Didn't You Say You Were Just Friends? (1)
"I hate having free periods between classes like this... I'm so bored..."
I was slumped over in the department lounge, completely deflated. It was that awkward stretch between morning and lunch lectures, so the place was deserted. Unless someone had a gap in their schedule like I did, hardly anyone came here. The lounge's location was probably to blame. Sure, there was an elevator, but being on the fourth floor made going up and down a total hassle. That's why most students hit the first-floor café way more often than this room.
I'd been scrolling through YouTube Shorts until I got sick of it, then checked the comments on the video we'd uploaded yesterday. When that lost its appeal too, I started spamming Taeo with texts.
I kept firing off whiny messages at Taeo. It was just another normal day between us—me one-sidedly terrorizing him with texts while he patiently put up with it. The truth was I wanted to stay in touch all the time, but for some reason he never replied much during class. Maybe that's why his grades were so good. Total model student. I mean, the only reason he'd even gotten into the same university as me was because he'd matched his scores to mine. Enough said.
"Still, it's a relief I have Understanding Popular Film with Taeo. If I didn't..."
I would've been stuck enduring this horribly boring stretch of time all by myself. None of the girls I knew had classes that overlapped with this period, so I was truly alone. For someone like me, who might actually die from loneliness, it was the absolute worst. At least having the same class as Taeo meant I could meet up with him beforehand and hang out until it started. That made it bearable.
I was in the middle of another KakaoTalk assault on Taeo when the lounge door opened. Someone was coming to the lounge at this hour? Curious, I glanced over at the newcomer.
Milk-brown dyed hair that had taken the color beautifully. A rather pretty, feminine face. It was Ye-ji, one of the classmates I was pretty close with. We'd sat next to each other during MT and hit it off right away. With her cute face and nice personality, she was popular with the guys in our department too, but even I had no idea why she was showing up here today.
"What the—? Ye-ji? Why are you at the lounge today? Don't you start in the afternoon?"
"Oh, hey. Chae-ryeong? I had a makeup class today. Ugh, our Media Theory professor is so weird. Why schedule a makeup session at this time? Of all times."
"Ah~ I see."
When I responded, Ye-ji naturally turned the same question back on me.
"Yeah, yeah. What about you? You always here at this time, Chae-ryeong?"
"Yep. I've got a gap between lectures, so I wait for Taeo here every day."
"Oh... really...?"
The moment Taeo's name came up, Ye-ji's expression subtly darkened. I wondered if I'd said something wrong and looked at her with puzzled eyes.
"Mind if I sit next to you?"
"Sure."
She set her laptop bag on the table and came over to the seat beside me. Then, unlike her greeting earlier, she asked me carefully.
"Chae-ryeong."
"Yeah? What's up? Why the serious vibe? You have something to tell me?"
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course. Go ahead, Ye-ji. Ask me anything."
She seemed a little different from her usual bright self, so I was honestly a bit thrown. To get along with me she usually had to be the bouncy type, so this kind of heavy atmosphere didn't come easily between us.
She took out her phone, tapped the screen a few times with her manicured nails, then pulled up a YouTube channel and showed it to me.
The channel name had my name plastered across it in huge letters. It was our channel that had already surpassed twenty thousand subscribers with only two videos. The second it appeared on screen I felt a rush of dopamine—though not exactly in a good way. More like, Oh no, the department kids have already found it.
"This is you, right? With Yoon Taeo?"
"Ah... yeah..."
I hesitated for a second, wondering how to respond. But denying it wouldn't do any good. Our faces were right there in the open, and we'd decided to use them to boost the views anyway. There was no point in pretending otherwise.
"......This is a couple vlog. So are you and Yoon Taeo dating?"
Her voice was the coldest I'd heard from her yet. Almost scary. The heavy energy rolling off her made me shrink back a little as I hesitated over how to answer.
It was obviously acting. We weren't actually dating, even though we were filming a couple vlog. But could I really tell her that? I didn't think Ye-ji was a bad person, but if she found out we were doing this as a concept...
What would happen to our YouTube channel that had just started gaining momentum? I couldn't shake the bad feeling that crept over me.
But on the other hand, brazenly claiming we were dating felt impossible after the memory that had just flashed through my head at the sound of her voice.
......Ye-ji. This girl... I was pretty sure she liked Taeo.
I definitely remembered that. Even during MT, once she found out how close Taeo and I were, she'd kept asking me little things about him. And especially—
"Didn't you tell me at the beginning of the semester that you and Yoon Taeo were just friends?"
...Right. That's right. I remembered her fishing for information about whether we were dating. That was when I'd thought, Wait, does this girl like Taeo? And of course my answer back then had been the obvious one.
"Huh? No way. Him? We're just friends. Friends."
It had been such a small conversation that I'd forgotten, but yes, that's what I'd said. I hadn't seen Ye-ji much since then so it had completely slipped my mind, but now I realized I'd made a pretty big mistake.
"You definitely said he was an old friend, just a guy friend... right?"
Guys might not get it, but there's an unspoken rule among girls. If you're close or going to see each other for a long time, you don't go after the same person. So when a girl likes someone, once she gets a bit close to her friends, even if she doesn't say it outright, she'll subtly show that she's into him. Like marking her territory so the others know not to go after him. It wasn't exactly aggressive, but the intention was pretty much the same.
"Ah... um... it's like this, Ye-ji..."
I really didn't want things to get awkward with her over this. We didn't hang out super often, but we got along really well. But back then I had no idea I'd end up doing YouTube...! Even if I had known, I never would've imagined we'd be filming a couple vlog like this. Back then I was just a viewer who watched them nonstop.
Of course, since Taeo and I were still just friends, I hadn't actually betrayed her... but from her perspective, it probably felt like I'd deceived and backstabbed her. I'd put up a smoke screen saying we were just friends, then swooped in and took the girlfriend spot.
"I trusted what you said completely and haven't even confessed to him yet... If I'd known someone like you was my competition, I would've done something before you made the first move..."
Her hurt expression was obvious. The fact that she was saying this much meant Ye-ji was actually a nice person. If it had been a girl with a stronger personality, this probably wouldn't have ended here.
Should I apologize? Or tell her it was a misunderstanding? No, even if I called it a misunderstanding, it seemed unlikely she'd believe me...
My head was spinning with complicated thoughts when the lounge door opened again.
"Yoo Chae-ryeong~! Let's go eat~! Ugh, the professor's childhood stories were seriously the least funny thing ever."
The person who burst through the door was none other than Yoon Taeo. Speak of the tiger and he appears—the very person at the center of this mess had shown up. As the door opened, he must have sensed the strange atmosphere because he turned to look at us and said,
"What's with this vibe? Oh? Seo Ye-ji's here too. Hi?"
He waved casually at Ye-ji, completely oblivious. The conversation we'd been having came to an abrupt halt and Ye-ji's face stiffened completely.
......Why did you have to show up at exactly this moment? Ugh.
# I received Chae-ryeong's text bombardment and quickly headed to the lounge as soon as class ended.
"Yoo Chae-ryeong~! Let's go eat~! Ugh, the professor's childhood stories were seriously the least funny thing ever."
I'd assumed she'd be alone in the lounge, so I threw the door open and called out loudly, but Chae-ryeong was looking at me alongside Seo Ye-ji, who was sitting right next to her.
"What's with this vibe? Oh? Seo Ye-ji's here too. Hi?"
The two of them had been looking at something on a phone together. For some reason the atmosphere felt icy, and I sensed something was off.
"Ah, Taeo. Hi?"
Then Ye-ji, whose face had been slightly frozen a moment ago, put on a manufactured smile and greeted me. I waved back with a strange feeling in my chest and looked at Chae-ryeong.
"Hey, aren't you coming to eat?"
At my question, Chae-ryeong answered with her face. Wow, you dense idiot. Read the room. I could almost hear her voice in my head.
Soon she stood up as if she'd decided this wasn't going to work.
"Ye-ji, hold on a sec? I'm going to talk with Taeo real quick. We'll continue our conversation without him. Can you wait here for a bit?"
"...Huh? Okay... sure..."
With a somewhat sullen face, Ye-ji answered Chae-ryeong. Chae-ryeong kicked her chair back, grabbed my wrist in a firm grip, and said,
"Hey, come with me. Hurry."