“You think I don’t know that? I’ve already prepared myself.”
I hadn’t expected my closest friend’s outlook on love to be anything like this, and it left me genuinely dazed.
“And I can’t be with someone I don’t have feelings for.”
The firmness at the end of his answer made it hard for me to push back, so I held my tongue.
I’d always known he put up walls against anyone who came too close — but I hadn’t realized his inner self was this much of a romantic.
While I was at a loss for words, we arrived in front of Kwon Wookyung’s building.
I stood there slightly stiff before finally following the owner of the place inside. I’d gone to wash the stinging hand, and by the time I came back out, he’d already taken hold of it and was applying ointment.
“You don’t have someone you like, do you?”
“…As if.”
Well, obviously.
It was hard to picture him pining over someone.
He’d been single his whole life, so he was clearly harboring enormous fantasies about romance.
“What’s your type, then?”
“……”
“Hmm?”
“What does it matter to you.”
“I’m just curious. It’s not like it’s anyone else — it’s you.”
Having already forgotten I’d been annoyed at him, I added with a teasing edge,
“If it’s someone in our circle, I might be able to set you up.”
Kwon Wookyung, who’d been focused on my palm, looked up and scoffed.
“Sure.”
“Oh come on! You can’t even tell your friend something like this? You were so vague about your ideal type on that broadcast too — someone with a pretty smile, what does that even mean? Is there anyone in the world whose smile is ugly?”
Everyone looks beautiful when they’re smiling brightly.
He said nothing and tidied up the medicine. I waved my freshly ointment-coated hand in the air to dry it and declared confidently,
“You know I’m good at this — relationship advice. Don’t you remember? What was that guy’s name in Seonho’s class… anyway, I helped him win over that girl from the next class. Getting people together is my specialty.”
Honestly, more than half of that was bluster. I’d never deliberately set out to win someone over. I just… got confessed to a lot. Some of them I’d seen coming, some I hadn’t. Which meant my own intentions had never really been part of any of my relationships. But framing it this way gave him the best chance of getting intrigued enough to actually open up — that was my angle.
Kwon Wookyung, however, did not seem intrigued in the slightest. He just shot me a slightly irritated look.
“…Getting people together, right.”
I trailed after him as he headed into the study.
The irritation I’d felt toward him had completely vanished by now.
It would be a lie to say I wasn’t a little hurt. All this time, Kwon Wookyung had never breathed a single word to me about romance or anything to do with feelings. That kind of one-sided sharing was always on my end.
“Hey. With that face of yours, most people would fall for you if you just used it properly. Let this hyung teach you his secrets.”
He pulled out volumes 97 and 98 — the ones I’d been looking for — from the clearly visible section of the shelf and handed them to me. Even at a glance, the bookshelf held plenty of familiar titles. It wasn’t just one or two books I’d left here over the years.
“The ones you were looking for.”
Whether or not he’d heard me, the apartment’s owner headed straight for the kitchen with long strides. I followed again.
“Hey, are you listening to me?”
He didn’t answer my question — just took the milk out of the fridge and moved to heat it up.
“I want mine cold.”
I cut in and he immediately poured it into a glass, so he clearly had his ears open.
He was ignoring me outright, like a cat that pretends not to hear even when its owner calls its name.
I tried coaxing him a few more times, but his mouth stayed clamped shut like a clam.
I followed Kwon Wookyung as he set a glass of milk on the living room table and settled onto the rug below the sofa. I’d lounged around here so many times it felt as comfortable as my own home.
“I’ll ask just one thing. I really mean it.”
I raised my hand politely and arranged myself into a ready-to-ask posture.
“What.”
The apartment’s owner sat neatly on the sofa with his book.
“Are looks important to you?”
A question I absolutely had to ask. To match that face, average looks wouldn’t cut it. Kwon Wookyung seemed like he could care enormously about appearances — or alternatively, not care at all. No data to go on, so I genuinely couldn’t guess.
When I tilted my head back and looked up at him with wide, bright eyes, the corners of his mouth curved up ever so slightly.
“Extremely.”
Then he opened his book.
That was a signal to stop bothering him.
*
The living room at Kwon Wookyung’s place gets beautiful sunlight. Even on cold days the light came in warm. Today the spring sunshine streamed in deep, making it especially cozy.
The only sounds were the soft, quiet turns of pages.
Lounging around in a familiar space reading manga, I felt like a lazy cat basking in the sun.
Comfortable enough to be satisfied. Meanwhile, the owner of the apartment sat upright and read without a single break in posture.
At some point I sent a text home so they wouldn’t worry.
[Mom, since I’m already out I’ll study at a café for a bit before coming home]
It was genuinely a very student-era kind of lie.
Not a scrap of studying — just reading manga and rolling around.
She probably wouldn’t say anything even if I told her I was reading manga, but… well. That’s how it happened.
In that perfect environment, hugging a cushion, I tore through volumes all the way to 101 — and by the time I closed the last page I was just flat-out furious.
“Wow, they call this a plot development…”
I was practically trembling with a sense of betrayal toward the author.
I tapped Kwon Wookyung’s leg.
“You’ve read all the new volumes, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Does it keep going like this?”
“Yeah.”
Kwon Wookyung had been reading in his relaxed posture and looked up with an expression that said he’d seen my reaction coming.
“Really? Isn’t this a full-on character assassination?”
“I think so too.”
Liar. My favorite character — mysterious, sharp-edged — there’s no way they’d act like this… I was speechless.
Denying reality, I picked up volume 102. I had to read it because I was curious, but I could already tell I’d be muttering complaints the whole way through.
Somewhere along the way, snacks had appeared on the coffee table. Butter cookies — my favorite kind.
Kwon Wookyung doesn’t really eat snacks though.
“What are these doing here? Fans give them to you?”
“…Yeah.”
“Oh. When we were kids you’d never accept gifts — so you take them now?”
I gave a short laugh and helped myself to the snacks he wasn’t touching. They were exactly to my taste.
“What else did you get besides snacks? Tell me, brag a little.”
“Just various things.”
“Like a pink headband?”
“…What have you been watching.”
“Making a cheek-heart at the camera?”
“Ha……”
Kwon Wookyung buried his face in the book he was holding. I snickered.
How does he act in front of a camera when he gets this embarrassed in private? The more I saw it, the more baffling it was.
Just then, the phone I’d set aside buzzed.
Kim Minji: hey why’d u leave me out n go play??
Kim Minji: hmph hmph hmph
Kim Minji: why aren’t u replying???
Messages kept coming in.
“Oh, hold on.”
I picked up the device since it seemed like something I should check.
Me: ?
Kim Minji: kim daehee and seonho tagged u on byeolstar
Kim Minji: did u guys go to a café without me??
Me: tagged?
Me: is my account still up?
Kim Minji: yeah Kim Minji: u forgot?? lolol insane
Kim Minji: what’s ur id?
I downloaded the app and tried to log in, but I couldn’t remember my password.
I was struggling for a while, going through the whole process of finding my password — and while I was at it, Kwon Wookyung came back to my side after brewing himself some coffee in the kitchen.
“What is it?”
“Minji says the others tagged me on ByeolStar. But I can’t remember my password… oh, got it.”
Old photos flooded the account.
“……”
Oh.
Wait.
I hurriedly closed the account.
…I’d forgotten — it was the account I used to post photos and videos after performances and competitions.
I’d looked at it without any mental preparation, and for a moment my heart dropped.
“That……”
I can’t keep my expression in check.
I’d been about to say something, but I couldn’t remember what it was.
A sound like a quiet sigh came from beside me, and then Kwon Wookyung took the phone from my hand.
“Breathe.”
I consciously drew in a long breath.
“…I am breathing.”
A fresh yet deep scent of earth and wood — the kind that drifts through a garden — washed over me.
Kwon Wookyung’s scent had an immediate effect of settling the mind.
“Ahem, give me my phone.”
I’d let my flustered state show for no reason. It wasn’t even something worth being this rattled about. Embarrassing.
“Just a flood of old cringe. I should make a new account.”
“……”
“…You don’t need to make that face. I’m fine.”
Somehow my friend’s expression was far more wrecked than mine.
I looked away from his eyes, which had gone unnecessarily dark, and held out my hand again for the phone.
Kwon Wookyung tapped at the screen before handing it back. It was showing the ByeolStar start page. He’d logged me out of the old account.
Having calmed myself down, I tapped the sign-up button and made a new account.
No profile photo. Zero followers. Zero following. A completely empty account.
I should find my friends’ accounts and send follow requests. But someone was faster than me.
kwonwookyung has started following you.
…A blue verified account?
