Taming Han Yeoreum

Inside the classroom.

After Han Yeoreum shouted "Snack bar!" and vanished like a gust of wind, Seo Nari finally managed to stop laughing, clutching her stomach as she snickered.

"Oh no, what do we do? Our Yeoreum totally misunderstood."

"Misunderstood? Misunderstood what?"

"I think she figured she was the one who interrupted our conversation."

Nari leaned her upper body toward me as she spoke.

"Hey, Taekyeong. Could you go smooth things over for me? Pretty please."

Whoa, the popular kids just go straight for first names, huh?

Anyway.

"Me?"

"Yeah. I'm her best friend so it's fine, but you're not. Leave it like this and even the My Chew goodwill she worked so hard to hand over this morning is gonna reset to zero."

She had a point.

I couldn't let the huge progress from this morning—when she'd trembled and handed me that My Chew—get wiped out right here. If it reset, she'd go right back to bolting for Seo Nari the second our eyes met, and I really didn't want to deal with that hassle all over again.

"Fair enough. Guess I've got no choice."

I stood up with a sigh.

"Snack bar, right?"

"Yep! Take care of our Yeoreum~!"

I scratched the back of my head and headed for the snack bar.

At the same moment, in a corner seat under the parasols out front of the snack bar.

Han Yeoreum was staring blankly down at a single bread roll sitting alone on the table.

The packaging read:

The legendary monstrosity of a snack that had been shoved into the far corner of the snack bar, gathering dust because nobody ever bought it.

She'd needed an excuse to run, so ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠she'd bolted for the snack bar on pure instinct—only to realize she had nothing she actually wanted, and ended up grabbing whatever was in front of her.

How am I supposed to eat this…

Yeoreum gripped the packaging where mint green and fiery red swirled together in a grotesque mix, berating herself in her head.

I know Nari's always been super friendly so she gets along with anyone right away, but…

The scene from the classroom earlier wouldn't leave her mind.

The way Taekyeong had been smiling so brightly ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at Nari.

So Ryu Taekyeong can smile that freely around Nari, huh.

It was nothing like her.

She'd trembled like a broken robot just handing over a single My Chew that morning.

From Taekyeong's perspective, talking with someone as easygoing and nice as Nari had to be a hundred—no, a thousand—times more fun.

They were having a good conversation, and I just dumped cold water all over it…

The confidence of "Inssa Han Yeoreum" she'd felt that morning had long since evaporated.

Guilt over interrupting them, mixed with a strange, unnameable sense of being left out, pricked at a corner of her chest.

Ugh, why am I such an idiot? I just want to dig a hole and crawl into it…

Maybe it'd be better to just eat this mint choco buldak cream bread, get food poisoning, and go home early.

Yeoreum had crouched down and was about to bury her face in her knees when—

Under the parasols by the snack bar.

Way off in a corner seat, I spotted a familiar back of a head, shoulders hunched as high as they could go.

Han Yeoreum.

I quieted my footsteps and approached slowly.

Even so, the "mint choco buldak cream bread" sitting on the table caught my eye.

…Why would anyone pay money for that thing?

No—that wasn't important right now.

I slid the chair opposite her out and sat down.

She flinched hard.

She was about to shove the chair back and bolt.

"Hold it. Stop."

I quickly raised a hand to halt her.

"I think you misunderstood something earlier, so I came to set the record straight."

At my words, Yeoreum froze in an awkward half-standing pose.

Her pupils were doing the poppin' dance, but at least she wasn't running.

I kept a comfortable distance so I wouldn't spook her and settled into the chair across from her.

"M-misunderstand…?"

"Yeah. I barely talked to Seo Nari about anything. She just asked me to look out for you 'cause you've got a bad case of stranger anxiety."

Yeoreum's eyes went round.

"O-oh… so that was it… I thought I'd interrupted…"

"What interruption? We were just talking. Seo Nari actually shoved me out here saying she'd made you misunderstand and I had to go fix it."

"Nari did…?"

"Yep. Oh, and we weren't talking trash about you or anything, so don't worry."

Or were we? Nah, whatever.

I pointed at the horrifying hybrid bread on the table.

"But are you actually gonna eat that?"

"N-no! I just bought it 'cause I wanted the sticker inside!"

Only then did Yeoreum realize what she was holding. Her face flushed red as she quietly hid the bread behind her back.

Whew.

Watching her, I could see the tension finally drain out of her.

The stiffness left ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her shoulders, and her tight lips softened.

Whew.

Cleanup duty was more or less done, so I figured it was about time to stand up—

Fidget, fidget.

Yeoreum ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wriggled her hands under the table, then lifted her head like she'd made a decision.

"U-um…!"

"Hm?"

"E-earlier you said if I felt uncomfortable I didn't have to force myself to say hi…"

Ah, the thing I'd told her that morning.

Yeoreum bit her lip hard, then this time looked me straight in the eyes.

Her voice was tiny and trembling like it wanted to crawl into the ground, but there was a strange kind of courage in it.

"I-I'll say it again, but you… don't make me uncomfortable at all…!"

"…"

"Y-you picked up my eraser, and you blocked for me during P.E.… and you even came all the way here so I wouldn't misunderstand…"

Yeoreum's face burned so red it looked ready to explode.

"I… think of you as someone I'm… grateful for…"

Whoa.

I hadn't seen that coming.

The girl who used to run the second our eyes met was now blushing hard enough to say something this sincere.

It felt like a stray cat rubbing its face against my palm for the first time.

This was pretty—no, insanely—satisfying.

I found myself grinning without meaning to.

"Oh, right."

I dug around in my pocket and pulled out the strawberry My Chew Yeoreum had basically tossed onto my desk that morning.

Crinkle.

I peeled the wrapper and popped it into my mouth.

Mm, tasty.

"Glad to hear it. I'll enjoy this."

At my words, Han Yeoreum's eyes curved into pretty little crescents.

Yeah, the vibe was great now.

Any leftover awkwardness with my new desk partner was completely smashed—

"Hey, Taekyeong!!!"

Of course life never goes the way you want it to.

The uninvited guest, Jinhyeok, came walking out of the snack bar sucking on a chocolate milk and spotted me with a cheerful shout.

"I thought you said you weren't coming to the snack bar, so what—huh?"

Jinhyeok noticed Yeoreum sitting across from me a beat late.

And his pupils had an earthquake.

"Uh… um… sorry?"

Jinhyeok sensed the danger and took a step back, but it was already too late.

The relief that had loosened Yeoreum's face vanished in an instant, replaced by pure terror.

"I-I-I-I…"

No. Hold it in.

The atmosphere was amazing just a second ago!

She shot to her feet.

"Nariiiiiiiiii!!!"

Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!!!!

In the end Han Yeoreum couldn't hold on. Still clutching the mint choco buldak cream bread, she fled back toward the classroom.

"…"

"…"

Left alone under the parasol with Jinhyeok.

I watched Han Yeoreum disappear into the distance, then slowly turned my head to look at him.

Jinhyeok took another step back.

"S-sorry! I really didn't know she was there! The vibe was good and I wrecked it, didn't I?!"

"Jinhyeok."

"Y-yeah?"

I rose slowly from my seat.

"Take one hit."

"No, I said I'm sorry!! And if you hit me you'll actually break a bone!!!"

Jinhyeok flung his half-finished chocolate milk and started running toward the field.

I chased after him.

Sigh.

The road of Inssa Han Yeoreum was truly long and rough.

Ding-dong-dang-dong.

Before we knew it, regular classes were over and homeroom time had arrived.

Rattle.

The front door opened and our class's homeroom teacher walked in.

Name: Kim Dongju. Subject: Social Studies.

Standing at the podium in a tracksuit with a bird's nest on his head, he looked exactly like some neighborhood unemployed uncle.

And he acted exactly like he looked.

"Alright, quiet. Quiet. Let's wrap up homeroom quick so we can go home."

Dongju-saem casually slapped the attendance book as he spoke.

"Nothing big—just need to assign cleaning duty starting today."

A collective "Ugh" of despair rose from the class.

Dongju-saem scratched the back of his head like it was a pain and swept his gaze around the room.

Then his eyes met mine in the front window seat.

"Huh? Oh, Taekyeong, you're in this class too? Since when?"

"Since the first day of the new semester?"

Unbelievable.

"Ah, that right? Heh, I've been out of it lately. Well, perfect."

Dongju-saem clapped his hands once.

"Assigning duty's a hassle so we'll just go by seating order. Front window row. You two are this week's duty. Got it? Homeroom's over! Clean up nice, yeah~"

Rattle. Bang.

Dongju-saem dumped out only what he needed to say like a storm and coolly left the classroom.

"Hell yeah, that's Dongju-saem for you!"

"Yes! PC bang, let's go!"

"Dude, hurry up!"

The class cheered and emptied out of the room in seconds.

"Yeoreum!"

Just then, Seo Nari came up to the front seats.

"I've got my first soccer team manager meeting today so I think I need to head out first. I wanted to help with cleaning, sorry."

"N-no! You go first, Nari. I can handle it by myself!"

Yeoreum clenched both fists and answered bravely.

Nari gave Yeoreum's head a light pat, then whipped around to face me.

"Taekyeong, take care of our Yeoreum."

She poked me in the side as she said it.

"You carry all the heavy stuff, okay?"

Look at that social energy.

"Got it. Don't worry and go."

"Mmkay, Yeoreum, see you tomorrow~!"

Pitter-patter.

Once Seo Nari left too, the once-noisy classroom fell dead silent.

Just me and Han Yeoreum left.

"…"

"…"

Yep. Super awkward.