The Club Activity I Want to Do (1)
Yeoncheong slipped on her shoes and slowly rotated her ankle in every direction. No pain, no discomfort—thanks to the intensive care regimen of Seoha, Suyeon, and Nayun.
With a faint smile, Yeoncheong stepped out of the house.
Before she knew it, the calendar had turned past March—a month of adjustment—and pointed to April. As the forsythia and azaleas made their final, brilliant show, Yeoncheong lifted her head.
The sky was tinged a soft pink. Cherry blossoms, stretching awake as if to say it was their turn now, had carpeted the road to school in color.
Pretty.
The streets were nearly deserted, as if she had chartered them all to herself. Drunk on the scenery, Yeoncheong's steps slowed.
As she neared the school gate, other girls—late because they too had stopped to admire the blossoms—scrambled past her in a hurry.
Yeoncheong checked the time once, then picked up her pace with a light little jog.
She and her homeroom teacher, Jisu, entered the classroom at the same moment. What might have been a scolding ended as nothing more than a gentle warning once the teacher realized who it was.
Better not mention that my ankle's all healed.
Yeoncheong had no desire to go out of her way to get lectured.
As she settled quietly into her seat, Seoha greeted her.
"Hello, Madam Student Council President."
The only notable event during the two weeks of Yeoncheong's recovery had been the student council presidential election, which had wrapped up recently. Seoha, her seatmate, had been elected president by a landslide.
And that, without any campaigning to speak of—a testament to just how formidable an image Seoha had built over the past year.
Now, having completed the handover from former president Seoyun, Seoha was officially the student council president.
"I told you not to call me that."
Seoha grumbled, her face full of complaint, and Yeoncheong smiled at the sight.
Seoha hated being addressed by her title. But Yeoncheong—who had spent most of her time being the one teased—was never going to pass up such a golden opportunity.
The nickname war had been going on for days now, but everything has its limits.
"Today's the last day."
At Yeoncheong's declaration, the stiffness melted from Seoha's face.
***
"Yeoncheong. Hey, Yeoncheong."
"Mmnh...?"
At the sound of her name, Yeoncheong blinked her eyes open. Her head rose slowly from the desk, and her textbook peeled away from her cheek.
"Class is over."
"Class is... over?"
Seoha nodded slightly, a hand covering her mouth. As Yeoncheong glanced around in a daze, she saw her classmates preparing for the end-of-day homeroom period.
Rubbing her eyes with both hands, Yeoncheong struggled to gather her wits.
"You could've woken me up..."
It was the first PE class since her ankle had healed.
Yeoncheong had run herself ragged the moment she got the chance, forgetting entirely to save any strength for the next class.
"Sorry, that slipped my mind."
Seoha said this, still holding a hand over her mouth. Yeoncheong shot her a puzzled look.
"Why are you covering your mouth?"
"No reason. Seasonal changes, I guess? I feel a sneeze coming on."
Still half-asleep, Yeoncheong accepted it with a nod. Ah, I see.
"Alright, everyone, let's have homeroom."
Their conversation ended as Jisu entered to take attendance.
The teacher's eyes swept over the students' faces before coming to a stop on Yeoncheong.
"Yeoncheong, did you sleep well?"
"Excuse me? How could you possibly..."
"One side of your face is bright red, dear."
Every gaze in the classroom swung toward the back row. Flustered, Yeoncheong clapped both hands over her right cheek.
"The other side."
Her hands scrambled from the right to the left, and in the same motion she buried her face in her desk—though not without shooting Seoha a sidelong glare.
Laughter filled the classroom. Once Jisu had settled everyone down, she spoke again.
"If you're tired, you should sleep. Sleeping's fine and all, but... you do remember you have midterms this month, right?"
She looked around the quiet classroom and added:
"Answer me."
"Yeeeess..."
With that long, drawn-out chorus from the students, homeroom came to an end.
***
The far end of campus: the Annex. Second-year Free Inquiry Club. In the spacious classroom, only Suyeon and Yeoncheong remained.
Seoha, now formally student council president, had moved her base of operations to the student council room.
"Suyeon."
Despite Yeoncheong's call, Suyeon stayed buried in writing an activity report.
"Hey. Baek Suyeon."
"Ugh, I'm busy. What do you want?"
"Are we... actually a Free Inquiry Club, or are we just, like, the Odd Jobs Club?"
Suyeon answered without taking her eyes off the report.
"Not odd jobs—community service, thank you very much."
Yeoncheong tilted her head.
Does helping out other clubs really count as community service...?
Lending a hand to clubs that were short-staffed. That was the true nature of the "volunteer work" Suyeon had mentioned before. To be fair, they had done actual volunteer work too, but it was about half and half.
Yeoncheong's mind drifted back to the day Suyeon had clutched at her sleeve, begging.
"By the way, you said you had something you wanted to do. When is that happening?"
"That? It's coming along nicely. I'll tell you once I get approval."
Having finished the report, Suyeon rose to her feet. With the paperwork documenting their club activities neatly squared away, she looked down at Yeoncheong.
"I'm going to submit this to Ms. Jisu."
"Will it take long? Want me to come with?"
As Yeoncheong started to rise, Suyeon pressed down firmly on her from above. Maybe it was a matter of leverage, but Yeoncheong couldn't get up at all.
Back in her chair, Yeoncheong looked up at her.
"It'll take a while."
"Then what am I supposed to do?"
Suyeon scanned the classroom. Bare chairs and desks were all it held—nothing but the traces of its past.
"...Go play somewhere for a bit."
The kind of thing a parent might say to a child.
"Play?"
Suyeon didn't bother answering. She fled the club room like she was making her escape.
Watching her go, Yeoncheong muttered to herself.
"What was that. I'm not a little kid."
Left alone in the wide classroom, Yeoncheong found an instant hush settling over the room—not so much as a clock on the wall to break the silence.
"...Guess I'll go for a walk."
***
"And that's why I came here. To kill time."
Yeoncheong nodded along at her own perfectly accurate summary. Seoyun—the former student council president, seated beside her in a corner of the tennis court—let out a hollow laugh.
"You've gotten pretty comfortable with me, haven't you, Yeoncheong?"
She answered with a casual little nod.
"Huh? Now you won't even give me more than a nod when I ask a question?"
And when exactly were you happy about us being closer...?
It wasn't wrong, though.
Their distance had closed, but a classmate she'd only been the same gender as for a few months still wasn't someone Yeoncheong could approach easily on her own.
With Seoyun, however, the senior-junior relationship had been firmly established, which made her comparatively easy to be around.
"Where's everyone else?"
"Nayun looked busy with her club, Seoha's obviously tied up, and I'm on my way back from the cooking club—Hasol's club."
Yeoncheong held up the bag of cookies Hasol had given her.
"So I'm the last stop, huh."
When Yeoncheong nodded, Seoyun made a complicated face.
"Should I be happy we've gotten close, or sad that I'm the last on the list?"
"Happy. You're the only senior I'm close with."
Yeoncheong delivered the plain, unvarnished truth without a second thought. Seoyun's eyes went round with surprise, and the friends resting nearby pricked up their ears.
"Well then, how about dropping the 'senior' and calling me Unnie from now on?"
"Nope. I've told you how many times that's not happening."
The third party listening in looked even more disappointed than Seoyun. Swallowing her own disappointment, Seoyun changed the subject.
"I heard you got hurt. Is your ankle okay now?"
"Yep, all healed. Wait—how did you know about that?"
Yeoncheong, mid-nod, turned to look at her.
Instead of answering, Seoyun gave a small tilt of her head. Where the gesture pointed, PE teacher Hayoung was instructing new club members.
"She tells you things like that?"
"She didn't say any names. But hearing about it, I figured it had to be you."
As Yeoncheong regarded the teacher with quiet reproach, Seoyun offered a word of advice.
"Be careful out there. Ms. Hayoung might be lax about other things, but she's very particular about students getting hurt."
"I do try not to get hurt. The basketball thing was an accident."
"And tripping over your own feet on the court? Was that an accident too?"
Grinning, Seoyun dredged up a memory Yeoncheong desperately wanted erased. Under that sharpened glare, Seoyun apologized with a sheepish "my bad."
But Yeoncheong's eyes showed no sign of softening. Seoyun hastily pivoted to a new topic.
"Suyeon must be waiting for you."
"It's fine. She said it'd take a while. And she told me to text her here if she doesn't find me."
Seoyun cocked her head. A club activity report, taking that long? Yeoncheong just shrugged, her blue hair rising lightly off her shoulders before settling back down.
"No idea. Probably getting approval for our next club activity while she's at it. She won't tell me what it is this time, though."
"Could it be... the thing Suyeon wants to do?"
"Yep, that's it."
Seoyun squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head slowly.
"Good luck with that."
"Do you know what it is, Senior?"
"Of course I do."
Just as Yeoncheong opened her mouth to demand what on earth Suyeon was hiding, a voice called out to her. It was Suyeon.
In the blink of an eye, Suyeon had crossed the athletic field and reached the tennis court, where she grabbed Yeoncheong by the arm.
"Great news. Let's go, quickly."
Without waiting for an answer, she hauled Yeoncheong away. Seoyun waved at the retreating pair—then noticed the cookie bag lying on the ground.
"Yeoncheong! You forgot this!"
Seoyun waved the bag, and Yeoncheong shouted back without missing a step.
"Just eat them!"
"They're fine to eat, right?"
"Obviously!"
"Thanks!"
"It's the least I can do!"
The moment Suyeon and Yeoncheong disappeared from view, Seoyun's eavesdropping friends rose to their feet, all of them smirking at her.
"Well, well. Now you're accepting cookies from underclassmen?"
"She left them behind—that basically means 'eat these.'"
With a snort of laughter, Seoyun opened the bag and popped a cookie into her mouth. Her friends each swiped one in a flash.
The moment they imagined the familiar taste of those cookies, the faces of Seoyun and her friends contorted. One by one they spat them out, and Seoyun—who had hastily chewed and swallowed hers—frantically searched for water.
"Gah—how do you even make a cookie this spicy?!"
"Gotcha. Today must've been the cooking club's research day..."
Only then did Seoyun remember the serene smile Yeoncheong had worn as she so generously handed over the bag.
***
Suyeon and Yeoncheong returned to the club room.
Yeoncheong sat down at the desk where she'd left her bag. Suyeon dragged a chair over and sat down facing her.
"So what's this great news already? You didn't even let me say goodbye to my senior."
"You're always complaining that the volunteer work is boring. So I talked to Ms. Jisu, and she approved."
Suyeon's explanation was full of holes. But Yeoncheong got the general gist.
So she got the thing she wanted approved.
Suyeon's eyes sparkled at her, as if to say ask me, ask me now. Yeoncheong obliged.
"Okay, so what exactly is this thing you got approved to do?"
"Late-night school exploration."
For a moment, Yeoncheong doubted her own ears.
"Huh?"
"Late. Night. School. Exploration!"
Suyeon enunciated every syllable, crisp and clear, leaving no room for mishearing. Unfortunately for her, nothing was wrong with Yeoncheong's hearing.
"I'm sorry—what?"
The formal register slipped out of Yeoncheong's mouth before she could stop it.