How Bittersweet, How Awkward
"Class president, lead the greeting."
"Attention. Bow to the teacher."
"Thank you for your hard work, sir."
And yet.
"Didn't you say you were the *temporary* class president? Why haven't you held an election yet?"
"……You got saddled with it, didn't you."
I wanted to deny Woo-jin's words, but I had nothing to deny them with.
Picking up my bag and rising from my seat, I let out a small sigh and started walking alongside him.
……Well, still.
It was a relief that I was getting tangled up with Baek Seol-ah far less than I'd expected. Sharing a class had worried me a little, but come to think of it, being in the same class didn't mean being entangled with everyone in it.
As I slipped out of the classroom, I stole a glance back and spotted Baek Seol-ah and Kim A-young, surrounded by classmates, chatting away. The gloomy mood from the first day was nowhere to be seen. She'd adapted well, just as I'd predicted.
Then again — Baek Seol-ah was not only strikingly beautiful, she had that gentle, easygoing way about her. It would be stranger if she *didn't* draw friendly eyes wherever she went.
Among the people striking up conversations to get close to her, there were surely some nursing a crush. She'd probably become quite popular since that first day.
Lost in that thought — maybe because I'd stared a beat too long — Kim A-young noticed me from within Seol-ah's crowd and gave a sly little wave.
See ya.
I gave a small wave back to Kim A-young, who was mouthing the words at me, then started walking again.
The problem, however, lay elsewhere.
Why does Kang Jin-hyuk and Baek Seol-ah look so awkward together?
According to the original novel, after he rescued her on the first day, Kang Jin-hyuk and Baek Seol-ah were supposed to get close at a breakneck pace. She'd take him to the school store as thanks for helping her; he'd lend her a hand with little everyday things — that sort of thing.
But not a single hint of it was visible.
Granted, Kang Jin-hyuk and Baek Seol-ah *had* been talking just the two of them earlier, but……
Ah.
Stop thinking about it. What's the point of me worrying over this? Original novel or not, I'd decided not to care. About Baek Seol-ah, too.
Shaking my head to clear away the useless clutter, I only then noticed Woo-jin staring at me from beside me like I'd grown a second head.
"What's wrong with you?"
"……What do you mean, what's wrong?"
"Your face keeps scrunching up and relaxing all by itself. It's doing weird things."
"Just thinking about some stuff."
"You eat something bad?"
"Shut it."
I flicked a casual insult at Woo-jin, who was still eyeballing me like a suspicious stranger, and we headed out of the school.
Once I smoothed my expression at his remark, he finally looked away from my face and down at his phone.
"……They're at the main gate. We can just head out."
"We're meeting them *at* school?"
"Well, what do you expect? We go to the same school. Splitting up to arrive separately would be weirder, no?"
"Fair point."
After tapping away at his phone for a while, Woo-jin pocketed it and spoke.
Tch. Seriously, this is so awkward.
"Can't I just go home?"
"Sure. And then I'll tell everyone you took my earbuds — the ones that were a *gift*."
"You'd be dead for that."
"You took them even knowing they were a gift. You're dying with me."
Ugh.
Seriously, I should just throw these earbuds away. It pisses me off how he keeps busting my chops over them.
"I'll only milk it this once and never again, so don't even think about trashing them."
"……Promise me first."
The truth was, wireless earbuds turned out to be way more convenient than I'd expected. A few days of using them and now it felt like I couldn't live without them.
Even before — back in my past life, I'd loved listening to music alone, always walking around with earbuds in. This life had left me no room for that, so I'd forgotten the feeling entirely, until putting them back on brought it all rushing home.
So I answered quietly, letting out a breath.
"Ah, of course. This man An Woo-jin is a man of his word, sir."
"'Man of his word,' my ass. You're full of it."
"……Wow. That line just made you sound exactly like my grandfather."
"Shut it."
*Grandfather*? Please. Add up both my lifetimes and I still don't qualify as a grandfather.
I fired back a retort at Woo-jin and kept walking at an even pace.
"Can I put my earbuds in and listen to music?"
"Go ahead. You'll get caught."
"……Woe is me."
God, seriously.
How bittersweet. How awkward.
An Woo-jin.
He stole a glance at Han Jihun and let out a small breath.
*Sigh.*
An Woo-jin and Han Jihun had been friends since elementary school. Jihun would sometimes tell people how much Woo-jin had helped him over the years, but that wasn't the truth of it.
The reality was the reverse: it was An Woo-jin who owed Han Jihun an enormous debt.
Decent looks, a slightly cocky personality to match, and never one to back down from a scrap — Woo-jin's character was the kind that drew people in like moths. That had been true even as a kid. Wherever he went, all eyes were on him. And maybe because of that, laughably enough, even as an elementary schooler he'd found himself running with a pack of juvenile delinquents.
If he'd kept hanging around them, the An Woo-jin of today wouldn't exist. And the one who pulled him out of that world was Han Jihun.
Their styles were polar opposites — so different you could call it a matter of taste — but Han Jihun was handsome, tall, and broad-shouldered besides, so he almost never got picked on. Quiet and earnest on top of all that, he was Woo-jin's mirror image in every respect. And to the boy busy playing at thug life, he'd said exactly one thing:
"None of that looks cool. Not one bit."
With those words from Han Jihun, An Woo-jin understood.
This wasn't cool. Bullying people, doing what you'd been told not to do, getting into fights — none of it was ever cool. What *was* cool was having power and choosing not to torment anyone with it. That was the kind of behavior worth admiring.
From then on, Woo-jin kept his distance from those delinquents. Instead, he walked beside Han Jihun, and the two of them built a friendship that had never cracked.
His mother had passed away early, and living alone with his father, Woo-jin had grown ashamed of who he'd been back then. Which was why he could never thank Han Jihun enough — no amount of gratitude would ever be sufficient.
Separate from all that, Han Jihun also took remarkably good care of him. Although, true, the moment Baek Seol-ah appeared, Woo-jin ceased to exist in his field of vision.
He didn't particularly resent that, though.
Anyway.
That was precisely why An Woo-jin made it his business to look after Han Jihun. He was the closest male friend the guy had, and he owed him a debt beyond repayment.
Dragging him into today's outing was simple, too: he wanted Han Jihun's world to grow a little wider now that he'd broken up with Baek Seol-ah. Sure, Jihun was already plenty mature and level-headed for his age — but whenever anything involved Baek Seol-ah, he always shrank small, boxed inside that one tiny world.
Woo-jin simply wanted to show him that Baek Seol-ah wasn't the entirety of his life.
And then, there was this.
Han Jihun must never meet Baek Seol-ah again. He needed to meet someone who liked *him* — not someone he liked. Because he was the kind of man who would give more of himself to someone who loved him than anyone else alive.
If Han Jihun stayed around Baek Seol-ah, she would simply come to take everything he did for granted — the giving without return, the love never received.
It was irrational. Unfair.
And no one understood better than An Woo-jin that Han Jihun was the last person on earth who deserved to be treated that way.
"Woo-jin! Woo-jin!"
Spotting the two girls waiting for him and Han Jihun in front of the main gate, An Woo-jin surfaced from his thoughts and waved a lazy hand. He glanced sideways at Han Jihun trudging along behind him wearing an expression that read this is such a chore — then his eyes landed on someone further back, and they widened slightly.
Wait. Is that… Baek Seol-ah?
Beyond Han Jihun, far in the distance, Baek Seol-ah stood watching. His eyesight wasn't the greatest, so he couldn't make out her expression, but one thing was certain: she was looking this way.
Wasn't she in the classroom just a minute ago? When did she get out here?
Still mulling that over, An Woo-jin quickly tore his gaze from her, grabbed Han Jihun, and hauled him along.
"Let's go."
What Baek Seol-ah was thinking. What kind of face she was making. None of it was his business.
Sorry, Jihun, but if he was being honest: An Woo-jin hoped Baek Seol-ah didn't have it easy. Not that he wished true misery on her — he just hoped she'd be sad, that she'd ache a little. That she would realize what she'd thrown away. That was all.
"Hiyaa! Hi there!"
"Oh. Hey."
After all that fretting about how awkward it would be, the moment Han Jihun stood in front of Lee Yu-na, not a trace of it remained. He did look slightly overwhelmed by her full-throttle energy, but then, that was very Han Jihun.
"Hey."
Jung Se-hee, too, raised a hand in greeting. She looked like she couldn't care less about any of this — and yet somehow also like she was very much aware of Han Jihun specifically.
"Let's go!"
As they set off, Han Jihun apparently decided that blatantly popping in his earbuds would be a step too far.
Well. Guess that's fair.
The moment Jung Se-hee put in her earbuds, Han Jihun looked at her, blinked slowly — and turned his gaze toward An Woo-jin.
And me? Can I not put mine in either?
An Woo-jin answered the unspoken question with his middle finger, then hurried off beside Lee Yu-na, chuckling to himself as the image of Han Jihun silently seething behind them played in his head.
"We're taking the bus, right?"
"Yeah."
For some reason, An Woo-jin had a feeling today was going to be a lot of fun.