By Zephyria 
They decided to have lunch together. Park Hyun-ji stayed on one side of the cafe’s first floor until Eun-ha was off work. Fortunately, he wasn’t just waiting around. He seemed busy with personal matters. He stared intently at the laptop he had brought, flipped through documents with a look of anguish, and made phone calls. It was a sight of someone who seemed to have a lot to do even on his days off.
After work, they headed to a neat Korean restaurant nearby. While waiting for their order, they had a light conversation with updates on each other’s lives. They were friends who saw each other maybe three times a year. It had been a particularly long time since they had seen each other alone like this, but it wasn’t too awkward. Eun-ha went to the same middle and high school as Park Hyun-ji. They were friends who had been together constantly for those six years.
Friends who were once so close and friendly.
During lunch, Park Hyun-ji brought up the topic.
“You know I’m quitting my job soon, right?”
Eun-ha nodded. He had read about it several times in the group chat room. The chat room, which included a total of five people including Eun-ha, accumulated a massive amount of messages every day. Because of that, he hadn’t been able to check all the information, but Park Hyun-ji’s resignation had been mentioned several times, so he knew the general details.
These days, he was spending a hectic daily life with not enough 24 hours in a day. It was because the goal he had always hoped for was approaching a point where it was sufficiently achievable.
Park Hyun-ji’s dream, who had been dedicated to art since he was young, had always been consistent. To become famous. To make a meaningful mark on the industry. To become an irreplaceable person, etc. Anyway, the main point was that he wanted to become a big person.
That vague and enormous ambition took a clear form during his college life. Park Hyun-ji wanted to create his own brand someday. It started with inspiration from a school Sunbae who started in a small select shop on a street with independent brands and achieved great success.
Once he had designed a specific career path, there was no hesitation. During his college life, he was enthusiastic about various contests and external activities, and after graduating, he immediately spent a year studying abroad in England. Currently, after two job changes, he was working in the visual communication team of the Korean branch of a global fashion house.
While gaining experience, he stepped into the starting point of his ultimate goal from the beginning of this year. In between working at the company, he planned concepts and occasionally shared the progress on the group chat room. Once, he had seen him upload a photo saying he had started working on a sample. He had been preparing little by little like that, and it seemed that he had recently decided to quit his job. It was time to start focusing in earnest.
“-So I need some auxiliary manpower, and I thought I’d try to get it through the school if possible. It reminds me of the old days, and the department office also wants to introduce me to someone.”
Park Hyun-ji wrinkled his nose, saying that school ties were good. He, too, had the experience of working under a school Sunbae during his college days, which was like flesh and blood to him.
Today, he was planning to meet his supervising professor and a close classmate who was working as an assistant in the department office. On the way, he would also meet the student he was going to be introduced to.
Eun-ha looked at his friend, who was enjoying his story, with slightly subtle eyes. It seemed like a sparkling aura was emanating from Park Hyun-ji, who had a fairly plausible image of a working adult.
It wasn’t an absurd feeling like inferiority. That’s usually suitable for people who are doing something diligently. However, when Eun-ha looked at his friends moving forward, he was often immersed in the feeling of wanting to go somewhere far away.
Eun-ha, who had been listening to his friend’s words intently, smiled slightly.
“I hope it goes well. It’s always been your dream.”
He said it with only a sincere heart of support. Park Hyun-ji, who had been excited all along, paused for a moment. He hesitated with a slightly cold and ambiguous face, and then inadvertently spoke.
“Lee Eun-ha. You are…….”
The words were not finished. He seemed to be consciously aware of it in the middle and naturally refrained from saying what he was going to say. Eun-ha also pretended not to notice and lowered his gaze.
They had shared their school days. Just as Eun-ha knew Park Hyun-ji, Park Hyun-ji knew Eun-ha as well. What kind of student Eun-ha was, what he liked and what he wanted, and what kind of dreams he had.
Dreams. Dreams, huh.
“Shall we get up if we’re done eating?”
Eun-ha said plainly. This situation had been repeated countless times over the past few years, so he was able to cope with it indifferently with a straight face.
Fortunately, Park Hyun-ji did not bring up a topic that was too serious. On the way out of the restaurant, they had a conversation at the same temperature as usual. For the most part, Park Hyun-ji nagged Eun-ha, and Eun-ha dodged and defended himself here and there.
“Anyway, just know this. I’m going to kidnap you and take you on a trip, even if I have to.”
Park Hyun-ji threatened, saying that if he brought Gu Hae-bin and Kim Seon-woo along, there was nothing Eun-ha could do. Recently, whenever he thought of it, he made sure to inform Eun-ha about the trip. The friends’ travel plans, which he thought were just ceremonial, were already quite concrete.
The date was the end of July. He said that he didn’t think he could afford to go abroad, so he was planning to enjoy a vacation at a villa and travel around the country for a short time.
“Huh? Do you understand?”
As he was pretending not to understand, they arrived at the university’s main gate. Since he had plenty of time anyway, Eun-ha decided to accompany Park Hyun-ji on his afternoon schedule. Since he was with a friend he hadn’t seen in a while, he intended to say hello to Yeon-jun for a moment.
He didn’t contact him separately. Eun-ha imagined running into him like that by chance.
He’d be happy like a fool again……. Even with a face ruined by assignments, he would surely show a clear expression like an animal perking up its ears. Eun-ha unknowingly curled up the corners of his mouth, and then erased his expression as if he was serious at Park Hyun-ji’s question of why he was suddenly laughing to himself.
The College of Fine Arts, which he had visited for a few days and become a little familiar with, had a chaotic atmosphere. Following Park Hyun-ji, who walked as familiarly as if it were his own home, Eun-ha was reminded that he was a member of this place. The existence that made him more flustered than anything else these days and his old friend were tied together as alumni. It was a strange connection.
It was just that much of a coincidence to call it a ‘relationship,’ and it didn’t seem like there would be anything else to get involved in.
Soon, they arrived in front of the department office. It was crowded with people with business to attend, as the end of the semester was just around the corner. In the midst of that, Eun-ha’s eyes narrowed unconsciously as he discovered a familiar group.
There were a few things Eun-ha had learned while showing his face to Yeon-jun for a few days. That Yeon-jun was not really alone at school. That there were quite a few people approaching him. But that he had also been similarly isolated at the beginning of the semester. The reason for that was those people.
As is usually the case with arts and sports departments, Yeon-jun’s department also had a small number of people, and the distance between classmates and Sunbae and Hubae was close. It was the complete opposite of the highly free atmosphere of the business administration department that Eun-ha had graduated from, where people only gathered with those who gathered.
In a department that operated like such a small society, it was bound to be greatly affected by minor gossip or rumors. Although the ignorant military culture of the old days was gradually disappearing, it was also true that the influence of the upperclassmen was relatively strong.
Those people wouldn’t be unaware of that. That influence. Rather, they would be acting even more blatantly because they knew it.
Yeon-jun had never mentioned such a topic, but he could still see through it clearly. It was thanks to the fact that he could feel their ongoing spite with his whole body.
Eun-ha recalled the subtly uncomfortable atmosphere and the openly malicious gazes he had felt whenever he encountered them while visiting this place for a few days. He felt very bad when he came to the conclusion that they had been creating an atmosphere of isolation by expressing their personal feelings and giving him the cold shoulder.
Fortunately, he knew that most of the misunderstandings that he had unilaterally bought into had been resolved, and that he was getting along with his classmates and some of the Sunbae. He had seen them talking to Yeon-jun several times, as if they were trying to become friends late. That was a future that could happen at any time. Unlike the wishes of that pathetic group.
Yeon-jun was bound to become a mainstream figure. It was only natural that someone with an appearance that naturally attracted attention would have a perfect personality. It was obvious that they would have been the ones who realized that obvious reality more quickly than anyone else and led the atmosphere. The more he thought about it, the worse their crime was.
What was there to bully in that kid? Who did they think they were…….
Eun-ha, who was only an outsider, couldn’t do anything, but it was also true that he felt resentful enough to want to do something.
While Eun-ha was harboring such unpleasant feelings, Park Hyun-ji waited for the people who had gone in earlier to leave. At some point, the assistant in the office found him and brightened his complexion as he came out into the hallway.
“Hey. It’s been a while.”
Park Hyun-ji also showed a friendly expression to the man who greeted him first. While they were exchanging brief greetings, the assistant suddenly cast his eyes over Park Hyun-ji’s shoulder and raised his eyebrows.
“Oh? You came at the right time, Young-min. Come on in.”
While Eun-ha was silently watching the assistant beckoning Young-min to come closer, Park Hyun-ji asked for his understanding.
“Can you wait a little bit? It won’t take long.”
“It’s okay if it takes a long time.”
While he was answering indifferently, he made eye contact with Young-min. At that moment, he felt like a conscious gaze was bouncing between them.
The two had never exchanged a word, but they knew of each other’s existence. He had already run into him three times when he was with Yeon-jun.
And every time, Eun-ha had glared fiercely at the group who were glaring fiercely at Yeon-jun. Yeon-jun, the person in question, had calmed Eun-ha down. Hyung. I’m really okay. He said that.
The student he was going to recommend to Park Hyun-ji was that person?
“…….”
After they went into the department office, Eun-ha sat on a chair in the hallway with his arms crossed and pondered deeply.
He contemplated the nasty people who were steadily abusing their power by holding the high grades and the unique department atmosphere hostage.
So, he knew that doing such a thing was very nasty and childish.
But…… from a reciprocal point of view, wasn’t it not particularly bad?
Those guys were the ones who showed the scariness of the school Sunbae first.
It was around the time that Eun-ha was ruminating on the particularly strong alumni network of the arts and sports field. It was when he was exploring a route that he might be able to intervene in.
“Hyung.”
He woke up from his thoughts at the familiar voice. When he raised his head, Yeon-jun was standing right in front of him with a piece of A4 paper in his hand. His eyes, which were tilted slightly and looking down at him with a puzzled expression, were filled with the strange light as always.
“Why are you here?”
His voice was very excited. He was in work clothes and looked somewhat disheveled. There were paint splatters all over his art apron, and the waterproof black arm covers were no different. His hair was more frizzy than usual, and his curls were alive. The sight of him looking a little scruffy made his throat tickle for a moment. Eun-ha nonchalantly maintained a blank expression and unfolded his arms.
“Hi.”