episode_0018

“Where are you going to join?”

“I’m in the travel club.”

“Oh, should I do that too?”

All Academy students are required to join a club.

Hobby classes like ‘Health Class’ are something you can join if you want to, but if you don’t want to, you can’t, but for clubs, you have to join even if it’s forced.

Students learn a lot and build friendships with their seniors, juniors, and outsiders in clubs.

Since the academy was originally established to help students become friends, clubs that are perfect for making friends receive generous support.

And now the day has come for the newly admitted first-year students to decide which clubs they will belong to for the next three years.

After the ceremony, the students headed to the club rooms they each wanted to join.

Shihyuk also left the classroom and started heading somewhere.

He was thinking of joining a club related to the books he liked.

“Here it is, the library.”

Sihyuk swallowed as he stood in front of the library club room right next to the school library.

He has little experience interacting with other people in his life.

I lost my parents when I was young and was beaten by my older sister, so I always had a hard time opening my mouth for a while.

He didn’t open his mouth, and because he was small and skinny, he had few friends who wanted to be close to him.

Even now that I’ve gained a lot of muscle, the situation is the same. I still have few friends because of the quiet personality I had as a child.

So I was a little nervous about joining a club where I would be meeting so many people.

‘It’s right next to the library… I wonder if he’s doing well.’

When Shihyuk was in elementary school, he ran away to the school library after school to avoid being bullied by his older sister.

And there I made my first friend. She was tall and outgoing, so I thought she was my older sister, but she was a girl my age.

I don’t remember her name very well. I just remember her as a cute and innocent child.

I have fond memories of meeting at the library after school and reading books that we each recommended as interesting.

One day, the girl transferred to another school and we couldn’t meet again, but I vaguely hope that we can meet again someday.

Sihyuk, recalling memories he hadn’t seen in a long time, overcame his tension and opened the door.

-Suddenly

“Hello.”

The club room, which looked like an ordinary classroom, had a large sofa, desks, and many chairs, and large bookshelves filled the walls.

As soon as he saw the numerous books, a woman’s voice came into Sihyuk’s ears, who had become strangely stable.

“Want to join the library?”

I turned my gaze and saw a purple-haired woman sitting on a chair reading an American novel.

“Oh, yes.”

Si-hyuk answered politely, thinking that he was the head of the library department, but he stood still, not knowing what to do.

The woman who had glanced at Sihyuk spoke in a languid voice as she turned the pages of the book.

“Sit on any sofa. If you’re bored, read a book until the other kids come.”

“Yep.”

Shihyuk looked at the bookshelf with a satisfied expression. There were quite a few books there, but most of them were of a minor nature.

Sihyuk felt good because there were unfamiliar books he had never seen before, so he chose a novel that caught his eye and sat on the sofa.

As Shihyuk sat down on the sofa, the woman looked at him with an expression that said, ‘Are you reading something good?’

As Shihyuk, unaware of the gaze, became absorbed in his novel, people began to slowly enter the club room.

There were more women than men, and they were all silent or whispering as they picked books from the bookshelf and sat on the sofas and chairs.

But then, a woman Shi-hyuk had not expected entered the club room.

“Hello… . Ah.”

The woman looked at Sihyuk and her expression hardened.

The woman’s identity was none other than Park Chae-won.

I knew you liked books because I’ve seen you at the library a few times, but I never thought I’d see you here.

“Hey, hello?”

Shihyuk was also flustered, but quickly came to his senses and waved with a smile as if he was happy to see her.

Chaewon was more comfortable with herself than with strangers, so she greeted them easily.

Someone tapped Chaewon on the back as she was briefly contemplating whether or not she should leave the club room.

“Please get out of the way.”

“Oh, yes, yes.”

Chaewon, who was very nervous, made way for others and ended up in the middle of the club room in a panic.

The purple-haired woman spoke to Chaewon, who was hesitating while turning the pages of the book again.

“If you’re going to join a club, take a book you like from the bookshelf and read it.”

Chaewon, who couldn’t do anything, ended up not being able to say no and took a book from the bookshelf and sat on the sofa.

Sihyuk’s expression became relaxed as he realized that club life would be more enjoyable than he had thought.

As time passed and quite a few people entered the club room, the purple-haired woman put down her book and spoke.

“New students, line up in front of me.”

The freshmen lined up one by one signed the club membership forms she had prepared.

After everyone joined, she revealed herself as the head of the library club and that her name was Seo Bo-ah. She explained the library club to the freshmen.

The library club was a club that was in charge of the school library, and it was a really good club for those who loved books.

In particular, my eyes lit up when I heard that if I joined the library club, the academy would allocate 400,000 won per person for book requests.

In simple terms, Sihyuk can now apply to the Academy to buy the books he wants to read, and that too for 400,000 won a year.

The club really has great support… .

Of course, they don’t just read books. Since it’s a club, they have to promote friendship, so they have MTs as a basic activity and they often go out to places like nearby parks to play.

Last year, they said they laid out a mat on the grass in the park and read books or watched movies together, and when I heard that, I felt a little excited.

“Then, let’s start with the freshmen and introduce ourselves. Today, we’ll greet each other and talk together before going home.”

After introducing themselves one by one in response to the words of the head of the department, Seo Bo-ah, the freshmen sat on the sofa and started talking with their friends and seniors sitting next to them.

I thought they would only read books since they were in the library club, but since it was a club, they were forced to talk.

So, Si-hyuk sat next to Chae-won, who was comfortable, and talked to her.

“Do you like books?”

“Uh… .”

Chaewon turned her head away as if she didn’t want to make eye contact with Sihyuk and answered vaguely.

Even though he tried to speak to her in a friendly manner, Si-hyuk’s eyes narrowed when he saw Chae-won acting all bashful.

“Do you read anything like a yuri novel?”

Chaewon was startled by Sihyuk’s small words and looked around.

Fortunately, no one heard, but Chaewon still didn’t let her guard down.

Since homosexuality is illegal in the country, books containing content related to homosexuality are naturally banned.

If you read such a book, you will be dragged into a reeducation facility.

“I don’t read that kind of stuff.”

“Well, I don’t really need to read such a book when I have a girlfriend.”

Chaewon looked around, scared that someone might have heard what she just said.

“, why are you suddenly like this…!”

“I did that because you gave a vague answer.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll answer better next time. So please don’t scare me anymore… .”

Looking at Chaewon, who was genuinely scared, Shihyuk nodded and asked again.

“Why did you come to the library?”

“Because I like books. I’ve liked reading books since I was young.”

“Oh, really? I did that too.”

‘… You’re talking nonsense.’

Chaewon muttered very quietly and looked down at Sihyuk’s body.

The reason I couldn’t look her in the face was because she was timid.

‘A guy who doesn’t pay much attention in class and runs straight to exercise after class doesn’t really like books.’

In the first place, I wonder why she came to this library. Maybe she noticed that I was coming to the library and came in first.

Chaewon didn’t like Sihyuk.

I didn’t just hate it, I really, really hated it.

Of course I hated it because it was Shihyuk who ruined my happy academy lesbian life with my two older sisters.

Chaewon, who thought that Shihyuk’s answer was teasing her, asked a question to break his lie.

“Okay? Then recommend one book you liked among the ones you’ve read recently.”

When Shi-hyuk didn’t respond for a moment, Chae-won, a slightly gloomy beauty with dark circles under her eyes, smiled brightly.

‘If you’re not good at studying, what’s the lie about reading-‘

“If it’s something I’ve read recently, I’d probably recommend ‘Every Moment of Me’.”

“… What?”

“Haven’t you heard? I recommend a novel called ‘Every Moment of Me’. ”

Chaewon knows that novel.

No, it’s not just that I know. I love you.

‘Every Moment of Me’ is the novel that Chaewon loves the most among the novels published in the past year.

The protagonist, who has been abandoned by society and has had a harder time than anyone else, accidentally crosses over to another world and meets his true self there. He then encounters another version of himself in another world, experiences conflict, grows, and then comes to a realization at the last moment and returns to his original world.

And the plot ends with the main character laughing heartily while looking up at the ceiling and committing suicide with a kitchen knife in a single room.

Chaewon was now looking at Sihyuk with a serious expression.

It was a beautiful, shining eye, completely different from just a moment ago when she had been avoiding eye contact with trembling eyes.

“Why do you recommend that novel?”

“Um… It’s a bit long, should I tell you?”

“Yeah. Be sure to tell me.”

“The complexity and pain of human life are easily expressed through the device of another world, and an interesting development follows. It is a work that deals with the conflict between reality and ideals, self-pain and social pressure, and shocks readers with an unexpected ending. As you read, you can see that the author has skillfully adjusted the dialectic of reality and idealism.”

“…ah.”

Chaewon couldn’t continue speaking.

It’s almost the same review as hers. It’s even better than mine.

I asked him to recommend other works as well, thinking that he might have read reviews elsewhere and memorized them.

“Any other, different works? Any interesting book.”

“Hmm… I recommend ‘Crazy Sunset’ too.”

Chaewon also knows that novel. It was really fun.

I especially liked the ending where the main character falls deeply in love with the sea called the sun.

“And ‘The Contradiction of Hot Moonlight’ was also good.”

I know this too.

“’To the Ant I Love’ was also fun.”

This novel too.

“’The uncertain scream of cigarettes’ was also okay.”

This too.

It was a book that Chaewon knew and liked.

Before she knew it, Chaewon was looking at Sihyuk with eyes filled with disbelief.

She found her ideal type whose reading tastes match hers perfectly.

From a man I thought would never do that.