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#3 - So Who Exactly Is She?
About ten hours after being tricked by that bastard Celial, I arrived at the lecture hall and started chatting with Kim Seunghyeok.
Kim Seunghyeok was a friend from high school. Unlike me, who spent an extra year preparing for college, he got into this university right away, making him a year my senior.
Thanks to that, university life had been pretty comfortable.
He always recommended good elective classes, gave advice about the cafeteria, and told me where to kill time between lectures.
In fact, today's class was one he'd recommended.
Apparently, despite its name, it was surprisingly easy.
Though honestly, the title sounded both interesting and completely unappealing at the same time.
"The Evolution of Cultural Contents by Era and Their Relationship with Mythology."
How do you even come up with a title that bad?
Wouldn't "Cultural Contents and Mythology" have been enough?
So what were we talking about?
"So basically, you confessed to a newbie and got rejected?"
"No, what the fuck kind of conclusion is that?"
We were talking about that bastard Celial.
"If you helped them escape Golem's Labyrinth and then got dumped before you could teach them anything, isn't that basically the same thing?"
"No, no. Not even remotely. None of that is accurate."
"You still got completely screwed over."
This bastard really knew how to leave me speechless.
The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that he'd chosen the wrong major.
Western Art?
Nobody could've made a worse decision.
Personally, I think if this guy had gone into Political Science, he'd eventually become a member of parliament just by talking people into submission.
I guarantee it.
Scratching my head vigorously, I decided to change the subject.
"Anyway, enough about that. There's something more important."
"Something important? Like what?"
Without saying a word, I simply tapped my chest twice.
Realizing what I meant, Kim Seunghyeok immediately looked annoyed.
"Sigh. You got completely carried and you're still bragging."
"Not carried. I had the highest damage output."
"Honestly, if you're in Dawn Guild, they could've swapped you out with anyone and still cleared it."
"Absolutely not. My mechanics are too good."
"Yeah, yeah. Of course they are."
As I grinned smugly, he finally shook his head and gave up arguing.
By then, students had begun trickling into the classroom.
Watching them enter, Kim Seunghyeok let out a huge yawn.
"Ah, maybe I came too early."
"That's your fault, asshole."
"Who cares?"
"You bastard..."
Since both of us lived near campus, arriving late usually wasn't a problem.
But because it was the first day of the semester, we'd both woken up unusually early.
Well, actually...
I'd woken him up.
Going to campus alone is boring.
"What's so bad about being by yourself..."
"Waaah, I'm baby Taeyang. I don't wanna go to school alone."
"Urgh... I've never seen someone waste a good face this badly in my entire life. Seriously."
His expression visibly deteriorated.
Ah.
Seeing that reaction was so soothing.
Wasn't it healing?
At that moment, Kim Seunghyeok suddenly looked toward the front of the classroom with an expression that seemed equally healed.
"Wow... She's taking this class too?"
"What? Who?"
"The girl who just walked in. Didn't you see her?"
The girl who just walked in?
The only thing I'd noticed was that she had long hair.
Seeing my blank expression, Kim Seunghyeok looked at me as though I were some elderly man hopelessly behind the times.
"You don't know her? That's Ha Yeonjae."
"Who the hell is that, you nerd?"
The moment he heard my answer, he looked at me like I was some kind of alien.
What?
I don't use EveryDay and I barely use social media.
Am I supposed to know every popular student on campus?
Unlike me, he was completely addicted to social media.
So I figured she was probably some famous university student.
Turns out I was right.
"She's insanely famous online. People call her Sung Han University's Goddess. And in her department, they call her the Fairy."
The university goddess?
People still do that?
I thought that trend died years ago.
And what kind of nickname is Fairy?
That sounds like something straight out of the eighties.
But after hearing his explanation, it immediately made sense.
"The nickname's kind of cringe, but it's based on facts. Nobody's ever seen Ha Yeonjae outside of class. She never attends official events, festivals, or anything."
So that's why.
A mythical creature.
She only appears during lectures and nowhere else on campus.
I glanced toward Ha Yeonjae.
She was sitting alone, setting down her bag while looking at her phone.
Hmm...
She really was incredibly pretty.
A pure and elegant type.
Honestly, she was exactly my type.
But there was no way a woman like that would ever date me.
She didn't even have a reason to talk to me.
"...Wait. How do you know so much about her?"
"One of my friends confessed to her and got rejected. Oh, and she's in your department too. Media Communication."
Wait.
She's a senior?
Before I could even process that information, the professor entered the classroom and the first lecture began.
"Today is orientation, right? Honestly, all of that information is already in the syllabus, so please check it there. Today we're just going to form groups. As you all know, this course uses two-person teams."
Groups?
Wait.
This class had group projects?
Not that it mattered.
As long as I got a cooperative partner, everything would be fine.
I'd never experienced university group work before, so I didn't know how different it was from high school.
But one thing remained true regardless of where you were:
Having a responsible teammate was the most important thing.
"The groups will be assigned randomly for fairness, so don't worry too much. If someone contributes significantly less work than their partner, we'll take that into account when grading."
Meanwhile, our glorious professor delivered an absolutely wonderful announcement.
Perfect.
That meant even if I got stuck with a lazy teammate, I wouldn't suffer because of it.
Honestly, random assignment wasn't ideal for me.
Working with Kim Seunghyeok would've been much more convenient.
"Then~ let's quickly make the groups. I've already prepared the program. Everyone, how many times should I randomize it?"
"Three times~"
Kim Seunghyeok immediately answered from beside me.
Chuckling, the professor projected his laptop screen onto the monitor and actually ran the program three times.
Once.
Twice.
And three times.
The program proudly displayed the final results as though it had accomplished a great mission.
I immediately began searching for my name.
"Yeon Taeyang, Yeon Taeyang, Yeon Taeyang... Oh, found it."
It was slightly below the middle, making it surprisingly hard to locate.
So who was paired with me?
...Ha Yeonjae?
I instinctively looked at Kim Seunghyeok.
He was staring back at me with murderous intent.
What?
Are you mad because I got paired with Senior Ha Yeonjae?
Too bad.
You can enjoy working with some random stranger.
"I'll upload the results to the class group chat later. Then we'll end today's lecture here. Why don't you introduce yourselves to your teammates before leaving? See you all next week."
After finishing his remarks at lightning speed, the professor left the classroom.
Blinking, I stood up.
Around me, students were already looking for their partners.
"Kwon Seokwoo~ Where are you~"
"Kim Hwan? Oh, there you are! Nice to meet you~"
"Oh, Seo Yunseo~ We're partners this semester?"
"Kim Seunghyeok~"
Even Kim Seunghyeok had already gone off to meet his partner.
Scratching the back of my head, I stood up.
"Ha Yeonjae~ Where are you~"
I deliberately acted like I didn't know who she was.
Which wasn't entirely false.
I'd only learned about her from Kim Seunghyeok earlier today.
The reason I pretended not to recognize her was because I didn't want her to feel uncomfortable.
If she was really as famous as everyone claimed, she was probably exhausted by all the attention.
This felt like the right thing to do.
"R-Right here...!"
After nervously glancing around, Senior Ha Yeonjae raised her hand and waved at me.
Only then did I pretend to notice her and walk over.
"Ha Yeonjae?"
"Ah... Yes...! I'm Ha Yeonjae...!"
"I'm Yeon Taeyang. Nice to meet you."
Then came the awkward silence.
I decided to deal with it immediately.
"Um... Should we make a CocoaTalk room first? Maybe an open chat room?"
To make it absolutely clear that I had no intention of asking for her personal contact information, I suggested an open chat room.
Ha Yeonjae nodded.
"Yes, please."
I quickly created the room and showed her the QR code.
Taking out her phone, she scanned it and joined.
Her profile picture was a cute cat plushie.
She immediately sent a message.
[Ha Yeonjae: Looking forward to working with you!]
I looked up.
Senior Ha Yeonjae was smiling softly.
For a moment, my heart nearly skipped a beat.
She was unbelievably beautiful.
How many men's hearts had that face stopped over the years?
The thought was honestly terrifying.
I felt like if I stayed there any longer, I might start getting strange ideas.
So I decided to run away.
"Then I'll see you next time."
"Ah... See you next time...!"
I hurried out of the classroom and checked my phone.
It was only 9:30 AM.
My next class wasn't until 1:30 PM.
I had a whole four hours to kill.
And there was one perfect way to spend that time.
[Hey]
[Kim Seunghyeok: What]
[Capsule room?]
[Kim Seunghyeok: I'll go if you play LoW with me]
[Deal]
Go to the capsule room and play games.
...And maybe, if I played long enough, I'd forget the smile Senior Ha Yeonjae gave me earlier.
At least, that's what I told myself.