Snack Warning: Total Student Council
The abbreviation for the Total Student Council. Most students had no real idea what the group actually did. They weren't particularly interested, either. It didn't seem like they accomplished anything all that impressive. But even so, there was one event that drew the most visible enthusiasm from the student body. It was this:
[Hearty Snacks for You, Exhausted from Exam Season!]
[Prepared by the Total Student Council for All Our Fellow Students!]
[Midterm Special Snack Event!]
Date: April 13th & 14th, 11:00 ~ 17:00
Location: Food Trucks in Front of the Media Building
Suhyun had come across the announcement not through any online notification, but in the Spirit group chat.
She was the one who had shared it, opening the floodgates.
Everyone except Suhyun, who had checked late, had already decided to go together. He quickly moved his thumb to join the group.
The Spirit members who had agreed to meet in front of the club room began trickling into the space one by one. When Suhyun pushed the door open by the handle, he was greeted by a rare sight: the 23rd and 24th generations gathered together.
“Hana unnie! I’m thinking about trying out the student council next year. What do you think?”
“If you want to stay in Spirit, there’s no way. Doing both at once will completely wreck your GPA.”
Hyejeong and Hana, who could be considered the current female guitar line of Spirit, were chatting softly. Juyeon, perhaps because Kang wasn’t there yet, was sitting in the drum chair, but she showed no sign of looking up from her phone.
“Oh? Suhyun oppa. Hello.”
“Hey.”
When Hyejeong gave a small nod, Suhyun raised his hand slightly in return.
“Hey. Lee Suhyun. Perfect timing. Come here.”
Hana, apparently needing an ally, pulled Suhyun over and sat him down beside her.
“What?”
“Hyejeong says she wants to try the student council. What do you think?”
“...If she wants to do it, shouldn’t she just go for it?”
“Hey!”
Hana’s canvas shoe pressed firmly down on Suhyun’s sneaker. This clueless idiot.
“No, my friend did the student council while staying in another club? She literally couldn’t enjoy any part of her own life, you know?”
Hana was starting to feel pathetic for dragging in someone she’d called an ally. Sigh. She wished someone like Seoeun unnie were here to properly educate this ignorant freshman. Taking on too many activities was never a good thing. It usually ended up burdening both sides. Begging for understanding here, begging for understanding there. And if personal practice suffered as a result, complaints were inevitable.
“Is that so? Hmm...”
Hyejeong, who had seemed about to agree, stroked her chin with a troubled expression. Humans were creatures who didn’t listen well until their heads were cracked open, after all.
“I’m not trying to scare you on purpose. I’ve just seen a lot of people like that.”
“Hiiii~”
Next to appear was Seoeun. As always, she greeted the members with a bright, cheerful smile.
“Hmm~ Is Kang the only one still missing?”
“Choi Kang. If he doesn’t show, let’s just ditch him.”
“I-I’ll just wait.”
Even after seeing him for over a full year, Juyeon was still terrified of Kang’s pranks.
“Let’s go!”
Kang burst through the door and waved them out naturally. The members poured out in a group. If they walked in a single file line they would have taken over the entire hallway, so they split into pairs and threes, forming a loose column as they moved.
Today, as usual, Juyeon and Suhyun were stuck in the “side dish” position at the very back of the procession.
“What are you looking at?”
Juyeon was still glued to her phone even while walking. Curious about what it was, Suhyun glanced over.
“Cookies.”
“Cookies?”
“Yeah. They have chocolate and almond flavors. I can’t decide which one to get.”
Juyeon wanted both. The crisp, nutty texture of the almond cookies was calling to her. But she also didn’t want to give up the moist, sweet chocolate chips.
“I see.”
A small chuckle slipped out of Suhyun. She had such a serious look on her face, yet the thing she was worrying about felt incredibly trivial by comparison.
“Then I’ll give you my cookie, Juyeon.”
“Ah, no. You don’t have to...”
“You said you wanted both.”
“But... you should eat yours, Suhyun...”
“Then I’ll split mine in half and share it with you.”
A fresh smile bloomed across Juyeon’s face.
“...Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.”
After passing the tennis courts, they arrived in front of the Media Building. Students were already lined up in a long queue. The snacks being handed out were sandwiches, drinks, and cookies. Considering they were free, it was quite a luxurious event.
The wait in line could have been boring, but the members chatted among themselves and the time passed quickly.
“Which cookie flavor would you like?”
When the female student wearing a blue student council badge asked Suhyun, he turned his head toward Juyeon.
“Almond.”
After confirming the order, Suhyun received the almond-flavored cookie.
“The weather’s nice. Should we just eat over there on the stands?”
At Seoeun’s suggestion, the Spirit members gathered and sat together on the bleachers by the main athletic field. Kang was weaving between them, looking around as if searching for something.
“Lee Suhyun!”
His heavy hand clamped down on Suhyun’s shoulder with enough force to crush it.
“Uh...? What?”
Suhyun had grown somewhat used to it by now and didn’t flinch at the strength.
“What flavor is your sandwich!”
“What was it again... that one... bacon affogato...”
“Ooh! That’s exactly the one I was looking for!”
If Juyeon wanted to try every cookie flavor, then Kang was the one who wanted to sample every sandwich flavor.
“Mind if I have a bite?”
His tone made him sound almost like a senior from the military. Still, Suhyun had no intention of refusing, so he readily handed over the sandwich he had only taken one bite of.
“Mmm~ Thanks.”
“...Huh?”
A question mark floated above Suhyun’s head as he received the sandwich back. Where did it go...? He clearly remembered it having only one bite taken. The sandwich was now half gone. The scene could only be described as devastating.
“It’s good, right?”
Kang gave a thumbs-up. Suhyun didn’t want to spit in the face of someone smiling like that, so he stayed quiet, but he stared at the sandwich with a slightly gloomy feeling.
My sandwich...
How could one bite be that big? If he took two bites, the whole thing would disappear.
Kang seemed to have found his next target and made the same request to Hana.
“Ugh, get lost! You’re just going to say ‘just one bite’ and then devour the whole thing again!”
The well-trained teaching assistant had an equally impressive response.
“Where’s your loyalty?!”
“Why would I show loyalty to a thief!”
In the end, Hana successfully defended her own.
“Seoeun noonaaa!”
“I’ll give it to you for 3,000 won!”
“You’re selling something they gave out for free?!”
“And stealing something they gave out for free is okay?”
It looked like Suhyun was the only one who had fallen victim. Juyeon, who had been quietly chewing beside the dejected Suhyun, slowly held out her own sandwich in front of him.
“...Want a bite?”
Juyeon could empathize with the pain. She had suffered through it countless times last year. How many snacks had she lost because she couldn’t say no! Seeing Suhyun’s devastated expression, a deep desire to look after her comrade welled up from within her.
“It’s okay... I’m fine...”
There was no rule that said just because your own was taken, you could take someone else’s. Suhyun forced a smile and tried to decline the offer.
“I’m really okay with it, I promise?”
With a look of firm determination, Juyeon brought the sandwich even closer to Suhyun’s mouth. Suhyun, who couldn’t refuse either kindness or malice, opened his mouth. The chicken, nicely mixed with lettuce and teriyaki sauce, slid inside.
And Seoeun, who had witnessed the whole thing, poked Hana in the side while she was talking with Hyejeong.
“What?”
Instead of answering, Seoeun jerked her head toward Suhyun. The image of the two of them feeding each other like lovers was burned into Hana’s eyes.
“Huh...?”
An involuntary exclamation. It definitely didn’t contain any joy. But once a sound slipped out like that, it couldn’t be taken back. Watching Juyeon shyly offering the sandwich and Suhyun accepting it...
“Unnie, what’s wrong?”
Hyejeong asked when Hana didn’t respond to their conversation.
“Oh. Uh. What was it again. So last year...”
She continued the story in a rambling way, but she couldn’t focus. Because she was trying to piece together the context. The reason Park Juyeon had to feed Lee Suhyun a sandwich. The puzzle clicked together in Hana’s mind as she recalled what Kang had brushed past.
He got hit by Kang!
Darn it. If I’d seen that live, I could have given Suhyun a bite of mine.
She felt a late surge of regret and frustration at her inability to multitask.
Whether or not she knew about Hana’s inner turmoil, Suhyun smiled brightly at Juyeon.
“Thanks.”
“Y-you always have to be prepared when giving Kang a bite.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Suhyun broke the almond cookie in half. He placed the crescent-shaped piece into Juyeon’s hand.
“Thank you.”
A faint smile curved at the corner of Juyeon’s mouth as well. Watching her, Suhyun felt a warm glow in his chest at the thought that this was what friendship felt like.