The Day I Met the Sun
In the past, life for her had been nothing but darkness. Even the name her parents had given her.
"Uh... w-what about the money?"
Her face burned red with shame at the sight of the delinquents laughing and chatting among themselves right in front of her. Pig. Another name given to her, a girl who stood over 180 centimeters tall yet carried nothing but layers of flab.
The classmates mocked her and clicked their tongues as they watched her frantically sprint toward the canteen, terrified of the delinquents' violence. Three years of high school. No, the bullying had started back in middle school, so she'd endured nearly six years of it.
'It's not like I was always this pathetic pushover from the start! What the hell do you guys know?!'
She hadn't just taken it lying down. Though even she found her own flabby body disgusting, her athletic talent was a natural gift. She'd fought back against the delinquents once, and she'd won. But against the power of the group, superior athletic ability meant nothing. In the face of retaliatory group beatings and the boys who hung around the delinquents filing false reports, she was instantly branded as a shameless troublemaker.
Of course she'd tried to protest during the school violence committee hearing, explaining that the reports were false.
Just once. The one and only time she'd fought back to survive after countless acts of violence from the delinquents, and the result was labeled "mutual fault." And as if that wasn't enough...
The boys' gym clothes discovered in her locker—something she knew nothing about.
Her protest ended before the hearing had even properly begun.
That was the beginning. She became known as a fat monster, a pig, the school's official outcast and target of everyone's ridicule. The colors of the world disappeared.
"I want to die..."
The world was filled with countless vibrant colors, so why could she only see darkness? Was death truly her only salvation?
"Yeah. Let's die. Even if I die, I need to make those bitches pay at least once..."
It was a life of nothing but darkness anyway. If she could get revenge with this cursed body, then so be it. Swallowing back the tears that threatened to burst free, she tucked the suicide note listing the names of the delinquents into her pocket and headed for the rooftop.
"Huh? Sunbae...?"
She met the sun.
"Ugh... uuu..."
Her voice wouldn't come out properly. There, in her world of nothing but darkness, stood a being so bright it hurt to look at. A male student. A first-year underclassman known as the flower on the precipice—the one who'd caused a stir the moment he enrolled, with rumors of a fairy appearing among the freshmen.
"Sunbae, are you okay? You're hurt!"
A look of genuine worry, something she hadn't seen once in six years. And it was coming from a boy who shone like the sun itself!
"I-I'm fine! This kind of scratch is nothing to a girl... Ow?!"
She tried to act tough since she was supposedly a girl, but the underclassman pulled out a handkerchief embroidered with a flower pattern that somehow perfectly suited him and gently pressed it against her wounds. She let out a girlish shriek.
"What do you mean, 'this kind of scratch'? It hurts the same whether you're a girl or a boy. Just stay still."
"N-no. My dirty blood from a pig like me will get on your handkerchief... Eek?!"
"Don't say things like that! Why would Sunbae's blood be dirty? And I can just wash the handkerchief."
"Uuuu..."
The underclassman's hand was cradling her wound. It should have been bright red blood, but in her eyes, it looked like he was wiping away the darkness.
"..."
"..."
A brief silence. She knew the underclassman's name, but he probably didn't know hers. It should have been awkward, yet the beautiful underclassman was completely focused on cleaning her darkness, and she...
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump...!!!
Her heart was racing. The heart she'd thought had stopped dead in six years of darkness was pounding harder than ever, announcing its resurrection.
"...Why are you up here on the rooftop all by yourself?"
She asked in a tiny voice, like an ant crawling, terrified he might hear her pounding heart.
"Me? Hmm... My little sister told me to stay by myself during break time. There was no one else on the rooftop, so I came up here."
Right. She'd heard the rumors. The reason he was called the flower on the precipice was because he had a little sister who went berserk like a mad dog, waving around an awl.
"Then why did you come up to the rooftop, Sunbae? You weren't thinking anything bad, were you?"
For a moment, her words caught in her throat. Bad thoughts? Why had she come up to the rooftop?
"This might be a bit presumptuous of me, but please stop. I was bullied too, so I understand how you feel, but I also—"
"Shut up! What do you know about me to tell me to stop or not?!"
You were bullied too? So you think you understand how I feel?
'Do you even know if the bullying we went through means the same thing?!'
The darkness settled in thickly. The beautiful colors the underclassman had just wiped away were stained once more by the deep-seated darkness in her heart. Pathetic bitch. Stupid bitch. Pig-like bitch! She spat harsh words even at the boy who had been tending to her wounds. As expected.
"I should just die... Huh?!"
Squeeze!
She was embraced. No, perhaps it was more accurate to say she was pulled into an embrace. The tiny underclassman, who couldn't have been even 170 centimeters tall, wrapped his arms tightly around her frame that easily surpassed 180.
"I'm sorry... It was wrong of me to pretend I understood. Anyway, I won't be around for long... That's not it. I misspoke."
> [Mmm] is watching him with pity.
"Sunbae, please don't die. No matter how hard or painful it gets, smile."
"Smile? You want me to smile...?"
"Yes. Like this."
A smile. Could there really be such a beautiful smile in this world? A boy shouldn't smile so carelessly at a girl, so why was this sun smiling at her?
'Ah...'
The darkness vanished. The deep, deep darkness that had taken root in her heart after years of being mocked and hurt, called a pig and a fat monster—excluding her childhood—all of it was washed away by the brilliant light of the underclassman's smile.
"Are you still a pig, Sunbae?"
"N-no."
I'm... I'm not a pig...
"I'm Han Seol-a."
The moment she spoke the name she'd forgotten, the world that had been nothing but darkness burst into vivid, dazzling colors.
'Ah, so this is how beautiful the world really is...'
The underclassman who was smaller and more delicate than her, yet shone brighter than anyone else, had a name...
"I'm Kim Seulgi. Seol-a Sunbae."
That day, in a world of nothing but darkness, Han Seol-a met the sun.
A sun that existed only for her. A sun that should look only at her. A sun that was only...
'My love♡'
After that day, Han Seol-a changed. She was still bullied by the delinquents at school, but the thought of wanting to die never crossed her mind again.
"Teacher. I want to start training."
"Ha? Back at the start of the semester you refused no matter how much I tried to convince you, saying it would be hard to lose weight and that becoming a sports scholarship student was basically guaranteed if you did. And now you want to? No way. There's only one semester left until graduation."
"Two months. I'll lose half my current body weight in two months! In return, if I succeed, please write me a recommendation letter so I can get into any university I want."
"Did you get a boyfriend or something? Why are you making things difficult for me all of a sudden... Fine! Go ahead. With your athletic talent, just losing the weight will put you at the top of the sports world!"
A boyfriend? Did she get a boyfriend?
'Yes, teacher. I got a man♡ A man who smiles even at someone like me. A man who shines brighter than anyone else in the world. My Seulgi♡'
Time passed. In just two months, Han Seol-a brought her weight back to normal and, as promised, received a sports scholarship recommendation letter that could get her into any university.
"No. I'm still not good enough to stand beside my Seulgi. The military. First, I need to complete my military service."
Right after graduation, Han Seol-a enlisted. During her service...
"Whoa! Sergeant Han, now that you've lost the weight you look like a celebrity! Is this what they call winning the diet lottery? Once you're out in society, any decent guy would fall for you. You said you don't have a boyfriend, right? I can introduce you to—"
"No, it's fine. I already have a man."
Her parents hadn't been lying when they said she'd been incredibly pretty before she gained all that weight. After enlisting and continuing to train diligently, her appearance had transformed into something beautiful even in the eyes of other women.
'Yes. Now I can go meet my man.'
She had deliberately enlisted right after graduation so she could start university life together with him. Even if he wouldn't recognize the changed her, it didn't matter. In fact, she hoped he wouldn't recognize her.
"Slowly. I'll approach him slowly. Not as that pathetic pig Han Seol-a, but as a kind and sweet Han Seol-a!"
She mustn't become Icarus, flying toward the sun only to fall. Slowly, slowly, she would circle around him. Learn where he lived, what he ate, how often he went to the bathroom, what items he used. And when the time was ripe and the opportunity came...
"Hehe~ What a coincidence. There's no such thing as coincidence like this~"
Ah, my Seulgi. My love♡
'You're mine♡'