007. Jihun Is Still Better, I Guess.
Kim A-young
Within the original novel, the story of how Baek Seol-ah became entangled with the protagonist was simple — or, to put it another way, utterly predictable.
They would first meet when the protagonist saved Baek Seol-ah from danger downtown, grow close from that point on, share a string of events together, and after witnessing enough of what he had to offer, she would fall for him. A cliché through and through.
And that inciting moment, the very start of it all, was today.
Baek Seol-ah was the main heroine of the original novel as well, so plenty of things connected her to the protagonist — which was naturally why she appeared so early in the story.
Of course, she was far from the only heroine entangled with him.
It spoke volumes that even Kim A-young, who was always at Seol-ah's side, had some small spark of something with him along the way.
Anyway. That first day, the day the original novel truly began —
I was.
"Yo, yo, I'm going jungle!"
"Let's slow down. Secure the jungle first."
"Mid needs a gank."
"Count out the top lane and we win this."
"No, I said jungle-bot, what are you talking about—"
"Ah, jungle diff. Embarrassing."
"You just got solo-killed and you're spouting 'jungle diff'? Genuinely disgusting."
—happily playing Rul with my friends at the PC room.
After all, even if I'd thrown myself into that event, nothing would really have changed. If Seol-ah left me even after everything I'd done for her, then she simply wasn't my destiny.
"Yo, I'm going side lane. If two or more come for me, take Baron."
"You're 0/4. You think two people are coming for you?"
Half-listening to Yo-han and Tae-joon bickering the way they always did whenever we played Rul, I focused on the game.
Hnngh.
About an hour after we'd arrived at the PC room, my phone began to vibrate.
...Who is it?
"Yo, rotate to dragon. We win the next fight, for real."
"We win if you just stop feeding."
"Tool, shut up."
"One sec."
Breaking up the squabbling kids, I pulled out my phone — and at the name glowing on the screen, I blinked slowly.
[Kim A-young]
A call from Kim A-young — who was supposed to be downtown with Seol-ah right now.
What is this.
Why would she have any reason to call me?
"I'm taking a call."
"'Kay."
With that thought, I got up from my seat and walked as I answered.
The inside of the PC room was far too noisy; I figured I'd take it outside.
"Hello?"
"Yep, hello it is."
"...So why'd you call?"
At the playful lilt of Kim A-young's voice, I let out a small breath and asked.
Escaping the racket of the PC room, I leaned my back against the quiet corridor wall, where only my own voice echoed.
"Jihun, what are you doing right now?"
"Hanging out with the guys."
"Must be nice. I'm bored out of my mind."
Her voice was half-teasing, half-whining, and I frowned at it in a way I couldn't quite explain.
"Aren't you with Seol-ah?"
"Hm? How'd you know that? Were you stalking me, Jihun?"
Well.
Because I'd read the original, obviously.
The original novel had stated that Kim A-young and Baek Seol-ah would go out to the downtown district together.
Hearing her answer confirmed that she was, in fact, with Seol-ah.
But why?
"Seol-ah's talking to someone right now, so I'm all by my lonesome."
Ah.
The moment I heard Kim A-young's answer, I had a feeling I knew exactly who Seol-ah was with.
Because left to her own devices, with A-young cast aside, there was only one person in the world Seol-ah could be talking to right now.
"...Is that so?"
My voice trembles, without my meaning it to.
I'd thought I was fine with it now — that it no longer mattered. But hearing it spoken aloud, it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
For no particular reason, I let out a long breath and steadied my heart.
"Yep. So I'm bored."
"I can't stay on long. I'm with my friends."
"Boo. Fine, should I just come over there then?"
"...You don't play Rul."
"Hehe, just kidding! Okay, you can hang up now!"
"Got it."
After the call with Kim A-young ended, I rested the back of my head against the wall for a while and stared blankly up at the ceiling.
So they've met.
At the faint, pricking ache in my chest, I exhaled slowly.
I already knew.
I knew what was going to happen today — so why did it hurt like this?
It made no sense, even knowing everything I knew.
"...What are you doing out here?"
"Huh?"
"You coming in or not?"
At Woo-jin's words — he'd apparently come looking for me — I snapped out of it, scrubbed a hand through my hair, and shook my head.
"Let's go."
This is the path I chose.
The path Seol-ah chose, too.
Nothing is going to change.
Whipping myself forward with my own two hands, I followed Woo-jin back inside.
"Are you okay?"
"Ah— yes. I'm fine."
Baek Seol-ah looked at the man standing before her.
She'd come downtown with Kim A-young, only to run into a group of men who wouldn't stop pestering her. She'd never experienced anything like it before, and while she stood frozen in fear, it was this man who had stepped in to help her.
It would be hard to call him definitively handsome, but he looked clean-cut and masculine — and he was wearing the exact same school uniform as hers.
"Be careful out here. Don't go walking around by yourself."
At his flashed grin, Seol-ah gave a small nod.
...So this is what happens when you go out alone.
If things had gone the way they were supposed to — that is, the way they did in the original novel — she would have felt at least a flutter of something for the man in front of her. But right now, her mind was somewhere else entirely.
Being with Han Jihun all the time had blinded her to it, and only now did it strike her again: his mere presence had been protecting her this whole time.
"Looks like we go to the same school. I'm Kang Jin-hyuk."
At his words, Seol-ah nodded awkwardly and gave her reply.
"I'm Baek Seol-ah."
"...Oh. Right."
Even now, it was the same. Where the two of them should have opened up to each other and grown a little closer, just as the original novel dictated, an awkward silence was all that hung between them.
"Thanks for the help. My friend's waiting for me."
"Ah— yeah. Take care."
When Seol-ah, unable to bear the awkward air any longer, bowed her head politely in farewell, Kang Jin-hyuk gave a somewhat deflated nod and returned the greeting.
Man, she's ice cold.
Not to brag, but Kang Jin-hyuk had lived his whole life basking in other people's goodwill. He was decently good-looking, easygoing, and friendly — people were always warm toward him.
And yet even now, in a situation where he'd just come to her rescue, cutting the conversation off that cleanly felt strangely awkward.
Not that he'd been trying to pull anything on her, of course.
Kang Jin-hyuk, too, scratched the back of his head as he watched Seol-ah walk away, then set off down his own road. She, for her part, left without a shred of regret and headed back toward Kim A-young.
"Boo. Fine, should I just come over there then?"
She spotted A-young waiting for her nearby, still on the phone with someone — and stopped, just for a beat.
Somehow.
Somehow, she had a feeling she knew exactly who was on the other end of that call.
"Hehe, just kidding! Okay, you can hang up now!"
With everyone, A-young acted the same — but with men especially, she never used that aegyo-laced voice. There was exactly one person on earth she talked to like that.
"Was that Jihun?"
"...Huh? Oh, Seol-ah, you're back?"
As she approached, A-young looked back at her with an unbothered face. A faint smile still on her lips.
Looking at A-young's face — still warm with the afterglow of the call — Seol-ah felt a strange, sour tightness settle in one corner of her chest.
A-young looped her arm through Seol-ah's in one smooth motion and beamed up at her.
"That boy from before was pretty cute, huh? Not really your type?"
...She dodged the question.
Seol-ah noticed it at once — that instead of answering, she'd simply changed the subject.
Then again, I'd probably find it hard to answer too, in her shoes.
Han Jihun and Baek Seol-ah had been lovers.
Kim A-young had been a friend to them both. And for her to wedge herself between those two friendships now that Jihun and Seol-ah were over would have been absurd.
"Hmm... I don't know...?"
At A-young's question, Seol-ah scrunched her face slightly and tilted her head.
Was he handsome?
By Seol-ah's standards, he didn't particularly look it.
Because—
"Because Jihun's more handsome?"
"...Jihun is better, I guess."
—Han Jihun had always been there by her side.
Kang Jin-hyuk and Han Jihun were, at a glance, the same type. Which made sense — you could say Jihun had modeled his style after Kang Jin-hyuk's in the first place.
Their faces being similar was, of course, pure coincidence, but regardless — the two of them were cut from the same cloth.
And yet to Baek Seol-ah's eyes, Han Jihun looked far better than Kang Jin-hyuk did. The difference was honestly so marginal it came down to taste alone, but no matter how she looked at it, in Seol-ah's eyes Jihun won, hands down.
Having grown so used to Jihun, her standards had climbed rather high.
When Seol-ah answered while avoiding A-young's gaze, A-young burst out laughing and grabbed her by the arm, tugging her along.
"Come on, come on. That shop's having a sale."
"Yeah, let's hurry."
Watching A-young giggle as she pulled her along, Seol-ah returned the smile and started walking.
And yet even as she laughed and chatted with her friend, Seol-ah's mind was a thousand miles away.
Should I ask her what Jihun's doing right now...?
A-young had just been on the phone with him, so surely she knew what he was up to.
The thought climbed all the way up her throat—
No.
She folded that thought away, neatly, and set it aside.
Because if she let herself start thinking like that...
Something told her she'd only want to see him again.