The Unwritten Rule
A week flew by in no time.
A few things had changed in Yeonhee's and my daily lives. The pack of guys who used to hover around her had thinned out so much you could tell at a glance — and ever since the after-school abandonment incident, she had started chaining me down like a shackle. Even I had to admit I'd been careless that day, but the way she bound me after that felt like overkill. The biggest example: holding hands the moment homeroom ended had become a daily routine.
I'd changed a little, too. The most obvious shift was that the attention on me had started to fade. It wasn't so much a change as a return to the way things used to be, which suited me just fine. If the rest of the year could pass like this without incident, I'd be more than happy.
And the biggest change of all was...
"Hey, Han Juyeong, you just getting here~?"
"Hey."
This guy.
Ever since that day, Kang Hanbyeol had kept parking himself in the seat in front of me and striking up conversation. I still had no idea why he'd latched onto me. He was so naturally outgoing that we'd gotten to the point of exchanging ordinary small talk — and for a daily life that had never included a single friend, that was the biggest change of all.
"Dude, why'd you leave me on read yesterday?"
"I was tired. I fell asleep."
It was obviously just another one of his rambling texts about something only he cared about, same as always.
"Wow, so sleep's more important than your friend?"
He made a show of sniffling, going on about how hurt, how terribly hurt he was. What kind of guy gets that worked up over something so petty... We were in the middle of this nonsense when I spotted Yeonhee coming in through the back door.
"Hi. You got here early again today?"
"...I fell asleep early last night."
"Yeonhee, listen to this! This jerk left his friend's texts on read and went to sleep!"
He was venting like he'd been genuinely wounded. Was this really something to get that upset over? I wouldn't know. I'd never had a friend to begin with.
"Hehe. He's always been like that. Just be the bigger person and let it go."
Hey. What kind of girlfriend takes her guy friend's side over her boyfriend's?
I was giving Yeonhee a look of betrayal over this contradictory behavior when Kim Naeun walked over and sat down in the seat in front of her. These days, the four of us had started hanging around as a group.
"Stuck between a couple first thing in the morning. My heart can't take it~"
Kang Hanbyeol, who had no idea about the real situation, was dead certain we were an actual couple.
"Hehe, tell me about it. When's it gonna be my turn to get a boyfriend~"
Hey. Kim Naeun, you're the one who recommended this in the first place...!
Ever since day one, Naeun had been playing dumb and joining in on teasing Yeonhee and me. I was considering whether I should actually rap her on the head when I caught the look on Yeonhee's face as she smiled at Naeun — and I decided against it.
No... her eyes aren't smiling at all...
It was a good reminder not to pick that fight.
I was watching the three of them chatter away when the first-period teacher walked in.
"Alright, everyone still lying on their desks, sit up. Eyes on me for a second!"
The room went quiet in an instant, and we all turned toward the teacher.
"Starting today, we'll be doing a group performance assessment. Four to five people per group."
Ugh... I hate group activities...
I never understood why group projects and group assignments even existed. They said it was to build teamwork, or something. From where I stood, it was basically just a way of forcibly manufacturing conflict among students.
I was sitting there with a sour look on my face when Kang Hanbyeol, in the seat in front of me, raised his hand.
"Teacher, how do we form the groups?"
"Form them however you like and have someone come up and submit the member list."
"Got it~"
I was still wondering how to handle this when Hanbyeol stood up with a piece of paper in his hand.
"I'll go submit it, then?"
I guess that's what it means to be a social butterfly. The skill of just making people your group members without even asking... Whoever those members were, I felt sorry for them.
I was nodding to myself at that thought when the paper fluttered past my eyes, and the writing on it caught my attention.
On the paper...
Wait. That's me...?
Leader: Han Juyeong
Members: Kang Hanbyeol, Lee Yeonhee, Kim Naeun
"W-wait...!"
Before I could get a word out, the paper was already in the teacher's hands. I'd been robbed blind with my eyes wide open.
Come to think of it, why are Yeonhee and Naeun just sitting there...?
I looked over. Lee Yeonhee and Kim Naeun were looking right at me, smiling like they hadn't done a thing.
Ah... I was the only one who didn't know...?
Even giving them the benefit of the doubt, being in the group was actually a plus for me. I'd been wondering how I was even going to find a group, so if they were going to slot me in themselves, I had no reason to refuse.
But group leader...? That's a different story!
The group leader was the one who had to rally the members and see the project through. Someone like me, who'd spent his whole life alone, obviously didn't have a shred of leadership in him.
I was glaring daggers at Hanbyeol as he came back, but he played completely dumb.
"Alright, so whose house are we meeting at?"
I was watching Lee Yeonhee look around my apartment like she owned the place.
...How did it come to this?
Let's rewind a bit.
Whose house would we use for the meeting.
"Ah, sorry. My place is too small. There's no room for four people."
First up was Kang Hanbyeol.
"My parents don't like me bringing friends over, so mine's probably a no-go too."
Second was Kim Naeun. That left only Yeonhee and me. I looked at Yeonhee with a pleading expression.
"Hmm... What's this? Does my boyfriend want to see my room?"
She said it with a teasing smirk. I didn't have the guts to walk into a girl's room. Not yet.
Process of elimination. One by one, every option got crossed off until only my place was left. Hanbyeol and Naeun said they'd stop by their houses to change and then come over. Yeonhee and I were heading the same direction, so we decided to go to my place first and wait.
The digital lock beeped four times, then chimed as it unlatched.
"Come in."
"Pardon the intrusion~"
"Make yourself comfortable. Sit wherever."
"Okay. Wow, your place is huge~"
"Well... a place to live is a place to live."
Anyone would be curious about a student living alone in a place this big, but Yeonhee didn't say a word — probably because of what had happened at the supermarket last time. Which made me even more grateful.
"Where's your room?"
"...Why do you want to know all of a sudden?"
"Obviously because as your girlfriend, I have to inspect what my boyfriend's been hiding!"
"I get what you're after, but there's nothing like that."
Yeonhee insisted that checking at least once was the unwritten rule, since she'd come all this way, and with a little "here goes," she pushed my bedroom door open.
Inside: a faint scent of air freshener, a clothes rack, a bed, a desk. A perfectly ordinary guy's room. Nothing much to look at.
Yeonhee seemed to think otherwise. She stood there considering something, then walked over to me — and out of nowhere, she reached out and stroked my head.
...?
I frowned at the sudden gesture and looked at her like, what are you doing —
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang at just the right moment, and Yeonhee pulled away from me and left the room.
"The others are here. Let's get the meeting started."
...What was that just now?
After we'd settled on a meeting place, I headed out the school gates with Naeun first, saying I'd swing by home. We agreed to get ready and meet at Juyeong's, then went our separate ways.
I got home not long after, changed clothes, and was packing my things when a KakaoTalk notification went off on my phone. In the group chat labeled Group Performance Assessment, there was an address that was presumably Juyeong's.
"This is... the complete opposite direction from my house."
Given the distance, I left home a little early. I headed back toward the school and was about to go in the direction of Juyeong's apartment when I spotted a short girl up ahead, so I quietly crept closer.
"Boo!"
"Kyaaah!"
Naeun shrieked and bolted forward.
"Wait— wait! Hey! Hold on! Red light!"
Naeun went charging toward the crosswalk without even looking. I sprinted after her at full speed and grabbed her wrist.
"Hey! Calm down for a second!"
"Kya... ah... huh?"
"Sheesh... I got more scared than you did. I can't even pull a prank on you."
I made a show of wiping off a cold sweat, and Naeun puffed out her cheeks and punched me in the chest with everything she had.
"Aagh! Why are you hitting me!"
"Whose fault do you think this is?!"
Grinning the whole time, she kept pounding my chest.
"Hey! Ughk. I said I was sorry! Ghk."
"Hmph! Whatever! I'm going!"
"Huh? Hey, hey, wait up!"
I trotted after Naeun, and before long a pretty upscale-looking apartment complex came into view.
"Whoa... so Juyeong lives in a place like this..."
"Holy crap... gold spoon much..."
Naeun and I looked around in awe, then checked the unit number Juyeong had sent in the group chat and got in the elevator.
"Come to think of it, aren't we interrupting their quality time?"
"Please. My Yeonhee's an innocent kid who doesn't know anything about that stuff."
Who's calling who a kid...
A snicker slipped out of me before I could stop it.
"What's with that laugh."
I must've laughed out loud without realizing it.
"Huh? It's nothing. Anyway, we're here. Come on."
"Hey! What was that laugh just now!"
Naeun was saying something behind me, but I pretended not to hear and kept walking. We stood in front of Juyeong's door, rang the bell, and waited a moment. Then the door opened.
Through the gap, we could see Yeonhee looking awkward and Juyeong with a scowl on his face. An uncomfortable atmosphere hung in the air inside.
"Come in."
"Uh...? Yeah. Coming in."
...What just happened in there?
"Come in."
The words what are you doing had been right on the tip of my tongue when the doorbell rang and shut me up. Since they were here, I opened the door and told them to come in. Naeun darted inside, pitter-pattered across the floor, and threw her arms around Yeonhee.
And Kang Hanbyeol...
"Why are you staring?"
"Nothing... just wondering if something happened while we were gone."
Something had happened. Or hadn't. Depending on how you looked at it.
"Not really. Nothing happened."
I showed them to the living room, then got drinks ready and handed one to each of them. Once that was done, Yeonhee clapped her hands to get everyone's attention.
"It's gotten pretty late, so how about we just divide up the roles, sketch out a rough plan, and call it a day?"
It was a lot later than we'd planned, so we decided to just get a plan down quickly and wrap up.
"That sounds good."
"Yeah, I live pretty far from here, so I should probably head out a bit early."
Naeun and Hanbyeol both agreed with Yeonhee.
"In that case, Hanbyeol, you've got a loud voice and you're good at talking. How about you handle the presentation?"
"Well, if Yeonhee says so, I guess that's how it is."
"And Naeun, I remember you making a really good PowerPoint before. Think you could take that on?"
"Leave it to me~"
"Then I guess Juyeong and I will handle the research?"
"Yeah."
We roughly decided on a topic and how we'd put it together, and by then the sun was already sinking.
"Alright, let's call it here for today."
"Thanks for letting us use your place today, Juyeong."
"...It's nothing."
Once they'd packed up, they headed for the door and started saying their goodbyes one by one.
"See you at school tomorrow, Juyeong~"
"Yeah. See you tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, man. Hyung's out."
"Who're you calling hyung."
I gave Hanbyeol and Naeun a halfhearted goodbye, and they disappeared from view pretty quickly. Once those two were gone, I looked straight ahead.
Yeonhee was standing there with her head down.
"About earlier..."
She seemed to be saying something, but I couldn't quite hear it, so I stepped closer.
She threw the words at me and ran off without looking back.
...What's with her?