Feeling wronged and frustrated, I jabbed a finger at my tray and let it all out. He was the one who hadn’t shown up fast enough, so what was all this about being ditched? And on top of that, I’d only just possessed this body — there was no way I’d know where we were supposed to meet and walk to the cafeteria together. But it wasn’t like I could say “I got possessed today so I don’t know anything!”
“Well? Was I right or not?!”
“……Fair enough. Okay, I’ll give you that one.”
“……Huh?”
That actually worked?
“Honestly, today’s lunch really is legendary. I get wanting to come ahead.”
Yang Inho was…… a little simple, maybe. The excuse I’d given was complete nonsense — if anything, he should’ve told me to cut the crap — and yet here he was, actually accepting it. I couldn’t make sense of his reaction, but I was grateful it let me wrap the situation up smoothly. With Yang Inho finally settled down, I could actually focus on eating.
“Juwoo, I get you, but can we at least stay in contact? Leaving me on read was genuinely so hurtful.”
“Huh? You messaged me?”
“Right when the lunch bell rang. You didn’t see it?”
“No. I left my phone in my drawer and didn’t take it out.”
“……You’re seriously obsessed with studying. How amazing of a person are you planning to become?”
“What are you on about. I just find it uncomfortable in my pocket.”
“Sure you do. It’s not like you’ve ignored my messages a million times because you were studying.”
Yang Inho suddenly launched into a litany of grievances. How many times must Juwoo have left him on read for this to have built up. Defending myself seemed pointless given how much had apparently accumulated, so I offered an apology I didn’t really mean.
“At least sound like you mean it.”
“That was plenty sincere. Anyway, what did you message me?”
“Oh, that. I’m the class PE representative, right? I said I might be late because I had to help clean up after fourth period PE.”
“Ahh, that’s all it was?”
“No, also — do you want to come over for dinner? My mom said to bring you.”
“……Your place?”
“Yeah. Said it’s been a while since you’ve come around, she wants to see you. And.”
At Yang Inho’s beckoning gesture, I leaned my face in closer — and he dropped his voice to a whisper.
“My dad brought home meat yesterday.”
“Pfft—”
He’d gone through the trouble of whispering like he was about to say something huge, and all it turned out to be was bragging about meat. A laugh escaped me.
“Let’s eat it all before Dad gets home!”
There was something about Yang Inho’s playfully grinning face — a kind of bright, unguarded innocence you could only find at exactly that age — that I found genuinely endearing.
“I don’t know.”
“Aw, come on! Let’s go. I’m telling you, it’s a meat party tonight.”
I hesitated a little. It seemed like Yang Inho and Juwoo were more than just casually close, but I currently knew nothing about Juwoo whatsoever. I didn’t want to go over there, say the wrong thing, spend the whole time sweating through awkward explanations, and stress myself out over it.
“I……”
Ding.
[ System ]
[Tip. Yeon Juwoo and Yang Inho are old friends who spent their childhoods together.]
“I’ll go. I’d love to come over, actually.”
On the walk home together to head to Yang Inho’s place, I was already bitterly regretting having let that tip lure me into agreeing to come.
“This cake is so pretty!”
“Right? Apparently it tastes amazing too. Try some.”
“Aah, it almost feels wrong to eat it. Let me take a few more photos first!”
“Sure.”
There were so many cafés along the way here — so why, of all places, did Choi Woosu and Lee Yura have to be in this one? We’d stopped by because Yang Inho’s mother had asked us to pick up some cake from this famous bakery café, but the first thing I spotted the moment I walked in wasn’t the cake — it was Choi Woosu.
Whether it was some kind of game effect or just my imagination, I could see little hearts drifting around the two of them as they cozied up together, and whatever good mood I’d been in evaporated instantly.
“Wow, those two are all over each other and they’re not even dating?”
“……Tell me about it.”
Yang Inho wouldn’t know that Choi Woosu still had two more years ahead of him before he could beat out the other capture targets and actually get together with Yura.
According to the game’s scenario, Choi Woosu’s confession was set to happen two whole years from now, on graduation day. Which meant that unless Yura reached a happy ending with another capture target before then, I’d have to keep watching this idio — this kind of scene — the entire time.
“……Does it have to be cake from here specifically?”
“Yeah! My mom really loves this place. Just wait a sec. I know exactly what she likes.”
“Ah, no——!”
Before I could stop him, Yang Inho had already left me on my own and wandered off to pick out the cake. Now I had to keep watching this insufferable scene by myself. I resented him for it, but since the focus of this particular quest wasn’t Choi Woosu, I decided to put up with it.
Speaking of which — where was Han Bohyeon?
“What are you doing here?”
“Oh — Han Bohyeon?”
Standing near the entrance, I came face to face with Han Bohyeon the moment he walked in. I’d known he’d show up, but I feigned surprise anyway. As expected — but seeing that he didn’t even use my name confirmed it: whatever relationship existed between Yeon Juwoo and Han Bohyeon was more distant than I’d assumed.
“You’re into this kind of place?”
He glanced briefly around the café, then looked back at me with a slight furrow in his brow. It was a well-known spot, so anyone could come here — why the look of confusion? It stung a little to think I might look that out of place in a café like this, but I let it go with a laugh.
“Haha, no. A friend asked me to come along. You?”
“Her.”
“Ahh.”
He nodded toward Yura with a single word and was already done talking. Then, without so much as a ‘see you,’ he headed straight over to the table where Yura was sitting.
This wasn’t just being blunt — it was borderline rude. I’d known he wasn’t warm to anyone outside of Yura, but I hadn’t expected it to be quite this bad. At this rate, my favorite might be switching over to Go Jin pretty soon.
Choi Woosu and Yura were too busy being wrapped up in each other to notice Han Bohyeon had arrived. When Yura asked to see his phone saying she wanted a photo that turned out nice, Choi Woosu visibly panicked. He didn’t want her to find out he’d been photographing her, not the cake.
He lifted his phone high in the air, desperately trying to keep it out of Yura’s reach — and then Han Bohyeon plucked it right out of his hands. In that instant, a quest opened.
Ding.
[ System ]
[Tutorial-2. Choi Woosu’s Natural Enemy, Han Bohyeon]
[“Huh? Bohyeon?
“What, why are you here?”
“Her.”
“Yura, did you invite him?”
“No, I didn’t!”
Bohyeon said it almost like I was the one who’d called him over, and it caught me off guard. All I’d told him was that something came up and I couldn’t go with him — and yet he’d somehow known we’d be here. I was more curious about how he’d known than anything. It was too far from home for him to have just walked past.
I was about to ask when my eyes landed on the phone in Bohyeon’s hand. It was a cake photo — I couldn’t figure out why Woosu didn’t want to show me. Bohyeon glanced at the photo, then waved the phone around.
“Want to see?”
“Yes!”
“No!”
Woosu and I answered at the same time — but I’d naturally assumed Bohyeon would hand it to me, except he just smirked, tossed the phone back to Woosu, and dropped into the seat next to me.]
