Close Yet Distant (1)
The library at Hwayeon Middle School sits on the fourth floor, the highest level of the building. The area around it is wide open, and it’s April now. Thanks to the thick floor-to-ceiling windows, the library at noon feels pleasantly warm—warm enough to make you drowsy. That is, if it weren’t exam season.
Scratch, scratch—. An Oxford legal pad and a Staedtler fine-liner. I laid my Korean textbook on the single-person desk and went over the exam scope once more. “Review” was generous; it was closer to checking whether I truly understood the material and could explain it in my own words.
So…
“…What are you doing here?”
An uninvited guest is the last thing you need when you’re trying to concentrate in silence.
Tap. I set the pen down and looked up. Because the desk was small, she wasn’t far away at all. A girl rested her chin on her hands. Semi-full bangs and long hair—the number-one hairstyle among middle-school girls. Makeup that didn’t quite suit her features and a casual cardigan. She looked like your typical K-middle-schooler, yet…
“Umm… I came to see my childhood friend?”
A slender face. Features that approached the golden ratio (according to her). Add a cute impression and a matching voice, and—yeah, she was pretty. No need for extra praise; the girl in front of me was simply beautiful. Even if her looks weren’t someone’s exact type, no one could call her plain. Her appearance, already complete despite being only a second-year, couldn’t be hidden by ordinary styling. Time had passed, but the princess was still a princess.
“No matter how pretty I am, staring like that is a bit much, you know~?”
Yujin playfully lifted the corner of her mouth. She used to be merely cute; now she was unmistakably a fox.
“Then I’ll keep studying while we talk.”
“Tch. You never play along with jokes, do you?”
“Think about how I feel hearing the same joke for the fifth year in a row.”
“Uung… It feels nice to look my pretty childhood friend in the eye so comfortably?”
“……”
“Cute~.”
I frowned, but all I received was the princess’s gentle pat on the head. My irritation level rose another notch at the absurd behavior.
“How long is our Yuseol going to stay this adorable?”
“Let go…”
“Even the way your words stretch when I squish your cheeks is cute~.”
“Let. Go.”
“Even the way you try so hard to speak clearly is cute~.”
“……”
In the end I leaned back and escaped her hands. Yujin whined that it was a shame, but that was none of my concern.
“…Like I said, I’m not cute at all, so watch what you say.”
“Even someone who’s only 157 centimeters tall saying that doesn’t feel convincing, you know?”
“…Where did Jjeom-o go?”
“Cute~!”
I jerked away again. Seriously, why couldn’t this princess understand the difference in how boys and girls hit puberty? Being shorter than her right now was simply nature’s order. A boy’s growth plates theoretically stay open until the early twenties, so I was still growing. Both of my parents were well above average height, so genetically the odds were in my favor.
…It still felt deeply unfair. I didn’t even picky-eat, I exercised diligently, and I slept a full eight hours every night—why wasn’t I growing?
“…Like I always say, there’s only a four-centimeter difference between us anyway.”
“Tch. How dare someone in the 150s talk to someone in the 160s like that? And four centimeters is the difference between heaven and earth, you know?”
“That statement would flip the entire scientific community.”
“Then stand up.”
I flinched.
“…You.”
“Call me noona.”
“……”
“Stand up first. Then this noona will personally demonstrate the height difference.”
Why did everything she said make me annoyed? Back in elementary school she used to insist she was the older sister even when it wasn’t true; now it was “noona.”
“Not going to stand?”
“…Lunch period’s about to end. Just say what you came to say.”
I exhaled slowly to steady my emotions. Whether she was pleased at having won the verbal exchange, Yujin rested her chin on both hands and met my eyes.
“Let’s perform at the festival together.”
“I refuse.”
“That’s too much!”
At the blunt rejection she puffed her cheeks and protested sharply.
“Shhh…!”
“…Hah.”
We both glanced around at the same time. After a short silence we continued, even quieter than before.
“Why do you keep refusing…!”
“The exam is in two weeks. Where am I supposed to find time to prepare?”
“The sports festival is still four weeks away…!”
“Exam. Two weeks.”
“So! We can do it after the exam…!”
“I don’t like standing out, remember?”
This was what they called a clash of titans. We simultaneously scrunched our faces and glared at each other.
“……”
“……”
The stubborn staring contest that followed felt natural.
“Ugh…!”
After more than a minute of struggle, I claimed victory once again.
“Don’t lie…! How can someone like that even be student council president…?!”
Yujin roughly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. I sighed lightly and handed her a handkerchief.
“…Tch.”
After the grumble came a small thank-you. At least the princess never hesitated when it came to expressing gratitude.
“…I was trying to build a portfolio. You know that.”
“Hmph. So that’s why you’ve never missed being class president from elementary school until now?”
“So—portfolio—”
“Hmph, puff! You’re definitely going abroad to study! And it’ll be super easy for you…!”
Her lips stuck out. Whenever studying abroad came up, the princess’s mouth protruded like a penguin’s beak. I’d been through this scene countless times, yet I still never knew how to handle it properly.
…I treated her like a niece, but this was basically childcare.
“Like I always say, I’m just preparing.”
“Nee~. Preparing apparently means never missing class president or student council president even once—how amazing~.”
“……Above all, to get on the festival lineup you have to pass the preliminaries, and those are next week.”
Deciding the conversation would drag on, I cut straight to the point. Since it mattered to her as well, Yujin followed along immediately.
“Who’s judging those preliminaries?”
“The music teacher, the student council advisor, the music club president senior, and…”
“And me, the student council cultural department head.”
“…I don’t know what that title means, but that’s abuse of power.”
“If putting you and me last in the order counts as abuse, then I’ll gladly admit it.”
She had done it quite cleverly. As student council president I couldn’t openly agree, so I simply watched her in silence. From the moment our eyes met I had noticed the stubborn glint that said she absolutely had to do this. Without thinking, I picked up the pen and spun it between my fingers.
“…Did you join the student council for that reason?”
“Ppuu…! Did you really think you could become president without me, Yuseol? The student council president is decided by popularity vote!”
An undeniable fact. Even if you were the top student or a model pupil, votes at this age came down to favorability and public sentiment.
…Still, it wasn’t as if I had zero popularity.
“…I’ll overlook the fact that you registered me without asking. But before that, I have a question.”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
“There must have been plenty of kids who wanted to perform with you. Especially the ones you usually hang out with.”
“Ganghyeon and Taeyeon asked me to sing. Sua, Mina, and Jiwon wanted to dance.”
“And you still chose me?”
The names she mentioned were all people I had only shallow connections with—in other words, the princess’s friends. They were the type who liked to play around. Not delinquents, just typical second-year middle-schoolers suffering from second-year syndrome who didn’t feel like studying.
“That’s because obviously……”
The answer came a beat late. Even then, the moment our eyes met it trembled and faltered.
“…Obviously.”
Still, because she was clearly trying to give me an answer, I waited quietly. The Chae Yujin I knew would rather spit out a sharp truth than tell a lie.
“…There’s no one else who treats me as sincerely as you do, and you’re the best at it too…”
See? Even if it made her blush, she still said it.
“…Ugh.”
In the end the embarrassment turned into sulky anger. Yujin scrunched her nose bridge as far as it would go and made a face like the world was unfair.
“Good grief.”
…But she was right. It was awkward to admit, yet the one who had gone too far was her. What kind of uncle could refuse when his niece said something like that? Of course, Yujin and I were friends, but there was no helping it—my soul was that of an old man. To me she would always be a cute niece.
“…Fine.”
“Later, tell me what song you applied for and what I need to do.”
“……Ing?”
Yujin’s expression froze for an instant. The wrinkles on her scrunched nose slowly smoothed out.
“Just so we’re clear—this is the first and last time I’m letting you drag me into something like this. Understand?”
“……Wung?”
“Wait… Now that I think about it, back in sixth grade you secretly signed me up and made me dance—”
“Thank youuu!!”
Yujin stood up with a dazzling smile.
“As expected, our Yuseol is the best! What do I do? You’re too pretty! Should I kiss you?! Or hug you tight?! No, I’ll do both…!!”
“W-wait, we’re in the library…!”
Yujin came running and threw her arms around me. Instinct told me to push her away, but years of experience made me abandon the attempt. Once the princess got like this, she had to finish what she started or she wouldn’t be satisfied.
No—if I ran, she would simply open the front door of our house before bedtime and march straight into my room. If she weren’t my childhood friend, I would have filed for a restraining order ages ago.
“Mwah! Mwah!”
“…Ugh.”
“Mwah-mwah!”
Lips kept attaching themselves to my cheeks without end. Sometimes she even sucked or bit them hard enough to leave marks—aaaagh…?!
“…Stop it. You crazy girl…”
“As expected of my childhood friend! Mwah…! I’m so happy right now thanks to you, Yuseol…!”
“Hey…! That spot—?!”
Our stomachs were pressed almost completely together. Naturally, our chests were glued tight with no gap whatsoever…
“Tu Yujin.”
The voice carried unmistakable fury.
“Mwah…?”
“……Ah.”
Both of us turned our heads slowly.
“Not only are you being loud in the library, you’re also engaging in public displays of affection…? And to the point of bordering on indecency…?!”
The librarian stood there smiling while grinding her teeth. The sound of enamel scraping was loud enough that I could tell exactly how angry she was. Ah. This was going to be a disciplinary matter.
“……Anything to say?”
As if granting one last mercy, the librarian offered us a final statement. I glanced between her expression and the frozen “poop puppy” in front of me, then spoke.
“…As student council officers who are supposed to set an example, Yujin and I engaged in excessive affection… Yes. Setting that aside, it was behavior unbecoming of students. We have no excuses. I’m sorry, ma’am. We’ll accept whatever punishment you see fit.”
Pat, pat. I started at the troublemaker princess’s shoulder and gently stroked her back to calm her.
“…Let’s stand up.”
“…Okay.”
Whether this counted as fortunate or not…
At any rate, Yujin quickly regained her senses, nodded, and climbed off me. Her hands were still trembling. Crazy girl. At least she understood the gravity of what she’d done.
Firmly. I took her hand lightly, bowed ninety degrees, and apologized with genuine sincerity.
“…I’m sorry.”
“…I’m sorry.”
Afterward I let go of her hand naturally so as not to irritate the librarian any further.
…Somehow I kept experiencing things I never went through in my previous life.
…It felt so unfair.