The Opening Party (3)
The opening party Yu Jiyeon had half-dragged me to against my will. Just as the first round of the after-party was winding down and I was starting to dream of escape, Oh Sujeong came looking for me.
"Gyeoul says she has something to tell you, oppa."
"...?"
Come to think of it, hadn't she tried to say something right after the assembly ended earlier, only to hold back? But the strange part was that Gyeoul herself was nowhere to be seen.
"Then shouldn't Gyeoul be the one coming over?"
"She wants to talk separately outside, apparently?"
What could possibly be so important that she needed a private space? I wasn't the only one who found it odd.
"What is it? Something you can't say here?"
Jiyeon asked, her eyes full of suspicion. Oh Sujeong's lips curled into her trademark playful grin.
"She could, but she's worried it'll put oppa in an awkward spot. Gyeoul's been waiting outside this whole time, so get up already, oppa."
Aha! So I could hear Gyeoul out outside and then naturally head home from there?
I was about to grab my phone and wallet when—swish!—Jiyeon snatched the wallet first.
"Come back."
"..."
This little... she'd known I was planning to bolt. If I just left, she'd get all sulky again by herself, so the escape was on hold for now.
"Hey, Gyeoul. I heard you had something to tell me?"
When I stepped outside the restaurant, Han Gyeoul was standing alone, pacing as she organized her thoughts. Spotting me, she got flustered all over again.
"Ah, sunbae. Well, it's just..."
Even after two hours of leeway, she still hadn't sorted out what she wanted to say? Watching her stand there awkwardly, fidgeting with her fingertips, I almost felt sorry for her.
"..."
Separate from that, being alone with her brought a faint tension hanging in the air. It felt a bit like...
You know those Japanese youth manga? The kind of vibe where, on graduation day, a junior who'd secretly admired you works up the courage to call you aside.
Pretending not to care, I stared hard at Gyeoul's face. Hmm... she was the classic example of what people call a "7 out of 10" girl.
Average height, neither tall nor short. A slim build that didn't particularly stand out. An unadorned simplicity that looked effortless, plus a quiet, demure atmosphere.
The funny thing was that Gyeoul wasn't really a "7" at all. She was clearly a special 9, yet she was strangely mimicking ordinariness.
Which made her all the more suspicious. Because girls like Gyeoul were usually the ones who lived the most exhausting lives.
Most people choose partners at their own level. If someone's way out of their league, they give up easily, but if the person seems a bit below them, they get lost in the fantasy of "maybe even I could...?"
Han Gyeoul was optimized for that. With her deceptively low hurdle, she must have been hit with confession attacks from every range of guys.
And yet she'd never dated anyone, apparently.
"Gyeoul? Don't overthink it—just say it."
"Well... I'm not sure how you'll take this, sunbae. Umm..."
If she was an assassin trying to blow my guts out, she'd better give up. Even the way she swallowed her words was so adorable it felt more like a reward.
I was starting to fantasize that I might actually get hit with an unexpected confession attack...
"Student council fees..."
"Huh? Student council fees all of a sudden?"
"You need to pay your student council fees."
"..."
That was it? I'd rather she tried to blow my guts out. Raising a person's expectations to the sky only to slam them straight into the ground?
"That's weird. I definitely paid my student council fees as a freshman. Doesn't that cover all four years?"
"It does. But while you were in the military, prices went up quite a bit. So at the general meeting at the end of last year, they decided to collect the increase from returnees going forward... I know this is awkward for you! But for now..."
"Ah, no. I get what you're saying. So how much more do I need to pay?"
All that fuss just to say this? But from Gyeoul's perspective, it really was a hard thing to bring up.
Because anyone could see I was a Voluntary Outsider who avoided the other students.
If I skipped every school event, I was the one taking the loss. But since I'd shown up at the assembly, Gyeoul had no choice but to bring it up.
Strictly speaking, she was just cleaning up after the higher-ups who should have handled it themselves.
"Thirty thousand won. The account is on the department TwoStar."
"I don't actually use TwoStar. Sorry to trouble you, but could you just read it out to me?"
"You don't do SNS, sunbae? If you give me your ID, I can send the link there..."
"I don't do any of it. Oh, I have ChatTalk. Couldn't live without that."
"Then if you give me your phone number, I'll send it there."
"..."
That was a bit of a problem. Yu Jiyeon had dragged me out against my will, but this was a one-day-only thing.
I didn't want my phone number getting out. Even just giving her my ChatTalk ID—given Gyeoul's position in the department—would turn it into public property in no time.
"Can't you just read it out? It's not like it's that many digits..."
"I could, but... are you doing this because you don't want your number or ChatTalk exposed?"
"When you ask so directly, it's a little hard to answer..."
Because this was kind of over-the-top, right? I wasn't a celebrity—why would I hesitate to share personal info with a junior from the same department?
I had my reasons, but the moment I explained them I'd be crowned a total nutcase. And Gyeoul's kind eyes started trembling like never before, as if she'd taken a bit of a shock.
Ugh... what was I doing to this good-natured kid?
After she'd worked up the courage to bring it up, if the first thing she saw was a wall, how much would it hurt her fragile heart?
"I'll give you my ID—can you send it there?"
I decided to stop at the ID, not the phone number. I never expected Han Gyeoul would be the first person I shared contact info with besides Yu Jiyeon.
And just like that, I took another step away from the university life I'd planned...
"By the way... did you come because of Jiyeon unnie?"
"You could say that. She showed up at my door and ambushed me—not much I could do."
"Earlier you said you canceled your part-time job to come, didn't you?"
"..."
Look at me. Gyeoul had brought up Jiyeon so naturally that I'd spilled the truth without thinking.
"Uh... Gyeoul? About that..."
"No, it's fine! Participating in events is a personal choice, right? There are plenty of returnee sunbaes like that... But you seem really close with unnie? You two kept sitting together earlier..."
"Jiyeon's just looking out for me because she feels sorry for me. We were pretty close once, but it's been so long now that I don't really know."
"I guess, but back then you said... ah, never mind."
Gyeoul clamped her mouth shut, thinking she'd misspoken. Knowing what she meant, I spoke as gently as I could.
"That's all in the past, isn't it? I don't have any lingering feelings for Jiyeon, and even if I did, it wouldn't change anything."
"But you never know what might happen, right? I heard Jiyeon unnie isn't seeing anyone right now."
"From what I heard, she's preparing for the LEET? She said today was her last event and that's why she came. Different years, different lives—this might actually be the last peak of us being classmates."
"I guess so..."
I'd noticed it before, but Han Gyeoul overrated me to a strange degree. The male sunbaes like Kwak Dongbin just vaguely envied how close I was with Jiyeon.
"Looks like the first round is wrapping up? So is there a second round?"
"We've prepared one, but most people will probably head home from here. Are you going home too, sunbae?"
"I've seen my classmates and the sunbaes, so I should get going. It's pretty weird to stick around when I don't know anyone, right?"
"But the whole point of these gatherings is also for department students who don't know each other to get closer..."
"..."
Was I imagining things if she looked especially lonely when I said I was going home? Watching this already slim girl seem to shrink completely made me feel like I'd committed some crime.
"Let's head back in and wrap things up."
Keeping a busy kid standing outside forever was cruel too. So I went back into the restaurant with Gyeoul.
"What did you talk about?"
The moment I returned to the table, Yu Jiyeon lit up her eyes and launched into an interrogation. What on earth had happened to her while I was in the military?
"She told me to pay my student council fees."
"Does that make any sense? Oh Sujeong dragged you outside just for that? She could've said it here."
"It wasn't Oh Sujeong, it was Han Gyeoul... And she really did tell me to pay the student council fees. Something about needing to collect the increase separately?"
"So you're not going to tell me properly till the end? Fine. You're having a drink with me tonight."
"What are you talking about? Everything we've been drinking so far wasn't alcohol, it was water?"
"Not just side drinks—real drinking. I was going to have a light beverage and leave, but no. You're coming to the second round too."
"...?"
Was she joking right now? Just coming this far was already a Shinkansen-level derailment of my plans, and now she wanted me at the second round too?
But gulp... Yu Jiyeon downed her last soju in one shot and steeled her resolve. No, seriously, I really did get hit up for student council fees!
Even after the first round ended, I couldn't leave. Honestly, I could've just ignored everyone and left.
But according to Yu Jiyeon herself, this was her last school event—I didn't want to be the one spoiling it from my end.
Besides, I figured there wouldn't be any major problems. From a quick look around, none of the male sunbaes had girlfriends in the department.
Guys don't usually show off their girlfriends unless they're pretty close. Only people like Yeongmin, stuck together through military service, get all dramatic about lifelong friends.
And even that Yeongmin had only pretended to be close to rip me off for money. So the male sunbaes were safe.
A few classmates might tag along, but that was fine too. Ever since "that incident," I'd been public enemy number one for a long time.
So I just needed to grab a separate seat with Yu Jiyeon, chat a bit, and leave. Plus I didn't want to miss the small pleasure of experiencing Yu Jiyeon's clinginess for the first time in my life.
"Alright, I'm heading in!"
As Gyeoul had said, once the first round ended, most people peeled off. Makes sense—spending a precious weekend with the same department faces you see every day would be a waste.
"What's this? You looked like you were leaving, but you stayed?"
The second round was the exclusive domain of the returnees, so Kwak Dongbin and his crew stuck around. In the end the lineup was almost the same as before...
"Yes, oppa? Right now?"
"...?"
But then a variable cropped up. The moment she sat at the table, Jiyeon took a call, then started looking around at me, restless and uneasy.
"Haa... Actually today was the opening party, so I had a few drinks. Almost a whole bottle of soju... Okay. Then I'll head over there."
"...?"
Even more baffling. Before the "no way" thought could fully form, Jiyeon clasped her hands and apologized.
"Sorry! It's the oppa I study with—he wants to meet up right now. He's with some people who passed from last year's study group, and it's a really hard situation to turn down."
"Hey, are you messing with me right now? You drag someone who didn't want to come all the way here, and now you're just taking off by yourself?"
"I'll buy you a drink separately later. I'm going first!"
"..."
Leaving only those words, Yu Jiyeon took off. Before I could even process being left alone at the table, another angry wave crashed over me.
"What? Oppa's alone? Then we can sit here, right?"
"..."
Oh Sujeong and Han Gyeoul. They naturally took the seats across from me and smiled slyly, as if they'd just been handed the world's most entertaining show.