Ch.4343. One of the Iron Wall

‘Lee Suhyuk. No way… This kid… Could he possibly like me?’

A single thought crossed Hana’s mind.

A rather intriguing hypothesis flashed through her consciousness.

Boys liking her wasn’t particularly surprising.

She often got asked for her number.

And received confessions quite regularly.

The idea of Suhyuk liking her didn’t seem strange at all.

Come to think of it…

Had there ever been a boy who treated her this well?

Bringing her home to watch movies.

Calling her out separately every week to teach her guitar.

Isn’t that enough reason to like someone? Right?

I might have fallen for myself if I were a guy?

It was somewhat conceited, but Hana was fully aware that she was pretty.

Damn… Did I treat him too well?

Yoon Hana. You sinful woman.

Still… what if… Lee Suhyuk…

If he confesses and begs me to accept…

Hana glanced sideways.

Unlike with other boys, she wasn’t immediately reaching the conclusion to cut him off.

‘…It tastes like strawberry.’

Meanwhile, Suhyuk, who had just taken a sip of his drink through the straw, was busy evaluating this luxuriously named beverage.

Wouldn’t “Strawberry Smoothie” have been a sufficient name for this?

Suhyuk couldn’t detect any significant difference from an ordinary smoothie.

“Ahem… Ahem…!”

Hana, whose face had suddenly flushed red, cleared her throat.

“How does it taste?”

“Like strawberry.”

“Hey. Who doesn’t know that? I’m asking if it’s good or not.”

Her expression looked pleased, but her tone was unnecessarily snippy. Suhyuk found it difficult to read Hana’s emotions.

“…It’s good.”

A strawberry drink loaded with sugar was naturally bound to taste good.

“Right? I told you I don’t drink this for nothing?”

Seeing Hana giggling, Suhyuk smiled too.

Today, as always, Hana looked dazzlingly beautiful.

Her flowing blonde hair seemed to suit her perfectly.

“When I drink this, my whole day feels sweet, I’m telling you!”

“But I think you’d gain weight if you drink too much.”

“Do you always have to rain on my parade to feel satisfied?”

“…I read on the internet that blood sugar is important.”

Hana thought that both Park Juyeon and Lee Suhyuk were the type to mumble but still say whatever was on their minds.

The two left the café and started heading back toward school.

“Do you have a lot to study for exams?”

Hana asked Suhyuk while chewing on her paper straw, her pronunciation slightly muffled.

“Hmm… average, I guess?”

Suhyuk was having difficulty answering since he didn’t have friends from other departments.

If he had a comparison group, he could answer more easily.

“Hearing that, you must have plenty of free time.”

“What about you, Hana?”

“I want to die. I’m busy.”

“Architecture majors are always like that. Ugh. You should just do Talgeon.”

“What’s Talgeon?”

“Tal-architecture. It means leaving the architecture field.”

“Oh…”

Then would leaving the economics department be Talgyeong?

But that might overlap with business administration, so it seems a bit ambiguous.

When they opened the door and entered the club room, they found Seo-eun sprawled out and Juyeon holding a tablet pen, waiting for them.

“…Where do you two go to buy coffee?”

Seo-eun asked the pair with half-closed eyes as she raised herself up.

“We went to that place in front of the main gate.”

“Why did you go all the way there?”

“The school café has been closed for ages. And how long have we been gone that you’re already napping, unnie?”

“Hana-ttang. Your words are so cold.”

Saying she’d show her what real cold was, Hana approached Seo-eun from behind and pressed her drink cup, filled with ice, against Seo-eun’s cheek.

“Oh my god!”

Seo-eun jumped in surprise.

Startled by the sound, Juyeon dropped her pen.

The pen rolled and came to rest in front of Suhyuk’s shoes.

Suhyuk bent down to pick it up and handed it back to Juyeon.

“Here.”

“Thanks.”

Suhyuk inadvertently glanced at Juyeon’s tablet.

It was a PowerPoint presentation familiar to him.

Being in the same department, they were preparing to study the same content.

Suhyuk’s eyes widened at the page she was currently viewing.

“Juyeon.”

“Yes?”

“Have you already studied all the way up to there?”

“…Yes.”

Though she answered very calmly, Suhyuk couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

Because that was the PowerPoint from last week.

If what she said was true, Juyeon had practically finished preparing for that subject’s exam.

“Really? From the beginning?”

Suhyuk asked again, unable to believe it.

“Um… yes… why?”

It might be an awkward question to ask directly, but Suhyuk couldn’t contain his curiosity.

“What’s… your GPA?”

Before Juyeon could answer, Seo-eun jumped in.

“Our Juyeon is quite the studious one. She got straight A’s last semester~”

“Really?”

For Suhyuk, who had wondered what the top student in the department might be like, Juyeon seemed like a unicorn.

“Hahaha… I think I was just lucky…”

Before starting the broadcast.

As a freshman, Park Juyeon had been quite a leisurely person.

While other session members were intensely learning techniques and memorizing sheet music, all Juyeon had to do was memorize lyrics.

Since she wasn’t bad at singing, she had plenty of time left, so she would review what she learned in lectures every day when she got home.

Juyeon reviewed daily, almost like a high school student.

It wasn’t particularly difficult, but college students who actually did this were one in a hundred, if that.

But Juyeon felt somewhat embarrassed about this fact.

Coming to university only to study alone because she had nothing else to do.

Moreover, since she hadn’t made friends, only the Spirit members knew she was the top student in her department.

“Ha. Please teach me…!”

Suhyuk, who occasionally played with his phone during class and sometimes dozed off, grabbed Juyeon’s hand like a drowning man clutching at straws.

“Hey! Lee Suhyuk! You jerk! Asking Juyeon to share her study efforts for free is shameless!”

Hana, who wasn’t interested in the process but disliked Suhyuk holding Juyeon’s hand, interrupted their conversation.

“Ah… is that so? I guess… you might not like it.”

Wondering if there was anything he could offer, Suhyuk looked around.

“Th-then would you like some of this?”

Suhyuk, who still had plenty left, offered his drink to her.

“…Feel free to ask me if you have any questions.”

For Juyeon, having someone come to her with questions made her feel that her studying at home was worthwhile.

“Then can I just have one sip…”

Just as Suhyuk was about to extend the plastic cup forward after hearing Juyeon’s response.

“Hm?”

A straw was inserted into Juyeon’s mouth.

However, it wasn’t from Suhyuk’s drink that she was supposed to taste.

“Drink mine, Juyeon. It’s the same flavor anyway.”

Somehow, Juyeon ended up sipping through Hana’s straw.

“…Thanks.”

Seo-eun was already dozing off, and Juyeon was starting to feel sleepy too.

After gulping down the strawberry-flavored drink, Juyeon looked at Hana.

“Hey. Let’s study now.”

Hana, forcing a smile, took out her laptop from her bag.

“Okay.”

The members all had different study methods.

Juyeon and Suhyuk were the type to view PowerPoints on tablets and take notes there.

Hana preferred to view presentations on her laptop while taking notes in a notebook.

Seo-eun preferred to print everything out.

In the rare silence that filled the club room,

Suhyuk’s finger poked Juyeon’s hand.

“Juyeon.”

“Yes?”

“I don’t quite understand this part.”

Juyeon stood up from her chair and moved close to Suhyuk.

Her flowing dark brown hair touched Suhyuk’s shoulders.

Due to her small frame, she didn’t need to bend over much.

“Why does it work like this here?”

“Ah. The professor gave us separate notes on that, just a moment.”

Juyeon carefully explained the part Suhyuk had missed.

Hana’s eyes were on her laptop, but her ears were busy following the conversation between the two.

“Hana.”

When Seo-eun suddenly called her, Hana turned her head with a start.

Smiling slyly, Seo-eun slid closer to her.

“Lend me your ear for a second.”

“What? Are you going to say something weird again?”

“No way. When have I ever said anything weird? All my words are like blood and flesh to you.”

“What is it?”

Hana tilted her head slightly, allowing Seo-eun access to her ear.

“You…”

Seo-eun built suspense by pausing.

She found Hana too amusing to bear.

Outside the club, she didn’t know how others saw her, but in Seo-eun’s eyes, Hana was just an adorably naive younger sister.

“…If you stare so obviously, Suhyuk will notice right away?”

At those words, Hana’s pupils dilated.

She jumped up, grabbed Seo-eun’s shoulders as if to say something, then abruptly sat back down.

The gazes of Suhyuk and Juyeon, who had been exchanging questions, turned toward them simultaneously.

…I feel like my face is burning up.

Hana collapsed forward to hide her embarrassment.

And there was Seo-eun, holding her stomach, laughing at whatever she found so funny.