Well... Who Knows.
"...That hit the spot. You really didn't have to buy us anything!"
"Thank you."
"You went through something, so consider it a free meal. Eat up, no guilt required."
Once we'd eaten our fill and stepped out of the pasta restaurant, Yu-na and Se-hee offered their thanks one after the other. Woo-jin, as if it were only natural, simply answered for me with a thumbs-up, and I replied to them all with a smile.
The wireless earbuds you gave me — I'm putting them to good use.
With that thought carefully tucked away, we began walking down the downtown streets.
"So, where to?"
"I'm full, but... maybe a cafe?"
"...You're full, and you want a cafe?"
Listening to Woo-jin and Yu-na bicker, I found myself thinking of Kim A-young without meaning to. They say girls have separate stomachs for meals and for snacks — honestly, that might be scientifically accurate.
"If you sit down at a cafe and chat for a while, you make room, you know?"
"...Is that actually a thing?"
I put a hand on Woo-jin's shoulder as he wore a thoroughly baffled expression and shook my head.
"Don't try to understand it. Just give up — life's easier that way."
"Words of wisdom."
Watching Yu-na and Se-hee drift further ahead of us, we exchanged a wry smile at exactly the same moment, then started after them.
"You enjoyed that meal, huh?"
"You owe me for it."
"...Why me?"
"They earned it with the earbuds thing. You didn't do anything."
"That's cold, man."
Not that I had any real intention of collecting, but we fell in behind them, trading pointless banter all the way. Before long, we arrived at the cafe.
"Wait, shouldn't we just go to the nearest cafe?"
"This one has a nice vibe."
"...Isn't a cafe just about whether the coffee's good?"
"Honestly, the coffee tastes about the same everywhere."
Yu-na had a point. We weren't sommeliers or Michelin inspectors, after all — to teenage palates, most coffee was more or less indistinguishable.
Well, we'd come this far, and hunting down someplace closer felt like too much effort. We had no choice but to step inside. It wasn't a chain, just an ordinary cafe, and it was true that the atmosphere was pleasant.
I couldn't really say what makes a vibe 'good,' though.
To me, it simply felt quiet, and quiet wasn't bad. Keeping that opinion to myself, I followed the others in, where Yu-na and Se-hee were already standing at the counter, deep in deliberation.
"Se-hee's getting an iced americano, and I'll have the matcha latte... What are you two drinking?"
"Matcha latte for me too."
"I'll take an iced ameri— no wait, a cafe mocha."
"Okay, so that's the order... Should we split a cake?"
"Yeah, and cookies too."
I know I keep saying this, but it's genuinely remarkable. It boggles the mind that they could walk into a cafe right after a full meal — and what's more, both of them, like Kim A-young, look impossibly slim from the outside.
...Where does it all go?
Shaking off a mildly rude thought, I waited calmly to pay. After all, I was the one who had to cover my own food. As I stood there, my eyes naturally landed on Se-hee tapping her card.
"...How much was mine? I'll send it over."
We'd exchanged numbers, so she could just shoot it through Cocoa Pay. When I asked, Se-hee looked up at me and blinked.
"It's fine. You got the meal taken care of, remember?"
"That was, well... circumstances."
"Yeah, still. It's fine."
She cut off my protest with surgical precision, and I could only nod, a little reluctantly. Sharp as a blade, this one.
"Let's head up to the second floor...!"
Whether it was because the place wasn't crowded or because the staff worked fast, our drinks were ready in no time. Woo-jin, who hadn't paid a single won, picked up his cup and headed upstairs without a hint of shame. I waited until Se-hee and Yu-na had started up, then naturally took the rear, following behind them with my eyes glued to my phone.
Se-hee glanced back, seemed satisfied that I was keeping up just fine, and waited for me at the top of the stairs.
"What are you looking at?"
"...Nothing."
I'd only been glancing at my phone out of mild embarrassment, so I didn't exactly have a good answer ready.
"Guess you don't do social media?"
she asked, looking at my lock screen.
"Social media?"
"Yeah, like Byulstagram."
"Ah... no, I don't really bother. I don't have many friends anyway."
"Really?"
It wasn't because of that famous football manager who called social media a waste of life. I just never cared much for it. I wasn't at an age where I needed to feel envious watching everyone else show off how well they were living. As long as I was content with my own life, in my own way, I figured that was more than enough.
"Wise of you."
"...Is it?"
Not that I looked down on people who used it. Plenty of kids around me were on it constantly — if anything, I was the odd one out for not joining in. We were at that age when you want to show off, to let the world know what you're up to.
"Over here, over here — window seat's open!"
At the voice of Woo-jin, who'd already claimed a table, we made our way over side by side.
"I don't do social media either, for what it's worth."
"Oh?"
Now that's a surprise.
With her looks, I'd have expected someone like her to be wildly popular on Byulstagram and the like.
"I used to have it, but I got so many messages from strangers that I just deleted the whole thing."
Of course. Should've guessed. Nodding along to this tale from a completely different universe than mine, I was interrupted by Yu-na, who cut in with a mischievous grin.
"What's this, what's this? How did you two get so cozy already?"
At the teasing lilt in her laugh and her voice, I stared at her dead-on, and Se-hee answered quickly.
"We only met up so we could get to know each other, didn't we?"
"True, but..."
"Quit saying weird stuff."
"Fiiine."
Having brushed Yu-na off with ease, Se-hee turned to me with a faint smile. That look — as if asking, I did well, right? — made me smile a little and nod back. Then Woo-jin, who'd slurped down his final sip with a loud shloop, looked around at all of us and spoke.
"So. Now what?"
...You finished that already?
Had he inhaled the drink the moment we sat down? His cup was bone dry.
"You finished the whole thing already?"
Yu-na, fresh off her defeat at Se-hee's hands, was staring at him with wide, round eyes too.
"What? Am I supposed to leave it sitting there and hold a funeral for it?"
"...An Woo-jin, you are honestly never going to get a girlfriend."
"Not looking for one."
"Oh, let me hit you just once."
Listening to their back-and-forth, I found my fist clenching on its own, and I turned to Woo-jin.
"Whoa, whoa, calm down. That's not a fist fight, that's a proposal."
"It's not quite at proposal level."
It was true that my hands and feet ran large for my height. Big feet were probably just a preview of getting even taller, though — and thinking of it that way, big hands and feet were a net win.
"Now that you mention it, your hands are huge."
Se-hee said it while staring openly at my hand. Compared to my previous life, my whole body had grown so much that I'd noticed my hands were big — but I hadn't realized they were that big.
"You're, um, like that one guy. Goliath!"
"Ah, that guy."
Wasn't that guy over two meters tall? I had no desire to be quite that enormous.
"Anyway, An Woo-jin, you wait. We're finishing all of this before we go."
"...Fine, fine."
"I'm gonna hit the restroom."
"Oh, me too."
The moment I stood from my seat, Woo-jin rose to follow — apparently the inhaled drink was already demanding an exit. Walking alongside him, I opened my mouth.
"When you heading home?"
"...What. You were having a fine time, weren't you?"
"No, just asking."
Huh. Can't get a word in edgewise.
Every time I tried to talk to the guy, he treated me like I was the strange one.
"This is good!"
"Lemme have a sip too!"
Trading drinks back and forth, Se-hee and Yu-na slipped into their own conversation.
"So, Se-hee — what do you think of Jihun?"
"...About what?"
At Yu-na's question, Se-hee calmly swallowed her sip of drink and tossed the question right back. Yu-na gazed quietly at that composed face — Se-hee clearly knew exactly what was being asked — then let out a sly heh-heh and leaned her cheek against her friend's shoulder.
"You two looked reeeal friendly just now?"
"...Our taste in music just happens to match."
"Funny, then, how your ears were bright red not long ago?"
Having been Se-hee's friend for ages, Yu-na knew every last one of her habits. For instance: that when Se-hee was truly embarrassed, it was her ears, and only her ears, that gave her away. At Yu-na's words, Se-hee instinctively covered her ears with her hair and answered evenly.
"They weren't."
"They were."
"It's not like that yet. Not... romantic. He's just a comfortable, good friend."
Even as she said it, Se-hee let out a short breath before she could stop herself. Today had been the first time she'd really looked at him. Naturally, she told herself, it was absurd to think of him that way — as anything more than a friend.
But because of Yu-na's question, her thoughts began drifting toward Han Jihun all the same.
Their taste in music matched, in a way that sat just slightly apart from everyone else's. Old songs, acoustic tracks, quiet ballads — he knew them all, and knew them well. And crucially, it wasn't like other people, who said such things just to pander to her. It showed in his playlist. It showed in his voice.
He was considerate of others — adults and strangers included. Kids these days didn't think twice about giving up their seats for the elderly. But Han Jihun had offered his to an old woman so naturally, so matter-of-factly, that no one even noticed.
The cafe stairs had been the same. Because Se-hee and Yu-na's skirts ran a little short, he had walked behind them, shielding them from other people's view — all while keeping his eyes fixed on his phone screen so he wouldn't see anything himself.
Those small courtesies were worn into his very bones. It was the kind of thing you felt without anyone needing to tell you — the mark of a genuinely good person.
Looks and outward appearances had never mattered much to Se-hee. It wasn't as if he was the first — plenty of men had come up to her armed with nothing but their looks. What mattered far more were the unspoken things: the small consideration, the quiet manners of someone who didn't make a show of any of it.
By that measure, Han Jihun was a good person.
"Ooh, ooh — yet, huh? So what about later?"
"That's... who knows."
At first, she'd said it simply to dodge Yu-na's relentless question.
But now?
Somehow, Se-hee found herself thinking she was glad she had.