Chapter 17

“Yoon-woo, what the hell is this…? Why is the textbook so thick? You’re doing this for a whole semester?”

Yoon-woo and Ji-eun came into the classroom a little early and sat side by side.

In fact, Yoon-woo was uncomfortable coming with Ji-eun alone without Hye-rim.

It was due to Bunny’s order, but the relationship formed because of Yoon-woo’s reluctance to meet with Hye-rim and now it was awkward to meet her without Hye-rim.

She was always arguing and bickering when Hye-rim was around her. But, I wondered if she would suddenly shut her mouth if she’s alone with me.

It’s quite possible.

Come to think of it, it is Ji-eun who suffered the biggest loss because of me

I prevented her from visiting restaurants with Hye-rim, ate salad that she didn’t want to eat, and had an unpleasant experience of Yoon-woo trying to put food in her mouth.

”Can I not come here anymore?’’

‘Was that really what you said because you didn’t want to eat salad?’

Maybe she just didn’t like to be around Yoon-woo.

Although she was forced to come because of Hye-rim, it may be an excuse to not want to eat with Yoon-woo.

I don’t know what Ji-eun was thinking, but fortunately, Ji-eun didn’t become awkward and talked naturally even if it was just with me alone.

On the contrary, I felt more comfortable with her than being with Hye-rim, because unlike Hye-rim, who constantly asks questions to me and continues to try to make me talk, Ji-eun was a type of person who talks well on her own like Bunny.

So, it could not be awkward even if I only talk in moderation.

Come to think of it, Ji-eun’s excited and playful way of speaking seemed to resemble Bunny.

I think the tone is a little similar.….

However, there was a clear difference between Bunny and Ji-eun’s voice, considering that his earphones were a little bit old, too.

Bunny’s tone was lower than that of Ji-eun, and unlike Ji-eun, Bunny pronounced her words slowly.

Ji-eun speaks so fast that Yoon-woo doesn’t understand half of it, but he was still responding moderately.

Another factor Yoon-woo found difficult to understand was the height difference between the two.

When Yoon-woo and Ji-eun walked side by side, Ji-eun’s head was only at the level of Yoon-woo’s chest, so there was a considerable distance between Yoon-woo’s ear and Ji-eun’s mouth. In addition, everyone was moving to the lecture room, so Ji-eun’s voice did not reach Yoon-woo’s ear completely.

I thought it would be different if I sat in a quiet lecture room and talked, but as the surroundings became quiet, Ji-eun’s voice decreased as well.

Perhaps because she was sleepy, she had a smaller voice than when she was in Hye-rim’s room.

In addition, it was harder to understand because she was lying down and muttering.

In order to understand her words about the textbook properly, Yoon-woo also bowed his head, but the problem was that he had to answer in that state, too.

“Noona, this class…….”

“Huck!”

What Yoon-woo was trying to say was, “Didn’t noona say you took this class once?”

Because it was strange not to know the textbook.

However, when Yoon-woo spoke out, Ji-eun was surprised and distanced herself from Yoon-woo.

“Yoo, Yoonwoo, why are you whispering in my ear all of a sudden? You scared me!”

“Oh…… I’m sorry. I can’t hear you well.….”

There was a lack of caution. No matter how polite Ji-eun and Hye-rim are to him, the fact that his voice is unpleasant does not change.

I can’t believe you don’t like it that much.….

When you hang out with people, only heartbreaking things happen.

If you don’t have a voice, you won’t have to be this sad.

Even if you meet someone who treats you well on the outside like Ji-eun, this is what happens in the end.

In the end, you’ll notice. That the other person is disgusted with you.

I want to talk to Bunny. But, if Bunny also didn’t like Yoon-woo’s voice, wouldn’t she have stopped contacting him and gone away?

So Bunny is someone who can at least tolerate Yoon-woo’s voice.

Is there anyone else in the world like that?

I should have been just that satisfied, but I had to show my face to Bunny because I whined for no reason.

So when Bunny leaves, Yoon-woo’s life will be really empty.

You must endure the rest of the three years alone, keeping your lips shut and confronting the painful memories of the past that break into the darkness of the night.

Can’t I just take my word back now? Let’s not meet on Sunday…….

It’s okay for Bunny to leave Yoon-woo in disappointment after 3 years, it’s okay if I end up dying alone, so please talk to me for 3 years.….

Please don’t leave me alone at night.….

“Oh, okay. I’ll speak a little louder. What were you going to say?”

“…I was surprised to see that you didn’t know the textbook. You said you took this class once.”

What would life be like without Bunny?

A life of having friendly, formal conversations with people who are reluctant to be friends with Yoon-woo, and while having such a conversation, realizing that a dislike for him is established in the other person, he gets hurt, and when he goes home, he repeatedly remembers that hatred and scars by himself again and again.

Eventually, Hye-rim will get tired of Yoon-woo’s eating habits, and Ji-eun, who is pretending to be close to him due to her loyalty with Hye-rim, will naturally become distant.

If you’re going to leave anyway, I wish you’d let me stay alone. Did I ever ask you to stay with me?

Sometimes it feels like everything in the world moving around him has a purpose of breaking his heart many times.

“I just listened to the lecture for only the first hour. The professor said that it was going to be from the textbook. So, I was sure I didn’t have to listen for a long time and come out……but now that I see it, the book is not normal. What the hell is this? They ask us to finish this huge book in one semester?”

“Oh, that’s not it. Only half of the part. The modern part.”

“This book is 1,000 pages long. Half of them are 500 pages. Are you insane? It’s a midterm exam period in three weeks…What should I do?”

“In class, the professor told us to read the parts that he was interested in. So, he just skips the parts that he doesn’t have interests and talks about the parts that he’s interested in for a long time. He said that the test is focused on that part.”

“Yoon-woo, what should I do? Save your noona…….”

“It’s okay. I’ll just sort out everything I marked and give it to you.”

“Oh, thank you… How can I repay you for this? Right, Yoon-woo, you don’t have my number yet, do you? Add my contact info to your phone. Now……I sent you my number now, so call me whenever you want to drink. I’ll buy you everything.”

“What kind of generosity is it? You’ve done more for me.”

“That’s not it, Yoon-woo. I don’t think you’ll contact me first anyway. Well, what do you want me to do?”

It’s not that I really have to contact her anyway.

I want you to think that at least I’m a helpful person.

I hope you think I’m worth using.

Eventually, she’ll leave me one day, but while she’s with me, Let’s make her hate me less…….

Thinking so, Yoon-woo added Ji-eun’s contact number, and soon the professor came in.

The professor of Korean economic history is famous for objectively analyzing Korean history from a neutral position away from national history, but since he had stomach cancer surgery last year, his voice was weak and slow and his class was also famous for being extremely sleepy.

That’s why it was classified as a lecture with high difficulty on the postgraduate website even though there was less to study and the scores were generous.

“Yoon-woo… What’s wrong with this class? What’s wrong with the professor’s voice? I’m so sleepy… I want to go to Hye-rim’s room and lie down…….”

While Yoon-woo was upset when he spoke up close to Ji-eun, she almost whispered under his chin.

“Did you forget what happened earlier?”

Ji-eun’s breath touched Yoon-woo’s neck and it was itchy.

“Yoon-woo, are you sleeping or not? But why are you ignoring me? Are you ignoring me because I’m short? Come on, come on.”

Ji-eun poked Yoon-woo on the chest with her finger.

Maybe the class was boring, but Ji-eun tried hard to stab Yoon-woo’s body. So, it was useless to avoid it even if he blocked it with his hand.

He should properly attend the class to benefit her ….

“Stop… don’t do it…….”

“Huck!”

Eventually, Yoon-woo whispered to Ji-eun in a small voice, and Ji-eun shrank in surprise.

I felt bad if you would act like that.That’s why I didn’t answer. Is that what a child feels like when he pokes a snail with a branch?

He pokes a still slumber and runs away when it wiggles, shouting, “Ugh! Gross!”

After that, Ji-eun sat quite far away from Yoon-woo and took classes quietly.

The child who had been stabbing the snail earlier was about to throb and groan.

“Where are you going now?”

“Oh, oh, what?”

As he left the lecture room, Yoon-woo asked Ji-eun.

It was because he wanted to say goodbye and get away from her.

However, it must have been hard to hear because the surrounding area was noisy and there was quite a lot of distance between Yoon-woo’s mouth and Ji-eun’s ears.

But if I come closer and talk, she’ll feel bad like before, so Yoon-woo decided to say it again.

“Noona, where are you going now?”

“What, why? Just talk up close… …. I’m going to the liberal arts center now. You?”

I think she remembered it now. That my voice is a voice that can be only heard clearly at close range.

“I’m also going to the Liberal Arts Center”

“Then we can go together. What class are you taking? Which floor?”

“Thinking and Expression… … Room 304.”

“Oh, you’re taking a freshman class, are you going to meet your classmates? Introduce me if you know anyone. I also bought a lot of food for my juniors at the beginning of the semester.”

Because the number of freshmen in the College of Economics and Economics was so large, they were divided into several classes, so there was a tendency that only the classmates were friendly with each other.

Of course, Yoon-woo wasn’t close with anyone.

“I don’t know anyone, so I can’t do such a thing.”

“Huh? You don’t know anyone? Can you do that on your registering courses? Don’t you do a lot of group activities?”

“Fortunately, the professor told me to just write a lot, so I don’t have to communicate with classmates too much. It’s a bit embarrassing when I give a presentation, but everyone doesn’t know me anyway.”

Thought and expression were mandatory lectures for freshmen, the contents of the classes varied greatly depending on the professor.

I couldn’t say exactly what I was learning.

Still, I was lucky this semester.

Last semester, when there were a lot of group assignments, was more hellish than this semester.

“Still… … Don’t you think you will be popular in your class?”

“It can’t be.”

If I talk naturally with her like this, she will stay with me and keep complimenting me. She is quite grateful to me for handing over the class materials as she says empty words carelessly.

If such a pointless compliment is an expression of gratitude, it is fortunate that at least he is recognized as a person worthy of use.

“It can’t be… … . That’s weird? Yoon-woo is misunderstanding something… … . Ahh!”

“Noona!!”

The distance from the 2nd floor of the economics center to the Liberal Arts Center was a little long and most of it was covered by stairs.

But, apparently, Ji-eun, who was wearing slippers today, was going down the stairs looking up at him, and one of the slippers came off suddenly.

The slippers, which were bigger than Ji-eun’s feet, were dragged on the floor, and I was constantly anxious while looking at them from time to time.

She lost her balance for a moment and almost fell off the stairs, and I reached out and grabbed her body.

After that, he balanced it by hugging her neck as she was short.

The top of her head touched Yoon-woo’s chest.

Along with the fragrant smell of shampoo emanating from her hair, there was a faint smell of alcohol.

It was true that Hye-rim said that Ji-eun’s hair smelled like alcohol.

“Noona, are you hurt? Are you okay?”

“Ah… … Huh… … thanks… … .”

“Thank God.”

The stairs are high, so it would have been a big deal if you fell down here.

I was surprised to hear her heart poundings in my ears.

“Let’s go slowly and look ahead. I think you should wear sneakers.”

“Yes. Yeah… … .”

And until she entered the Liberal Arts center, Ji-eun didn’t say anything and just looked at her feet.

Was it so unpleasant that I hugged her?

Anyway, I was trying to help… … .

Ji-eun didn’t even try to turn her face toward him anymore.

This was a frequent occurrence in Yoon-woo’s life.

Come to think of it, when I was in the 4th grade of elementary school, there was a girl who vomited while riding a bus in the seat next to me.

Yoon-woo didn’t have any image to get worse, so whether he had vomit on him or not, it didn’t matter. So I cleaned it properly thinking it wouldn’t be the same for her.… .

As soon as I wiped her clothes, the girl ran away. Who was that girl?

Well, who cares? Except for Cho Hye-rim, there was no one in his class who did not hate Yoon-woo, and Cho Hye-rim only looked at Yoon-woo with her eyes of compassion and sympathy.

Perhaps she didn’t want the person who helped her wipe the vomit to be Yoon-woo Lee.

It will be the same as it is now.

I wished it was someone other than me who was walking with Ji-eun.

It would have been nice if it wasn’t Yoon-woo, but a nice and pleasant person who was walking next to Ji-eun and caught Ji-eun who fell.

Why the hell is Yoon-woo here?

Yoon-woo wanted to go home and hear Bunny’s voice.

He’ll have to tell her not to meet on Sunday.

He thought wrong at that time. But, Bunny believes in him anyway. So, now I have to say that I don’t want to meet her.