Entering University
Entering University
"Sorry. I have a girlfriend."
"Ah, I see. That's a shame."
The woman who had asked for my number ran away quickly.
Maybe it was because she was wearing a black suit and an employee ID around her neck, but she was a young woman who gave off a mature vibe.
Seven.
From the moment I left home, got on the bus, and arrived at the school's main gate,
that was the number of women who had asked for my number, claiming I was their type.
And they were so pretty, it went without saying.
Some were wearing sunglasses and masks,
and there was even someone with such an unusual presence that I wondered if she might be a celebrity.
Well, they were no match for A-ra though?
Was I just seeing her through love-tinted glasses?
Anyway, did the women in this world all collectively develop the same taste or something?
They were leaving guys better-looking than me alone and trying to get my number instead.
Even the one sitting right in front of me at that moment
looked good enough to be a model right away.
I just couldn't understand it.
No way, could this be some sort of trick to confess and then scold me?
Was I not hunted, but bombarded?
"Sigh... It's not like I can tattoo 'married' on my forehead..."
I already had a wedding ring on my left ring finger as proof that I was taken,
but were they approaching me without seeing it? Or did they know and approach me anyway?
Even after getting off at the bus stop right in front of the school, I let out a long sigh.
"Shall I go in now?"
It wasn't my first time since I'd come here once for the entrance ceremony,
but I couldn't help being nervous.
The huge school gate must have weighed heavily on the hearts of freshmen like me for a long time.
There was something about university that high school didn't have.
Should I say it was the difference between the mentality of an immature kid and a respectable member of society?
I slapped both my cheeks, pulled myself together, and went inside.
***
"Anyway, the campus is way too big."
I knew what the concept of a campus was,
but I couldn't help but notice how big it was.
How big must it be for city buses to be driving around inside?
Having to move around from class to class looked pretty tough too.
"Was that why? There are a lot of people driving cars."
Was it because the campus was big and people drove to cut down travel time?
Or were there a lot of people driving because it was convenient for commuting?
Only they would know, but I thought it would be a fun topic to debate in my head.
Some students drove small passenger cars, while others drove around in expensive foreign cars.
You could say it was the first gateway where the true worth of someone born with a silver spoon was revealed.
Thinking those thoughts, I entered the department building.
"Let's see... Room 1205... It's here."
I quietly and carefully opened the back door and went inside.
Since it was still a series of cold days, the air conditioner heater was blowing out hot air, and my classmates sitting around chatting caught my eye at once.
Ah... it's warm.
Suddenly, the lecture room fell silent, and then all eyes, men and women alike, focused on me.
I had seen this before, so I wasn't too flustered,
but for some reason, their gazes were a little scary.
"E...Excuse me.."
Should I say it was the look of a predator hunting its prey, the kind you see in animal documentaries?
So I ended up apologizing without realizing it.
Even though I hadn't done anything wrong.
I went to an empty seat in the very back, put my bag on the desk,
and plopped down.
Integrated desk-chairs.
What kind of person made this kind of thing?
Just imagining it made me angry.
I took my earphones out of my pocket, plugged them into my phone,
and played some music.
I felt my anger at the integrated desk starting to subside.
Only then did the gazes focused on me disappear,
and they started chattering with each other again.
Here and there, people were whispering in hushed tones.
Maybe the heater was too hot, as my face was a little flushed.
At that moment, someone greeted me.
Startled, thinking I'd made some mistake, I turned my head and saw a man who looked quite gentle standing there.
"Hello?"
With his slightly brownish black hair and broad, squared shoulders, he looked like the type who would be popular with women.
He had the kind of build that could be called a "boy crush" in this reversed world.
I returned his greeting from my seat.
"Hello."
"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh... I'm twenty this year."
I wasn't twenty yet in international age, but my Korean age was twenty.
A full grown adult.
The person who had asked my age made a noticeably happy expression.
"Really? You're the same age as me. I thought you might have been an actor or a model."
"Ahaha... Thank you. You're handsome enough to be an idol yourself."
"Hahaha, I hear that a lot."
This bastard?
But then, this type of person who shows off like that was usually popular without being hated.
He was definitely going to make a lot of women cry.
After saying that, he sat next to me, put down the backpack he was carrying, unzipped it,
and put his coat inside.
Well, it was too warm to be wearing a coat.
"I'm Kang Jeong-hwan. Nice to meet you."
"Ah, I'm Yoo Seong-hwan."
Since he introduced himself as Kang Jeong-hwan and offered a handshake, I extended my hand as well.
Approaching me first like that, he was a really nice person, wasn't he?
For an introvert like me who couldn't approach others first, someone who approached me first
was nothing short of a beacon of light.
Just as we finished shaking hands, another tall and handsome man walked over.
He was the image of the ideal handsome man in my mind.
Though he fell a bit short compared to idols or celebrities.
Anyway, this was the man I'd seen sitting in front of me on the bus earlier.
He suddenly snorted, pointed his finger at Jeong-hwan, and called out to him familiarly.
"His nickname is Dakgangjeong."
"Hey, shut up! Mind your manners around someone you've just met!"
After teasing him with his nickname, he sat alone in the seat in front of us.
He organized his clothes and bag, then turned around to face us.
"I'm Lee Min-ho. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
This time, I offered my hand first for a handshake.
I realized firsthand that my interpersonal skills were growing.
To do something I'd never have done normally...
It was all thanks to A-ra.
So he also cheerfully extended his hand and accepted it.
"Did you two know each other from before?"
"We've been classmates since elementary school. It's a rotten, deeply rotten ill-fated relationship."
Jeong-hwan glared at Lee Min-ho, grinding his teeth like a tiger.
They didn't seem to be on bad terms though.
Normally, this kind of relationship developed between people who had been close for a long time.
I was envious.
I didn't have a single friend like that...
"I'm envious. I don't have any friends like that."
"E...Envious?! You don't know how annoying this bastard... I mean, this guy is..."
"This guy acts all annoyed when you call him, but he always comes out in the end."
"Ah~ the technical term for that is 'tsundere,' right?"
"Aaaagh! Give me back my first impression of college, give it back, Lee Min-ho!"
Jeong-hwan put Lee Min-ho in a headlock and showered him with knuckle punches.
It was so funny that the people around them turned to look and chuckled.
Even in a gender-reversed world, there was always a mood maker.
Somehow, the atmosphere of people chatting amongst themselves had turned into one of everyone chatting together.
***
And as soon as the clock struck exactly 11, the front door slid open.
An older-looking professor entered.
He was wearing a suit and gave off a vibe of elderly elegance.
"Heh heh, the atmosphere in this lecture room is really nice."
He then went to the board at the front of the room and wrote
his name and a phone number.
"I am Professor Woo Myeong-sik, and I will be conducting the 'Introduction to Social Welfare' class with you this semester. I look forward to working with you."
""""We look forward to working with you, Professor!""""
"Hahaha, the class of 2017 has such good manners."
Afterwards, the professor conducted a brief orientation session.
He handed out the syllabus and gave a simple explanation.
It covered things like the grading method and ratio, as well as the textbooks to be used in the lectures.
"The professor is the author of the textbook?"
"That happens surprisingly often. Isn't it for building up their portfolio or something?"
Jeong-hwan chuckled.
Well, since it was his own major, using his own published book would be better,
but there was also a subtle blatantness that made me feel a bit off.
Because in the end, it felt like they were just doing business with the undergraduates.
Did he notice the atmosphere?
The professor added one more thing.
"Haha, for your information, if you look at the very last page, all the profits are donated to a welfare foundation."
Ah, was that it?
If that was the case, it made perfect sense.
In fact, it was a moment where my evaluation of the professor skyrocketed in my mind.
He might be a professor, but he was still a social worker at heart.
After finishing his additional explanations, he gathered his attendance sheet and textbook.
His posture was quite similar to when he'd entered the lecture room.
"Today is the first day, and since we did the orientation, we will finish here. Enjoy your lunch."
I had heard that the first day ended early,
but ending a two-hour consecutive lecture in 30 minutes...
Long live the professor.
Would the next class end this quickly too?
Then I should ask A-ra to pick me up.
Anyway, even if I took my time eating, and even had a coffee, I'd still have about an hour left.
I'd heard that a one-hour break between classes was no different from a consecutive class,
but it didn't seem that way.
Then, should I go to the convenience store to at least fill my stomach?
Because if I went to the cafeteria, I'd feel awkward and embarrassed eating alone for no reason.
I pushed my chair back and stood up.
Since the next lecture was in the same room, there was no need to move.
And with so many CCTVs around, no one would steal my bag or anything.
When I stood up, Jeong-hwan and Lee Min-ho also got up from their chairs with a scraping sound.
It looked like they were heading out too.
"Seong-hwan, would you like to go eat at the cafeteria with us?"
Ah... what a kind person.
To suggest eating together with someone he'd just met today.
The image of me eating alone in a corner, or being careful not to chew pickled radish in the bathroom,
had only been floating around in my head until last night...
It seemed like that wouldn't be necessary after all.
"Re...Really? For me, it's great that I don't have to eat alone. But anyway..."
"Yes? Is something wrong?"
Jeong-hwan seemed to be wondering if he'd made a mistake,
as he closed his eyes and tried to retrace his steps.
What misunderstanding was he having?
Even though he was a guy, he had a subtly cute side.
"That's not it. How about we drop the formal speech? We're the same age, after all."
"Ah! So that's what it was! I was so surprised for a moment, thinking I had done something wrong."
"We're fine with it too. Let's be friends."
Did they react that way because they were happy that I suggested dropping the formal speech first?
Using polite speech among same-age, same-gender peers was a little awkward, wasn't it?
It seemed like I had made a good call after all.
"Then let's go eat. But aren't there two or three cafeterias?"
"I've heard that the one near the Hotel Culinary Arts department is supposed to be good?"
"It's not like undergraduates or professors are cooking there, so is there any particular reason it'd be delicious?"
For the first time, I was beaming with a wide smile because I had made some people I could call friends.
I walked around with a bright smile.
Thinking about my high school homeroom teacher who used to say that friends you make after high school weren't real friends,
I almost let out a hollow laugh.
***
"Seong-hwan. Have you checked Everytime?"
"Everytime? Everytime?"
It was a university-specific community app
that all college students knew about.
It wasn't that all schools were gathered in one place,
but rather each school had its own community. To join, you had to verify
that you were a student of that school using your student ID.
"There was a post targeting you there?"
What.
I hadn't done anything to deserve a 'goroshi' yet,
so what did he mean?
The semester had only started a day ago.
"Take a look at this. This is obviously you, isn't it?"
I took the phone from Lee Min-ho and scrolled down from top to bottom.
[Who's the guy in the grey sweatshirt in the Social Welfare Department? Is he a celebrity?]
[Does anyone know the guy in the grey sweatshirt who went up to the main building today? I want to be friends with him]
[Buying the number of the guy in the grey sweatshirt. Offering upfront.]
It was full of posts about the freshman in the grey sweatshirt and black pants, along with various trolls.
It just so happened that by sheer 'coincidence', I was the freshman wearing a grey sweatshirt and black pants,
so I realized at once that the person being mentioned in this community was me.
"He had his number taken several times," "His smiling face is like an angel," and even the guys were going crazy asking where to buy that sweatshirt."
"......."
"Well... cheer up. Isn't it the destiny of a pretty boy?"
Jeong-hwan and Lee Min-ho patted my shoulders, pretending to comfort me as I trembled sincerely with my whole body,
but they just felt spiteful to me.
Three of us had been walking around together, so why was I the only one getting stuffed and mounted?
I dropped my head, feeling wronged.