Sports Festival (10)
I arrived at the classroom and immediately ran into Lee Yuyeong. No, she came bounding over with a beaming smile.
“Hi!”
“……”
“Hehe, I'm so excited for today's sports festival. Right?”
“Weren't you and Eunju betting on something?”
“What are you talking about?”
Yuyeong tilted her head innocently, like she had no clue.
I didn't know the full details, but I'd overheard her and Ha Eunju arguing, with Yuyeong telling her to stay away from me because of some promise they'd made. So I'd just thrown it out there, but sure enough, she was pretending like it never happened. Instead, unlike the past few days, she was being all friendly toward me now.
It was probably because of what happened yesterday... After school, she'd apparently overheard my conversation with Eunju from somewhere and twisted it however she wanted. She kept glancing at me with that sly grin.
In the end, things had gone back to how they were when I first met Yuyeong.
“Oh, Taeyang. See you later.”
No, it was definitely different from the beginning. Yuyeong just waved goodbye and headed off with her friends. Guess she had no intention of sticking to me.
At least without someone like Eunju around, she wouldn't go yandere anytime soon.
I decided to think about it later, dropped my stuff in the classroom, and headed to the field.
I could see rows of Mongolian tents lined up on the field. While searching for our class's spot, a girl with red hair caught my eye.
It was Ha Eunju.
“……”
“...Hey.”
The moment our eyes met, I tried to say something to ease the awkwardness, but...
“Hmph!”
Eunju snorted and ignored me. She was probably pissed because I'd rejected her confession yesterday.
After something like that, it felt too risky to thick-skinned my way back into being friends. Besides, we weren't really in a position to patch things up anyway.
“Taeyang~ Over here~”
Yuyeong, who'd gone ahead, spotted me and came to get me—only to run into Eunju again. She sidled up next to me and linked arms, all casual-like. I slipped away subtly, but Yuyeong acted like she didn't care, still grinning ear to ear.
It was a victor's smile.
Eunju ignored it completely, whether Yuyeong was clinging to me or not, and just walked off.
Guess she'd decided not to give a damn anymore.
For a second, I thought about going over and clearing up the misunderstanding from our talk yesterday, but I gave up.
It sucked getting misunderstood as liking Yuyeong, but Eunju wasn't the type to blab about losing. Sadly, rumors about me and Yuyeong were already spreading like wildfire in our class anyway, whether Eunju said anything or not.
Explaining wouldn't do shit. And approaching Eunju would just rile up Yuyeong for no reason.
Getting close to Eunju was dangerous.
“I told you from the start, you don't need to be friends with a girl like that.”
I wasn't sure if she meant for Eunju to hear, but Yuyeong whispered it anyway. Her face lit up with barely contained glee, savoring her victory.
Hmm... Things had turned out like this, but I still needed to clear the air. I decided to be straight with Yuyeong.
“Yuyeong, just to be clear.”
“Yeah? What?”
“I'm not really into anyone right now. Haven't chosen anybody.”
“Yeah~ Got it.”
Yuyeong nodded with a smile, like she hadn't heard a word.
“……I don't like you either.”
“Gasp! That's kinda shocking?”
I'd said it bluntly, but she just played it off with mock surprise.
“I'm not joking...”
“Hehe, I get it. You don't like anybody, right? That's good enough for now.”
Good enough...? I was terrified of when you'd flip to yandere mode.
But Yuyeong brushed it off coolly.
“Well, you'll figure it out on your own eventually.”
She hadn't gotten it at all!
The sports festival wrapped up without incident after that. In short, Yuyeong's affection shot up. I hadn't done anything—it just climbed on its own...
Oh, and by the way, we took first in the relay no problem. As the anchor, I passed the runner behind me and clinched it.
“Hope Sis does well too.”
Yuyeong was one thing, but now I was worried about my sister.
And the next day.
Pulkkot High School's sports festival.
Tension hung in the air as students in cheerleading uniforms filed onto the stage in a single line.
Kim Hayan was among them.
“Phew~ I can do this.”
Before going up, Hayan gave herself a few pep talks. She was usually calm, but she couldn't help trembling this time. Her friends had cheered her on, and her little brother had helped her practice late into the night every day—she wanted to nail it.
The pressure weighed on her shoulders, her heart pounding.
“Hoo~”
The stage started soon, and the music kicked in. They began the choreography, syncing to the beat one by one.
Surprisingly, Hayan blended seamlessly with the cheerleaders. She was pulling it off flawlessly, nothing like the tone-deaf klutz from the first practice.
Make the movements bigger.
Stretch a bit more here.
Her body remembered Taeyang's advice. His teachings had become flesh and blood, showing in the results.
She was doing great. Cheers and gasps from her classmates built her confidence bit by bit.
“Woooaaahhh!!!”
“Thank you!!”
Thanks, Taeyang. I did awesome thanks to you!
And just like that, Hayan's cheerleading was a smashing success. The crowd loved it.
“Whoa, they really went all out.”
“Yeah, everyone's killing it. Did we even have a cheer squad?”
“But isn't the girl on the far left super pretty?”
“The one with long black hair and a beauty mark on her cheek?”
“Was there a girl that gorgeous here?”
“Damn~ Should I try talking to her later?”
“Dude, don't even. With looks like that, she's gotta have a boyfriend.”
Of course, Hayan still had no idea why they'd picked her for cheerleading in the first place, but her popularity soared even higher.
“Seonwoo, Hayan danced great, right?”
“...Yeah... She's pretty.”
“What?”
“Huh? Nothing.”
“You just said she's pretty, didn't you? I'm telling Hayan later.”
“Iri, please let it go.”
“You're embarrassed, huh.”
“Ugh~ Seonwoo's mad now.”
“What?”
Seong Juyeon, who'd butted in just to be petty, turned away. She didn't love seeing him grinning at another girl, but... she'd let it slide this time.
We're doing the three-legged race together anyway. Just this once.
As per the game plot, Seonwoo's original three-legged partner got hurt, so he picked Juyeon to run with him.
*You're the most comfortable, anyway.*
She couldn't say no to his request. Juyeon smiled faintly, then smacked his back like it was nothing.
“Anyway, let's practice one more time. We gotta do it right.”
Juyeon dragged Seonwoo out to run through it again.
“Gahee, you were awesome at dodgeball.”
“Kya~! I totally fell for you! Who knew the prim little miss had that kind of power.”
“Come on~ Don't hype me up too much. Anyway, Hayan, you killed it too.”
“Yeah, thanks to you guys cheering me on.”
“And Taeyang's help too, right?”
The four girls were chatting away. The sports festival had finished part one, and lunchtime had arrived. They pulled out bentos from their classrooms or the snacks handed out during the event and started eating.
“Seonwoo's not around, huh.”
Like Hayan said, Seonwoo was MIA. Juyeon scanned around, looking for him.
“Where the heck did he go.”
As she grumbled, Juyeon spotted him first.
“Where were you?! I was starving to death because of you...”
“Ahaha, sorry sorry.”
And Juyeon stopped mid-complaint.
Seonwoo wasn't alone. He'd brought along a girl with long black hime-cut hair.
“Oh, Yuli, right? Nice to meet you.”
Min Iri, quick on the uptake, went over and greeted her first. The others knew about Cho Yuli too. Ever since Seonwoo met her before the festival, he'd make a point to say hi whenever he spotted her passing by. That meant the heroine crew naturally learned about her too.
They wanted to get close, and Seonwoo handled his greetings fine, but when anyone else approached, she got super shy and it was tough. Yuli subtly avoided the others too.
“Hi, Yuli?”
Hayan and Gahee went over to say hi, and Juyeon hesitated before giving a short wave.
“Yuli?”
“Uh... um... h-hi... uh...”
“Hahaha! Still so shy!”
Iri approached like it was no big deal. Yuli flinched and froze. She seemed scared of Iri's outgoing popular-girl vibe.
“Hey, girls. Mind if Yuli eats lunch with us?”
“Huh? M-me too?!”
Yuli jumped like she hadn't heard. Seonwoo looked at her, asking if it was okay.
Yuli panicked but couldn't refuse with everyone smiling and closing in.
“Of course you're welcome!”
“Totally, I've wanted to hang with a cute girl like you.”
“More the merrier anyway.”
Juyeon muttered reluctantly.
“If Yuli's cool with it... But shouldn't we ask what she wants?”
She said it, but they all knew it'd end up this way, so Juyeon let it go.
Sheesh... Picking up another girl.
Knowing Seonwoo's personality as his childhood friend, Juyeon figured he couldn't leave a loner alone. It was inevitable.
And so, the early-game Seonwoo crew from Love Chain—now complete with Yuli—formed for the first time. But the still-shy Yuli just listened through lunch, barely speaking.
The others tried talking to her.
“Oh yeah, what's your hobby, Yuli?”
“Huh?... Um... I...”
What hobby could she say without them hating her? Thinking they'd see her as weird. Offended. After agonizing internally, Yuli gave a safe answer.
“Just... desserts.”
“Desserts?”
“……Finding dessert places. Ah! I just look them up, that's all!”
No one said anything, but she blurted it out anyway, then glanced around nervously.
“That's a great hobby!”
Hayan jumped in first, excited.
“Huh?”
“I love hunting dessert spots too.”
“R-really?”
“Lately, there's this one...”
“Haha, here we go again. Hayan, you'll get fat someday.”
“Ugh... Iri, that's mean.”
“Even if you say that, Hayan's one of those who doesn't gain weight easy.”
“Yeah. It all goes to her chest.”
“Hey! Seonwoo's right here, what kinda talk is that?!”
Juyeon scolded, glancing at Seonwoo. His face was a little red as he pretended not to hear.
After that, Juyeon kept sneaking peeks at him amid the chatter.
“Hahaha.”
Seonwoo listened attentively, chiming in and laughing at the right spots. His eyes flicked between Hayan, leading the convo, and Yuli.
Hayan's talking, fine. But Yuli...
Seonwoo was paying Yuli way too much attention. Juyeon got it—he had to—but it still left a sour taste.
“Juyeon, everything okay?”
“Huh? Yeah, nothing.”
“So that teddy bear was super detailed.”
“...Yeah, I've had it.”
“Really? You too, Yuli?”
“It was... by chance.”
Before long, Yuli started warming up and joining in. Seonwoo finally relaxed, smiling warmly at her—oblivious to Juyeon staring daggers.
Lunch ended, and it was time for Yuli to head back to her class.
“Before you go, let's swap contacts.”
“Huh?”
“Yeah! We can hit up dessert places next time.”
“S-sorry... I...”
“Why?”
“Ah, no. Um... Yeah, let's swap.”
Yuli hesitated.
Hanging out's fine, but crowds still freak me out... I'll mention it later.
She didn't want to kill the vibe and seem clueless.
Soon, Seonwoo, Hayan, Iri, and Gahee exchanged numbers with her. Seonwoo's gaze turned to Juyeon, who casually pulled out her phone.
I don't really wanna...
Couldn't outright refuse, so she gave it reluctantly.
“Th-thank you... so much.”
“What're you talking about! Swapping numbers ain't a big deal!”
Iri, oozing social butterfly energy, brushed it off cluelessly. She had no idea what it meant to a loner to suddenly have friends.
Please be advised. The second part of the sports festival will begin shortly. Students participating in the group jump rope event, please gather at the center of the field in advance.
“Seonwoo, Gahee, fighting!”
“Do great out there. Especially Seonwoo—don't trip.”
“……See ya.”
Everyone was focused on goodbyes. Yuli waved and peeked at her phone screen with a happy smile.
Her chat app's friend list had jumped from 1 to 6.
And Seong Juyeon, standing next to her, happened to glance and muttered offhand.
“Huh? Isn't that Taeyang?”
“Huh? You know him?”