Connections (7)
Bonds (7). Yu-hwa, Ji-su, and me. The three of us headed off to eat together. Yu-hwa and Ji-su sat side by side, while I took the seat across from them. Never in a million years did I imagine these two would be the first people I'd share a meal with at this school. At the same time, a small part of me felt oddly satisfied—finally, I was eating lunch with friends in the cafeteria.
"Today's lunch is legendary. I should've just gone to the snack stand if I'd known it'd be this bad."
Ji-su poked at the stir-fried eggplant with her chopsticks as she spoke. I couldn't really disagree. Surprisingly, though, Yu-hwa ate without complaint. She didn't seem to be picky about food at all. Based on her image alone, you'd expect her to be the pickiest one here.
"You eat pretty well, huh?"
I asked her casually. She glanced up.
"...I'm just eating because it's there. Not because it tastes good."
So she wasn't enjoying it. Still, no one was forcing her to eat, either.
"Whoa—! Is that the first-year girl? No way, seriously?"
While we were eating, voices drifted over from a group of passing senior boys. They sounded like they'd just spotted something rare. The rumors really had spread across the entire school. If even the seniors recognized her, that said enough.
"Hey, that's her. The super pretty first-year everyone's talking about. First time seeing her in person."
"For real? Damn... she really is something."
"Didn't she have, like, a ton of followers on Inbyeol too?"
They whispered among themselves as they walked past Yu-hwa. At that volume, it wasn't really whispering anymore. I glanced at Yu-hwa to gauge her reaction. Being talked about like that by strangers probably wasn't entirely pleasant.
Then I caught something more grating.
"But I heard her reputation isn't great."
"Yeah, the girls don't seem to like her much."
"With a face like that, they probably just let it slide even if the rumors are bad."
"True."
The rest of their conversation didn't matter. What stuck with me was the part about her bad reputation. Yu-hwa hadn't done anything to deserve that. There was no reason for the other girls to dislike her. As for the school violence incident, only the student council should know about it so far. And before anything blew up, I'd already explained what happened.
"Ah...! Should we get tteokbokki together next time?"
Ji-su must have heard the conversation too. Maybe she found it too uncomfortable to ignore, because she suddenly changed the subject. She was clearly trying to steer everyone's attention elsewhere.
"That sounds good...!"
I played along with her effort.
"What about your friend, though?"
Yu-hwa asked Ji-su. It didn't sound malicious—just genuine curiosity. The "friend" she meant was obviously Hye-in.
"I'm fine eating like this with just the three of us, but I don't want to eat with her."
Yu-hwa added the extra line. She'd finally said it out loud—she didn't want to be around Hye-in. Maybe that earlier assumption about her having no ill intent needed revising.
"...Oh, yeah. Anyway, Hye-in's been busy lately..."
Ji-su forced an awkward smile. Just how busy could Hye-in be that Ji-su kept making excuses like this? All she was doing was hanging out with new people.
"Why are you even friends with someone like that? She ditches you the second she gets new friends."
"No... it's not like that. I just don't really like the people she's hanging out with."
Ji-su said it, but her expression looked heavy with thought.
"How bad could they be if you've been acting like this since earlier?"
I'd been listening quietly, but I finally spoke up. Yeah, I was curious. What kind of people was Seo Hye-in spending time with that made Ji-su say things like that? It wasn't for any other reason—this was the opposite of how the original story went.
"They're just... a little delinquent, I guess? Anyway, Hye-in isn't like that, but it feels like those kinds of people keep pulling her in."
Ji-su spoke with a genuinely worried face. Delinquents. Just like she said, Hye-in didn't seem like the type to hang around people like that. Sorry to Yu-hwa, but based on appearances alone, you'd expect her to fit in with delinquents more than Hye-in would. That's how it was in the original story, too. So why was Hye-in doing this now? Had the setting really flipped?
"What do you mean she's not like that? If she wasn't, she wouldn't be hanging out with them."
Yu-hwa cut in sharply. It might've been a painful truth.
"But honestly, there's something I want to say..."
Ji-su set down her chopsticks. Both Yu-hwa and I turned to look at her.
"I don't get why you and Hye-in don't get along. Is there something I don't know about?"
Wait... weren't we just here to eat lunch normally? When did the conversation get this heavy?
"Ah... maybe you're both just still awkward around each other?"
I tried to smooth things over quickly. But my effort didn't seem to land.
"Don't ask me—ask her. I'm curious too. She's the one who started hating me first."
Yu-hwa spoke in a blunt tone. Ji-su's face twisted with discomfort at the response.
"Hey, don't take it out on Ji-su like that. What did she do wrong?"
"Yeah? Sorry if I upset you. That wasn't my intention."
This didn't feel like lunch anymore. I set my chopsticks down too.
"If you're done eating, let's go."
I spoke first. No one was really in the mood to keep eating anyway. They'd just been picking at their rice.
"Okay."
When I stood up with my tray, Ji-su and Yu-hwa followed.
"Do-hyun, want to go to the snack stand together? I feel like I brought up something unnecessary and ruined everyone's lunch. I'll buy. And... could you ask Yu-hwa about it too?"
Ji-su asked carefully as she cleared her tray. Geez... how much of a saint was this girl?
"It's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm really okay."
"B-but still..."
"And Do Yu-hwa probably doesn't care either. She doesn't think badly of you."
"Yeah..."
"She's always like that. You know how she is."
Ji-su still looked uneasy.
"Hey, Do Yu-hwa. You like jelly, right? Ji-su said she'd buy some."
I turned toward Yu-hwa and spoke a little louder.
"Really? Ji-su, is that true?"
Yu-hwa's voice brightened immediately. See? She didn't actually dislike Ji-su. She wasn't even dwelling on what happened earlier.
"See? She doesn't care either. So stop worrying about it."
I turned back to Ji-su. She smiled faintly at my words.
"Well, I've got somewhere to be, so... I'll head out first."
After leaving the cafeteria together, I split off toward the path leading to my destination while the other two headed for the snack stand. I needed to see Senior Na-bi.
"What? Where are you going again?"
Yu-hwa looked annoyed.
"I have somewhere to be."
"So what is it, then? You keep saying you have places to go..."
"I'm going to make friends, like you told me to."
"......"
Yu-hwa fell silent for a moment and stared up at me. Her gaze was a little sharp, but she didn't argue. After all, those had been her own words. She probably had nothing to say back.
"Oh! Do-hyun's cheating!"
Ji-su, who'd been watching, said it in a playful tone.
"Cheating?! People might misunderstand if they hear that. Anyway, you don't have to buy me anything... just get her plenty."
I pointed at Yu-hwa with my eyes.
"Got it. See you in class later!"
Ji-su waved first. Yu-hwa and I only exchanged glances. It wasn't exactly the atmosphere for cheerful goodbyes—she was glaring at me.
***
I walked toward the field. It was as loud as ever, filled with the sound of balls being kicked in every direction. If I kept going through that energy, there was a spot that felt like an entirely different world. Senior Na-bi was there.
Senior Na-bi, sitting on the bench and staring blankly at the field.
......
She wasn't on the bench?
What the...
Contrary to my expectations, Senior Na-bi wasn't there. I turned my head, scanning the area around the bench. Then I spotted her back near the school wall. Even from behind, I could feel her intense focus, like she was observing something.
"Senior...?"
"Hyaah—! You scared me!!"
When I approached carefully and called out, she reacted like her heart had nearly jumped out of her mouth. For someone that startled, she didn't even swear. If she were a typical Korean, wouldn't "What the fuck" have come out immediately?
"What are you doing here?"
"Shh—!"
She held up a single finger and motioned for me to be quiet. Then she grabbed my hand and pulled me closer, like we were hiding in ambush. We ended up standing pretty close. Close enough that one of her tied-up pigtails brushed against my nose.
"How is it? Smell anything?"
She sniffed loudly. I followed suit.
"Hmm..."
Smell... Right, there was definitely a smell.
"Is that your shampoo, Senior?"
"...No! Not that kind of smell."
She lightly smacked my shoulder. It was more like a soft tap.
"M-more importantly... why are you smelling my hair?!"
"Huh? Well, we're this close, so... all I can smell is your shampoo..."
"Hyaah—! Sorry!"
Only then did she seem to notice how close we'd gotten. She quickly put some distance between us. Once there was space, a new smell hit my nose.
"Ah... cigarette smoke?"
Yeah, that acrid smell was definitely cigarettes.
"Yeah!! I think someone's smoking over there in the corner."
She pointed beyond the wall with her finger. No matter where you went, there were always delinquents smoking.
"Then... shouldn't you go catch them, Senior?"
"M-me?"
"Yeah... that's what the disciplinary committee does..."
"It'd be better to tell the homeroom teacher than to step in myself!"
Hmm... She had a point. Something like that was probably better handled at the teacher level. We both stared at the corner where smoke was rising. A moment later, a group of male students came pouring out. And among them was one face that stood out immediately.
That guy... that bastard...
It was Jun-hyeok or whatever his name was. That guy.