Seo Nari
The next morning.
My steps on the way to school felt unusually light.
During PE yesterday, my desk partner Han Yeoreum had managed a conversation with me for the first time without bolting. Of course she'd run away in the end, but still—that counted for something.
I wonder if she'll at least take a greeting naturally today?
Maybe she'd even smile shyly and say hi.
Carrying that small hope, I opened the classroom's back door.
Creeeak.
I looked toward my seat.
And then—
"························."
My desk partner was trembling with her forehead pressed flat against the desk.
What is wrong with her.
When I got closer, I could hear her lips moving as she muttered under her breath.
"I am Inssa······. I am Inssa Han Yeoreum······. I can at least greet someone with a smile······. I can do it······."
······What is she even saying.
I scratched the back of my head and sat down.
Screech.
Flinch!
At the sound of the chair being pulled out, Han Yeoreum jerked upright. The head that had been buried in the desk snapped up, and our eyes met.
"Morning."
I offered the greeting as gently as I could, trying not to startle her.
"A-a······. H-h-hello······."
She was a broken robot. Han Yeoreum's pupils spun in useless circles, with nowhere to land. Her mouth flapped open and shut, but no sound came out.
Come on—we kind of broke the ice yesterday. Why did she reset?
And as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Han Yeoreum's head whipped toward the far side of the classroom. She was looking for Seo Nari—unfortunately, Seo Nari's seat was empty.
Looks like she hadn't arrived yet.
Realizing her escape route had vanished, Han Yeoreum shriveled into herself.
"Hey, Han Yeoreum."
Hiiiiiik!
The moment I said her name, she sucked in a sharp breath.
"If I make you uncomfortable, you don't have to force a greeting. Just act like usual."
I meant it. Watching her tremble while chanting some weird mantra made me feel like I was the criminal here.
"Th-that's not it······!"
"Huh?"
"I-I'm not uncomfortable! N-not even a little!"
With an expression that looked massively uncomfortable to anyone watching, Han Yeoreum waved both hands. Then she fumbled something out of her pocket.
A strawberry My Chew.
The hand holding it shook as it slowly crept toward my desk.
"Y-yesterday······. I'm sorry for running away······."
Her face was already bright red.
Ah. So she was trying to apologize?
Cute.
"Oh, yesterday? I don't mind at all."
"S-still······. Here, eat this······!"
Thud!
Han Yeoreum practically flung the My Chew onto my desk.
"Oh, thanks. I'll enjoy—"
Up she shot!
Clatter-dash-dash-dash!!
Before I could even finish the sentence, Han Yeoreum shoved her chair back and bolted straight out of the classroom.
"························."
What, so without Seo Nari here she just fled the room entirely.
Only the sound of the back door closing was left behind.
I picked up the strawberry My Chew on my desk. Maybe from the warmth of her hand, the wrapper was slightly warm.
"Well, I'll be."
Still, progress from yesterday. She hadn't run the second our eyes met—she'd even handed me a My Chew before fleeing.
"Maybe she'll give me two tomorrow."
I smirked and slipped the My Chew into my pocket.
Inssa Han Yeoreum's path still looked long and rough.
"Really? No way! So where'd you buy that tint?"
"Got it when Olive Young was having a sale! Want to try it? It'd look amazing on you, Nari!"
"Wow, thanks! The color is so pretty~"
Lunchtime in the classroom.
Seo Nari laughed brightly and chimed along, surrounded by her friends. A smile hung on her face the same as always—to anyone looking, she was the picture of a bright, kind Inssa who made everyone around her feel good.
But Nari's inner feelings were a little different from the outside.
······I'm tired.
Human relationships burned more energy than people realized. You had to be kind to everyone, always smile, always match other people's moods. At first it felt good to be loved by so many people, but as time passed that love became a heavy shackle tightening around her neck.
Others might envy Nari for never lacking people around her. She herself was slowly wearing out under the endless cycle of those relationships. There were times she wanted to throw off every mask and hide alone in some empty cave.
Of course, it was a secret she couldn't tell anyone.
Nari secretly let out a small sigh and turned her gaze.
"I'm going to the bathroom for a bit!"
She stood up at a good moment, gave her friends a little wave, and slipped free of the group without looking back.
As she walked toward the classroom's back door, Nari's eyes naturally drifted to the window-side front seat—the seat of her best friend, Han Yeoreum.
The two of them had been close since middle school. Nari wasn't sure how other people saw Yeoreum, but she knew her personality better than anyone: her shyness was universe-class extreme, and inside she was a timid girl who lived with constant regret and self-reproach. For Nari, exhausted by relationships, Yeoreum was a friend like a unique sanctuary—someone she didn't need to force a smile for, someone with whom even silence felt comfortable.
That seat of Yeoreum's was empty.
Did Yeoreum say she was going to the bathroom too?
And then the seat next to it caught her eye.
Ryu Taekyeong.
Nari propped her chin and quietly watched him as he casually gazed out the window.
That guy is kind of interesting.
This morning, Nari had witnessed an unbelievable scene: Yeoreum placing a My Chew on Taekyeong's desk first and then bolting out.
Yeoreum approached a boy first? And while giving him food?
As the one who'd stuck by her side all this time, it was enough to make her jump out of her skin. Their Yeoreum? That iron wall of a girl who, since middle school, had brushed off countless confessions from boys with a single stroke—well, she'd been so flustered she ran away, but still. What power did that guy have that made Yeoreum find the courage?
At the same time, a strange protective instinct as a best friend rose up.
The Ryu Taekyeong reflected in Nari's eyes was, to put it a little unkindly, far from the show-off type. He didn't put on airs, and he didn't overdo it trying to catch girls' attention. He just quietly stayed in his own domain.
Nari's eyes narrowed. Curiosity stirred. With Yeoreum gone and him alone right now—and with her craving a breath of different air free from exhausting human relationships—
Thump, thump.
Nari changed direction and walked over to Taekyeong's seat.
"Hey."
Taekyeong, looking out the window, turned his head.
"Hmm? What's up?"
"Nothing much. Just, our Yeoreum seems to be putting you through a lot."
Nari naturally sat in the seat in front of him and propped her chin on her hands.
"Our Yeoreum is super shy, right? Sorry if she made you uncomfortable."
"Uncomfortable's not quite it—more like I feel like I've become a carrier for some infectious disease."
"Pfft."
At the unexpectedly honest answer, Nari couldn't help bursting into laughter.
"Infectious disease carrier. Isn't that metaphor a little too perfect?"
"It's the truth. She runs to you, Seo Nari, just from me breathing. Honestly I feel like someone who got caught trying to do something bad."
Taekyeong shrugged and added, "Still, this morning she gave me a My Chew and ran, so I'm consoling myself that I at least got treated like a human being."
"Ah, that! I saw it too. Yeoreum giving a snack to a boy—as far as I know, this is the first time."
"Really?"
"Yeah. So you can take it as an honor? I'll vouch for that as Yeoreum's friend!"
Nari smiled playfully.
As she talked with Taekyeong, she suddenly felt the tension leave her shoulders. She didn't need to force her energy up, didn't need to package herself as pretty or nice. Taekyeong's reactions were so dry and plain that Nari could also slightly shed her usual pretentious shell.
Ah······. Talking with this guy is pretty comfortable.
It hit her clearly from just a few exchanges.
"You look standoffish on the outside, but you're surprisingly nice, huh?"
When Nari asked as if probing a little, Taekyeong made a disgusted face.
"Someone might get the wrong idea hearing that. I just hate troublesome things."
"Does 'troublesome things' include our Yeoreum?"
At Nari's question, Taekyeong paused for a moment. Then he soon smirked.
"Well. It feels like taming a stray cat, so it's been pretty thrilling in its own way."
Taming a stray cat.
At that choice of words, Nari laughed out loud again. That was right. Yeoreum was exactly like a highly wary stray cat.
Just as the two of them were naturally smiling and chatting—
"Nari······?"
From the front door of the classroom, Yeoreum stood with a stiff expression after returning from the bathroom. She looked back and forth between Seo Nari and Ryu Taekyeong. Seeing the two of them smiling so amicably, Yeoreum's pupils began to tremble.
"Oh? Yeoreum, you're back?"
Nari waved brightly.
But Yeoreum's lips quivered, and she took a step back.
"I-I······. The snack bar!"
Clatter-dash-dash-dash!!
In the end Yeoreum sprinted out of the classroom at full speed again.
"························."
"························."
A brief silence settled between the remaining Taekyeong and Nari.
Then Taekyeong muttered, pressing his forehead in resignation.
"······See? I really am an infectious disease carrier."
Nari had to clutch her stomach and stifle her giggles.
