Appeal
What the heck. That skimpy outfit of his.
Han Si-ah muttered the thought to herself as she followed Seon Woo-hyun into his house.
His hair was still damp, not yet fully dry. The thin plain white T-shirt he only ever wore at home was wet enough that it clung slightly translucent against him. His short shorts boldly bared his legs all the way up near the thighs.
"So what is it, then? What kind of look is that you've been giving me this whole time?"
"What look?"
"You keep staring at me all weird."
"Well, yeah. Because you look weird."
"Straight to personal insults?!"
And she wasn't the only one looking away. Nam Yu-ri, trailing after her like a shadow, was doing the exact same thing. Watching Yu-ri's flushed cheeks, Si-ah knew at once that the other girl was thinking something very similar.
…That outfit is way too sexy.
She'd seen plenty of girls walking around in thin, short clothes. But she hadn't often seen a guy dressed this casually at home. It wasn't as if she had any brothers, either.
Among guys, the look probably wasn't anything special—but to Han Si-ah, it was so strangely charged that she didn't know where to put her eyes.
The surprisingly muscular legs and thighs. The lean body showing through, free of any soft bulk—probably from all the exercise.
She was a teenage girl in full bloom, after all. On top of that, she'd been so pretty from a young age that she'd always kept boys at a distance, and she'd started preparing for her debut back in the upper grades of elementary school.
Contact of this kind had been almost nonexistent in her life. So of course she was overreacting to something that wasn't even a big deal.
Is this what guys feel when a girl friend suddenly shows up in dolphin shorts…?
She'd seen the meme online once or twice—the one about how a girl friend you'd never thought of that way suddenly looks weirdly hot in dolphin shorts and a tight tee.
As a girl, she hadn't really gotten it; she'd just gone, huh, so that's a thing, and moved on. Now she thought she was starting to understand what it meant.
"Anyway, come this way first. This is my room."
He led them into a small room off the corner of the living room. It was big enough for one person, but honestly hard to call spacious. Barely enough space to squeeze in a mattress, a desk, and a bookshelf.
"A little tight for three people, huh?"
"Yeah, it is."
"It used to be a storage room we remodeled. This place was originally a two-room apartment."
"Then who uses the original rooms?"
"One's for my parents and the baby. The other is for my elementary-school little sister."
"You're way bigger than them. Shouldn't you be the one using a proper room, Seon Woo-hyun?"
Had his little sister cried and dug her heels in or something? Si-ah asked because it seemed only right that Woo-hyun—a high school guy—should have the normal room.
"It used to be that way."
"But?"
"A few months ago I said I'd take this one. It's dustier back here, and being in the corner the ventilation's not great. Not great for the kids."
He said it with a completely casual expression. Watching him, Si-ah almost felt like she was looking at an adult.
…Sometimes he acts like a kid, and then moments like this he's so grown-up.
Same as during badminton. Most of the time he just tossed around light jokes, but when it mattered he was mature.
At the same time, it came through clearly how much he cared about his family—that even if it meant living a little less comfortably himself, he wanted the rest of them to be at ease. Pretty domestic of him. Whoever ended up building a home with him would probably be pretty happy, whoever that was.
While Si-ah was having that ridiculous thought, the guy in front of her snapped right back to normal.
"Anyway, so if it's a little cramped or uncomfortable, cut me some slack."
"Yeah. If that's the reason, sure."
"Right. Of course we understand. It's weird for guests to be picky about comfort in the first place."
Once she and Nam Yu-ri both said it was fine, he pointed to a low table already set out in the remaining scrap of floor space.
And why is he so thoroughly prepared?
He'd already set up a study space for them.
"Then can you two sit over there for a bit? I'll go dry my hair."
"Yeah. Okay. Go ahead."
With that, Seon Woo-hyun vanished back into the living room in a flash. The moment he was gone, a long sigh of relief slipped out of Nam Yu-ri. She dropped her bag with a soft thud like all the strength had left her body, then sank down right where she was—probably because Seon Woo-hyun had just disappeared from right in front of her.
Watching that pure reaction, Si-ah thought she was adorable. And she suddenly wanted to tease her, so she deliberately brought up Woo-hyun's outfit.
"Yu-ri."
"Hm?"
"Isn't Seon Woo-hyun's outfit kind of sexy? The shorts are way too short. And the T-shirt too."
"W-w-what are you even saying, Si-ah! You can't talk about that kind of thing!"
True to form for a rich young lady. She clearly couldn't handle anything even slightly steamy. Her face went bright red as she shook her head frantically, terrified someone might overhear—like a little rabbit.
The funnier her reactions got, the more Si-ah's sadistic streak caught fire. She wouldn't normally go this far, but to pull more out of Yu-ri she reached for stronger wording.
"Honestly, it kind of feels like he's putting on an appeal? Like he got the T-shirt a little wet on purpose."
"Shh, shh. Woo-hyun might hear you…"
"And why didn't he dry his hair? What was he doing until we got here?"
Nam Yu-ri was trying to shut her down—but her eyes quietly agreed.
…So it wasn't just me.
Feeling a sudden sense of solidarity, Si-ah was mid-stream in the kind of talk only girls could have when—
"Han Si-ah."
A guy's voice called her name from behind. What? Didn't he just leave to dry his hair? Only then did she realize she hadn't heard a hair dryer at all. Flustered, Si-ah turned her head—and found Seon Woo-hyun looking at her with a cold expression and an even colder stare.
"…So that's how you've been looking at me?"
"What? No, Seon Woo-hyun, that's not—"
"Not what? You crazy pervert girl. Ugh, get away from me."
"Wait, wait, it's a misunderstanding! Just listen—"
"You're just using 'clearing up a misunderstanding' as an excuse to put your hands on me! Kyaaaah! The pervert girl is chasing me!"
That this whole incident delayed study time by about thirty minutes was, perhaps, inevitable.
"Seon Woo-hyun. Are you seriously doing this? It was just a joke. Yu-ri's reactions are funny, that's all."
"Nope. From now on I'm never sitting next to you. Five-meter no-approach zone."
Nam Yu-ri and I sat on one side of the table. Across from us, Han Si-ah had been left standing alone. She pouted at the two of us in silence.
Honestly, I wasn't that offended. Like she said, I hadn't done it on purpose—but if there was even a little truth in what she'd said, it meant even a girl like Han Si-ah found me attractive.
That was basically a compliment. And… honestly, I didn't mind the honesty. There were plenty of times I found Si-ah sexy too. I just never said it out loud. Showing that I was happy about it would also be weird, though, so I stuck to our usual routine of sniping at each other.
"Ahem. Guys?"
"Yeah."
"Huh."
"Do we remember why we gathered here?"
Wanting to get things back on track, Nam Yu-ri asked with the full charisma of the student council president. Si-ah answered with total confidence.
"Obviously!"
"And why did we gather?"
"To study."
"Ooh~ Han Si-ah's so smart~"
"Don't you mock me. I'll kill you."
The usual bickering rolled on, and Nam Yu-ri sighed watching us. Deciding we were never going to get anywhere like this, she ignored us and pressed on.
"Right. This is a study group. Midterms are next week. Can we start studying now?"
"Of course."
"Yeah, obviously."
Once we fell in line, she finally smiled and pulled a stack of printouts from her bag. One sheet. Two. Three. Four. The pile just kept coming. Si-ah and I watched the spectacle in pure terror, wondering what on earth this was. She set a thick bundle in front of each of us, smiling sweetly.
"I organized every concept from every subject from the beginning up through the exam range. I prepared it so I can review along with you too."
Impressive. Truly impressive. She was earnest about everything, but when it came to studying she was beyond help—this went past obsession into something that felt like mania.
"It's all stuff you already know, and we'll go through it quick, so it should only take a few hours."
"R-right."
"Uh… yeah."
Si-ah and I answered in a daze. Completely oblivious to our feelings, she opened to the first page and launched straight into class.
"Okay, shall we start studying? Let's begin with Korean."
"…"
"Chapter One was mostly the literature section, right? Poetry and lyric. Fiction and narrative. Essays and didactic writing."
"…"
"There were a few sample poems and songs—do you remember them? The first one was Seo Dong-ju's…"
I tried to focus on Nam Yu-ri's explanation, but our teacher was blasting through her own review at an insane speed. In under ten minutes she wrapped up the first chapter, looked at us, and asked—
"How is it? Anything you don't understand so far?"
As if of course no student would. She smiled at us with a shall we move on? look. I was still hesitating over what to even say when the ever-brave Han Si-ah raised her hand beside me.
"Teacher Yu-ri. I don't get any of it. I'm sorry."
She hung her head, apparently crushed by her own level. Nam Yu-ri looked worried.
"Already? Was I going too fast? Where are you stuck?"
Si-ah glanced sideways at me. What do you want me to do about it? I dodged her eyes. She lifted her head again toward Nam Yu-ri.
"Well… I couldn't follow it from the first sentence."
Hold on. She's worse than me?
I had a feeling today's study session was not going to be easy.