What Changed, and What Didn't
After throwing punches for the first time in years, delivering a declaration so absurd she wondered if "un-rejecting a confession" was even a real thing, and then being nagged half the night over the phone by a worried father who'd heard from the school—Yeoncheong had certainly had a noisy first day back.
The next day, she arrived at school early, still half-drunk on sleep. Her reasoning: if she went back to bed, she'd be late no matter what.
The way her classmates looked at her had shifted somehow in the span of a single day, but she marched straight toward her own desk with eyes that kept sliding shut, completely oblivious.
Hasol turned toward her friend, who had come in earlier than expected. Perhaps because of what had happened yesterday, worry laced her voice.
"Yeoncheong, were you okay yesterday?"
"Hm? Oh, thankfully it all worked out."
That part was owed entirely to Seoha, Hasol, and Nayun.
Suyeon, for her part, claimed she'd just stayed out of it—though Seoha later revealed she had been secretly filming the entire confrontation.
Because apparently, in situations like that, evidence is everything.
Thanks to that, the whole chain of events leading up to the fight came to light, and thanks to Hasol and Nayun tearing into Yeoncheong the moment it started, the other girl hadn't come out of it too badly.
The two sides agreed to let bygones be bygones from the very start of the semester and move on amicably. (Though the girl who'd been thoroughly dominated by Yeoncheong didn't seem all that thrilled about it.)
Not that writing five pages of reflection with zero repeated content was exactly a walk in the park, either.
In any case, it was a relief.
But that wasn't what she'd been asking about, apparently. Nayun cut into the conversation.
"No, not that. We already know how that ended."
"Then what? Hwaahm..."
Yeoncheong pulled her chair back and slumped onto her desk.
"I get Suyeon, but what did Seoha do to make things go back to normal between you two?"
"Ah... that."
Yeoncheong's words slowed as she drifted toward the land of dreams.
"The three of us met up..."
"The three of you? Wait, no—more importantly, you actually told them?"
"Mmhm... you guys told me tooo..."
As pushy as they'd been, considering how Yeoncheong had behaved all this time, neither of them had expected her to move this fast. The two friends stared at each other, dumbfounded.
Hasol pressed a hand to her forehead, thinking, if you were going to do it, you should've done it ages ago, while Nayun kept prodding for the next detail, clearly dying to know what happened after.
But to an exhausted Yeoncheong, her friends' voices were nothing more than a lullaby.
"I'm sleepyyy... g'night..."
"Hey, sleep? You're actually sleeping?"
The only answer to Nayun's question was the sound of soft, steady breathing.
Between the sleepless night spent fielding her father's worried late-night call, Yeoncheong slipped back into dreamland almost instantly.
What remained were Hasol and Nayun, staring at their soundly sleeping friend with expressions of pure bewilderment.
"Seriously. How can you just cut the story off there? I'm dying to know what happened."
"Whew... I'm sure she handled it fine. Let's just ask when she wakes up."
Except there was someone who'd come looking for her that morning to say hello...
"Oh? Is Yeoncheong asleep?"
"She just nodded off. Should we wake her?"
"No, no. I can say hi later."
On the first day she'd been too busy being mobbed by Hasol, Nayun, and Siyeon to get a word in, and every time she went looking for Suyeon, the girl was nowhere to be found. Today she'd rushed to the classroom as soon as she heard Yeoncheong had come in early—and yet, once again, the greeting had slipped away. It was Seobin, her fellow library club member and remedial-class companion, now sharing Yeoncheong's class alongside Siyeon.
***
After refusing to give up and finally managing to exchange belated greetings with Yeoncheong a full day late, Seobin's ordeal came to an end.
By the time Yeoncheong returned to the classroom from lunch, the four friends she'd longed for were all gathered around her. But there was no time to celebrate her return to the old routine.
"Ugh... I don't want to write this reflection."
"How am I even supposed to write this? First time in my life."
"Just wing it. It's not like I've written that many myself."
Because Yeoncheong and Suyeon—the two parties to the fight—were deep in the pits of reflection-paper hell.
No repeated content allowed, font size mandated, five pages total, plus one additional page for every day late.
Whether it was meant to make an example of them, the punishment was unusually steep for a mere reflection.
And so Yeoncheong and Suyeon put their heads together over a single desk, pouring their energy into their papers, while Hasol and Nayun cornered Seoha to pry into what had happened yesterday.
"Seoha, she really said that yesterday? For real?"
"Yeah. We were caught off guard too."
Rejecting a confession and then un-rejecting it—even Suyeon and Seoha had doubted whether she meant it at first.
But no matter how many times they asked, the answer never changed. At that point, there was no denying she was serious.
"Thank you, both of you. Yeoncheong said that talking with you helped her feel a lot more sure about her own feelings."
"Well, obviously. The weird part was her not knowing."
"I mean... it all worked out thanks to us. We're allowed to congratulate ourselves, right?"
As Hasol said this, glancing over at Yeoncheong scribbling away at her reflection, the girl's ears—clearly still working—twitched and she hunched her shoulders.
Hasol gave her friend's head a few gentle pats, her lips wavering.
"Yeoncheong, it's a little embarrassing to say this myself, but... nobody's got friends like us. You know that, right?"
"Yeah. I feel it keenly. Really, thank you."
"Just words?"
"I, um... let me think about it..."
While Hasol, who had spent many a sleepless night over Yeoncheong's obtuseness, was busy doting on her, Nayun fired the questions she hadn't gotten to yet at Seoha.
"So how does this work now? Are you two dating? Or is it a competition again?"
"Ah, that..."
Am I allowed to say this? Seoha glanced at Yeoncheong.
"She asked us to wait a little. Even though she said she has feelings too. Does that even make sense to you?"
On that subject, Suyeon apparently had plenty to say, because she looked up from her half-written reflection.
But nothing gets settled unless everyone's side gets heard. Yeoncheong's lips wavered anxiously too.
"Look, it's only been a little while since I figured out my own feelings. I can ask for some time, can't I?"
Thanks to Hasol and Nayun, Yeoncheong had at least confirmed she had feelings for both of them—but the fact that there were two of them remained the problem.
Nayun, however, just shrugged as if to ask what the big deal was.
"Why are you overcomplicating it? Just date all three of you."
"You're... awfully comfortable talking about this when it's not your problem. Do I really look that much like trash to you?"
"..."
The friends fell silent, as if they'd rehearsed it.
Honestly, it was hard to argue she wasn't a little trashy—a girl who still hadn't given a proper answer to someone who'd liked her for nearly a year. And it wasn't just one person waiting, but two.
"If I were in your shoes, I'd bet on dating both of them at once."
Nayun's words shattered that silence and cut straight to the bone.
Yeoncheong's eyes went round, and in her flustered state, she blurted something out without letting it pass through her brain.
"Ugh, I am not that much of a trash person! If I ask both of them out and they say yes, I'll grant you any one favor you want."
"Oh? All four of us just heard that. No takebacks? You swear?"
Nayun had done the math, and once provoked, Yeoncheong couldn't back down.
"No takebacks. Why would I?"
"Okay. Just don't come groveling later, begging me to let you off."
Once again, Yeoncheong—or rather, Daengcheongi—was digging her own grave.
***
"Aaargh... I can't write anymore. Let's take a quick break."
Having been hunched over her reflection all through lunch, Yeoncheong's whole body ached. She straightened her back and stretched.
"Suyeon, how far along are you?"
"I've got like four pages?"
"Fast."
Yeoncheong set down her pen entirely and heaved a sigh.
"Ha... why did I even bother fighting. What is this misery."
Nayun watched her grumble for a moment, then spoke up.
"Hey, but there's an upside, you know."
"What upside could there possibly be to getting in a fight?"
What is she trying to pull this time?
But contrary to expectations, what came out of her friend's mouth was genuinely something good.
"Now that everyone's seen you fight, nobody's going to talk trash about you anymore. Even the kids in our class kept their distance from you, right?"
"Wait, so THAT'S why they were all quietly avoiding me?"
No wonder Hasol, Nayun, Siyeon, Seobin—everyone she'd known from last year's class—were the only ones who didn't give her a wide berth. Somewhere along the line, without her knowing it, she had apparently acquired a dangerous reputation.
"It's fine. Give it time and it'll blow over."
"I guess so?"
Hasol added her own two cents, recalling yesterday's events.
"By the way—do guys normally fight like that? You went at her pretty viciously, Yeoncheong."
"Dunno? It probably varies person to person. And I'm on the tame side, honestly. Yesterday I just got mad because she was cursing out Suyeon along with me, so..."
It wasn't as if the fight was anything to be proud of.
Yeoncheong scratched her head, looking sheepish—but Suyeon, hit by those words out of nowhere, didn't know what to do with herself.
"I-it's almost end of lunch. I'm gonna head out."
"But there's still time le—"
She hadn't even walked the track, and there was plenty of time to spare—enough that even Seoha didn't bother commenting. But Suyeon cut Yeoncheong off mid-sentence and hurriedly gathered up her stack of papers.
"Gotta use the bathroom. Yeah, the bathroom."
"Okay... sure. See you after. Teacher Jisu said she has something to talk to us about the club, by the way."
Suyeon fled without so much as an answer, and the remaining three clicked their tongues as they watched Yeoncheong, oblivious to the effect her words might have had.
"Wow... are you doing that on purpose?"
"Doing what?"
Yeoncheong tilted her head.
It seemed impossible that she could be this oblivious—but then again, this was the girl who'd only figured out her own feelings after a whole year, so maybe it wasn't so impossible after all.
If Hasol and Nayun hadn't pressed her, who knows how long that awkwardness would have dragged on. The mere thought was horrifying.
Seoha, wearing an expression much like her usual one but slightly sulky, spoke up.
"Yeoncheong. If it had been me instead of Suyeon, would you have done the same thing?"
"Of course. If it was Hasol or Nayun getting cursed out, I'd have done the same."
"Hah... honestly."
Hasol let out an involuntary sigh.
Could it be... is that why she bet she'd never end up dating two of us?
She already had Seoha and Suyeon head over heels, and now she was occasionally shaking the hearts of Hasol and Nayun too.
Unconscious as it all was, this wasn't ordinary talent.
Seoha seemed to realize it too, and made a request of the two people she trusted most.
"Guys. Please keep Yeoncheong on a leash. You know what I mean."
"What about us? We're fine, right?"
When her friends asked back with uncertain expressions, Seoha nodded.
"Yeah. You two are fine."
If there was one silver lining to yesterday's incident, it was that her classmates were now keeping a subtle distance from Yeoncheong.
***
After school, having finished her classes first, Yeoncheong waited in the classroom for the class next door to let out.
With Hasol and Nayun continuing club activities through the first semester, she buried herself alone in the final stretch of her reflection paper.
Perhaps because she'd been chipping away at it whenever she found a spare moment—though honestly, even she wasn't sure what she'd actually written—at long last, she completed all five glorious pages.
Knock knock.
Suyeon came in, knocking with her own voice. It was a recovery speed that made her lunchtime escape seem like a distant lie.
"Oh, you're done?"
"Yeah. You? Weren't you still writing your reflection? Want me to wait?"
"Just finished. I'll drop it off at the teachers' office on the way."
Yeoncheong squared up her papers with a few crisp taps on the desk, grabbed her bag, and stood. The two of them headed for the teachers' office together.
"Where's Seoha?"
"She went straight to the student council room. Said she has to prepare for the student council president election."
"Ah, that makes sense."
The conversation died, and the only sound left was the echo of their footsteps in the empty hallway.
How to put it.
It felt strange.
Walking side by side like this used to be just an everyday thing—yet now that Yeoncheong had acknowledged her own feelings, everything was different.
Their strides matched perfectly without either of them trying. Hair that swayed and brushed against her shoulder with every step. A soft tune being hummed under Suyeon's breath, sounding almost happy.
For no reason at all, every little thing about Suyeon walking beside her demanded Yeoncheong's attention.
In the end, unable to bear the silence, Yeoncheong was the first to speak.
"What do you think she called us in for?"
"Something about the club... probably our first-semester activities."
"Yeah. That's most likely."
But the two of them couldn't have guessed more wrong...
"Girls. I'm going to need you to clear out of your club room."
To Yeoncheong and Suyeon, who had spent the whole walk discussing what activities they should do next, it was news like a thunderbolt from a clear sky.