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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
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Cheonggyecheon University opens some of its classrooms only during exam periods. These classrooms are mainly used by students who failed to secure a spot in the library.
Not all classrooms are open. Only a few buildings and some classrooms are available, so students from different years and even different departments often mix.
A-reum peeked inside a classroom and whispered,
“There are more people than I expected.”
“Yeah.”
The classroom wasn’t completely full, but there were more people than anticipated. They were probably upperclassmen.
“Let’s grab a spot quickly.”
There were four of us in tonight’s all-night study party: me, A-reum, Ahn Sung-hyun, and Sung-joo hyung. The usual crew.
“Seo-jin and Mi-hyun aren’t coming?”
“No. They said they’d study at home.”
“It’s hard to see them these days.”
Lee Seo-jin and Park Mi-hyun. We met them at the freshman orientation and hung out together at the beginning of the semester. Since there were always six of us, other students considered us a single group.
But these days, we’re not together as much as we were at the start of the semester.
It’s not like we’re on bad terms. We still greet each other enthusiastically and chat when we see each other at school.
It’s just that we’ve drifted apart naturally since joining different clubs. I also vaguely remember hearing that they’re busy with part-time jobs.
‘Is this how it goes?’
I felt a bit sad because they were the first friends I made, but I guess this is just how life is. It would be weird to feel down about this after only knowing each other for a little over two months.
We settled into the classroom with the fewest people. We felt suffocated in crowded places.
However, as time passed, the classroom we chose started to fill up. Before we knew it, the classroom was half full.
‘Everyone’s more focused than I thought.’
Not only Sung-joo hyung and Ahn Sung-hyun, but even A-reum, who I thought would suggest finding an empty classroom and having sex, was concentrating on studying. I guess everyone’s afraid of getting Cs and Ds.
I put on my earphones to focus and started memorizing in earnest. I had already finished all the courses that were graded by assignments. If I could just manage the memorization-based subjects, I could maintain a decent GPA.
I was concentrating on studying when…
♩♬♪♩♬♪
The song I was listening to changed, and the volume increased.
Someone was calling.
I checked my phone with a start. It was a call from A-reum, who was sitting one seat away. I took off my earphones and looked over. A-reum was frowning and glaring at me.
Her expression softened as our eyes met.
She whispered,
“How could you not look back even once?”
“?”
Confused, I followed her gaze to the floor under my chair. There were some eraser shavings. Did she throw them at me?
“Why did you call?”
“Let’s go eat. Late-night snack time!”
“Shhh.”
Her sudden loud voice made me conscious of the other people around. Fortunately, since it wasn’t the library, no one seemed to mind.
As soon as we stepped out of the classroom,
A-reum exhaled loudly.
“Phew! I can finally breathe!”
“The air is different out here.”
“Everyone is studying so hard.”
Even though it was just a door away, the air inside and outside the classroom felt different. Of course, it was probably just my imagination, but the air inside the classroom felt heavy and stuffy.
“What should we eat?”
“Let’s have gukbap (Korean soup with rice).”
“Eh. If we eat gukbap, I’ll want to drink. Let’s have tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes)!”
Of course, the one who suggested tteokbokki was A-reum. Why are girls so crazy about tteokbokki?
‘Well, I like it too.’
We went down to the back gate of the school and entered a tteokbokki restaurant. It was fortunate that our department building was close to the back gate.
A-reum raised her hand and ordered,
“Spiciness level 7, Super Hellfire… Woah?!”
I immediately covered her mouth and restrained her.
What the hell is Super Hellfire?
I looked at the pale faces of Ahn Sung-hyun and Sung-joo hyung and asked,
“Should we get level 1 or level 2?”
“Level 7… Ack!”
“Just stay still.”
I put A-reum in a headlock. I’ll let you go when you’re about to die, so just be quiet.
“Let’s go with level 2.”
“Level 2 is fine with me. But let’s get some Coolpis (yogurt drink) too.”
“Okay.”
I ordered the tteokbokki and then released A-reum, who had gone limp in my arms.
“I, I almost died….”
“If we had eaten the tteokbokki you ordered, three people would have died.”
“Ugh… fine, then order some sundae (Korean blood sausage) and twigim (fried foods). How can you only order tteokbokki? You taste-impaired fools.”
“Okay, okay. Order whatever twigim you like.”
A-reum placed the additional order, and soon the tteokbokki arrived.
“Oh, this is good.”
“This place is delicious. It’s a bit spicy, though.”
“Haa… It is tasty.”
“It’s a bit bland for me…”
“Bland? Everyone else is hissing from the spice.”
“Your lame joke isn’t funny.”
…That’s unfair. It wasn’t a joke.
Anyway, perhaps because it was a late-night snack, it tasted even better. Tteokbokki, sundae, and twigim, I devoured them all mindlessly.
As we were eating,
A sudden realization hit me.
“Oh, crap. I’m on a diet.”
I hurriedly put down my chopsticks, but the tteokbokki was already almost gone. The same went for the sundae and twigim.
“If Seora noona finds out, I’m dead…”
Of all things, I ate tteokbokki, twigim, and sundae. Foods that are practically the arch-enemies of any diet. It was incomparable to the beef we had at the last club gathering.
Why did I eat this without thinking? Or rather, maybe I just lost my mind because it was the first time in a while I had carbs.
I sighed deeply and said,
“Guys, hyung, please keep this a secret from Seora noona. I might die if she finds out.”
“…Knowing her, she might actually kill you.”
Her cousin, Ahn Sung-hyun, drove the point home. Ahn Seora was definitely a kind, cheerful, and wonderful older sister, but she could be terrifying when she was angry, especially when she made you exercise.
“Don’t worry. I’m not going to tell on you.”
“If you don’t say anything, she won’t know. It’s just one meal anyway.”
Fortunately, Ahn Sung-hyun and Sung-joo hyung agreed to keep it a secret.
Just as I was thinking what good friends they were,
“Hee hee. Hee hee hee…”
A-reum smirked and looked at me. So annoying. I had a feeling that if I let her take control, things would definitely become troublesome.
I raised my fist. A slight exaggeration, but my two fists were about the size of A-reum’s head.
“Do you want a knuckle sandwich?”
“Oh my, such language! Don’t you know who your life depends on right now?”
“So what?”
“Geez! Why do you treat me differently?!”
Because you’re the only one making a fuss.
“Should I confiscate your cheat sheet?”
“What?! Soyeon unni gave that to me!”
“To be precise, she gave it to me. Not to you.”
“Ugh…”
Don’t mess with me. Seriously.
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On the way back to the classroom.
“Did we eat too much? I’m already sleepy.”
“Me too. I’m drinking coffee, but I’m still sleepy.”
Ahn Sung-hyun and Sung-joo hyung yawned widely. I yawned contagiously. I felt like I would definitely fall asleep as soon as I entered the classroom.
A-reum sipped her coffee and said,
“When you’re sleepy, check Campustory, Campustory.”
“Campustory?”
“Yeah. There are a lot of funny posts there. Everyone’s going crazy because it’s the day before the exam, so they’re posting a ton.”
“Hmm.”
Campustory, an app frequently used by university students.
I didn’t use it much. I was registered, but I was too busy checking “Trictor.”
Honestly, I’d been avoiding online communities since starting university.
‘Spending too much time on online communities feels like it rots your brain.’
There’s definitely helpful information, but there were too many hateful posts, from gender conflicts to political arguments and all sorts of mudslinging.
Of course, I could just avoid clicking on those posts, but those community addicts are good at writing catchy titles. They’re as good at grabbing attention as internet news headlines, making it hard not to click.
“Study hard, everyone.”
“Fighting!”
We exchanged some encouraging words and entered the classroom.
Okay, let’s get back to studying.
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‘I’m so sleepy…’
Food coma hit hard after eating so much in the middle of the night. My eyelids felt heavy. I’d rather do 100kg squats.
‘Should I check Campustory?’
Just to wake up a bit before getting back to studying.
I opened Campustory, and posts flooded the screen. Looking at the timestamps, posts were being uploaded every few seconds. Was Campustory this popular? The post refresh rate was insane.
One post caught my eye.
[Dean Study Method]
‘What kind of study method is that?’
I clicked on it.
[Dean Study Method]
F*ck, I’m screwed. Going with the Dean Study Method.
Memorize exactly one-eighth of the exam material.
‘Ah, that Dean.’
Most of the posts on Campustory were nonsense like this:
[The Night I Gamble My GPA – Anonymous]
For every A, joy and
For every B, relief and
For every C, bitterness and
For every D, suffering and
For every F, Mother, Mother!
‘Ugh!’
[That top student is probably going to ace this exam too]
Should I confess and crush their mental state?
‘Is this that “confession attack” thing?’
[Something that big won’t go in.]
Exam material-kun… Something that big won’t go in…!
It won’t all fit in my head, dammit.
‘Kekeke. Didn’t A-reum write this?’
The sexually suggestive humor was definitely A-reum’s style.
‘Everyone’s definitely losing it because of exams.’
All sorts of jokes were popping up. Some were silly, but even those were funny because of the exam stress.
I was engrossed in Campustory, scrolling through the posts, when…
[You have a new message.]
A Trictor notification popped up.
What is it?
Backside_Of_One: Sex
‘Here we go again.’
Backside_Of_One had been messaging me more frequently lately. More precisely, after we realized we were in the same club.
(photo)
‘Holy crap.’
I quickly covered my phone and looked around. Fortunately, everyone was either engrossed in studying or asleep.
‘Well, that woke me up.’
Seeing a full moon of a butt like that was bound to wake me up. The problem was that other things woke up too.
Throb throb.
‘Calm down…’
Ignoring my raging nether regions, I replied.
= Stop sending these.
Playing hard to get, huh? lol
= Stfu
It was true that my dick was raging, but that didn’t mean I was enjoying it. My dick has a mind of its own, independent of my will or feelings.
To be honest, it was getting annoying. Enough was enough.
When else would a virgin like you get to see a butt like this? Enjoy it while you can lol
There’s plenty in porn, bye
So proud, are we? Should noona help you lose your virginity?
Did that get your hopes up? Just kidding, idiot lol
This kind of teasing was getting old.
It wasn’t that I was offended, but rather that the pattern was always the same. Frankly, the “lol” at the end of every sentence was cringey.
But I’ll actually give you head if you find me.
Good luck with that~
The same pattern again. I sighed.
‘This isn’t some kind of push and pull game.’
At first, I was curious enough to try and find her since we were in the same club, but continuing to engage with her made me feel pathetic.
More than anything, I wasn’t desperate enough to go through all the trouble of arguing with her and trying to track her down just to get laid. No matter how much she bragged about her butt, could it really be better than A-reum’s?
‘Suddenly feeling deflated.’
With a sour expression, I sent one last reply.
= Blocking you bye
A moment later.
What? Why!
Hey! I said I’d give you head if you found me!
Why are you blocking me, dammit!
Hey, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I apologize.
A barrage of apologetic messages arrived.
I watched the messages for a moment, then pressed the block button.
[Are you sure you want to block ‘Backside_Of_One’?]
YES.
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“…….”
Poke, poke. Something was poking my shoulder.
I flinched and woke up.
“Gasp!”
Screeech!
The desk and chair scraped against my body, making a loud noise.
“Oh, what the…”
“You scared me.”
“Wh, what’s up?”
The noise was so loud that surprised voices erupted from all around. Even those who were sleeping jolted awake and looked in my direction.
“S, sorry.”
Embarrassed, I apologized and stood up.
‘When did I fall asleep?’
I thought I should go wash my face, but then…
“…Hiccup.”
“A-reum?”
“Hiccup.”
A-reum, standing behind me, hiccuped with a surprised expression. It seemed she was the one who poked my shoulder.
“…Should we step outside?”
“Hiccup.”
As we walked out into the hallway, A-reum glared at me.
“I almost had a heart attack… Hiccup! I knew… sniff!”
“Pfft.”
“Is it funny?! hic!”
“S, sorry.”
What could I do? It was funny.
I chuckled and patted A-reum’s back.
“Hiccup! sniff! hic!”
But the hiccups showed no signs of stopping.
A-reum frowned with an irritated expression.
“Take… hic! responsibility!”
“Should I buy you a drink? I’ll get you something from the vending machine over there.”
I said that out of guilt, but A-reum shook her head.
“Hic! Not that! hic!”
“Then what?”
“Come… hic! this way!”
A-reum grabbed my hand and led the way. She stopped in front of the restroom.
“Wait… hic! a second!”
A-reum went into the restroom and quickly came back out. She hadn’t gone in to use the toilet?
Then, strangely,
A-reum beckoned me from inside the entrance.
“Come… hiccup! in!”
“…Huh?”
“Come on!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
Was she trying to ruin my life?
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