Chapter 78
* * *
The final day of the final exams.
All the previous subjects had already been tested, and only the last one remained.
Tap tap—
As I was looking through my notes one last time, someone tapped my shoulder.
“···Seunhooo.”
She stood there fidgeting, looking at me as if asking whether I had anything to give her.
She clearly wanted chocolate.
“···.”
Just as I had always done.
I naturally took some chocolate from my pocket and handed it to Isol.
“···.”
“Here.”
After accepting it, she held out a piece of candy to me. It was a barter.
I took it and immediately tossed it into my mouth. It was a cool mint candy. I felt as though it cleared my sleepiness.
— “Hehe.”
Isol ate the chocolate with relish. The Minimi’s cheeks bobbed as it chewed.
‘She eats well.’
Since she had looked visibly nervous on the first day of the final exams, I gave her some snacks I had on hand.
After that, she kept coming to me, and we ended up exchanging snacks like this.
It would be nice if this helped her do well on the exam.
······
— Riiing, riiing
A bell rang from the speakers. It was the sound signaling the end of the exam.
“Everyone, put your pens down. From this moment on, touching your test paper means a zero.”
The teacher’s deep, low voice brought the students’ movements to a halt.
Clack. Rat-a-tat. The sound of pens being set down on desks rang out like a chorus.
Clack-clack—
After collecting the answer sheets, the teacher left the classroom with a brief word telling us we’d done well.
Soon, the classroom turned into a noisy hubbub.
“Huaaah···.”
Isol flopped onto her desk and stretched long.
— “It’s finally overrr···!”
The Minimi’s face instantly became languid.
Her eyes looked as though she might fall asleep at any moment.
Tap tap.
I lightly tapped her desk.
Unfortunately, there was somewhere we needed to go.
“Senior Minji says she wants to see us in the clubroom.”
“···Huh? Now?”
“Yeah.”
“What for···?”
“She says she’ll tell us when we get there.”
“Ugh···.”
Isol slowly dragged herself to her feet with an annoyed expression.
At least she got up.
“We’re here.”
When we arrived at the clubroom, Senior Minji was sitting in the center of the sofa.
She wore a fresh smile as she sipped orange juice. Who drinks juice from a teacup?
“Did everyone do well on the exams···?”
Senior Minji said it with an air that made it obvious she had done well.
She was getting stranger and stranger now that she was a third-year.
Should I ask her?
“···How did you do, Senior?”
“So-so?”
Her tone was casual, but the corners of her mouth kept twitching.
— “Geez. It’s not like I can openly brag about this.”
The Minimi chuckled, its mouth twitching.
Apparently, her self-scored results had come out as well as she had expected.
“So why did you call us···?”
Isol asked as she sprawled across the sofa.
“Oh, right.”
Senior Minji brought up the main subject.
“I thought we’d decide in advance where to go this year.”
The finals were over, and considering the timing, it was about time.
“···Summer vacation?”
Senior Minji nodded at my words.
“Yeah. It makes planning the schedule easier if we decide ahead of time.”
Senior Minji already looked excited about the trip.
Since she was a third-year, I wondered whether she shouldn’t be studying during that time.
They say that if taking a day off hurts your grades, your CSAT was already doomed anyway.
“Do we get vacation too···?”
Isol lifted her head from where she had been sprawled across the sofa.
For once, she seemed interested.
Senior Minji nodded at the question.
“That’s just what I’m calling it. I mean, let’s go have fun together and build some camaraderie.”
We had gone on a bonding trip the year before, too.
Back then, we went with the third-years··· that is, the seniors who had graduated by now. I wondered how they were doing.
“Oh···.”
Jinuri also looked pleased at the mention of vacation.
“Of course, anyone who doesn’t have time or doesn’t want to go can feel free to raise their hand.”
““···.””
No one answered.
They looked like subordinates who couldn’t resist their boss’s subtle pressure, straight out of a drama.
“···We really can say so freely?”
Senior Minji waved her hands in embarrassment at the atmosphere.
“Soli, are you okay with it?”
“What···? Why···?”
Isol tilted her head at Senior Minji’s question.
She seemed to find it random that her name had been called.
“I mean, you don’t really like going on trips, do you? If you’d rather rest at home, that’s really okay.”
“I’m fine···!”
Isol’s shoulders jolted. She shook her head vigorously from side to side.
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Really···?”
Only after Isol gave her a firm answer did Senior Minji finally relax, letting the tension leave her body.
— “Have I gotten much closer to Soli?”
Senior Minji’s Minimi rubbed just beneath its nose and smiled proudly.
— “Hmm-hmm··· Seungho’s going, too.”
The truth was a little different.
Since they both seemed satisfied, I decided to stay quiet.
“···?”
As we sat there.
A Minimi caught my eye.
— “U-uhm···.”
Shin Ayoung’s Minimi was peeking over with awkward movements.
— “So we’re all going on a trip together···.”
It nervously toyed with its hair, looking like it desperately wanted to join in.
Come to think of it, we had brought Shin Ayoung along, too.
Strictly speaking, she wasn’t a member, so she stood awkwardly a little apart from us.
“···.”
Even though I saw that, I deliberately didn’t step in.
That was because—
“Oh, right. Ayoung, you’re coming with us too, right?”
Senior Minji asked first.
“Huh?”
Shin Ayoung’s eyes went round in surprise at being called.
“···Is that okay?”
“I was going to ask you anyway. It had been bothering me.”
Indeed, Shin Ayoung was practically an honorary member.
She had helped us several times when there was a lot of work to do.
It wasn’t an official event, and since it was just a trip to socialize anyway, there was nothing strange about bringing one more person along.
“Of course, if you don’t want to go—”
“I’ll go.”
“Oh, yeah··· Sure.”
Senior Minji nodded, looking slightly surprised by that forceful reply.
······.
After returning home, I lay on my bed and browsed through my phone.
‘Should I buy a new swimsuit?’
Most of the destinations suggested in the group chat involved water activities.
So it looked like I would need a swimsuit.
The one I wore last year no longer fit. Maybe it was because I had grown so quickly.
I had grown again recently, and now I was a little over 174 centimeters tall.
“Oppa.”
Lee Seungah poked her head in through the doorway.
“I’m ordering a late-night snack. Do you want some?”
“···What are you ordering?”
“Tteokbokki.”
“You’re paying for it, right?”
“···.”
I nodded at her look that clearly asked what kind of nonsense I was talking about. As usual, we would split the bill.
She had plenty of money, but she was meticulous about paying her share.
“Sure, go ahead and order it.”
“I’ll order the usual.”
“Yeah.”
So we’re having tteokbokki for a late-night snack.
She would have to exercise to make up for what she ate later, but Lee Seungah left with a giggle, unaware of that fact.
“Hmm.”
The tteokbokki arrived soon after.
“Huaa···.”
Lee Seungah ate the steaming tteokbokki with relish, then—
“Oh, right.”
She said between smacks.
“Mom asked where you want to go for vacation.”
“Really?”
Come to think of it, there was a family trip, too.
Vacation hadn’t even started yet, and I already had several plans. It was obvious this summer would be busy in many ways.
* * *
‘So it’s summer vacation now.’
Shin Ayoung shook out her wet hair and fell into thought.
“Hmm···.”
She liked vacation. Who didn’t, after all?
But Shin Ayoung’s reason for liking vacation was somewhat different.
She liked that she no longer had to worry about everyone’s eyes at school every day.
‘It’s vacation, but···.’
Compared to before, she wasn’t quite as happy. She even felt a little empty.
The reason was simple.
“···.”
When a certain face suddenly came to mind, Shin Ayoung covered her face with a towel.
Heat rose through the wet towel, which quickly grew warm.
‘···Still, I decided to go on the counseling club’s trip with him.’
Shin Ayoung cooled her flushed face with the wet towel.
That was a very good thing.
It was a good thing, but······.
If possible, she wished there would be a day when they could meet alone.
During vacation, they would have even fewer chances to run into each other.
‘Is there any natural way to meet him···?’
She felt that openly flirting with him would be too much.
If he rejected her after that, how could she ever show her face again?
She began searching for a way to meet him for a natural reason.
“···.”
Even after she entered her room, she continued to worry about it.
Shin Ayoung hugged a pillow and flopped face-down onto the bed.
“Ah.”
She thought of something.
A spark came into the eyes visible through the gap in the towel. They were the eyes of a strategist pondering a clever plan.
— Tap tap tap.
Shin Ayoung immediately sent Lee Seungho a text.
— [Shin Ayoung : Seungho, are you free during vacation?]
— [Shin Ayoung : Want to go see a movie later? We can study, too!]
That was the message.
Lee Seungho liked movies.
She did too.
They were both in the Theater and Film Department, and it was a shared interest, so it would feel like a natural message.
Even to herself, it seemed like an excellent plan.
— [Shin Ayoung : My dad gave me some tickets]
— [Shin Ayoung : (brightly smiling retriever emoji)]
···Actually, she had never received any tickets.
She had simply added a little seasoning to make her appeal seem natural.
— Chime.
After a short wait, his reply soon arrived.
— [Lee Seungho : When?]
Shin Ayoung, who had been lying face-down, sprang to her feet.
— [Shin Ayoung : How about the Saturday of the week vacation starts?]
“···.”
Her heart began to beat a little faster.
— [Lee Seungho : Ah]
A short one-word reply.
And then several messages arrived in succession.
— [Lee Seungho : I can’t then]
— [Lee Seungho : I have something else scheduled.]
Her face stiffened.
Trying to shake it off, she quickly sent a reply.
— [Shin Ayoung : Then··· how about the following Monday?]
— [Lee Seungho : That day is fine.]
“Phew···.”
A sigh of relief escaped her.
He hadn’t rejected her on purpose; apparently, he really did have plans.
At least that was fortunate. She had managed to make plans with him.
“···.”
Shin Ayoung fell into a strange silence.
Her black hair slid smoothly down over her shoulders.
For some reason, a strange sense of unease surfaced.
[Shin Ayoung : Soli, are you free on the Saturday of the week vacation starts?]
Tap— rat-a-tat.
Shin Ayoung quickly sent Isol a text as well.
“···.”
···No, that couldn’t be.
[Isol : I have plans then, so I can’t]
“Ah···.”
Shin Ayoung’s lips parted slightly, and a faint breath escaped between them.
This had to mean something.
Two people who had made plans for the same day. Could it really be a coincidence?
— Chime.
[Isol : (giggling hamster emoji)]
“···.”
The skin beneath Shin Ayoung’s eyes twitched ever so slightly.
Yet the movement was unmistakable.