Please Don't Compare!
Even if Lee Suhyun and Park Juyeon had sincerely wished to quit, there was no way Lee Seoeun would ever accept it. And that flimsy scrap of paper had zero chance of carrying any real weight. At a glance, it looked like someone had gone and poked at two people whose glass mentalities could shatter from the slightest brush.
The one thing the pair had in common outside of Spirit was the Economics department. Knowing the two were in the same team-project group, Seoeun had successfully narrowed it down to one of the unnamed classmates in that circle as the prime suspect. Part of it was Seoeun’s own cleverness, but the other major factor was how pathetically limited their social circles were—making the culprit almost laughably easy to guess.
“So you really can’t tell me who it is?”
When both of them just kept fidgeting and refused to name anyone, Seoeun let out a short sigh.
“Ugh… Look, we don’t think you two are uncomfortable or a burden or anything like that at all. So please, seriously—stop with the desertion declarations.”
It was already the 23rd generation, and two members had actually left. This year alone, Suhyun had already produced one resignation letter at a drinking party. Having nearly received a second one from Juyeon, the president was tired of breaking into this particular cold sweat.
“Hi!”
The person who opened the door with a bright voice was Yoon Hana. She walked in on what clearly looked like a lecture from Seoeun, with Suhyun and Juyeon sitting on the sofa in perfect posture, listening obediently.
“Did something happen?”
Completely in the dark, she dragged a chair over and sat down beside them.
“No. Nothing much.”
It was just a trivial little incident. If another problem popped up later, they could deal with it then. That was what Seoeun thought. Today there was a far more important item on the agenda.
“I’m here!”
When Choi Kang burst through the door as well, the Spirit members immediately got to work organizing the plan for tomorrow’s combined first- and second-year MT.
“Assembly is at 9 a.m. sharp! Sangbong Station!”
Seoeun scribbled the schedule across the whiteboard. They discussed what time they would arrive and where they would do their grocery shopping.
“Then we can just call for pickup from there.”
“How much meat should we get?”
“Hmm… The first-years ate a ton last time, so maybe we should buy extra?”
The 23rd generation was treating the first-years like children who needed looking after, but the truth was they didn’t have all that much experience themselves. The gap between twenty and twenty-one wasn’t as vast as they liked to pretend.
“So about five kilos?”
“I don’t know—maybe around that much?”
“Okay. Five kilos it is.”
It was the very definition of an amateur meeting.
“Ah~ When we go this time, we’ve gotta drink sooo much~”
Hana flashed a happy smile, clearly looking forward to it.
“What are you on about~ Hana, you’re a total lightweight~ You can’t even drink half of what Juyeon can.”
Seoeun looked at her as if she were ridiculous.
“That’s not true! Juyeon, honestly, I’m not that bad, right?”
Her round eyes sparkled like rubies, full of trust-seeking hope.
But Juyeon was someone who never minced her words. She also took a certain pride in her drinking ability.
“Comparing yourself to me… is kind of…”
Hana froze. The rest of the members burst out laughing.
“Bwahahahaha! Ah~ This is exactly why I can’t lose Juyeon~”
Seoeun pressed her own cheek against Juyeon’s in open affection. Choi Kang, apparently finding Hana’s confident collapse hilarious, openly gestured that he was thoroughly enjoying the show.
Irritated, Hana whipped her head around and glared at Suhyun.
“Hey! Lee Suhyun! Do you drink well?”
“Me? Uh… I guess… about average…?”
“What’s your limit!”
“Thinking back to the first welcome party… I think I can handle more than two bottles of soju…”
For Hana—one bottle was a lethal dose. Her pouty lower lip stuck out in clear complaint.
“Ugh, why do you drink so well too…”
Spirit’s 23rd generation official lightweight: Yoon Hana. Her place in the alcohol hierarchy showed no signs of changing anytime soon.
“The first-years seem to drink pretty well too~ Looks like Hana’s not cut out to play the reliable senior~”
“If you die early you get to sleep in a bed! Total win!”
Opportunities to tease Hana—the band’s strict practice enforcer—didn’t come often. The members seized the moment and piled on.
Watching the scene, Suhyun couldn’t help the smile that bloomed across his face.
“Okay! I’ll blast the notice out to the first-years in the group chat!”
Once Seoeun had neatly filled her notebook with the plans and schedule, today’s bonding session came to an end. Normally they would have cracked open a few drinks, but tomorrow was the MT. If they wanted to drink themselves senseless, they needed to spare their livers tonight.
The members left the club room one by one, saying their goodbyes. Just as Suhyun grabbed the doorknob, Juyeon stuck close behind him.
“…Um.”
Juyeon’s hand caught the hem of his shirt.
“Yeah?”
Suhyun, who had been wearing his headphones and hadn’t noticed her, spun around.
“…Can we talk for a second?”
There were so many people wanting to talk to him today. Suhyun nodded and suggested they head outside, leading Juyeon toward the playground.
“…Sorry about earlier.”
The night sky had grown dark. The two sat on a bench beside the basketball court. A pleasantly cool breeze brushed through their hair.
“Why?”
“That… the resignation paper… I wrote it on my own…”
The words written on it came back to Suhyun and he let out a small chuckle.
“It’s fine. But honestly…”
The things Juyeon had written were thoughts Suhyun had actually entertained himself. He hadn’t gone as far as considering quitting, but it was hard to deny that he was self-centered, oblivious, and lacking. Suhyun at least had that much self-awareness.
“I can kind of understand what you were thinking when you wrote it.”
“…Really?”
“Still, I don’t have any plans to leave Spirit yet.”
Seeing Suhyun smile at her, Juyeon felt another wave of self-loathing. Her mentality had crumbled far too easily from an outsider’s honest opinion. She thought she should apologize again, but Suhyun beat her to the punch.
“By the way, can I ask what you talked about with Kim Nayong earlier?”
It had been weighing on his mind the whole time. And it was what he was most curious about right now.
“Hmm…”
Should she tell him exactly what she’d heard? It definitely wasn’t something nice for Suhyun to listen to. Most of what Nayong had said was badmouthing him, full of warnings that accepting him into Spirit might bring them serious trouble.
“She just… said she wants to get along with you again…”
As expected. She didn’t want to repeat the nasty parts. Juyeon only passed on the part about Nayong wanting to have a serious talk with him.
“…I see.”
He could tell it was a lie at a glance. He might miss other things, but when it came to that troubled expression, no one knew it better than Suhyun.
“But I have no intention of going back to Purple Storm.”
He deliberately changed the subject instead of pressing further and looked up at the sky.
“…Why?”
“It just… wasn’t great. It was really different from what I expected.”
Juyeon saw an expression on Suhyun she had never seen before. He looked somehow very lonely.
“Then.”
Juyeon drew out the end of her sentence a little, eyes full of curiosity.
“Do you like Spirit… right now?”
“Yeah. I like it.”
Suhyun answered with a bright, unhesitating smile. The moment Juyeon met his deep black eyes, her fingers nervously twisted the strap of her eco-bag. She rummaged inside and pulled out a plastic bag. They were the glutinous rice donuts she had bought during the day to give him.
“H-here. These are for you.”
She had tied the bag so tightly that even after taking it out she spent a long time struggling with the knot before she could open it.
“Here.”
The tip of her sugar-dusted finger brushed the back of Suhyun’s hand.
“…Thank you.”
Last week she had given him cream puffs. Today it was donuts. Despite her small frame, Juyeon always carried sweet snacks in her bag. She had a cute side that made her seem like a character straight out of a manga. If past lives were real, she might have been a gentle fairy.
“Do you like donuts…?”
Juyeon watched Suhyun chew without eating any herself.
“Yeah, I do.”
“I’m glad.”
The corners of her mouth lifted slightly.
“Then I’ll give you one more.”
She took out another donut and placed it in his hand.
The worries she had been carrying since morning finally melted away. A tiny, two-handed-sized feeling of satisfaction bloomed inside her.
“The MT is going to be fun, right?”
While Juyeon was quietly rejoicing inside, the conversation had stalled, so Suhyun simply said the first thing that came to mind. It was an ordinary, harmless question—yet it possessed more than enough destructive power to completely shatter Juyeon’s happiness.
She had only just started getting close to the second-years, and now she had to go on an MT with a bunch of people she barely knew…!
“…I wish today would never end.”
To Park Juyeon, the newly arrived freshmen were no different from the next wave in a defense game.