Two of a Kind
The morning after learning a "useful thing" from Nayun and nearly dying of embarrassment on the spot.
"Kyahaha!"
Her friend, who had been laughing herself silly clutching her belly, suddenly smacked her lips.
"Wow~ Yeoncheong, your initiative is insane? I knew you were capable, but I never thought you'd actually try it the very same day I taught you."
She'd been spamming stickers like crazy in the group chat last night, too.
Apparently talking face-to-face was a whole different matter. Nayun teased her as if she were hearing the story for the first time.
"Hey. Give that back."
Yeoncheong, who had even bought her a drink out of guilt for doubting her all this time, demanded a refund in the face of the relentless mockery.
Nayun just hugged the drink to her chest and shook her head.
"Aigoo~ since when do you take back something you already gave? So stingy."
"You're the stingiest of all, making fun of me after accepting the drink."
Whether she realized that was pushing it or not, Nayun promised to behave and cracked open the drink.
"But seriously. Was that really something to be so embarrassed about? It's a little pathetic, sure... but no man saw you, and no underwear was showing."
"..."
When Nayun hit the nail on the head, an awkward silence followed.
With the only males at school being teachers and the security guard, from the outside it probably looked like she'd been dithering around and somehow flashed her panties anyway. Nayun washed down her throat with the drink and let out an awkward laugh.
"Whew... there goes Daengcheongi brain again."
Yeoncheong passed the bottle over when Hasol asked for just one sip, but Nayun kept smacking her lips thoughtfully.
"Honestly, what I really want to know is this. Is your guard strong or weak?"
Considering how hard she tried not to show things, only to fall flat on her own and expose them every single time, it was hard not to wonder.
When someone jokingly asked if she did it on purpose, Yeoncheong flared up.
"I'm plenty strong, thank you very much!"
She'd survived over a year of her friends' affectionate offensives (only because she was oblivious to her own feelings, but still)! She wasn't the type to get pushed around by everyone (she only seemed that way because she was considerate of them)!
Sure, there were plenty of footnotes attached... but regardless, she prided herself on having a very sturdy guard.
That pride, however, crumbled in an instant at the hands of Hasol, who was squinting at the drink bottle because it tasted good.
"Hmm. Strictly speaking, I'd say it's more like a wall. It looks tall and solid from the outside, but the moment someone touches it, it comes crumbling down—a flimsy, shoddy wall."
"Pfft... khek!"
As if she'd studied Yeoncheong under a microscope, the description was far too detailed and perfectly accurate.
Nayun barely contained her second wave of laughter with a strangled snort.
Meanwhile, Yeoncheong, wounded by the revelation of how her friend had always seen her, muttered in a dumbstruck voice, steeped in deep betrayal.
"Hasol, no, right? The Hasol I know wouldn't say that. You got corrupted by that mean Suyeon and Seoha, didn't you? Right? Yes, that must be it. Obviously. That's definitely it."
Welcome everywhere she went, gentle and warm-hearted—Hasol was the one person who had a huge circle of friends in an entirely different way from Suyeon.
After Seoha and Suyeon, her romantic partners. No—perhaps trusted even more than those two. Her verdict drove Yeoncheong to complete denial of reality.
"Hahaha! You always put all your faith in Hasol, and who knew the day would come when she'd do this to you."
Nayun, perpetually tormented by undeserved slander precisely because of that gap in trust, was laughing herself into fits.
Hasol, for her part, had known she had a good image, but never realized it was to this degree, and she broke into a sweat trying to console Yeoncheong, whose mental state had gone completely off the rails.
***
A little while later...
Having gone to retrieve her scattered sanity, Yeoncheong changed the subject, just like the day before, to clear the air.
"Phew... anyway. Are you two going to the exhibition too?"
The new topic was, fittingly, the very same exhibition talk from yesterday.
Yeoncheong remembered how she'd been told to give her friends a heads-up in advance if it was something worth putting on their school records, after all.
The date was naturally the weekend, and as it was a club activity, Suyeon and Seoha, along with Yeoncheong herself, were all participating as a matter of course.
"Sorry. I have plans."
Hasol shook her head before the question had even finished, and there was nothing to be done about it—her club was heading out for a group cooking volunteer event.
Naturally, everyone's eyes turned to the last one remaining. Nayun squeezed her eyes shut and tilted her head to one side, deliberating deeply.
It was just a casual club outing with friends, so what on earth was there to agonize over?
Her head tilted past sideways until her whole body was lurching, and without any need to decide who would go first, a friend caught her before she toppled over.
Perhaps she'd simply trusted the two friends beside her—she remained remarkably composed even with half her weight already leaning on them.
Then, as if nothing had happened, Nayun opened her eyes and smacked her lips.
"Yeah. I guess a place like that's worth seeing once. What are we going to look at, anyway?"
"Honestly, no idea."
At Yeoncheong's answer, both friends couldn't hide their disbelief.
"You don't know?"
"Seriously, if YOU don't know, who would?"
"Suyeon and Seoha do. I'm on the CSAT track, so it doesn't matter where I go. That's why they told me to just pick somewhere I wanted to visit."
Either way... she still had no idea where they were headed.
But with that, the exhibition party was officially decided.
***
Time flew by in the blink of an eye, and the weekend arrived once more—outside the museum.
Past the appointed time, only two people were still in sight. The pair waiting for their two not-yet-arrived friends made for an unusual combination.
"You actually managed not to be late?"
"That's my line, thank you very much. Besides, you're supposed to show up early to plans in the first place."
It sounded like sarcasm and bickering, but in truth it was nothing of the sort.
The two verbally sparring friends were none other than Yeoncheong, Class 1's resident tardiness specialist, and Nayun, the laziest? most laid-back? of all her friends.
Waiting for Seoha, caught in an unexpected traffic jam, and Suyeon, who had overslept for once in her life, the two passed the time wandering around the area.
"Come to think of it. What was the reason you were deliberating so hard, anyway?"
Perhaps strolling in circles had grown boring, because the moment Yeoncheong opened the topic, Nayun turned her head to look at her.
"What do you mean?"
"Before. When we invited you to the exhibition, you agonized over it forever."
"Oh, that~"
Now that she finally remembered, the way she trailed off suggested it wasn't anything too serious.
"I was wondering if I'd be awkwardly third-wheeling your lovey-dovey act. But then I thought about it from the angle of just watching you two from the sidelines, and honestly, it seemed like it'd be fun."
No, it was a deeply problematic and bizarre reason.
Yeoncheong startled and looked around frantically, then, thanking the universe for the indifference of modern strangers, let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey. Even jokes, you have to gauge the situation and know where to draw the line."
"What jokes? You asked. Watching other people's love lives is always more fun. The joy of zero responsibility, you know?"
Shameless. Utterly shameless. So very shameless. But it was too true to argue with.
Especially coming from Nayun, who at one point had literally carried popcorn around for the occasion—there was no way this was a joke.
"But hey, that's not my only reason. I figure I should add one more line to my school record too. I'll be viewing the exhibition properly, so don't worry. Your lovey-dovey stuff I'll just consider a bonus."
She wanted to tear apart the very mindset that classified that as a "bonus" in the first place, but there was no winning that argument, so Yeoncheong just nodded.
And then—
"Guys! Sorry we're late!"
As if on cue, the two friends arrived at nearly the same moment, cutting off any chance to continue the conversation.
***
Suyeon and Seoha had been given full authority over choosing the exhibition, but naturally, they'd kept Yeoncheong's and Nayun's interests in mind too.
That was why they'd passed on modern art, which was hard to grasp intuitively, and chosen the national museum instead, where Korea's historical artifacts and paintings were on display.
"Whoa... is this real?"
"How could it be real? They obviously made a replica and installed it inside."
Perhaps their careful choice had paid off.
Contrary to all their worrying, Yeoncheong and Nayun wandered the museum with eyes sparkling, and the two friends trailing behind watched them with quiet pride.
Somehow things had settled into pairs: Yeoncheong and Nayun together, Suyeon and Seoha together. It was a bit of a shame, given how similar the two were in mental age—or rather, in comportment—but since the whole point was museum viewing, they didn't mind much.
It kept Nayun from feeling left out, after all.
"Let's just focus on the exhibits today. We have to write our reports when we get home, remember?"
"Right."
And so Suyeon and Seoha's hearts aligned, and with the guidebooks they'd grabbed at the entrance, the museum tour began.
But whether it was their fundamental preference for moving around, or simply that the museum's particular stillness and hush made them uncomfortable—
the two friends' focus and curiosity didn't last very long.
"Yaaawn... mmph."
They'd shown up early right on schedule, and after looking at exhibit after similar-looking exhibit, they were apparently getting bored.
Yeoncheong covered her mouth to hide it, but her yawn soon carried all the way to the two friends walking ahead.
And what about the other one? Seoha glanced back.
"Mmm..."
Nayun, at least, was trying her hardest to focus, since she had a school record to fill—but restlessness was clearly getting to her too, fidgeting this way and that.
With every exhibition hall they exited, the two friends' shoulders drooped noticeably. One more room or two, and they looked ready to melt straight into the floor.
"Hey, you two. Should we get something to eat?"
In the end, Suyeon stopped on her way to the next gallery and suggested lunch.
No one pointed out that they'd only been viewing for a few hours—was it really lunchtime already?
Thanks to Suyeon and Seoha running late, it was a bit early, but plenty late enough for lunch. And Nayun and Yeoncheong, who had hit their limit at record speed, had no reason to turn down such an appealing offer.
***
Sinking, perhaps. Whether the solemn, quiet air unique to exhibition halls was siphoning away their energy or not—
after their meal, the two friends slumped in a café corner were practically glowing with new life.
"Ahh~ that's better. Museums just might not be my thing."
"Agreed. It wasn't bad at first, but staring at stuff for hours on end is brutal."
They had basketball in common, after all. And being the type who preferred using their bodies over studying—
for all their squabbling, Yeoncheong and Nayun were in perfect sync at moments like this.
But since neither of them showed the slightest intention of getting back up, Seoha gave a wry smile and spoke up.
"You haven't even seen half of what you promised to see. Whining already, really?"
"She's right. Do you two actually intend to get up?"
When Suyeon held up the guidebook and told them to see it for themselves, the pair averted their eyes in perfect unison, like twins, and brought their drinks to their lips instead.
"It's not... like we ever said let's stop and go home..."
"We're just saying this activity doesn't really suit us. That's all."
Even their grumbling flowed seamlessly, as if a single person were speaking.
They had seen everything there was to see in a cursory sweep, yet the excuses came out alternating—we were admiring things slowly and thoroughly, you two were just moving too fast—and their coordination was anything but ordinary.
Judging by the way things were drifting, even if they dragged the two back to the galleries, they'd clearly invent some excuse or other and scatter within minutes.
They hadn't failed to anticipate this situation, but the pair had hit their wall faster than expected.
Dealing with handfuls like these two was, apparently, Hasol's area of expertise rather than theirs, so Suyeon had messaged her long ago—
but that side was busy with her club volunteer work, and only now did the reply finally arrive.
Of course.
Maybe it was the accumulated experience of sharing a classroom with them.
Hasol's prescription was swift, and Suyeon and Seoha, screen shared between them, moved immediately to carry it out.