Sweet-Bitter Romance with the Transfer Student...?
“Hey. Kang Ijun. What the hell is going on with you? How did this happen?”
“……”
“Who is she? Your girlfriend? Weren’t we supposed to be seventeen-year-old lifelong singles together?”
“……”
“You traitor, you two-faced bastard…! Explain yourself. If you don’t, I swear I’ll—”
Jihun had been chattering nonstop for two whole hours. I tuned him out completely.
Instead, I stared across the room at the transfer student sitting at the far end of the row.
—Huh? She’s looking over here again.
—There’s definitely something between them…!
—Of course there is. They’re getting married, remember?
—Tachibana. You two are dating, right? Right?
The moment I glanced her way, whispers erupted from the other side of the classroom. Every time our eyes met, she only smiled shyly, which sent the girls around her into a frenzy of speculation. The rumor would spread like wildfire.
That Kang Ijun and Tachibana Hana were dating.
“Wow. I feel so betrayed. You lying snake.”
“……”
“Wait. Don’t tell me you’ve been staying up all night because of her?”
“……”
“You… you bastard! Kang Ijun, don’t tell me you’ve been doing something fun every night—”
“……Enough.”
I shoved Jihun’s head away with my hand. Too many thoughts were already crowding my mind; I didn’t need his nonsense on top of it.
“What? Am I wrong?”
“Obviously wrong. Why would that be right?”
“Then why won’t you explain?”
“Explain what?”
“What’s your relationship with her, you idiot!”
“What relationship? There isn’t one.”
“If there’s nothing between you, why did she say that?”
“Beats me.”
“Why?”
“……”
Exactly. I wanted to know too. We’d ended the marriage talk and gone our separate ways, so why was she now going around saying things like “We might get married someday” and stirring up misunderstandings?
“Hey. Why won’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know. I really don’t.”
“You don’t know? It’s your life—how can you not know?”
“……That’s why I’m going to find out right now.”
I stood up abruptly. Jihun yelped, “Hey, where are you going?” but I ignored him and strode straight toward the transfer student.
“Huh?”
“Kang Ijun… Kang Ijun’s coming…!”
The girls’ voices grew clearer the closer I got. They were obviously speaking loud enough for me to hear, but I pretended not to notice.
“……”
“……”
Our eyes met at close range. The girls sitting around her watched us with sparkling, expectant gazes. Under the weight of dozens of stares, I cut straight to the point.
“We need to talk.”
“Lunch is almost over, though,” one of our classmates answered for her.
I rubbed the back of my neck and tried to sound as polite as possible.
“It’ll only take a minute. Five minutes, tops.”
“Tachibana, he says five minutes is enough?”
“What do you want to do? Don’t want to go? Should I tell him not to take you?”
“Mm… No, it’s fine. I’ll be right back. He said it won’t take long…”
Tachibana Hana spoke with obvious shyness, twisting her body and blushing. The sight seemed to trigger the other girls’ protective instincts.
“Come straight back after you’re done talking, okay?”
“If anything happens, just yell. We’ll come running!”
“……”
Anyone watching would think I was dragging her off to be eaten. It was surprising how quickly they’d bonded with a girl who’d only transferred two hours ago. I watched from a slight distance.
I’d expected more resistance, but after just a few words she stood up willingly.
“Let’s go, Ijun-ssi.”
“……Ijun-ssi?”
I repeated the awkward honorific, silently asking what the hell that was supposed to mean.
“Oh, right. You told me not to call you that, didn’t you…?”
She stepped lightly to my right side. Then, with natural ease, she linked her arm through mine.
“Let’s go, Jun.”
Her ticklish voice snapped me back to reality. Everyone in the classroom stared at us in shock, disbelief, and—most of all—envy. It felt like they were looking at some sleazy boyfriend who forced his girlfriend to use pet names.
……No. That wasn’t the point.
Was this girl even in her right mind right now…?
“If you stare like that, it’s embarrassing, Jun…”
“……”
I was speechless. Stunned, I could only gape at her while the murmurs around us grew louder.
Wow. She was really doing this out in the open? They must actually be dating. How did that guy, who only sleeps in class, land a girlfriend like her? Guess a bad attitude doesn’t matter if your face is decent…
“……Let’s go.”
I spoke quietly. Staying in the classroom would only fuel more rumors. If I couldn’t clear things up properly, the least I could do was stop adding fuel to the fire.
“Yes. I’ll follow you.”
“……”
We needed somewhere quiet. A place where no one would overhear a private conversation. I knew exactly one spot like that: the art building at the very back of campus. The first-year art studio on the first floor. It was right at the foot of the mountain, so bugs were common and girls never went there. But since we were only talking, it should be fine.
I led Tachibana Hana out into the hallway. It was still lunchtime, so students from other classes were milling about.
“Huh?”
“Whoa…”
Everyone who saw her stopped in their tracks. Even in a school where most students wore casual clothes, a girl in a different school uniform with strikingly pale skin and bright pink hair was bound to draw attention. They stared, turned around, and marveled—then shot me strange looks.
No one said it out loud, but their eyes clearly asked: Who the hell is that guy with a girl like her hanging off his arm?
……I was wondering the same thing.
“Everyone’s staring…”
“If you walk around the hallway with your arm linked like that, of course they will.”
“Hehe… I guess so…?”
She was doing this on purpose. Convinced of it, I quickened my pace.
* * *
First-year art studio, first floor of the art building. The walls were thick enough to block outside noise, which was why some teachers and students felt safe enough to do questionable things inside. Not that it mattered right now.
—Thud.
I closed the door and turned to look at her. She was smiling brightly at me.
“Can you let go of my arm now…?”
“Why? Don’t you like it when I hold onto you like this, Jun?”
“And stop calling me Jun with that weird nickname.”
“Hehe. Okay.”
She released my arm. The warm, soft sensation that had been pressed against my forearm disappeared, leaving an oddly empty feeling behind.
……Relatively speaking, of course. Nothing strange about it.
“You’re speaking casually now.”
“Want me to switch back to formal speech?”
“No. Casual is fine. I prefer it too.”
“……”
She said she preferred casual speech, yet she was still using formal language herself. Well, I’d heard Japanese people used polite speech with each other a lot, so maybe it wasn’t that weird.
“Fine. Then you…”
“Hana.”
“Huh?”
“You can speak casually, but please call me Hana instead of ‘you.’ That’s my name.”
“Earlier during your introduction you said to call you Tachibana.”
“That’s only for people I’m not close with.”
“So you’re saying we’re close?”
“Relatively speaking. We met a whole day before the rest of the class, after all.”
I had no comeback for that. It wasn’t exactly wrong. I cleared my throat and corrected myself.
“Hana. Why did you come here?”
“Why did I come here?”
“What’s your reason for transferring?”
“Oh, my reason… Mm. To study dance, of course?”
“To study dance…?”
“Yes. This is the best dance school in Seoul.”
Wait. So she hadn’t transferred because of me…?
“Ah, did you think I came here because of you, Ijun-ssi?”
“……”
She read my mind?! The feeling of having my thoughts laid bare made me panic for a second, but I forced myself to shake my head.
“Don’t flatter yourself. Why would I think that?”
“Hehe. Right? Of course not.”
“……Of course not. Obviously.”
“Hmm. I see. So that’s not it.”
“What’s with that doubtful tone?”
“It’s not doubtful at all. I completely believe you~”
“Believe what? Anyone can see—”
……Wait. This wasn’t the time for banter.
I shut my mouth. I didn’t have the luxury of joking around with her right now.
“You. How did you find out?”
“Find out what?”
“How did you know I was L.J.?”
“I already told you. I saw the name Kang Ijun on the incompletely shredded movie contract.”
“Don’t lie.”
“It’s not a lie. I really did see it.”
“I went to the publishing house this morning and confirmed it. They said no such thing happened.”
“Maybe the publishing house is the one lying, not me.”
“No, they’re not lying.”
“How can you be so sure…”
“Of course I’m sure. It’s my family we’re talking about.”
“……”
The transfer student—Hana—narrowed her eyes. From the way she muttered “family…?” it seemed she hadn’t managed to dig up the fact that my relatives worked at Kimwon Publishing. Not that the information would have shown up anywhere even if she had investigated.
“So? Are you going to tell me how you found out?”
“……”
She gave no answer. She was probably planning to exercise her right to remain silent. If that was how she wanted to play it, I had my own ideas.
“Hana. You asked me to publish a book supporting the Liberal Democratic Party, didn’t you?”
“……”
“I’ll do the opposite.”
“……What?”
“I’ll do the opposite. I’ll write a book exposing how immoral political-business collusion is and why it shouldn’t happen in developed countries. Then I’ll have it translated and aggressively marketed in Japan.”
“Wh-what are you talking about? That’s ridiculous—”
“Why? Think I can’t do it? My dad is the vice president of JL Group. The vice president of a conglomerate that accounts for fifteen percent of Korea’s GDP. If I throw money at Japanese publishing companies and ask them to sell just one book, they’ll be fighting over who gets to handle it.”
Of course, doing something like that would immediately spark rumors about the relationship between L.J. and JL Group, but that wasn’t the important part. The key was that it wasn’t impossible. JL Group was a major global corporation; if I was determined, pulling off something like this would be easy.
“……!”
Hana pressed her lips together tightly. She knew my words weren’t empty threats.
“For the record, I don’t make empty promises.”
“……”
“If you still don’t believe me…”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket, ready to prove that my words wouldn’t end as mere warnings.
“Ah, I got it…!”
She grabbed my right arm.
“You’ll talk?”
“Yes. But…”
“But what?”
“It’s a little… awkward here. Do you have time after school today…?”
“You can just tell me now. Why wait until after school?”
“Someone might overhear. Just in case, let’s talk at home.”
“Home? Whose home?”
“My house.”
“……”
She wanted me to go home with her…?