23 – Episode 23
“No! It’s just to get the club atmosphere, and we haven’t even decided properly yet.”
Even though I didn’t feel guilty, I explained anyway.
“Hmm…”
But Seo-ah doubted me.
“It’s not really like that, and besides, it’s school!”
“Just because it’s school doesn’t mean you can’t confess to someone you like, right?”
Ouch, that hit close to home.
“Come on, really? And besides, we haven’t even decided properly yet.”
“Hmm… Well, fine. I’ll trust you.”
“Yeah, of course!”
With that, we turned back to our desks, the paper ringing in our ears.
In reality, it was just a non-alcoholic cafe with music, not a club.
But the reason why Seo-ah’s words hit me was because it was a time when my popularity was at its peak.
It wasn’t arrogance, but on that same day, I received three confessions.
Of course, I rejected all of them. At that time, I didn’t want to be in a relationship, and to be honest, I preferred 2D over 3D. It’s a bit embarrassing to admit, but that was how I felt back then.
“Sigh.”
So if the same thing were to happen again this time, I would have to reject it.
To begin with, confessing to a married man… No, these kids don’t know anything. Anyway, I expressed my regrets to those kids in advance because I couldn’t accept their confessions.
“Hey, that jerk is here!”
“Let’s catch him!!”
“Ugh!”
Are you guys primitives or what?!
“Wait a minute! We need to find a cafe in advance, right!?”
Everyone stopped at the captain’s words.
“Damn, lucky us!”
“That’s right!”
That’s how everyone was discussing the materials needed for the booth, one by one.
The most important things were the colored papers that set the mood, various cocktails to make drinks, and a few snacks.
“Oh, right! And let’s put some candles for a bit of atmosphere.”
“And I’ve seen some cups.”
And there, I shone.
I knew what we would need in the future, and I’ve even been to real clubs, but these guys wouldn’t understand.
“Oh… really?”
The captain nodded in agreement with my words and began putting things in the basket.
“Wow… You’re really serious, huh?!”
“Well, isn’t it amazing? Haven’t you been to a club before?”
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“How can I get in?”
“hehehe, you’re right.”
As we chatted and played with the kids, I noticed that Seokho was missing.
“Speaking of which, where’s Seokho?”
“He left early. Some girl came to our class and took him away.”
“A girl…?”
“Yeah, they didn’t seem to get along.”
Wait… Could it be?
“Is it Park Seohyun by any chance?”
“I don’t know. How would we know?”
When I described Park Seohyun’s characteristics, he confirmed it.
“It seems like she’s also on the festival preparation committee.”
“Oh? You know her too? She’s kind of pretty.”
What does her being pretty have to do with anything?
“If you say nonsense, I’ll rip your mouth apart. I’m always Seoa’s one and only pick.”
“Yes, yes. I can’t argue with that.”
With that, we finished putting everything in the basket and started having fun.
“I want a One Card.”
“Ah, geez!”
“Why doesn’t he see it? Are we all self-centered?!”
“Well, One Card is meant for personal play!”
“Oh, really?”
Me and my friends played with One Cards.
Shhh…
“Oh, Seokho is here.”
“Oh, you came?”
I raised my hand slightly to greet, and Seokho nodded.
“How is it?”
Seokho expressed doubt in response to a friend’s question.
“What’s wrong?”
“The preparation committee is tough?”
“Well… It was really tough.”
“Poor guy, curse our Damtangi.”
“He’s been cursed countless times already.”
Seokho collapsed as if he fainted.
“Give me a card too.”
This guy still has some strength left.
“All right, everyone, good job, and have a good day.”
After school, I went to find Seoa, and we decided to go home together.
“Did you prepare well today?”
“Well, I’m just buying things anyway.”
“Oh, really? We didn’t do much, just talked with the girls~”
“With the girls?”
“Yeah, curious about what we talked about~?”
I looked at Seoa, who was smiling with a hint of something hidden, and I was curious, but I pretended not to be.
“Oh, nothing much.”
“Hmm? Are you lying?”
“What?”
“Well, you know if you lie, I won’t look you in the eye, right?”
“Oh… really?”
Come to think of it, I think I’ve heard similar words before.
“Anyway, I’ll tell you the curious thing~ So, what is it…”
As I listened intently to Seoa’s story,
“So… Ah.”
Seoa stopped at the intersection where we always part ways.
“Um… I think we should go separately from here.”
“…Yeah, I guess so.”
“Festival… When was it?”
Suddenly, Seo-a asked when the festival was.
“Um… next week?”
“It’s too far away… I want to become your girlfriend quickly.”
Huh…
For a moment, I thought I misheard, but that couldn’t be possible. I never miss what Seo-a says.
Seo-a blushed and greeted me before running off.
“hahahaha…”
Thump.
“Let’s stay strong!”
I clenched my fist and walked home.
I couldn’t determine if I was gathering strength for the festival or for a confession, but the following week passed by quickly.
Since Seo-a didn’t have a booth to prepare separately, she often visited our class.
“Hello~”
“Ah… hello.”
She practically became the honor student of our class.
“What can I help with today?”
Not only did she help us prepare our booth,
“Well… I think it would be better to do it like this.”
I could say that our class was almost like a fairy tale, giving advice to each other.
“Wow… I really wish Seoa was in our class.”
“I didn’t expect it to be this fun.”
Especially for the girls, who were outnumbered in our class, Seoa was like an idol.
“Seoa, look at this. It’s what I told you last time.”
“Me too, me too!”
“Hey, why are we the only ones preparing?”
“If they think they can beat us, they should try.”
“…I’ll endure it, even if it’s just for Seoa.”
The boys didn’t say anything because Seoa had helped them several times.
“Hey! The teacher is coming, Seoa, hurry up and go.”
“Yeah! Thanks.”
Sometimes Seoa would stand guard to let us know if the teacher was coming or not.
So when Seoa briefly left the classroom, the boys looked at me with envy.
“What’s with the sudden change?”
“Well, it’s no secret that you’re closest to Seoa and I’m the most jealous of that.”
“That’s right, whenever we talk, it’s always about you and Seoa.”
The girls chimed in, playing along.
“But… are you dating Seoa?”
“… “
Everyone fell silent at those words.
In truth, everyone wanted to ask, but no one did.
I didn’t bring it up either.
Um… What should I say?
Because of that, I was uncertain about how to respond.
If I were to bring up those words, surely everyone would be interested in Seoa, so should I give it a try too?
That’s why… I was worried. I haven’t confessed yet, but Seoa has already accepted my feelings.
In reality, I just wanted to confess properly and not be just friends with Seoa. If I had confessed back then, we would have been a couple.
“No, not yet…”
But even so, I can’t lie even if Seoa isn’t here.
I don’t know all of her feelings.
Because I’m not her boyfriend yet.
“Um… So, does that mean you’ll confess soon?”
“…Well”
I nodded, and the guys looked surprised while the girls giggled and said they liked it.
“Well… The outcome is obvious without even looking.”
But most of them acknowledged it. Everyone here knows that Seoa comes to see me every day.
“Well, cheer up.”
“Yeah, we’ll support you!”
“Wow, from being a fan to becoming a boyfriend, is this a web novel?”
Anyway, I eagerly awaited the day of the festival, receiving cheers from my friends. And so,
“Well then, let’s open the booth.”
“Yeah.”
“Alright, everyone at Night City! The booth is open!!!”
“Come on, come on.”
“Hey, is this a seafood market?”
“hahahahaha.”
And so, the joyful festival began.
“Alright, let’s work hard too!”
At the beginning, I was assigned to serve.
Of course, it was natural since the real festival would start in the afternoon.
“Work hard, because we prepared for this.”
“Yes, sir!”
Of course, it was thanks to my friends’ consideration.
“Even so, Jihoon put in the most effort here.”
When I was an adult, I received permission from the teachers with my skillfulness, and I provided a lot of help in running the booth by giving advice on purchasing items at a reasonable price and making cocktail decorations.
“Yeah, thanks. And class president, remember what I said earlier.”
“Well… as long as you’re careful, nothing bad will happen.”
I guess it’s okay as long as I said that much.
Anyway, as I worked hard, the first customer arrived…
“Seo… Seoya?”
“Yeah, I came to have fun. You really dressed up nicely.”
“Yeah, I’m okay.”
Although I didn’t do everything myself, there was still a sense of pride from doing it together.
“Yeah, you managed to capture the balance between a club and something else.”
Seoa smiled and said to me.
“Well then, I’ll sit and cheer you on.”
I hid my slight embarrassment at Seoa saying she would watch me and focused on my work.
Not long after, a girl approached me and started talking to me, but Seoa came over.
“It’s over now. You guys can go and have fun.”
“Really? Doesn’t Jihoon still have more time?”
“…Yeah, it’s okay. You two have fun.”
I gave a thankful nod to my friend who looked somewhat pitiful, and we went outside.
“Now it’s just the two of us on a date?”
“Should we go?”
“Yeah!”
And so, Seoa and I held hands and started exploring the booths.
There were various booths, from a haunted house to tarot readings and amusement rides.
“Should we try the tarot reading booth?”
“Tarot?”
I was curious, so I decided to try tarot reading once.
“Welcome, dear…”
It was an odd woman’s voice, but for the sake of the concept, a female student spoke in a grandmotherly tone.
“Ahem… S-Seo… No, ahem… So, what kind of reading brings you here?”
She almost broke character when she saw Seo-a in the middle, but quickly returned to the grandmotherly tone.
“Um… Fami…”
“Please read it as a reading for love.”
“…L-Love reading?”
“Yes.”
The female student started shuffling the cards and laid them all out, as if to see which cards would come up.
“Wow!? Such great cards… No, ahem… Dear, where should I look?”
She seems to break character often. Should I just let it slide?
The female student collected herself and began explaining each card one by one.
According to the tarot, it said that when the truth we hide from each other is revealed, everyone can be happy.
“So, the love reading…”
“It’s the best, dear.”
“Thank you!”
Seo-a came out with a very happy laughter and held my hand.
“Wow, tarot is amazing!”
Seo-a smiled happily and held my hand.
“Where should we go next?”
“Well… there’s a place where you can win prizes. Should we check it out?”
“Sounds good!”
Like that, Seo-a and I went to win prizes, visited a haunted house, watched a play, and truly had a date-like time.
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“That was fun, right?”
Seo-a said, holding a skewered chicken in one hand.
“Me too.”
I also held a plate of takoyaki and said.
“Well… since we have to eat this, should we go to the park?”
“Let’s do that.”
We left the school and sat on a bench in a small park next to it.
“Mmm! It’s delicious, you should try it too.”
“Really? Ah.”
Seo-a and I shared the skewered chicken and the takoyaki, and before we knew it, there was no one around us.
“Ah… that was delicious.”
Seo-a said, looking up at the sky.
“Seo-a, there.”
“Hmm? What’s up?”
I spoke to Seo-a, having already prepared myself mentally, and Seo-a also looked at me with slightly nervous eyes.
“Honestly, I don’t really like being lonely.”
“I thought that if we just met back then, or if I met someone new, it would be enough.”
I opened up to Seo-a and told her my story.
“Since my family was always busy, I grew up alone, so I never really understood loneliness, for those who are used to being alone.”
“But everything changed from the moment someone was by my side.”
“I always think of someone.”
“What will I do with that person tomorrow?”
“What kind of conversation will we have when we meet?”
“Will I be able to see that person’s smile again?”
And so, even the moments of waiting gradually became happy.
But as soon as we part, I become lonely.
Through this repetition, I was able to realize something.
The sincere feelings I had felt for a long time.
“So, from the moment I met you, I could feel loneliness. So…”
“Will you… marry me?”
“Will you become my girlfriend?”
I will convey to you, just as you said to me.
“…Ji… Jihoon? You… You’re Jihoon!?”
It begins….again