooked was that, in Seoha's order of priorities, Yeoncheong occupied a very, very high place.
'Fighting!'
Watching the student council room door hang open and empty, Chaerin silently cheered Seoha on.
***
And so, thanks to a casually bestowed kindness and the help of her secret(?) benefactor, Seoha arrived at the club room where Yeoncheong sat all by herself.
Smiling sweetly at those flustered blue eyes, Seoha dragged a chair over and sat down close—very close.
"Seoha, didn't you say you were busy today?"
"Our vice presidents told me to rest for the day. Said I worked too hard before midterms."
"Ah... I see..."
Yeoncheong supposed that since Seoha had handled everything solo before the midterms, a single day off was fair enough.
Though, of course, that didn't mean she understood why Seoha had come here.
Reading the expression on her friend's face, Seoha finally put a reason into words.
"Ah, right. I came because there's something I needed to tell you. And I can help you study while I'm at it?"
"Something to tell me?"
When Yeoncheong echoed the words, Seoha held out her smartphone.
"A movie coupon?"
The moment Yeoncheong saw the movie coupon with its expiration date printed on it, the tail of her sentence shot upward.
"Yeah, I got it as a gift. If you're okay with it, let's go see a movie together over the Chuseok holiday."
"I don't have any plans for Chuseok, but..."
Just the two of them. A dark movie theater.
And if the other person was Seoha, there was no telling what might happen—not that anything would be surprising.
Sensing her friend's hesitation, Seoha deployed the line she'd prepared in advance.
"A underclassman I know gave it to me as a gift. It'd be such a waste not to use it."
"Ugh..."
Just as Chaerin had predicted—emphasizing that it was a gift, poking at Yeoncheong, who was notoriously sensitive about money matters.
And then the finishing blow: "You go out and have fun with Suyeon all the time, but not with me?"
"Urk..."
Unable to hold out any longer, Yeoncheong let out a groan and collapsed onto the desk.
After hearing all that, there was no way she could say no.
"Fine... I get it."
"Thank you."
With Yeoncheong's consent secured, the corners of Seoha's lips curved into a soft smile.
Having accomplished her first objective, she moved straight on to her second.
"That's everything I wanted to say. Now, let me help you study."
"You came all this way just to say that? No, wait a second."
Yeoncheong had objected on pure reflex, then quickly remembered what she actually needed to say.
"I mean—math is something I can handle on my own, so it's fine."
She quietly slid her chair backward, trying to put distance between herself and her far-too-close friend.
However—
"That's not happening."
Seoha hooked her leg around Yeoncheong's chair and locked it firmly in place.
"If you fail the test, it'll be a disaster. You can't cancel a movie date to do makeup assignments, can you?"
"Ah..."
Only then did Yeoncheong realize it.
The moment she'd agreed to the movie date, any way of shaking Seoha loose had vanished.
***
The club room.
Except during exam season, it was a space Yeoncheong and Suyeon had always shared between just the two of them.
Today, once again, there were two people in the club room fresh off midterms—but the atmosphere was nothing like usual.
The only sound in the classroom was the scratch of pens moving across problems.
'What's up with her lately?'
At the idle chatter drifting over now and then, Yeoncheong's blue eyes quietly flicked to the side.
Close enough that their uniforms brushed, Seoha was staring straight at her—as though admiring a work of art.
The moment their eyes met, her doll-like features curved into a sly little smile.
Startled, Yeoncheong forced her attention back to the problems.
After that sudden kiss, things had seemed to quiet down, but...
Then it was sitting on her lap out of nowhere. Then a sudden movie date. And now this—staring at her from right beside her.
Whether some change of heart had taken place, Seoha was practically radiating proof that she'd been holding herself back all this time.
Meanwhile—
'She's solving them pretty well...'
Though she was staring openly at Yeoncheong, Seoha was silently marveling, checking between glances to see how well the problems were going.
If there'd been anything she got wrong, Seoha fully intended to use "teaching her" as an excuse to naturally engineer some skinship, but...
'Looks like she really can do it on her own.'
She'd never once been in math remedials, and this time it was only a marking error—so when it came to math, there was genuinely nothing to point out.
Simply gazing at her face was deeply satisfying in itself, but Seoha had no intention of letting this opportunity slip away.
And so, scanning her surroundings in search of fresh prey, she grinned.
"Yeoncheong, your leg's bouncing again."
Flinch.
Her leg having gone completely still below the knee, Yeoncheong answered in a small voice.
"Sorry. I'll be careful."
It was because she remembered the past—when Seoha had touched her thigh while telling her to stop shaking her leg.
Seoha, apparently recalling the same moment, chuckled and pressed herself in even closer.
"Leg-bouncing isn't all bad, though..."
She casually lifted one of her legs, wedged it between both of Yeoncheong's, and continued.
"But if it's enough to make noise and disturb other people, maybe a little correction is in order?"
"Hck! Th-that tickles!"
Sweep. Sweep.
Utterly composed on the surface, Seoha's expression betrayed nothing—but her territory-invading leg squirmed this way and that, tickling Yeoncheong mercilessly.
Yeoncheong tried to escape, but the tickling sapped the strength from her limbs, and Seoha's leg wound its way around, deftly neutralizing every attempt at resistance.
Each time their legs brushed, their skirts rode up higher, until bare skin finally met bare skin.
The sensation sliding along her soft skin left Yeoncheong frozen stiff, at a complete loss, her lips trembling.
"Th-this is... doesn't really seem related to correcting my posture...?"
"Hmm..."
Seoha appeared to think for a moment, then answered as if it were nothing at all.
"It doubles as concentration training. If you can hold back the tickling and still solve the problems properly, the test will be no problem either."
"No, that doesn't make any sen—hck!"
"It's already started. The faster you solve them, the faster it ends."
Her face flushed deep red, Yeoncheong glared at Seoha.
"You... you... let's just finish the problems first and then talk..."
But no chance for revenge ever came to Yeoncheong.
With her concentration in complete disarray, there was no way she'd solved the problems properly—and she ended up suffering at Seoha's hands for a long while afterward, all in the name of "teaching her the ones she got wrong."