WYK 15

“Jeong-yoon!”

Jeong-yoon was caught amidst the embarrassed freshmen, and his face reflected their awkwardness. However much he might say it was okay, the juniors seemed extremely anxious. They were feeling awkward to the point where Jeong-yoon himself felt embarrassed.

Jeong-yoon smiled brightly when he saw Mi-hee. He was very happy to see Mi-hee, who would rescue him from this difficult situation. Mi-hee approached quickly. She came with such great strides, her long hair was flowing and her earrings were jingling. Today, he found her appearance even more endearing.

“When did you arrive? Right after class? If you’d come, you should’ve messaged me. I was waiting and went downstairs for a quick coffee.”

Mi-hee spoke rapidly to Jeong-yoon. They had seen each other a few times even after he was discharged. However, seeing her greet him so warmly after several years made him quite grateful.

The freshmen hesitantly approached Mi-hee. Then they hid behind her back and stuttered.

“Sunbae, Mi-hee sunbae…”

“Yeah? What is it?”

Hyang-gi sneakily peeked at Jeong-yoon’s face from behind Mi-hee’s shoulder and then hid behind Mi-hee again.

“Sunbae, I thought the senior in front of me was in the same year, so I spoke informally…”

Hyang-gi muttered this with a wilted face. She didn’t have the courage to say it directly to Jeong-yoon. Mi-hee chuckled.

“Is that so? It’s okay. Jeong-yoon is nice. Jeong-yoon, it’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

Jeong-yoon nodded. Only then did the expressions of the freshmen behind Mi-hee soften.

Jeong-yoon scratched his cheek. He felt like he had said “It’s okay” at least five times from earlier, so why did they finally look so relieved now? He couldn’t figure out the reason, but in any case, the tension had been broken.

Mi-hee tied her long hair back and sat down in front of Jeong-yoon. The three freshmen who had been hovering around her also gathered and sat down beside her. The sparkling eyes of these four girls were suddenly directed at Jeong-yoon. At this point, Jeong-yoon felt like he was the interviewee in front of four interviewers.

‘What’s with this atmosphere? It’s so awkward.’

This atmosphere was quite unfamiliar to Jeong-yoon. He had never received the combined attention of girls like this before. During his freshman year, he was always lying on the sofa and wasn’t accustomed to such a situation. Just a few months ago, he was in the military, where only men were around.

“This is Seo Jeong-yoon, your senior and classmate of mine. He returned to school after serving in the military. So, don’t tease him for being a returning student. Be nice to him, okay?”

The three freshmen nodded at the same time at Mi-hee’s words. It was an expression of the will to treat him well and not make fun of him.

Soon, new students started asking questions all at once.

“Sunbae, so you were in the military until a few months ago?”

“They say they don’t beat people in the military these days, is that true? Have you ever been hit?”

“Can you use your phone in the military? Do they have Wi-Fi?”

The questions poured out without waiting for answers. Mi-hee, who was sitting beside him, chuckled.

“They might even ask if you picked up soap,” she said.

Jeong-yoon stared at Mi-hee. My, my. In the time he hadn’t seen her, Mi-hee had become quite wild. Anyway, thanks to Mi-hee’s intervention, the freshmen’s storm of questions came to a halt.

The four fell silent again and looked at Jeong-yoon. Their eyes were sparkling innocently.

“…”

What’s with this atmosphere? They’d better ask another question.

Finding it difficult to endure the silence, Jeong-yoon awkwardly chuckled.

“Alright, anyway, I’m a recently discharged returning student, so be nice to me. Otherwise, I’ll start talking about the military.”

Ah, that was quite an boring and senseless statement, even to himself.

Surprisingly, the three freshmen started laughing and smacked each other on the arms. As Mi-hee said, it didn’t seem like they were pretending to laugh to humor the poor returning student. They genuinely found it amusing, and Jeong-yoon felt even more bewildered by their reactions.

“But I don’t know anyone here. Where did everyone go?”

Looking around, Jeong-yoon turned to Mi-hee in a hurry.

“Most of the guys went to the military. The girls are mostly fourth-year students, so they don’t come to the department room often. I’m the only one who returned from a language study program.”

Mi-hee continued speaking as she took out chocolates from her pocket and distributed them to the new students.

“Now that I think about it, I heard that the guys who went to the military around the same time as you are returning to school this time.”

“Who is that?”

“Kang Chae-heon and Yoo Dong-min. And there were a few more, but I don’t remember.”

For a moment, Jeong-yoon’s heart sank. Hearing Chae-heon’s name in an unexpected place sent a shiver down his spine.

Truthfully, he had been curious all along. He had wondered about Chae-heon, where he was, whether he had gone to the military, and when he might return to school. There were many questions he wanted to ask and things he wanted to know.

But he held back. He didn’t want to deliberately seek information, and he thought it best to find out naturally.

Mi-hee kept telling light stories. It wasn’t anything special. The topics were trivial, like how the cafeteria improved when the catering company changed, or how the library entrance system had been updated. Well, it was a trivial topic. Jeong-yoon nodded along, whether he was listening or letting the conversation flow. Amidst it all, he was glad that he could pretend to smile without revealing his turmoil.

They talked like this for a while. Mi-hee handed out chocolates to the freshmen as they shared. It wasn’t much of a conversation. However, while they chatted, a sense of unease and disarray nagged at Jeong-yoon.

Perhaps they talked for a while. The freshmen finished their chocolates and began folding the wrappers.

Then one of them said, “Sunbae, sunbae, you have a call.”

“Huh?”

He didn’t even know there was a phone call because he had switched it to silent during class. Jeong-yoon quickly picked up his cell phone. Then, as he looked down, his body froze.

Kang Chae-heon.

The three letters Kang Chae-heon were clearly emblazoned on the screen.

“Sunbae, aren’t you answering the phone?”

It was only after the junior across from him started talking that he came back to reality. Only after their prompting did Jeong-yoon return to reality. He calmly took up his cell phone and pressed the answer button without hesitation. He might have flustered if he had been alone, but the presence of people around him gave him the confidence to act.

“Hello?”

– At school?

It was Chae-heon’s voice. It was a voice Jeong-yoon had frequently imagined but hadn’t heard in a long time. Now, it was both familiar and foreign.

Jeong-yoon’s heart began to race.

“Yeah. I’m at school.”

– What about classes?

“They’re over.”

– Are you on your way home?

“No, I’m in the department room right now.”

– Okay.

With that brief response, Chae-heon ended the call. There was no farewell, not even a simple one.

Jeong-yoon stared at his cell phone from a distance. It was undoubtedly the first call in years. However, it felt remarkably natural, which made it even more oddly strange. The conversation felt like they had met just yesterday.

‘He knows I went back to school. But did Chae-heon return as well? And why did he call even before that?’

Many questions lingered in his mind. No matter how much I thought about it, he and I were never meant to talk on the phone like this. Kang Chae-heon asked himself various questions and got answers, but he did not get anything from him.

No matter how he thought about it, he and Chae-heon would never be on speaking terms like this. Chae-heon had asked him many things, but he hadn’t obtained a single answer from him.

“Is that Chae-heon?” Mi-hee asked.

Jeong-yoon nodded hesitantly.

“Yeah.”

“He said he came to school today?”

“Did Chae-heon really return to school?”

“What? Didn’t you know when you talked to him?”

“…”

Jeong-yoon scratched his cheek, feeling somewhat awkward. Know when they talked? Was there any way he could know? After all, this was the first call he’d had with Chae-heon in two years. However, he decided not to share these thoughts as saying so might sound peculiar. No matter how he thought about it, their relationship felt rather unusual.