11 – 11.
In a corner of the classroom, Mayeonseo sat alone, silently clutching her phone.
“….”
She already felt a great irritation towards school life.
Although it had been over a month since the semester started, there was no sign of improvement.
But she never expected any improvement in the first place.
Just going to school felt like a serious waste of time.
It was even worse because Kang Yoo-chan, who should have been by her side, wasn’t there.
“What is he doing right now?”
Lately, her mind had been filled with thoughts of Kang Yoo-chan.
Even though she had spent most of her days thinking about him for the past few years, it had gotten worse since they started going to different schools.
She couldn’t help herself, even though she knew it was severe.
Her love for him was unbearable.
“…I hope no one has touched it carelessly.”
Above all, she was deeply worried that someone would mess with it while she was feeling uncertain.
It was like being thrown naked into a jungle where hungry beasts roamed.
It would have been better if she was shorter, not good-looking, and had a bad personality.
If she was also unapproachable to others, it would be the icing on the cake.
But unfortunately, Kang Yoo-chan couldn’t become such a person.
“…I’m anxious…”
In the end, unable to contain her anxiety, Ma-yeon-seo bit her lip tightly and turned on a hidden app on her phone.
Then, the phone screen displayed a background image of a woman.
And the identity of the woman in the photo was none other than Ma-yeon-seo herself.
She had secretly installed a surveillance app on Kang Yoo-chan’s phone, wondering if there was a chance he had a girlfriend.
Using their romantic relationship as a shield, Ma-yeon-seo skillfully manipulated the phone and quickly scanned through the records.
Contact information, messenger apps, usage time of apps, internet browsing history, and even video viewing history.
“You saw this secretly?”
Fortunately, aside from a lookbook of a YouTuber I watched the previous night, there was no suspicious activity.
It was within the range that could be easily overlooked as a girlfriend.
“…I miss Yoochan….”
In this way, Ma-yeon once again quelled her simmering anxiety in her own way.
For now, this method was still effective.
But if it got worse, she couldn’t guarantee what she would do.
*
“Here. Volume 1.”
Hanryeowon handed me the book she had finished reading without forgetting our promise.
The fact that she gave it to me before even saying a word was highly commendable.
If only it wasn’t a situation that attracted everyone’s attention.
Whisper, whisper. Whisper, whisper. The curious gazes and interest poured from the students gathered in the classroom.
It wasn’t strange for the most popular kid in school to talk to the only nerd in the class, especially when it drew everyone’s attention.
I didn’t particularly enjoy that kind of attention.
“…Thank you.”
Thinking that we weren’t close enough to start a conversation, I tried to end the conversation appropriately…
“Do you happen to like that author?”
Hanryeowon threw a question at me without hesitation.
It might be more appealing than it seems.
“I’ve been a fan for a long time.”
From Noble mtl dot com
She probably received the book too. Without any reason to act cold, I smoothly responded, and she naturally continued the conversation.
“Oh, I see. This was my first time, and it was really fun.”
“It was indeed enjoyable.”
“Are there any other interesting books? After reading this one, I want to read more.”
“What genre do you like?”
“Well… as long as it’s not too difficult, I like everything.”
“I see. Romance?”
“Oh! I love romance!”
She seemed genuinely interested, as if she didn’t visit the library for no reason.
Moreover, maybe because it was a topic about my favorite author, the story flowed out unintentionally.
“Then… there’s a book called ‘Management Tower.’ Read that. It’s my favorite book.”
“Management Tower… Management Tower…”
Han Ryu-won seemed genuinely interested and even took out her phone to make a note.
“She definitely has an eye for good books.”
This guy unexpectedly had a commendable side.
*
Since borrowing a book from Han Ryu-won, we have occasionally had conversations.
But even so, it was only about books.
The conversation with her, which I had been keeping my mouth shut all day, was quite a big event for me.
“I stayed up all night and read the whole thing! It was really interesting.”
“You read all of that?”
“Yeah! It was so exciting that I couldn’t stop reading in the middle.”
“That’s why you were dozing off earlier.”
“Oh. Did you see?”
“You were shaking your head in front.”
Playfully tapping her head, she smiled with a mischievous look on her face.
Hanyeo-won was a much kinder and livelier girl than I had imagined.
She was generally calm, but whenever a topic she liked came up, she quickly became excited.
Our tastes were somewhat similar, and she was a straightforward type, so we were able to have conversations quite comfortably…
But the more I felt familiar with her, the more uncomfortable I became.
It was because of the promise I made with Mayeon-seo.
– Girls don’t talk?
– If someone talks to you, you have to talk back.
– I hope I don’t make any friends at all. I’ll be the same.
Now that we’ve settled into our places, it happens less often, but when the semester first started, she used to ask me two or three times a day.
Every time, I would reassure her not to worry.
But now the situation is a bit more delicate.
Hanyeo-won is also a proper female student.
Even though our relationship is somewhat ambiguous, she is still a female student.
If I follow the promise I made with Mayeonseo, I should “report” even these small conversations to her.
But…
I still haven’t told her about Hanyeo-won’s existence.
“How should I bring this up?”
Honestly, it was a difficult task.
If I were to say it straightforwardly, I could predict the kind of reaction I would receive.
These days, she has been relatively quiet, so what if I say something wrong here?
It could be something that haunts me for the next three years.
“I can’t completely hide it either…”
But I can’t keep quiet forever either.
“It’s not easy.”
Caught in an untimely dilemma, I wrapped my head around it and pondered day by day.
And one day, something happened that solidified my resolve.
It was a day when I was lying on Mayeonseo’s sofa, watching TV as usual.
“Yoochan.”
“Yeah?”
Suddenly, Mayeonseo, who was fiddling with her phone in her lap, asked me quietly.
“Is she the one?”
“What do you mean?”
I absentmindedly checked the phone she had left behind.
There, an unknown woman’s SNS account was open.
“Hmm…?”
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Kim Chabin, my junior from middle school.
“Oh. I see. How did you find it?”
“She liked an old post of yours.”
“…Really?”
I had created a social media account during the peak of making friends, but I had neglected it ever since.
“Woah, seriously?”
Hastily checking my phone, there was indeed one ‘like’ squeezed between old posts.
“No way, how did I miss this?”
In that moment, I got chills and stared blankly at Mayeonseo’s face.
With a composed expression, she subtly asked, her eyes giving a mischievous glance.
“Since you don’t use the account anyway, should I just delete it?”
“…Huh? My account?”
“The pictures you posted are all saved in the cloud, right? So, it’s okay to delete them, isn’t it?”
Though it seemed like she was asking for my opinion….
As someone who’s 100% perceptive, I could tell.
This was practically a request to delete it.
“Um… but, I don’t really know how to delete it….”
“I’ll show you. Go into the settings there.”
“…Uh, okay….”
In the end, disguised as help, I began deleting my SNS account under surveillance.
And….
[Are you sure you want to withdraw?]
As I pressed the withdrawal button, I thought to myself.
“Never speak of it.”
Let’s keep everything about Hanyeo-won a secret for now.
*
Time passed relentlessly, and it was the day before the first mid-term exams.
While waiting for the closing ceremony, I was having a staring contest with Mayeonseo, who had sent me a gift card.
“Hmm….”
I thought I had become somewhat indifferent to most gifts by now.
But this gift felt completely different.
It was a gift card worth a whopping 100,000 won.
“Isn’t this basically cash…?”
I had casually mentioned that I wanted to buy a book I liked, but I was short on allowance, and then the gift card arrived out of the blue in the morning.
Since she couldn’t find the time due to school schedules, she sent a message saying to buy whatever I wanted.
“Well, I can’t just not use this….”
Ever since receiving my first gift from her, I became unable to refuse any gifts.
Every time I try to refuse politely or decline, all sorts of excuses are thrown at me. It’s hopeless.
And besides, having received much more expensive gifts before, how could I refuse a relatively cheap gift card?
That’s why there’s a saying that you have to button up the first button properly.
“…Should I exchange it for something more expensive…?”
So, with the desire to somehow return it to her, I diligently save up my allowance to buy “Vitamin C”.
Even that is quite tight because I spend it too quickly.
“Sigh….”
Feeling a sense of unease, I let out a deep sigh and decided to find my way to the bookstore to buy some snacks to eat together with the remaining money.
“The bus is the fastest.”
After finishing the last class, I hurriedly headed towards the school gate.
“Hey, teacher! If you keep doing this, I’ll call the police!”
“I came here to see my kid, why do you keep causing trouble?!”
Murmur murmur. Murmur murmur. Some commotion could be heard outside the school gate.
“This is a school where children go! A school! Aren’t you ashamed to act like this in front of your child?!”
“What’s there to be ashamed of? What?!”
It seemed that a drunkard had come and the security guard was trying to stop him.
Drinking in broad daylight and causing a scene, what a guy.
I didn’t need to look closely to know who he was.
“Such a dad….”
Avoiding the commotion, I walked out of the school gate and tried to ignore it as I headed towards the bus.
“Oh! There it is!”
But at that moment.
“Hey!!”
A student’s name, stuck in my ear, grabbed my ankle.
“Hanryeowon!!”
It was a name I had heard many times before.