Seeking Advice
After the museum trip with her friends for club activities.
The final exams that had seemed so far away crept steadily closer, and the weather, which had been nothing but hot, now hung thick with that sticky, muggy humidity unique to summer.
Was this the start of the rainy season?
With the drizzling rain, every classroom had its lights on from morning. Just as the perpetually sunny outdoors had turned gloomy overnight, so too had our classroom's seating chart changed after nearly three months—thanks to someone's pointed question about why we never changed seats.
Which meant Yeoncheong now had to be the one to seek out the friends she'd drifted away from.
Hasol, who'd had an easy day of volunteer work that same day, burst out laughing when she heard about the museum incident.
"Sounds like I should've come along if it was that entertaining."
"Why are you the one sympathizing with them?"
Suyeon had clung to her the whole tour and made her life miserable. Seoha had snuck up on her without warning in a crowded place and nearly gave her a heart attack, and Nayun had piled on too, demanding she show her the scene again.
Yeoncheong had naturally expected to comfort her poor, thrice-tormented friend. Instead, Hasol's eyes went round with what looked like genuine shock.
Meanwhile, Nayun, whose new seat was right next to Hasol, had simply dragged her chair close to listen in. When her friend grumbled under her breath, Nayun's lips twitched as if she had a grievance of her own.
"Hey. Cutting it off at a moment like that is a crime. You should be thanking me I'm not resorting to violence."
"No violence my foot."
When Yeoncheong leaned in, asking whether she couldn't see this lump on her head, Nayun bonked her on the head and insisted there was no lump.
"Aack!"
She'd been hit in the exact same spot.
Yeoncheong wasn't about to take that lying down. She lunged to counterattack, but—
"Don't fight over something that's already done."
With Suyeon and Seoha absent, Hasol—the one who always got saddled with playing mediator whenever the two of them scuffled—wrapped an arm around Yeoncheong's waist where she sat on her lap.
Thanks to that, Yeoncheong's counterattack ended in feeble squirming, and after a few token whimpers she went limp and surrendered herself again.
Since continuing to hash out the museum story would only lead to more bickering, Yeoncheong pondered for a moment, then decided she might as well ask what was on her mind.
"By the way. Why do you enjoy those situations more than I do, when I'm the one they actually happen to?"
"I told you before. Other people's romances are always more fun than your own. Right, Hasol?"
Hasol had been playing with Yeoncheong's hair, and she hadn't expected the question to come flying at her.
"Huh? What did you say?"
Nayun repeated herself, and Hasol, who had offered her lap as a pillow, nodded along in agreement.
My own romance comes with just as much heartache and sorrow as it does joy, but with other people's, nothing ever hurts you.
It's vicarious satisfaction—cutting out the emotional drain while keeping all the sweetness. That's why dating shows are so popular, she explained, even offering examples.
"So what you're saying is... you want to sneak peeks at me and the girls being lovey-dovey."
To be precise, she didn't want to sneak peeks—she wanted to watch brazenly from the front row—but that was close enough to the gist, so Nayun gave a wobbly nod.
"Not wrong, exactly... but when you put it that way, it sounds kinda gross."
Had she even heard the answer, though?
Yeoncheong stroked her chin alone, deep in grave thought, then abruptly asked for help.
"Then help me. If you want to see it so bad."
"Hm?"
"Romance... how the heck do you even do it?"
Her first romance in either life. And with two people at the same time, no less.
For Yeoncheong, who knew nothing at all, this was a matter of grave importance.
"When's your bell? Don't you all have somewhere to be? Back to your seats, everyone—quickly."
The moment Yeoncheong laid out her worries, the first-period teacher walked in.
Her classmates grabbed their textbooks from their lockers and filed back to their seats in a rush. With mountains of questions left to ask, the three of them could only pin their hopes on the next break.
But when that break arrived, it seemed a paltry ten minutes wouldn't come close to covering it.
In the end, the three waited for lunch to arrive.
"Ah, when can we start using the club room for night study? Hmm... it's exam season, so probably... I'll ask Teacher Jisu."
"See you at club, Yeoncheong."
Only after Suyeon and Seoha, always dropping by to goof around, had left could the interrupted conversation resume.
Given the subject matter, Hasol and Nayun pulled their chairs in tight and hushed their voices so nothing leaked out.
"So? What did you mean this morning? Give me more details."
Their eyes glittered with curiosity, and the closeness—near enough to hear their breathing—was intimidating. But Yeoncheong understood the reason behind it, so she swallowed her embarrassment and parted her lips.
"I... I don't know how to do romance..."
They'd worried she'd already grown tired of one of the two, but thankfully that wasn't it.
She was simply wondering whether things were supposed to stay basically the same after a confession. Nothing much had changed between them since.
Romance was supposed to be mutual communication, and she wanted to know how she was supposed to treat the two of them.
It was the kind of worry only a friend like her would have—the same unhinged friend who, after a jaw-dropping confession that sacrificed her own knees, was now dating two girls at once.
And also the same friend who'd gone through all-boys middle and high school without so much as meeting a girl, let alone dating one.
"Phew~ And here I was. You scared me."
"Hey, isn't it weirder if everything magically transforms just because you start dating? Just do whatever feels right to you."
Hasol let out a sigh of relief and patted her chest, while Nayun reassured her that everyone had their own style of romance.
But either the answers didn't satisfy her, or there was something else weighing on her mind.
Yeoncheong still mumbled with a sullen face.
"Still... you could at least give me some advice."
"What—! Did you not hear a word I said?"
Apparently it was the former.
Hasol calmed down Nayun, who was oddly worked up, and looked at her friend, bewildered by her first taste of romance.
"Okay. I'll tell you what I can. But you have to remember that what we say isn't necessarily the right answer. Got it?"
The answer came as a light, swaying bob of blue hair.
She'd complained they were too close, yet now that the moment called for an embarrassing confession, she'd bent forward herself, closing the distance even further.
Her blue locks swayed in the air conditioning's breeze, scattering their fragrance, and her murmured words drifted on the shampoo scent until they reached her two friends' ears.
"H-how do I keep from being pushed around by Seoha and Suyeon?"
It stemmed partly from her considerate nature, and partly from the fact that she was now a girl herself who'd always found girls difficult to deal with.
It wasn't as if Yeoncheong actually enjoyed being pushed around.
Having once been a man, she wanted to take the lead handsomely at least once. Ideally, she'd even love to see Suyeon and Seoha so flustered they didn't know what to do with themselves...
Either way, she hated just sitting back and taking it.
When the two learned what their friend really wanted, they smiled fondly. Nayun in particular wiggled her eyebrows and jabbed her in the side.
"Oho~ Ha Yeoncheong. So you've got some ambition left in you from your boy days? I'm impressed."
"Seriously. I had no idea."
Yeoncheong had worked up the courage to say it, but apparently hearing this in return was more than she could bear.
She hung her head low, lips moving mutely toward her desk.
"Th-that's only natural."
She looked about to drill straight through the desk and disappear beneath it, so Hasol and Nayun hurried to give her a real answer.
"If you don't want to be pushed around, then you've got to make the first move and seize the initiative."
"That's right. You know what they say—offense is the best defense."
So single-lifers don't even know this stuff?
Stung by Nayun's snide remark, Yeoncheong whipped her head up.
"Who doesn't know that? I'm asking because I can't do it."
"Then if you can't, you'll live like that forever."
"You just have to get a jab in every single time, don't you...!"
The two revved up for yet another fight. It was so familiar by now that if they didn't squabble, it almost felt like something was missing.
"That figures," Hasol said, shaking her head as she cut into the conversation.
"Yeoncheong, first times are hard for everyone. Start small, one thing at a time."
"Start small? One thing at a time?"
Yeoncheong, already poised to grapple with Nayun, their hands each gripping the other's uniform, turned her head.
"Suyeon seems weaker to that sort of thing than Seoha, so... start by slowly getting used to it with Suyeon. Grab her hand first, or compliment her—tell her she looks especially pretty today. Something like that."
She even recommended the ideal target and gave a concrete example of exactly how to do it. Yeoncheong's eyes lit up as she clasped Hasol's hands in both of hers.
"That's our Hasol. No wonder you have so many friends."
"Ahaha... does one thing really lead to the other?"
The compliment flustered her, and Hasol scratched her cheek with an awkward laugh.
Lunch was nearly over, and the preliminary bell rang, ordering everyone to prepare for class. Yeoncheong excused herself quickly, saying she was going to the bathroom, and left the classroom.
The two who remained gazed thoughtfully at the space their friend had vacated.
"Wanna bet? On whether Yeoncheong can actually follow the advice or not."
Hasol took a moment to consider.
Suyeon seemed like a workable target. But Seoha was no pushover, and she simply couldn't picture her being pushed around by Yeoncheong. If anything, Yeoncheong would probably end up reversed-reversed and at Seoha's mercy instead.
Plus, there was one thing they hadn't said aloud. If you didn't want to be pushed around, you had to be shameless. And as far as Hasol could see, Yeoncheong was hopeless on that front.
"...I'd bet on 'can't do it.' You?"
When Hasol, who'd given the advice in earnest, said so, Nayun turned to her as if she couldn't be serious.
"If you bet that, it's not even a bet."
"You too?"
"Obviously. Don't you remember what you said? Yeoncheong's a tall, flimsy wall."
"Ah~"
They'd both seen plenty from up close over time, so it seemed they were of exactly the same mind.
And so the bet fizzled out.
Time passed, and after school came.
Having parted with her friends and a promise of "see you tomorrow," Yeoncheong headed straight for the club room.
Waiting around for each other's end-of-day bell was always a hassle, so if Suyeon's class, which held the key, let out first, the two of them would go ahead and unlock the door—meaning Yeoncheong occasionally ended up walking over alone like this.
The initiative... offense is the best defense...
She had no idea if she'd ever actually use it, but she figured there was no harm in having it stored away, turning the lessons over in her mind as she walked.
"Hey guys, I'm her—!"
Yeoncheong flung the club room door open—and clapped a hand over her mouth.
Pitter. Patter-patter.
The rain that had fallen all day drummed softly against the tightly shut window, lending itself as the club room's background music, and in between the whirr of the fan scattering the air—
"Zzz... zzz..."
—came the shallow, steady breathing unique to someone asleep.
Seoha was nowhere to be seen, and only Suyeon was there, chin propped in her hand, nodding off.
Yeoncheong quietly closed the door and tiptoed across the room on her heels. Standing over her sleeping friend, she thought:
...If I want to put what I learned into practice—isn't now the moment?
As if there'd be no other chance, the stage laid out before her made Yeoncheong swallow.
