It'd Be a Waste
Teacher Jisu, who had been sweating nervously over whether she'd need to chip in from her own pocket, let out a sigh of relief.
"Phew... that was close..."
The bill had squeaked in just under her limit. The students had eaten far better than she'd anticipated. If they'd gone to the slightly pricier restaurant she'd originally had in mind... The teacher broke out in goosebumps, shook her head, and scrubbed that un-lived future from her mind.
Having gathered the kids in front of the restaurant, Teacher Jisu spoke up.
"Some of you are heading home, some are going out to play since you're already out. Seems like a mixed bag. The days are getting shorter and it's turning cold fast, so don't play too long and get home safe."
"Yes, ma'am~"
The students answered in perfect unison, as if they'd rehearsed it, and the homeroom teacher snorted a laugh.
"So good at answering. Just like a certain someone."
Yeoncheong, who had quietly noticed the gaze sliding her way, shrieked in protest.
"Ah, Teacher! Why are you staring at me!"
"I wasn't. You just happened to be where I turned my head."
Yeoncheong grumbled and told her to quit teasing, and thanks to her the whole class burst out laughing.
Once the ever-conscientious Teacher Jisu departed with the classmates headed her way, and the other students split off toward home or their usual hangouts with their own groups, one question remained.
"So, where are we going?"
Yeoncheong and her friends gathered to decide on a destination. She gazed up at the sky and exhaled a stale sigh from somewhere deep in her lungs.
"Haah... I don't wanna go."
In the end, the thought she'd tried so hard to hide slipped right out. Hasol, who had just returned from exchanging see-you-tomorrows with another friend, tilted her head.
"You don't wanna go? You said you would earlier."
"Because you guys kept saying let's go with your eyes."
"Oh come on, if you'd said no, we'd have been fine with that."
Suyeon slipped into the conversation with a sly grin, and Yeoncheong glared at her.
The other friends' looks might have been at the level of a casual 'come with us,' but Seoha's and Suyeon's had been closer to 'we are dragging you there no matter what.' The friend who had sent those looks and then shamelessly spouted nonsense was, to Yeoncheong, utterly infuriating.
"Fine, then I'm not going."
"Beep beep."
Suyeon made a mechanical sound with her mouth, grabbed one of Yeoncheong's arms, and declared:
"You already said you'd come. That's a done deal—no takebacks. Ah, you do know what that means, right?"
"You two are always calling me a dummy and a Daengcheongi! You actually think I am one!"
Leaving the squirming Yeoncheong and Suyeon to their scuffle, Hasol and Nayun picked up where the conversation had broken off.
"So, where are we headed?"
"To look at clothes. Downtown first, obviously."
Hasol nodded along in agreement.
If they were only visiting one place, anywhere would do. But not a single one of them had any intention of stopping at just one store.
Hasol blew out a breath to test the air. Being midday, it was warmer than it had been that morning.
"It's not far—want to walk?"
"I'm fine with it. You two okay?"
Nayun accepted the suggestion and turned to the other three. Seoha, who had been messaging someone on her phone, gave a light nod, and since the friend currently tangled up in a scuffle was a bit busy, Suyeon flashed an OK sign on her behalf.
Just earlier, Yeoncheong had been thinking that one or two more outfits wouldn't hurt.
She'd grumbled about not wanting to go, but it wasn't as if there was nothing in it for her. The reason she'd whined about not wanting to come was this very scene unfolding before her eyes.
"Yeoncheong, isn't this one pretty? It'd suit you so well."
"I'll go with this one. The calm color looks good on you."
Seoha and Suyeon were recommending clothes as if competing with each other. She should have expected it from the moment Seoha proposed the trip, and it was playing out without a single deviation from the script.
The shop assistant, who ought to have been the one recommending clothes, had been so cowed by their intensity that she was just browsing from the sidelines.
On top of that, Hasol and Nayun were standing off at a distance, alternating their gazes between the clothes and Yeoncheong, clearly deep in some conversation Yeoncheong could easily guess the contents of.
Convinced this would never end if she let it continue, Yeoncheong pushed her clothes-laden friends away.
"Go look at your own clothes. I'll handle mine myself."
"What kind of clothes are you going to look at?"
Suyeon stepped back and parted the way for her, as if to say: go on then, pick something. Freed at last, Yeoncheong scanned the shop and grabbed a single item of clothing.
"This kind of—ack!"
The moment she pulled it out, a sharp smack rang through the air. Yeoncheong, the back of her hand stinging, glared at Suyeon.
"Ah—what was that for?"
"How is that any different from what you're wearing right now?"
It was a plain sweatshirt in exactly the same color as the one she had on, differing only in that it lacked a hood. Yeoncheong shut her mouth before she could say as much and hung the garment back on its rack. She'd taken the flick, sure, but she already had one strike on her record for being late. Keeping quiet was better for her health.
Only then did Suyeon nod in satisfaction, lips curling slyly.
"You're looking for clothes to wear around this time of year anyway. We'll pick them out for you."
"......Uh. Fine."
Behind Yeoncheong, whose mouth barely managed to hang open, Suyeon called the friends together.
"Hey guys, want to bet on who picks the outfit that suits Yeoncheong best? Loser buys the drinks."
Yeoncheong's wardrobe was already drab enough. Face, body, everything about her was far too good to waste on those clothes—her friends had all been quietly harboring the same thought: they wanted to see her in something different for once.
And so Suyeon's proposal passed unanimously. Everyone, that is, except the person in question, who had just wanted to buy something quickly and get it over with.
First up was Hasol.
"Yeoncheong's hair is such a calm color, I think a clean, simple style would really suit her."
She'd been sneaking glances at Yeoncheong while browsing the racks for ages. With confident steps and quick hands, she gathered her picks and handed them over.
Yeoncheong had plenty she wanted to say, but was instead shoved into the fitting room with orders to try them on.
After a short stretch of grumbling sounds from inside, she poked her head out.
"Wait, shouldn't you guys get to see it too? I'm the one who decides the winner, but still."
"Obviously."
When Yeoncheong hesitated, unwilling to show herself, Nayun peeked inside to check and then forced the door open. She'd seen her fully dressed—there was nothing left to be shy about.
"Huh. It really suits you."
"You're way prettier than I expected."
A cozy beige knit sweater wrapped warmly up to her neck, and an H-line black skirt fell along her hips and thighs. The textbook, clean-cut style. Amid the shower of compliments from her friends, Yeoncheong herself fidgeted restlessly.
"Ugh... something feels off..."
The knit sweater, warm even just to look at, had been satisfying enough. But for a girl who had only ever worn the fluttering, swishing skirts of her school uniform, a fitted H-line skirt was a completely different sensation.
As she found herself unconsciously smoothing her thighs, her friends chimed in.
"That's just because you're not used to wearing it."
"Right. You look gorgeous."
"You'd have looked pretty even if your uniform skirt had been this kind."
Everyone except Yeoncheong wore satisfied smiles. With her friends saying all that, she swallowed her embarrassment and turned this way and that to check herself out in the mirror. You get used to it the more you look, supposedly. Do you, though? she wondered, tilting her head.
Nayun crossed her arms and declared:
"I'm next. Now that I've watched her, I think I can nail her taste."
And so the place Nayun led everyone to was a sports brand store.
"This and this. And this too."
It made sense that Hasol was quick, having scouted clothes in advance, but Nayun was also handing over items the moment they stepped into the store.
"You pick without even hesitating?"
"It's a style I've wanted to wear for ages. Plus, you seem like the type who likes comfy stuff, like track pants."
Nayun handed over one last outer layer and dusted off her hands. Yeoncheong looked back and forth between the armful of clothes and her friend.
"Then why don't you wear it?"
"Doesn't work on me. Don't ask why."
Making it clear the subject was closed, Nayun shoved Yeoncheong into the fitting room.
Yeoncheong emerged from grudgingly changing, glaring at her friend.
"Hey... I'm pretty sure I said I'd be buying clothes for this time of year..."
An oversized jacket paired with white jogger pants. Definitely the style an exercise-lover like Nayun would favor, and predictably, it came close to Yeoncheong's taste too.
The problem was the black sports bra underneath, practically underwear in all but name.
Nayun waved a hand as if it were no big deal.
"You can wear something else underneath, doesn't matter. Anyway, isn't this kind of outfit pretty nice too?"
"Hmm... maybe better than Hasol's pick, actually..."
For Yeoncheong, who generally preferred comfortable clothes, the look minus the sports bra made a better first impression than the H-line skirt she'd just tried for the first time.
"What! No way!"
On what possible grounds was her pick losing to gym clothes?! Hasol demanded. Nayun squared her shoulders and strutted, utterly oblivious. Yeoncheong fled the crossfire into the fitting room, while Suyeon pondered her own coordination with a grave expression.
Apparently taken with the jogger pants, Yeoncheong bought a pair and left the store. She brushed aside Nayun, who was muttering beside her about how she was clearly in first place—then noticed someone was missing and looked around.
"Where's Suyeon?"
"She went back to the store. Said she'd scout things out ahead of time."
"She went that far?"
She'd thought the wager was low-stakes, just something started as a joke...
But after passing through Hasol and Nayun, it had transformed into a deadly serious styling showdown, a contest of their fashion judgment.
The moment they returned to the first store, Suyeon flung Yeoncheong straight into a fitting room.
"Whoa—!"
"The clothes are in there. Put them on and come out."
Suyeon's voice through the door brimmed with confidence. Hasol and Nayun asked the triumphant girl what on earth she'd picked out.
"You'll see. Honestly, there's no way this one isn't cute."
Just as curiosity was swelling thanks to all the fuss, Yeoncheong opened the fitting room door and stepped out.
"So cute!"
"Whoa, she went all in."
A white tee layered under a beige knit vest, with a gray skirt on the bottom accented by a belt. Topped with a beige beret for the final touch.
"...Oh."
Even Yeoncheong stared into the mirror with genuine interest from the start—apparently her own reflection had come as quite a surprise.
Suyeon preened, touching the bridge of her nose in pride.
"Heh heh. Yeoncheong, you really should dress up more often. You're pretty as is, but you'd be even prettier all dressed up."
It was a waste—truly a waste—for someone like her to be wearing nothing but drab, colorless hoodies and sweatshirts.
Compliments about her appearance still made her skin prickle, so Yeoncheong ducked her head slightly and turned this way and that before the mirror. Then a thought suddenly struck her, and she spoke up.
"...By the way, guys. You weren't planning on picking out season-appropriate clothes for me, were you? You just wanted to dress me up in whatever you liked from the beginning, didn't you?"
It was true that they'd all recommended clothes that suited her, but...
Somewhere along the way, finding her seasonally appropriate wear had fallen by the wayside, and they seemed to be treating her as nothing more than a dress-up doll.
"N-no, it's not like that. It's totally wearable right now."
"Yeah. You can just layer it under a puffer coat or a parka."
That's what they said, but the guilty friends couldn't meet Yeoncheong's eyes at all.
Finally, Seoha made her recommendation—but Yeoncheong violently refused, insisting there was no way on earth she could wear this one, and so the outcome of the bet was decided, anticlimactically.
Sipping a drink she'd bought with her own money, Seoha stared holes through Yeoncheong, who did her best to avert her gaze. Truth be told, she would have liked to try it on for her sake, but...
No matter how you looked at it, a pink-tinged long skirt paired with a see-through lace blouse was a bridge too far. The idea had apparently been to fully cover the legs while subtly showing off the top half for balance—but for Yeoncheong, that kind of subtle exposure was all the more burdensome.
While picking out Yeoncheong's clothes, when had her friends found time to scout out their own? Each of them now holding a shopping bag in hand, they offered a comment apiece.
"So, Yeoncheong. Wasn't that fun?"
"Stop wearing hoodies every single day and dress up once in a while."
"Right. Some people can't wear what they want even when they want to."
Nayun flared up for no good reason and growled at Suyeon.
"Hey, that was aimed at me, wasn't it?"
"It wasn't! What's wrong with you now!"
Ignoring the two scuffling friends with practiced ease, Yeoncheong thought quietly to herself.
Honestly, she'd enjoyed herself from about the midway point. But if she said so out loud, there was no doubt another day like today would come.
She tried to dodge the question by slurping at her drink, but Seoha wedged herself into the opening.
"You never wore mine, though... You went practically naked at the festival, but..."
"Pfff—! Kgh, ko, koff!"
A murmur that filled a split second of silence.
When Yeoncheong, caught red-handed, looked over at Seoha, her eyes met her friend's, whose eyebrows drooped in dejection.
"...No, wait! That was a penalty!"
She couldn't deny that she'd been half-naked, so Yeoncheong argued instead that an external force known as a penalty had been at work.
Seoha stared at the pile of excuses for a long moment, and then...
"Okay. So a penalty makes it fine. Noted."
She nodded slowly, her expression impossible to read.
"No! Let's go. I'll wear it for you right now!"
"It's fine. Just wear something else for me sometime."
"No! I said I'll do it!"
Sensing danger on a primal level, Yeoncheong tried to drag Seoha back to the store—but it was already far, far behind them.