“…Should I, then?”
A tiny, inexplicable spark of interest blooming inside him, Won-hyeok nodded.
“T-Then please come sit over here!”
With a firm resolve to skip the lecture coming up next, Han-gyeom pointed at the club room sofa. When Won-hyeok sat down on the old leather couch, the worn-out fittings let out a creaking groan that echoed through the room.
That single noise forced Han-gyeom to recognize it all over again. This wasn’t a dream, nor a fantasy, but reality. He was sitting in the same space as Won-hyeok—Do Won-hyeok, the English Department idol and his ultimate bias.
His heart pounded erratically. He’d heard idol fans talk about randomly running into their bias on the street and getting so nervous they couldn’t do anything, but he’d never imagined he’d experience that kind of story himself.
“You’re a sophomore, right?”
“Huh? Ah, yes! That’s right.”
His voice sounded so nice—soft, like a calm, gentle wave.
“How old are you? Ah, is it rude to ask something like that all of a sudden?”
“Not at all!”
“Hm?”
“Ah, I mean… I’m 21.”
“Come to think of it, I didn’t even ask your name, did I?”
His heart wasn’t just pounding anymore—it felt ready to make a full escape out of his body. A sunbae being curious about him. Had he done some kind of great deed in a past life? Or had his ancestors blessed him, the way they show up in dreams to hand over lottery numbers?
“My name is Kang Han-gyeom.”
“Mm, so you’re Han-gyeom.”
Clunk—
“Hm?”
At that one word from Won-hyeok, Han-gyeom flinched like an idiot. The old table, worn down with age, rattled along with him.
“S-Sorry.”
“But aren’t you curious about my name?”
Pointing to himself with his hand, Won-hyeok smiled brightly.
“Ah, I know it. Do Won-hyeok sunbae-nim.”
“Right, so you already knew.”
Resting his chin on one hand, Won-hyeok ran his gaze slowly up and down Han-gyeom, who had his head lowered deeply.
“Then my age?”
“Aren’t you 23? I heard you’re two years older than me…”
Won-hyeok had retaken the college entrance exam and entered university a year later than usual. Han-gyeom knew that because he’d once overheard some third-year sunbaes talking about it in passing.
“That’s right.”
Ah, just as expected. There was no way he’d get it wrong. When it came to Won-hyeok, he could probably recite facts even with his eyes closed.
“You really know a lot. I think this is our first time actually talking today.”
“…You’re the English Department idol. You’re so famous.”
Han-gyeom’s throat bobbed. Talking with Won-hyeok like this, sitting in the same space as him—it made him so happy he felt like he might float away. Even so, this feeling could never be found out. A male junior in the same department harboring this kind of fan devotion… he was at least aware that it could come off as unpleasant.
“That nickname spread all the way down to your year too? That’s seriously embarrassing.”
“W-Why?”
“An idol? If other people heard that, they’d curse me out. How could a guy like me be any kind of idol?”
“B-But you’re handsome.”
Han-gyeom slowly lifted his head. The small, pale face that had been staring only at the floor with all its paint worn off now turned straight toward Won-hyeok.
“You’re tall too, and you’re more handsome than most actual idols. You’re good at studying, and you have a good personality too. If you look at it that way, you’re better than an idol. I really wish you wouldn’t think like that.”
“Mm…”
Han-gyeom’s voice was incredibly serious. Almost as if he were warning him not to speak carelessly. The smile gradually disappeared from Won-hyeok’s lips, and his eyes shifted into something like a searching look, as though he were examining the creature in front of him. What faintly appeared in his gaze was a kind of interest.
“Ah, sorry. What I meant was, no one in our department thinks that way…”
“Okay.”
A few seconds of silence passed. Han-gyeom’s lips parted as he was about to bring up another topic.
“Han-gyeom! Where’s the person who said they wanted to join?!”
The door flew open, and Bae Seok-woo came charging in, face flushed bright red. It looked like he’d run the whole way here, because he was still breathing hard and unevenly as he looked at Han-gyeom.
“I-It’s him. He’s a sunbae from our department…”
“Hello, I’m Do Won-hyeok from the English Department.”
Won-hyeok, who had been sitting where Han-gyeom pointed, stood up with a smile. Bae Seok-woo’s eyes widened into circles. It was probably the same reaction anyone would have. When you came face-to-face with someone whose looks were so overwhelming they made you believe he was a different species from you, your brain naturally froze for a second.
“Ah, yes. I’m Bae Seok-woo, the president of this club. I’m in the Creative Writing Department.”
But living up to his role as president, he quickly gathered himself and returned the greeting.
“Still, Han-gyeom, you kept making such a fuss about not having any friend to bring in.”
“Huh? Ah, sunbae isn’t someone I brought.”
Apparently, Bae Seok-woo had misunderstood what “same department” meant.
“Having a junior from the same department here makes me feel a lot more at ease. So I’d like to join right away, if that’s okay.”
“Really?! Of course you’re welcome. Then please fill this out first.”
Bae Seok-woo fumbled around in a panic looking for the membership application form and a pen. Han-gyeom stared blankly at the scene, then lifted his head when he felt a gaze on him.
Won-hyeok was smiling while looking straight at Han-gyeom.
Avoiding his eyes, Han-gyeom took a deep breath. Meanwhile, Do Won-hyeok’s registration process came to a smooth end, and Bae Seok-woo explained this and that about club activities.
“Still, thank you so much. Honestly, if we hadn’t filled the number of new members this time, we’d have been in serious trouble. I never imagined a third-year would join as a new member…”
“It’s nothing. Ah, you can speak casually to me.”
“Then… should I?”
Bae Seok-woo had entered university late himself, so he was actually three years older than Do Won-hyeok.
“Anyway, Han-gyeom, how about we just have a club dinner tonight?”
“A welcome party? Then I’ll ask in the club group chat.”
Bae Seok-woo cautiously asked Do Won-hyeok if he had time today too.
“I’m good.”
Do Won-hyeok accepted readily with a nod. Even as he did, though, his gaze remained on Han-gyeom, who was tapping away at his phone screen.
***
Maybe he was so happy the club had escaped the threat of being shut down, but Bae Seok-woo excitedly started planning the dinner, and by pure chance, there wasn’t a single member who couldn’t make it. Considering that every time they tried to have a club dinner, matching everyone’s schedules had always been the hardest part, this was basically heaven itself ordaining that tonight’s dinner had to happen.
“Alright, alright, our club doesn’t do things like making new members give self-introductions! Let’s just eat, drink, and relax!”
As soon as Bae Seok-woo finished speaking, quite a few glasses clinked together in the air. The dinner was at a fried chicken place near campus.
During the start-of-semester season, restaurants around universities were always lively. This chicken place too was famous for being cheap and delicious, so it was always packed in the evenings, but fortunately, Bae Seok-woo had called early that afternoon to make a reservation and secured them a table.
“Kang Han-gyeom. Is that sunbae sitting over there really someone you brought in?”
Woo-jin downed his beer in one refreshing gulp, then asked Han-gyeom, who was sitting next to him picking at the puffed rice crackers that had come out as complimentary bar snacks.
“Who?”
“Who else? That sunbae back there who’s practically glowing. You said he’s in your department too.”
“Ah, Do Won-hyeok sunbae?”
Han-gyeom grinned.
“I didn’t bring him.”
“Then why’d he say he joined this club?”
“Maybe because he’s interested in reading?”
“He doesn’t look like someone who reads at all.”
Woo-jin shook his head while tearing apart a drumstick with his fork.
“Baek Woo-jin, what does that matter? What matters is that a ridiculously handsome guy like that joined our club.”
Hyun-ah was right. Whether he looked like the type to read or not, and whatever reason he had for joining the club, none of that mattered. Even in this very moment, Han-gyeom could barely control his wildly thumping heart.
A chicken place with sunbae. Being together in the same space, tearing into fried chicken together. He was somehow barely managing to suppress the urge to keep looking at him. But he couldn’t completely stop the unconscious glances.
Han-gyeom subtly turned his head. Won-hyeok was sitting among Bae Seok-woo and the other sunbaes, smiling as he chatted with them. It felt both strange and impressive that he could talk so warmly and smoothly with people he’d only met for the first time today.
Just then, Won-hyeok casually turned his head in Han-gyeom’s direction. Startled, Han-gyeom whipped his head away and chugged the beer in front of him.
“Hey, hey, why’re you suddenly going off the rails?”
Startled, Baek Woo-jin looked Han-gyeom up and down like something was seriously off.
The mood gradually ripened. Maybe because there was a new face with them, the members were more hyped up than usual, and the number of empty alcohol bottles filling the table steadily increased as time went on.
Sure enough, before long, one or two people started collapsing face-first onto the table. Even the ones who were still awake all had to be drunk too, because every single one of them was just blurting out nonsense.
“Ugh… my stomach feels awful…”
Han-gyeom was no different. In an attempt to hide his happy inner feelings about getting to see Won-hyeok in this club from now on, he’d been drinking fast. He wasn’t good with alcohol, so he usually didn’t drink much, but today he’d poured it down like there was no tomorrow, so maybe this outcome was only natural.
Han-gyeom slowly rose from his seat to go to the restroom. As he stepped away from the table, he happened to notice that Won-hyeok’s seat was empty. His bag was still there, so had he gone out to get some air?
For now, Han-gyeom headed to deal with his own business first and asked the employee sitting at the counter looking at their phone where the bathroom was. When he stepped outside following the instruction that it was down the alley to the right, a rush of spring air blew over him—cool in that season-specific way, but carrying a faint heaviness too.
“The alley to the right…”
Staggering, Han-gyeom repeated what the employee had told him. But with his thoughts no longer functioning properly because of the alcohol, his feet took him not to the alley on the right, but to the one on the left.
And just as he was about to enter the alley—
Thud—!
A sudden dull sound struck his ears.
“Ugh, fuck…”
Then came the curse. Han-gyeom, who had been staggering along with unfocused eyes until just a moment ago, froze in place and opened his eyes wide.
Thud—!
The dull sound rang out again. Anyone could tell this was the sound of someone beating someone else up. His throat moved reflexively. Clenching his hand tightly, Han-gyeom pressed himself against the alley wall and only poked his head out to look.
In the part of the alley where only about half the streetlamp’s light reached, he could see a tall man standing there. At the man’s feet, something was sprawled on the ground, and Han-gyeom instantly realized it was a person.
Then the man who had been standing crouched down and began going through the body of the person lying there. Han-gyeom’s hand started trembling. No way—was this a mugging? The kind he’d only ever seen on the news?
When the crouching man found the other person’s wallet and pulled it out, Han-gyeom was sure of it. This was a crime scene that needed to be reported immediately. He cautiously took out his phone.
“Let’s see, the name is Gwak Hyun-woo…”
At that instant, a familiar voice reached him. Han-gyeom’s hand, which had been typing 112 onto the screen, stopped dead. Slowly, he lifted his head and kept staring at the back of the person rifling through the wallet.
Come to think of it, that figure… it was far too familiar to Han-gyeom.
No way…
And then it happened. Maybe he was too shocked, or maybe it was the alcohol, but the strength suddenly gave out in Han-gyeom’s legs, and he pitched forward and fell.
“Ugh…”
He only had a second to feel the pain of his knees striking the ground before he swallowed hard. Feeling the gaze on him, his head lifted on its own.
“…”
Sure enough. Do Won-hyeok, holding someone else’s wallet in his hand, was staring straight down at the fallen Han-gyeom.
