The Legendary Pokémon
After leaving the Economics lecture hall, Lee Eun-byul turned to the friend walking beside her.
"Who was that?"
She was on her way to collect the drinks she'd won from yesterday's 5v5 custom game. Truth be told, those 5v5s were a regular event that went down two or three times a week, so Eun-byul didn't particularly care about the drinks. They just circulated among the same group anyway.
What she actually wanted to know was something else.
"Who?"
Yu Bo-ram, walking beside her, asked back. The question had been too short; she hadn't caught on yet.
"The guy sitting next to you."
So Eun-byul asked again, more specifically this time.
As a Physical Education Education major, she dropped by the Economics department fairly often. Yu Bo-ram, her high school friend, had enrolled there, and their class schedules happened to line up. After visiting so frequently, the place had started to feel like a second major. Her naturally outgoing, sociable personality made it easy to blend in, and by now she knew every face in the department.
"I feel like I've never seen him before..."
Which only made her more puzzled. She had never seen a guy like that. Those cynical eyes with the heavy dark circles, that hair that looked styled and yet still stuck out in little tufts here and there — and those sharp, well-defined features tying the whole thing together.
It was a face you wouldn't forget after seeing it once. And yet, somehow, she never had.
"Ahh..."
That was when Yu Bo-ram realized who she meant.
"You're talking about Se-won sunbae?"
"Yeah, who is he?"
Eun-byul nodded. She didn't actually know his name, but from the way the conversation was going, they were clearly thinking of the same person.
Yu Bo-ram dipped her head for a moment, seeming to search for the right way to explain. She held that pose for a while, then looked up as if the perfect description had finally come to her.
"Hmm... he's like a legendary Pokémon."
The comparison came out of nowhere.
"Huh?"
"I mean it literally. He's ridiculously hard to find. Barely shows up to school, and even when he does, he bolts home the second class ends. Plus almost nobody's ever actually talked to him, so yeah — running into him is a whole thing."
That made sense. There'd simply never been a situation where their paths would cross. Today had just been a fluke.
"But he's pretty good-looking, so, legendary Pokémon. The rarity suits him, right?"
"Yeah, I guess so."
He was handsome, that much was true. Not drop-dead gorgeous, but there was something about that particular atmosphere of his that pulled you in.
She was still turning the guy over in her mind when Yu Bo-ram spoke up out of nowhere.
"You interested?"
"What?"
Why would I be? I just saw him for the first time.
Eun-byul opened her mouth, bewildered — but Yu Bo-ram was faster.
"Just give it up, though."
"You know how many people have tried to get at that sunbae? Start of the year, tons of sunbaes go after the pretty faces. Some offer to do his assignments for him, trying to get a piece. Others offer to buy him dinner."
It was true. Freshmen who hadn't been worn down by the world yet made for easy prey. Plenty of sunbaes approached with those slimy ulterior motives tucked behind a smile. A fair number of guys actually fell for it, and even if it didn't lead to bed, at least you got to know the handsome underclassmen. So the sunbaes went for it without hesitation.
Lee Se-won had been one of those targets.
"But that sunbae turned them all down. Said he had plans, said he was busy — shut down every popular sunbae who tried. You think you'd be any different?"
If the current Lee Se-won heard this, he'd wail about why he hadn't gotten laid. But the Lee Se-won of that time had been like that. Partly because he was shy around strangers, and more than anything, because he could sense the desire and it put him off.
Yu Bo-ram's snickering got under Eun-byul's skin.
"Hey, fuck you! Why couldn't I?"
It was a little ridiculous to say about herself, but Lee Eun-byul was pretty popular. A bright, outgoing personality, a genuinely pretty face, and a well-proportioned body. If she put her mind to it, she was confident she could charm just about any guy. She'd received her share of confessions, too.
But Yu Bo-ram didn't seem convinced.
"Pffft! Wanna bet, then?"
The challenge in her voice lit a competitive fire in Eun-byul.
"You're on! Let's bet. I'll get that oppa to confess to me."
"Go for it, you crazy bitch. I'll put fifty thousand won on you failing."
"Then I'll put a hundred thousand on me pulling it off!"
It was a provocative raise, but she was confident.
Just you wait, Yu Bo-ram, you asshole. I'm taking that fifty thousand for sure.
"Deadline?"
"By the end of this year."
"Deal. Better have that hundred thousand ready."
And just like that, a bet was struck that Lee Se-won knew nothing about.
Sometimes during class, your mind just... drifts. Especially when the lecture is boring.
That was me right now.
God, I want to have sex.
I was horny. I wanted a dense, sticky, filthy fuck. Was it because I hadn't gotten any release lately? For some reason, dirty thoughts kept popping up.
This was supposed to be a gender-reversed world, and yet not a single woman was hitting on me. The internet was overflowing with nothing but guys. What a miserable world.
Why the fuck did this "Lee Se-won" bastard not have a single female friend? I'd dug through his memories — he'd gotten plenty of approaches. And now he didn't have a single friend. Useless piece of shit, honestly.
Do I seriously have to just take care of it myself...
I was rolling those idle thoughts around when class ended.
"That's all for today. Good work, everyone."
"Thank you."
"Thank you, professor."
The professor breezed out of the lecture hall, and the students mumbled their goodbyes as they stood up. First class of the day was over, which meant it was free period.
Right. Free period.
When you take classes, you often end up with a gap between lectures. Say you've got two classes in a day. One runs from nine to eleven, the other from twelve to two. As you can see, that leaves about an hour of dead time in the middle. Since going straight from one class to the next would be exhausting, they build in an hour or two of breathing room.
Most students used that time to grab a meal. Refuel, shoot the shit, that kind of thing. But that was something only normal college students could do. For a guy like me, who didn't even qualify for the "normal" category, free period was nothing but torture.
Eating alone was awkward, but going home to rest wasn't quite worth it either. An hour of precious daily time, just floating there with nothing to fill it. I was the living embodiment of that pathetic returning-student anecdote — hold the pickled radish, please...
"Ah, whatever. I'll just mess around on my phone."
Once the other students had all left, I dragged myself up from my seat. I had to kill the time somehow. Food was a pass. I wasn't particularly hungry, and eating at eleven was way too early for me anyway. I'd rather just starve until two and eat at home. My wrecked daily schedule was actually useful for once.
Today I figured I'd just sit on a bench and wait it out. Luckily this campus had plenty of empty benches. They were popular gathering spots for friendless people like me, so I could sit there in peace.
I was walking down the hallway with that plan in mind when someone suddenly came up and greeted me.
"Hi there!"
I nearly jumped. It was the girl in the Adidas leggings I'd glimpsed that morning.
"We ran into each other this morning, right? I'm Lee Eun-byul, second-year in Physical Education Education, from next door. Hehe."
While I stood there stunned, she introduced herself with a bright, sparkling smile. It was so natural I almost thought we were already friends.
"Ah, yeah... hello."
I greeted her back, at least. Hard to just stand there when someone walks up grinning like that. But my brain kept spinning questions.
What is this?
She looked like a total social butterfly. Was this what popular people were like? We'd never even been introduced. Why was she greeting me so enthusiastically? I couldn't even imagine doing something like that.
"Um... is there something you need?"
So I asked. I, Lee Se-won, was the type who went on high alert the moment a stranger approached. I knew it was a shitty personality trait, but I was born this way. Nothing I could do about it.
Did she catch me staring this morning?
"Come on, do you need a reason to say hi?"
Judging by her reaction, that wasn't it. She kept talking, still smiling.
"I hang around the Economics department a lot, so I know pretty much everyone there, but I don't think I've seen your face before. That's why I came over. I just like meeting new people."
She flashed a brilliant smile. The corners of her eyes, peeking out from under her baseball cap, curved into little crescents. I marveled inwardly.
...Wow.
A social butterfly. A genuine, capital-S Social Butterfly was standing right in front of me. Someone who could walk up to a complete stranger without a second thought and just... talk. That kind of person actually existed, and she was right here.
"Oppa, you don't have anything going on right now, do you?"
While I was still marveling, she spoke again.
"Want to grab lunch with me?"