“There won’t be much to do. Just take their student IDs, process the loans, and that’s it. The number of books and return dates are different for undergrads, masters, and doctoral students, so just check and let them know. You can study during downtime.”
On Tuesday and Thursday evenings, he had to man the desk at the library part-time job until dorm curfew. The work wasn’t difficult, but the schedule was hectic. Time flew by quickly after he’d rushed out of Gye Sajun’s room. There wasn’t even time to think about that bastard. It had to be that way.
“Woojae, you didn’t call me.”
And then someone he’d completely forgotten about appeared. It was Yeon Sojeong, from whom he’d gotten contact information at the convenience store. Sojeong, who ran into him in the lecture hall, spoke to him in a rather hurt tone. His face was just as pretty as it had been that day. The only difference was his clothes, maybe? Though to be fair, he was the only one at this school who wore the same clothes on rotation.
“Oh, sorry.”
“It’s okay. I said I’d wait for you to contact me first, but I was unnecessarily disappointed. I guess I got my hopes up too much.”
“I’ll do it now.”
Woojae awkwardly scratched the back of his head. A guy shorter than him with a soft way of speaking—it felt completely awkward. There was no time to stop him as he naturally sat down in the seat next to him.
After Yeon Sojeong came Jang Yeonju. Jang Yeonju sat on his left without a single word. Well, it wasn’t like classroom seats had names on them, so he had no right to stop her. Sitting with Jang Yeonju and Yeon Sojeong on either side of him, even more eyes turned in this direction. Some bastard even made a loud clattering sound as he kicked back his chair and stood up.
“Who the fuck is making all that noise? If you’re in heat, go to the infirmary, take some pills, and submit an absence request. Got it?”
But Jang Yeonju made him sit right back down.
“Don’t you do any clubs?”
Jang Yeonju asked out of nowhere, without any context. Woojae frowned and stared back at Jang Yeonju. Clubs? He was juggling three part-time jobs and was busy enough just attending classes—he hadn’t even thought about clubs.
“I’m busy.”
“All the other kids do at least one department club. Study groups, soccer club, or… Sojeong does them too, right?”
“Oh, I’m doing a study group and a flower arrangement club too.”
“I need to recruit someone like you…”
“Yeonju, you’re popular enough.”
“As much as you?”
So? Why are they chatting away with me in the middle? Woojae wondered why Jang Yeonju, with whom he wasn’t even that close, was talking about this stuff.
“Look, Go Woojae. You look like you could do some sports, and there’s a sports festival later on, so just put your name down for something, anything.”
“…I don’t want to?”
“Ah, just do it! It’s just putting your name down, so why are you avoiding it?”
“I’m busy.”
“Jesus, who isn’t busy? I’ll let you skip out when appropriate, so just put your name down.”
Thinking about it again, Jang Yeonju seemed to have just as bad a personality as him. Maybe even worse. Maybe it was because she had nothing to worry about. Her mother was a prosecutor, wasn’t she?
“Or Woojae, do a study group with me. Yeonju-ya, the study group doesn’t have any freshmen right now either.”
“Wait a minute.”
“Really? Then put your name down for the study group too. Lots of kids do multiple things at once.”
Watching the two of them proceed at breakneck speed without giving him room to interject, Woojae’s mouth gaped open in difficulty. But he couldn’t get angry like he had with Gye Sajun—both of them were just a tiny, tiny bit shorter than him… When Sojeong blinked his big eyes and made eye contact with Woojae, he smiled brightly. They say you can’t spit in a smiling face. And it wasn’t like they were saying anything disrespectful to him.
“If you join the study group, it’ll be easier to study. It’s good for getting things like past exams too.”
“No, I, I’m…”
“Ah, the professor’s coming in. Look at the front.”
This isn’t going to work. He was tempted by the past exams, but still, he didn’t have any spare time. In one corner of the lecture hall, the guy who’d openly been hostile during the opening general meeting last time was sending him a contemptuous look. He didn’t know his name, but judging by his eyes alone, he looked ready to throw a punch as soon as class ended.
Woojae even turned around to look back and mouthed to the one bastard who was glaring at him, ‘What are you looking at, fuck you.’ He’d said he wouldn’t fall for provocations, but in that moment he couldn’t hold back. The guy jerked his body angrily, but when the professor stepped up to the podium and started calling attendance, he ground his teeth and straightened his posture. If they had any brains, they’d know that making trouble during class wouldn’t be good for them either. As long as their heads weren’t just flowerpots for growing hair, that is.
After one class session ended and it was break time, as soon as Sojeong left his seat, Jang Yeonju grabbed Woojae and started interrogating him.
“Are you a lightweight when it comes to drinking?”
“No. I don’t get drunk easily.”
He was telling the truth, but considering how he’d gotten drunk and made a scene, it was an unconvincing answer. It had been his first time with whiskey too.
“How many bottles can you drink?”
“About four bottles of soju on an empty stomach.”
“…Then that fucking bastard definitely did something.”
Jang Yeonju’s eyes narrowed sharply for a moment. Woojae tried to trace back the incomprehensible muttering.
“Fucking bastard? Who?”
“…You don’t need to know. I just texted you, so save my number. Don’t ignore it later thinking it’s an unknown number.”
The text message was really simple.
[Jang]
Just her surname, nothing else. Woojae saved Jang Yeonju’s number as it was. As ‘Jang.’
When break time ended, Sojeong came back and filled the seat next to him. The two of them stayed with him through the next lecture too. Moving around with the two of them on either side of him, almost like being escorted, even the guy who’d tried to start trouble earlier couldn’t easily approach and just whispered among themselves. Even that died down when Jang Yeonju glared at them.
“Hey, let me ask you something. Are you close with Gye Sajun?”
“Are you crazy?”
“He hasn’t been around for the past few days, has he? By my clever deduction, I think you had a significant impact on that.”
“Don’t say ridiculous things.”
“…Really? Never mind then.”
He firmly denied it to Jang Yeonju, but honestly, he felt a pang. He had no choice. Just as Jang Yeonju said, Gye Sajun had shut himself away since that day. Whether he was holed up in his dorm room or had skipped and gone home, he couldn’t know for sure.
Woojae blankly recalled that day and scrunched up his face again. The lecture had started, but his mind was entirely focused on that. This was all Jang Yeonju’s fault. Back then, he hadn’t figured out what the movie was about.
– I knocked on the door but it didn’t open?
– What?
– Maybe he’s not there? Should I ask the security guard ahjussi? If I say we’re friends, he might tell me the entry and exit records.
– …Never mind.
He’d thought about getting Minwook to find out, but there was no room for that either. Gye Sajun had completely disappeared since that day. He had that bastard’s number, so he could call him directly, but there was no reason for him to contact him first. Honestly, from Woojae’s perspective, it was right for him to be running away. Because of that bastard saying weird things, he’d developed the ridiculous habit of glaring at the soap every time he showered.
“Woojae-ya, what are you doing this weekend?”
“…Huh?”
Lost in such thoughts, a stupid answer popped out at the sudden question. Sojeong laughed quietly, then spoke in a worried tone.
“Why are you so out of it? Class is over. Yeonju left too, but you just kept sitting there quietly. Your expression doesn’t look good either.”
“I have a bit of a headache.”
Woojae brushed it off vaguely. Why does he keep talking to me?
“It seems like Woojae doesn’t really like me.”
“Huh?”
“It seems like I’m bothering you by talking to you…”
“That’s not it.”
To be precise, he’d never even thought about it enough to care. Honestly, Sojeong wasn’t that noisy anyway. Taking his words however he did, he smiled and said,
“Really? Then do you want to eat with me? I’ll treat you.”
“Eat?”
“Yeah. If we eat together and stuff, we’ll get closer.”
“No, eating together is one thing, but why would you pay?”
“Looks like you’re not opposed to eating with me. That’s a relief. To answer your question, it’s because I want to buy you a meal?”
Ah, why are there so many people offering to buy me food these days? At Sojeong’s offer to buy him food, Woojae thought of Gye Sajun again. That fucking bastard’s name is even ‘Sajun.’ Could it be that’s why he kept going on about buying food? Ah, fuck. Did he catch it from Bang Minwook?
“Forget it. Let’s go halves.”
“Why are you being so cold?”
Why should there be a reason for affection? Woojae hated baseless goodwill the most. It was a sentence that didn’t make sense from the start. He hated Gye Sajun, who rushed at him offering to buy food for no reason, even more. That bastard wasn’t even baseless goodwill—he clearly disliked him but tried to show goodwill, so he couldn’t figure out what his scheme was. He must have caught rabies.
“Why should I accept a free meal when there’s nothing I can do for you?”
Woojae asked, moving away from Sojeong who was getting close. It could sound rather cold, but it wasn’t wrong. If Sojeong had any pride, he’d probably back off at this point. He might even throw a punch. But the reaction that came back was completely different from what he expected.
“This is why I like Woojae.”
“…What?”
“You’re honest.”
Is this bastard a pervert too? Woojae’s expression twisted. It was a den of perverts. As Woojae’s face crumpled, Sojeong covered his face with his hand and started laughing. After laughing for a while, he whispered to Woojae with a clean face.
“Ah, Woojae-ya. You’re really funny. I think I understand why Sajun wants to get close to you.”
It seemed like one more weird bastard had been added. Everyone at this school is crazy. That was Woojae’s conclusion. He wanted to ask if his scent was good too, but blocked it with the one bit of rationality he had left.
