Curious Eyes and Hidden Screens
The club room was packed with people. But their presence faded into the background as my eyes stayed locked on just one person. What could she be writing so diligently? In the corner, our author was happily hammering away at her laptop. Watching her, I clung to a faint hope—the hope that since she was working this hard, she might drop a few rapid chapters tonight...
"Please, God...!"
"Then I'm Buddha-nim!"
"Ack! You scared me!"
My head snapped around at the sudden voice. The owner was Yeri. I had no idea when she'd shown up, but she had popped right in front of me.
"Make some noise next time, sis. I almost had a heart attack."
"Hehehe. You really do get startled when you see a pretty girl like me, huh?"
"Don't you have a mirror at home?"
"Pfft!"
Han Yeri stood next to me holding a cup ramen container, her cheeks puffed out like they were about to burst from whatever she had stuffed in her mouth. I tried to keep observing Kang Ajin behind her.
"Om nom nom. What are you looking at?"
"I wasn't looking at anything."
"Nom nom. Really? If you're hungry, want a bite of this?"
"Could you swallow what's in your mouth first before talking, sis? I'm worried food's going to spray everywhere."
"Puhuhuhu! What did you saaaay~!"
She covered her mouth with one hand while the other playfully patted my shoulder. To her it was just a light, joking punch because she found it funny, but it didn't feel that way to me at all.
"Ow, ow! Hey, take it easy!"
"Gulp! Ahaha! You nearly made me spit everything out from laughing!"
"Ouch! Stop hitting me! I'm not joking—it really hurts!"
"Such a baby! Stop pretending it hurts!"
As she said that, Yeri spread her palm open. Was this the famous "stop the reverse violence" move? I spread my own hand and shot back.
"You stop pretending to be ugly! Quit being so ugly!"
"Ahahaha! See! You keep doing things that deserve getting hit!"
"What are you talking about? That was a straight fact."
"Hehe! Don't you know about fact assault? Facts can be assault too! So this next one's self-defense!"
"Ack! This is actual assault! Sis, you should start preparing to appear on the nine o'clock news."
"Ehehe. I know. I do have the face for TV. Hehe."
"Criminals appear on TV too."
"Take that! And that!"
I lost count of how many times she hit me. Right when I started wondering if I might actually die, she finally stopped.
"Ugh. I'd definitely lose in a real fight."
Seeing me groan in pain, she flashed a victorious grin.
"How was that? My special pig swing."
"Hmm. Have I been misunderstanding the name? Is it called pig stir-fry because the pig stirs everything around?"
"Huh? What did you say? Want another one?"
"Sorry."
After trading a few more pointless jokes, I tried shifting my gaze back to Kang Ajin, but Yeri shoved her face directly into my line of sight.
"What are you looking at, huh? What?"
She shook her head side to side with a bright, innocent smile. I answered flatly.
"Everything except you, sis."
"But there's only me in front of your eyes?"
"I have x-ray vision, you know. The only thing I can see through is an ugly person's body."
"Hehe. Then you wouldn't see anything when you look in a mirror either?"
"Don't you know? The mirror always shatters before it can reflect my face. I must be unbelievably ugly."
"Ahahaha! When you say it like that, I feel like the villain! Why are you making me feel sorry~"
"That was the whole point of the self-deprecating joke."
Anyway, what was Kang Ajin doing? Why was she still so absorbed? Sigh. I'm so curious.
I wanted to sneak a peek at that laptop screen. If possible, I wanted to talk to her first. But the courage wouldn't come. Like they say, a thief's feet get itchy—once you have an ulterior motive, nothing feels natural anymore.
After agonizing for a long time, I finally thought, Screw it, what's there to hesitate about? I decided to charge in recklessly.
Honestly, it was true. I wasn't acting with any bad intentions. This was help that came from a pure heart for the author's sake. Yeah. That was right. Once I convinced myself, my feet moved easily. I walked toward her as if I were heading somewhere else.
"By the way, sis, where are you going?"
"Me? I'm following you."
"...Ah, I see."
Given Kang Ajin's extremely wary personality, rushing over like this would never be welcomed. So I did my best to send Yeri away. After ten full minutes of verbal sparring, I finally managed to shake her off.
Whew. Time to face the final boss.
With my resolve firmly set, I took a step forward. The moment I reached Kang Ajin's side and tried to glance at her laptop—
"!"
Maybe I'd made too much noise, because she noticed me instantly and quickly hit Alt+Tab to hide the screen.
......
Kang Ajin kept sneaking cautious glances at me. Her eyes were full of wariness. Hmm... had I done something wrong? No, this was a normal reaction. Everyone wants to hide their private life.
Especially when it came to creative works that contained their desires, like novels. It was embarrassing to show others. For some reason it felt so awkward that you'd rather die than let anyone see. Thinking about it from her perspective, I realized I'd been the one in the wrong. Trying to peek at someone else's laptop—especially someone who wasn't even a close friend—was completely out of line.
Please forgive this pathetic reader, author-nim...
I apologized to her in my heart and spent a moment in self-reflection. Even then, her eyes stayed on me. Through side glances, of course. She might have already figured out my true intentions. If so, I'd messed up right from the first step.
Standing here quietly is only making her more suspicious.
At this point it was do or die. I put on the most natural expression I could manage and walked toward her again. Then, as casually as always, I tossed out a light greeting.
"Seeing you here again. Hey."
"Y-yeah..."
"You're in the theater club too? What are you working on right now? You've looked busy since earlier."
"Oh, it's nothing. I was just... doing an assignment."
An assignment? Her fingers had been flying way too fast for that. It looked more like she was writing an entire novel. I casually voiced my suspicion.
"Really? You were typing so fast I thought you were writing a novel or something."
The fingers that had been tapping rapidly across the keyboard now fidgeted awkwardly. She toyed with them for a moment before speaking.
"Y-yeah... I was writing a novel. That is the assignment..."
"The assignment? Oh, right."
Four days ago the professor had given us one. The instructions weren't particularly strict. There were no specific requirements. We could write anything in any genre or format and submit it.
What did I end up writing again?
You could create a story with lots of characters, or write at length about your future dreams, or just list what you'd done yesterday. The goal was to stimulate the reader's imagination through the writing. Of course, the professor's grandiose explanation hadn't moved me at all.
I just threw together a lazy diary-style entry, didn't I?
I wasn't even sure it reached three hundred characters. While I was the kind of slacker who didn't care about grades, there were also diligent, hardworking, talented students. And that description fit Kang Ajin perfectly. She really was the author I admired.
I swallowed the surge of emotion and kept my voice calm.
"You turned the assignment into a novel? Isn't that incredibly difficult?"
"Yeah... so I decided to make it a short story..."
"I see. How much have you written so far?"
"Um... I haven't finished yet, so I'm not sure... but I've written around seven thousand characters."
I felt a long-forgotten spark of academic passion. Right now, I wanted to read it so badly it hurt.
"That's a lot. What's the genre?"
"Well... the professor really likes alternate history, so... that's what I was writing..."
An alternate history novel from the author Three Meals a Day Cup Ramen? There was no way I could pass this up. I'd empty my wallet if I had to.
"Wow. I love alternate history too."
"You do?"
"Yeah. Actually I've been reading web novels for seven years. There's no genre I haven't touched."
"R-really?!"
She sounded unusually excited. Realizing it, she let out a small gasp and quickly bowed her head. Then she started muttering.
"I-I like web novels too."
Yeah, I know. But I said the opposite of what I was thinking.
"Really? Then the story you're writing now probably has that web novel flavor, right?"
"Y-yes."
"Oh, then could you show me just a little? I'll give you feedback if you want."
Good. That came out naturally.
"Um? That's a bit..."
"I'm really good at giving feedback. And honestly, I just want to see it. Your writing seems like it'd be interesting."
"R-really...?"
Fellow web novel readers share a strange sense of kinship, so the odds of her accepting were high. Look at her now—her guard had dropped a long time ago. Normally she would have refused instantly, but she was actually taking time to consider it.
Before long, she gave in.
"Then... I'll show you just a v-very little bit."
"Okay! I'll really only look a little!"
A few minutes later, I secretly logged into the novel site and sent a donation to Three Meals a Day Cup Ramen. The support message was extra.