Chapter 82: In Training (1)

Chapter 82: In Training (1)

In a busy cafe somewhere...

Park Yu-Min was the first to ask, “How have you been, Se-Yeon?”

Han Se-Yeon replied nonchalantly, "I've been alright. It's still the school vacation right now, so I'm just passing the time lazing around. Oh, and I'm studying for the TOEIC test, too. What about you, though? Isn’t the autumn season about to start soon? Aren't you really busy these days "

"Nah, I still have a little bit of time left."

"Oh. But that means... in a little while, it'll get really hard to meet up like this, doesn't it "

“Yeah.”

"Eh-whew..." Han Se-Yeon groaned grandly. "Jin-Ho's in the army, and you're too busy to hang out... I'm the only one with nothing better to do. If I only knew this would happen, maybe I should've stayed close to my other friends."

“Are you saying that to make me feel bad?”

“I guess lots of things happened way too quickly for me. I still can't get my thoughts straight.”

Park Yu-Min could only look at Han Se-Yeon sitting across him with pity. It had been only two weeks, yet her complexion looked quite poor. Her skin was puffy and scratchy, while her usually well-combed hair looked disorderly with misbehaving hair strands jutting out from here and there.

Her appearance could be explained away by other things, but the lack of vigor in her face was the definite proof Park Yu-Min was looking for. "Se-Yeon... Were you drinking "

“Are you insane?” Han Se-Yeon stared back at him in dismay, then threateningly shook her fist at him. “Hey, what do you think I am?!”

“Uhm, well... Your complexion looks just terrible, that's why.”

She pouted. “That's because I didn't bother to put on my make-up.”

“Wha—wait, so your looks were all thanks to make-up doing its thing?”

Did Han Se-Yeon diligently hide her real face beneath all the layers of make-up since her high school days?!

"Well, I won't deny that. Though... make-up can only go so far if the real face ain't supporting it, know what I mean? You think ugly ducklings will suddenly transform into swans with some foundation cream plastered on their faces "

“W-Well, you do have a point there...” Park Yu-Min mumbled out his reply. Seeing how vigorous her response had been, maybe Han Se-Yeon wasn't feeling totally depressed.

She took a sip of her drink and asked, "How’s Jin-Ho? Did his enlistment go okay "

“Yeah, more or less...”

“You went there too, didn't you?”

"Yeah. Why didn't you come with us, though "

"Jin-Ho's mom and dad were there, right? What would I have said if I went there, too? I certainly can't tell them I'm Jin-Ho's girlfriend now, can I " Han Se-Yeon shook her head.

“Well, why not?”

Han Se-Yeon smirked at Park Yu-Min's innocent-sounding reply. “It's not true, so how can I?”

“I thought you two were going out?”

"We're neither here nor there right now. Well, Jin-Ho hasn't said anything concrete yet, but... What else can I do but assume that "

"That indifferent idiot..." Park Yu-Min could only facepalm himself. Not giving a firm answer even as he was heading off to the military? Imagine being the person who had to anxiously wait for his reply. No wonder Han Se-Yeon looked so bad.

She sighed. “So, I was thinking of studying abroad for a while.”

Park Yu-Min was taken aback. “Really?”

"Yeah. Attending university until Jin-Ho's back means I'll be graduating two years after his return. Then, we'll get separated again as a member of society and him as a university student. And there might be other problems to consider, too."

"Oh. I guess that makes sense." Park Yu-Min nodded in acceptance.

"I heard that lots of guys come back from the service and immediately break up with their girlfriends. Thinking about how I might become one of the statistics in two years makes me nervous, Yu-Min."

Park Yu-Min gently chuckled. "Jin-Ho isn't proactive enough to do that."

Han Se-Yeon asked back in uncertainty, "You think so "

“Only those with lots of drive or have too much interest in girls will cheat on their girlfriends, you know. Can you imagine Jin-Ho doing that? He probably can't even be bothered to meet other women.”

“That does sound like Jin-Ho,” Han Se-Yeon muttered while nodding.

A girl who had always been evaluated as pretty by everyone she met had tried so hard with that guy. But the latter was like a stone Buddha with an unyielding heart of indifference. As such, it was totally unimaginable for Kang Jin-Ho to suddenly go mushy in front of some other random girl. Besides, Han Se-Yeon didn't want to imagine it, either.

She cautiously piped up. “But... You know how girls just stick onto him, right?”

“That won't matter since the dude in question finds them annoying.”

Honestly speaking, he did think Kang Jin-Ho was like that. But now that he had a chance to think it over, he also started to realize that something didn't feel quite right.

Park Yu-Min had been slagging his friend off for being slow-witted and indifferent all this time, but didn't he know better than anyone that Kang Jin-Ho was definitely not slow or insensitive

Without anyone asking him, Kang Jin-Ho went out of his way to support the financial upkeep of the orphans and the relocation of the orphanage itself. He even showed up in the orphanage when Park Yu-Min wasn't around to take care of all the sundry chores despite no one telling him! Kang Jin-Ho was meticulous like that. In fact, he could tell that something had happened simply from Park Yu-Min's expression and he even resolved the problem for his friend. If the 'Kang Jin-Ho' Park Yu-Min knew and the 'Kang Jin-Ho' who treated Han Se-Yeon lukewarmly were the same person, how could the stark difference in his attitude be explained

'Wait a minute. Has Jin-Ho ever called Se-Yeon first of his own volition '

Kang Jin-Ho sought out Park Yu-Min first several times before, but he never did the same with Han Se-Yeon. And it had always been Park Yu-Min chiding his friend and sneakily pushing him toward Han Se-Yeon.

Park Yu-Min's expression became serious after realizing this. Han Se-Yeon noticed the change and sighed. “See? You also think the same now, don't you?”

“N-No, wait.”

“Wait for what?” Han Se-Yeon pouted when Park Yu-Min got flustered. She leaned back against the chair. “So? Can you blame me for not feeling okay?”

“What's your plan now, Se-Yeon?”

"What else? I'll have to wait a little while longer." She frowned deeply as if the frustration was getting the better of her. "I might be ranting like a jilted lover out of frustration, but I know myself. I'll probably go gaga again after seeing Jin-Ho's face, or if he even gives me a crumb of hint that he likes me back. Knowing that, I don't even know what to think."

"Hmm..." Park Yu-Min once again failed to think of something to say and comfort her.

Han Se-Yeon tried to sound positive. "I think my self-esteem's gone down a lot lately. I need to be better than this to stand proudly next to Jin-Ho, but... I'm just hopelessly waiting for him to notice me instead. No wonder it hasn't been working out. So maybe it's about time I start putting in the effort myself."

“Effort, huh...”

"If things don't work even then, there's no helping it, right? Clinging on to something that doesn't work until the end will only make me and Jin-Ho unhappy, I think. I'm definitely not that stupid, though. Am I right "

“Mm...” Park Yu-Min sipped the cup of Americano while looking at Han Se-Yeon pouring her heart out. “Thanks to one guy, so many people are having a hard time, huh.”

"Definitely..."

Park Yu-Min turned his head and looked outside the cafe's window. Now that he had a good idea of what Han Se-Yeon was feeling at the moment, it became harder to look straight at her face. He sighed once again.

'I wonder, is he doing well '

For some reason, he began to worry about Kang Jin-Ho.

Han Se-Yeon broke the moody silence first. “By the way, aren't you gonna get a girlfriend yourself?”

Park Yu-Min stared at her weirdly. "What, me "

“Yeah. It kinda feels like you're totally not interested in that, you see?”

His expression rapidly crumpled in displeasure. "I don’t even know if I could date myself!"

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything.”

“You should've said that after introducing me to someone first!”

Han Se-Yeon ruefully retorted, "You know I don't have any friends left."

“Urgh.”

In the not-too-distant past, Han Se-Yeon used to command a crowd of female admirers, her groupies, but now? How did she end up in this state? Park Yu-Min had to wonder.

"When I was with you and Jin-Ho, I never felt bored or lonely hanging out with you two. But I'm already wondering if I made the right choices in life, even though it has only been two weeks since Jin-Ho left to join the army."

"That goes to show how much we've been relying on him, though," Park Yu-Min replied with a distant look on his face.

“I guess so?”

In only two weeks, the void Kang Jin-Ho left had grown large and hollow enough to be noticeable.

Park Yu-Min sighed and spoke up. "Anyway. We gotta perk up somehow. Jin-Ho's getting his vacation in three months, and he probably won't be too happy to see you half-dead, right "

“Yeah, you're right,” Han Se-Yeon replied with barely any energy in her voice.

Park Yu-Min suddenly felt an ominous foreboding while looking at her. A corner of his chest felt tight after realizing that this could be the beginning of things going wrong for them.

'Jin-Ho, hurry up and come out soon.'

Park Yu-Min found the world without Kang Jin-Ho harder to deal with than he had previously thought. To him, Kang Jin-Ho was his best friend in this world, a trusted pillar of support that he could always lean on.

'I hope he hasn't caused a scene yet.'

After imagining Kang Jin-Ho doing his best to adapt to military life, Park Yu-Min was suddenly overcome with unexplainable anxiety. He ardently prayed that Kang Jin-Ho wouldn't accidentally extend his service duration and get discharged on time.

1. "TOEIC" is the abbreviation for Test of English for International Communication, a test devised by Educational Testing Services, an organization based in the US.