We're Just Close Friends
...So it wasn't anything special after all.
I'd assumed she set it up because she wanted to eat with just the two of us. Turns out he was only dropping out for back-to-back classes.
Well, whatever. It still means I'm eating alone with her...
Anyway. Hell yeah.
"...Hm."
She'd only asked what food I liked, and I'd only answered. If Jung Horang ever saw this DM, he'd be on me in a second. Hey. You're eating alone with a girl, and you picked gukbap?
Yeah... gukbap might be a little much.
I typed it out—But since it's with you, something besides gukbap is fine too——and was just about to hit send.
"...Huh?"
What came back was that she liked gukbap too.
"Uh..."
Yeah. I was pretty sure I'd just fucked up.
"...Hm?"
I turned around. The clock really was pointing at eleven.
"All right~ Good morning. Some faces I know, some I don't?"
Right on cue, the voice of a professor who looked like a raccoon.
"This week is still the add-drop period, but for the students who aren't used to Japanese literature, I've brought quite an interesting novel..."
Ah.
Fuck.
He was actually teaching?
"Now, everyone look at the screen. This novel is A Certain Woman, by the author Arishima Takeo. Set against the backdrop of 1919, and in complete opposition to that era, the work follows a woman faithful to her instincts as she falls into ruin..."
...Ugh. Sleepy.
Putting someone to sleep with a handful of words was a talent all its own. No different from Pukimonsta Foreign.
"God, who holds class until 12:40..."
"Ha. I seriously fucking hate this."
"...?"
Whispering behind me dragged me out of sleep.
"All right, everyone. We'll stop here for today. Enjoy your meals, and those of you with back-to-back classes... well, suffer just a little longer."
"Ugh..."
Somehow I'd woken up right as it ended.
"...Huh."
I opened my phone. There were several messages.
I didn't bother mentioning I'd been asleep.
"...Wait."
Mid-text, something felt off.
But her message came in at 11:20... so she's been waiting over an hour?
For some reason, I felt bad. When I stepped outside, there was Yu Siyoung, looking my way and waving.
"Senior! Over here, over here!"
"...Y-yeah."
She really was pretty, though. And those tits were huge.... This was not the time for that.
"Sorry I'm late."
"No! It's fi... well, I can't really say it's fine. You were pretty late."
"Since I feel bad, lunch is on me."
"Oh! I like that!"
"But how long did you wait? Don't tell me you've been out here the whole time since you sent that message."
"..."
Yu Siyoung kept her mouth shut for a moment, then spoke.
"No! I just had some coffee and rested at the café up front, then came out when I saw your message."
"Yeah? That's a relief."
"Yep!"
"Anyway, where do you want to go?"
"Um... didn't you say we should go to a gukbap place?"
"I did, but there's more than one. Which do you want?"
Out the back gate of Seonggyo University, where I went to school, there were two gukbap places in total. One was Delicious Sagol Gukbap, opened two years ago. The other was Traditional Gamasot Gukbap, fifty years of tradition to its name.
"Huh? Um... Delicious Sagol Gukbap?"
"...Sure."
"Pfft! I'm kidding, Senior! Gamasot, let's go to Gamasot!"
"You know your stuff."
The older a gukbap joint, the better it tastes. An obvious truth. We followed the road up, and a sign came into view so faded it had gone nearly white.
"Oh, Hyeok, you're here? Sit down, quick."
"Yes, Auntie."
"What's this? You brought a pretty girl with you?"
"Hello, Auntie~!"
"Well, well. Our Hyeok's girlfriend, is she?"
What the hell is this old lady saying.
"Aww, no, Auntie~"
"Ah, not yet, then? All right~"
"...What do you want?"
"Um... I'll have the assorted!"
Yeah. Gukbap's gotta be the assorted.
"Auntie, two assorted, please~"
"You got it~"
Not long after we ordered, two steaming bowls came out.
"I gave you a little extra today. You need meat if you want the stamina. Hehe."
This crazy old woman had finally run out of material and moved on to sexual harassment.
...Maybe I just won't come back. Too good for that, though. This place.
"..."
Still, looking at Siyoung's face, she didn't seem particularly bothered.
"Since you're treating, I'll eat well~"
"Yeah, yeah."
"Okay! Mm... whoa! This is so good!"
"Right?"
"Yes! We'll have to come again. I always just followed everyone else to Delicious Sagol Gukbap..."
"That place isn't a gukbap restaurant. It's something pretending to be gukbap."
"Pfft! Senior, the way you talk is so funny."
"...Is it?"
I didn't think I'd said anything funny. It was strange, the way she cracked up at every single thing out of my mouth.
Must be because she's popular. Even the reactions are on another level...
"By the way, you okay with the smell here? A lot of girls hate it."
"Huh? No? A gukbap place should smell if it's going to taste good. And this gukbap is really delicious, you know?"
"..."
If I could be typing in a chat right now, isn't this exactly what I'd send?
"Huh? The hell. You're here too."
At that moment, a familiar face walked into the shop. Jung Horang.
"Yeah. Didn't you say you were eating right after class?"
"That was the plan... The professor called me in, so I did some work and then came."
"...Oh. Now that I think about it, you got on the Slave Tree, didn't you?"
"Slave? Don't put it like— wait a second."
Jung Horang's gaze shifted to Yu Siyoung, sitting across from me.
"Ah, hello! I'm Yu Siyoung, Class of '24, Japanese Language Education!"
"Oh. Hey."
Horang finished the brief greeting, then looked at me again with a sly little expression.
"Auntie! One assorted for me too!"
"You got it~"
He sat far off, as if doing his best not to get in my way. My phone buzzed along with it.
Figured this was coming.
I left it at a good enough answer and set the phone down.
"..."
Yu Siyoung had finished eating and was just sitting there, staring at me.
"What are you doing?"
"Uh... yes?"
"Get on your phone too. These days it's boring if you're not looking at your phone. I take a while to eat."
"Um... I like talking with you more, Senior!"
"Yeah? Suit yourself, then."
Weird. So the popular ones really would rather talk than scroll the web.
"Anyway, isn't there anything you're curious about me, Senior?"
"Curious about?"
"Yes! Anything's fine."
Hmm. Something I'm curious about.
"Now that I think about it, there is one thing."
"Really? What is it?"
"Are you dating that guy? Hyeonsu?"
"..."
At my question, Yu Siyoung's expression darkened just a little. Only for a moment.
"No? We're not dating!"
Just the answer I'd expected.
"Right?"
I'd asked on the off chance, and sure enough. That fucker Angel had been lying. They say a proper lie mixes truth with falsehood—this was exactly that.
"Who said that? That he and I are dating?"
"Uh..."
If I said Angel told me, I'd obviously get treated like I was schizophrenic.
"No, just... you two looked close."
"Ohh~"
"You're not, right? The two of you dating."
When I asked again, Yu Siyoung answered with a smile.
"Yeah?"
"Yes!"
Should I say it, or let it go.
"But he didn't seem to think so."
"...What?"
"When I said hi to you today, he was staring at me like he wanted to kill me. Doesn't he like you?"
"..."