Chapter 11 : Didn’t you say we were just friends? (1)

“This is why I hate having a gap between lectures… I’m so bored…”

I was slumped down in the department lounge with Mi-young.

It was an awkward time between morning and afternoon classes, so there wasn’t a single person in the lounge.

In the first place, unless someone had a break between classes like I did, people rarely came here.

It was probably because of our department lounge’s poor location.

There was an elevator, sure, but since it was on the 4th floor, it was annoying to go back and forth.

For that reason, most students preferred to use the café on the first floor more often than the department lounge.

I got bored scrolling through YouTube Shorts and started looking at comments on the video we uploaded yesterday.

Eventually, I got bored of that too and began bombarding Tae-oh with texts.

[Hey, hey. When does your class end? I feel like I’m gonna die of boredom…]

[Soon.]

[What does ‘soon’ even meannnn]

[It could’ve ended already, but the professor’s off on a weird tangent about his life story, so I gotta wait till he finishes.]

[Hurry up and come hang out with me… I’m dying of boredom. And I’m hungry too, let’s get food.]

[Got it. I’ll be there soon. You’re in the lounge, right?]

[Yup. Same place as always.]

I kept whining at Tae-oh through texts.

This was just a normal part of our daily routine.

Me spamming him with messages, and Taeo putting up with it.

Honestly, I just wanted to keep talking to him, but for some reason, he rarely replied during class.

Maybe that’s why he had such good grades.

He was a model student, after all.

He even came to the same university as me by adjusting his scores to match mine, so that says it all.

“Still, it’s a good thing I’m taking ‘Understanding Popular Film’ with Taeo. If not…”

I would’ve had to endure this horribly boring time all by myself.

There weren’t even any other girls I knew in overlapping classes at this time—so I was completely alone.

For someone like me, who acts like they’ll die from loneliness, this was the worst possible situation.

Thankfully, I had the same class as Taeo, so I could meet up with him before and hang out together.

That made it bearable.

[Hey]

[Heeey]

[Heeey heeey heeey]

While I was spamming Taeo again on KakaoTalk, the lounge door opened.

Someone coming in at this hour…?

Curious, I glanced toward the door.

Milk-brown dyed hair that was well-maintained.

A quite pretty and feminine face.

It was Yeji, a classmate I was pretty close with.

We sat next to each other during MT (membership training), hit it off, and became friends quickly.

She was popular with the guys in our department thanks to her pretty face and friendly personality.

But even I didn’t know why she’d come to the lounge today.

“What the? Yeji! Why are you here? Don’t you have class starting in the afternoon today?”

“Oh, hey, Chaeryeong? I had a make-up class today. Seriously, the Media Theory professor is so weird. Why would he schedule a make-up class at this hour? Of all times.”

“Ah, so that’s why?”

When I responded, Yeji naturally turned the same question back on me.

“Yeah, what about you? Chaeryeong, are you usually here at this time?”

“Yeah, I’ve got a gap between classes, so I always wait for Tae-oh here.”

“Ah… I see…”

At the mention of Taeo, Yeji’s expression suddenly darkened just a bit.

Wondering if I’d said something wrong, I looked at her curiously.

“Can I sit next to you?”

“Sure.”

She put her laptop bag on the table and came over to sit beside me.

Then, in a much more careful tone than when she first greeted me, she asked:

“Chaeryeong.”

“Yeah? What’s up? Why the serious tone? Got something to say?”

“There’s something I want to ask you… Can I?”

“Of course, Yeji. Ask me anything.”

Yeji felt a little different from her usual cheerful self, and honestly, it threw me off a bit.

She was usually the bouncy, energetic type—hardly ever this serious.

She pulled out her phone and tapped the screen lightly with her manicured fingers.

Then she opened a YouTube channel and showed it to me.

[Yoo Chaeryeong, Couple V-log]

My name was plastered right across the top of the channel.

It was our channel that had gained over 20,000 subscribers with just two videos.

As soon as I saw the screen, I felt a rush of dopamine flood my brain.

Not in a good way, though. More like—Oh no, our classmates have already found this.

“This is you, right? And Yoon Tae-oh?”

“Ah… yeah…”

At first, I hesitated on how to answer.

But there wasn’t really any way to deny it.

Our faces were clearly visible, and we had made the conscious decision to use our faces to boost views.

Denying it would be useless.

“…This is a couple vlog, right? So, are you and Yoon Tae-oh dating?”

Then came Yeji’s voice—colder than anything I’d heard so far.

It even sounded a little scary.

I froze a little at the chill in her tone and hesitated to answer.

The truth is, it’s all just an act.

We’re not actually dating—we just film a couple vlog.

But… should I really tell her that?

I didn’t think Yeji was a bad person, but if word got out that our couple vlog was fake…

Who knows what might happen to our YouTube channel, which had only just started gaining traction?

A bad feeling crept over me, and I couldn’t shake it off.

But I also couldn’t just shamelessly say we were dating, especially after hearing Yeji’s voice just now.

…Right. Yeji.

She liked Yoon Taeo, didn’t she?

I remembered it clearly now.

Even back during MT, once she found out that Tae-oh and I were close…

She kept asking me little things about him. Especially…

“Didn’t you tell me at the beginning of the semester that you and Yoon Taeo were just friends?”

…Yeah.

Right.

I remembered that she had once asked me if I was dating Yoon Taeo.

And I also remembered thinking, “Is she interested in Taeo?”

because of that.

Naturally, my answer back then had been obvious:

“Huh? No way. Me and him? We’re just friends. Just friends.”

It was such a casual conversation that I had forgotten about it completely, but that’s how I had responded.

Since I hadn’t seen Yeji in a while, I had completely forgotten… but now I realized I had made a pretty big mistake.

“I’m pretty sure you said he was just an old friend, just a guy friend… am I wrong?”

Guys might not understand, but there’s this unspoken rule between girls.

For example, if you’re close or plan to be around each other for a long time, you don’t go after the person the other likes.

That’s why, when girls have someone they’re interested in, they tend to give subtle signs once they get close—without openly saying it.

“I’ve already marked this one, so if any of you were thinking about him, back off.”

It wasn’t aggressive, but the intention behind it was pretty much the same.

“Ah… um… you see… Yeji?”

I really didn’t want things to get awkward between us over this.

We didn’t hang out often, but she was someone I genuinely got along with.

But back then… I had no idea I’d be doing YouTube…!

No, even if I had known, I never would’ve guessed I’d be filming a couple vlogs of all things.

Back then, I was just someone who watched a couple vlogs all the time.

Of course, Taeo and I were still just friends, so technically I wasn’t betraying Yeji…

But from Yeji’s perspective, it probably felt like I had deceived and betrayed her.

I had thrown up a smokescreen, saying we were just friends, and then took the girlfriend spot for myself.

“I believed you completely, didn’t even confess to Tae-oh yet… If I knew someone like you was my competition, I would’ve made a move before you could…”

Her face was clearly full of disappointment.

Yeji was a nice girl, so this was probably the mildest way she could put it.

If she had been a bit more assertive, this probably wouldn’t have ended so peacefully.

Should I apologize?

Or try to explain that it’s a misunderstanding?

But even if I said that, I doubted Yeji would believe me…

My head was spinning with complicated thoughts when the department room door opened again.

“Yoo Chaeryeong~! Let’s go eat~! Ugh, the professor’s childhood story was so boring.”

The one who barged in, of course, was Yoon Tae-oh.

Speak of the devil—here comes the main character.

As the door opened, he seemed to sense the awkward atmosphere and turned his head to look at us.

“Huh? What’s this mood? Oh hey, kim Yeji’s here too. Hi~”

And just like that, he cluelessly waved at Yeji.

Our conversation came to a screeching halt, and Yeji’s expression turned icy.

…Why did you have to walk in now, of all times? Ugh.

***

After getting bombarded by Yoo Chaeryeong’s messages, I hurried to the department lounge as soon as my class ended.

“Yoo Chaeryeong~! Let’s go eat~! Ugh, the professor’s childhood story was so lame.”

I barged in loudly, thinking she’d be alone.

But for some reason, she was sitting next to kim Yeji, and both of them looked up at me.

“Huh? What’s this mood? Oh hey, kim Yeji’s here too. Hi~”

They were looking at something on their phones together.

And for some reason, the atmosphere felt chilly. I could sense something was off.

“Ah, Tae-oh. Hey~”

Yeji greeted me with a forced smile that had been missing just a moment ago.

I awkwardly waved back, feeling like something was off, and looked over at Chaeryeong.

“You coming to eat or what?”

She answered my question with just a look.

It felt like I could hear her inner voice shouting, “You clueless idiot, read the room.”

A moment later, as if she couldn’t take it anymore, she stood up from her seat.

“Yeji, can I talk to Tae-oh for a sec? Just a quick chat. We’ll finish our talk afterward. Can you wait here a bit?”

“…Oh? Sure… okay…”

Yeji replied with a lukewarm expression.

Chaeryeong stood up abruptly, grabbed my wrist with a sharp tug, and said,

“Hey, come with me. Now.”