Jeong Su-yeon
Hong Yu-ri was in the thick of her chaotic freshman year at Yonha University's Department of Korean Language and Literature.
The parade of class welcome parties had gradually forged her stomach into something that could hold its liquor, and the countless specimens of humanity she'd met while surviving the brutal first group projects of her life had slowly tempered her mental fortitude.
"Ugh, I'm so tired. Exhausted. Where did my campus romance fantasy even go?"
Even so, the dramas and follow-up variety shows of Ryu Yeon-woo — her high school underclassman and ultimate bias — remained the rain that fell on the hard soil of freshman life, a sanctuary for her heart.
Jin-uk hyung, put some water on the pot…
Today, as on so many others, she sat at her dorm desk with her laptop open to an assignment, her phone propped up beside it, replaying an episode of Summer's Table she'd already watched more times than she could count.
Amid this ordinary freshman existence, something had lately been weighing on Hong Yu-ri's mind — a burden she'd picked up when she visited her old high school on Teachers' Day and accepted a favor from one of her former instructors.
The school had devised a grand plan to boost its metropolitan university admission rate by pairing seniors who'd gotten into good schools with underclassmen aiming for those same universities, creating a mentor-mentee system. The underclassman assigned to her was a kid named Kim Jun-su. She'd already known him, but ever since they'd been paired as mentor and mentee, he kept popping into her thoughts — messaging her several times a day.
Tap. Tap-tap-tap.
Hong Yu-ri's fingers flew across her phone screen.
She could have just ignored him if he was annoying her, but somehow the thought that he was an underclassman aiming for her school kept her answering anyway.
Between the constant check-ins — Did you eat?, Are you feeling okay? — she'd start to wonder, Wait, does he like me?, only for a message like this to snap her back to reality. He was just a high school underclassman dreaming of Yonha University. Yu-ri relaxed.
She sent the reply, set her phone down — and a response came almost instantly.
He'd slipped casually into informal speech and steered the conversation toward Yeon-woo.
"There he goes, sneaking in the casual talk again."
Yu-ri had known since their school days that Jun-su was Yeon-woo's closest friend — she'd been unofficial fan club member number one, after all. Hearing bits and pieces of Yeon-woo's daily life from a fan's perspective was a nice side benefit of the mentor-mentee arrangement.
She typed Are you casually talking down to me again?, then deleted it.
Yu-ri worried that lecturing a kid only a year younger might make her look like a stuffy old fogey.
"Ugh, why do I even care how I look to this kid? Why am I worrying about that? Seriously!"
"Hmm?"
Her roommate, still woozy from last night's drinking, lifted her head at Yu-ri's involuntary muttering.
"Nothing, unnie. Go back to sleep."
"Mmmph."
Kim Jun-su stared at the dry, one-word reply with a dejected face and went back to his problems.
What if Noona Yu-ri gets a boyfriend before I even get into Yonha?
Come on, is that really the issue? Getting in is hard enough as it is.
Jun-su shook his head to clear the thoughts and started working through the problem that had stumped him, step by step. But the eyes of a high school boy in love had no room for studying. The white was just paper; the black was just ink.
Mid-problem, he glanced sideways — and there was Yeon-woo, with his picture-perfect face, tearing through his workbook without the slightest hitch.
Man. You've already got the face and the body. Can't you just share a little of that study genius, buddy?
"Hmm? What is it?"
Sensing the stare, Yeon-woo looked over and flashed a bright smile.
"Nothing. Dude, don't just smile at me like that. My heart can't take it."
Yeon-woo snorted a laugh at the completely random remark, half exasperated. Jun-su, undeterred, heaved a sigh deep enough to sink the floor beside him.
Is this kid hitting puberty like So-hyun did?
Yeon-woo tilted his head at him, puzzled.
Time passed, and the June mock exam arrived in full force. Students receiving their scores let out a collective wail of despair.
"Haa… It went up, sure, but it's still iffy."
Jun-su was no exception. His score had clearly improved since March, but whether it was good enough to abandon early admissions and go all-in on the CSAT was a question that needed serious thought. Seong-sik's scores were actually better than his.
Jun-su decided it was time for a last resort.
"Hey, uh… Yeon-woo-nim?"
"Hmm?"
Yeon-woo set down his book and looked at him.
"So, um. There's something I wanted to ask."
Yeon-woo watched Jun-su hesitate, then spoke first.
"Want to study together at your place until the CSAT?"
"Huh? For real?"
Jun-su's eyes went round at Yeon-woo beating him to the punch. Of course Yeon-woo had noticed the heavy sighs pouring out of the seat next to him.
"I don't know how much help I'll be, but let's try studying together."
Jun-su's eyes welled up with emotion.
"Dude! Thank you. I'll prep a full-course snack spread for you every single day!"
"Nah, skip the snacks. That just means more work for your mom. I've got a diet to maintain."
"Our school's number one student is tutoring me. I've gotta do something. I swear my loyalty!"
Yeon-woo had taken first place in the school rankings on this mock exam too, and serious rumors were circulating on campus that he was an alien. Sports, studying — he excelled at everything. The bonus rumor was that the only reason he couldn't sing was that he wasn't used to Earth's music yet.
And so Yeon-woo began spending about two hours after school studying privately at Jun-su's house, together with Jun-su and Seong-sik.
Kim Yeon-ji, Jun-su's older sister by three years, found it genuinely heartwarming. Her little brother had spent every waking hour buried in PC games, rambling about ranked matches and other childish nonsense — and now that he was a senior, he'd finally gotten his act together and started studying.
Yeon-ji had taken a leave of absence before starting her senior year of college and come back to her parents' house to pad her résumé for job hunting. She was currently attending a TOEIC academy.
Today, as usual, she came home from class — only to find a pile of unfamiliar men's shoes scattered across the entryway.
A deep, inexplicable rage boiled up from somewhere in her gut.
Did he bring his friends over to game again?
And here she'd thought he'd finally gotten his head on straight. Unbelievable.
She strode down the hall and flung open Jun-su's door.
"Hey, Kim Jun-su!"
Jun-su and Seong-sik, seated on either side of Yeon-woo and listening intently to his explanations, along with Yeon-woo himself, all turned to stare at the wide-open door.
"Noona?"
"Oh — hello. I'm Ryu Yeon-woo, Jun-su's friend."
Yeon-ji froze with the door still hanging open.
"Wha—aaah?!"
The completely unexpected situation, combined with the full-force visual assault of Yeon-woo's face, wrenched a scream out of her before she could stop it.
"Noona, what was that weird noise?"
"N-nothing. Just study hard."
Slam!
She shut the door — then cracked it open again a moment later.
"Kim Jun-su. Get out here for a second."
At his noona's quiet hiss through the gap, Jun-su stepped out into the living room. Yeon-ji grabbed him and unleashed a rapid-fire whisper.
"Hey! What is this, what is this? When I asked you to get me an autograph you completely blew me off!"
"Come on, he's my closest friend. What do I need an autograph for? You can just see him in person."
Jun-su's shoulders climbed with a sudden surge of smug pride.
"Is there anything you want to eat? Should Noona cut up some fruit for you?"
"Out of nowhere?"
Jun-su's eyes went round. This was the same noona who'd never once cut fruit for him — who'd beaten him up just for sneaking a single snack.
"Out of nowhere? What are you talking about? When you have a senior in high school for a little brother, this is just what noonas do. Now get back in there and study. Hohoho."
Yeon-ji trotted off toward the kitchen.
"What is she even saying…? She doesn't even know how to cut fruit."
Jun-su shook his head and went back into the room.
Knock-knock.
They'd been studying for a while when a knock came — a sound no one in that house had ever heard before — and Yeon-ji entered.
"Kids. Study while you eat some fruit. Heheh."
A big plate of cut fruit. Crooked knife marks everywhere. The three boys had never in their lives seen fruit carved into shapes like these.
"Thank you, Yeon-ji noona. We'll enjoy it."
Yeon-woo offered her a warm-eyed smile of gratitude.
"Y-yeah. Uh, right. Just say the word if you want more. Haha."
Yeon-ji left with her ears visibly burning red.
"Haa."
Jun-su sighed and shook his head.
"Whoa. Cutting it like that, she must've thrown away more than half of it."
Seong-sik's complete lack of tact from the seat beside him only deepened Jun-su's sigh.
Jeong Su-yeon, like Yeon-woo and his friends hard at work studying, was a high school senior. The moment filming wrapped on her latest movie, she went straight back to her books.
Raised under strict parents, she'd never so much as dreamed of stepping out of line. From her days as a child actress onward, she'd always been the picture of proper living.
Even while working in the entertainment industry, Su-yeon studied diligently enough that top-tier universities in Seoul were within realistic reach. She'd spent her whole life doing only what her parents told her to do. Her biggest act of rebellion to date had been asking a male actor she'd just met on set for his number — the first time in her life she'd ever done such a thing.
They'd exchanged numbers, but Ryu Yeon-woo hadn't contacted her since. Jeong Su-yeon spent every day debating a dozen times over whether she should message him first. Even now, she couldn't understand where she'd found the courage to do something so unlike herself that day.
It wasn't that she'd asked for his number out of romantic interest, exactly. He was the same age as her, yet he commanded the entire set with an aura that she found genuinely impressive as a fellow actor. More than anything, she'd simply wanted to be friends.
Ding—
She snatched up her buzzing phone, only to find an ad for some mobile game.
"Huu…"
Shaking her head at how out of character she was being, Su-yeon decided to just message him first.
Tap. Tap-tap.
She opened her phone and started typing.
Bzzzt—
As always, Yeon-woo had finished his after-school study session-slash-tutoring at Jun-su's place and was heading home to his own apartment next door when he felt the vibration and checked his phone.
A greeting, complete with a cute rabbit emoji.
Ah, right. We did exchange numbers.
He'd wanted a friend his own age in the same industry — and then completely forgotten Su-yeon existed.
