The 'Kim Taeyang - Lee Yuyeong' Route (1)
“Trauma?”
Lee Yuyeong said that if things kept going like this, Taeyang wouldn't overcome his trauma. From Min Iri's perspective, Taeyang seemed perfectly fine. Of course, there could be issues he wasn't showing on the surface.
“Yeah, I actually found out on the day of the study session when we made up.”
To explain, Yuyeong had to start from the beginning—why she'd tried to snatch Taeyang's notebook in the first place. She described her initial misunderstanding: thinking Taeyang had bad intentions toward Choi Gahee and was approaching her for that reason.
“Ahahaha!”
Min Iri couldn't hold back and burst out laughing. Yuyeong, realizing how ridiculous her misconception had been, bowed her head in embarrassment.
“Our innocent little Taeyang would never do that.”
“Innocent?”
“He's blunt, sure, but super naive. Still gets totally played by his own sister.”
“I... I see.”
“Anyway, so what happened? You said you made up?”
“Yeah, but that's when I spotted the problem.”
Yuyeong soon wrapped up the rest of the explanation. Min Iri, who had been listening quietly the whole time, felt a complicated mix of emotions upon hearing the conclusion.
“Hmm... Isn't it too early to say for sure? Maybe he just wants to quit the soccer team on his own.”
“But he told me he doesn't like soccer. And yet he was jotting down notes and studying so passionately in that notebook.”
As someone from the school track team herself, Min Iri knew quitting sports wasn't an easy decision.
“It takes a ton of courage to walk away from something you've been doing. If he's made up his mind, we can't really argue.”
“But...”
“I get wanting to cheer him on since you're the soccer team manager, Yuyeong.”
Turning around someone whose mind was set wasn't easy. Especially if it really was trauma, like Yuyeong said. Pro athletes might get a mental coach to convince them otherwise, but Taeyang was just a middle schooler. If he'd lost his passion and found another path, no one could blame him.
“Ugh...”
“Yuyeong, why do you want Taeyang to get back into soccer so badly anyway?”
“Huh? Well...”
Why did she? Only now did the question hit Yuyeong. Back then, she'd been obsessed with the idea of making Taeyang love soccer again. Or before that... she hadn't wanted their conversation to end with Taeyang just promising not to mess with Gahee-unnie. It felt like nothing would change if it did, so she'd snatched the notebook to create some kind of excuse.
“Because... I'm the soccer team... manager...”
She mumbled uncertainly, lacking confidence.
Min Iri nodded. “Anyway, you couldn't just leave Taeyang alone, right?”
“Yes! But he keeps trying to keep his distance from me. Is it because he hates me for pushing soccer on him due to the trauma?”
“Hmm... Could be something else.”
“Something else?”
“Yeah, like maybe he's embarrassed and avoiding you.”
“...”
“Before transferring, he didn't have any close girl friends. You're the first, Yuyeong.”
“Really?”
Yuyeong's lips curved into a grin. A pleasant memory surfaced.
“Come to think of it, last time...”
Smiling, Yuyeong recounted her first meeting with Kim Taeyang.
“He said it'd be burdensome if I approached him just because he's pretty.”
“Taeyang can say stuff like that? He just tells me not to be annoying. Never gotten a single compliment from him.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. What if Taeyang actually likes you?”
Yuyeong already knew that deep down. His sudden declaration of cutting ties had thrown her off, but if he was trying to distance himself from a girl he liked because of trauma, it was heartbreaking. Was that why she'd wanted to help?
“He said he's been keeping his distance and acting all blunt with me?”
“Yeah. Even though he likes me, is it because I'm the soccer manager?”
“Or maybe he can't be honest about it and acts like that on purpose? Taeyang's the type who gets super shy.”
“Ah, I get it now. He's a tsundere, right?”
“Tsundere? Oh, yeah, something like that.”
Yuyeong nodded vigorously in agreement with Min Iri.
Yeah, there's no way Taeyang hates me.
“But if things stay like this, it'll be hard for you two to get along.”
“You're right. That's why I'm worried.”
Before they knew it, the conversation had shifted from Taeyang's trauma to how he and Yuyeong could get closer.
“I'll help you out, sis.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah. Hang out together, and you'll definitely warm up to each other. I'll set it up.”
“Thank you so much, unnie!”
And so, the alliance for the 'Kim Taeyang - Lee Yuyeong' route was formed.
“Thanks for the food~! Hayan, this is so good!”
“Eat up, Iri. You too, Taeyang.”
Dinner time. For some reason, Iri-noona had joined us at the table today.
“Oh man, this beef just melts in your mouth~”
“Don't just eat the meat—veggies too.”
“I am. Here, Taeyang, dig in.”
With that, Iri-noona picked up a big helping of veggies—not meat—with her chopsticks and plopped it right on my rice.
“Don't sneak those on there.”
“Fine, I'll eat some too. Bulgogi's seriously delicious, though!”
“Taeyang stir-fried it himself.”
“No way?”
Iri-noona looked at me, her face lighting up with genuine emotion.
“What?”
“Our Taeyang's all grown up~”
“Treating me like a kid again?”
Ignoring my protest, she ruffled my hair.
“Taeyang, why don't you just marry your noona while you're at it?”
“W-what?! That's ridiculous!”
“Aw, getting shy? So cute~”
No matter how used to her teasing I was from way back, this came out of nowhere and had my heart racing. Sure, everyone said Iri-noona was as innocent as they come, but she was undeniably pretty. I'd been ignoring the feminine curves peeking through her usual baggy gym clothes because we're friends... but what the hell was this?
“Huh? Your face is beet red for real. Do you actually see me as a girl?”
“As if!”
“Never thought you'd beat me to marriage, Taeyang. I'll help with the wedding prep full force.”
Suddenly, the teasing from both sides turned serious.
“Should I scout some venues?”
“Yeah, let's get married.”
“Huh?”
At this point, I had to learn to fire back casually. Keeping my expression neutral, I turned to Iri-noona.
“I'm seriously marrying you, Iri-noona.”
Not that it was exactly a proposal, but whatever. My dead-serious tone caught them both off guard—they blinked in surprise. Guess they never expected me to actually go along with it.
“What? Don't you like me, Iri-noona?”
“Uh... well...”
“You said it first, so take responsibility.”
It hit harder than I'd hoped. Iri-noona's face turned tomato-red as she stammered in panic. So straightforward, as always. Hayan-noona just watched the whole thing unfold with keen interest—rare to see Iri rattled like this.
“Got it. So you don't like me, Iri-noona. Can't force it if you don't.”
“N-no, that's not it! We're too young for that!”
Her exaggerated arm-waving reaction was hilarious. I should tease her like this more often.
“So, Iri, does that mean you'll marry Taeyang when you're old enough?”
Hayan-noona flipped sides just like that, backing me up.
“Ughhh...”
“Looking forward to it then, honey.”
My final nail in the coffin made Iri-noona collapse completely.
Thud—
She slammed her forehead on the table, her brown hair falling over her face. The tips of her ears, uncovered, betrayed her utter defeat.
“Didn't you just say I was aware of you as a woman?”
Iri-noona stayed silent.
“Anyway, dinner's done, so you do the dishes, Iri-noona.”
Hayan-noona and I had prepped the meal, and she'd gotten a free ride, so it was only fair. I headed upstairs to grab a change of clothes, then made for the bathroom. Right at the changing room door, I bumped into Hayan-noona.
She must be about to wash up too.
“You first.”
“Wanna bathe with noona?”
“No.”
“Tch—back when you were little, you followed me everywhere and we'd wash together.”
“That was when I was little. Now I don't wanna see you naked.”
“So mean.”
It was her usual whine, so I brushed it off—until someone piped up from behind, refusing to be outdone.
“He's bathing with me.”
I turned to see Iri-noona smirking mischievously, doubling down. She sauntered over, draped an arm around my shoulders, and said,
“Bathing with me's fine, right?”
“Sure thing, honey. Let's go.”
“Gah...”
One line from me, and her head drooped in total defeat again.
“Ugh... Fine! Y-you're really doing this?!”
What competitive fire had lit under her? She always shot back effortlessly at my teasing and even counterattacked, but now she was dragging me toward the changing room by the arm like she couldn't lose.
“Okay, that's enough.”
Hayan-noona stepped in to stop it.
“Aww~? But—”
“This isn't just joking around anymore.”
Obviously. Even as a prank, a guy and girl undressing in the changing room could escalate fast. I shut down any lewd thoughts before they started. Iri-noona seemed pretty bummed, so I'd ease up. Who knows what might happen if Hayan-noona couldn't rein her in.
“Calm down, Iri-noona. We're still too young, right?”
“Eek...”
I threw her own words back at her. No worries about flags or affection levels here—Iri-noona wasn't some yandere heroine. Her straightforward, carefree personality meant this teasing wouldn't trigger anything. She was probably just scheming how to tease me into submission without me fighting back.
“More importantly, Iri, didn't you come to tell us something?”
“Oh, right, forgot.”
I'd figured she just dropped by to mess around, but she had business after all. Rifling through her pocket, she pulled out four pieces of paper.
“Wanna go here next weekend?”
“Amusement park?”
“Yeah, I got these too. It's not far from downtown.”
“You could've just texted or called.”
“I was passing by, so I figured I'd drop in and hang out.”
So hanging out was the main goal. The four tickets she showed were all-access passes. Four of them—for Iri-noona, Hayan-noona, me... and who else?
“Oh, one person's someone I ran into—Yuyeong, who said she really wants to go.”
“Lee Yuyeong? Noona, how'd you even meet her?”
“Hmm... Bumped into her by chance on the last day of exams and swapped contacts.”
“O-oh... really?”
Yuyeong coming along threw me off. Should I bail? But Hayan-noona grabbed my chin excitedly and said,
“Sounds fun. Let's go nuts.”
“Sorry, but I...”
“Hm?”
“Got other plans next weekend.”
Iri-noona looked flustered, but that wasn't the issue.
“Oh well. Guess I'll have to find someone to replace Taeyang... Juyeon's busy that day...”
Hayan-noona's next words panicked me even more than Iri-noona.
“Maybe just Seonwoo...”
“I'll go!!!”
“Huh? But your plans...”
“These tickets are for Saturday, right? I mixed it up—my thing's Sunday! Haha.”
“So you can make it?”
Iri-noona double-checked.
“Yeah!”
No helping it with Yuyeong there. But no matter what, I had to stop Seonwoo and Hayan-noona from hanging out.