I Forgot...
I forgot...
After the storm named Kang Hoyeon had swept through, the dormitory fell quiet.
"Phew..."
I quietly lowered the hands I'd been holding up.
"Ah-ah! Don't you dare put those hands down! Hoyeon unnie might've finished and left, but—"
"We're not done with you!"
I'd been hearing muttering from inside the room for a while now. Don't tell me...?!
They'd been plotting this just to chew me out?!
This is so unfair!
This is basically betrayal!
I had moved for the team. I had thought of nothing but the team. So why was I the one getting scolded...? Okay, I got it. I did. I understood!
But feelings are a different story...
In my past life, I had run myself ragged day and night for the team, for the company. The results hadn't been great, but I had believed they would at least praise the effort. What I got instead was a torrent of abuse, and I had nearly been written up for leaving my desk during work hours.
The memory of it made this even more unfair...
"Unnie. Jiwoo's face looks like she thinks this is unfair."
"Yeah... Tsk. Jiwoo. Do you know why we're scolding you?"
"...No."
Honestly, I didn't. Nobody had ever taught me. And even if I had known the reason, I probably wouldn't have done anything differently.
"We were worried about you."
"...Worried?"
Worried?
I had gone to Japan with Tsuki. With a native Japanese speaker at my side, we would have had a way to handle anything that came up. Instead of me floundering in a foreign country, Tsuki would have reported it and called for help herself. So worrying was basically a waste of energy.
"You don't have to worry—"
"Tsk. Don't say that. Even if Japanese Tsuki was right there with you—you vanished without a word, and three hours later we get a message saying, 'I'm in Japan.' Who on earth would just go, 'Oh, okay'?"
"Uh..."
Thinking about it that way... yeah. I had been right next to them a moment ago, then I was gone, no contact at all... of course they would worry. I hadn't thought about that part.
That one was on me. I apologized.
"I'm sorry. Next time I'll make sure to get in touch."
"Alright... So."
"...Huh? So what?"
Lee Yuwol and Jina were looking at me like they were waiting for something.
"You followed Tsuki all the way to Japan, right? You must've brought back some kind of result."
"Ah... that."
Had there been a result? Tsuki had faced her grandfather and they had talked... I think her dream had been acknowledged, more or less.
I don't really know.
I had gone straight to bed and been running around the moment I woke up. But I could tell just by looking at Tsuki's face.
"I think it worked out. She said she can't come back to Korea right away because of visa stuff, but she'll definitely be able to log in on the day. And..."
"And?"
Right before we boarded the plane, Tsuki had said something strange.
"Right before we said goodbye, Tsuki said... Ittekimasu..."
"I'm off? What's that supposed to mean?"
I didn't know either. Why she had said she was heading out—and in Japanese, no less. I wanted to ask, but even after I sent a message that I had arrived in Korea, she still hadn't even read it.
"Yeah? Okay, got it. We were about to have dinner. Ah..."
Lee Yuwol let out a sigh as she looked at her phone.
"Is something wrong?"
"Jiwoo."
"Yes? You still have to take our punishment, right?"
"What do you mean—"
"As punishment, no dinner tonight."
Huh?
That's... what... no?
"What do you mean no dinner?!"
Me... going hungry... me, going hungry!!
Kim Woojin woke up early, finished a quick vocal warm-up, showered, and headed to school.
Wonder if she came today.
Two days ago, he had contacted her about something, and out of nowhere he had gotten a message saying she was in Japan. At first he had thought, Japan? Why? Then he had remembered her job and figured she had gone for work.
"Still, I have to pass this along today."
"Pass what along? What?"
"Get off. You're heavy."
He had come to class, sat down at his desk, and drifted into thought when someone dumped their weight on his back. Honestly, he didn't even need to guess who. That voice alone was enough to make his skin crawl.
"Hey, did you even brush your teeth? Your breath is disgusting."
"Brush my teeth? Of course... I didn't!"
Choi Wooseok said it like he was proud. That was nothing to be proud of. Woojin sighed every time he looked at this guy. This was his friend?
No matter how I look at it, I picked the wrong friend.
He thought it, but he never said it out loud. He knew well enough that saying it would be wrong.
"Hey... you piece of trash. You already said that out loud."
"Ah... did I? Haa... The problem is I'm too nice, taking a guy like you as a friend."
"No, get your facts straight! You don't have any friends besides me! I'm the one doing you a favor being your friend!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Poor guy. Woojin was his only friend. He didn't know if he would have time going forward, but if he did, he should hang out with him now and then.
"You little shit. Then who are your friends?!"
"Me? More than you, for starters."
"So who?!"
They weren't little kids. Asking how many friends someone had...
Kim Woojin crossed his arms and thought about his friends. The first one that came to mind—
"Choi Wooseok."
"Besides me."
"Hmm.... wait?"
Come to think of it, what even counted as a friend? A name saved in his phone? In that case... friends besides Choi Wooseok...
"Lee Jiwoo?"
"Did you call me?"
Kim Woojin's skin crawled.
"How long have you... been standing there?"
"Hmm... since the part where you crossed your arms?"
Which was basically from the beginning. Kim Woojin hung his head.
"What's wrong?"
I'm embarrassed, that's what! Why else! Anyone watching would have thought he had been sitting there thinking about Jiwoo.
"Anyway, good timing. I had something to ask you."
Kim Woojin changed the subject and pointed at her desk.
"There should be a notice in the drawer."
"A notice?"
"Yeah. They want us to pick the field trip destination for second semester."
"Oh... a field trip."
A smile tugged at Jiwoo's lips at the words "field trip."
"You like it that much? Didn't you go until you were sick of it in middle school?"
"No, I couldn't go because I was studying. I came to school and self-studied instead of going on the trips... This sounds fun."
"Is it... fun?"
This time the field trip options were split into three places: Gyeongju, Jeju Island, and Japan. Honestly, Japan was a bit much. It would be a huge burden on kids who didn't have money. The school probably had no intention of actually going there—they had just thrown it in so they could say they had given everyone a choice.
So the real candidates are Gyeongju and Jeju.
If they picked Jeju...
"Jeju would be nice! Japan's out of the question."
"Jeju? You sure? There's bound to be something like hiking Hallasan."
Even if it wasn't Hallasan, hiking would be a required part of the itinerary. Jiwoo, who hadn't known that, went pale.
"Hiking...? There are people who like a nightmare like that?"
"Well... among the faculty, sure. Probably... the principal or vice principal?"
"Eugh..."
Jiwoo's face crumpled in disgust.
Wow... even when she scrunches up her face she's prett— ahem!
"What? Why's your face red? You sick?"
"It's nothing."
"Yeah? Then... I guess that means Gyeongju."
Jiwoo looked a little disappointed.
"Still, it's not that—"
"Holy crap... so you can make more friends on a trip like that? Huh? Huh?"
"Friends...?"
Kim Woojin froze at the word "friends." Next to him, Choi Wooseok was cackling.
"What?"
"Heh... nothing. Nothing at all. Looks like the only people my buddy Woojin can even call friends are the two of us."
"Really? So you don't have any friends either, just like me."
I put a hand on Kim Woojin's shoulder and patted it.
"Let's work hard and make lots of friends."
"W-what. No! I don't need a bunch of friends, okay? Friends... as long as I've got people I can trust next to me, that's enough."
That wasn't wrong, either. But once you become an adult, you have to stay on good terms even with people you aren't close to—even people you can't stand.
"For example."
"Ugh, keep it down. Did you rent this place or something?"
The moment our voices got a little loud, a girl's ringing voice filled the classroom.
Yeah. Like that girl.
I didn't know why, but at some point she had started frowning every time she saw me, or bumping my shoulder as she walked by.
She's pretty, too. I want to be friends with her.
But she clearly had no such intention, so getting close was a chore. Every time I spoke first or approached her, she snarled like an angry cat.
Hard to get close when she does that.
"If we're loud, how loud could we even be? You guys chatter way louder."
"Get lost, otaku. You stink."
Choi Wooseok threw out a line and ate a counterpunch right in the face. The hit must have been hard. He clutched his chest.
"Guh... I got nothing to say back... Jiwoo. This is as far as I go. Fight in my place..."
"Haa... so childish."
The girl shot Choi Wooseok a look of pure disgust and turned her head away.
Yeah, it would be a waste to just let this go.
"Uh... you're actually gonna fight for me?"
Fight? Who said anything about fighting.
"Can I talk to you for a second?"
"...I don't have anything to say."
"Well, I do. It'll just take a second."
"..."
So now she wasn't even going to talk?
"Fine. Then I'll do the talking."
I said what I wanted to say to the girl who still wouldn't turn her head.
"My name is Lee Jiwoo. I'm a student, and I'm also an actress. I want to be friends with you. Let's get along."
I held out my hand.
She never once met my eyes. The bell rang, and Shin Haseon walked in.
"I'll come back. Let's finish this later."
I went back to my seat. She clutched her chest.
"...You okay?"
Her friends asked, worried.
"Haa... haa... I forgot to breathe..."
"Aigoo..."