It was half a joke. Even if they said “used to it” or “disappointing,” they still said he was handsome. Woo-seok, who had been watching the three’s conversation with a fed-up expression, snapped his fingers.
“So we’re entering this year’s festival too? Anyone have objections?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Everyone nodded. Jae-min’s hands had been itching for this too. It was purely a hobby at a hundred percent, but he was serious about the band activities in his own way. Plus, it had been too long since he’d strummed guitar strings.
Looking around at the positively responding members, Min-jeong excitedly swung her legs back and forth.
“What song should we do?”
“How about that? Chi-won’s original composition.”
“Hey, you brought that up at the perfect time. I’m actually preparing a new song.”
Chi-won snapped his fingers and suddenly reached behind the bench. His guitar bag emerged from the darkness.
“You brought that again?”
Although Chi-won was in charge of drums in the band, he also knew how to play guitar. He grinned as he pulled out the guitar.
“Listen to this.”
Clearing his throat, Chi-won started playing guitar and singing. There were no lyrics, just words that could be English or alien language. But the melody was very good.
Woo-seok discreetly took out his phone and started recording a video. Seeing this, Jae-min looked around.
He really liked the atmosphere right now—the sky gradually darkening, the quiet park with only occasional passersby, drinking beer little by little while playing guitar and singing.
Chi-won sang with his eyes closed. Only the chorus had clear lyrics. The repetition of five syllables: “Because I like you.”
When the song ended, Chi-won looked up with a confident face as if asking how it was. The members applauded.
“Is the title ‘Because I Liked You’?”
“No, ‘Because I Like You.’ All my reasons were love. Isn’t it good?”
“There are no lyrics in the middle?”
“I have to write them now. But doesn’t this song seem like it would suit Jae-min’s voice?”
At Chi-won’s question, everyone’s eyes turned to Jae-min. Jae-min pointed at himself with one eyebrow raised.
“Me?”
“Yeah, you sing the first verse, and Min-jeong can sing the second. Or you two could sing together.”
“Well, that’s fine.”
Although he wasn’t the vocal position, Jae-min often sang on stage too. Chi-won started playing guitar, telling him to try singing it once. Even if he didn’t know anything else, he could remember just the chorus after hearing it once, so Jae-min hummed along. Woo-seok giggled as he continued recording the video.
They laughed, sang, and talked for quite a while like that. By the time they were cleaning up, the sky had already turned completely black, and the streetlights in the park were shining brightly. Mayflies swarmed around each streetlight like black water spray.
“Let’s go now.”
Jae-min stretched and waved his hand leisurely. As he was about to walk toward the bus stop, Woo-seok suddenly spoke up.
“Lim Jae-min, won’t you take a girl introduction?”
“A girl introduction?”
At the out-of-the-blue words, Jae-min’s eyes widened. The members sent interested looks. Woo-seok grinned and smoothly held out his phone.
“She’s exactly your type, what do you think?”
On Woo-seok’s phone screen was a photo. It was a photo someone had taken of a woman with long straight hair, and her figure stood out because of the tight-fitting knit dress.
At a glance, his eyes were drawn to her ample chest, but strangely he felt no excitement. Looking at the screen with an indifferent gaze, Jae-min shook his head.
“…No, it’s fine.”
“Huh, what’s this about? This noona is a D-cup.”
In that moment, an image flashed through Jae-min’s mind. Kang Hyun-woong’s large chest, which he thought would be firm but was unexpectedly soft and chewy.
‘Isn’t that bastard’s chest even bigger?’
Jae-min was startled by the sentence he unconsciously thought of. As if afraid someone might notice this thought, he hastily averted his gaze.
“Just not really… I’m busy with work.”
At his lukewarm response, everyone sent curious looks. It was an expression wondering what was up with Jae-min, who would go crazy over women—especially busty women.
Jae-min pretended not to see their expressions and turned his head while scratching the back of his head. It was true he was busy with work, and even if he dated someone, he wasn’t confident he could keep his current job a secret until the end.
It wasn’t a part-time job he’d be doing for long anyway. Thinking he’d bring it up again when he got lonely after the part-time job ended, Jae-min trudged along.
[Kwon Woo-seok: The video I took earlier]
[Kwon Woo-seok: Can I post it on my story?]
[Hwang Chi-won: What’s with asking?]
[Kwon Woo-seok: I mean… it’s an unreleased song?]
[Hwang Chi-won: ㅋㅋㅋㅋPost itㅋㅋ]
[Na Min-jeong: Tag me too]
[Park Hye-young: Am I in itㅋㅋTag me too]
On the way home, notifications from the Fake Lightning members’ group chat kept going off endlessly. The video Woo-seok had taken while they were singing and playing together was the hot topic. After waiting a bit, a notification appeared that Jae-min had been tagged on social media.
Leaning his head against the window, Jae-min pressed on the notification. The video had been uploaded to Woo-seok’s account as a post that would only appear for 24 hours. It wasn’t a properly prepared performance but just humming for fun, so it was amateurish, but they looked happier than ever.
The sound of giggling laughter and legs moving to the rhythm were captured. Then in the latter part, the camera moved to capture faces, with Jae-min standing in the center.
“Came out well, didn’t it?”
In the dim light, perhaps because he caught the park lighting particularly well, somehow his face looked pretty good for going out without getting dressed up. The sight of him singing surrounded by friends looked good too. Jae-min smiled with satisfaction and shared the video to his own account.
After returning home, Jae-min showered, changed clothes, and flopped onto his bed with his phone. The first thing he checked was the post he’d shared earlier. Below the video posted an hour ago, on the lower left, were the profile pictures of people who had viewed the post.
Among them, Jae-min twisted up one corner of his mouth and laughed out loud at the profile that caught his eye first.
“Ha! Lee Yun-ji!”
He recognized it immediately. The photo of a woman with wavy long hair draped over one shoulder in a pink top that showed off her figure was definitely Yun-ji’s profile. At the fact that Yun-ji had clicked on it right away, not long after he shared the video, Jae-min stretched with a victorious smile.
“Can’t forget me, can you?”
His heart didn’t flutter at Yun-ji’s appearance. He just felt somehow satisfied that she was still watching him even though she acted like she’d never see him again. Clicking his tongue, Jae-min entered the ‘Activity’ tab and looked further at the list of viewers.
Besides Yun-ji, many people had viewed Jae-min’s post. Band members, middle and high school classmates, and even people he didn’t know. Jae-min, who had been pleasantly checking the outpouring of attention, suddenly stopped.
“…Huh?”
A profile that shouldn’t be here caught his eye. A sky photo with a few balloons floating like dots in the corner. And next to it, three neat characters written.
‘Kang Hyun-woong’
Hyun-woong had viewed this post. Jae-min’s mouth dropped open.
“How did this bastard see mine?”
Naturally, Jae-min and Hyun-woong weren’t following each other. It was a post that couldn’t be seen unless you specifically searched for the ID or went through someone else.
As Jae-min scrolled through the screen and racked his brain, Yun-ji’s profile came into his eyes again. Suddenly, an imagination burrowed into his mind.
“…What if Lee Yun-ji still has lingering feelings for me?”
The hypothesis that popped up like a small spark instantly burned through Jae-min’s rationality. What if Yun-ji couldn’t forget him and eventually broke up with Hyun-woong? What if Hyun-woong, hearing this, held a grudge and thought ‘What’s so great about this guy?’ and snooped on his social media!
Since Jae-min himself had previously snooped on Hyun-woong’s account, he spread his wings of imagination thoroughly based on his own experience. If Yun-ji had lingering feelings for him, that would be satisfying, but thinking that Hyun-woong had searched through his account made him feel thoroughly uncomfortable.
Moreover, since Jae-min had just been kneading his chest earlier in the day, there was a guilty spot, so he anxiously rubbed his chin. Wondering if there were any clues in his feed that would reveal he was the clinic’s part-timer.
Eventually, Jae-min entered the messenger to send a message to Yun-ji.
Since it had been several days since Jae-min last exchanged KakaoTalk messages with Yun-ji, the 1:1 chat room with her had gone way down. Jae-min, who finally found Yun-ji’s name, tapped on the keyboard.
[Did you break up?]
He sent only what needed to be said, plainly. It wouldn’t be cool to bring up the traces of viewing the social media post.
