Chapter 152
Chapter 152
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 152
Chapter Title: Class Reunion
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Choi Min-hyuk pulled his cap low over his eyes as he stared at his phone in front of the restaurant. The group chat was already buzzing with messages about how the others had arrived and were knocking back a few drinks.
A strange mix of tension and excitement had him taking a deep unnecessary breath before he pushed open the door.
He glanced around, and familiar faces lit up right away.
"Hey! Choi Min-hyuk!"
The one waving enthusiastically with a bright smile was none other than Kim Sia, the vice class rep from their third-year Class 4 at Kanghyeon Middle School.
"Hey~! It's been forever. Get over here!"
It felt good to be welcomed so warmly. Choi Min-hyuk tried his best not to look awkward as he headed toward Kim Sia.
Two four-person tables had been pushed together, with exactly one seat left empty.
'We must have about twenty people showing up today?'
Back then, each class had around forty guys. Half couldn't be reached or had scheduling conflicts, so the remaining twenty or so had agreed to meet up.
The moment he sat down, Kim Sia greeted him cheerfully.
"Come on, now that you're here, have a drink first~. You remember us all, right?"
"Yeah, I do. You and you were the class rep and vice rep."
He might not remember everyone else, but An Si-heon and Kim Sia stuck out. Choi Min-hyuk gave a quick nod to An Si-heon sitting across from him.
"Hey! You don't remember me?"
The guy next to An Si-heon jumped in with a playful tone already laced with mischief.
"Bae Yu-kyung, right?"
"What? You do remember? I was about to get offended thinking you'd forgotten."
"We were desk mates, remember? We did a ton of group work, desks always stuck together."
"Hey~! No way. That was ages ago."
She burst into laughter. The vibe was great. Choi Min-hyuk let out a relieved breath as he watched Bae Yu-kyung and Kim Sia crack up at his story.
"But why the hat?"
"Can't you tell just by looking?"
An Si-heon smirked at him.
"He's in the military."
Choi Min-hyuk fiddled with his cap for no reason.
'Why does she have to say it like that...'
He felt oddly deflated and held his tongue. He wanted to snap back sharply at An Si-heon, but she was basically the organizer of this whole thing.
'Hold it in, just hold it in.'
Starting drama wouldn't do him any favors.
"Oh? Yeah, you are. On leave?"
"Yeah, just for a bit. Back the day after tomorrow."
"Makes sense. Everyone's enlisting left and right these days. What about you, Si-heon? Not going?"
"Planning to after second year."
She'll have a rough time. Choi Min-hyuk thought as he downed a beer.
Just then, the door slid open smoothly, and the room erupted in cheers again.
"Hey~! Look who it is!"
The stragglers poured in all at once. After some chaos with shoving more tables together, it finally looked like a proper class reunion.
"Who didn't make it?"
"Looks like almost everyone's here."
An Si-heon scrolled through the attendee list on her phone. Excluding the ones who'd bailed last minute after saying they'd come or those who'd warned they'd be late from the start...
Ah.
"She hasn't shown up yet."
"Who?"
"Song Woo-yeon."
The table went quiet for a beat, then exploded into chatter.
"Oh? That Song Woo-yeon?"
"She's coming? Isn't she busy?"
"Yeah, she's been on TV a lot lately."
The scattered conversations instantly zeroed in on Song Woo-yeon.
Choi Min-hyuk pretended not to care while perking up his ears. Why wouldn't he? She'd been jokingly called the top success story of Kanghyeon Middle School.
"When she first showed up on [Cold Survival], I was totally shocked."
"I saw that clip floating around on Facebook—thought I was gonna faint~."
"When I said she was my middle school classmate, no one believed me, so I dug up our grad photo to prove it."
"Yeah, I saw her on this time too. Who could've guessed she'd blow up like that."
It's weirdly thrilling when someone you know becomes famous, so everyone seemed to have looked her up.
"So she's the president of that [The Song] company now, right? Insane. President at our age?"
"Some of us are still flipping burgers~. Meanwhile Song Woo-yeon's getting called 'President' already."
"How much you think she makes? I hear she has a ton of luxury cars. I eat the Snowflake Bingsu from all the time. I must've bought one of their bricks or whatever."
The talk started veering into more provocative territory.
"Woo-yeon probably spent days eating and sleeping next to Do-kyung on , huh? Wonder what she's like up close. Jealous~."
"Anyone got her company's sales figures? Kinda curious."
"Hey, should I open a Song Cafe? They do crazy business in my neighborhood. Think I'd kill it with one near our school?"
Then someone tossed out:
"Wasn't she super quiet in middle school?"
And just like that, everyone piled on with their memories of Song Woo-yeon from back then, like a school of fish swarming chum.
Choi Min-hyuk thought it looked exactly like that.
"Yeah, quiet. Always holed up in the library, right?"
True enough. He remembered her scarfing down lunch first and then sitting at her desk reading every time.
'I thought she was just a quiet girl.'
But seeing her on recent shows, it seemed like she might've just not had close friends at school.
"Our school lunch was trash back then, but she got chummy with the lunch ladies and made it taste better bit by bit. That's when I first saw her smile."
"Didn't seem like she had a best friend in third year. Total solo player. Well, if your friends from first and second weren't in class, that could happen. Or maybe she got iced out?"
"Nah, I don't think so. She was always on her own from the start."
"I was in her first-year class too, but she practically lived in the top class, so I barely saw her face."
Choi Min-hyuk tilted his head.
"Why in first year?"
"What? You don't know?"
Kim Sia made a big fuss, slapping his shoulder.
"I transferred in second year. What's the story?"
"Oh, right. You were the transfer. Nah, it was pretty famous around here."
Kim Sia hesitated for a second, then leaned in and whispered.
"She missed school right after starting. Her parents died."
"...What?"
"Word is, accident on the way to the entrance ceremony... Tough break."
He'd had no idea. Choi Min-hyuk's head spun a little.
Sure, he'd heard she'd made it on her own, but he'd never dreamed it happened so soon after starting school.
"No wonder. On entrance ceremony day of all days. Must've been rough. That's why in first year, she was in counseling for mental stuff and skipped most classes."
"..."
"You really didn't know? It was a big deal."
"Nope. First time hearing."
"Makes sense. Everyone kept it hushed."
Middle school kids are sensitive and dramatic, but not so cruel they'd pick on a quiet kid going through hell.
There might've been whispers behind her back, but no one openly gossiped about Song Woo-yeon.
'I had no clue myself.'
Still, everyone had been quietly watching her, whether they talked or not.
Back then, he'd thought it was just because she was a pretty, smart girl going solo. Now it seemed more like wary observation.
Like, that's her, huh?
Maybe that's why Song Woo-yeon had hidden herself even more, Choi Min-hyuk mused inwardly.
Right then.
Ding~.
The shop door opened, and the bell chimed brightly.
Everyone froze mid-sentence and turned toward the door. They all sensed it instinctively.
Song Woo-yeon stepped in, brushing her straight black hair behind her ear.
She glanced around, spotted them, and broke into a wide smile with a wave.
"Sorry. Work ran late. Am I too late?"
She looked so radiant, nothing like the shadowed face he'd remembered from all of third year.
Choi Min-hyuk let out an involuntary "Ah" of admiration.
Even though they'd just been talking about her. Seeing Song Woo-yeon again after all these years felt like meeting someone entirely new.
Everyone hesitated to approach.
"Nah, we're just glad you could make it with your schedule. Seat here?"
Class rep An Si-heon took charge and cleared a spot.
"Only awkward seats left. Want to drag a chair over?"
"Sure, why not."
While he stared blankly, Song Woo-yeon joined the table where Choi Min-hyuk sat.
'Whoa. Feels like I'm on TV.'
Maybe because they hadn't been close. That was his first thought.
"You might not remember. I'm An Si-heon."
"I was vice rep. Remember me, Woo-yeon?"
"How've you been? You look great~."
The flood of friendliness seemed to catch Song Woo-yeon off guard. But in a crowd mostly doing regular college life, the girl who'd built and succeeded in her own business was the center of attention.
"Wow, do you get those camera facials or something? Your skin's amazing."
"Yeah, what dermatologist do you go to?"
Once Kim Sia and Bae Yu-kyung kicked it off, the warm chatter flowed. Choi Min-hyuk just toyed with his cap and sipped his beer.
'Vibe's better than I thought. Well, we're not middle schoolers anymore.'
Everyone had grown up enough to know buttering up Song Woo-yeon beat snubbing her.
'Not sure if that's better, though.'
The direction had shifted from back then, but they were still viewing her through colored glasses.
That's when it happened.
The half-forced harmony shattered in an instant.
"Woo-yeon, you must be rolling in it these days. You covering this tab?"
An Si-heon tossed it out casually with her beaming smile, and the air turned icy.