#90. Afterparty
#90. Afterparty
I think this is probably the same for everyone, not just architecture majors, but right before my presentation, I couldn't really pay attention to what others were doing.
The explanations of projects that others had diligently prepared over the semester were just noise to me right now.
Until my turn as the fifth presenter came up, I was frantically mumbling and memorizing the script I'd printed out.
"This Regeneration Project reinterprets the previously proposed concept of regeneration in a slightly different way..."
I kept scanning the manuscript over and over because if I didn't, I'd probably stumble.
But honestly, how eloquently you spoke wasn't that important.
"Alright. Next. Lee Min-ho-ssi?"
The Long-haired Professor-nim called my name while flipping through the roster.
"Yes. Here."
"Alright. Go ahead and start."
"The concept of my project this time is..."
Just like my prepared manuscript, I calmly explained how my project had been conceived and developed.
But as expected from the professors.
They weren't even looking at me.
What they were intently examining was my Architectural Model.
One professor even stood up from his chair, squatted in front of my model, and turned his head this way and that, scanning every corner.
The other Professor-nim were half-listening to my explanation.
One even glanced at the panel once and then checked their phone.
"This is my final render shot. And with that, I'll wrap up my presentation."
I finished my presentation sharp on the dot in 3 minutes and took a deep breath.
"Yeah. Alright. I heard it well. Minho student. But if you look at the floor plan..."
Alright. Now it was time to get beaten down.
Honestly, there probably weren't many people who felt wronged about getting critiqued.
That was just how architecture design classes were.
They could never end with something like "Great job," or "Just keep doing it like this."
In fact, that was the professors' job—to find the shortcomings in students' work and advise on how to improve it further.
"This would have been better if you'd done it this way."
"What do you think it would have been like if you'd thought of it this way?"
That was the basic gist, but how radically it was expressed varied wildly from person to person.
"Ah... it's boring."
One Professor-nim, arms crossed, looked at my work with a bored expression.
That line. That one. "It's fucking boring." That.
That was the absolute worst comment you could hear.
Once you heard that, there wasn't even room to retort.
It was no different from novels.
If a reader goes [Ah... no fun...], I really lose my words too.
If they nitpick plot consistency or say it'd be better with this scene, at least I could take note or leave a rebuttal comment.
But calling it no fun left me speechless, and my energy just drained away.
Arguing why it wasn't fun would be ridiculous.
Still, aside from that one rude asshole, the others spoke gently, so I felt relieved.
This was at least a clean pass... not quite, but not bad.
Once my presentation ended, I went straight to find Na-eun.
Na-eun, who had her model displayed at the far end of the hallway, seemed to be reviewing her script just like me.
"...Hey!"
Since she looked focused, I grabbed her shoulder as a prank!
"Eek! You scared me!"
Na-eun really hadn't noticed me coming and jumped in surprise, nearly dropping the phone she was holding.
"Aigoo. Teacher-nim. You got really startled, huh?"
As I giggled, Na-eun looked up at me with an annoyed expression.
"Did it go well?"
"I got fucking demolished. What do you think."
With a wry smile, Na-eun patted my back understandingly.
"It's okay. You did well."
It had been so long since someone looked at my project and said I did well.
Of course, it was probably just empty words, but even so, this poignant feeling.
I wanted to hug Na-eun right then and there.
But with our entire grade milling around the hallway right now.
I couldn't do something so shameless.
"Yours looks like it went well too?"
Worried someone might call her anything but golden hands, Na-eun's model and panel looked way more refined than mine.
Clean layout. The cute, detailed touches typical of girls.
But Na-eun looked dissatisfied somewhere and gave a lonely smile.
"I might get even more nagging than Oppa."
To wait for Na-eun, who had a long wait ahead, I went down to the basement cafe and came back.
With a sandwich and a coffee to go, Na-eun thanked me profusely, really grateful.
Na-eun munching away at the sandwich with her small mouth.
Her cheeks puffed up like a squirrel stockpiling food, she must've been starving.
"You were really hungry?"
She ate so well, I regretted not getting more chocolate or bread.
"I haven't eaten anything for nearly 24 hours."
Aigoo... I'd scarfed down some ramen in between.
Looks like Na-eun had starved herself rotten during the Design Deadline.
"Want me to get you some other simple food?"
I could shuttle like this as many times as needed.
"Nuh-uh. No. Later, I wanna eat something delicious for dinner with Oppa."
Na-eun shaking her head.
With bread crumbs on her mouth, saying something straight out of pure love material, she was too too cute.
Haa... Na-eun-ah...
Oppa will buy it for you...!
I'll sell Erotic Novels and buy you lots and lots of delicious stuff...!
If she just didn't drop those weird, baseless sex jokes.
Sometimes she said things that even made me, an Erotic Novel author, stick out my tongue in shock, making her seem out of her mind.
Even after the snacks, it took another 3 hours until Na-eun's turn.
"Alright. Han Na-eun-ssi."
"Yes."
Na-eun, clearly tense.
"Go ahead."
"Um... The concept of the project I conceived this time is..."
Na-eun wasn't great at presentations and stumbled a bit, but she finished without issue.
Actually, the later in the evaluation order, the more tired the professors got, and due to time constraints, they often skimmed points quickly.
"Still, the concept feels the weakest in Na-eun-ssi's project. It feels like the model came first and the concept followed?"
"Ah... Yes..."
"Didn't you get that feeling while working on it, Na-eun-ssi?"
Under one professor's intense marking, Na-eun hesitated with a troubled expression.
"It felt... kind of like that, I guess."
"That's something you really have to be careful about..."
That professor didn't give the others a chance to speak and just dumped his personal grad school stories on Na-eun.
Naturally, with limited time per student, Na-eun's turn ended with the Professor-nim's tales from his grad student days.
"Good job."
I awkwardly smiled and patted Na-eun's shoulder for her hard work.
"Ah... seriously... somehow it's over."
Yeah. That was it.
This feeling that somehow, it's finally done.
Na-eun leaned her face on my shoulder.
I just slowly stroked her hair.
"End! Of! Se! mester!"
Even though we probably hadn't slept much, Na-eun was in a great mood, hopping along toward the bus stop.
As soon as Na-eun's turn ended, we bolted from the College of Architecture without looking back.
Sure, it was technically End of Semester, but we still had to clean the Design Room and retrieve our models, but today, no more time in that building.
"The road's slippery. Na-eun-ah. Don't run."
Mid-December.
With ice patches everywhere, it was prime weather for a nasty fall.
"Oppa Oppa. Wanna drink?"
"Booze?"
"Yeah. Everyone goes out for After-party drinks after Design Deadlines, right?"
I actually preferred sleeping at home over After-parties and didn't drink much on the day, but if my girlfriend wanted to.
"Yeah. Let's go drink."
"Pork belly and soju?"
Ah... can't resist that.
"Let's go all out!"
The place she and I ended up was a pork belly joint near Na-eun's house.
As the grill sizzled and heated up, my stomach growled even louder.
"Na-eun-ah. I'm starving."
"No. Oppa ate that sandwich earlier."
"I thought it'd be fine since I had ramen during the day."
Soon the pork belly arrived, and Na-eun immediately set it up expertly.
How are you even good at arranging food on the grill too?
Neatly placing two strips of pork belly side by side, she started grilling sliced garlic and kimchi in the corner.
"Oppa. Don't just watch, pour some soju."
As I admired internally, Na-eun scolded me like what are you doing.
Guess I should at least do this.
I poured soju into her glass and filled mine too.
"Cheers!"
As I held out my glass, Na-eun smiled brightly and clinked back.
"Cheers!"
Starved, we two dove into the food like mad after that.
Pork belly grilled by my girlfriend was pure bliss. Bliss itself.
Maybe because we were drinking too, it tasted incredibly sweet.
Normally I'd whine that it went down like alcohol lamp fuel, but today it slid smooth as water.
Given the day, we drank with purpose, and soon four soju bottles were piling up on our table.
"Kuh!!! Na-eun-ah!! Fuck! Leave of absence!"
I usually avoided swearing in front of her, but the booze made profanities slip out.
"Yeah! Sex!"
You crazy bitch.
But I was drunk enough to take it.
"Sex!"
I felt nearby tables staring, but who cares.
We were already the Kiss-mark Girl and Kiss-mark Guy who'd rolled deep in the pits.
"Haa... Oppa, if you take Leave of absence, you'll do Serialized Updates like crazy, right?"
With her face ripe as a persimmon, Na-eun struck a flower pedestal pose.
"Hey. You think Serialized Updates are easy? This shit."
"Aaaang. Do iiiit."
Her whining looked so cute.
But... weird...?
...Since when was Na-eun my reader?