PM CHAPTER 1.4

Ugh. Do-won shook his head. It was taking more time than he had originally anticipated.

Yesterday, there was a formal appointment ceremony and a dinner, and there was also a meeting scheduled for tomorrow morning. But even more demanding schedules were waiting for him.

Maybe he had made the wrong choice after all. Just as he was thinking this, his phone vibrated briefly. The bank app at the top of the screen showed a deposit of around two million won. The sender was Korea University. It was the publicity ambassador scholarship.

‘That was a smart choice.’

Do-won quickly changed his mind and felt suddenly better.

“By the way, I wonder how the kids are doing. I should stop by later.”

“Do you have any close friends?”

Do-won took the opportunity to ask, perfectly timing the question about Han I-rok.

“Not really close to anyone. But the student council members, especially.”

“Han I-rok, were you close to him?”

“Eh.”

He poured some more alcohol into Young-hoon’s empty glass, glancing at him.

“That guy… he was from the 18th batch, but why is he still involved?”

“Ah, that.”

Young-hoon chewed on his snack before answering.

“There was originally a 19th batch leader, but that guy suddenly went abroad for studying. So, the vice president ended up taking over the president role. It was lacking, so Han I-rok stepped in to help more.”

“Ah, I see.”

“For about six months? It’s been tough for him too.”

Do-won thought to himself, In six months, I won’t have to see that smooth face anymore.

“Han I-rok is the same age as you, right? Try to get along.”

“Yeah, well…”

“Why? Are you guys not on good terms?”

“It’s not that…”

If he had to be honest, it was more on the bad side, but he wouldn’t say it was a clear-cut “bad relationship” either.

After all, Do-won was in the position of just tolerating Han Irok’s irritability without understanding why. He hadn’t really done anything wrong, but Han I-rok kept making angry faces at him, acting like he didn’t like him.

…Wait, who does he think he is, liking me?!

Feeling frustrated, Do-won gulped down his drink. At yesterday’s official ambassador appointment ceremony, what happened with that guy was… Nothing, actually! Unfortunately, there had been no interaction because once again, he had been completely ignored.

“That guy can be a bit rigid, but once you work with him, you get used to it, and it’s actually convenient. He gets things done well on his own. He’s responsible.”

At Young-hoon’s words, Do-won couldn’t help but recall Han I-rok ‘s words about doing things according to principles.

“You two seem like you’d get along. He has a surprising loner side.”

“…I don’t know about him, but I’m a voluntary loner. Voluntary, that’s important. It’s something I choose to do… My choice!”

“Ugh, yeah… Are you drunk?”

“No.”

Even though he answered no, the alcohol seemed to be getting to him faster than expected, likely because he had been drinking soju nonstop. Despite the concerned question, Young-hoon didn’t seem ready to let Do-won go home just yet. He poured more alcohol into Do-won’s empty glass and even ordered another bottle.

“Anyway, try to get along. He might seem aloof, but he’s surprisingly considerate. He’s kind, like a Buddha. I’ve never seen him raise his voice.”

A Buddha, huh? Why is he like that with me then?

Do-won pouted his lips. That guy might not raise his voice, but with that cold, icy tone, he had already said a ton of harsh things to Do-won.

But mentioning all of this… felt a bit petty. Especially when Young-hoon was talking about how kind and Buddha-like Han I-rok was. It almost felt like backstabbing.

Do-won hadn’t expected someone like Han I-rok to become entangled in his life. It left a bad taste in his mouth. Whether it was the alcohol or something else, his search on the internet had also yielded no significant results.

———

Baek Do-won suffered from a hangover all through the night as punishment for drinking two days in a row.

Young-hoon had gathered his friends and thrown a big drinking party, and a somewhat drunk Do-won couldn’t stop him, even ended up joining in.

Though they were people he had just met, they were quickly becoming friendly, pouring drinks and laughing together. Meanwhile, Do-won found himself feeling somewhat relieved. If I can get along like this with strangers, then I wasn’t the one who was weird. It’s Han I-rok who’s strange.

The aftermath left him with no memory of the rest of the night. Only the extreme headache remained, like a lingering aftershock of the previous day.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the bed without even having changed his clothes.

“Aahhh…”

He must’ve made it home somehow. Was that lucky or unlucky? He likely got a huge scolding from his parents last night, but he didn’t remember any of it.

Do-won slowly pushed himself up. First, he needed to change his clothes and wash up. As he pressed his throbbing temples, he leaned against the wall and noticed the clock hanging across from him. It was already past 7 AM.

“……”

Suddenly, he felt a chill on his back. Wordlessly, he moved his hand to his pocket, pulled out his phone, and checked the calendar app, which was barely holding a charge. The schedule for the day appeared:

Hanul meeting at 8 AM

“Ugh, damn…”

The true punishment wasn’t the hangover.

Do-won lived with his family in the Seoul metropolitan area. The commute to school took about an hour, plus a bit more time for waiting for the subway or walking to the station. If he factored in those additional minutes, it would take at least ten more minutes.

In other words, no matter how fast he ran, it would still take a minimum of an hour to reach school.

“I’m sorry for being late…”

Do-won, who woke up at the time he was supposed to leave, quickly brushed his teeth and changed his clothes before running as fast as he could to school. He also sprinted towards the subway as soon as the doors opened at car 3-1, and despite the escalator’s mechanical voice telling him not to run and hold onto the handrails, he ran up it with loud thuds.

But despite his best efforts, he arrived 10 minutes late.

Do-won looked around, bowed his back, and found a seat. The other ambassadors, who had already gathered, exchanged subtle nods with him. They all had tired, sleepy faces.

Yeah, it’s tough enough to deal with the first class, and now we’re supposed to have a meeting this early in the morning. There’s no way they wouldn’t be tired.

In fact, Do-won was the type who lived with about 10 minutes of flexibility. In life, you never know what could happen. It wasn’t that hard to be early or late by that much, right…?

But the one person who probably had no flexibility at all was standing right here.

“You’re 12 minutes late.”

As expected, a sharp voice poked at Do-won’s conscience. When he lifted his gaze, Han I-rok, unlike the others, looked perfectly fine, almost like a cyborg. His sharp, dark eyes showed no signs of sleepiness, and he stood in front of the whiteboard, wearing a perfectly neat gray sweatshirt and jeans, looking like a model student.

And then, to top it off, he specifically pointed out exactly how many minutes Do-won was late, as if he had just swallowed a raw egg. Do-won almost felt like crying from gratitude.

“If you’re going to be late, you should let us know in advance.”

“Sorry, my battery died…”

Poor Do-won’s phone had shown him only the calendar before it died, unable to contact anyone. He didn’t even bring his charger because he was in such a rush. Damn.

“Good thing it’s just our group meeting. If it were an official event, you can’t be late. Not just you, but all the other ambassadors need to be careful about this. Keep it in mind.”

“Yes.”

Amid the responses, Do-won quietly muttered another apology.

“Luckily, we haven’t been at the meeting for long. Let me briefly explain. The first official task for the 20th ambassadors is the campus tour, which will be on Saturday. Starting today, we’ll divide into teams to plan, and on Friday, we’ll do a short rehearsal based on the plan we made. The school we’ll be visiting is Seoul High School, co-ed, with 60 students. We’ll split them in half, 30 each, and one team will start from the main gate and head toward the medical school, while the other team will head towards the humanities building. After lunch, we’ll all move as one group to tour the central plaza and then cross over to finish with the auditorium presentation. Got it?”

“…Uh.” Do-won definitely understood that the campus tour was scheduled for Saturday. This was the most important piece of information, so he nodded, thinking the other details could follow later.

“So this week is going to be very busy, so I hope everyone can dedicate time to Hanul. The teams were divided by the president’s team, and now you all will have your own meeting. Later, you can talk to Captain Yoo Seong-min of the 19th class. Now, Team 1, I’ll call your names.”

With that, Han I-rok looked at his phone screen and began calling out names. Those who were called stood up and gathered at the left table.

“Team 2, I’ll call your names. Han I-rok.”

He called out five or six names, then raised his gaze for the final one.

“And Baek Do-won.”

It felt like he was once again silently reminding Do-won that he was going to be in charge of him, just like he had said before.

————-

The members of Team 2 gathered on the right side of the promotional office. While Do-won drank a pack of cold milk from the fridge and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, he took the paper that Han I-rok handed him.

“There’s a framework we’ve been using, so we’ll proceed based on that. Read through it, then we’ll discuss what roles each of us will take and wrap it up.”

Do-won started skimming through the paper while half-listening to Irok’s instructions.

What’s with all this? The text was dense, and it was hard for him to focus.

Do-won drank more milk to quench his thirst and tried to focus on the black text.

There were more tasks than he expected. Well, considering this was the country’s top university, it made sense that there would be a lot to boast about.

The route was planned to visit notable buildings with big, impressive features, and it was designed to keep things interesting with games, quizzes, and activities that would engage the students.

Despite how interesting it seemed, the thought of leading that many students through such a large campus seemed like an incredibly difficult task.

‘Hmm?’

As he continued reading, an odd word jumped out at him.

‘What’s this? Listening to the school anthem…?’

Do-won couldn’t hide his confusion and asked,

“What’s this about listening to the school anthem?”

“…I told you to talk about which building you want to be responsible for.”

Apparently, while Do-won had been lost in thought, something else had been discussed. I-rok scolded him in his usual blunt tone, but then added an explanation with a short sigh.

“The school anthem will be played during the auditorium PT.”

“No, I mean, why…?”

It’s fine to show school pride, sure. After all, the students who come for a campus tour want to feel that the university is prestigious, impressive, and has something unique to offer.

But… listening to the school anthem seemed so out of touch with their needs. It felt like something from a different time. Even if it was an official school tour, why would they play the anthem?

“I don’t think it’s necessary to make them listen to the anthem.”

Before Do-won could finish, I-rok replied,

“Our school anthem was composed by the famous composer Shin Seung-pil, and it was sung by Kim Young-shin, a graduate and known as the king of music. It’s one of the university’s big points of pride. I think it’s an essential part of the campus tour.”

“I get that it’s a point of pride, but let’s think about whether the students will really want to listen to a boring anthem. Their taste in music is all about fun, fast-paced idol songs. And now they’re going to listen to the school anthem… Ugh, and we have to listen to it for 10 minutes?”

It said “Listening to the school anthem (10 minutes).”

A chuckle escaped him. Ten minutes? Does it have five verses or something? Even idol songs are only four minutes long.

“I’ve never heard it either.”

“…You’ve never heard it?”

Han I-rok looked at him with a shocked expression, as if to say, “How could a promotional ambassador not have heard the school anthem?” Baek Do-won shot him a look that said, “Of course not. Who would listen to that kind of thing?” Probably, none of the promotional ambassadors here had heard it either. He wanted to find some solidarity, but decided to let it go for now.

“Instead of this, wouldn’t it be fun to do something like a casino experience, like other schools? The students would probably like it.”

“The casino experience at Mingu University is because they have a famous Hotel and Tourism Casino Management Department. Our school is Hotel Management, so we can’t really do that. Plus, we can’t make students engage in gambling activities.”

“Gambling? A casino is a legitimate national business. All official casinos in the country are under public enterprises.”

“You should remember that the legal age for casino entry is 19.”

“……”

Do-won’s head started to ache. He was certain it wasn’t due to a hangover. He drank the milk roughly again. The more he talked, the more stressed he became.

But… at the same time, it was clear that Han I-rok was also getting a bit irritated. Like Do-won, Han I-rok’s usual poker face was showing signs of frustration. His brows were tightly furrowed, and Do-won noticed his hand pressing hard against his temples. He raised an eyebrow. Maybe it was time to push just a little more.

[ ROK: Proceed with the existing program. ] VS [ WON: What is this outdated program? ]

It felt like a window was popping up above his head, like a video game. A box showing HP being reduced by half for each counter flickered in front of him.

“If the music department is that important and you insist on including it, why not just have the kids sing a song? Set up a karaoke machine, and give prizes for high scores or something.”

“If there’s no voluntary participation, that part of the tour will be useless. Are you serious about this?”

Do-won knew that a karaoke machine definitely didn’t fit the campus tour, but he was just trying to annoy Han I-rok. Since it was all about the formal approach, Do-won was probably irritating him on purpose by shaking things up.

“I don’t think that’s the only problem, I-rok.”

He said it in an annoyingly polite tone, and Han I-rok’s eyebrows twitched uncomfortably.

“The Peace Memorial Hall tour itself is fine, but I don’t see why we need to visit the Memorial thing. Isn’t it that weird Agrippa statue place? What could possibly be worth spending 20 minutes there?”

Like the fact that he had never heard the school song, this was also a place he, as a student, had never even stepped foot in.

“It’s not a weird Agrippa, it’s the first president. It’s a museum that shows the history of the school.”

“Exactly. I don’t think the kids would want to see the president’s face. The first floor could be skipped, and I think it’d be more fun to show them the library and reading rooms on the second floor. The facilities are nice, and the interior is pretty, so it’s worth checking out.”

“If you’re already going to the second floor, there’s no reason to skip the first floor.”

This guy wasn’t easy. Do-won didn’t back down and added, “Also, the online PR team should film videos instead of just taking photos. You know video content is all the rage, right? Since we’re at it, we should create a dedicated channel for Hanul.”

“I’m against it because of concerns about infringing on students’ portrait rights.”

“We’ll shoot them from angles where the students won’t be recognized.”

“Sigh…”

“Don’t sigh, I-rok. If you sigh, bad luck will follow.”

“…Sigh…”

I-rok glared at Do-won with an exhausted look, then deliberately sighed even louder. His furrowed brows showed no signs of relaxing.

“Modifying the tour program for this weekend is impossible.”

“I know. I was just saying it.”

“…”

I-rok looked like he was desperately trying to hold in another sigh. Do-won glanced at the paper and pretended to look away, chuckling to himself. He was already the person I-rok didn’t like, so getting a little jab in like this felt refreshing.

“Um, excuse me…”

After a long exchange of words, the other ambassadors had been quietly watching, not daring to interrupt. A student finally broke the silence, speaking in a timid voice.

“Shouldn’t we start with role assignments first? It’s already getting late… I have a first-period class, so…”

“Ah.”

Han I-rok Irok let out a short sound before checking his wristwatch in a pose that looked like it belonged in a photoshoot. Then, with narrowed eyes, he glanced at Baek Do-won. What’s he looking at?

“We’ve wasted too much time on useless chatter. Sorry, but let’s finish the 2nd team meeting tomorrow. In the meantime, review the program and think about which parts you’d like to handle.”

“Okay.”

Baek Do-won pressed his lips together to suppress a smile and began gathering his papers. Meanwhile, Han I-rok sat quietly, brushing his bangs up, causing the strands of hair to fall in loose clumps.

As Do-won glanced at him, he felt a small sense of victory, following the other members as they stood up to leave. Just then, I-rok muttered to himself.

“I didn’t expect you to be so passionate about offering opinions, considering you said you hated all the hassle.”

Han I-rok’s words flashed through Do-won’s mind like a brief conversation.

‘…That’s unexpected. I thought he’d take the leadership role considering his spec, but…’
‘He said he hated troublesome stuff.’

Is he saying this so I can hear it?

Before Do-won could process the thought, I-rok called his name. “…Baek Do-won.”

…Being called out might be a more accurate description. Do-won flinched involuntarily as if his shoulder had been shaken by the call. He hated himself for reacting this way, but still, he couldn’t help it.

“If you want to change the system, then bring a new program,” I-rok continued.

“Uh…?” Do-won froze awkwardly, unable to hide his surprise.

“I was just offering an idea,” he stammered.

“Right, and it sounds like you have a lot of complaints. I want you to give it a try.”

If you can, that is. Do-won could almost sense a smirk hiding beneath I-rok’s expression.

“The campus tour will continue until the second semester, so there’s plenty of time. Hopefully, a fresh program will come out.”

“……”

It would be nice if he just said he was teasing me. But Han I-rok’s tone was so calm and mechanical. As if he genuinely wanted a good program.

“…And, about the karaoke machine. Let’s leave that out. That’s not gonna work.”

You know it too, right?

Han I-rok quickly dismissed Do-won’s uncreative idea and left the room before him.

“……”

Aaaaah! Ugh!

Left alone in the team room, Do-won silently screamed and tugged at his hair. He shouldn’t have gotten involved. He shouldn’t have gotten angry. I-rok had proven that, after three years of experience, he knew how to handle things effortlessly, while the rookie, Baek Do-won, got knocked out by a completely undeniable defeat.

‘We just don’t click!’

Baek Do-won furiously hit his bag, showing a wild, animalistic frustration. Han I-rok, observing through the crack in the door, closed it with a quiet, almost indifferent look.