What the—it’s not him. The anticipation that had swelled like a balloon deflated in an instant.
“No, I’m with someone.”
“Oh… okay.”
Barely five minutes had passed after sending them away when I felt someone else hovering near my table again.
“Is it him? It is, right?”
“Looks like it. The post earlier… said he was alone…”
It was obvious they were talking about me. Then came an unpleasant sound—the soft click of a button, the mechanical shutter of a camera opening and closing. It was quieter than usual, drowned out by the surrounding noise, but I recognized it immediately.
This wasn’t the first time. A sigh slipped through my lips.
Because of my looks, I had been secretly photographed since I was a child. Having my phone number treated like public property was just another ordinary occurrence.
I had sincerely believed that things would get better once I entered university. There was this vague assumption that a university was a place for cultured people.
But that never happened.
Instead, my location was posted on the school’s online community, often accompanied by a photo.
Amid the waves of ‘ㄱㅅㄱㅅ’ (short for “thank you for the photo,”), there were occasionally normal comments like, “That must be exhausting for him.” But right underneath, there would be replies like, “I’d still trade my life to look like that, even if it’s exhausting,” or “Bet that bastard secretly enjoys it, lol.”
If someone pretended to be a bystander and wrote, “No matter what, secret photography is too much,” the response was immediate: “Lmao, fucking virtue-signaling prude,” followed by an onslaught of slurs too vile to even repeat.
Because it was an anonymous forum, tracking people down was difficult. Even if I managed to find someone, the only thing I could do was ask them to delete the post and the photos.
And whenever one post disappeared, another took its place.
There was exactly one time when I caught someone in real time as they took my picture and uploaded it. Contrary to my expectation that it would be a woman, it was a scrawny, frail-looking guy. He didn’t even look guilty—instead, he acted like I was the one being overly sensitive. The words he spat at me that day still rang clear in my ears.
“Guess you gotta live up to that pretty face, huh?”
That night, the anonymous community was flooded with posts laced with fabricated rumors. There were no names mentioned, but anyone could tell the posts were aimed at me.
The endless stream of vicious comments—they probably typed them out in less than ten seconds—were nothing more than a form of online entertainment for them.
To them, I was nothing but a rare specimen at a zoo. Some of the details they shared were things only someone from my department would know.
That night, I deleted my account from the school’s community.
As I turned my head in the opposite direction, my eyes landed on Sa-yoon, smiling.
There was a time when I had thought he was just like the rest of them.
Click.
The familiar sound rang out once again, and my nape instinctively stiffened. No matter how many times it happened, I never got used to people taking my picture. It was always unpleasant.
The ones taking the photos finally approached my table and knocked on it. I lifted my head to check who they were—a man and a woman. The man had a camera slung over his shoulder.
“Hey, you’re Sa Shin-jae, right? Business Administration, class of XX?”
“I’m not.”
“Oh, come on.”
“Wow, is that a highball? Yuzu? That must be refreshing! But are you here alone?”
Before the guy could react to my indirect refusal, he plopped himself down in the seat across from me. The woman followed suit, naturally striking up conversation. I frowned slightly.
“I’m waiting for someone. I’m not sharing a table. Please leave.”
“Oh, just a moment of your time is fine!”
Without warning, a business card was shoved in my face. Rude. Beyond rude.
“We’re from University Today.”
The moment I heard the name, I knew exactly why they were here. They had been persistently DMing me since the start of the semester.
“If you could be our cover model, Shin-jae, wow, that would be amazing!”
“No, I’m not doing it.”
“Don’t be so cold. It’s our 23rd anniversary this year, and we’ve got a really, really great opportunity lined up.”
“Yeah, exactly!”
“For this issue, we’re collaborating with △△ Magazine, and our cover model will—”
Even after rejecting them again, they didn’t give up. But my decision was firm. I didn’t want to be in anyone’s camera lens except Sa-yoon’s.
“Everyone says no at first. But this is such a great opportunity, I’d really hate for you to miss it.”
It didn’t matter. If they kept persuading, I would just keep refusing. I opened my mouth to turn them down again—
“Sharing a table?”
It was strange. The place was loud, yet that voice cut through the noise and landed in my ears perfectly.
I looked up at the sudden interruption. Sa-yoon stood beside me, still smiling, glancing down at the business card on the table.
“Huh?”
“Let’s see… University Today? Oh, I like this magazine too.”
He spoke with the same energy he had at the other table, effortlessly pulling out the chair next to me and sitting down.
“And you are…?”
“Oh, I’m with him,” Sa-yoon said smoothly. “You want him as a model, right?”
With that, he casually pulled me closer, slinging an arm around my shoulder. A handsome guy sitting next to another handsome guy—it was a surprisingly good combination. No, a damn good one.
And the way they called us close friends? That sealed the deal.
The woman exchanged glances with the man before hastily pulling out another business card.
“Ohhh, I see! That’s great! Your friend is sooo handsome too. Would you, by any chance, be interested in being a cover model as well?”
The stiff, rectangular card passed into Sa-yoon’s hand.
“Oh, I love photo shoots. This guy does too, probably. But wow, you’ve got a really nice camera! I’ve been thinking about getting the new Canon model—mind if I take a quick look?”
“Oh, sure, of course!”
The mood of the magazine staff immediately lifted at the unexpected ally. The man eagerly switched on the camera slung over his shoulder and handed it to Sa-yoon. Meanwhile, I remained detached from the whole interaction, like a drop of oil floating in water, unable to blend in.
“Wow.”
What the hell is happening right now?
Completely oblivious to my confusion, Sa-yoon let out a fascinated exclamation and swiftly fiddled with the camera settings. Then, without warning, he turned the lens on them.
Chachachachachachachachachak.
A rapid burst of shots. Over ten pictures in an instant. The two of them stiffened, looking awkwardly at the camera.
“Hmm, neither of you photograph very well.”
“Huh?”
“But, you know.”
Sa-yoon smiled, all friendly and casual, his voice dripping with ease. It took the woman a beat to process his words before she blinked in disbelief.
“Illegal photography is a crime, you know?”
“W-what?”
“I saw you secretly taking pictures of him earlier.”
“No, we—!”
The two frantically rolled their eyes, struggling to grasp the situation. I was just as bewildered.
“If you try it again, I’ll sue. Oh, and I already deleted the ones you took earlier.”
“What?!”
“And if someone refuses once, take that as a no.”
Sa-yoon finished speaking briskly, then stood up and grabbed my wrist. As the two of us—both tall men—rose together, the surrounding gazes lingered on us for a moment before drifting away.
“We’re off now, we’ve got a date.”
Sa-yoon threw out the words casually before turning on his heel and striding away. Behind us, I could hear a scoffed ‘What the hell?!’ from one of them, but I was too dazed to react.
As we took a few steps away from the table, Sa-yoon suddenly leaned in close to my arm. The unexpected physical contact caught me off guard.
“Walk faster.”
“Huh?”
His voice was low and urgent, barely above a whisper. When I instinctively tried to step sideways in surprise, he clamped down on my arm like a hermit crab and murmured again.
“If the professors spot me, they’re gonna drag me right back over there.”
That’s when it clicked—I glanced back toward where he had originally been.
The professors’ table, situated in the center of the room, was still buzzing with activity. A fresh wave of students, who had just finished their special lecture, lined up to greet them, adding to the already lively chaos.
Sa-yoon had definitely slipped away while no one was looking.
“Uh, wait—where did Cha Sa-yoon go?”
Just as one of the professors turned his head, realizing Sa-yoon’s absence, the fugitive beside me pressed in even closer, practically burying his face against my arm. Hiding his face wasn’t going to make him completely invisible.
“Hurry.”
And now he was rushing me. So composed and confident when stepping in to help me earlier—yet now he clung to me like a squirrel stuck to a tree.
I shifted slightly to keep his face hidden and let out a quiet chuckle. It was strange how quickly my mood had lifted, considering how low it had been just moments ago.
Even after slipping out of the tent, we kept walking straight ahead like a nervous rookie driver afraid to turn the wheel. It was only when we reached a safe distance that the warmth clinging to my arm finally pulled away.
“Whew, I almost got stuck there until dawn.”
Sa-yoon dusted off his clothes and ran a hand through his hair a few times. As his fingers swept back his bangs, his forehead was revealed—smooth, framed by sleek, well-kept strands slipping between his long, pale fingers.
I had never noticed before, since he always kept it covered, but even his forehead was nice.
As I absentmindedly stared, Sa-yoon finished straightening his clothes, cleared his throat, and said—
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
