Tteok-Twi-Sun
The worst scenario I'd imagined never came to pass. In other words, there was no self-introduction hour, and they didn't hit us with a full day of classes on entrance day.
Right. This was how things should be handled, with a little flexibility. Back in middle school, every single year came with self-introductions, whether it was entrance day or the first day back after a break, and not once did they ever let us out early, not even on the last day of school. Compare that to our Haneul High School? Nothing but respect. I almost wanted to stand up and applaud.
"Give me back my mai. School's over."
"Mmm~. Pfft. No? Why should I?"
Se-ah hid her laugh behind the sleeve of my mai. Wait, she clearly said she'd give it back after school. More importantly, why did she keep sniffing it? There was nothing there but fabric softener.
"You said you'd give it back when school ended..."
"Did you actually believe that? You're funny, my little Star~."
She rested her chin on her hand and watched me with a grin. Could you stop that? Your guardian deities were glaring at me like they wanted me dead. At this rate, I might get dragged into an alley on the way home and beaten like a dog.
"Kidding. I'll give it back."
"Oh. Okay."
I'd half wondered if she'd refuse and just keep my mai forever, so it was a relief she was handing it back. At least I wouldn't get docked points for a uniform violation. ...Then why wasn't she giving it back? She said she would.
Se-ah slung her bag over her shoulder and stood up, still wearing my mai. Where are you going? Give it back. I said I don't want demerits.
"Not now~. Follow me and I'll give it back."
"Ugh, seriously?"
School had ended early today because of the entrance ceremony, since we were let out at lunchtime. My plan had been to go straight home and play Legend of Royal, better known as LoR. And now that plan was evaporating before my eyes. My mai was currently in Se-ah's possession... If I wanted it back, I had no choice but to dance to her tune.
"Wearing two mai would be hot, though."
I shouldered my bag as I stood. Se-ah looked at me with an infuriating smile.
"I'm only wearing one? Mine's in my bag~."
"Ugh, that's so messed up."
Wear your own. Why are you wearing mine? I couldn't say it out loud, not with all those eyes boring into me. It's a lonely thing, being an assa with no friends to call on. It would be nice to have reinforcements of my own. Grumbling to myself changed nothing.
"Se-ah! Where are we going today?! School let out early!"
"Should we hit Olive Youth? You said you ran out of cleansing foam last time, remember?"
"Tteokbokki sounds good too~."
"Ji-hyeon, you need to stop eating..."
"I never gain weight, so who cares!"
"You lucky bitch."
Somewhere along the way, three handmaidens had closed in around Se-ah. No, Lee Ji-hyeon, Lim Woo-rim, and Oh Hee-soo. They crowded around her, chattering away, and the Se-ah at the center of it all wiped away the infuriating smile she'd been giving me and just laughed like a normal girl.
So she got along normally with her friends. In a way, that was a relief. Watch any drama and there's always that one girl burning with envy and jealousy, and she gets her comeuppance eventually, of course. Se-ah and her friends didn't seem to have any of that. This was the girl who used to trot along behind me everywhere, and somewhere along the way she'd made a whole crowd of friends.
'Still... give me back my mai...'
While Se-ah looked delighted, my mood was sinking. My free time... my ranked games! What a shame.
"Hey, hey. Let's go get food. It's lunchtime."
"Noona, I want a hamburger!"
"Nobody asked you."
"Whatever Se-ah wants. I don't care."
Ryu Chang-ho, Hwang Jae-beom, and Jeong Si-hyeok joined the group too. Quite the lineup. Seven people gathered in one spot, so no wonder the stares were converging on us from every direction.
"Mmm~. Then food first? Like Chang-ho said, it's lunchtime~. Let's eat before Olive Youth, Woo-rim. We've got plenty of time."
"Sure. So what are we eating? What's the plan?"
"Hmm... Ji-hyeon's dying for tteokbokki, so maybe a snack bar?"
Se-ah mulled over Woo-rim's question for a moment, then turned to look at me. Why are you looking at me all of a sudden? Now everyone else is staring at me too. Oblivious to my plight, Se-ah put on that same infuriating expression.
"Ibyeol. Snack bar okay with you?"
I could almost hear the unspoken ending: and what will you do if I say it's not? I nodded, unenthusiastic. I was in no position to refuse, not with my mai still in her hands... I had to follow.
"Great. Let's go~."
"Hamburgers next time!"
"Sure~."
Se-ah headed straight out of the classroom, six people falling in behind her.
"What are you doing, jjintda? Coming or not?"
"Coming."
At the classroom door, Se-ah glanced back and tilted her head. Reluctantly, I followed. And it was only day one. Brutal.
Yoon Se-ah sneered at Han Ibyeol trailing behind her and laughed to herself. She liked how smoothly the plan kept unfolding. She hadn't planned on taking his mai, but Ibyeol's unexpected stunt had ended up snagging his own ankle instead. Everything was working out far better than she'd originally imagined; she'd meant to cook up some excuse or other to keep him with her after school, but he'd come along so obediently that she couldn't help feeling pleased.
'Star's scent...'
She pressed the sleeve of the mai lightly to her nose, careful that none of the others noticed. The sleeve carried his natural scent, with fabric softener layered faintly beneath it. Woody. How could a person's scent be woody? The more Yoon Se-ah breathed it in, the more she felt herself becoming addicted.
"Se-ah? What's wrong? Are you sick?"
"Huh? Oh, no. It's nothing. My nose just itches."
At Ji-hyeon's worried question, she smiled and pulled the sleeve away. If anyone caught her sniffing Ibyeol's sleeve, it wouldn't end at death by embarrassment. ...Maybe she should just confiscate his mai and wear it every day at school. Then she could keep his scent and that trademark sulky face of his in view all day long. She knew it was a bad thought, but for some reason she wanted to torment him.
The mind of Yoon Se-ah, top of the entire school even in middle school, the girl they'd called a model student, was ticking along in a slightly twisted direction. Her childhood friend, reunited after so long, had grown up so handsome and so cute that desire seemed to seethe inside her.
'I want to pinch those cheeks, just once...'
Midway through these impure thoughts, the group arrived at their destination before she knew it: a snack bar on the downtown strip. Unlike the ones in the market, it was a branded chain, so the prices ran a little high. But Yoon Se-ah wasn't worried. She'd always been steady with her spending, and treating Ibyeol to something like this once in a while was well within her means.
'Ah, I want to see him eat tteokbokki. Back then, his cheeks would puff up round and full when he ate.'
Just as that murky desire began smoldering again, Lee Ji-hyeon conveniently severed it, dashing ahead into the snack bar.
"Tteokbokki!"
"Did she get possessed by the ghost of someone who starved to death without tteokbokki in a past life or something?"
"She says she wants it. Be understanding, Chang-ho."
"Understanding my ass. She's just a pig."
"Ji-hyeon, wait up!"
The banter drifted in from beside her. Se-ah said nothing for a moment, then stole a glance behind her. Han Ibyeol had come along, mai or no mai. He was staring at nothing but his phone.
'His phone... in the middle of the street... so dangerous...'
Yoon Se-ah's brow creased faintly; she moved to scold him, then stopped herself. It was his first day, after all. The Ibyeol of old had followed her word without a peep of complaint. The Ibyeol of today? No telling. So Yoon Se-ah switched up her approach: she ushered the others into the snack bar first, then closed in on Ibyeol.
"Hey, jjintda. What's so interesting?"
"Hey, jjintda. What's so interesting?"
Se-ah had crept up on me before I knew it. She tilted her head slightly, studying my phone screen. Her hair brushed just beneath my chin. Did this girl have any concept of personal space? Her scent drifted up, strangely pleasant. I forced myself to ignore it.
"Just playing a game."
"A game? What game?"
"An idle game. I was bored."
"Hmm..."
Watching my screen, she let out a small breath.
"...Guess you weren't watching anything dirty."
Her voice was pitched just loud enough to catch. Who watches that kind of thing out on the street... More importantly, back off a little. I can't even see the screen.
"What's this game called?"
"...Reincarnate Even If I Die."
"I see. I should download it too. Does it have multiplayer?"
"No idea. I only installed it yesterday myself."
I couldn't tell why she was suddenly interested in this game, but she looked oddly pleased about something. More importantly, were we going inside or not? I was cold.
"Give me your game ID in a bit~. Oh, and your number too."
"...? Sure."
With that, Se-ah peeled away from me and went into the snack bar ahead of me. When I followed her in, I was greeted by the warmth of the heating and the stares of three boys. Their glares were vicious; you could have brined a whole person in them. Ryu Chang-ho's expression was especially entertaining, his face scrunched up in a full scowl. I supposed I couldn't blame him for being sour, given that I'd been chatting with Yoon Se-ah one-on-one. Not that it was my fault.
We split into two tables. Eight people, two tables.
"Ibyeol. Sit here."
"Se-ah. There's no room at our table?"
And normally, you'd split it boys' table and girls' table. Why are you trying to turn me into a girl... I'm fully equipped, thanks.
"Just grab a chair~. What are you doing? Not sitting?"
Urged on by Se-ah, I dragged a chair over from the boys' table and... sat down at the edge of Se-ah's table. Four girls. And one boy wedged among them. Was this right? The back of my head felt like it was about to become a field of thorns. It was an uncomfortable seat, but I had no choice. I needed my mai back, after all... You handsome fellas would just have to understand.
Apparently the others had already ordered before Se-ah and I came in, because the food arrived faster than expected. Tteokbokki, sundae, twigim, the full tteok-twi-sun spread, followed by fish cake soup and this and that. ...Could they actually eat all of this? The saying that high school girls were tanks didn't seem to exist for nothing.
"Before we eat~. Gotta take a picture."
Being a proper member of the smartphone generation, she took photos too. ...I just wanted to eat fast and go home.
"Jjintda. Your big sister here is treating you~."
"We're the same age. And my birthday's actually earlier—"
"Hush up and eat, hm?"
Yes. Of course, ma'am.
By the time I picked up my chopsticks, half the tteokbokki had already vanished. What the fuck, was this magic...
