Final Exams (1): The Dating Rumor
It had been nearly a month since I started mooching meals off Siwoo. With the final exams only a few days away now, Siwoo—who had bought me lunch like usual—showed up at the training room as always. He grabbed one of the wooden swords lying around and started swinging it. One of the students who had been sneaking glances at him slowly drifted over.
“Long time no see?”
“Huh? You’re… Oh! Yeah, long time no see.”
“It’s been two whole weeks since we last talked, dude.”
“Ahaha… Sorry, I’ve been kinda busy.”
Siwoo scratched the back of his head with an awkward laugh. Lately he’d been so busy buying me food that he’d neglected his other friendships, so there were plenty of kids—like the one standing in front of him—he hadn’t spoken to in weeks.
“So what’s up?”
“It’s nothing major, but…” The guy paused, cleared his throat a couple times, then asked carefully. “So… I heard you’re dating Plea. Is that true?”
“What…?”
Siwoo’s brows knitted together. Who the hell was saying he was dating who? My whole mysterious-beauty aura had faded away ages ago thanks to the parasitic way I’d been acting for the past month. These days he basically just saw me as a walking stomach with legs.
“Give me the details.”
“Wait, you’re not dating her?”
“We’re not, so explain.”
The male student still looked skeptical, but Siwoo’s dead-serious eyes finally made him spill everything he knew.
“…So because you and Plea are glued together all the time, the whole school’s saying you two are a couple?”
“That’s what I’m telling you. The academy’s strongest boy and girl forming a couple? There’s no way it wouldn’t blow up.”
Siwoo rubbed his throbbing forehead and let out a long sigh.
“Anyway… thanks for letting me know.”
“No problem. But… you’re seriously not dating?”
“I already said we’re not!”
Siwoo practically shouted it before storming out to find me somewhere outside the training hall.
“Not dating? With your face that red? Sure, buddy…”
The male student watched Siwoo bolt away and let out a little snort of laughter.
Siwoo found me near the snack shop we usually hit up.
“Whoa, why are you sweating like that?”
I tilted my head at Siwoo, who looked like he’d just run through a waterfall.
“I was running around a bit…”
He’d actually lapped the entire academy grounds more than three times in that “bit,” but there was no need to brag about it. Since he wanted to get to the point, Siwoo brushed my question aside.
“Anyway, Plea… Did you know there’s a rumor going around about us?”
“A rumor? What rumor?”
My completely innocent reply made Siwoo slap his own forehead. Of course. Someone who learned about human relationships exclusively through the internet wasn’t going to be sensitive to gossip like this. He sighed and told me what he’d heard.
“So… there’s a rumor that we’re dating?”
“Yeah.”
“And it’s spread across the whole school?”
“That’s what they’re saying.”
At Siwoo’s firm answer I licked my ice cream once and scoffed.
“You’re full of crap.”
“Argh!”
Siwoo clutched the back of his neck. I had one corner of my mouth quirked up in that classic ‘I’m not falling for your nonsense’ expression. Since we saw each other so often because of the free meals, and he’d pranked me a few times when he got bored, I’d started treating him like the boy who cried wolf.
“…Then just grab any random student walking by and ask them.”
“Pass.”
“Then how am I supposed to prove it?!”
“If you really want to prove it, let’s make a bet. If the rumor that we’re dating is true, I’ll grant you one wish later. If it’s fake, you grant me one.”
“Deal. Ask quickly.”
“Don’t regret it.”
I shoved the rest of the ice cream I’d been licking into my mouth in one go, then flagged down a passing student.
“Hey, got a second?”
“Huh? What’s up?”
“I heard a rumor that Siwoo and I are dating and wanted to check if it’s real.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
The female student’s confused reaction made me smirk with a ‘just as I thought’ look.
“See, it really was another one of his—”
“Wait, aren’t you two actually dating?”
If it hadn’t been for the girl’s sudden follow-up, that would’ve been the end of it. I asked again, flustered.
“The rumor that Siwoo and I are dating is actually going around?”
“No, now I want to ask… Aren’t you two dating? Why are you asking me?”
For a second everything went quiet. The shock that Siwoo’s story was real left me opening and closing my mouth like a fish before I finally squeezed out one word.
“…Why?”
No way. Why the hell is there a scandal just because friends eat together?!
At my swallowed-back question, both people next to me facepalmed. Of course—when you’re together every day and eat all three meals side by side, there’s no way hot-blooded teenagers wouldn’t start gossiping.
But I couldn’t think that far. I knew I was a girl now, sure, but the idea of actually dating a guy had never once crossed my mind. Even though I’d gotten used to this body to some degree, the me from my previous life wasn’t gay, so imagining myself in a relationship with a man was straight-up impossible. That’s why I’d just seen it as “friends grabbing food together.” To everyone else, though, it clearly looked like something else.
“Um… Can I go now?”
“Ah, sorry for taking up your time.”
After the girl left, only Siwoo and I remained.
“…What should we do?”
I grabbed Siwoo’s sleeve and asked.
“What do you mean, what should we do? We just have to stay apart.”
“But… my meals?”
“The finals are the day after tomorrow anyway. Can’t you buy your own food for two days?”
Siwoo figured that even if I was broke, I’d received over a million won, so two days should be nothing. To me, though, it sounded like the end of the world.
“No way…”
The only money left in my account was a pathetic fifty thousand won. The reason I had so little despite all the free meals from Siwoo was simple: I’d been secretly buying snacks with my scholarship money. After eating the meal he bought plus dessert, there were still mountains of delicious things I wanted to try, so I’d been sneaking snacks on the side. Thanks to that brilliant plan, the only thing left was the emergency fifty thousand won I’d set aside. Obviously it wasn’t nearly enough for two days of proper food.
Fat tears like chicken droppings rolled down my cheeks.
“Wait, why are you crying all of a sudden?!”
“I have no money… After learning how good real food tastes, I don’t want to eat that bland cafeteria garbage anymore…!”
The academy’s free bread was way better than the stuff they fed me at the lab, but compared to actual paid food it was still considered tasteless. No exaggeration there.
When I held out my crumpled bills and called it my entire fortune, Siwoo dragged a hand down his face and sighed.
“Haa…”
When Aria had told him about my past, she’d mentioned I never got to eat properly—that delicious meals were rare treats. The bitter taste in Siwoo’s mouth made him scrap the first plan.
“Okay, staying apart is off the table… Got any other ideas?”
“…”
Neither of us said anything. Two people who had zero dating experience between them had no clue how to handle a rumor like this. After we spent a while just staring at each other, I finally spoke up.
“…Even if we rack our brains, we’re probably not going to come up with anything, right?”
“Probably not.”
“Then let’s ask someone else.”
“Who?”
“Professor Dana.”
Siwoo’s eyes lit up. Dana was older, had life experience, and looked like she knew what she was doing. She had to understand romance better than we did.
“Let’s go right now.”
“Yeah.”
We sprinted toward Dana’s office.
“So… there’s a dating rumor about you two, and you came to me for a solution?”
Dana clutched her throbbing head and thought.
I really thought spring had finally come for Plea too… but it was all in my head…
Having built a relationship with me over several years, this was genuinely sad news for Dana. From her own background check, Siwoo’s character and history were spotless. His past wasn’t exactly sunshine and rainbows either, but she figured he’d understand me better than anyone—like two peas in a tragic pod. She had been quietly rooting for us. Now this bombshell left her feeling deeply disappointed.
“If there’s a dating rumor, can’t you just stay apart?”
“Well…” Siwoo explained my financial situation to her.
“Are you kidding me? You blew all your money on snacks and have nothing left?”
“That’s…!” I opened my mouth to argue, then immediately shut it, face burning. This time it really was my fault for wasting cash.
“So you don’t want to stay apart, but you still want to kill the rumor. Correct?”
“It’s shameless, but… please help us.”
Dana almost asked if they were actually dating at this point, but since both of us insisted they weren’t, she let it go and focused on finding a solution. The answer came surprisingly fast.
“You two know the final exams are right around the corner, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you know it’s a team event?”
“We do, but what does that have to do with—”
“Then the solution is simple.”
“What is it?!” we both shouted at the same time.
Dana grinned.
“You two just need to fight like your lives depend on it. So viciously that nobody would even dream you’re dating…”