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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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The seniors who had openly judged my appearance.
Honestly, I didn’t even want to see them.
But what could I do?
I couldn’t jeopardize the group project because of my personal feelings. I had to endure it, even if it was uncomfortable.
But it was so absurd.
Why couldn’t they stand it? What gave them the right to act so high and mighty?
“Honestly, you don’t want to work with us, right?”
“We don’t want to work with you either.”
“Just take our names off the project and do it yourselves.”
I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t speak.
It was Soyeon noona who spoke up for me.
“What nonsense! How can you bring personal feelings into academics? You want us to do a five-person project with just two people?”
She spoke the truth, but…
“That’s your problem.”
“You’re so shameless. You insult us like that and then ask for our help?”
The responses that came back were a barrage of nonsense.
“You crazy b****es! Of course we have to do it together, what help are you talking about?!”
“So what?”
The three troublemakers said shamelessly and left the lecture hall. The meeting fell apart in less than five minutes.
“Huh…”
I just let out a hollow laugh. I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even get angry.
“Do they have no sense? They’re not even human.”
Surprisingly, those words came out of my mouth, not Soyeon noona’s. Soyeon noona, who had been fuming, looked at me with a surprised expression.
“…You’re really angry, huh?”
“Huh? I’m not angry. What’s the point of getting angry at idiots who can’t reason?”
Anger should be directed at people. Getting angry at them would be a pointless waste of emotion. I was just dumbfounded.
But for some reason, Soyeon noona seemed to be watching my reaction carefully. Was she still uncomfortable because of what happened at the MT?
I shrugged and said,
“So they’re basically dropping the project, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Are they allowed to do that? It seems like they’re disrespecting not only us but also the professor.”
“If they were the type to think about that, they wouldn’t have acted like that at the MT. I’m surprised they even got into this university.”
That was true. Excluding the SKY universities, this was a top-tier university, and yet there were three people barely resembling humans in one department.
“Hmm. Even if we ask to switch groups, it won’t work, right?”
“I’ll ask, but… it probably won’t work. I saw a similar case last time, and they didn’t allow it.”
Still, there was a glimmer of hope.
“If the quality of the assignment is good, he won’t deduct points just because it was done by two people. That’s the professor’s style.”
“It can’t be helped. Let’s do it just the two of us.”
“Are you sure?”
“You’re not thinking of dropping it either, are you, noona?”
“Well…”
“Then we have to do it.”
What was done was done. I didn’t want to lower my head and beg those people to work with us, so I intended to do it with just the two of us, even if it was a bit harder.
Soyeon noona nodded with a determined look.
“I’m glad you said that. It’s reassuring.”
“Haha… I’m saying that because I trust you, noona. Please feel free to boss me around. I’m good at following instructions.”
“Okay. I’ll ask the people who took this class last year. There must be some who did a similar assignment.”
Professors wouldn’t create new assignments every year. They probably had a few set ones that they recycled like a hearty soup.
Soyeon noona started to determine the direction of the project by using her connections.
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Soyeon noona explained the situation to the teaching assistant and made a request, but…
“They said it’s not possible because the other groups are already set. Something about it being unfair.”
As expected, getting our group reassigned was impossible.
“They’re just being lazy. What professor would care about the relationships between students?”
It was a natural, if not expected, outcome.
Honestly, I understood the professor’s position. They weren’t babysitters; what professor would consider students’ personal issues and make exceptions? They would simply give lower grades to students who didn’t participate in the class.
“Let’s do our best, just the two of us.”
Saying anything more would turn the request into a complaint. And if we complained, it would only make us look bad.
“I got a few of last year’s assignments from some people.”
Soyeon noona was the class representative, a student council member, and the vice-president of a club. Naturally, she knew a lot of people and had many connections who could help. Thanks to her, we had superior reference materials compared to other groups.
“First, we need to choose a topic within Hallyu. K-pop or dramas will probably be the most common.”
“It’s better to avoid those.”
“Yeah. It already looks bad that there are only two of us, and if the topic overlaps, it might seem like we didn’t put in enough effort.”
But we couldn’t think of any truly original topics. When we thought of Hallyu, it was all pretty much the same.
“Let’s do Korean food. It might overlap, but less so than K-pop and dramas.”
“I’m good with that. Foreigners are showing a lot of interest in Korean food these days. They’re doing challenges with things like Buldak Bokkeummyeon.”
We were doing a five-person project with just two people.
However, we progressed with the assignment more smoothly than expected. Perhaps even faster than the other groups?
Soyeon noona deserved 70% of the credit.
Having gathered information from her connections, she quickly decided on the topic and direction, and immediately assigned me appropriate parts. Perhaps because she was a sophomore with experience in group projects, the process went without a hitch.
“You’re a natural leader, noona.”
“I hear that a lot. I get frustrated and just take the lead.”
“I trust you, leader. Give me any task.”
“It’s nice to have a team member who listens. And you’re good at research.”
We met whenever we had free time to work on the project. Since there were only two of us, it was easy to coordinate our schedules, and since we both wanted to finish quickly, we made rapid progress.
As we spent more time together, we naturally became closer. The awkwardness from the MT disappeared, and we became comfortable enough to call each other noona and dongsaeng.
One day, Soyeon noona looked at me intently and said,
“Cheol-jin, you seem to have lost weight.”
“Oh, is it noticeable? I’ve been running every day to lose weight. I’m planning to start going to the gym soon.”
“Really? It’s rare for people to lose weight after coming to college. Most people gain a lot from drinking.”
“I’ve been refusing all the drinking parties to diet.”
Most of the freshmen were having drinking parties every day. The same went for the friends I hung out with, like Sung-joo hyung and An Sung-hyun.
Soyeon noona clicked her tongue.
“You’re determined. I was busy drinking when I was a freshman.”
“I’m starting to feel like an outcast because I’ve been skipping all the drinking parties.”
“…I doubt it. I think it’s the opposite. After a while, they’ll drag you along even if you resist.”
“So they won’t just leave me alone? They’re pretty good at bonding.”
“That’s not what I meant… well, whatever. Let’s get back to the project.”
“?”
It was around the time we had completed more than half of the project.
Soyeon noona, who had arrived at the study lounge first, was staring at the monitor with a worried expression.
“Noona, is there a problem?”
“Oh? Cheol-jin, you’re here?”
“Here’s your coffee.”
“Thanks.”
After taking a sip of coffee, noona hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“I don’t think we’ll get an A+ like this.”
“Really? I thought we did a good job.”
“It’s decent, but there are only two of us. Even if he says there’s no penalty, human psychology doesn’t work that way. He’ll be more critical.”
“…Honestly, I think you’re right.”
“Right? And I overheard some other groups talking, and a few of them are actually going to do interviews.”
“Ah, interviews… Come to think of it, the professor said he’d give extra credit for interviews.”
The topic was ‘Hallyu as seen through the eyes of foreigners.’ Conducting interviews with foreigners would definitely be well-received.
I wondered if anyone would go that far, but the competition for grades was fiercer than I thought.
Soyeon noona looked at me cautiously and said,
“Actually, I wasn’t planning on doing interviews. Since there are only two of us, we have more work to do than other groups. But we’re progressing with the project faster than expected.”
I understood what she was trying to say.
I nodded in response.
“Let’s do it, the interviews.”
“Are you sure?”
“If we want a good grade, we have to do it. Why are you being so cautious around me?”
Soyeon noona was strangely cautious around me sometimes. Was she still awkward because of what happened at the MT?
Soyeon noona laughed awkwardly and said,
“I feel bad. You’re being inconvenienced because of me.”
“Huh? How am I being inconvenienced because of you, noona?”
“Because I fought with them…”
“What are you talking about?”
She had been thinking this whole time? I had no idea.
I let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded in a good way.
“If you put it that way, it’s partly my fault too. The reason you fought with them was because of me.”
“That’s because I stepped in because I didn’t like them.”
“Exactly. They’re the problem, why is it your fault, noona? I told you at the MT, I’m grateful that you stepped in.”
I was grateful, I never once thought I was inconvenienced because of Soyeon noona. She stood up for me and was even carrying the project, so what complaints could I possibly have?
I was actually relieved to be in the same group as her.
“Let’s set a date and go for the interviews. It would be good to make a voting panel or something, what do you think?”
“…Yeah. That’s a good idea. It’ll be easier to get people to participate with a panel than just approaching them.”
“We’ll need a camcorder to film. I’ll borrow one from my dad. A good one.”
My father’s hobby was photography and videography, so he had good equipment. He would gladly lend it to me if I said I needed it for a project.
Just then, Soyeon noona placed her hands on my shoulders. Then, with a touched expression, she said,
“I’m really glad I’m in the same group as you…”
“I feel the same way.”
Ah, is this camaraderie? Perhaps because it was a friendship born from the shared struggle with terrible group members, I felt a stronger bond with Soyeon noona.
We immediately started making the panel and set a date that day.
The place we decided to go for the interviews was Itaewon, where we often saw foreigners.
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