Chapter 13.01
Chapter 13.01
Chapter 1 – La dame du mercredi
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Lady of Wednesday
A 21-year-old female college student who likes French Romanticism Literature. Unlike the essence of the image such literature gives off, Ryu Jihye was a realist. Even though she enjoyed consuming Victor Hugo or Flaubert, dating in that manner was actually a turn-off. Each time she had failed in her three relationships, rather than feeling sad, she looked at the characteristics of her future relationship subjects that should be filtered out. Someone who doesn’t boast too much, doesn’t spend too much time on their looks, doesn’t have too many friends, doesn’t use a lot of flowery language, isn’t overly confident about their appearance, doesn’t wear tight t-shirts, doesn’t smoke, isn’t unintelligent, doesn’t drink too much, or doesn’t lie a lot, etc.
Considering such aspects, Chu Sangwoo would be the perfect boyfriend. To Jihye, he was a stainless spot with no bad characteristics. Even if he wasn’t her usual type, the more she saw him, the better he seemed. However, her first impression of him hadn’t been very good.
Three months prior, Jihye had been a bit greedy and wanted to put her stuff in the locker in advance. She had struggled while packing her boxes with books that she wouldn’t even read. The passerby she met at the time was Chu Sangwoo. Their first encounter had been neither fateful nor romantic.
Didn’t people usually feel bad when they saw a person grunting and groaning a lot while carrying heavy stuff? Jihye thought he was quite merciless after she had to latch onto him while he just walked past her after witnessing her box fall down on the ground with stuff pouring out everywhere.
‘Where are you going?’
The first thing she heard coming out from that mouth was as curt as the flat expression on his lips. He had been wearing a black padded-jacket, a black hat, and straight-cut jeans that made it seem like he didn’t care about the fit. She thought that his personality was as gloomy as his style. It was just that he had been the only one around to help her.
‘It seems to exceed 30kg. Even professional couriers would charge extra at this weight.’
Why did she get hooked on those words? Perhaps it was a mindless suggestion to just treat him to a meal, but in Jihye’s ears, she could only hear the coy question of why she was carrying such a heavy thing alone.
Everything has changed since then. His brusque face seemed full of responsibility, and his appearance, which she had considered ordinary, seemed warm to her. She had asked about his name and which subject he was majoring in. He had looked annoyed, but still responded to everything. She didn’t know why, but when he had taken off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves when they were half-way to the library, he had looked really cool. Despite the beads of sweat on his forehead and the moderately muscular arms, she kept glancing at him.
However, Ryu Jihye wasn’t a romantic. She didn’t fall in love with Chu Sangwoo at first sight. That guy steadily got better. At first, he was a bit of a weird person. Then, he was a unique person, a decent person, a good person, a sincere person. When she had decided not to let go, it was already mid-semester.
The problem was that her opponent didn’t have any interest in her whatsoever. When they spoke, it wasn’t that their personalities didn’t match, but Sangwoo rarely made eye-contact with Jihye. No, even when he was with Jihye, he didn’t look at her.
‘Maybe I’m not pretty?’
She tried wearing clothes that guys liked and she went on the Internet to learn how to change her makeup, but it didn’t have any effect at all. Sangwoo still wasn’t interested in Jihye at all.
But Jihye didn’t give up. She thought that if she kept trying, her sincerity would be shown one day. In fact, they walked around the festival together, which showed signs of improvement in their relationship. But then, an unexpected disturbance got in her way. Jang Jaeyoung. Until a few months ago, he had just been a cool sunbae who felt like a celebrity. Like a celebrity actor that was a good friend. A handsome guy who turned people around him into squids1. A tall and stylish waiter at an Italian restaurant. A theater star who sells out tickets by mere rumors of him appearing in a performance.
She didn’t think she’d become acquainted with such an unreal person, but thanks to Chu Sangwoo, she got to know him. She was very excited when they ate at the cafeteria and she got to know him. Who doesn’t like eating with a handsome sunbae? But he wasn’t just a great sunbae.
‘You seem to be quite close to our Sangwoo, even calling him nicknames.’
‘Don’t worry about Sangwoo. I’ll bring him home.’
The first time they met at the school cafeteria, she just thought that his personality was a bit weird, but then moved on. However, he had been even more outspoken at the ghost bar during the school festival. His level of cockiness easily exceeded his level of tactlessness. If Jihye’s gut was correct, then that had been a warning to his rival.
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“Do you like Sangwoo?”
Jang Jaeyoung had asked her without greeting her, at a private meeting between the two that would make her friends envious of her if they had heard about it. He had asked within a second after her sitting down.
Jihye had looked at the other person’s face while feeling things were absurd, but his eyes hadn’t revealed anything. As if bored, he was biting into his straw and drinking something that looked like an Americano. He was wearing a black T-shirt with creepily drawn eyes on it, and he had several studded earrings on, and even a tattoo on his arm. Even as Jihye felt frightened, a sense of determination had awakened.
So she responded with “Yes,” more resolutely. Jaeyoung had stared at Jihye with a blank expression.
“If you and Sangwoo fell into the water, and there was just one life jacket. What would you do?”
Jihye’s face crumbled at the first rude question. She thought that it might be a Nonsense Quiz, but she couldn’t think of a witty response. She responded to an irrational question in a sensible way.
“I’d have to use it to begin with.”
Jihye was accumulating good feelings for Sangwoo, but it was still just one-sided. Moreover, it was the 21st century, and Romeo and Juliet had committed suicide together.
“Then wouldn’t Chu Sangwoo drown?”
Her opponent asked ridiculous questions and properly threw the answering Jihye into the trash can. After being dumbfounded, Jihye finally responded.
“Then should I die?”
“What you’re saying is that you don’t like him enough that you wouldn’t be able to live on if he died. Then you might as well give up.”
“Why is that the conclusion?”
Jihye felt dizzy by the unpredictable flow. In a fit of rage, she responded, “Then if it were you, oppa, would you give the vest to Sangwoo and fall into the water?”
“I don’t like playing in the water, so I don’t go to places like that with Sangwoo. Sangwoo feels the same way.”
Jihye lost her ability to speak and just blinked. He was an older senior student, a school celebrity, and above all, a person closer to Chu Sangwoo than herself. Jihye had been pushed by her opponent in many ways, but she didn’t want to be dragged around in such an absurd manner. She clenched her fist and fought back.
“Do you perhaps like Sangwoo, oppa?”
Jang Jaeyoung was a man, and so was Chu Sangwoo. It might be a sensitive topic, so she tried not to ask him directly. However, he kept threatening her, so she couldn’t remain calm.
“Yeah.”
But the question was too easily answered. Jihye looked around without realizing it. There were few people at the school café at 3 p.m. on a Thursday. They had been sitting down in a corner on purpose. Jaeyoung drank through his straw, and then said, “You have to say that I like him enough to risk you going around and making a fuss about it.”
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