The Last Almond Pepero
Yuhwa, who had been staring at me for a while, suddenly blurted out, "Hey! If I don't reach out in the morning, you call me." It was a blunt, offhand remark—the kind that felt like it had been tossed into the air without much thought.
"Me?" I asked, my voice laced with genuine bewilderment. As I spoke, my gaze naturally drifted toward Hyein, who was sitting diagonally across from us. And that gaze wasn't just my own; our eyes met. It was as if I were under the delusion that Hyein, too, was hanging on my answer.
"Yeah. Anyway, where do you live?" Yuhwa moved on to another question. Seeing my flustered reaction, she seemed to have decided to just skip to the next topic. But that, too, was a rather difficult question to answer.
"I..." I hesitated, glancing at Hyein. Living in the same apartment building as her made me wary. And perhaps Hyein felt the same way, given how she kept subtly checking on me. This was tricky. "I just live in that officetel over there." Vague was best. After all, Hyein was someone who wanted nothing to do with me.
"Really? With your parents?"
"No... I'm living on my own."
"Whoa?! You? Why are you living alone?" Yuhwa asked, sounding genuinely shocked. As if living alone required some sort of special qualification.
"Are you two already that close?" the girl sitting next to me suddenly chimed in. It was a strange thing to say, considering the conversation that had just unfolded, but since Do Yuhwa and I were the only ones in the group chatting without reservation, I supposed it was understandable.
"He looked like he couldn't make many friends, so I took him under my wing," Yuhwa said, crossing her arms with a smug expression. *The nerve of her to claim such 'consideration' on her own.*
"Really? He doesn't look like that to me," the girl next to me said, glancing my way. I was grateful for the comment.
"That’s only because I took him under my wing, that’s why he looks like that," Yuhwa insisted.
"Is that so? But don't you like having him tag along?"
Tag along? From a distance, maybe it looked that way, but in reality, I was acting like her personal shuttle. Why was she acting like she’d done me a favor? Was this my own karma coming back to bite me?
"What? Me? Him? No way... He’s the one following me around. In short, he’s my 1st Fan."
Hm...? Since when did I become your 1st Fan? I couldn't even fathom how bloated her ego must be.
"Well, Yuhwa is pretty enough to have fans," the girl said.
"Right? Thanks."
"I'm so jealous, having a fan who takes care of you like that," Jisu said, drawing out her words. There was no need to be jealous—I wasn't actually a fan.
"Anyway, you heard her, right? You should be grateful to me," Yuhwa said, looking at me with a triumphant expression. She acted as if it were a privilege for me to run errands for someone as pretty as her. She was under a massive delusion. Grateful? If anything, I thought she was the one who should be grateful.
"Hyein, you should say hi to him too. He used to sit next to you, right?" Yuhwa then dropped that awkward comment on Hyein. At this point, I wondered if she knew about our relationship and was doing this on purpose. It looked like a natural flow, but she also looked like a master of stirring up trouble.
"Ah... yeah. Hi," Hyein greeted me with a slightly bitter expression. It felt forced.
"Yeah, hi." Despite knowing each other better than anyone, we exchanged greetings like strangers. Perhaps that was why the air between us felt so thick with awkwardness. We had to act like people who had just met. And whenever that happened, I had to endure the unpleasant sensation that came out of nowhere, my legs shaking uncontrollably. It seemed it was hard to face someone I’d been laughing and chatting with just days ago. *Stop making it so hard on yourself, me.*
"Hi everyone!! I'm Jisu! Yoon Jisu! Nice to meet you!" The girl next to me took the opportunity to introduce herself. Yoon Jisu... I didn't recall a character like that in the original work, but since she was a new variable outside the established framework, I was actually glad. She might be the first person I needed to build a friendship with here.
After the groups chatted for a while, the teacher brought the chaotic classroom back to order. "Alright... since everyone has introduced themselves, I'll explain the group activity. There are several literary works we'll be covering in class..."
In conclusion, it was a common assignment: pick a literary work, discuss it as a group, and create a presentation. The only thing that wasn't common was that, before I knew it, I had become the group leader.
Lunchtime arrived. I was still eating alone, as was the norm. It wasn't particularly difficult; I just went to the cafeteria and sat in an empty seat. The only agonizing part was having to watch Hyein, who was eating with a group of people. Here I was, unable to even find someone to eat with. How miserable!
Naturally, Do Yuhwa’s face came to mind. *That girl... if she’s going to talk about taking me under her wing, shouldn't she be eating with me too?* The thought sprouted in my subconscious. But I quickly suppressed it; if I did that, I felt like I would become dependent on her. I would escape... I would definitely escape. I just chewed on that thought like I chewed my lunch. I felt the rice grains crumbling into fine dust.
I finished my meal quickly and left the cafeteria first, heading back to the classroom. Perhaps because I returned a bit early, the quiet afternoon classroom welcomed me. The lights were off, and the silence felt like it was wrapping around my heart. I decided to take a nap. But as I headed to my seat, I noticed Do Yuhwa slumped over her desk, her head resting on it. I didn't know how long she’d been like that. *Did she not go to lunch?* I asked, out of curiosity.
"Hey, it's lunchtime... did you eat?" It might have been a bold statement considering my status as her shuttle.
"Ah... I said I'm not eating! You guys go ahead," Yuhwa muttered, tossing and turning, her voice a mix of annoyance and petulance. She sounded like someone who had already been asked that question a dozen times.
"Ah, sorry." Feeling like I shouldn't have bothered her, I apologized and moved to sit at my own desk to nap.
"What, it's Lee Dohyun," she said from behind, her voice still thick with sleep. Had she not known it was me when she snapped?
"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."
"If you know that, then fine. Anyway, why are you here already?" Yuhwa asked, her head still resting on the desk, only turning slightly to look at me.
"Just wanted to eat quickly and sleep."
"Really? I woke up because of you, and now I'm hungry."
"Go eat something. There's still plenty of time left."
"Ugh, it's a hassle. Why don't you go buy me something from the store instead?"
"What? Me?" *Does she really think of me as a mere errand boy?* Yeah, I really needed to stop this. If I kept doing her favors, I wouldn't have a chance to meet any other heroines. I’d gone along with it because I didn't want any unnecessary trouble, but now I felt this was the first relationship I needed to cut. I had to resolve this first before I could do anything else. I decided that this would be the last time I’d let her get to me.
"You woke me up! You have to take responsibility..."
"I'll go buy it. What do you want?" I cut her off while she was in the middle of making up excuses for why I should go. Yuhwa seemed taken aback, her words catching in her throat. It wasn't the flow she had expected.
"What’s gotten into you, volunteering to buy it? Fine, then... Pepero?" She quickly hid her surprise and returned to her usual self.
"What flavor?"
"Almond."
"Fine, wait here."
I headed toward the store. I wondered if that was really enough to satisfy her hunger, but it didn't matter. Yes, I would make sure this Pepero was the last time I got involved with Yuhwa. If I didn't, I’d end up as Do Yuhwa’s 1st Fan for the rest of my life.
*
When I arrived at the store, I ran into Hyein’s group—how ironic. It seemed our paths had crossed because she had just finished lunch. I just needed to buy what I was ordered to and get back. I reached for the almond-flavored Pepero.
"Oh..."
With that sound, my hand crossed paths with someone else’s. I turned my head toward the source of the sound, startled. Hyein was standing there. Seeing her, my brain quickly began to dredge up past information. Almond-flavored Pepero... Hyein always ate this flavor when she had Pepero. I couldn't forget that. I had even gifted her almond Pepero on Pepero Day, reflecting her tastes. I resented how my memories of the past surfaced so easily. To think such a story was tied to something as trivial as a box of Pepero. And I felt pathetic for feeling a sense of longing because of it.
"You go first." I pulled my arm back and yielded my turn. Hyein didn't seem to pay much mind, simply grabbing the Pepero she had reached for and stepping back. I grabbed my own box right after. I wondered if she, too, was having the same thoughts as me, looking at this Pepero. If she, too, had some faint lingering feelings tied to this almond flavor.
"Oh! It's our group leader, Lee Dohyun!"
Suddenly, someone called out to me. The only person who would call me that was... Yoon Jisu, who had been put in my group earlier.
"Hi! Hi, Hyein!" She greeted Hyein naturally as well. For an extra, she seemed quite social.
"Hyein! Let's go together. Did you pick everything?" She linked her arm with Hyein’s.
"Yeah, I wanted some Pepero," Hyein said, accepting Jisu’s arm and speaking as if nothing were wrong.
"Really? What should I eat?" Jisu turned her attention to me. "Do you eat Pepero too? What is this, is it Pepero Day today?" she asked, seeing the box in my hand.
Well... it wasn't for me.
"No, Yuhwa said she wanted some," I replied. Suddenly, Jisu let out a short, near-scream. "Ouch!"
"H-Hyein, why are you doing that all of a sudden?" Jisu asked, sounding startled. It seemed Hyein had done something.
"Ah... sorry, I didn't mean to," Hyein said, her voice flustered, as if she were surprised by her own actions.
"Really? You scared me. You suddenly grabbed my arm so tight."
"Yeah... are you okay? Did it hurt?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. But is something wrong?"
"No... it's nothing. Just..." While they were linked, it had looked like Hyein had subconsciously gripped Jisu’s arm hard. I didn't know why she’d had such a sudden outburst, but anyway.
"Well, I'll be going first." I watched them for a moment, but decided it wasn't my place to get involved, and left.
*
"Here, Pepero." I handed it to Yuhwa when I returned to the classroom. She seemed fully awake now, sitting sideways with her legs crossed, looking at her phone. One of her slippers was dangling precariously from her white-socked foot.
"Thank you." Yuhwa put her phone down and immediately started tearing open the package. Seeing that, I sat at my desk. I had something I needed to say.
"Hey, stop doing this to me from now on..." It wasn't a difficult thing to say. But turning those simple words into a complete sentence was proving difficult.
"But... Seo Hyein, you know. She’s a bit... off," Yuhwa said, biting into a Pepero stick. She had cut me off before I could even finish, as if something had just occurred to her. And the words she spoke were a topic that forced me to swallow the words I had intended to say.