SS Chapter 2.1

2. Xiaoman (小滿), the Beginning of Full-Scale Farming

The meeting about the upcoming external guest forum still hadn’t ended even though lunchtime had started, causing the student council officers to begin shifting uncomfortably one by one. 

Seeing that no one was focused, Dohyeon quickly wrapped up the meeting. Although it was important, he had no intention of taking up their already short lunch break. 

“Then, we’ll end the meeting here today.” 

A shout of “Yes!” came from a corner, and everyone burst out laughing. It seemed they all wanted to rush to the cafeteria as soon as possible, so Dohyeon chuckled softly and gathered the A4 papers in front of him. 

“I’ll take care of the cleanup, so everyone hurry up and go eat lunch.” 

“Awesome! You’re the best, sunbae!” 

a second-year male student shouted and ran out of the meeting room, the others who had been chatting nearby also began to leave one by one. 

After setting aside the papers he was holding, Dohyeon unbuttoned the collar of his shirt, sensing a gaze from beside him. He had been purposely ignoring Hyunyoung, who had been fidgeting as if wanting to say something since earlier. 

“Vice president, why aren’t you leaving?” 

Leaning back on the chair lazily, Hyunyoung asked with a casual tone and crossed her arms as if she had been waiting for this moment. Her long hair was neatly tucked behind her ears, and she had completely turned her body to face him, looking quite confident. Despite being a second-year, she was one of the juniors Dohyeon favored for her sharp personality. 

Because of her cold-seeming expression when not smiling, few treated her comfortably, with only Yeo Eunho being an exception. From the first time they met, the vice president Hyunyoung had boldly introduced herself. She was second-year Kim Hyunyoung and, though she might not be of much help to her seniors, she promised not to cause trouble either. 

If she had been all talk without follow-through, Dohyeon would have ignored her, but she had proven to be quite a reliable partner as she confidently lived up to her words. 

He liked how she reasoned properly, firmly asserting what she believed was right, and boldly speaking up when something was wrong regardless of seniority. 

When she couldn’t hide her expression in response to some foolish opinions during meetings, she would take the initiative to sort things out, which made Dohyeon like her even more. 

Once, when a few third-year male students approached the petite Hyunyoung and made crude jokes, Dohyeon secretly applauded when he heard her say, “I don’t think you even realize this is sexual harassment. Say one more thing, and I’ll take the recording straight to the vice principal.” 

When Dohyeon later asked her after those boys had fled, 

“Kim Hyunyoung, did you actually record what they said?” 

“No. I left my phone in the classroom.” 

That was when Dohyeon realized he quite liked Hyunyoung—not romantically, but as a friend. 

“Senior! You came to school with Eunho senior this morning, right? I saw everything.” 

At the sudden mention of that name, Dohyeon’s usually indifferent eyes shifted slightly, but it seemed Hyunyoung didn’t notice. 

“Yeo Eunho?” 

He asked again, wondering if she meant that Eunho he knew, and Hyunyoung answered clearly. 

“Yes. Third-year Yeo Eunho sunbae.” 

“Yeah. We came together.” 

When Hyunyoung unexpectedly brought up that name, despite usually avoiding personal topics, Dohyeon couldn’t help furrowing his brows. He looked at Hyunyoung warily. 

“Senior, you’re really close with Eunho senior, right? I heard you’ve been friends since you were kids.” 

Since Hyunyoung had no connection to Eunho, Dohyeon could roughly guess what was coming next. Asking to confirm something he already knew from rumors was like saying he wouldn’t allow him to deny it. 

“Could you introduce me to that sunbae? I like that type.” 

“No.” 

Expecting a quick refusal, Hyunyoung didn’t look particularly disappointed. 

Dohyeon had heard first and second-year female students whisper among themselves that Yeo Eunho’s double-lidded round eyes and plump lips were cute like a squirrel. 

What Hyunyoung said now and what those students said then were opinions from people who hadn’t actually experienced Eunho. Most didn’t know, but a starving Korean squirrel can even catch snakes. 

“Oh, come on. Sometimes the group Eunho hangs out with is a little questionable, but Eunho personally doesn’t seem to do anything strange.” 

Yeo Eunho seemed to believe that Dohyeon, who was tall and sharp-looking, monopolized the attention of the opposite sex, but actually, Eunho had been more popular since middle school. 

His thin double eyelids and round eyes with little pigment worked perfectly with his pale skin and brown hair. 

Too pretty for a guy, but with a strong line on the nose and chin, it wasn’t just girls who were interested in him. 

Not long after entering high school, when Eunho was much smaller in build than now, if he found out what the male seniors had said about him behind his back, he would have probably gone on a rampage to kill them . 

Of course, those guys had already been beaten nearly to death at that time. 

Among still growing high school boys, social ranking was influenced more by physique than grade year. If Dohyeon, who often won awards at taekwondo tournaments, hadn’t stuck by Eunho as a friend back then, Eunho might have faced terrible harassment multiple times. 

Anyway, some people had subtly shown interest in Eunho through Dohyeon in this way. Whenever asked if he could arrange a meeting since he was close with Eunho, Dohyeon always just smiled in response. 

Since entering high school, such requests came mostly from girls from other schools who had never talked to Eunho, so it had been a while since he’d heard this kind of thing from someone in his circle. 

“Eunho sunbae is cute, isn’t he? He’s taller than me, but maybe because of his face, he kind of looks like a rabbit. I really like that kind of image.” 

Hyunyoung seemed to have a serious misunderstanding about Eunho. If she watched him closely for just a few days, no matter how much she wanted to see it that way, she wouldn’t think of him as a rabbit. Dohyeon just silently got up and began tidying the area. 

As he put away the papers and pushed in the chairs, Hyunyoung followed him around, bothering him. 

“Ah, sunbae, are you really going to keep ignoring me? Let’s have a meal together this weekend. I’ll treat you delicious food.” 

Gathering the materials on the desk, Dohyeon silently headed toward the meeting room door and turned off the light . Turning his back, he looked at Hyunyoung chattering from a distance and spoke. 

“Go find someone else. He’s mine.” 

With a click, the meeting room lights went off, but thanks to the light from the hallway, Hyunyoung’s face was clearly visible. She showed a face of disbelief, as if unsure whether she heard correctly. Dohyeon chuckled quietly at her continuous glances, as if to check if he was joking or serious. 

“Not coming? I’m going to eat first.” 

Dohyeon lightly tossed the meeting room key to Hyunyoung and turned to walk toward the cafeteria. As Hyunyoung locked the meeting room door, she muttered something, then shouted loudly, chasing after Dohyeon. 

“Ah, sunbae, what is this? Are you pretending to be a guardian just because you’re childhood friends? Ah, come on. Let’s go together!” 

He liked Hyunyoung’s personality enough to accept her as one of his own, but he couldn’t agree to introduce her to Eunho. Also, it seemed Kim Hyunyoung didn’t quite know something—Eunho was not just cute but rather sexy-pretty. Dohyeon smiled softly to himself recalling Eunho’s round eyes.
 

The cafeteria was quieter than usual by the time they arrived. Dohyeon took a tray at the empty serving station, and the kitchen staff came out from inside to greet him and Hyunyoung. 

“Oh dear,””You’re the student council president and vice president. Why are you so late~” 

“I was a bit late because of the meeting. Please give me a lot!” 

As Hyunyoung greeted the caregivers warmly, more side dishes than usual were piled onto the tray. 

“Yes, yes, eat a lot. Dohyeon, eat well too.” 

“Thank you.” 

Dohyeon frowned slightly when he saw the salad mixed with cucumbers piled high on his tray. It wasn’t that he was allergic, but the grassy smell of cucumber was the thing he disliked most after milk. 

Standing with his tray, he looked around for a suitable table and his eyes landed directly on a bright brown, round back of a head. 

Why is the kid who always rushes to eat right after the bell today sitting alone? Dohyeon frowned and looked at Eunho, who was sitting alone. 

Hyunyoung, who followed behind, seemed to notice and smiled brightly, grabbing and leading Dohyeon. 

“Isn’t that Eunho sunbae? Wow, perfect! Let’s eat together this time!” 

Dohyeon frowned but couldn’t think of a reason to refuse. Reluctantly, he approached and put down his tray. Eunho widened his round eyes even more and looked up. 

“Sunbae, hello!” 

Hyunyoung, who sat down and put her tray in front, greeted naturally, and Eunho replied awkwardly. 

“Oh? Ah, yeah. Hey.” 

“Can we sit together and eat?” 

“Do as you like.” 

“Great. I was thinking I might have to eat alone with Dohyeon sunbae, so we’re lucky.” 

Even though today was the first time they met, Hyunyoung naturally started the conversation. Dohyeon, unable to hide his displeasure, poked at the salad on his tray, as Eunho started talking. 

“Why are you eating so late?” 

“Executive meeting.” 

Eunho nodded as if understanding Dohyeon’s indifferent answer. Seeing that, Hyunyoung quickly started talking again. 

“Oh, right, I forgot. I’m Kim Hyunyoung from the 2nd grade. I’m the vice president of the student council.” 

“So that’s why you came with him. Hello.” 

“You’re sunbae Yeo Eunho from 3rd grade, right? I saw you going to school with Dohyeon sunbae this morning.” 

Hyunyoung smoothly led the conversation, and Eunho responded naturally, which annoyed Dohyeon watching them. Staring fiercely only at the innocent cucumber pieces, Dohyeon finally asked Eun-ho. 

“And you? What about the others? Why are you eating alone?” 

“They left without waking me up, saying they were going to eat ramen together. No loyalty.” 

Though he said that, Eunho answered indifferently, not really resentful. Now that he looked, his face was a bit swollen, as if he had just woken up. 

Hyunyoung was annoyed that Dohyeon kept interrupting the conversation she was trying to have with Eun-ho. 

‘I didn’t know Cha Dohyeon sunbae was such a childish person. Is it because I’m his friend and he doesn’t want to lose me?’ 

She thought it was just her imagination, but whenever she tried to say more than a word to Eunho, Dohyeon kept suddenly butting in and interrupting. Hyunyoung looked at Eunho and Dohyeon suspiciously. 

Eunho, who had been frowning while poking at his side dishes, suddenly brought his chopsticks over to Dohyeon’s tray. he picked up a piece of lettuce with light purple yogurt sauce on it, then slid under it to grab a flat slice of cucumber and put it in her mouth. 

Hyunyoung was startled at the sight. 

‘he’s putting chopsticks he used in his own mouth onto the plate of that sensitive, obsessive person ‘ 

What was even more surprising was that Do-hyun continued eating without much reaction. 

She remembered once taking a drink Dohyeon was drinking without thinking, and recalled how he behaved then. He smiled as if nothing happened but never touched that drink again. 

Also, whenever the student council had a group dinner, Dohyeon always chose a restaurant that served food individually. On those rare occasions when they had a stew to share, he didn’t touch anything on the communal dish except what he’d already placed on his plate. Watching that, she was certain that arrogant and annoying student council president had some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder… 

Hyunyoung couldn’t hide her puzzled expression and spoke up. 

“Dohyeon sunbae, don’t you have a cleanliness obsession…?” 

At that, Eunho tilted his head. 

“Cha Dohyeon is a bit too tidy, but not to the point of being obsessive-compulsive.” 

Then he picked up some fish cake left on his tray and brought it to Dohyeon’s mouth. Dohyeon looked at Hyunyoung expressionlessly and ate the side dish. 

“See? He doesn’t really care about that stuff.” 

Hyunyoung stared at Dohyeon wide-eyed, shocked. Dohyeon was the same person who, after gym class, wouldn’t touch bottles that others drank from during meetings either. 

The only one at this table who didn’t notice anything strange and was eating calmly was Eunho. 

When Hyunyoung opened her eyes wide and looked at him, Dohyeon chuckled lightly and shrugged. Then he raised his chopsticks and blocked Eunho’s chopsticks approaching his salad. The lower parts of their chopsticks crossed and stopped. 

“I told you it’s mine.” 

“Ah, that’s stingy. And you barely even like cucumbers. Whatever. I’m done eating, so I’ll go first.” 

Unaware that Dohyeon’s words were a follow-up to what he said to Hyunyoung earlier, Eunho grumbled and got up. Hyunyoung made eye contact with Dohyeon, whose gaze was strange. 

I told you he’s mine. Don’t even think about touching him. 

It was the mildest threat Cha Dohyeon, who was supposedly looking out for her in his own way, had ever shown. 

Dohyeon ignored the puzzled expression Hyunyoung had while staring at him and continued eating calmly.