Too Much Kindness, Too Hard an Invitation
With the group dinner earned through the college entrance exams and the festival as their last hurrah, the events that had filled an otherwise bleak month all drew to a close.
Before anyone noticed, mid-November arrived, bringing the end of the year with it.
It was the season when the third-years, done with their exams, loosened up as much as they possibly could, while the first- and second-years, in turn, began to grow busy. They were all scrambling to prepare for the final exams of the year, hoping to end things on a high note.
And Yeoncheong, who had been granted one last chance to redeem her honor before the year ended, was no exception.
During break time, she rose from her seat and quietly slipped out of the classroom. Hasol, who had been glancing around warily, waited until she was completely certain her friend had gone to the bathroom before opening her mouth.
"Nayun, wanna make a bet with Yeoncheong again this time?"
"Are you insane? Absolutely not. She's been studying way too hard lately."
Nayun shook her head and looked over at the desk next to hers, Yeoncheong's desk.
The first word that came to mind at the sight of books stacked in a hopeless jumble was messy. But looked at another way, it meant she was studying in every spare moment, even during breaks.
It was a sight she'd never once seen from her before.
"Suyeon and Seoha haven't really been bothering her lately either, huh."
That last remark from Nayun was the heart of the matter.
Despite Yeoncheong stamping her attendance card at the library every lunch hour, the two hadn't said a word about it, and the mischievous teasing that used to toe the line had dwindled considerably as well.
Hasol nodded along in agreement.
"...Yeah, now that you mention it. She's been itching to finally stop getting stuck with remedial classes."
Even accounting for the critical blunder she'd made on the last midterm, the bottom line was that she'd fallen into the swamp of supplementary classes for all three exams so far.
Apparently, anything continued long enough becomes a habit.
Yeoncheong wanted to sever her cursed history with remedial classes as she wrapped up her second year.
Not that anyone was gossiping behind her back — but somehow, it made her feel a little guilty anyway.
Judging that her friend should be returning soon, Nayun glanced toward the door. Confirming it was still firmly shut, she continued the conversation.
"Do you think Yeoncheong will actually escape remedial classes this time?"
Through Nayun's eyes — they were roughly equal in ability — it just looked like Yeoncheong was studying more than usual. You'd need to be at least at Hasol's level to make a fair estimate.
Hasol took one look at her friend's chaotic desk and her lips twitched.
"Hmm... it's a little inefficient, I'll admit. But if all she's trying to do is avoid remedials, it should be plenty."
"Plenty for what?"
A voice drifted down from above. Nayun and Hasol's reactions were nearly identical.
"Kyaaah!"
"Geez! You scared me..."
Hasol, who had shrieked, glanced around sheepishly, while Nayun clutched her pounding heart and snapped at her.
"Hey, say something when you show up. Sneaking up on people like that."
"What did I even do?"
Yeoncheong grumbled as she sat back down in her seat.
Tidying up her books one by one as she prepared for the next class, her lips quivered.
"So... were you two trash-talking me or what?"
"No...?"
"Strictly speaking, it was closer to concern than anything. Definitely not trash talk."
Nayun spoke while wiping beads of sweat from her forehead, but fortunately, Yeoncheong was too busy straightening her desk to press the matter.
The moment she finished tidying and pulled out her book, break time was over and the teacher walked in.
Lunchtime.
Between Suyeon and Seoha — the two who were desperate to move their relationship forward before the year ran out — circling the playground with sighs on their lips...
"Haaa... this is driving me crazy."
Yeoncheong's long sigh reached the friend studying beside her as well.
Having stamped her attendance card at the library yet again that day, she'd flopped down over her desk, and Siyeon, who was studying next to her, asked,
"Something you don't understand?"
"No, the kids are being kind of weird."
A few seconds of silence.
For a moment, Yeoncheong wondered if she was being ostracized. But the friends she ran with were Seoha, the student council president; Suyeon, the mood-maker of the class; and Hasol, the social butterfly of the second year.
In other words, hers was a social circle where the very concept of being shunned couldn't exist.
Realizing it was nothing worth fussing over, Siyeon naturally returned to her own studies.
Yeoncheong stared openly at her for so casually brushing her off, then finally spoke up.
"They keep telling me to focus on studying. They barely talk to me anymore, and they're acting all weird about it."
Every now and then, the group studied together like this, and Yeoncheong got help from them — Suyeon, in particular, talked endlessly about her twin Siyeon whenever the mood struck.
Thanks to that, Yeoncheong had come to know Siyeon's personality to a reasonable degree.
The way she didn't needle anyone and just kept to herself, for one.
"Isn't it a good thing they're leaving you alone? You get to study with a clear mind, don't you?"
Just like that. Which meant the door to conversation was still open.
Siyeon, the seemingly cold one. Or the lively Suyeon who delighted in mischievous pranks. Was it because of the glimpses Yeoncheong had caught of their family's atmosphere, or because they were twins? Their outward personalities differed, but the warmth beneath was remarkably similar.
To Siyeon, who listened even while grumbling, Yeoncheong finally launched into the full story.
"It's not that easy. Honestly, it's stressing me out to the point of losing my mind."
"What are you talking about? Why would that stress you out?"
Siyeon tilted her head as if she couldn't comprehend it.
Truthfully, Yeoncheong had been pleased at first.
The recently aggressive momentum of Seoha and Suyeon clinging to her had died down, and considering how she'd suffered through midterm season while juggling festival preparations, she now had far more time to devote to studying.
She'd even declared to her homeroom teacher, Ms. Jisu, that this time would be different.
And then a problem arose for the girl so devoted to her books.
No Seoha walking the razor's edge, no Suyeon playing pranks, no Nayun roughhousing with her, no Hasol smoothly mediating between her friends.
Nothing but study, study, study.
Yesterday the same as today, and tomorrow the same as today.
As the cookie-cutter days piled up, the tedium of the monotony only grew, and she began to miss the friends who had once painted her world in color.
What was more, with Seoha and the others being that considerate, the pressure kept mounting — what if she failed and ended up in remedial classes again?
"Well... hearing you out, I can see how that might happen..."
Sensitive people really did have their condition sway with their surroundings, so it wasn't something she could simply write off as being in her head.
But having heard the whole story, Siyeon furrowed her brow.
"They're not gone, they're right there. Is this really something worth getting this worked up over?"
As far as she was concerned, it was a problem that could be solved with one simple line: Treat me like you always do.
Yeoncheong shook her head, as if to say it wasn't that simple.
"They dodge before I even get the chance to try."
She wanted to do just that, but her friends' determination to support her was stronger.
Too much consideration, it turned out, could work like poison.
"You guys really live exhausting lives..."
Letting out a light sigh, Siyeon offered her own version of advice.
"In the end, they're tiptoeing around you because you're studying too hard... so go up to them first."
"I told you, they're too quick to notice. They'll dodge instantly."
"Then just ask them to study together. Like you do with me."
"Study?"
When Yeoncheong echoed the word back, Siyeon nodded emphatically.
"Yeah. It's exam season — surely they won't dodge an invitation to study? The school's anniversary is coming up soon, too, so it'll be easy to get everyone together."
Since all this consideration revolved around studying, there was no way they'd refuse an offer like that.
But what spilled out of Yeoncheong's mouth as she stared blankly at Siyeon was not a word of thanks.
"Our school's anniversary is coming up?"
"You didn't know?"
"I transferred in this year, remember."
"...Ah."
Siyeon let out a small groan, as if only now remembering.
Most students were just happy for a day off. Who actually bothered looking up when the school's founding anniversary was?
Having just learned that the anniversary was only a few days away, Yeoncheong looked at Siyeon.
"What?"
"You too, then—"
"Nope. I already have plans with Seobin."
Siyeon cut her off, having clearly anticipated the question before it left her mouth, and turned her eyes back to her book.
"Anyway, problem solved, right? Stop wasting your thoughts and get back to studying. Your whole goal is escaping remedials — why is your head so full of nonsense?"
It wasn't exactly wrong, so Yeoncheong turned her attention back to the book she'd brought as well.
"It's supposed to get colder again starting tomorrow, so dress warm."
"Yes, ma'am~"
Somehow, it was already time for the end-of-day homeroom.
Yeoncheong, who hadn't been able to get a single word out, kept sneaking glances at her friends.
I just can't get the words out.
Come to think of it... her friends had suggested things to her plenty of times — let's do this, let's do that — but Yeoncheong herself had rarely been the one to invite anyone to anything first.
The moment she started overthinking a perfectly ordinary phrase like want to study together, it turned into something unbearably awkward.
And so her mouth had stayed shut until now.
"Yeoncheong? Ha Yeoncheong?"
"Yes!"
Catching the voice calling her name, Yeoncheong's head snapped up.
"Did you hear? We have the school anniversary coming up in a few days, so we get the day off."
"...Yes."
She hadn't heard it from the teacher, but she had from Siyeon at lunch.
There was a strange lag in her answer. Perhaps finding her voice unconvincing, Ms. Jisu asked when she'd heard. Not having gotten that far from Siyeon, Yeoncheong hesitated — and the teacher launched into a lecture.
"Yeoncheong. Homeroom's about to end, so please pay attention. It's not as if the rest of the school can just not show up because you weren't here, you know?"
"...Yes."
Ripples of laughter spread through the class. Yeoncheong hung her head and answered.
Before long, homeroom ended and the classroom dissolved into its usual end-of-day bustle. In the blink of an eye, Nayun vanished toward the gymnasium, and the anxious Yeoncheong called out to the friend in the seat in front of her.
"Hasol! Do you want to study together? I mean, not today, but on the anniversary. You know, if I get stuck on something while studying, I could ask you about it and stuff. I'm just asking, that's all. You know how... it's easier to focus when someone's studying next to you than when you're alone, right? If you already have plans, that's fine, but I just thought it'd be nice if you could help me. Not today, I mean — on the anniversary."
The moment the words left her mouth, Yeoncheong winced. Unorganized language had come pouring out with no structure at all.
At the machine-gun barrage of words, Hasol's yellow eyes blinked.
Having processed the deluge of information, her friend distilled Yeoncheong's long-winded proposal into a single line.
"So... you want to study together on the anniversary?"
"Y-yeah. Right. Yes."
Yeoncheong couldn't lift her head out of embarrassment. A soft laugh floated down over her hair.
Suyeon, who'd been about to head to the club room with Yeoncheong a step behind, came over.
"What's going on? What's this about?"
"Oh, Yeoncheong's asking me to study together on the anniversary?"
Hasol spoke on her behalf, since the poor girl couldn't raise her bright-red face.
Having confirmed it was perfectly ordinary conversation content, Suyeon's gaze slid toward the friend with her head bowed.
"Then why is she like that?"
"Ah, don't—!"
"She was so nervous. Kept repeating herself. Totally tripping over her words. It was so cute."
Yeoncheong tried to stop her, but her mouth was slower than her hands.
"Ngh... nngh..."
And in the end—
"Aaargh!"
Unable to bear the embarrassment a second longer, Yeoncheong bolted.
"Hey, Yeoncheong! Your bag... it's still here..."
Leaving her bag on the desk behind — along with Suyeon, whom she'd inevitably be reunited with at the club room anyway.