A Night That Almost Got Too Sentimental
Yeoncheong and her friends had come out for a stroll along the beach at night.
Maybe it was because they were near the ocean, or maybe it was simply the sound of waves crashing against the shore whenever they paused to listen.
Either way, it was a night with a breeze cooler than the summer heat deserved.
Yeoncheong, who had been dragged out with nothing to throw over herself, had been hiding tightly behind her friends ever since the moment they stepped out of the lodging building.
She had never once gone outside wearing something that exposed more skin than it covered.
At most, she'd gone down to see the Chairwoman after receiving her call recently, or taken out the trash. That was the full extent of it.
Still, Nayun had assumed Yeoncheong at least had some awareness of how she was dressed, and muttered,
"So you do realize that outfit's embarrassing, huh?"
"Obviously!"
The moment Yeoncheong barked back, the eyes of the other passersby out for an evening walk all swung toward her.
Yeoncheong hurriedly gathered her friends into a wall around her and lowered her voice.
"That's why I only wear it indoors."
"Wearing it in front of us isn't embarrassing, though?"
At Suyeon's question, Yeoncheong tilted her head as if to ask why on earth that would be a problem.
"As long as you guys don't go on about how scandalous I look or whatever, it's fine. The Chairwoman said the same-sex friends shouldn't even worry about stuff like that."
The moment the word Chairwoman left Yeoncheong's mouth, her friends understood everything.
This was the woman who had pulled strings for her transfer, who had supposedly helped her adapt in countless ways... Apparently she'd been feeding Yeoncheoke outright wrong information, and Yeoncheong had swallowed it as common sense, no questions asked.
The problem was that Yeoncheong, having gone to an all-boys middle and high school and lost her mother at a young age, had almost no points of contact with women to begin with.
She really needs to start dressing properly from now on.
They'd been fully prepared to warn her—stop walking around like that, be careful—when it turned out the real culprit was someone else entirely.
Hasol hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly parted her lips.
"Um... it's not exactly that the Chairwoman is wrong. But it's not just a same-sex thing either. In the end, it really depends on the person."
At those words, Yeoncheong's feet rooted themselves to the ground.
The friends whose collars she'd been clutching stopped in their tracks and turned to look at her too.
Embarrassment crashing over her too late, Yeoncheong stammered.
"I-I'm not, like, a pervert... this isn't my, um, my taste or anything, I swear..."
Her eyes were growing damp. She genuinely looked aggrieved.
Hasol and the others scrambled to reassure her.
They'd shared a room on the school trip. They'd come to the beach to play together, after all.
They knew her well enough by now, they said. They were just cautioning her in case something happened. There was nothing to worry about.
But Yeoncheong, still glitched out like a broken machine, kept repeating the same words over and over. Seoha watched the situation for a moment, then spoke.
"Why are you making it so complicated?"
"Huh?"
Seoha looked Yeoncheong straight in the eye and parted her lips.
"You're pretty."
Yeoncheong's blue eyes went round, as if she'd never expected to hear something like that.
"Not sexy at all. Just pretty."
Her worry was that her friends thought of her as someone with that kind of taste—so the obvious solution was to tell her directly that they didn't.
Something similar had already worked back at the beach during the day, over the swimsuit incident, so they were confident this foolproof method would land.
And as the whispers of pretty kept coming without pause, Yeoncheong's face began turning red for an entirely different reason.
"Stop, stoooop!"
Unable to endure it any longer, Yeoncheong shattered the wall of friends and bolted for the ocean.
Problem solved? Seoha shrugged at the others, having fixed Yeoncheong's malfunction in one stroke.
Between the revelation that she couldn't swim and the boldness they'd witnessed firsthand, her friends had been surprised in more ways than one as they chased after Yeoncheong alongside her.
After all, nobody wanted her wandering around alone dressed like that.
Yeoncheong was crouched down near the waves.
With her eyes closed, letting the sea breeze cool her flushed face, she rose to her feet at the sound of footsteps approaching from behind.
"O-oh, you're here?"
At the sight of Yeoncheong acting as if nothing had happened, Seoha let out a small laugh.
"You understand by now that we only said those things because we were worried about you, right?"
"Y-yeah. Of course."
Worried that Seoha might pull the same stunt again, Yeoncheong nodded so hard her neck might snap.
Having discovered that compliments about being pretty were one of the all-purpose remedies for handling Yeoncheong, the friends changed the subject.
"Anyway! It's nice and cool out. Sky's clear, too."
At Suyeon's remark, the friends who'd been gazing out at the dark sea lifted their heads.
"Whoa."
A sigh of awe slipped from someone's lips.
The moon hanging in the sky cast a soft glow over everything, and between the gusts of wind brushing past their ears, the waves crashed on and on.
Drawn in by the romantic scenery, Suyeon sat down lightly on the sand without a second thought for her clothes. Hasol and Nayun settled in beside her. Once Yeoncheong, who'd been hanging back hesitantly, finally took a seat, Seoha too gave in and followed the flow her friends had created.
For a long while they simply sat, gazing at the bright moon and the pitch-black sea, letting their ears drink in the sound of breaking waves.
Then, with a short exhale, Suyeon spoke up.
"This is nice~"
"Yeah, the ocean really does have a different feel at night."
Starting with Nayun's agreement, the friends began chatting idly, one thing leading to another.
"It'd be even prettier if it were a full moon."
"Even a full moon's no good if it's overcast. This is plenty good enough."
"Fair point."
Yeoncheong felt Suyeon, seated to her left, slip her arm free. From what she could catch of the words that followed, she seemed to be pointing at the sky.
"Is that a star?"
"Isn't that a plane?"
After Nayun's voice—reflexively contradicting her friend—came Hasol's calm one.
"I think it is a star."
"See, I was right. What star is it, though?"
At Suyeon's question, delivered with a nudge of her shoulder, Nayun answered vaguely.
"The Big Dipper. Something like that?"
"That's a constellation, not a star, dummy."
Laughter burst out over the most trivial of exchanges. Seoha, who had been listening quietly, offered the name of the constellation that contained the star Suyeon was pointing at.
"Wow, Seoha. You study this kind of thing too?"
At Hasol's admiration, the soft rustle of hair brushing against Yeoncheong's shoulder told her Seoha was probably shaking her head.
"I was interested in it a while back, so I studied it a little."
"Oh, really?"
The friends perked up at this rare piece of personal trivia from Seoha. After a brief hesitation, Seoha carefully opened her mouth, with the caveat that they weren't to tell anyone else.
"It's beautiful, you know. All you have to do is look up, and it's always there."
"Ooh~ look at Seoha, all romantic."
This time the laughter was different—a fit of giggles.
Yeoncheong quietly closed her eyes and listened, letting the whole conversation wash over her like part of the scenery.
When Yeoncheong stayed silent for a while with her head bowed, Seoha called to her.
"Yeoncheong?"
"Yeah?"
"You're not asleep."
Having overheard the exchange, Suyeon asked,
"Yeoncheong, you awake?"
"No, I heard your voices."
"Huh?"
At those words, Suyeon—who had been about to suggest they head in if she was tired—froze.
"It's just... this feels nice."
Words she never would have said under normal circumstances spilled out on their own, swept along by the sentimental mood.
"Someone like me gets called a friend, I get to come play at the ocean with everyone, and even if it's a little embarrassing, you all worried about what I was wearing because you were thinking of me..."
Blinking slowly until her focus settled, her blue eyes turned toward the moon that softly lit up the dark night sky.
"I resented it so much, you know. Wondering why this had to happen to me... but maybe it was so I could meet friends this kind and wonderful. Suddenly it just feels... nice..."
"Yeoncheong, stop."
Seoha, seated beside her, pressed a firm hand over Yeoncheong's lips and cut her off.
"If you go around charming every person you meet like that, even I'm going to have a hard time."
Yeoncheong stared at her, baffled by what that was supposed to mean. Seoha answered with a tilt of her head, gesturing toward the other friends.
Some had pulled their knees up and buried their faces in them. Others were pointedly gazing off at the faraway sea and sky.
Their faces were hidden, but they couldn't hide their ears—burning bright red.
Only then did Yeoncheong realize what she'd just said, and her mouth fell open.
"N-no, I mean... I'm just happy to have such good friends! That's all I meant! You know what I'm trying to say, right?"
"R-right! Should we, uh, head back? Any longer and the bugs'll get us."
"Yeah. Let's go inside, have some snacks and fruit, and rest up."
Nayun and Hasol, having finished managing their expressions, rose to their feet one after the other, and only after the sound of several long, deep breaths did Suyeon finally clamber up as well.
"...Let's go."
A faint flush still lingered on Suyeon's cheeks.
The friends readied themselves to head back, brushing the sand from their pants.
Amid the bustle, Seoha's gaze settled quietly on Yeoncheong.
That's too far.
Seoha had said she'd forgive Yeoncheong even her mischievous little pranks.
Rubbing sunscreen on her and feeling her up under the guise of it, taking advantage of an unexpected tiff to hug her from behind, even splashing around with her and the others in the sea.
She'd figured that was more than enough for one day...
But the sight of Yeoncheong so effortlessly charming everyone around her had rubbed her the wrong way.
Of course, Seoha could understand it.
These were the friends who had been the first to reach out to a girl whose sex had changed overnight.
More than friends, even—friends who had accepted and understood her for who she was.
Still, saying things like that right in front of someone who had openly declared she liked her—that was beyond the pale.
Seoha's red eyes fixed on Yeoncheong's backside, still dusted with sand. A good whack would knock most of it off, but a little still clung there.
She didn't need to think it over.
As her drawn-back shoulder swung forward, her arm looked like a whip.
A sharp crack and a strangled "Kgh!" rang out at the same time.
Yeoncheong, tears pricking at her eyes from how hard the blow had landed, and the friends all turned to stare at Seoha.
"There was sand left on her."
Seoha thought she'd answered with a perfectly composed face, but the friends, who'd spent enough time with her by now, knew better.
She's mad.
Only Yeoncheong, hit completely out of nowhere, stared at Seoha with an aggrieved why would you do that expression.
Given how utterly clueless she was about these things, she really did seem to have zero dating experience.
Which only made Seoha's head hurt more.
It meant those words and gestures were slipping out of her without any intention behind them at all.
A single smack to the butt wasn't nearly enough to settle Seoha's mood, so she stroked Yeoncheong's back.
"Yeoncheong, you said it yourself, remember? I'm not supposed to get angry?"
Seoha's hand moved fast—tugging at the tank top's hem and slipping beneath it.
A tiny click.
The Yeoncheong of the past, who'd only ever worn sports bras, wouldn't have known. But the Yeoncheong of now did. That was the sound of a hook coming undone.
The question was where exactly that sound had come from...
Suddenly feeling a draft across her chest, Yeoncheong looked at Seoha.
"Ah, ah..."
"Yeoncheong, come along slowly, okay?"
Seoha pulled the undergarment downward. The unhooked fabric slid down along her shoulders and tangled with the camisole straps.
Yeoncheong, still fumbling at her own body, sank down where she stood.
Suyeon, puzzled that Seoha had suddenly run off ahead, turned around.
"Yeoncheong, what's gotten into Seoha all of a—"
And then she saw it.
"G-guys..."
Yeoncheong, collapsed on the sand with a face about to burst.
Yeoncheong, shoulders bared, clutching her tangled camisole straps and fallen undergarment to her chest, on the verge of tears.
