Hoping We Get Along
A day passed since Yeoncheong had learned the importance of sun protection firsthand.
After checking the weather on her phone, she changed into her uniform. Having tied her ribbon tie, she stood in front of the full-length mirror to inspect herself, then raised one arm above her head.
Can you see it? I don't think it goes all the way to my underwear, but...
Yeoncheong stretched her neck, straining to check inside her sleeve. Finding nothing, she dropped her arm and tucked the shirt back in, where it had billowed out over her skirt.
When someone says something like that, of course I can't stop thinking about it.
Suyeon's words had lodged themselves firmly in her head. Still grumbling about her uniform, Yeoncheong headed for school.
***
At lunch, Yeoncheong made her way over to her two friends with steps that had grown familiar by now. Seoha and Suyeon, deep in conversation, looked up.
"Yeoncheong, do you have your sunscreen today?"
Suyeon glanced out the window. It wasn't as brutal as yesterday, but the midday sun was still hot.
"I have it. I do. I put it on this morning, so don't get any ideas. Either of you."
"Fine, fine. Let's go eat, then."
The two of them rose from their seats, making no effort to hide their disappointment.
Maybe it was the sheer size of the space. Even with the air conditioning running full blast, the cafeteria somehow felt stuffy.
"It's kind of in-between, isn't it..."
"The classroom's still the coolest place, as always."
Apparently everyone thought the same thing, since plenty of students were wolfing down their food to get out as fast as possible. Thanks to that, Yeoncheong and her friends managed to snag seats directly in the path of the air conditioning.
"Oh, right, Yeoncheong. It's today."
"What is?"
Yeoncheong looked up from her food at Suyeon.
"I submitted the activity proposal, and the school approved it."
In Yeoncheong's memory, that proposal had never been approved.
"When did you even turn that in?"
Sensing the conversation was about to get long, she set her chopsticks down.
"Secretly, all by myself."
"Secretly? You can say that out loud with a straight face?"
"Well, you already caught me when I was writing the thing in the first place."
Yeoncheong was struck speechless. Seizing the opening, Suyeon swiftly picked her chopsticks back up. They moved busily, and before long her cheeks had bulged out, stuffed full of food.
By the time Yeoncheong had recovered her composure and opened her mouth to speak again, Suyeon's stuffed cheeks were already waiting for her.
"Forget it. Let's finish eating first."
In the end, Yeoncheong picked her utensils back up and returned to her meal.
***
The three of them circled the outdoor track around the playground. It had become an unmissable part of the daily routine.
"I've always wondered... why am I in the middle?"
Yeoncheong asked, wedged between them as they walked.
"It's just as hot today as yesterday. If we didn't hold you down, who knows where you'd run off to."
"Just kind of worked out that way?"
The answers drifted in from both sides, each girl cheerfully holding one of Yeoncheong's arms.
There was no point arguing. Yeoncheong resigned herself to it quickly and brought up the topic from the cafeteria.
"Go on, con artist. Keep telling me about the club."
"Con artist? I kept my promise, thank you very much."
Blue hair whipped around with the turn of her head, and blue eyes glared at Suyeon.
Suyeon gave an obliging nod and explained the contents of the proposal.
"The building's so old that apparently there are all sorts of strange rumors about the annex."
"I know that much too, I helped you research it. Get to the point."
Unhappy with the subject, Yeoncheong pressed her, and Suyeon skipped most of the explanation she'd prepared.
"There's a story that a ghost of a girl our age who died in an accident wanders the annex."
"Oh, I've heard that one."
Seoha chimed in, claiming she already knew it. Why on earth did this school have so many rumors like that? Yeoncheong was starting to question the very grounds the school was built on.
"I get why you'd know, Suyeon, since you looked into it. But how do you know, Seoha?"
"Hmm... all-girls schools and ghost stories just go together, don't they?"
"That's a movie thing. This is real life."
A fair point, Yeoncheong's objection. A brief silence. Then, having finished thinking, Seoha produced a smooth rebuttal built from Yeoncheong's own words.
"Well, you know what they say. Truth is stranger than fiction."
Seoha studied her friend, who was sharper than usual today. And then—
"Yeoncheong, are you scared, by any chance?"
The question hit dead center.
"No! Absolutely not!"
Yeoncheong denied it. Because she firmly believed that being a scaredy-cat and being afraid of ghosts were two completely different things.
At the vehement denial, Seoha's eyes narrowed for a moment—but that was all. Leaving her unreadable expression behind, Suyeon reclaimed control of the conversation.
"Anyway, we're going to check out the annex basement—the place where people claim they've seen that ghost the most, according to the school newspaper."
"Shouldn't students like us really not be sneaking in there?"
"It's fine. Apparently most of it's just used for storage now."
Having clearly anticipated the question, Suyeon produced her rehearsed answer, then added:
"And I've prepared a surprise guest, so there's no need to worry too much."
"What on earth is that supposed to mean?"
Suyeon flashed a grin at Yeoncheong.
"A secret."
What if she humiliated herself again like she had in the library that time? Yeoncheong pressed her hard about who the surprise guest was, but Suyeon kept her mouth shut and didn't budge an inch.
Watching Yeoncheong's flushed reaction, Seoha murmured.
"Maybe I should come watch, too."
"Sure. Come by if you've got nothing pressing at the student council. You don't get to see the annex basement every day."
"Good point," Suyeon said, opening her mouth to agree. But Yeoncheong whipped her head around and pleaded desperately.
"Seoha, do not come. Ever."
"I can't anyway. I've got a ton to get done before the school trip."
After gazing for a moment at Yeoncheong's relieved face, Seoha added:
"Though I might drop in afterward to hear how it went."
Cue the moans of despair, followed by Yeoncheong begging her to just focus on her student council work.
***
Yeoncheong made it through the drowsy afternoon classes on pure willpower, having eaten her fill at lunch. The school day was all but over, with only the final homeroom remaining—but her face was full of shadows.
Hasol, her own personal ray of sunshine, didn't miss the dark cloud sitting beside her.
"Yeoncheong, are you feeling okay? Your face's been off all afternoon."
"Something happened..."
Her voice, already carrying a heaping helping of worry, had sunk low.
Hasol turned her whole body toward Yeoncheong and clasped her hands together.
"If anything's weighing on you, you can tell me. Shared sorrows are halved, you know."
"Thanks..."
Still, she couldn't bring herself to admit she was scared of ghosts. To Yeoncheong's silence, Hasol simply repeated herself.
Then the teacher came in, wrapped up homeroom with a few quick announcements, and—
Suyeon swept Yeoncheong off like a bolt of lightning, dragging her straight toward the club room. It was the kind of movement that allowed not even a moment to escape.
"Why the huge hurry?"
She'd already half resigned herself over the course of the afternoon, so Yeoncheong followed along obediently. But Suyeon's haste had a different reason.
There, in front of the club room door that should have had nobody waiting, stood two people.
Seobin, the girl Yeoncheong owed a favor to from the library, and Suyeon's twin sister Siyeon, who was eyeing them with a face full of complaints.
***
The four of them dropped their bags in the club room and immediately headed back out. Suyeon led the way.
"I told them in advance, so they said everything we're allowed into is already unlocked."
Yeoncheong, Siyeon, and Seobin trailed behind her.
Siyeon shot Seobin a sidelong look.
"Seobin, I was wondering what possessed you to come find me first thing... Baek Suyeon, when exactly did you two get so close?"
"Stuff happened."
When Seobin deflected, the interrogation shifted to the person walking up front.
"How about you explain, then?"
The lies flowed smoothly out of Suyeon.
She was researching the school's history and Seobin had helped out; Seobin had gotten interested and was now tagging along.
It was a story with truth and lies blended so cunningly that even Siyeon tilted her head.
"Fine, I'll buy that. But what does any of that have to do with dragging me along?"
"I brought you for Yeoncheong's sake."
Apparently convinced the whole thing was Yeoncheong's fault, Siyeon's piercing glare swung her way. Fortunately, Suyeon's next words cleared up the misunderstanding.
"Seobin's literally the only person Yeoncheong knows who you could even call a friend from another class. I figured it'd be nice if you two got close while we were at it."
The explanation was oddly persuasive—Yeonyeong found herself nodding along before she realized it.
"Suyeon... you're not messing with me right now, are you?"
"Of course not."
She couldn't see the expression of the friend walking ahead of her, so the interrogation fizzled out.
Once Siyeon learned that Seobin had even helped lure her here on purpose, she let out a sigh.
"If you're meant to get close, you'll get close on your own. Did we really have to do all this?"
"Still... I'd love it if my friends got along with each other."
Apparently the two were far closer than Siyeon had thought. At Seobin's words, the sharp retorts died on Siyeon's tongue.
A sigh much longer than the last one wrapped itself around her.
"If you're going to put it that way, I'll indulge you this once. But Baek Suyeon, what exactly did we come down into this dusty basement for?"
"Didn't Seobin tell you? We're here to find the annex ghost."
"The annex? The ghost...?"
Siyeon froze. She shot a sidelong glance at the friend following behind her. But Seobin urged them onward from the rear.
In that brief moment, Yeoncheong felt it. She and Siyeon were the same breed.
Judging by the smirk Suyeon was wearing up front, she'd deliberately kept it from her and invited her anyway. And so Suyeon needlessly called out loudly to her own twin.
"What? You don't believe in ghosts or anything, right."
"R-right. Obviously."
Her voice wavered slightly, but her poker face was still better than Yeoncheong's.
"Then give us a little of your time. It's your friend Seobin's request, after all."
With Suyeon needling from the front and Seobin gazing back with sparkling eyes—
Siyeon found her escape routes completely cut off.
***
The four of them stepped into the open warehouse. The fluorescent lights didn't come on.
With Suyeon at the front, having adjusted her flashlight's brightness, the four moved forward cautiously, weaving around desks and chairs stacked every which way.
The dust that had settled over ages made the air feel thick in their lungs, and useless odds and ends of every conceivable purpose lay scattered here and there.
Suyeon waved her arms dramatically in front of a mirror.
"This mirror's perfectly fine. Why's it down here?"
"Too big to store anywhere else, maybe..."
Past the pointlessly enormous mirror, Suyeon shone her light into a box left sitting out and said:
"This stuff... it all looks like equipment from clubs that don't exist anymore. Right?"
Seobin peered into the box alongside her.
Most of it was gear from clubs that had dissolved over the years, making room for newer ones.
Behind them, two meerkats scanned the darkness beyond the flashlight's reach.
"Nothing here. Let's try somewhere else."
Suyeon swept her light into every corner and stepped outside first. Seobin followed. And just as the two stragglers, Yeoncheong and Siyeon, were about to follow—
With a bang, the door slammed shut.
The two flinched and belatedly turned the handle, but it was so old that it ground stubbornly and wouldn't budge.
From outside came the sounds of straining and grunting as someone tried to force the door open—but apparently with no more luck, because Suyeon called out to them.
"Yeoncheong! Siyeon! Are you two okay? Nobody's hurt?"
Yeoncheong used her phone's light to check on Siyeon. Worried her voice might not carry, she pressed herself against the gap in the door and raised it.
"We're both fine for now. Can you get it open on your end?"
"No, it won't open. We'll go grab the security guard or a teacher, so just wait there."
"Wait! Someone is staying with you, right? Suyeon? Seobin?"
No answer came.