By Zephyria 
“Haha. Well, my friends are here… I’ll be going now!”
Min Si-hu, spotting us, quickly gathered his belongings and slipped away from the people chattering around him.
Even as he said he was leaving, some people showed signs of following him, so we had to leave the concert hall first, without even time to offer congratulations.
Min Si-hu only managed to take a breath once we were outside the building and reached a quiet spot. He looked more tired from dealing with people than from performing on stage. He patted his back and turned to us.
“So, we should go for an after-party, right? Calling a taxi would be the best, wouldn’t it?”
“I’ll call one.”
Seong Hae-min calmly turned on his mobile phone. Min Si-hu, holding his instrument and various bouquets, was already tired, and waiting for a bus to go out would have been too exhausting. The taxis lined up at the school had also already picked up passengers.
“The school is on a mountain, so dispatching takes a while.”
After Seong Hae-min called for a taxi, only the four of us stood alone on the roadside, illuminated by the scattered streetlights as brightly as daylight. Once the situation settled, a sudden silence descended.
I wondered why it was so quiet, and surprisingly, it was because Min Si-hu was shy.
Min Si-hu fidgeted. It was baffling to see him act this way when he had seemed so eager to meet Jeon Jae-hyung and play house.
Jeon Jae-hyung smiled faintly and extended his arm first. He handed Min Si-hu the bouquet he had prepared.
Min Si-hu looked at the bouquet in front of him once, then at Jeon Jae-hyung, alternating his gaze. Jeon Jae-hyung was slightly taller.
“You worked hard. The stage was great.”
Min Si-hu, who was about to accept the bouquet and say thank you, paused. Then, looking at Jeon Jae-hyung again, he smiled brightly. His smile, like one greeting a long-lost friend, had completely erased his momentary shyness.
“Thanks! It’s really good to see you again like this. Truly.”
“I’m even happier to see you. Now that I think about it, I even remember seeing you on television.”
“Oh! Finally, someone who recognizes my true worth has appeared!”
Min Si-hu, on the verge of being buried alive by bouquets, greeted me enthusiastically and jumped up. Other bouquets he was holding tumbled to the floor. Fortunately, the bouquet Jeon Jae-hyung had given him remained clutched tightly in his hand.
We each took a few bouquets. Too many flowers just became a burden.
“Ah, right, photos! We have to take photos! I almost forgot!”
Min Si-hu pulled out his mobile phone from his chest and gestured for us to hurry and pose. We ended up holding our bouquets and gathering around Min Si-hu.
While waiting for the taxi, we took some awkward photos under the streetlamp.
“Okay, one, two, three!”
“I think it’s blurry?”
“Again, again!”
“Hae-jun’s face is disappearing, hey.”
The shutter sound was unusually slow due to the night shooting. Even a slight shake of the hand would result in a blurry photo, like smudged paint on a canvas, and our faces, directly hit by the streetlamp, came out ghostly white. Despite taking photos multiple times, we couldn’t help but laugh.
Jeon Jae-hyung was still easily scared. With his large frame, he screamed, pale-faced, asking if it was a ghost photo, and my cheeks ached from laughing so hard.
As we laughed and chatted, the taxi arrived quickly. Min Si-hu, sitting in the passenger seat, waved his mobile phone at us sitting side-by-side in the back.
“Shall I pick a good one and upload it to Insta?”
“Sure. Upload a thousand, ten thousand.”
“Upload the one where I look funny.”
“Jae-hyung, you have peculiar taste. Well, I guess it’s better than a photo with a ghost…”
“Aargh! Stop talking about it!”
Min Si-hu teased Jeon Jae-hyung as he happily picked out photos. We all scrolled through the pictures uploaded to our group chat. I quickly flipped through them too.
Even though we had taken them with great amusement, the photo with only the four of us felt somewhat incomplete.
‘Still, Lee Beom’s absence is noticeable.’
Suddenly, I had that realization.
For some reason, I felt a mix of relief and sadness. It felt like we were all thinking the same thing, though no one said it.
Using the others’ laughter as a backdrop, I looked out the dark car window, dotted with streetlights. Trees and bus stops swallowed by darkness flashed by rapidly.
After getting out of the taxi, we boisterously headed to the restaurant district to catch up. Jeon Jae-hyung, in particular, had a lot to talk about.
My plan to just have a simple drink and head home was in vain, and we ended up staying out until dawn.
But I had no regrets. It was fun. I didn’t want to go back to that time… but perhaps it had been overly idealized, and now I even missed the time spent in the novel.
After that day, Jeon Jae-hyung was added as a member to our group chat.
It would have been nice if Lee Beom were there too, but since he had no memories, it was impossible for now, even if he weren’t a student preparing for the college entrance exams.
Min Si-hu’s major performance was over, and the semester progressed according to the academic calendar.
After taking midterms, I studied and went on dates with Do Yun-hyeok in my free time, and we hung out. I did assignments, prepared for club and academic society events, attended seminars, and sometimes, when we had time, the four of us would get together for drinks. Jeon Jae-hyung, attending a different university, naturally integrated into our lives as we lived our busy individual days.
As the weather grew colder and winter felt closer.
Finally, Lee Beom, who had finished his college entrance exams, contacted us.
❖ ❖ ❖
At least in South Korea, the college entrance exam was a national event. Almost all government ministries were mobilized to ensure its smooth progress, exam writers were confined, and flight operations were controlled on the day. News channels were filled with nothing but talk about the exams.
So, there was no way we could have forgotten about the exams. Seong Hae-min had high school seniors taking the exams among his tutoring students. We sent Lee Beom an encouraging message and waited for news from him.
And then, we saw Lee Beom for the first time in a long while.
“Beom-ah!”
“Hello.”
Lee Beom had come up to Seoul for an upcoming essay exam, and since he was here, we decided to meet to chat and help him prepare for the exam. Jeon Jae-hyung opted out, saying it might be too much pressure for Lee Beom, and suggested meeting him separately later, so the group was the same as the last time we met.
Min Si-hu patted Lee Beom’s shoulder encouragingly.
“You must have had a hard time getting here. Are you staying at Auntie’s place?”
“Yes. I’m on my way after dropping off my luggage.”
Even after seeing him after so long, Lee Beom was the same. Calm and obedient. He looked a bit sharper, perhaps because he had lost weight from studying so hard, but his jet-black eyes, gleaming like obsidian, were the same as ever.
Once we settled into the cafe and our drinks were placed before us, Min Si-hu finally spoke, with some difficulty.
“So… I guess I have to ask now, right?”
It was a cruel question to ask a student who had just finished their exams yesterday, but it was the most necessary question at the moment.
“How were the exams?”
Articles were flooding in about how difficult the exam was this year. Seong Hae-min had heard many rumors from the academy district. Contrary to the recent trend of easier exams, the sudden increase in difficulty led to widespread criticism that the difficulty level had failed, making it an unprecedentedly brutal exam.
We swallowed hard, waiting for Lee Beom’s answer. I let go of both my anticipation and my worry.
“Based on my self-scoring…”
Lee Beom paused. Whether he did well or poorly, his expression gave no clue.
Just as I thought, ‘This is just like in the novel,’ Lee Beom smiled faintly.
“It’s similar to the September mock exam.”
“What?”
We couldn’t help but be surprised.
Because Lee Beom had said he achieved his best score on the September mock exam! I remembered it clearly, as it was the basis for our encouragement until the actual exam.
But to achieve a similar score on an exam that was much more difficult than the September mock exam meant…
In other words, a huge success on the college entrance exams.
“Hey! Congratulations!”
Min Si-hu, unable to contain his joy, jumped up from his seat. Applause naturally followed.
Everyone rejoiced as if it were their own achievement. Lee Beom sheepishly waved his hand.
“It’s thanks to you Hyungs.”
We tried to calm our excitement. Of course, it was only a self-score, so we didn’t know the real results yet, but if it turned out this way, it would be an incredible success.
In fact, the college entrance exam system wasn’t solely determined by effort or skill. Luck played a much larger role than people imagined in the exam results.
Therefore, Lee Beom was someone who had worked incredibly hard and was also incredibly lucky.
Since there were a few days before his essay exam, we decided to rest today and help him with his essay preparation starting tomorrow. Lee Beom mentioned he had also enrolled in an essay academy, so our role would be to provide additional guidance and mental support.
We chatted casually, intending to relax. We talked about Lee Beom’s journey to improve his grades, how the department head’s treatment changed when his scores suddenly rose, how he received help from us during tough mental periods, and what happened on the day of the exam…
“Seriously, there are all sorts of villains.”
“……”
“……”
“Um, but…”
As the conversation flowed, there was a brief lull.
Lee Beom, glancing around, asked me tentatively.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“Huh?”
A chill ran down my spine. His dark eyes were fixed on me, leaving no room for doubt.
‘Is this… the right time for this kind of conversation?’
The thought, ‘No way,’ flashed through my mind.
‘No, no.’
As they say, ‘What you fear may come to pass,’ so I didn’t want to start thinking with ‘What if,’ but I couldn’t pretend not to see what was so obvious.
‘But he has no memories…?’
While I was flustered, Min Si-hu answered for me.
“Hae-jun has a girlfriend. Yes.”
“What?”