Selectives
Halloween had passed, and November had arrived.
November had suddenly become a hectic month.
Of course, the midterms were long over, but the final exams in mid-December were still ahead. And as first-years like me, we had to decide on our elective subjects for sophomore year.
The choice itself had to be locked in by the end of November, so the school had grown a bit chaotic because of it.
The electives you pick now would determine the departments you could apply to in university later.
I had already set my sights on business administration, but there was still one problem.
First, I had chosen Korean literature and composition for language arts.
For math, I went with calculus-based tracks and planned to take calculus and algebra.
But the real headache was the exploration subjects.
Two exploration subjects were required in total.
And the tricky part was that I should pick one from science and one from social studies.
So right now, I had narrowed it down to physics and political law.
The problem? Both subjects were ones I hated.
Of course there were subjects I didn’t hate… but I simply hated calculations from the very start.
That meant I preferred biology or Earth science over physics.
Political law and the like… they were basically the same as the social studies class I was taking now, so they’d probably be easy.
Still, I couldn’t promise anything.
But at least I had already decided my career path, so I could complain freely.
Seonghyeon and Donghyuk both looked utterly stressed out.
That was why we had gathered for our long-awaited barbecue hangout and started venting.
Of course, even while eating, we were grilling meat at an all-you-can-eat place.
“Haa… my life is ruined…”
“It’s fine, I’m ruined too. Just not as much as you.”
“You damn bastard…”
“Donghyuk, what elective are you choosing?”
“Me? First, I’ll take calculus and just push all the exploration subjects.”
“Exploration subjects?”
“I have to do physics, but can I even handle it?”
“Yeah… I guess.”
“Seonghyeon, what about you?”
“Me? I’m thinking of taking calculus and then all the exploration subjects.”
“No social studies?”
“Yeah, I’ll just push all exploration instead.”
“Where are you aiming for?”
“I want to be a programmer. Programmers are in the science track, so I need all exploration subjects.”
“Ugh… that’s tough.”
“Later I’ll have to do calculus. Quiet.”
Then the question turned to Minseong, who was quietly grilling the meat.
“That’s a shame. Anyway, Minseong, what are you doing?”
“Me? I’ve decided to go liberal arts.”
“Which department?”
“Just… diplomatic? I’m thinking about it.”
“Oh! Makes sense, since your parents work in foreign affairs.”
“It’s not like there’s no choice. Then what about you, Siwoo?”
“Me? Business administration.”
“Ah… yeah.”
“You’re right about that.”
All of them nodded as if they understood.
Since we had known each other since middle school and knew our parents ran a company, it was only natural.
So we continued chatting while grilling the meat.
Then.
“Hey, when we graduate from university, Siwoo, you have to get me a job!”
“What?”
“Look, I’m going to be a programmer, so you’ll get me a dev job. Minseong’s going to be a diplomat, so you’ll hook him up with foreign trade stuff.”
“Hey, why am I left out?”
“You? You’re unemployed right now, dummy.”
“Suddenly turning me into a bachelor?”
“Yeah~ once I’m unemployed, that’s it!”
“Hah, that’s too harsh.”
“Then what are you going to do?”
“I’ve already decided.”
“What?”
“I’ll only tell you guys. I’m going to be a librarian.”
“You? Can you even do that?”
“Of course I’m going liberal arts. You’ll see if it’s long or short!”
“What?”
We chatted for a while.
Mostly about our careers and futures.
And before we knew it, we were all laughing until the meat was almost done.
Then we moved everything to plates and I was about to wrap some lettuce around my meat.
“Hey, Siwoo. So what did you do with Sia on Halloween?”
“Eh…?”
Suddenly the arrows came flying back at me.
Before I could even explain, they started piling on.
“What? Asking questions now?”
“Emergency! This guy is super suspicious!”
“You crazy bastards…”
I hadn’t even finished defending myself before they already assumed I had done something with Sia.
“Damn, my appetite just disappeared.”
“Really? How can you eat meat when your appetite is gone?”
“These idiots…”
Once they started drawing attention, I felt the stares from everyone around us growing stronger.
Of course, the place wasn’t crowded and the kids had been quiet, but my face was definitely flushing.
Just as I was wondering how to stop them from piling on, I came up with an idea.
“If you’re that curious, just tell me honestly what you did.”
“Yeah, if you’re proud, go ahead and brag!”
“No…”
They kept pushing and I was getting flustered.
Then a thought hit me… maybe I could just leave out the part about Sia’s cosplay.
But if I mentioned the cosplay, they would bite and tear me apart, so I decided to skip that part.
“Just… we ate dinner together, watched a movie, and it ended. We hung out a bit and then fell asleep.”
“Fell asleep?”
“In the living room.”
“What did you eat for dinner?”
“Chicken. Pizza. Raw fish stuff.”
“Why raw fish then?”
“Sia’s dad wanted to eat it.”
“You mean he usually eats that too?”
“And what else? There wasn’t much. Even if you watched the whole movie, it wasn’t before eleven.”
“If you were a good kid, you wouldn’t stay up past eleven on Friday.”
“Sia wouldn’t just let Halloween pass without doing something big. Tell it straight.”
“…”
Normally I would have been done by now, but they kept pushing and it looked like it would take forever.
So I decided to tell the truth but with some changes.
“…”
“Haa… Sia was doing cosplay for Halloween and begging for candy.”
“What?! What kind of cosplay! That’s important!”
“It was Halloween, so she wore a witch outfit with a witch hat and all that?”
“Wow… even for her boyfriend, she did a cosplay event.”
“Damn, that’s annoying…”
Just then, I decided to ask the one thing I had been dying to know.
“So… is it really good that your girlfriend does cosplay?”
“…”
“…”
“…”
My words made even Minseong start staring.
It seemed like the meaning hadn’t come across, so I quickly tried to clarify.
“I mean… I was asking if doing cosplay for your girlfriend is a good thing.”
“Donghyuk, Siwoo’s stomach is full and he can’t understand anything. Explain it to him.”
“First, how happy it is that your girlfriend does cosplay…!”
Donghyuk launched into a speech.
He went on for about ten minutes, and the summary was…
“Basically… just doing cosplay is real love, and cosplaying your favorite character is like a proposal?”
“Exactly! That’s it!”
“This…”
“That’s just my opinion, but since she likes you a lot, you should think of it as her doing cosplay for you.”
“…”
Both Sia and I were doing it for each other.
But since I had no real experience, I hadn’t really felt how special Sia’s event was.
But hearing what Donghyuk and Seonghyeon said… I felt it again.
That Sia had done a huge event for me.
Because that part was important, as Seonghyeon said.
“Hey, just confess to Sia soon. Even while you’re not dating, you’ve already gone this far. I wonder how sweet it will get after you start dating.”
“Yeah, I’ll confess soon.”
“Really?”
“When?”
“That’s a secret. Who knows if you’ll blab about it.”
“That’s too much.”
“Really.”
“You’re exaggerating.”
“Enough, now it’s time for drinks. One each.”
So we went back to eating the meat we had been pushing aside.
After we finished the meat and decided to head home with the guys.
—Weeeiiing!!
My phone started ringing.
It was Sia, and since she had already called, I answered when I saw it was her.
[Siwoo, look to your right.]
“Huh…?”
I looked right and saw Sia standing there.
“Hey, your girlfriend’s here. Go quick.”
“Your wife’s here. Go already.”
“See you tomorrow.”
“…”
“Yeah, we’ll all see you tomorrow.”
Normally these guys who only went wild when I was alone with them were now quiet because Sia had come.
But since the conversation was getting long, I left them behind and crossed the street toward Sia.
“Why are you here?”
“Just… I missed you.”
“…”
Her words made the conversation with the guys earlier come back to me and I couldn’t reply.
What I could do was.
—Gently squeeze her hand.
“I’m still full, so maybe we should walk a bit?”
“Sure, okay.”
So we started walking down the street together.
Holding hands.
On the way home.
We had already talked a lot at school, but we kept chatting.
Then I suddenly remembered that Sia still hadn’t told me her elective.
“By the way, Sia, what elective are you choosing?”
“The same as you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I want to stay with you all the way.”
Sia said it with a bright smile.