White Day and the Free Pass
There had been the diet fiasco — an incident so bizarre that it was hard to believe she'd thought of it all on her own.
Yeoncheong got a firm scolding from her friends. That's not how you do it!
It was bad enough that she'd contemplated dieting over a measly few kilograms, but considering her lifestyle, the odds were high that her weight would return to normal on its own in the long run.
For the record, Seoha and Suyeon found even her clumsy efforts adorable, which was a whole different kind of problem.
...Anyway.
The sudden weight gain was partly due to the massive calorie intake in such a short time, but her winter hibernation had played its part too. She hadn't exactly gone swimming at the beach like during summer break, after all. She'd always claimed she should exercise, yet in the end she'd spent the whole winter wrapped in a warm blanket — and the pounds she'd piled on without noticing during that time certainly existed.
With the cause identified, the solution was simple enough.
Live school life as usual, run hard during PE, and it would come back naturally.
Told to give it just one chance, Yeoncheong went back to eating full meals. One day, two days, three days...
Unlike most girls, who were fundamentally averse to exercise, Yeoncheong — a fish meeting water alongside Nayun — was back to her normal weight in no time.
Then again, she had attempted a clumsy diet by cutting back on meals... in a way, it was only natural that her friends got angry.
And so the days slipped by.
White Day — the day she had to repay the heavy gift of confession chocolate — was now just one day away.
The day before White Day, at Yeoncheong's apartment.
The face of the homeowner, lying nestled among hand-wrapped bundles of treats, was full of worry.
The snack bundles, all with the same contents, were for her classmates.
Perhaps because of the fight on the first day of the semester, she'd somehow picked up an image: usually all smiles, but an absolute beast when angered.
Hasol said it would fade with time, but two weeks or so hadn't been enough to erase that impression, and even now a thin, transparent wall stood between Yeoncheong and the rest of the class.
There was no reason to keep dragging around a bad image. She wanted to clear up the misunderstanding as quickly as possible.
And along came a familiar event. White Day last year had left her with fond memories, so she prepared the same strategy again this time.
Money was no issue — she'd always spent little on herself anyway.
It was just... as had been the case last year, she wanted to put a little extra thought into her closest friends, and that was where the trouble lay.
Even if I can manage something for Hasol and Nayun...
For those two, slipping a few extra snacks into the bundle would be plenty.
But Seoha and Suyeon.
Those two were the problem.
Each had shown her a heart that was almost too much for her to deserve, and Yeoncheong wanted to offer a reply that matched. By now, she knew those feelings weren't merely friendship for friends, either.
They'd given her handmade chocolate, so handmade candy in return... that was pushing it, but maybe handmade cookies to return the care. Or a matching set of items to split between them.
A few other ideas came to mind, but not one of them satisfied her.
She was grateful for the chocolate, yes — but she also wanted to apologize for that ridiculous line of hers: cancelling the rejection of the confession. Even by her own assessment, it was an absurd thing to have said.
To layer apology on top of gratitude, every idea was one brushstroke short of enough.
I guess it has to be that, after all...
Much as she wanted to think it over further, the night was already far too late. Tomorrow would be busy from the crack of dawn, and if she didn't want to oversleep, it was time to get ready for bed.
Telling herself she'd prepare it for now and swap it out if something better came to mind, Yeoncheong rose from her nest and headed to her desk.
She tore a single sheet of paper from her notebook, folded it once lengthwise and once across, then cut it into four palm-sized pieces.
At first she'd thought to make them only for Suyeon and Seoha, but an impulsive judgment suggested — why not make ones for Hasol and Nayun too?
Next, she grabbed one of the ballpoint pens jammed into her pencil holder, practiced the writing in the air, and muttered to herself.
Trying to write neatly just makes it harder.
More focused than she'd ever been studying.
Pressing out each character with care onto the paper, the night before White Day deepened.
The next morning.
Class 3-1 was buzzing from the moment the day began.
"Here you go."
"Thanks! I'll enjoy it."
It was the third year running — last year's White Day, the Pepero Day before that, and now this. Busy enough to make Santa Claus look lazy, Yeoncheong had arrived at school early and was handing out bundles of treats.
Truly, nothing brought people closer than this. When the classmates accepted her gifts with smiles on their faces, her plan to scrub away that stormy image was a resounding success too.
Just how early had she come for this? Hasol and Nayun, arriving later than her, watched their friend from across the room.
"It's kind of... strange to see, honestly."
Especially in Hasol's eyes, a whole medley of emotions flickered as she watched Yeoncheong.
It felt like only yesterday the girl had been hemming and hawing over how to approach her, and now she was walking up to people first, striking up conversations. She'd grown so much, Hasol thought.
"Right? You'd think she's the introverted type, but she quietly gets everything done that needs doing."
Just as Nayun said.
Yeoncheong was by no means the type to step forward unprompted. But at the sports festival, on the beach trip, during the Hwaryeong Festival — whenever the moment demanded it, she gave it her all, well or badly, and if you actually asked her to do something, no one matched her cooperation better.
Her friends — those two chief among them — had been a huge part of how quickly she'd adapted to life at an all-girls school, but her own temperament had earned its share of the credit.
Some time passed like that.
When the friend who'd been bustling around the classroom finally returned to her seat, Nayun naturally held out her hand.
The signal: the only two in class who hadn't received theirs yet, which meant it was now their turn.
But Yeoncheong shook her blue hair side to side.
"Later. I'll give them out all at once with everyone at lunch."
"Huh? Why? Just give it now. I'm going to eat one."
Nayun, who'd rushed out that morning and skipped breakfast, fixed her gaze on the shopping bag holding the treats. But Yeoncheong hugged the bag to her chest and curled up into an impenetrable fortress defense.
Nayun launched an offensive, poking at her sides, but Yeoncheong, adamant that it was absolutely not time yet, yelped and squirmed without ever letting the bag leave her arms.
The creeping hands escalated to her armpits and the sides of her chest. For a girl who'd only recently permitted knees into her tolerance range, it was the kind of touch that would have sent her into a screaming fit — but in defense of the shopping bag, she could only suffer it helplessly.
Neither was about to back down, and the scuffle showed no sign of ending.
In the end, it was Hasol who wrapped things up by grabbing hold of her playful friend.
"Come on, why?"
"She said she'll give it to you later. Just be patient a little. There's probably a special reason."
Catching the glance sent her way, Yeoncheong nodded lightly.
"There's something I need to explain. It's better done all at once."
Remembering last year, the two were sure she'd put extra thought into their gifts.
But snacks that required an explanation?
Just what on earth had she prepared? Now Hasol, holding Nayun back, was getting curious herself.
"What is it? Can't you give us just a tiny hint?"
"...Nope. I'll tell you when the time comes."
Face flushing red, Yeoncheong carried the shopping bag off to the locker at the back of the room entirely.
A precaution against Nayun's inevitable theft — and a precisely accurate one, as it turned out, since Nayun actually did try to break the lock by taking advantage of Yeoncheong's trip to the bathroom.
The lunch hour they'd waited so long for.
Suyeon and Seoha, on hearing there was something for them, skipped their usual stroll around the athletic field altogether, and since Yeoncheong wanted somewhere quiet, the group naturally headed for the club room.
To say it once more: if Teacher Jisu had seen this, it would have been a scene to send her into fits — that's not what I gave it to you for!
Suyeon, seated just as naturally as she had been last time, glanced around.
"Oh, we're one chair short."
Perhaps because the table was built for four — and indeed there were exactly four chairs. But Yeoncheong's group numbered five.
One could be fetched later, of course, but right now there was a single seat missing. And the one left standing happened to be Yeoncheong.
"There's room here."
Seoha slid her chair back slightly and patted her own thigh. Suyeon, as if competing, thrust out her own knee.
But when it came to those two, she was still nothing but embarrassment.
"I'm fine. I'll do this standing."
Standing in the middle, Yeoncheong revealed the contents of the shopping bag she'd brought.
Four bundles of treats spilled out.
Hasol and Nayun, who had already watched her hand them out to the others, tilted their heads.
"Hm?"
"What gives? These look exactly like the ones you gave the class."
Only the wrapping was slightly different, for the sake of distinction.
When Nayun confirmed the contents were completely identical, she glared at her friend.
"Hey, Ha Yeoncheong. You owe me an explanation for exactly why you had to starve me all morning."
But Yeoncheong only opened her mouth and closed it again, nodding toward the bundles in a wordless gesture: open them.
Well, when the giver tells you to open them — the four friends unwrapped the packages and peered more closely inside. Nayun upended her bundle entirely, spilling the contents out.
Plop.
A scrap of paper tumbled out with them.
One by one, the other friends discovered similar scraps hidden inside as well. Since each bundle held exactly one, they clearly weren't misplaced garbage.
Without ceremony, everyone unfolded their papers.
"A Free Pass...?"
"A Favor Pass...?"
Nayun's and Seoha's voices slipped out of sync — the written contents were slightly different.
But what the names evoked was much the same.
For Suyeon and Seoha: I'll grant you anything, just once. For Hasol and Nayun: I'll hear you out on any reasonable request.
Something like those massage coupons they'd all received so many of as kids.
Hasol, turning the handwritten paper over in her hands, asked,
"Yeoncheong, this... are you serious?"
"Well... it might be a little childish, but... thinking about everything you've all done for me and how sorry I am, this felt like the best I could come up with."
Fluttering paper, handwritten coupons.
Apparently her return gift looked so flimsy to her that she was embarrassed by it... but the others were worried about something else entirely.
Hasol's gaze slid quietly toward the two friends seated across the table.
"A Free Pass... anything at all... heehee. Heheheh..."
Who knew what kind of fantasies were playing out, but Suyeon was grinning ear to ear, murmuring Yeoncheong's words back to herself.
"There's no expiration date? You'd really grant anything? Any time?"
And Seoha was already firing off questions, clearly plotting to squeeze it for all it was worth.
The two who'd just received a return gift beyond their wildest imaginations were practically dying of joy.
Frankly, it would have been better if Yeoncheong had given the multi-clause Favor Pass to Seoha and Suyeon and simply added a few extra snacks for Hasol and Nayun instead.
Knowing Yeoncheong's usual character, the coupons were in no danger of becoming IOUs, and even a Favor Pass would likely cover most reasonable requests.
But a Free Pass that said anything goes, in her own handwriting...
It seemed the only person who didn't understand its value was the one who'd made it.
Nayun could already picture several of the disasters this was bound to cause, which was why even she, rare as it was, found herself worrying for Yeoncheong.
"Hey. Isn't it not too late to recall those and give out something else?"
"What? Not good enough because it's not food? Then ask me to cook for you. I'll do it."
A perfect shot straight past the goal.
Too weak as a return gift, she'd worried — and watching her fret over the exact opposite concern, Nayun realized there was no hope of her ever catching on. If anything, learning that a mere Favor Pass already went that far only stoked their expectations for the Free Pass even higher.
"No, that's not what I—"
"She's just overwhelmed with happiness. Don't worry about a thing, Yeoncheong."
Nayun's lips twitched with frustration, but even that last attempt was snuffed out by Suyeon's swift intervention.
Refuse a confession. Then later, cancel the rejection...
If that wasn't karmic debt, what was?
And every time she cried for help, she dove straight back into that same pit — so Hasol and Nayun gave up on the rescue.
Sooner or later, Yeoncheong would simply have to carry it herself.
Meanwhile...
Was the Favor Pass too vague after all...?
Looking at Hasol's and Nayun's doubtful faces, that was the thought occupying Yeoncheong's mind...
Which made it abundantly clear that she had no idea what harvest the seeds she'd just sown were going to bring in.