Reunion After Five Years
There are people who are kind to everyone. At their core, they have good hearts and treat others without discrimination. Morally speaking, that’s extremely admirable. But if you ask whether it’s desirable in human relationships, at least I’d say no. Being kind to everyone ultimately means you don’t consider anyone special. If you’re nice to all of them, there’s always a chance some self-absorbed person will get the wrong idea and suddenly go off the rails.
…And that person was me back in middle school.
“Hojin, are you okay?”
“The kids stole your milk again today, didn’t they? Here, share mine!”
“Hey! Leave Hojin alone!”
“Hojin! Want to eat lunch together today?”
“Uh…? You have something to tell me?”
In my second year of middle school, I confessed to Choi Suyeon. Like an idiot, I mistook her kindness toward me for romantic interest.
“M-me…?”
She had looked visibly flustered. Of course she did. She hadn’t been nice to me because she liked me—she was just nice to everyone.
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know you felt that way.”
My confession, born from a misunderstanding, ended with her gentle rejection. It was mortifying. I had gotten excited all by myself over nothing. To the me of that time, Suyeon was like the sun. The only girl who was ever kind to me. Our relationship grew awkward because of my one-sided excitement, though.
After we graduated middle school and went to different high schools, I thought we’d never see each other again… but here we were.
“……”
I slowly walked over to Suyeon. It wasn’t that I still had feelings for her. I was simply curious how she would react to the new me.
“Suyeon.”
She flinched and turned my way.
“Huh…?”
Her friends took one look at my face and immediately lost their minds.
“Oh my god… who is that?”
“Is he friends with Suyeon?”
“Wow… he’s insanely handsome.”
Suyeon stared at my face for a long moment before slowly opening her mouth.
“…Is that you, Lee Hojin?”
“Yeah, it is.”
I was a little surprised. My old face was almost completely gone, yet she recognized me instantly.
“Ah… it really is you, Hojin! No wonder that bag looked familiar!”
Ah, so that was it. Makes sense—I’ve been using this same bag since middle school.
“It’s been a while… have you been well?”
Suyeon stepped closer and looked me up and down.
“You’ve changed so much. You got taller, too… I wouldn’t have recognized you at all.”
“My growth spurt hit pretty hard.”
“Ahaha, seriously! For a second I thought you were a stranger! If it wasn’t for the bag, I might not have realized it was you!”
Her friends watched from behind with envious eyes.
“Wow… did Choi Suyeon save a country in her past life?”
“Why didn’t you introduce us to a guy like that!”
“I-I just found out too! I had no idea we’d end up at the same university.”
Suyeon briefly introduced me as a middle school classmate, then told her friends to head off first because she wanted to talk with me alone for a bit.
“Wow, so selfish, keeping him all to yourself.”
“Hojin oppa, let’s grab coffee sometime~”
“Look at her calling him oppa already.”
Once her friends left, Choi Suyeon brushed her hair back and asked.
“So you got into S University too, Hojin. What’s your major?”
“I’m in Visual Design.”
“I see. I’m in Advertising and Public Relations.”
It was the perfect department for Suyeon’s image.
“We might end up in some of the same classes!”
“Could be. I’ll be counting on you then.”
“Do you commute from home, Hojin?”
“No, I’m living on my own a bit farther away.”
“Oh, really? I’m jealous… My parents won’t let me live alone… I took the subway for two hours to get here today…”
Suyeon drooped her shoulders, looking exhausted.
“My older brother got to live on his own, but they won’t let me. Isn’t that unfair? Sometimes I just want to make my own money and move out.”
Honestly, I could understand her parents’ position. Once you live alone, even breathing costs money.
“So I’m thinking about getting a part-time job. Do you work at all?”
“I work at a convenience store near my place. Only when I don’t have classes.”
“For real? The owner must love you if sales are good.”
“I’ve already promised to turn it into the best convenience store in Korea.”
Suyeon burst out laughing.
“You’ve gotten really funny. It’s not just your looks—your personality feels different too.”
“Has it?”
“Yeah. You seem like a completely different person.”
She looked at me as if recalling the old me.
“…Seeing someone grow is such a happy thing. Hehe.”
Her smile was bright as sunlight. It definitely had the charm to captivate any guy’s heart, but my own heart didn’t waver. I knew she smiled like that at everyone else, too.
“How’s university life treating you?”
“I’m happy I get to study what I actually want.”
“Now that I think about it, you always loved drawing… Show me your stuff sometime!”
“…If the chance comes up.”
Class was about to start, so I turned to leave.
“I’ll head off first. See you around… Choi Suyeon.”
“Huh…? Oh, yeah! Sure!”
She waved, looking a little dazed.
“……”
As I walked toward the lecture building, I thought to myself that Choi Suyeon really hadn’t changed at all from the old days.
Meanwhile, after sending Hojin off, Suyeon lowered her waving hand and bowed her head.
“……”
Her heart was pounding like crazy.
What the…?
She lifted her head and stared at Hojin’s retreating back.
What is he…?
He was no longer the Lee Hojin she knew. The overflowing composure and confidence made it hard to believe he was the same person. Not to mention his looks.
Insane… he became ridiculously handsome.
She couldn’t stop the smile from spreading across her face. She had tried to act normal in front of him, but the truth was she had been half out of her mind the entire conversation.
“……”
To Suyeon as well, Hojin was the first boy who had ever confessed to her. Even though it had come from a misunderstanding, deep down she had been happy about it. That was why she had never forgotten his name and had kept it buried in her heart as a fond memory.
But… when she dug that memory back up, she found a treasure waiting.
That guy…
Suyeon stared hard at Hojin’s back and thought.
Does he still like me?
Her mind was already completely filled with thoughts of him.
The moment I walked into the lecture hall, every eye turned toward me.
“Wow, was there a guy like that in our class?”
“No idea. First time seeing him… I think I just fell in love.”
“He’s literally the human golden ratio. Amazing.”
Even after the professor arrived and class began, the whispering continued here and there. Throughout the entire lecture I received five different notes. They started with compliments about how handsome I was, then moved on to how cool my pencil case was, where my clothes were from, could they see my notes—every possible excuse to talk to me. Seeing it like this, I realized women aren’t that different from men; they just hide it better.
“That’s all for today’s lecture.”
I was starving, so the second class ended I sprinted to the student cafeteria for a very late lunch.
“When you’re a man, it’s tonkatsu.”
While eating, I wrote a post on the gallery. This time I stayed anonymous instead of using my “super handsome guy” persona.
“Hmm…”
For once, the last comment actually hit the nail on the head. Yeah. What confession? I didn’t have any feelings left for Choi Suyeon anymore. I had liked her because she was the only one who was ever nice to me, but now there were girls being nice to me everywhere I looked. Only after sorting out those thoughts could I finally say goodbye to my pathetic past self for good.
When I got home that evening, my phone was flooded with messages from girls.
“Wow…”
I scrolled and scrolled but the list never seemed to end.
“Did I give my number out to too many people…?”
Replying to all of them was a chore in itself. It was the moment I truly realized just how many women there were in the world. And even when I replied half-heartedly, they kept texting back.
Even if I sent just a single character, they’d reply. Even if I read the message and left them on read, they’d still text again.
“Hmm…”
Seeing how some of them were a little strange, I started thinking that handing my number out to just anyone might be a bit dangerous.
“…Huh?”
Right then, a familiar name popped up in the chat window.
“…Come to think of it, we did exchange numbers back then.”
She had kept my number saved all this time. I tapped on her message. A YouTube link was attached. The video title was Super Handsome Guy Schools the Subway Flute Murderer Whoa. It was currently ranked number one in rising videos, and the comment section was in total chaos.