LA0S | Chapter 42

A soft voice that gently clung to the ears rose above the noise, and someone raised their hand. Kim Chayoung gave a light smile and waved again.

“Oh, right. Chayoung. It’s boring going alone, so let’s have one more person go.”

“I’ll go. Me. I’ll go for a walk to sober up a bit.”
Arms shot up from all around. Just from a glance, there were more than five volunteers.

“……”

It was noisy inside. Maybe it was because I ate kimchi stew without any rice. I gulped down some cold water to calm my flushed throat.

In the meantime, the volunteers had naturally gathered in one spot and started playing rock-paper-scissors. They were probably all that eager just to go with Kim Chayoung, huh?

“What’re you doing, not getting up?”

But then, before I knew it, Kim Chayoung had stood up and lightly tapped my shoulder. Lee Jinha, who had been zoning out, flinched.

“What were you thinking about that startled you like that?”

“Just thinking about what kind of ice cream I want to eat.”

“Then you pick it.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. You.”

For some reason, Chayoung replied with a bit of a blunt tone.

Jinha looked over at the girls fiercely playing rock-paper-scissors like it was a drinking game. Was it really okay for him to go, leaving them behind? He hesitated.

“I don’t like being with strangers. It’s awkward.”

It was hard to believe that such words came from Kim Chayoung of all people. Wasn’t he the kind of guy who could be besties with someone he just met for the first time? Kim Chayoung acting awkward? That was just impossible to imagine.

“It’s worse if it’s a girl. I don’t want weird rumors going around.”

He repeated the word don’t like, making it pretty clear he wasn’t up for it. And honestly, that reason made total sense. Rumors at university were on a whole different level than in high school. Back in high school, people didn’t really care that much, but here? They didn’t just stretch the truth—they straight-up made things up. Most of the gossip was about people dating.

Even someone like Chayoung, who usually didn’t give a crap about that kind of stuff, was being cautious. Probably even more so since he was a freshman.

Hmm. Jinha scratched the back of his neck, then picked up his varsity jacket from behind his chair. That was pretty much a silent agreement.

“I’ll go with Lee Jinha.”

Chayoung turned to the group still locked in rock-paper-scissors and said it. One of the girls who had just won visibly looked disappointed.

Kinda felt bad. Jinha could feel their stares and slid his arms into his jacket sleeves.

“Can’t I go too? Three’s better than two, right?”

One of the girls spoke, with lingering hope in her voice.

“Aww, it’s already late and really dark. Plus, the convenience store’s kinda far, so your legs will probably hurt. Just chill here—I’ll bring the ice cream back.”

His words flowed so gently that they sounded almost caring, but the bottom line was rejection. A polite don’t come with us. Even so, the girl’s cheeks were already flushed red.

Awkward, my ass. This guy says he’s awkward and then talks like that? Jinha let out a scoff and stood up. Since he was sitting in the far corner, he had to ask people to move several times, but Chayoung cleared a path for him, so he got out quickly.

Just then, his phone rang.

[Yoo Jiyoung’s Mom]

Huh? She usually just texts—what’s with the call? Was it about tomorrow’s tutoring? Jinha gave a small wave toward Chayoung to excuse himself and pressed the answer button.

“Hello, ma’am.”

[Sorry to bother you while you’re resting, teacher. Can you talk right now?]

“Yes, it’s fine. Please go ahead.”

Meanwhile, Chayoung was taking everyone’s orders—choco jjujju bar, World Cup cone, red bean ice cream—every flavor under the sun.

“…It sounds like Jiyoung’s just really stressed out. Yeah, I understand.”

The mom’s complaints didn’t stop. It looked like this call was going to drag on longer than expected. Tutoring was kind of a service job too, so hanging up first was unthinkable. But trying to go to the convenience store and stay focused on the call sounded impossible.

He waved his hand at Chayoung, signaling him to go ahead. Chayoung’s previously relaxed expression hardened.

“What are you waiting for? Bring me my jjujju bar!”

Yoon Sejin chimed in, urging him.

“Oh, I’ll go instead! I love walking!”

The girl who had just been turned down by Chayoung quickly jumped to his side. Jinha covered his mouth with his palm, worried the loud voices might carry over to the mom, then moved to a quieter spot.

“Hmm?”

By the time he returned—after listening to Yoo Jiyoung’s mom vent about her daughter crying from stress—Kim Chayoung was nowhere to be seen. Well, he’d been on the phone for over ten minutes, so that made sense.

The president was deep in conversation with someone, looking serious. Yoon Sejin had apparently gone to the bathroom.

Jinha felt strangely left out. At the same time, he recalled Chayoung, who was chatting with strangers just moments ago like it was nothing. Maybe he went with that girl to the convenience store? Not that it had anything to do with him.

He was about to sit down but got back up and grabbed two bottles of water. Guess it was too salty.

He chugged the cold water in one go and wiped his lips with the back of his hand. He could feel someone sitting down in the previously empty seat in front of him.

“Sunbaenim. You don’t remember me, do you?”

“You’re the one who had the drink, right? We just toasted a bit ago.”

“Not just today—we met before.”

Before? So this wasn’t the first time? He narrowed his eyes and rummaged through his memory, but no face came to mind. A junior from the same department? A regular from the shop?

“You caught me when I almost fell on the bus and even gave me this.”

She rummaged through her bag and held something out. In her palm was a small tube of ointment. And the moment he saw it, he remembered.

“Oh. Ohh?”

He was originally going to give it to Chayoung but decided not to and was about to toss it. Then this girl had appeared right on cue, so he gave it to her instead.

“You seem kind of different now…”

Her unsure tone made her blink quickly, then she smiled like she found it funny.

“I didn’t have any makeup on back then. But today, I went all out. Guess it paid off, huh?”

“If I offended you, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Come on, no worries! You were saying I look good today, right?”

Jinha awkwardly scratched his cheek and slowly nodded. He appreciated how she took what could’ve been a rude moment and made it light.

“Y’know, we’ve met three times now and still haven’t introduced ourselves properly? I’m Yoon Seoran, a third-year in Mechanical Engineering.”

“Ah, I’m Lee Jinha, a third-year student in Creative Writing.”

At one point, Jinha had dreamed of being an engineering major too, so it made him feel strangely glad. At the same time, he wondered again why Kim Chayoung had dropped out of engineering.

Back when he was a test-taker, Jinha would go out late at night for a breather during self-study. Sitting side by side under a streetlight, the two of them had talked about everything—from dumb TV shows to their serious futures.

Chayoung had wanted to work in semiconductors. Jinha, who had no real dream at the time, vaguely thought he’d follow him into engineering. Picking a major just to be with someone you liked… thinking about it now, that was insane.

“It’s not that amazing. I’m dying from assignments every day. That day, I’d pulled an all-nighter and was totally out of it.”

Seoran brought up the bus incident again. He hadn’t even helped that much, so all the thanks felt a bit over the top.

“My friend’s in the liberal arts building, so I went there sometimes. Actually… I already knew you were in Creative Writing.”

“Me?”

“You’re kinda famous, sunbaenim. Oh—! In a good way! A good way!”

She flailed both hands in the air like she was worried he’d misunderstand.

“Yoon Seoran.”

He softly muttered her name. It was unusual and pretty—something you wouldn’t hear every day. Might work as a character name in a future webtoon. Maybe change the last name though, since keeping it would feel too obvious.

“Anyway, I know more about you than you think.”

Seoran said confidently.

“Oh yeah? How much do you know?”

A bright, amused voice rang from above. Seoran looked up first, and Jinha followed. Kim Chayoung was standing there, holding plastic bags clearly marked with the convenience store logo in both hands.

“Oooh, nice. You even got drinks. Everyone, come pick one!”

Yoon Sejin, grabbing one of the ice-cream-filled bags like it was his own, shouted as if he had bought them. People who had been chatting in small groups swarmed over.

“Here you go. Better pick fast if you want the one you like.”

Chayoung opened the bag toward Seoran. She picked out two canned coffees and handed one to Jinha.

“It’s still cold. Feels refreshing.”

“Thank you.”

Just as he was about to accept it from her—

A big, neat hand snatched the can right in the middle.

Both the giver and the would-be receiver turned, puzzled.

With a completely straight face, Kim Chayoung popped open the can.

“Jinha doesn’t drink coffee. He’s sensitive to caffeine, so if he drinks any, say goodbye to sleep that night. You didn’t know?”