The Temptation of Free Food
With a single sacrifice, two people — three, if you counted precisely — had been granted a world where remedial classes came easy.
And so, the day of the make-up exams arrived.
The resolve of third-year students staring down the college entrance exams was truly something to behold.
Thanks to Seoyun's help, Nayun and Seobin passed their exams with ease and escaped supplementary lessons for good.
"Oh, there's Yeoncheong."
At Nayun's words — she'd been staring at the classroom door this whole time — Seobin, who'd been waiting in the hallway for their remaining friend, lifted her head.
The two of them approached the friend who had sacrificed herself for their sakes.
"So? Did you pass?"
At Seobin's question, Yeoncheong gave a thumbs-up.
"Yes!"
Nayun pumped her fist. Since other students were still taking exams inside the classroom, she kept her voice down.
"So this miserable remedial hell ends today."
"What? You're already done reviewing and out?"
A familiar voice drifted over from the far end of the stairwell.
Yeoncheong and her friends all turned their heads toward the sound — with expressions so opposed that they alone revealed who it was.
"Seoyun!"
The two of them had grown close quickly, all thanks to the tutoring.
Waving as she approached, Seoyun looked the three of them over.
"Judging by those faces, you two passed. Yeoncheong, you failed?"
"No, I passed."
"Then why the long face?"
Yeoncheong stared at her flatly.
"Well."
The senior stepped closer and pulled the corners of her mouth upward with a finger's worth of implication.
"If you passed, you should smile. It's a good thing, isn't it?"
"Ha. Haha."
Yeoncheong laughed like a machine, following orders.
Playing innocent when she clearly knew better just grated on her nerves.
Seobin gave a small bow of thanks for the tutoring, and Nayun asked what had brought her here today.
As if she'd been waiting for exactly that question, Seoyun pointed at the three of them.
"I came to see if you passed your exams, obviously."
Yeoncheong thought to herself:
'More like she came to gloat if any of us failed...'
But she kept that thought behind her teeth.
"Seoyun..."
For some reason, it was because Seobin was beside her, eyes sparkling as if deeply moved.
Seoyun clapped her hands together to gather their attention.
"Ah, right. You guys got anything planned after this?"
"Not me."
"Me neither."
"What about you, Yeoncheong?"
Three pairs of eyes pinned Yeoncheong, who had chosen silence.
"Why?"
Still, she wanted to leave herself an escape route.
Seoyun shrugged, then rested a hand on each of Seobin's and Nayun's shoulders.
"Well, I've just got a bit of training left to wrap up, and I figured if you're free, I'd buy you something."
Free food.
To Yeoncheong — who received a generous living allowance and was hardly a spendthrift — the word didn't stir much. But for students without deep pockets, could any words be more enticing?
Sure enough. Nayun and Seobin had already glued themselves to Seoyun's side.
Seoyun arched an eyebrow at Yeoncheong, as if to say: So, you're not coming?
"Yeoncheong, you're skipping out?"
With Seobin's wounded gaze — you're really leaving us alone? — and Nayun's pointed remark added on top,
Yeoncheong eventually shut her eyes and raised her head.
"I'm free too."
"Perfect. It's hot out, so wait in the library. I'll be right there."
Seoyun grinned and parted ways with the three for a little while.
***
Yeoncheong set a stack of napkins and a few ketchup packets down on the table.
"And here I thought you'd buy us something fancy. It's just burgers."
"I'm still a student myself, you know."
The implication being: isn't this more than enough?
Seoyun squirted ketchup beside the mountain of fries in the middle, and the other two grabbed a packet each and did the same.
"Yeoncheong, you don't say that to someone who's treating you."
"She's right. Just say thank you and eat."
Her friends had already crossed over to the burger set's side entirely.
Yeoncheong insisted that wasn't what she meant, grumbling as she explained herself.
"I'm just saying, that's all. And aren't you two my friends? You're being way too cold to me."
Wiping the ketchup from her fingers with a napkin, Seoyun snorted a laugh.
"Of course they are. They're your friends — but they're my underclassmen first."
"That's dirty. Bribing my friends with food."
Of course, even as she said it, Yeoncheong's own hands moved with complete honesty. For her, who took most of her meals at home, this was a hamburger after a truly long absence.
She picked up her order and unwrapped it.
Two thick beef patties stacked together, a sliver of cheese melting and dripping down the side. Her mouth watered on its own.
"Thanks for the meal, Seoyun."
Sarcasm aside, her manners held — she made sure to thank the person who'd bought it.
Just as she opened her mouth wide for an enormous first bite, Seoyun's blue eyes fixed on her, unblinking.
Yeoncheong flinched and straightened her neck.
"Wh-what?"
"Aww~ I help you study, I buy you food, and it's still Seoyun?"
The lilt of lament in her voice made Yeoncheong wince.
On one side of the scale, a freshly unwrapped warm burger. On the other, a pride that had already crumbled once before.
The result was obvious at a glance.
"Just for today, and never again. Unnie."
"Good. I'll take it — for now."
Seoyun smirked and waved her hand, urging her to hurry up and eat.
"Why is it always me, though?"
"Didn't I tell you before? Your reactions are adorable. Teasing you is half the fun."
Only then did Yeoncheong bite into her burger, chewing sullenly.
'So annoying.'
***
Seoyun had, after all, only tutored them for a few remedial sessions — and Nayun and Seobin had known her for all of two days.
Yeoncheong had worried the meal would be a silent, awkward affair. It was a groundless fear.
"Seoyun, what kind of training did you do for tennis?"
"Oh, well, me..."
Tennis club and basketball club — similar ground to stand on.
She and Nayun blossomed into a full conversation about their clubs and training. A surprisingly serious one, at that.
Perhaps she hadn't had many people to talk to about this stuff before, because Nayun looked like she was having a genuinely great time.
"Then have you read that book too?"
"Ah, that one. I tried it because it's a classic, but it really didn't click with me. That one character who..."
"Me too! That's why I actually skipped to the middle and..."
Somehow, she and Seobin were having a warm, lively exchange about books as well.
Yeoncheong hadn't even known Seobin could get this worked up about anything.
Thinking of Seoha — the current student council president with her overwhelming reputation — Yeoncheong glanced at Seoyun across the table.
'Could it be... the requirement for student council president is being a superhuman who excels at both academics and athletics?'
With a sample size of exactly two, it was still a valid deduction based on everything she'd seen so far.
Meanwhile, the one sitting with her mouth firmly shut, picking at nothing but burger and fries, was Yeoncheong herself.
She wasn't deep into anything in particular, nor did she have any special interests to speak of.
Having nothing to say was the biggest reason of all.
"Is there something on my face? Or do you want to say something?"
Her wandering thoughts must have stretched on, because she'd apparently been staring for quite a while.
Seoyun met her eyes and tilted her head, waiting for an answer.
"No. I was just spacing out."
"You mean I was so pretty you got lost staring?"
"Unnie, that one is definitely not it."
When Yeoncheong went dead serious, Seoyun complained about her making that kind of face.
Yeoncheong let out a small snort and reached down to grab a fry.
'Huh?'
Nothing. Her fingers closed on air. Wondering if they were all gone, she looked down — the mountain of fries had had one entire side carved away.
Then she caught it: a single, ceaselessly moving hand streaking past her field of vision.
Yeoncheong's eyes tracked the culprit behind the deforestation.
Seobin.
Caught mid-reach as their eyes met, the culprit froze.
"Wh-what is it?"
"Seobin... you can really put food away, huh..."
"What's wrong with that? I eat well, so I'm happy about it. Eat. Eat up."
Reassured by Seoyun's words, Seobin happily went back to demolishing the fries.
"You eat that much and don't gain weight?"
Nayun murmured in genuine wonder, and
had Seobin said one word less, nothing would have happened. Just that one word less.
"I never gain weight, no matter how much I eat."
At those words, three pairs of eyes swung toward the chest that commanded such overwhelming presence.
She'd left the words unsaid, but the thought was shared by all — you could feel it in the air.
And then, unconsciously, Yeoncheong's gaze slid across the table. Toward the chest of Nayun, whose wealth gap in that particular department was utterly catastrophic.
And then.
"Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Do you want to die?"
Thus Yeoncheong learned a valuable lesson: a single glance in the wrong direction could cost you your life.
***
The night Yeoncheong felt her life gravely threatened.
The twins' room, same as any other evening.
Siyeon, having poured herself a glass of water, glanced up at Suyeon, who was humming a tune on the top bunk.
"Something good happen?"
"Mm, I'm meeting Yeoncheong tomorrow."
Sitting on the edge of the bottom bunk, Siyeon spoke up.
"I heard you finished your remedial classes fine too, with Seobin. You're out there living normally again."
"We went through all that suffering, so obviously we deserve to live normally."
Siyeon remembered.
How much Suyeon had cried that day — over a fight they hadn't even really had — that she'd shown up with her eyes swollen shut.
Recalling that hideous face, Siyeon smirked and took a sip of water before asking,
"So? What are you two doing when you meet?"
"Oh, I'm going to make Yeoncheong into a woman."
Pfft. Water sprayed out, and Siyeon hastily clapped a hand over her mouth, coughing violently.
The water had clearly gone down the wrong pipe — she kept hacking, and a startled Suyeon climbed down to pound her twin on the back.
"You okay? What was that all of a sudden?"
"You — this is — your fault...?"
Tears welling at the corners of her eyes, Siyeon glared at her sister.
Suyeon tilted her head, the picture of incomprehension.
"Why do you always talk like— ...hah... never mind. Forget it."
Siyeon took a deep breath and smothered the flare of anger she'd been about to unleash.
This wasn't the first time, and blowing up at her every single time was just a waste of energy.
Regaining her composure, Siyeon looked at Suyeon, who had come down from the bunk.
"What on earth do you mean, 'make her into a woman'?"
"Well, Yeoncheong is a girl, but she's not girlish, you know?"
At this incomprehensible babble, a vein rose on Siyeon's forehead.
She held up the glass still in her hand.
"Hey, I've still got water in this cup."
A warning: talk straight or else. Only then came an answer she could actually parse.
Siyeon checked whether her understanding was correct.
"So... you're phrasing it that way because you're going to help her pick out clothes that suit her, and makeup, and stuff like that?"
Suyeon nodded jerkily.
"Why do you always have to phrase things—! ...hah... never mind. Forget it."
She understood. But the question remained.
"Why do you have to pick it out for her? Can't she choose her own things?"
"Yeoncheong just doesn't really know about that stuff."
Suyeon wiped up the spilled water with a tissue and climbed back up to the top bunk.
Watching her twin's back, Siyeon muttered to herself:
'No matter how you slice it, how is that the kind of thing that comes out of a friend's mouth...'
Twins they might be, but each other's hearts remained as inscrutable to Siyeon as ever.