New Semester – 1

The new semester arrived after the long winter break.

Normally, I wouldn’t want to crawl out from under my blanket at the thought of going to school again, but today was different.

And for good reason.

—Finally with Ye-rin…!

We saw each other almost every day last year too, but. I was a middle school student, and Ye-rin was an elementary school student.

Our classes ended at different times, and I had to take midterms and finals, making it difficult to meet during exam periods, among other regrettable aspects.

—But not anymore, hmm.

From today, we’re both middle school students.

Of course, Ye-rin will probably have Se-ah and other friends, so having lunch together or going home together might be difficult.

But just having Ye-rin at the same school, just being able to run into each other or meet when we want to made me look forward to school life.

After finishing my preparations a little earlier than usual and combing my hair one last time,

♪♬♪♬

The doorbell rang.

“Oppa, someone’s at the door. Go check-!”

“I can’t go right now-!”

“I can’t go either-!!”

“I really can’t go-!!”

“Ah, whatever. Oppa, just go quickly-!!!”

“Augh, seriously-!!!”

My fist trembled as we shouted at each other from our rooms, arguing over who should go first.

Who does that pig take after to act like that?

Seeing Se-ah’s door, as she stubbornly refused to budge as if she would never go, I had no choice but to leave my room.

I mean, who comes at this hour without any consideration?

My directionless anger towards blood relations soon turned towards whoever had come at this early hour.

Click-

“Who is it?”

“Ah, oppa…”

“Waaaah-!!”

Slam-!

What’s happening? Am I still half asleep? Why am I seeing visions?

I thought I just saw Ye-rin smiling brightly at the door? Must be my imagination?

I was so startled that I shut the door forcefully without realizing it.

“……Oppa?”

Ah.

“…Ye-rin, I have a situation.”

“…Hmm. A situation that makes you slam the door in terror the moment you see my face? I don’t think you’d be that startled even if you saw a ghost.”

“…Want to hear about it?”

“…I’m happy to see oppa, but oppa might not feel the same, sure.”

“How did it become like that…”

Even though we’re talking through the door, why does it feel like I can see Ye-rin’s expression…?

I haven’t finished getting ready yet.

But if I left Ye-rin standing at the door like this, she might transform into a dark underground general.

I glanced at the mirror next to the entrance.

—Hmm, this should be fine?

Fortunately, my hair seemed okay.

Click-

When I opened the door again, there stood Ye-rin, not in her usual casual clothes but in a school uniform.

Her hair, shinier than usual in the morning sunlight, the neat tie placed on her puffy white school shirt, and the skirt swaying gently in the breeze.

I had expected it would suit her well, but it exceeded my expectations to the point where I was speechless. It made me wonder if our school uniform had always been this pretty.

…School uniforms. Nice.

I made a mental note on my wishlist.

“Hi… Didn’t you say you’d go with oppa on the first day?”

“I didn’t say which oppa…”

“Huh.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle seeing Ye-rin’s expression, her lips curving up as if pleased that her joke had worked.

“So that oppa is me?”

“Don’t you like it…?”

“…Of course not.”

My heart did skip a beat from the surprise, but I could be startled a hundred times if it meant I could walk to school with Ye-rin.

“Wait a moment. I’ll get ready and come out right away.”

“Oppa.”

“Yes?”

Ye-rin, who had stopped me as I was about to go to my room, looked up at me with her hands behind her back, silently smiling.

…That time has come.

The time for “Oppa, do I look different?” that has made countless men cry.

Ye-rin wasn’t the type to paint her baby fingernails with nail polish and say such things, but.

She was the worst of the worst, making me say things that I was too embarrassed to say even though she already knew.

See, even now.

She’s looking at me with expectant eyes as if urging me to say it quickly.

“The uniform really suits you well.”

“How well?”

“…At least the best among all the people I’ve seen.”

“Hee, and…?”

“Your tied-up hair is also, um… really pretty.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say that the glimpse of her snow-white nape through her soft-looking hair seemed sexy.

“Between tied-up and untied. Which do you like better…?”

“I like both.”

“…Greedy.”

“No, I really like both, what can I do…”

I felt wronged, but there really was no need to choose. Sincerely.

“Hmm… Today you get 80 points.”

“Isn’t that too stingy?”

I couldn’t help but smile as Ye-rin even gave me a score, as if slightly disappointed.

“Because I liked the uniform compliment, that’s 40 points, and I liked the hair compliment too, so that’s another 40 points. However…”

Ye-rin’s yellow eyes, which had been tallying the score by folding her fingers one by one.

Sparkled even more as she held back a mischievous smile.

“Since I felt sincerity in your answer, I’ll give you a bonus of 20 points as the examiner…”

“…I should try to impress the examiner.”

“Yes, that’s right…”

“……I’m really sorry to interrupt, but can I pass through~?”

“……”

“……”

The ticklish feeling in my heart just moments ago dropped with a thud at the cold voice from behind.

Ye-rin’s expression was like, ‘Ah, right. She’s here too.’ Mine was probably the same.

Emergency, super emergency…!!!! Did she just hear our entire conversation? Is this for real?

Everything I said to Ye-rin was sincere without any lies, but having my family, especially my sister, hear those sincere words was a different matter.

It was practically social suicide.

No, in this case, it was homicide since Han Se-ah had essentially killed me. Why did she listen? Why…!

Sh-shit…… I was too embarrassed to look at Se-ah.

Glancing to the side, Ye-rin seemed to feel the same, as she had turned pink.

“…Did you hear?”

“Hear what~? Are you talking about how you scored 100 points by impressing the examiner~?”

Shiiiit….

My fist trembled as I wanted to kill Se-ah, who was poking my side while snickering.

Ye-rin was now completely shaking with her head bowed.

“…prease kirr.”

“Our oppa’s teeth might break~ And I think you mean ‘please get going,’ oppa~?”

“…jrebal georgeuseyo.”

Se-ah left saying she’d see us later, laughing as if she was about to die from amusement, and we both sighed simultaneously.

“…Shall we go too?”

“Yeees…”

As I went to my room to get my bag, dragging my suddenly exhausted body, something occurred to me.

“But why isn’t Se-ah going with us?”

“Se-ah said she’s going with my oppa today…?”

“With Seo Jin-hyuk?”

“Yeees…”

“Then couldn’t she just go with us?”

They’re not strangers to each other. Why go separately? As I wondered this, Ye-rin avoided my gaze with an expression that suggested she was feeling guilty about something.

…Huh?

They say even a dog at a Chinese academy can recite poems after three years.

In my experience, having known Ye-rin for almost a year, Ye-rin always makes eye contact with me, but she’s avoiding my gaze?

That could only mean one thing.

“Hmm…”

“W-why…”

When I made a thinking sound while stroking my chin, Ye-rin tugged at the hem of her uniform as if urging me to go quickly.

“Now that I think about it, Se-ah was gritting her teeth and refusing to answer the door earlier, and I wondered why…”

“……”

Somehow, Se-ah would normally have gone to greet someone in my place if I said I couldn’t go, but she was adamantly refusing to go.

I’m not sure what the two girls had discussed, but thinking that they had planned something in advance made the puzzle pieces fit together in my mind.

…How cute.

If they had just said they wanted to go as pairs, both Jin-hyuk and I would have eagerly agreed. Ah, maybe not yet for Jin-hyuk’s side? Anyway.

Imagining Ye-rin secretly plotting behind my back.

And seeing her pulling on my uniform insistently with her head turned away out of embarrassment, unable to hide her bright red nape revealed through her hair.

I couldn’t control the corners of my mouth from rising.

“Two is better than four, right?”

“……”

Seeing Ye-rin nod while keeping her lips tightly sealed, I finally.

Couldn’t help but burst out laughing.

**

As I entered the unfamiliar classroom I had been newly assigned to, I saw half familiar faces and half unfamiliar ones.

“Why are you so late, Han Woo-jin? I thought I was going to die of loneliness.”

“You should have.”

“Your words are really harsh, seriously.”

The most familiar face approached me.

“You’re in this class too, Seo Jin-hyuk?”

“Yes. Isn’t that good?”

“Good, my ass. Move, I need to get to my seat.”

I felt a bit relieved thinking that having this guy around would make adapting to the new class easier.

I had experienced firsthand last year how terrible it is to not have a single familiar face in a new semester.

Looking at the seating chart written on the blackboard, luckily, my seat was by the window at the very back of the classroom.

“I’m so jealous of your seat.”

“This is skill. Did you walk to school with Se-ah?”

“Yeah. She said you had somewhere to stop by this morning so you wanted to go earlier?”

“……Se-ah did?”

“…? Why is your expression like that? Isn’t it true?”

“……No, it’s true. I had something to buy.”

For some reason, I suddenly remembered what Jin-hyuk had once said to me.

‘……Ye-rin. Did Ye-rin say that?’

‘…My sister is scary. Scary.’

‘I’m sorry in many ways…’

…I don’t know why those memories are coming back now, but.

After a year, I finally understood how Jin-hyuk felt back then.

—Jin-hyuh, I finally understand…

What was even scarier was the fact that back then he only had one sister, but now there were two.

“Hey, Seo Jin-hyuk…”

I placed my hand on Jin-hyuk’s shoulder, thinking we’re even now.

“What. What is it, why is your expression like that? Like you’ve seen something sad.”

“Have you… heard of the term ‘families linked by marriage’…?”

“What, what money…? What is that?”

“You should learn from now on…”

Jin-hyuk took out his phone, probably to search for it.

After a moment, he looked at me with an expression somewhere between a rotten face and a despairing one.

…Hey, I don’t like it either.