episode_0020

“1000 points.”

Just hearing the number was staggering.

Achieving that much just by registering as a full member, when even achieving it through hard work only gets you 10 points.

I blinked absentmindedly at the thought of getting so many points just by registering.

It meant that making people register was not an easy task.

And it wasn’t just temporary registration, it was full registration.

“It’s about making them fully register at the gym after inviting them.”

Easier said than done.

I looked at Hwang Ye-seul.

There was no trace of kindness in her eyes as she glared at me with a frown.

Getting someone like her to fully register was going to be a challenge.

“It’s not something that can be done through text messages.”

I had to make a good impression.

It was going to take some time.

But it was okay.

A thousand points weren’t just some kids’ names.

It was worth investing the time.

Maybe I had been staring for too long.

Then, I locked eyes with Hwang Ye-seul.

“Hmph!”

Hwang Ye-seul turned her head with a snort.

I wasn’t sure why, but it was clear that she didn’t like me very much.

“Anyway, I have to go first because of my class. Where are you guys headed?”

“We’re going to the third lecture hall.”

“The one in the third lecture hall?”

“Yes!”

I was heading there too.

The first class was a liberal arts class held in the third lecture hall.

I glanced at Hwang Ye-seul.

She seemed uncomfortable.

“Let’s part ways here then. We’ll contact each other at lunch. If you’re having trouble, send me a text in advance.”

“Okay, got it.”

Mi-joo, who was discreetly watching Hwang Ye-seul’s reaction, replied confidently.

She was full of confidence that she could persuade her.

She’ll handle it well.

I thought as I parted ways with Mi-joo.

Wait a minute.

“Do I have Mi-joo’s contact information?”

I don’t remember exchanging it.

Well, I’ll figure it out somehow. If I can’t contact her, I’ll just make up some excuse.

After parting ways with Mi-joo, I headed to the third lecture hall with the other girls.

I thought that was the end of it, but…

“Huh?”

“Huh? Why are you here, oppa?”

Of course, they were in the same class as me.

***

“…So in this class…”

Even though it was the first class, the professor conducted it with enthusiasm.

It was uncomfortable as it was, but what was more uncomfortable was Mi-joo, who sat next to me, pursing her lips.

She looked at me with a face full of discontent.

“Is it uncomfortable for you to go to school with me?”

“Uh, what?”

I couldn’t hear her because she was whispering, hoping the professor wouldn’t hear.

“Why did you want to go separately when we’re both taking classes in the third lecture hall? It seems like you don’t have any friends in this class.”

“Oh, that’s… I mean…”

“You don’t think I’m uncomfortable, right?”

“Absolutely not.”

Uncomfortable? Where would Mi-joo find something uncomfortable?

Even though I couldn’t speak properly with girls, I had quite a conversation with Mi-joo.

There was nothing uncomfortable about it now.

It was just the presence of Hwang Ye-seul sitting next to her that made it uncomfortable.

“Really?”

“Yeah. Why else would I sit next to you?”

“Um… I see.”

Mi-joo nodded.

“Because you’re a returning student, newcomers might feel uncomfortable. I understand. I know what kind of person you are from working together.”

I almost threw up what I had for breakfast.

I somehow managed to finish the conversation.

“…Based on today’s class, I will assign a group project. Please work on the group project with three people. You will present it in the fifth week of the course.”

Wait a minute, professor?

A group project from the start?

Are you kidding me?

Isn’t that too cruel for a returning student who has no friends?

“Jae-ho oppa.”

Amidst my despair, I heard Mi-joo’s voice.

A moment ago, she had a chubby appearance, but now she immediately brightened her eyes and made a suggestion to me.

“Shall we form a group of three? How about it?”

In that instant, she looked just like an angel.

How grateful those words were to the returning student.

Although it was Hwang Ye-seul who was caught up in it.

“I’d rather have at least one person I know than work with complete strangers….”

It was better to have someone I knew.

“Okay, let’s do that.”

And then, Mi-ju suddenly clapped her hands.

“I really wanted to do a group project with a senior in my major!”

That was her dream, a good moment.

With the professor’s shocking announcement, the class ended.

The class lasted for a total of one and a half hours.

But still, they finished earlier than usual.

“We still have over an hour until lunchtime.”

The time was ambiguous.

It wasn’t like I was hungry either.

I was contemplating whether to sneak off somewhere to exercise.

“Oh, can I quickly go to the professor’s research building and come back? I’m an assistant, and the seniors asked me to do something.”

Mi-ju said to me.

It seemed to be because of lunch, but I’m not sure if I convinced her.

“Are you two going together?”

“No. I’m going alone.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

Both Hwang Ye-seul and I looked at Mi-ju simultaneously.

What is she talking about?

Going alone and leaving the awkward two behind?

At that moment of confusion.

Hwang Ye-seul grabbed Mi-ju’s hem.

“Hey, don’t go. Are you going to leave the two of us alone in this situation?”

“I’ll be back soon. I’m an assistant, so the professor keeps looking for me. And my brother isn’t a bad person. Have you ever seen me hanging out with bad people?”

“Well, that’s true, but….”

At Mi-ju’s words, Hwang Ye-seul nodded her head.

“So don’t worry too much. Oppa, please take care of Ye-seul.”

“What, what?”

“Because she’s shy, that’s why. She’s a good kid.”

Mi-ju whispered to me in a voice so soft that only I could hear.

“You kept emphasizing that Oppa is a good person earlier. Just talk to her without feeling pressured. And….”

Seeing Hwang Ye-seul at a loss, Mi-ju continued.

“Ye-seul likes it when you compliment her phone case. Try talking to her about that. Oh, don’t compliment her appearance. That’s not good.”

“Mi, Mi-ju….”

“Then I’ll be back!”

Mi-ju got up and went outside.

Are you really leaving them like this?

I looked at Hwang Ye-seul.

Her expression was a mixture of confusion and disbelief.

There seems to be a bit of annoyance…. Or not?

“Ye-seul…?”

I cleared my throat and tried to start a conversation.

But.

“….”

She just glared at me without saying anything.

“I’m Choi Jae-ho, a sophomore in the Computer Science Department. Nice to meet you.”

“We already introduced ourselves earlier.”

“Oh, sorry. I was a little nervous.”

What should I say?

I haven’t encountered such a cold person before…. I think.

I’ve had my share of encounters while working part-time.

“I’ll just go to the restroom for a moment.”

“Oh, okay. Since all the other students have left, I’ll wait here.”

There was no point in going outside.

It’s too hot.

The September sun was not something easy to endure.

Thump thump.

It was only after Hwang Ye-seul left the classroom that I breathed out.

I thought I was going to die.

It’s awkward.

The chilly air weighed heavily on my chest.

“Let’s exercise.”

When my heart is heavy and I’m annoyed, there’s nothing else but exercise.

And since there probably aren’t many people around.

I thought I should do some bodyweight squats.

For me right now, that was extreme sports.

“Hoo, hoo, hoo!”

I corrected my posture and bent my knees.

How long had it been since I started doing the up-and-down movements while maintaining the correct posture?

Even doing it for a short time made me sweat.

When I turned around, I felt a warm gaze from behind.

“Oh.”

Hwang Ye-seul, who had returned without me noticing, was looking at me.

“When did you arrive?”

“Not too long ago.”

“Oh….”

Wow.

I almost fainted.

My head was spinning with embarrassment.

“Ahem!”

“You can continue.”

“No, I just wanted to take a break and stretch my legs.”

“….”

An awkward silence filled the air.

“You seem to exercise a lot.”

“It hasn’t been that long.”

The awkwardness was suffocating.

“Oh, your posture looks quite good. Where did you learn it from?”

“Oh, yes. I learned it from someone I know.”

“Oh….”

Silence again.

Hwang Ye-seul twirled her hair with her fingers.

She avoided my gaze.

Then, as if running out of things to say, she took out her phone.

There didn’t seem to be much to do. She was probably texting Mi-ju.

Her phone was pretty.

It was decorated with shiny accessories all over.

She must like flashy things.

I glanced at it briefly.

In a fleeting moment, Mi-ju’s compliment about phone cases came to mind.

She likes it when people compliment her phone case.

It was a genuine comment that slipped out of me without me realizing.

While tastes may vary, objectively speaking, she had decorated it beautifully.

Especially the rose gold border added a touch of elegance that even those unfamiliar with phone cases would admire.

“Your phone is pretty.”

It was a spontaneous comment that came out of me.

Hwang Ye-seul’s lips slowly curved into a smile as she explained about her phone case.

‘I’ve seen this kind of thing before….’

I remembered a former army junior who would get excited when talking about his favorite game.

A geek.

A phone case geek.

As I listened to her explanation, I couldn’t help but ask her.

“Can I take a picture?”

“Huh?”

“Oh, not of you, but of your phone case. It might be nice to have a close-up shot. It’s hard to take pictures of your own phone, right?”

I struggled to come up with something to say in order to get closer to her.

I don’t know how many times I rewound my words in my head before finally blurting out that sentence.

I waited for Hwang Ye-seul’s response.

“That’s true.”

“I’ll take a picture. I’m pretty good at taking photos.”

I took out my phone.

It was an iPhone.

That alone would explain everything.

“Um, sure.”

The cold expression she had just moments ago had almost disappeared.

Did I get a little closer?

I held up my phone to capture Hwang Ye-seul’s hand holding the phone.

To get the perfect shot of the hand, phone, and case, I paid attention to the angle and lighting.

“That pose looks great. Let me take one.”

Click!

The light grazed the case, making it sparkle like a jewel.

“Wow! What is this? It looks so different from the one I took!”

Hwang Ye-seul exclaimed, wide-eyed, as she compared the photos.

“Is it okay?”

“It’s more than okay! This is amazing! Wow….”

Hwang Ye-seul covered her mouth with both hands as she admired the photo.

“You said you were a computer science senior, right? How did you take such a great photo….”

“I used to do it as a hobby in the past. Because of that, whenever there was a need to take pictures in the military, I was always called.”

“Amazing… really…”

Hwang Ye-seul continued to look at her phone, seemingly not getting tired of it.

She didn’t seem to realize that she had put her hand on top of mine as she looked closely at the pictures.

Hwang Ye-seul’s hand, enveloping mine, felt warm.

“Can you take more pictures for me?”

“Of course. It’s not like it costs anything.”

I took pictures from various angles.

Each time a result came out, I marveled at it several times.

The wariness had long since melted away.

She had unknowingly leaned against my body, enjoying the pictures.

She doesn’t seem to realize it, does she?

“I’ll send all the pictures I took to Ye-seul.”

“Really?”

“I need your contact information to do that… Is that okay?”

“Of course!”

A conversation naturally asking for contact information!

I would never have been able to do that in the past.

Hwang Ye-seul handed me her phone.

“Please enter your number!”

I glanced at it briefly, and the wallpaper was also a picture of a different phone case.

She was a huge fan.

I entered my number into her phone.

Ring!

A call came in immediately.

“That’s my number.”

I immediately saved Hwang Ye-seul’s number.

“I’ll send them to Ye-seul right away.”

“You can call me Ye-seul. Sunbae.”

“Uh, should I?”

I let go.

I immediately sent the original pictures to Ye-seul.

“Thank you! Sunbae!”

She smiled brightly, bowing deeply.

Her short hair fluttered.

[Identified the number of a prospective member.]

[Promotion probability increases.]

***

“Ah, sorry. I’m a bit late…”

Mi-joo hurriedly returned to the classroom and saw two people chatting happily.

They had been awkward with each other until a while ago, but now they seemed to have become close.

“I knew it would work.”

Ye-seul had a reserved personality.

Because she was reserved, she often had a small number of words and sometimes sent a gaze that seemed to be wary of others.

That’s why people often misunderstood her.

She was a more timid friend than people thought.

She was a social media star because of the phone cases she took and occasionally, very occasionally, the photos of celebrities she took with a mask on.

She said she couldn’t show her face because she was embarrassed?

I thought I’d leave it to Jaeho because he’s nice, and it worked out.

“They’ve become close.”

She seemed to be more comfortable with him than with herself.

They even laughed together while looking at each other’s phones.

“What’s going on?”

A strange prickling sensation crept into her heart.

She had never felt this discomfort before.

Was it because she felt like she was being left out?

“Mi-joo, snap out of it. You left them to become friends.”

Right.

There’s nothing strange about it.

It’s what she wanted, and it turned out well.

But why does it feel so uncomfortable?

Mi-joo quickly intervened between the two.

“What were you talking about so happily?”

“Ye-seul likes phone cases. He was taking pictures of that.”

“Mi-joo, Jaeho takes really good pictures. It’s no joke.”

“Oh, really?”

Jaeho takes pictures?

“Oh, I had some experience taking pictures as a hobby before.”

“I see…”

The atmosphere became subtly tense.

Mi-joo, who had a sudden realization, clapped her hands.

“I’m sorry. I think I’m stressed from talking a lot with the professor. Shall we have lunch together? I’m getting hungry. Ye-seul, are you okay? It might be a bit uncomfortable.”

“I’m fine. Let’s have lunch.”

“Are you really okay?”

I felt irritated for some reason at her willing acceptance.

“Why am I like this?”