Even the Way You Focus Is Beautiful

Even when break time arrived, I had one small problem on my hands.

"Sparkle... Soye. Soye."

"......"

Maybe it was because Soye was so absorbed in her studying that, despite the supervising teacher announcing break time, she just kept right on working.

You really should rest when it's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time to rest, though...

But I couldn't exactly burst her bubble, either.

After mulling it over for a while, I finally hit on a decent idea.

I grabbed the tumbler I carried around with me and headed outside.

Then I went to the water purifier and filled the tumbler up fresh.

The moment it was full, I hurried straight back to Soye and gently slid a cup of water into her field of view.

*Swish*

Perhaps it was because something new had appeared in her line of sight, Soye finally jolted in surprise and looked my way.

"Sunbae...?"

"Ah, sorry. Did I interrupt you?"

"Um... this is..."

"It's break time right now. I figured if you didn't rest now, you wouldn't get to until night study was over..."

"Oh..."

Soye checked the time, then immediately put on an embarrassed expression.

She must have been so genuinely focused on her studies that she hadn't paid the slightest attention to her surroundings.

"I'm sorry, sunbae..."

"No, what are you sorry for?"

"It's... it's like I made you run an errand for me..."

"Huh, I suppose that's one way to look at it?"

"Uuuugh..."

"I'm kidding, just kidding. You don't have to apologize."

Honestly, Soye, you're too sweet.

Apologizing over something like this, when there's really nothing to apologize for at all.

"Don't apologize so much. It just makes things awkward between us."

"Still..."

"Say thank you instead."

"Ah..."

Even more embarrassed now, Soye bowed her head deep.

Just how much overwhelming cuteness is this girl made of? I honestly couldn't get a read on it.

"I'm going to step outside for a bit and take a walk. I should let my brain cool down a little."

"Ah... then I'll come too...!"

Springing up from her seat, Soye came scampering after me, hop hop hop.

Even that sight of her was so adorable that laughter kept slipping out of me.

"Take it slow."

"Okay...!"

Soye and I headed outside together, and I just started walking around the area—a walk in the truest sense of the word.

And Soye walked alongside me.

Well, since we'd ended up walking together again anyway, I figured I'd strike up another conversation with her, natural as anything.

"Soye, are you the type who tunes everything out when you're focused on studying?"

"Sorry...? Ah, um..."

"I'm not teasing you—I'm asking out of pure, genuine curiosity."

"Ah..."

Looking somewhat reassured by my words, Soye gave a small nod.

"The truth is... I've been told lots of times... that when I focus, I don't even notice things happening right next to me..."

Come to think of it, this was exactly the kind of moment that first set the original story's Soye on the path to falling hard for Sun Woo-bin.

Back then, since the conversation never touched on her concentration, I'd just let it slide—but so this was the backstory behind it.

"That's impressive."

"Impressive...?"

"Yeah, seriously. It means you're able to give your complete focus to whatever you're doing."

I genuinely did think ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠that about her.

How high did her concentration have to be for her not to notice anything going on around her?

I truly, truly thought Soye was impressive for it.

But Soye, apparently, assumed I was making fun of her.

"...Don't tease me."

"No, I mean it."

"There's no way this is impressive..."

"It really is."

"Really...?"

"Yeah, really."

When I looked at her with all the sincerity I had, Soye seemed to finally realize I meant it, and she lowered her head in another small bow.

"Thank you, sunbae..."

"For what?"

"For saying... that even this part of me is impressive..."

Well, it's not flattery—I genuinely do think it's impressive.

Maybe it hit harder because I'm not exactly someone with that kind of focus myself.

They say people admire what they can't have, after all.

Soye's concentration is that kind of thing for me.

"How's the studying going? Going well?"

"Mmm... decently...? I feel like it's coming together somehow. What about you, sunbae?" ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ "Me...? I..."

What should I say to that?

After agonizing over it for a while, I ended up just letting the truth out.

"...I'm feeling a little lost."

"Why...?"

Soye asked carefully.

And to that careful question, I answered as honestly as I could.

"...The moment the difficulty goes up even a little, I feel like I lose my feel for it."

"Ah..."

"If I work through more problems, I think it'll get better."

At my words, Soye clenched her fists tight in both hands, just like she had before night study began, and nodded.

"It definitely will. Definitely...!"

"...Thanks. For cheering me on."

"But didn't you say you'd ask me whenever you came across a problem you didn't know?"

"Ah... right, I did say that."

"Ah..."

Soye seemed to think it over for a moment, then opened her eyes wide and lowered her head slightly, asking in a very careful voice.

"Don't tell me... did I come across as dismissive?"

"No, no, absolutely not."

"Really...?"

"Yeah, it's just that..."

It's just that, Soye, you were so absorbed in your work that I didn't want to interrupt.

If I gave her that honest answer, I knew my sweet, gentle Soye would never be able to focus on her studies again.

This was a moment for a little white lie.

"...It's just, I wanted to try solving them on my own first."

"Really...?"

"Yep, and thanks to that, I managed to solve a few of the harder ones. Want to see?"

I told her with total confidence, doing my best to make it sound like I was showing off.

Maybe those words came across as genuinely self-assured to her, because Soye's eyes sparkled as she nodded.

"Yes, I definitely want to see later...!"

"Really...?"

"Yes...!"

...Though if the answers turn out to be wrong, I'll probably die of embarrassment.

No, still—she's asking to see them, so show her.

There's nothing to be embarrassed about in front of Soye anyway.

Well, it's not that there's nothing... but still, I figured it would be fine to show her.

Soye isn't the kind of girl who'd laugh at me if I got every single question wrong, or look down on me for it.

"Soye, let's head back in. Night study's about to start again."

"Okay...!"

We headed back inside, and I showed Soye the problems I'd been working on.

Looking over the problems, over the messy, scattershot solutions I'd scrawled out, her eyes began to shine—like someone who'd just discovered something new.

Then Soye started scribbling something in her own notebook.

Soye had initiated a round of pen talk with me, so I left my reply right away.

After checking my reply, Soye wrote out her own entire solution method and showed it to me—and yeah, hers was definitely the better one.

Hers was cleaner, more concise.

If you can skip the intermediate steps, doesn't that make hers the better answer...?

I found myself impressed by Soye all over again. Wait, isn't this kid literally the top student in the whole school?

For the record, the original story never revealed Soye's grades. Not once did the topic of her marks come up.

But there was that line in Sun Woo-bin's inner monologue about her grades being "absolutely incredible," and the practice exam results I'd seen with my own eyes were nothing short of staggering—so my guess is she plays in a league well above the rest of the school.

At the bottom, Soye had drawn one very cute little cheering emoji.

A smile was blooming at the corner of Soye's mouth.

And I couldn't help wondering if an even bigger smile wasn't spreading across mine.

I was pretty sure it was.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠For better or for worse, I managed to finish my day's quota of studying without asking Soye a single question.

"Hooooo..."

"Great work, sunbae...!"

"You did great too, Soye."

With night study wrapped up for the day, the two of us started chatting a bit more freely.

"You two hurry out now~ So I can lock up and go home~"

"Yes, sir~"

Soye and I bowed our heads to the teacher as we headed for the door.

The teacher smiled and bowed back, then naturally launched into praising us.

"You two were studying really hard, huh?"

"Us?"

"Yeah, the other kids all goof off at least once, but I never caught either of you slacking once."

"Thank you...!"

"Thank you."

Soye bowed deeply while I gave a polite nod of my own.

Seeing us like that, the teacher glanced at the colors of our name tags, then asked right away.

"Could it be... a couple with a grade gap between you?"

"Ah... a couple, we're... we're not...!"

"We're not dating."

"Really? Sorry, my mistake then. You two get home safe~"

Having stirred up a moment of confusion, the teacher chuckled and headed off toward the parking lot, while Soye and I could do nothing but blink at each other.

"...Shall we head home?"

"Yes... sunbae..."

Neither of us had much to say, and Soye was brimming over with embarrassment.

Without a single word of conversation between us, we simply made our way toward the bus stop.

We walked to the bus stop, and up until Soye's bus arrived.

We couldn't manage any conversation at all.

Thankfully, when Soye stepped onto the bus, we did manage a few words.

"Take care, Soye."

"You too, sunbae... get home safe!"

Very short, but the same exchange we always had...

A perfectly safe, perfectly ordinary conversation.

Exactly the kind that suited the two of us.