The woman sitting next to him leaned over and asked. At the unexpected proposal, Seunghyun’s gaze turned to the woman’s face. Her round face didn’t contain a speck of malice.
For Seunghyun, this was a good turn of events. He readily nodded his head. When he answered, “That works great for me,” the woman smiled pleasantly.
“Actually, there’s a friend who didn’t come today. Would it be okay if we include her and do it with three people?”
“Yeah, sounds good.”
Adding one more person wasn’t a problem at all. If anything, it would be less awkward than doing it with just two. Seunghyun smiled kindly as if there was nothing to worry about.
“Give me your number.”
“Ah, yes!”
Seunghyun readily held out his phone. The woman quickly entered her number, even made a call, then returned the phone with a bright smile.
“I’m Song Yerin. Twenty-two years old.”
The three characters Song Yerin were already saved in his contacts. As Seunghyun looked away from his phone, he opened his mouth.
“I’m…”
“I know. Kwon Seunghyun, right?”
Seunghyun raised an eyebrow at the question that came before he could even reveal his name. Was there some reason she might know his name? It wasn’t as if he wore his name on his face, so it made more sense to think Yerin had known about him from before.
Come to think of it, she did seem familiar. So it wasn’t just simple déjà vu?
Seunghyun gazed down at Yerin, who was waiting for his answer. Just as the scrutinizing gaze was starting to feel burdensome, Seunghyun belatedly nodded. Then Yerin, murmuring “I knew it!”, asked another question.
“You don’t remember me?”
After thinking for a moment, Seunghyun spoke.
“Have we met somewhere before?”
“I thought maybe, but you really don’t know. We’re in the same design studio.”
At Yerin’s immediate answer, Seunghyun’s mouth closed. Design studio was mandatory for architecture majors, and since about fifteen people used the same design studio for the entire semester, it was structured so they couldn’t not know each other.
Unless they were like Seunghyun, who had just returned from a two-year leave.
“Professor Park Jaejin?”
“Yes!”
As soon as he mentioned the design studio advisor’s name, Yerin immediately nodded. So that’s why she seemed vaguely familiar—he must have glimpsed her in passing at the design studio yesterday.
Yerin poked his arm with a mischievous expression, asking how he could not know when her desk was right behind his. Seunghyun read pure goodwill without any impurities in her attitude.
She probably hasn’t heard the rumors about him yet. If she had, she wouldn’t be approaching him with such a genuinely friendly face.
‘Slut.’
Like that yellow-haired guy yesterday.
Seunghyun ruminated on the rumors about himself that were already circulating again as soon as the semester started. It would be nothing for that vulgar rumor—vulgar even to his own ears—to reach Yerin’s ears. They were in the same department, and they even used the same design studio, so it would be harder for her not to know.
He could roughly predict what Yerin would think if she found out. Seunghyun was just about to glance around to see if he should find other team members even now.
“Can I call you oppa? You’re two years older than me, right?”
Yerin asked in an affectionate voice. Seunghyun hesitated reflexively and nodded as he made eye contact with her.
“Yeah. Do whatever’s comfortable.”
“Oppa, you can speak casually to me too!”
“I will.”
Seunghyun smiled with his eyes crinkling, answering as virtuously as possible. He could feel the other person flinch at his gentle response. It was a positive sign.
Though he thought Yerin would regret it once she later encountered his rumors, that would be the case with anyone anyway. Seunghyun decided that since things had come to this, he’d somehow win Yerin over and resolve the group assignment.
“Do you have class after this, oppa?”
“Ah, I have one in two hours.”
“Then would you like to have lunch together? Today’s cafeteria menu is decent.”
“The cafeteria?”
According to Seunghyun’s memory, the cafeteria charged money sure enough, but the food wasn’t worth paying for. Moreover, they crammed people all at once into the spacious area, so it was generally crowded and even noisy. Normally he wouldn’t eat there, but.
The story changes depending on who’s making the proposal.
“Should we?”
It wasn’t a bad opportunity to close the distance. Seunghyun willingly nodded.
***
It was his first time at the student cafeteria in a while. There were quite a few people who had come to buy cafeteria food they wouldn’t eat even if you paid them. Looking at the people lined up in front of the meal ticket machine, Seunghyun fiddled with the back of his neck.
‘Do I have to wait for this?’
He glanced down to check on Yerin standing beside him. Yerin, who had been looking this way, opened her mouth with a bright smile.
“Is it because class ended early today? There’s really no one here!”
“This is considered not many people?”
“Yes, usually the line extends behind that pillar. This amount is practically not waiting at all.”
Other times there are even more people… As he was feeling bewildered, the people in front moved along. Seunghyun, who paid for Yerin’s portion too, entered the cafeteria receiving her thanks. Since he hadn’t wanted to hear thanks just for buying a single student cafeteria meal ticket, Seunghyun smiled without replying. Soon the two received their food and headed to an empty seat.
“I’ll enjoy the meal!”
“Yeah, next time let’s eat outside. I’ll buy you something tastier.”
Seunghyun said, looking at Yerin seated across from him. His casually uttered voice was quite warm. At the natural proposal that promised a next time, Yerin answered that she’d like that without hesitation, just as expected.
Only after the other person started eating did Seunghyun pick up his chopsticks. He cut a piece of pork cutlet into half of a half with neat chopstick work, put it in his mouth, and chewed.
The cafeteria food he was eating after so long boasted an unchanged taste. The coating on the outside was hard and the batter was soggy. Seunghyun thought it was like chewing an eraser as he listened to Yerin’s words.
“I’m taking this course because an unnie I know recommended it. She said the professor is really good, you get a lot out of the class, and the content is interesting too.”
Seunghyun nodded. He too had heard similar things from Noeul.
“So honestly I thought course registration would be intense, but maybe because the team project was added this time, it was more relaxed than I expected.”
“Ah…”
Seunghyun, who had been cutting the already half-severed pork cutlet into pieces again with his chopsticks, let out a small sigh. From Yerin’s chattering words, he realized why course registration had been easy. Well, if he’d known there was a team project, he wouldn’t have registered either.
While the two chatted and ate, the cafeteria gradually became noisier. It was because people were flooding in during lunchtime.
“Song Yerin?”
It was also then that a guy passing by their table suddenly called out to Yerin. Yerin, who had been eating, looked at the guy who called her and widened her eyes. And Seunghyun noticed the towering yellow hair standing behind him.
“……”
The yellow-haired guy also spotted Seunghyun and stopped. The two’s gazes collided in midair. He looked back and forth between Yerin and Seunghyun for a moment, then raised one eyebrow as if incredulous. At that impudent look, Seunghyun’s eyes narrowed.
“What, Kim Baul? You came to eat early?”
“I didn’t eat breakfast so I’m hungry. But weren’t you eating alone?”
“No? Today I decided to eat with Seunghyun oppa.”
The guy called Kim Baul finally looked at Seunghyun seated across from Yerin.
“Huh?”
An exclamation of surprise flowed from his slightly parted lips. Baul approached Seunghyun’s side and suddenly acted familiar.
“We’re in the same design studio, right? I remember seeing hyung’s face. Can I sit here?”
Kim Baul placed the tray he was holding on the table before the question was even finished. Seunghyun belatedly nodded to him as he sat beside him.
Once his companion had taken a seat, the yellow-haired guy sat next to Yerin with a half-smiling, half-not expression—that same impudent look—as if he had no choice. It was diagonally across from Seunghyun.
“Hello, sunbae-nim.”
‘Sunbae-nim?’
His eyebrows reflexively raised at the ridiculous form of address. It was ridiculous enough that he wondered if he’d misheard something like “Hello, slut-nim.”
“Yeah, hi.”
Seunghyun nodded inconspicuously while arranging his expression. It wasn’t difficult to smile kindly at the person who had called him a ‘slut’ to his face. The gaze that had been silently looking down at Seunghyun soon fell away.
“Oppa, these guys are in the same design class, but please let me know if you’re uncomfortable.”
