You've Got a Lot Piled Up
Between hanging out with Chae-yeon and managing school life, midterms were suddenly only two weeks away. Right now, the two of us were studying together at a café.
She had mentioned that she probably wouldn't have time to come to Gwangju later, so we might as well study together while we could.
As expected, our majors—Korean medicine and programming—had zero overlap. Still, just being in the same space created a focused atmosphere, letting each of us concentrate on our own work.
“Ah, damn it.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Error popped up. Ugh, this is wrecked.”
“Programmers all react the same way when they see an error, huh.”
“I told you. When red text shows up, it feels like your life just got a red line drawn through it.”
Even though I’d solved this problem recently and remembered the code, an error had appeared anyway. Maybe because it had been a tough one—the same result wasn’t coming out.
I flipped through my book and searched on Google to find where I’d gone wrong.
“Ah, the command has the wrong alphabet.”
“So it was just a typo?”
“Yeah. Happens sometimes. When the code gets long, typos sneak in easily.”
After fixing the mistake, I glanced over my laptop at the book Chae-yeon was studying. It was packed with Chinese characters. While I was wrestling with English, she was surrounded by hanja.
And it wasn’t just the characters—there were anatomical diagrams covered in unfamiliar terms. I’d always thought coding wasn’t meant for humans, but Korean medicine looked just as brutal.
“Man, that textbook is straight-up a weapon.”
“Yours isn’t any better. Why is your book so thick?”
“There’s another major textbook even thicker than this one.”
“In these dangerous times, carrying that around would probably keep you safe.”
“It’s basically a stab-proof vest. Too safe, honestly.”
Staring at the laptop in the same position for so long had left my neck stiff. As I rolled my head around to loosen it, Chae-yeon stood up and placed her hands on my neck.
“I’ll press here, so try turning your head slowly.”
“Like this? Whoa, that feels good. What is this?”
“Pressing here while you move your neck helps release the tight muscles.”
“Ma’am, this is amazing. Insane.”
“This is the touch of a Korean medicine student.”
It worked far better than just rolling my neck on my own. Korean medicine really was something else.
“You know how to do that too? The thing where you make the bones crack?”
“Chuna therapy? Of course I can’t do that yet. I’d probably send someone to the grave if I tried now.”
“Then I’ll get it from you once you become a doctor. I’m not ready to die yet.”
“I can do something similar, though.”
With that, she pressed her elbow firmly into the spot between my shoulder and neck.
Crack!!
She applied steady pressure, and with a satisfying pop, the stiffness melted away.
“How’s that? Feels good, right?”
“The future of Korean medicine in this country looks bright. You already know how to do this.”
“You were tense, weren’t you? Looks like you broke out in a cold sweat.”
“A little. You said you’d send me to the grave.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not actually going to kill you.”
The way she smacked me around sometimes made it seem like she was trying to. Those surprise punches of hers were no joke…
Just thinking about it made my eyes squeeze shut.
“Oh, right. This is the math I’m studying right now.”
“Linear algebra? Hmm, vector spaces?”
“Yeah, but it seems like it goes a bit deeper. Thankfully, the midterm range looks manageable.”
“I only learned vector stuff in high school, so there’s a lot I don’t know either.”
We took a short break and opened the math book to look through it together. Even though she claimed not to know much, her tutoring experience showed—she picked up the concepts pretty quickly.
“We’ve already been at it for three hours, Chae-yeon.”
“Yeah, why?”
“Want to go to karaoke?”
“I’d like to, but… you’ve still got a lot piled up, don’t you?”
“Future me can deal with that, right?”
“I’ve got a mountain of work too. Let’s study one more hour, then go.”
“One hour? Deal. One hour of full concentration, coming right up.”
The thought of freedom after just one more hour made my hands and brain move faster than ever. I was finally understanding how important breaks really were. Knowing this was the last stretch seemed to double my study efficiency.
“Done!! Let’s go to karaoke!!”
“Let me just finish this problem first. I’m almost there.”
“Okay, got it.”
While I packed up, I watched Chae-yeon battle with her problem. Her expression kept shifting in real time—brightening, then darkening again. That “I think I got it” look would turn into a frustrated pout when it turned out she didn’t.
“Cute.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Nothing. I didn’t say anything.”
Why did my inner thoughts keep slipping out whenever I was with Chae-yeon?
“I’m done too!! Let’s go.”
“We should be able to stay at karaoke for about an hour today.”
“Really? Then should we sing for two hours instead?”
“Be honest. You’re a machine, aren’t you? How else are two people supposed to fill two hours?”
“Once you start, two hours goes by in no time. You just haven’t tried it.”
My doubt about actually doing two hours vanished the moment we arrived at the karaoke place. She really did pay for two full hours.
“Ready to blow off some stress?”
“Yesss!!”
“Then let’s go!!”
Chae-yeon’s first song was intense. It was the kind of track that let you vent stress, but not exactly the best choice for an opener. If she belted out those high notes right from the start, how was she planning to keep going later?
“Cruel!!”
“Hoo!!”
“As a woman!!”
“Hoo!!”
“Don’t leave me behiiind!!”
She really let it rip. Studying must have been incredibly stressful for her to hit those notes so cleanly. Even after all that screaming, her voice sounded completely fine when the song ended. At this point, was she actually a machine?
“Wow, that felt amazing. Your turn.”
If she was going to pick a song like that, I figured I should match the energy. I chose a song from my favorite artist and switched it to a male key.
“While darkness was all I had, I ran until I was breathless.”
“Never say ‘time’s up’!!”
“The edge of the boundary isn’t my end.”
“Nice!!”
“Something ripples beyond the fence—maybe a star no one knows.”
“I wanna wanna be there, I’m gonna gonna be there!!”
While I sang, Chae-yeon cheered me on just like I had for her. Thanks to her energy, my high notes came out smoother than usual today.
“Whoa, you’re really good? I guess switching to male key makes everything easier.”
“I switch because I’m confident in male key.”
After that, the karaoke room descended into pure chaos.
“Look at me, I’m fine—even if I fall and crash, I’ll just get back up and climb again!!”
She belted out some insane high-note rock.
“Jealous of other rappers, staring from the opposite side—their swagger was a hundred percent bluff, they just sucked everything up like they were at ten pro, looked scripted, tension up, gotta do it right.”
Then came the lightning-fast rap. She sang everything that could relieve stress, regardless of genre. Thirty minutes. An hour.
Before we knew it, only three minutes remained. When she’d paid for two hours, I’d doubted it was possible—but it turned out fine. Humans were tougher than I thought.
“Last song. What do you want to sing?”
“Since it’s the last one, let’s do a duet. You pick, Chae-yeon.”
“Hmm, should we go with something calm for the finale?”
The song she chose was a famous track featuring a female singer in a collaboration. This was… a love duet.
“I forced out a goodbye to you, now left alone in this night without you, I’m still officially missing you~♬”
Chae-yeon started the first verse without any hesitation. Then it was my turn. Still not fully processing the situation, I sang along.
“Our time apart was long and dark like the nights I waited for you. I hope this isn’t the end—I wanna go back~♬”
As I sang, I looked at Chae-yeon. Our eyes met, and she smiled softly at me. Her sweet voice filled my ears, and her gaze—full of endless smiles—stayed locked on mine.
A brief flutter stirred in my chest. Instinctively, I knew this feeling was different from anything I’d felt before. I hoped this fluttering in my stomach would never stop. I wanted it to last.
“I always feel this whenever we sing, but songs are really nice.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“We studied and played, so should we go eat?”
“Let’s do that.”
“Hey, why have your answers been so short since earlier? It feels like I’m talking to a wall.”
“Maybe because we sang for so long. My stamina’s running low.”
“Sheesh, even playing around takes stamina. If you want to keep hanging out with me, you’d better build up your endurance first.”
My heart was pounding like crazy and wouldn’t calm down. Every time I looked at Chae-yeon, my heartbeat grew even more erratic. Watching her walk beside me, brushing her hair aside, a smile naturally formed on my face.
Now I understood.
I liked Chae-yeon.