If There Isn't One, I'll Just Make One
I let out a lazy sigh as I stared at the blinking text on my smartphone screen.
A faint, foolish smile of strange satisfaction tugged at my lips.
I'm Extra A, the kind of guy who's everywhere and nowhere.
That's the most accurate way to sum up this guy named Lee Woojin.
Sometimes in subculture stuff or anime, you see kids who make a flashy high school debut when they move up from middle school.
They ditch the glasses, style their hair, or suddenly reveal some hidden talent.
But nothing like that ever happened to me in real life.
I wasn't exceptional at sports, didn't have standout looks—just an average guy with middling grades and a middling face. A colorless nobody.
The kind of background character whose presence in the class is barely noticeable.
That was me.
If there's one thing that sets me apart from everyone else...
menhera
yandere
obsession
wreckage
confinement
gaslighting
...it's that my web novel app's search bar is plastered with these damp, stimulating keywords.
Someone might call it messed up.
But think about it.
In this vast world, I'm lighter than dust.
But in those stories, the protagonists are everything to the heroines.
They're so blindly devoted they hang on a single glance or breath from him, ready to drop dead without him.
In my everyday life where no one treats me special, that heavy, sticky obsession aimed solely at me? It's sweet vicarious satisfaction.
"Haa... why don't I have a girlfriend like that..."
I muttered under my breath, my finger hovering over the next chapter button.
"What're you looking at?"
The classroom's white noise cut off for a split second—or so it felt—as a chilling voice stabbed down from above me.
I jolted, slamming my phone face-down on the desk and whipping my head up.
A thick shadow loomed over my seat.
Someone stood there, arms crossed, looking down at me.
Baek Haeun.
The goddess at the top of our school's pyramid.
Everyone's crush, the untouchable queen bee.
"Could you not look at that creepy stuff at school? It's embarrassing for the people around you."
Her gaze dripped contempt, like she was staring at a bug.
She didn't wait for my reply—just tossed the words like ice cubes and turned sharply toward the front door.
"Haeun! Let's hit the vending machines!"
"Sure, what do you want?"
The voice that had frozen me thawed into spring breeze the moment she rejoined her pack.
She flashed her signature flawless smile, surrounded by friends, and slipped out of the classroom.
"...What a bitch."
I scratched the back of my head and picked up my flipped phone again.
That's my childhood friend for you—top of the world.
We used to roll in playground dirt holding hands as snot-nosed kids, but now that we're in high school? This is how it is.
Some guys from middle school who came up with us still poke me sometimes.
'Dude, aren't you childhood friends? Why so awkward? Did you fight?'
Beats me.
No big trigger or anything.
We just naturally figured out our ranks and drifted apart.
Of course, she still drags me to school every morning, so we're not total strangers. Annoys me sometimes.
I smacked my lips at my bored reflection in the dark screen.
"...If she just kept her mouth shut, she'd be pretty hot."
"Finish the math printouts by tomorrow. Dismissed. Salute."
"Goodbye, sir!"
The kids flooded out like the tide receding after homeroom.
Soon, murmurs and groans echoed from the hallway.
Obvious reason.
Rain hammered the windows outside.
Pouring.
Like the sky had a hole in it.
I vaguely remembered the morning forecast mentioning rain, but of course I hadn't bothered with an umbrella.
...Actually, works for me.
Even if I went home early, only my noisy little sister would be there to greet me.
I lounged alone in the empty classroom, leaning back in my chair.
Wait an hour catching up on webtoons or novels, and it'd stop.
With the rain as white noise, I dove back into the stimulating text on my screen.
Pouring.
...My optimistic mistake.
An hour-plus later, the rain hadn't eased—it was a full waterfall now.
Stick around longer, and I'd miss dinner too.
I grabbed my bag haphazardly and trudged down to the first-floor entrance.
Changed into indoor shoes and stared blankly into space.
Gauging the moment to sprint through the downpour.
That's when it hit.
"What're you doing? Still haven't gone home?"
That familiar voice sent a chill up my spine.
I whipped around, startled.
Baek Haeun stood there, prim-faced, holding a massive black umbrella.
...Why's she still here?
I'd figured she'd left with her crew an hour ago.
Why stick around school?
I didn't voice it.
"...No umbrella. Was just gonna run."
She clicked her tongue softly at my lame excuse.
Then, without giving me a chance to respond, she stepped up beside me and popped the umbrella open wide.
"Let's go."
"Huh? Oh... yeah. Sorry."
Sharing one umbrella on the walk home.
Our shoulders nearly brushing in the cramped space.
Only the rain pattering on the fabric rang out loud.
If someone saw a guy and girl alone under one umbrella, they'd get the wrong idea.
Too bad—everyone knows we're childhood friends since we were kids.
No pink rumors here.
Though we got along fine in middle school.
The old classmates who came up with us still ask sometimes.
Why so distant?
Hell if I know, guys.
Sigh. No point dwelling.
Just wanna get home quick.
We trudged through puddles in awkward silence.
"Suah."
Haeun spoke abruptly.
"Huh?"
"Your little sister. Doing okay?"
Her casual check-in nearly drowned in the rain.
I blinked, then nodded.
"Oh... yeah. Same as always."
"...I see."
That was it.
She didn't say more.
I didn't push the talk.
Soon, our familiar apartment complex came into view.
Funny—we live in the same building.
Right next door, doors facing each other.
Our routines overlap inescapably from wake-up to bedtime.
A cursed kind of bond.
Elevator dinged.
We stood at our doors.
"Uh, thanks. For walking me."
I mumbled awkwardly.
She glanced over indifferently.
"Whatever. Just pack properly next time."
With that, she slammed her door shut like it was a statement.
I stared at the solid metal a moment, then punched in our code.
Dodged the rain at least... but something felt off, more bitter than usual.
Beep-
Door unlocked with a cheerful click.
I opened it—and a drowned puppy launched at me.
"Oppa! You're home?!"
Not a puppy—my little sister, Lee Suah.
One look at her, and I sighed.
Hair plastered like seaweed, blouse dripping, soaking, turning water onto the entry tiles.
"Haa... kid. Didn't you bring an umbrella?"
"Hehe."
"Hehe my ass. Get to the bathroom before I whoop you."
I scowled, nagging.
She grinned mischievously instead.
"Oppa, we're both soaked anyway—wanna shower together for old times' sake?"
"Do it and die."
"Kidding, kidding! Ahahaha!"
She scattered water everywhere, darting to the bathroom.
I shook my head at her retreating back.
Peeled off my wet uniform, flopped onto the bed.
Fatigue crashed in.
Even if she's comfy, some sibling jokes cross the line.
Staring blankly at the ceiling, a silly fantasy flickered through my mind.
Haa... I really want a girlfriend.
Not some basic cafe-and-movie type.
A girl who knows I'll forget my umbrella on rainy days ahead of time.
Warms me up waiting alone at the school gate.
Her love's compass fixed blindly on me alone, like a broken needle.
Even if her obsession's pathologically intense—as long as she's the center of my world.
Wait. Who waited for me without an umbrella in the rain...?
Haeun's face flashed in my head.
I snorted and shook it off.
Nah. She just needed a pack mule 'cause holding her own was annoying.
Can't help my tastes blurring reality and fiction.
My instincts crave that thrill—what can ya do.
"Oppa! I'm done!"
"Yeah, coming."
Her shout—I grabbed a towel and headed to the bathroom.
Hot water melted the chill from my body.
Steam fogged the air as I lathered shampoo, sinking back into that sweet, twisted daydream.
Haa... obsession, regret, wreckage. A girl going insane over me—does she really not exist? I'd treat her so well...
Then.
Ding-dong—
A dull buzz from the intercom.
Who the hell visits this late on a rainy night?
"Who is it~!"
Suah scurried from the living room to ask.
Then, faint through the rain—a trembling voice seeped through the door.
Baek Haeun.
My childhood friend, who'd icily stormed into her own place earlier.
Pouring.
Amid the shower pounding my head, lightning struck my brain.
The perfect, prickly girl hovering closest to me.
That's right...
I wiped my face roughly with the towel and slowly turned toward the door.
If there's no girlfriend to my taste...
In the mirror, my lips twisted into a creepy arc that unnerved even me.
...I'll just make one myself, right?