ASIAH 47

“What are you going to do if I did?”

“…You wrote it?”

“No? I’ve got tons of girls who would do this kind of thing for me.”

“Did anyone ask?”

“Didn’t you just ask?”

Hmph. Couldn’t he just say he didn’t do it? Does he have to brag like that? He’s so brazen for someone who’s probably been too busy hanging around me to even have a threesome lately. Of course, he probably has a lot of people he could ask.

Who did he ask? He seemed pretty interested in Sanna lately.

Is this bastard planning to settle down?

A sudden surge of irritation washed over me. Objectively, in terms of appearance, they were a good-looking couple, but if one is the sincere god of R&B and the other is a slut, the former would be at a huge loss.

What’s more, the handwriting on the caption even gave me a sense of déja vu.

“But this… I feel like I’ve seen this handwriting somewhere. Who did you say did it?”

“Huh? Oh, it’s just that all roundish handwriting looks the same.”

“Don’t tell me it was Kim Sanna?”

Kim Sanna had given me a drink during the MT, and had even said that I was her type. I didn’t know what that had to do with the current situation, but it just came to mind, so I asked. Hyun Jaekyung, who was fiddling with the light he had installed, nodded without meeting my eyes.

…So it was Kim Sanna.

Well, it’s a good thing for classmates to help each other. Although, she had never once offered to write the captions for me while we were working.

Is there something going on between them?

…Today, my priority is to focus on the sales event. I should savor the excitement of running a sales booth a little more. It was my first time being the seller, but isn’t it just like ‘Comic World’? I resolved to maintain a professional attitude about my products and straightened a caption that was off by 1 millimeter.

However, as soon as the sales event began, that kind of mental preparation became completely unnecessary. Because the very first customer pulled a “I’ll take everything.” One by one, they weren’t that expensive, but it was an amount that would be burdensome to buy up all at once, and to top it off, it was Yeom Hyejin.

“You’re not planning to sell these somewhere else for a higher price, are you…?”

“Nope, I have a lot of people to give them to. Hurry up and hand them all over, so I can wire you the money.”

“Uh, uh… Thanks.”

“This, the hand model too.”

“That’s not for sale.”

“Ah… I was told to buy everything. Anyway, got it.”

Told to buy everything? Even the hand? Is that the scale you need to be able to give them out? No, who is he giving them to? Is it something like friendship rings? Then again, Yeom Hyejin is also very well-connected.

It was nice to sell out right at the start, but I couldn’t be completely happy because I was also disappointed that I hadn’t gotten to experience any of the situations I had been looking forward to. After handing over all the rings I had worked so hard on these past days to Yeom Hyejin, I started packing up my spot. Thanks to that, the tags and captions Hyun Jaekyung had brought also became useless.

“By the way, have you seen Hyun Jaekyung?”

“Huh? Uh? Hyun Jaekyung? Jaekyung’s been hanging out with you lately. How would I know?”

“Alright, thanks.”

“Oh ha hat.”

Yeom Hyejin let out a strange laugh, then left with the bundle of rings in a suspicious manner. Looking at the adjacent lanes where customers were starting to gather, I felt a sense of emptiness, like an empty nest after all its children had left at once.

No, who else gets to have such a precious experience… And speaking of captions, I became curious about how Kim Sanna was doing, so I went over to check on her and offer some help. It was moderately quiet.

First, I thought I’d try to passively drum up some business, so I bought a simple butterfly-shaped brooch and a pair of earrings with a simple but unique design. My mother often wears minimalist brooches when she wears suits, so I thought she would like it. My sister loves luxury brands, but she also goes crazy for unique designs, so she would gladly add them to her earring collection.

“I’ll have this one and this one.”

“Yes… Yes! Thank you.”

“You can keep the change.”

“Huh? Oh? It’s Yoon!”

She doesn’t get nervous when she sings, but this must be making her tense. Kim Sanna’s stiff expression relaxed into a smile.

“Is it okay for you to leave your booth?”

If I said I sold out as soon as I started, it would sound like I’m bragging too much. Anyway, it was quite far away, so it wasn’t visible from here.

“I’m going back. And thanks for the handwriting on the tags and captions.”

“Um… yeah.”

Kim Sanna smiled with an ambiguous expression. I happened to glance at the tags Kim Sanna had put up and saw that they were handwritten like mine, but the style was different. Mine was a round, cute style, while hers was a cool and fluid, masterful script.

“Huh? The handwriting is different. Can you just change your handwriting style at will? That’s amazing.”

“…I’m really not good at lying. I told Jaekyung several times that I couldn’t do it, so I’m sure he’ll understand.”

“Huh?”

“I’m not the one who wrote yours. I wrote my own.”

“What?”

“Earlier, Jaekyung told me to say that I wrote it if you asked, but I don’t know what’s going on, but you two should work it out. I hope nothing goes wrong just because I told you.”

“…”

Eeeh? Is this something to lie about? I wasn’t sure what else to ask, but I wanted to ask more anyway; however, I couldn’t hold up Kim Sanna because of the customers.

As I was turning to leave the booth, the customer who had just bought Kim Sanna’s work bumped into me.

“Hey, Eunha unnie’s work-study.”

Mr. Ha Wonjong’s love, Ryu Seonhee, looked much taller in person.

“Ah, I’m not a work-study, I’m her classmate.”

“Same difference. Have you seen Eunha unnie?”

“Wouldn’t she be in the department office?”

“Unless I’m an idiot, I obviously would have checked there first, right?”

“I see…”

Hmm, I had just let it slide at first because I was so flustered, but she’s definitely a bit of an uncomfortable type to deal with. Besides, hadn’t the 20,000 won this person gave me, like the golden apple that instigated the fight between the three goddesses, properly started a fight between Hyun Jaekyung and me?

What was it in the myth, did they all fight because they wanted to eat the apple? I can’t remember well.

“The girl who was selling these seems to be your classmate. She makes them with good taste.”

“That’s why I bought one too.”

“Oh? But if you want to wear any of the things they’re selling over there, you’ll have to change your style a bit.”

“…No, they’re not for me. They’re for my mom and my sister.”

“Wow, so damn nice! My oppa would never do something like this.”

I couldn’t tell if Ms. Ryu Seonhee was foolish or open-minded. And for someone who seemed to have no interest in me whatsoever, she was surprisingly good at small talk. Ms. Ryu Seonhee continued speaking without hesitation.

“Honestly, I didn’t have high expectations. Rather than buying what you freshmen make, if you go to a flea market, all the professionals who run their own workshops are there. Actually, I don’t even buy from places like that very often. I buy things with name value. It would be different if it were something Eunha unnie made, but she doesn’t do small-scale work, so that’s a shame.”

“Ah, yes…”

I take back what I said about her being good at small talk; starting with a compliment and ending with being obnoxious was also a talent. If even I could feel it, others would probably feel it five times more strongly. Is this person’s social life okay? She seemed like the type to make enemies of everyone who wasn’t one of her favorites.

Anyway, finding Hyun Jaekyung was urgent, so I parted ways with Ms. Ryu Seonhee and searched the workshop. He wasn’t reading my messages, and he didn’t show up for the class in between, so I asked Ha Wonjong, but as expected, he hadn’t seen him anywhere.

Since I sold all the rings, my pockets were fuller than usual, so I could have bought Hyun Jaekyung something he’d like—‘something delicious that doesn’t fill you up’—but with him gone, the excitement fizzled out.

‘Could he have gone to the bakery?’

The surroundings grew dark, and lights began to turn on in the tents set up by students from other departments. I heard that after alcohol sales were banned at the festival, the rules were changed to allow people to bring their own. They also sometimes rent out pubs near the school, but unless I was treating Hyun Jaekyung, I had no intention of going.

Why did he say Kim Sanna wrote the captions? Of course, it’s not like I thought Hyun Jaekyung wrote them…

Come to think of it, that handwriting seemed similar to the note from the person who left the sports drink at the basketball court. I’m not just insisting based on my memory alone; I had once taken a picture of the note to show off to my sister. If only Yeom Hyejin hadn’t taken everything, including the price tags and description captions, I could have placed them side by side and compared them.

While the air was cool, the sunset blazed. It’s a really good memory, sitting on the bakery terrace with Hyun Jaekyung at this exact time of day and having a meal. Hyun Jaekyung’s bluish-black hair also turned red in the sunset, and it was a time of day when the shadows deepened, making every scene look like it had a filter on it.

…Could Hyun Jaekyung have possibly written that?

The guy knew that I only drink sports drinks… so, could it be that he was embarrassed and quickly asked Kim Sanna to lie for him? Given Hyun Jaekyung’s characteristic of saying things like ‘How can a man…’ every time he opens his mouth, he might not have wanted to be caught being able to write in a cute script.

Thinking that far, I couldn’t stop smiling. What’s the big deal about something like that? It just makes him seem more talented and charming.

When I opened the door to the bakery and went inside, the guy I had been looking for all this time was sitting at a folding window table outside, the very seat where I had sat before. To find him without even contacting him, isn’t that fateful? It wasn’t some heavy, sticky kind of fate, but rather a sense of accomplishment, like I had successfully passed a friendship test.

Yes, this is the feeling of completing a sub-quest in an RPG without looking at a guide. My mood instantly lifted, and I raised my hand high.

“Hyun…”

But he had company. The guy was grinning, then he took someone’s hand and compared it to his own. Naturally, the other person’s hand was petite; it was clearly a woman’s hand.

That bastard’s hand wouldn’t even fill my palm if he compared it with mine, what’s so great that he’s acting like that?

Even the fact that there was a Basque cheesecake on the table in front of Hyun Jaekyung was annoying. Hyun Jaekyung likes that thing, which I hate… Since it’s generally popular, I guess they could order one plate and feed it to each other.

Is there even a single thing that I have in common with Hyun Jaekyung? I got angry at myself too, for being so picky in front of Hyun Jaekyung, saying I hated cheese and all that, even though I’d wolfed down the cheese bread. Suddenly, all sorts of disappointment and emptiness washed over me.

But wasn’t that the table where he sat with me? How could he bring a girl he picked up and flirt with her there? As if to show me, too!

Just as we were about to become friends, just when I thought he had stopped his slutty ways and gotten his act together, this is so disappointing. He probably skipped class earlier for this too. How great must it have been for him to ignore all my messages?

I’m going to spend all the money I made from the rings having fun by myself! As for Hyun Jaekyung, I’ll just buy him a pack of cigarettes. He can smoke and drink and die early for all I care.

I turned right back around and went to the club room. There were always a certain number of people hanging around, and as it happened, everyone was just heading out to play a game. Apparently, the indoor gym has been open all the time lately because of the festival preparations.

I was a bit tired, but to protect my self-esteem and relieve stress, there was nothing better than getting some exercise while showing off my face.