The Saeteo Bus Ride
The chartered bus bound for the Gangwon-do Resort, our Saeteo lodging, was already loaded with the freshmen. Park Naeun, who had been assigned to my group along with Yoo Soyeon, boarded with me. As we headed toward the front seats reserved for my group, I noticed someone was already sitting in the seat beside mine. A woman with long hair and a brown headband. According to the seating chart, Lee Yujin, who was also in charge of my group, should have been sitting there. But the person before me looked nothing like the Lee Yujin I knew.
I carefully called out to the woman beside me. “Is that you, Yujin?”
“It’s been a while, sunbae.”
Her voice was soft and gentle, the kind that put people at ease. The voice was definitely Lee Yujin’s, but her appearance was completely different. She used to wear loose, plain clothes and let her bangs hang down to cover her eyes. Now she wore a skirt that reached her knees with black stockings, her bangs neatly trimmed and held back by the headband to reveal a face that had once been hidden. And above all—
“You took off your glasses. I almost didn’t recognize you since I’ve never seen you without them.”
“I switched to contacts. Do they look strange?”
Just then, Vice President Choi Seungah, sitting in the seat next to us, cut in. “Strange? You look way better without them. You think so too, right, sunbae?”
Her tone was clearly suggestive even though she was only talking about the glasses. It was a light bit of sexual innuendo, but Lee Yujin showed no reaction, as if she hadn’t noticed. Personally, I thought glasses were humanity’s worst invention—they made eyes look smaller and nerfed one’s appearance by covering the face. But on Lee Yujin, I’d always thought they suited her calm, intellectual vibe. She looked good without them, but wearing them hadn’t been bad either.
“You look fine either way, honestly.”
“Really?”
She gave no particular reaction. Beside us, Choi Seungah grinned and flashed a thumbs-up as if to say “good job.” From her reaction, it seemed Lee Yujin had some degree of interest in me, but aside from the image change, her attitude and personality toward me remained the same as before.
Are you two close?
Well, not exactly strangers.
She had been one of the freshmen I was in charge of during last year’s Saeteo. Because she was awkward around men and seemed introverted, we hadn’t really talked much. After the retreat ended, I’d run into her a few times at the library. She seemed clumsy with electronics, so when I saw her hesitating in front of the library machines, I’d taught her how to reserve seats and borrow books. But I never thought something that small would make her develop feelings.
Isn’t that enough?
Come on, this isn’t some old manga. Teaching someone how to use the library doesn’t automatically make them like you.
I couldn’t say I had no ulterior motives while teaching her, but since she never showed any reaction and just kept going to the library, there hadn’t been any chance to talk further. Lee Yujin wasn’t the type to approach others proactively either, so we naturally lost contact. I’d assumed she wasn’t interested in me, but if I’d known she was, I wouldn’t have given up and would’ve kept showing up at the library to get closer to her.
While I was lost in thoughts about Lee Yujin, she spoke to me. “Sunbae, what classes did you register for this semester?”
“For majors: Human Resource Management, Production Management, Management Information Systems, Internet Marketing, and retaking Business Statistics. For electives: Modern Art and Theater.”
After hearing my schedule, she looked surprised, then smiled slightly. “What a coincidence. Seungah and I registered for similar classes too.”
Three of her major courses and one elective overlapped with mine. It wasn’t strange for major courses to overlap since we were in the same department, but electives were open to students from other majors, so overlaps were rare. Was this really a coincidence? I glanced suspiciously at Choi Seungah in the next seat. She responded by making a V-sign with her fingers. As vice president, Choi Seungah had an impressive network. Getting my timetable would’ve been child’s play for her. It seemed both the makeover for the usually plain-dressed Lee Yujin and matching our schedules had been her doing.
“I guess we’ll be seeing each other a lot this semester?”
“Yeah. If it’s okay with you, would you like to study together during exam period?”
“Sure, why not?”
I nodded at her unusually proactive suggestion. I hadn’t planned on studying much, but if it meant sharing space with a beauty like Lee Yujin, I didn’t care what we did.
I knew she had good raw material.
Her skin was fair and her features were distinct, so I’d known she’d look pretty with a little effort. But I never imagined a simple image change could make her this beautiful. Lee Yujin smiled shyly at my answer. With her bangs and glasses gone, her smiling face was clearly visible.
Since it had been a while, we chatted lightly about how we’d been when I felt someone’s gaze. Turning around, I saw Park Naeun looking our way. When our eyes met, she waved. Worried that a freshman girl being friendly with an upperclassman guy might start rumors, she deliberately looked away as if she hadn’t seen me. A moment later, my phone vibrated—probably a text from her.
“Is she a freshman you know?”
She had followed my gaze and noticed Park Naeun looking over. “She’s my hometown friend’s little sister.”
I opened my phone to check the message from Park Naeun. Instead of the flood of complaints I’d expected, there was just a single photo—the two-shot we’d taken at the pasta place last week. She’d even edited it with a filter app in that short time, making it look like a couple’s photo with sparkles and hearts added.
“…You seem close with your friend’s sister.”
Her expression didn’t change much, but her tone sounded slightly displeased. Then she asked, “Do you like receiving photos?”
Before I could answer, she sent me several pictures. “What do you think?”
They looked like photos taken inside a clothing store—her in jeans, short skirts, dresses. Since there were also two-shots with Choi Seungah, they were probably taken while the two of them were shopping.
“These clothes suit you too.”
“Thank you, sunbae.”
Even after I gave my feedback, she kept looking at me steadily. Her gaze carried an unspoken pressure, as if saying, “I sent you my photos, so send yours too.”
“All my photos are weird though.”
“It’s fine, sunbae.”
I wasn’t fine with it, but it seemed she wouldn’t back down unless I sent something. I had plenty of group photos or funny ones, but almost none of just myself, so even if I wanted to send a photo, I didn’t have any. While I was scratching the back of my neck, unsure what to do, Lia spoke up.
Don’t you have the photos from yesterday?
Oh right, those. But should I really show them?
I thought about the body-profile-style photos Lia had taken. I’d been wearing pants, but my top was off to emphasize my upper body muscles. The important parts were covered, so it wasn’t too problematic, but it was still embarrassing to send to someone I didn’t know well. I picked out a few of the better ones from yesterday and sent them to her.
After receiving the photos, she checked them. Her usually expressionless face showed clear surprise—she clearly hadn’t expected me to send something like that. “I-Is this really you, sunbae?”
“I told you. All my photos are weird.”
My abs and pectoral muscles looked like they’d been sculpted. The volume was just right—not too much, not too little—making anyone who saw them want to admire them. The problem was that they didn’t match my ordinary-looking face at all, making it seem like someone had photoshopped a model’s body onto my head. She was smart, but she hadn’t expected “weird” to mean this kind of weird. She’d probably thought it was just a joke, so she couldn’t hide her flustered expression at the idea that I’d actually sent an obviously edited photo.
“What is it? What are you doing? What are you looking at?”
Choi Seungah, who’d been sitting next to us and getting bored, spoke up again. Seeing Lee Yujin flustered while looking at her phone, she peeked at it too. When she saw my photo on the screen, she burst into loud laughter.
“Puhaha, sunbae, what is this? The photoshopping is so obvious!”
“It’s not photoshopped, okay?”
“What do you mean it’s not? If you’re going to lie, at least make it believable so people can pretend to fall for it.”
Choi Seungah teased me. Lee Yujin seemed to think the same and didn’t deny it either.
“Hey, it’s real.”
“Then show us right now. You can’t, can you?”
Choi Seungah grinned, clearly enjoying having found something fun to kill time with. “What if it’s not photoshopped?”
“Fine. If it’s not photoshopped, I’ll grant you one wish—anything you want. If it is, you grant me one wish. Of course, if it’s something weird, you have to get Yujin’s permission first. Deal?”
“Okay. Don’t regret those words.”
I accepted her proposal without hesitation, as if I’d been waiting for it, then lifted my shirt up to my chest and flexed my abs hard. A much sharper and more solid six-pack than in the photos appeared.
“Oh my?”
“Ooh~!”
The two women let out their own exclamations of admiration at my abs.
“Heh, looks like I’ll be putting in some work tonight.”
“Huh? W-What?”
Choi Seungah’s light sexual innuendo came again. This time Lee Yujin seemed to catch it too, her cheeks turning slightly red. Seeing that, Choi Seungah laughed lightly.
“What are you thinking? I meant the strength I’ll need to carry the boxes of drinks for the freshmen tonight. I was worried because there’s a lot of heavy lifting, but this is perfect. You weren’t thinking anything weird, were you?”
Choi Seungah teased me with a sly grin. When I couldn’t say anything, she naturally shifted the topic from the photos to the Saeteo. Then she suddenly remembered the promise about the wish.
“Hey, what about the wish ticket?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Choi Seungah played dumb and whistled a tune she couldn’t actually whistle. When that didn’t work, she cleared her throat meaninglessly and averted her gaze.
“Ah, we’ve arrived at the resort. I need to go greet the professors, so I’ll head out first!”
“Hey, hey, Choi Seungah!”
The moment the bus stopped, Choi Seungah grabbed her things and bolted like she was running away. I decided to keep the wish ticket for later, and we got off the bus as well.