Forced to Take a Break, Apparently (4)
Jin Gyeo-wool came back to the table looking more cheerful than usual, arms loaded with pizza and chicken nuggets — only to find that nothing about the two of them had changed.
That was when she finally sensed something was off, and the corners of her mouth slid right back to neutral. The shift had been tiny to begin with — a fractional adjustment of angle so slight that only someone like Yu Min-jae, who'd spent months around her, would have caught it.
Even so, Gyeo-wool felt Song Yu-ra's sharp gaze on her and still turned back toward the buffet. She hadn't grabbed a cola yet. The weird atmosphere registered, sure — but cola came first.
Not a chance. Song Yu-ra's hand shot out and snagged her by the wrist without hesitation.
"Hey. Can we talk for a second."
"…? Me?"
The person she wanted to talk to wasn't Min-jae — it was her? Gyeo-wool smacked her lips, looking puzzled. But more than any worry about a conversation with this girl, she was worried about the pizza. The piping-hot slices she'd just brought back were already going cold.
Yesterday she'd had to eat a lukewarm hot dog thanks to a random fan meetup. She was not interested in a repeat performance today.
"What's your relationship with Min-jae."
Gyeo-wool's answer had been decided from the start.
"Teammates."
"…. Teammates?"
Yu Min-jae, who'd been listening in, jumped in to mediate.
"I already told you. She's our team's top laner."
Most girls wouldn't have known what "top laner" meant, but Song Yu-ra had dated Min-jae long enough to catch on right away.
"So… you don't, like… like Min-jae or anything?"
"Why would I?"
"Song Yu-ra! Can you stop being so rude?"
"You stay out of this!"
It was Yu Min-jae who flinched at the unfamiliar, razor-edged version of his ex-girlfriend.
"Uh. Uh…."
She'd definitely been an angel before. Now she was growling like a chihuahua that had just locked eyes with a large dog. You really couldn't judge people by appearances!
A little spooked, Min-jae quietly backed off.
"I have zero interest in Min-jae. I called him out today for something completely different."
"Th-that… is that really true? If there's nothing going on, how can the two of you just sit here eating alone like this?"
"Teammates can't grab a meal together?"
Gyeo-wool kept up the shameless front like it was nothing. At this point, even Song Yu-ra was getting confused.
Thinking about it carefully, it was a pretty ambiguous situation to be grilling Gyeo-wool over. Song Yu-ra and Yu Min-jae had broken up for real. And right now, the person closer to Min-jae was Gyeo-wool, wasn't she?
Even if Gyeo-wool started dating Min-jae this very second, Song Yu-ra wouldn't have a leg to stand on. She wasn't his girlfriend. They weren't married.
"Th-th-th-that—!"
"That what."
Gyeo-wool slipped her wrist free and went to get her cola. Her total lack of interest in this conversation was written all over her face.
A moment later she came back looking thoroughly unimpressed, walked straight past Song Yu-ra, and sat down.
"Aren't you hungry? Have you had lunch?"
"……. No."
She'd been tailing Yu Min-jae since early morning. Of course she hadn't eaten lunch.
Gyeo-wool immediately called a server over and paid for one more buffet cover.
"Let's talk while we eat. Here — sit next to Min-jae."
The whole situation was a mess, but in that moment Song Yu-ra's instincts kicked in.
Jin Gyeo-wool was not someone you could beat with ordinary verbal sparring. That easy, unbothered expression. The way she was already gripping her fork and knife and working both hands like the only thing that mattered right now was eating, no matter what Song Yu-ra said. If she picked a fight here, the only person who'd end up looking like the villain was herself — the picture was painfully clear.
Song Yu-ra had fought her share of girl-versus-girl battles over the years and come out on top more than once. So she planted herself in the empty seat beside Yu Min-jae without a second of hesitation.
This was the right move.
Only after swapping out her plate for a fresh one about three times did Jin Gyeo-wool lean back in her chair with a satisfied little smile.
Even Song Yu-ra could tell Gyeo-wool's expression had softened considerably compared to earlier. If they kept the conversation calm from here, they could avoid a bloodbath.
Ears folded, tail down, eyes shining, Song Yu-ra asked,
"So… you're really not… you know… with Min-jae, right?"
"I already said no. What do I have to do for you to believe me."
"…Write me a pledge."
"And a pledge is legally binding how, exactly?"
She was only a few years older, but Jin Gyeo-wool understood the importance of contracts better than almost anyone.
When you'd bounced from job to job trying to scrape together money, you inevitably ran into the kind of near-scam shop owners who stiffed you on your paycheck. Adults who'd entered society ahead of you sometimes turned into outright demons and made fools of every fresh-faced newcomer. After getting burned by enough garbage human beings, Bae Do-hyun had stopped putting anything on paper that didn't carry legal weight.
Of course, a written pledge wasn't completely powerless. If the interested parties signed it together and got it notarized, it held up. But a regular student probably didn't even know what notarization was.
"Honestly, no matter what I say, you're not going to believe me. You think writing a pledge would change that? Looking at your face right now, you're drowning in suspicion."
"……."
Left with nothing to say, Song Yu-ra just sat there like a mute who'd swallowed honey, studying Gyeo-wool's pretty face from every angle.
Pretty eyes. Pretty lines. Not a single unattractive feature anywhere.
And those eyes — those eyes were the real cheat code. They looked almost empty of emotion, and yet they seemed to see straight through whoever was watching her. Like she was carrying some kind of sage inside her. Meeting that gaze, you could feel a powerful presence coming off her.
"You're still in school, right?"
"Yes."
"When classes are over, come to our practice room."
"What?"
"I said come to the practice room. I don't like repeating myself."
It was plenty high-handed, but refusing an invitation like that would have been stranger. Besides, every word out of Gyeo-wool's mouth carried real weight — you couldn't just brush it off or half-listen.
"Come and see for yourself. You think we have time for dating? I'm busy. He's busy. We practice, we give each other feedback, we watch other matches and analyze them, we manage our fitness."
A beautiful girl alone with her ex-boyfriend who'd once promised her a future. No matter how you spun it, suspicion made sense — but Gyeo-wool's whole demeanor was dead serious, like she was speaking nothing but the truth.
"Or do you want to go now? The others are probably still practicing."
"Coach said since we're taking a break, we should take the whole day off."
"So what. We've already played around enough."
Absolutely not true — Yu Min-jae's face said as much.
But if Gyeo-wool said stop playing and go to the practice room, what reason did he have to refuse? Her word was law to Yu Min-jae. She had eight months left at most.
"Fine. Let's go. Song Yu-ra, you're coming too."
"…Okay."
But just as the three of them finished eating and were about to head for the practice room, someone who absolutely should not have been there appeared.
He hadn't been given time off, so the fact that he was out here meant he'd clearly skipped practice too.
The second Gyeo-wool saw his face, she launched straight into a lecture. Min-jae had officially greenlit roasting him with pure facts, so there was nothing to hesitate over.
"Choi Do-yun. Why are you here instead of practicing."
"Noona. Don't tell me… it's not what I think it is, right?"
"What do you think it is."
He was a guy — she'd have preferred it if he just got angry. Instead he was scrunching up his face and huffing like he was about to cry any second.
"Are you… dating Min-jae? Were you just playing with me? You know that guy already has a girlfriend!"
It was a statement practically designed to cause misunderstandings. The fuse Song Yu-ra had barely managed to put out caught fire all over again, and the two of them went off together.
"…So you two really are dating."
"You're actually dating him? Huh?"
The two people still clinging to any remaining sanity both brought a hand to their foreheads at the same time.
Even Gyeo-wool hadn't seen this coming.
She walked straight up to Choi Do-yun and grabbed him by both shoulders.
"Choi Do-yun. Listen carefully. I am not anything with Yu Min-jae. You see us in the practice room every single day — how do you not know that?"
"That was then… but I saw you two out here alone like this! How am I supposed to just let that go? How would I know if you're having some secret relationship?! Okay, fine, that bastard Min-jae is good-looking, I'll give him that. His face is basically a plot device, I admit it. But a harem? Having two girlfriends is just greedy, isn't it?!"
Strangely enough, though, the situation started resolving itself without Gyeo-wool having to lift a finger. Apparently Song Yu-ra and Choi Do-yun already knew each other, because she suddenly bellowed at him.
"Do-yun oppa. What are you even talking about. Don't you know Min-jae and I already broke up? And does Min-jae look like the kind of person who'd two-time someone? Why are you making him out to be trash?"
"I saw the whole thing from outside, okay? The three of you cosily sharing pizza?"
"You were watching us?"
If he'd seen everything, how had he missed Song Yu-ra yelling at Gyeo-wool? Gyeo-wool started rubbing her throbbing temples.
If she left this alone, the volume would keep climbing and people nearby would start staring. Gyeo-wool was already semi-famous, and her looks alone were enough to draw eyes. Waste any more time here and someone was bound to recognize her — and figure out the Seoul team existed, too.
To shut it down, Gyeo-wool raised her voice.
"Enough!"
Song Yu-ra and Choi Do-yun, mid-bicker, both went silent.
Into the reclaimed quiet, Gyeo-wool dumped out everything she needed to say in a rush.
"Choi Do-yun. I don't like you. No — I have zero interest in dating or marrying anyone, period. Got it?"
Choi Do-yun's sniffling cut off cold.
"Song Yu-ra, was it? You heard what I just said, right? Me. Zero interest in dating or marriage. All I want is to become a pro gamer and win Worlds. Understood?"
Song Yu-ra bit down hard on her lip and stopped talking.
The pointless misunderstanding fight was finally settling, and Gyeo-wool was about to reclaim the calm she'd wanted.
That is, if Yu Min-jae — still clutching his own unresolved misunderstanding — hadn't chosen that exact moment to jump in out of nowhere.
"Noona, how are you supposed to go to Worlds?"
Gyeo-wool muttered irritably at that.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean. You're saying I don't have the skill to make Worlds?"
"N-no! Noona—"
But in that instant, Song Yu-ra's sharp gaze snapped toward him. If he let slip even a hint that he was fretting over Gyeo-wool out of personal feeling, the atmosphere they'd barely calmed would flare right back up.
Gyeo-wool had gone out of her way to clean this mess up despite having no time. He couldn't afford to wreck the mood all over again.
So Yu Min-jae had no choice but to finally say out loud the worry he'd been swallowing alone all this time.
"Noona, you're terminally ill…. You said you only have until next spring…!"
Choi Do-yun reeled at the bombshell and turned to Gyeo-wool.
"What is he talking about…. Is that real? Why didn't you tell me, noona?"
Song Yu-ra felt a crushing wave of guilt at the word terminal. She'd been screaming and digging in her heels out of pure jealousy without even knowing the girl was sick.
"Oh my god…."
A sudden atmosphere of pity settled over Gyeo-wool from every side.
She tried throwing out something completely mismatched to the mood, looking thoroughly absurd.
"…Wait. You guys. You actually believe that? That I'm terminally ill? Yu Min-jae. Why on earth would you think that?"
But the aura coming off Yu Min-jae — whose face was basically a plot device — was far too earnest.
Gyeo-wool's joking tone only made it worse, like a dying girl forcing a smile to lighten a heavy room. It came off heartbreaking.
"No! Hey! I am NOT terminally ill, okay? I am NOT dying! Are you people actually insane? Hey, Yu Min-jae. Spit it out. Why the hell did you decide I was terminally ill?"
"Noona…. You don't have to force it."
"Oh, for fuck's sake—!"
A full-blown swear word she hadn't used even once since becoming Jin Gyeo-wool tore out of her on pure reflex.
No — in this situation, not swearing would have been weirder.
"Hey. You two get one more day of leave. No — the whole practice room is on leave! I'm going to the hospital and I'm going to show you exactly how fine I am."
Yu Min-jae tried to stop her, saying she didn't need to go that far, but Gyeo-wool just shouted even harder.
"I'm not sick! I am ridiculously fine! God, this is driving me insane!"
"…Ah! Noona! Noona!!"
Unable to hold it in any longer, Gyeo-wool finally did what she'd done yesterday and bolted for home. She simply could not stand there in her right mind one second longer.
"Tomorrow, the hospital I told you about — be there on time. If you don't show, you're all dead, I swear."
"Noona!! Don't push yourself!!"
"I'm not pushing myself!"
Gyeo-wool jumped in a taxi and tore off into the distance.
Choi Do-yun came over to Yu Min-jae and apologized for misunderstanding. Song Yu-ra apologized too, for yelling at him earlier.
And Yu Min-jae, receiving both apologies, swallowed his tears on the inside.
Ah, poor Gyeo-wool noona, he thought.