Chapter 17
Finally, it’s here. March 2nd.
My face automatically scrunched up at the loud music filling my room at 7:30 AM. It’s a song I like, but I should change the alarm sound before I start hating it.
“First period is really…”
And four times a week for the entire semester. Normally I’d wake up early and play games just fine, but when I tried to get up for school, my body felt impossibly heavy.
I’d given up on overdressing for the weather a long time ago, but today wasn’t cold enough to require a long padded coat to wrap warmly all the way to my legs for survival. Besides, there would be an opening ceremony after class, so I definitely couldn’t dress sloppily.
Ji-won chose reasonably light attire and left his studio apartment with a light bag, as befitting the first day of the semester. Walking alone while listening to music wasn’t bad, but the closer he got to school, the colder it felt and the more he wanted to just go back home.
“Really? Who?”
“Who else? The villain who sits next to me that I told you about.”
Quite a few students were walking in pairs, chatting from early morning. Freshmen looking around curiously could be seen here and there too. The campus seemed strangely energetic with the new semester. Ji-won stopped and took out his AirPods.
Among Ji-won’s classmates, more had finished their second year before enlisting than those who’d gone after just their first year. And most of the female classmates were now seniors busy with job hunting or had scattered schedules that made them hard to meet. So unlike before, he’d clearly be walking the campus alone a lot more now.
“…”
But what mattered now wasn’t loneliness, which didn’t really bother him anyway, but fatigue. I thought 9 AM classes ended in high school. Feeling like he needed coffee, he headed for the campus café, when someone who had just received their drink walked toward him and greeted him with a friendly face.
“Hey, Han Ji-won! Returning this year? It’s been ages.”
Despite the mask covering everything but her eyes, Ji-won immediately recognized who it was. Suhyeon, one of the classmates he’d been close with. Her all-black outfit—black hat, black mask, black clothes wrapped tightly around her entire body—was such a change that anyone who knew her in freshman year might have walked past without recognizing her, but Ji-won greeted her casually.
“Yeah, it’s been a really long time. But why are you here at this hour?”
“Because I have class soon. Looks like you have first period too, poor thing.”
“Aren’t you a senior now?”
“Ah, that. Turns out if you mess around for three years, you have to pack your schedule to barely graduate. Shit.”
“You really did play around for a long time…”
Back in freshman year when everyone else was cramming their schedules, she was the friend who insisted college was a symbol of freedom and barely met the minimum credits… but he hadn’t expected her to repeat that for three years.
While Ji-won ordered an iced Americano with an extra shot at the kiosk, Suhyeon stood beside him rather than finding a seat and kept talking. She seemed doubly pleased to meet a classmate at this hour, something she hadn’t imagined possible.
“Looks like the military toughened you up? Your body looks better.”
“Does it show?”
“Get your face out of here.”
As Ji-won inserted his card and leaned his face in, Suhyeon pushed him away with her free hand and asked while standing crookedly:
“Are you going to the opening ceremony later?”
“I think so. Aren’t you going?”
“Can’t you tell from how I’m dressed? Besides, I’m busier than the freshmen right now.”
Classes all the way to 9th period today! She shouted in a loud voice that didn’t sound excited at all. Ji-won looked at her sympathetically and sat down at a nearby table. There were still about 15 minutes until first period began. After glancing at the watch on Ji-won’s wrist, Suhyeon sat down across from him.
“Ah… I want to hang out with the juniors too.”
“I thought you said you played around plenty until last year.”
“That’s true… This will be your first time having juniors, right?”
“Yeah.”
Suhyeon looked the returned military student up and down. Ji-won had always been someone who liked taking care of others. A friend from the same high school who had come to the same university had vouched for that, even putting up his graduation album photo as proof. And from what she’d seen during their year together, it was true.
“Don’t let the kids take advantage of you. Don’t go around offering to buy meals or your wallet will be empty before you know it.”
After giving this sincere advice, Suhyeon vanished from sight as soon as Ji-won’s drink was ready, saying she had to go. She’s busy… Ji-won, who had been absent-mindedly sipping his drink, belatedly checked the time and ran with his coffee in hand.
The professor entered right at the hour and after a brief orientation, conducted the class using PowerPoint to accommodate students who didn’t have textbooks yet. After sitting through two straight hours of that thoughtful first-day lecture that no student actually wanted, it was already lunchtime. While he could probably find someone to eat with if he looked, now that he had the “returned student” title, even that felt bothersome.
After a quick lunch at the student cafeteria and finishing the afternoon lectures, he finally checked the group chat. Most of his friends who were returning to school this semester didn’t seem to be going to the opening ceremony. The student council had said they would accommodate returning students and upper-year students too, but it wasn’t just about fitting in—it was also about the hassle. If the goal was to socialize, they could just go when only current students gathered.
But Ji-won, who had already promised Mingyu, had no option to skip. After his last class ended, and finding he had some free time, Ji-won checked the announcement again.
[※Opening Ceremony※
Date: Friday, March 2nd, 4:30 PM
Location: West Building, Room 306
1st Round: 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM at Hello Koko
2nd Round-A: 8:30 PM – 12:00 AM at Maybe Beer
2nd Round-B: 8:30 PM – 12:00 AM at Pocha Nine
3rd Round: 12:00 AM – ? at Hansaem Bar
2nd Round-A is for freshmen, 2nd Round-B is for current students!]
If he just went to the first round and then straight home, the timing would be perfect…
“Not going?”
“You scared me! Were you in this class?”
“I’ve been staring at the back of your head the whole time and you never noticed.”
This is a second-year major course, though. Ji-won clutched his startled chest as Suhyeon suddenly appeared and tapped his shoulder.
“I think I’ll go to the opening ceremony too. Kim Mingyu said he’d buy drinks later if I came, so I’m planning to go home and change first.”
“Really? From the beginning?”
“The first round feels a bit awkward, so maybe after it starts?”
Having secured another classmate to sit with, Ji-won headed to a nearby café to kill time. Browsing through posts on the official Arc Serenity café, checking comments on his YouTube channel, and occasionally checking the guild Discord… In the end, it was all game-related.
[Just follow these steps in order]
While he was thinking about it, he also checked his 1:1 chat with HolyKnightKnight, but the KakaoTalk message he’d sent yesterday afternoon still remained unread. It’s the first day, so they must be busy. They’ve just been hunting all day when they log in recently. Ji-won closed KakaoTalk without lingering and moistened his throat with a warm latte.
A little after 7, he sent a KakaoTalk to Mingyu asking what he was doing, but when it went unread, he just got up. After two cups of just latte, he was starting to crave alcohol. Ji-won left the café a bit earlier than planned and opened the door to the pocha in the next block.
“Did you really add that class? That professor is known for giving low grades.”
“Really?”
Conversations from all directions mixed together, creating a noisy atmosphere. As he briefly paused at the entrance, taking in the wide interior of the pocha that he hadn’t experienced in a long time, a hand suddenly emerged from the nearest table and grabbed Ji-won’s arm.
“Ji-won, you came?”
“Excuse me?”
Startled by the sudden touch, he reflexively answered and turned his head to find a familiar face from the depths of his memory greeting him. Why is this guy still not graduated? Ji-won’s expressionless face instantly turned sour.
“Ah… hello.”
Ji-won bowed his waist in greeting. As he slowly raised his head, he saw Mingyu firmly trapped in the seat beside him. So that’s why he couldn’t read the KakaoTalk.
“Why the face? Surprised I’m still not graduated?”
“It’s nothing.”
Of course it’s surprising. Not just a year or two ahead, but a senior five years above me is still at school. No, it’s not just that he hasn’t graduated, but that he’s at a freshman opening ceremony that’s strange. Ji-won swallowed the words that only lingered in his mouth and awkwardly smiled, saying it was nothing.
Beom Ji-ho. A student council senior who had been the “X-man” at the freshman orientation. Having entered university after three attempts at the entrance exam, he was older, making even fellow student council seniors uncomfortable around him. Some freshmen had gone home half-crying because of his persistent badgering. Ji-won too had been picked on a few times for being “too noisy” around others, making Ji-ho someone he wanted to avoid even by chance.
Are you still in the student council? Ji-won asked with his eyes, trying not to be obvious, and Mingyu made a small X sign with two fingers, indicating no.
“Don’t think about sitting with the freshmen when you’re a returning student, come here, come here.”
Yet the people sitting across from him looked like freshmen. Maybe feeling self-conscious about being the only older one, he had already trapped Mingyu, who had discharged from the military with Ji-won this year, on his left. With no one else I know… In this situation, it was impossible not to sit in that right seat.
“We’re going hard tonight. Anyone who dies first gets killed by me.”
“Excuse me?”
“Ah, freshmen are exempt, of course! This is for you military-returned seniors.”
Even though forced drinking disappeared ages ago, this senior who had entered university about 8 years ago still seemed to want the atmosphere of his own first opening ceremony. Meanwhile, his comment about specially accommodating the freshmen was even more infuriating.
Is there anywhere else to sit? As he rolled his eyes looking for an empty spot, a familiar side profile caught his eye. Blink, blink, blink. He blinked exactly three times, but the face in his vision remained unchanged. A short exclamation escaped from his blankly opened mouth.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
