Campus Log - Chapter 24

***

My phone kept vibrating nonstop. That wasn’t something that happened often for me. I had been getting ready to go to bed early, and I picked up my phone.

[Ryu Eun-seok: Sent photos.]

Today, he’d been gripping an umbrella with his large hand and diligently taking pictures on his phone, and now the results came pouring into the chatroom. Maybe because he was tall, no other people showed up in the shots—only the panda family, neatly framed.

As I saved every single photo Ryu Eun-seok had sent, another message popped up right after.

<You’re in this one too lol>

Just as he said, in a few of the photos, the back of my head—hood of my rain poncho pulled up—was faintly caught along the bottom edge. He really had a sharp eye.

Then another white chat bubble popped up.

My phone nearly slipped out of my hand and smashed into my cheekbone. I jolted upright, glaring at the absurd nickname on the screen.

As if. My height wasn’t objectively small. I was solidly average. The reason everyone looked small was because Ryu Eun-seok’s perspective was skewed—he was tall as a totem pole.

I’m 162 cm.

The irritation was obvious in my blunt reply. Couldn’t I have mocked him a little more skillfully? But it was already sent.

Oh, you’re bigger than I thought?

Even so, there’s still a 26-centimeter difference between us lol lol

Ugh, how annoying. I typed and erased several versions of a response, then decided not to send anything at all. I figured I’d just look through the photos Ryu Eun-seok had sent again.

<Asleep?>

A short message popped up at the top of the screen, but I didn’t read it. The photos he’d taken with his phone were much higher quality than mine, making it fun to zoom in and look closely.

The pointless calls kept coming. He must be really bored. If he has nothing to do, he could at least check his overflowing DMs. Why bother some random person instead?

A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I tapped the Instagram app I’d installed a few days ago. Ignoring the follow request still sitting off in a corner, I searched for Ryu Eun-seok’s account and went in.

There was a new post on his feed. It was a panda photo taken today, and the caption was nothing special—just panda and bamboo emojis.

And in the lower-left corner of the rectangular photo, a sky-blue rain poncho was sticking out slightly.

It hadn’t even been an hour since he posted it, but the number next to the heart had already passed a thousand. As I skimmed through the dozens of comments, one of them caught my eye.

[lovinbinnie: Why didn’t you go with me ㅜT]

The photo of a girl with a circular profile picture was small, but the delicate details of her features were clear. I moved my finger carefully, avoiding pressing Yang Su-bin’s photo. Snooping on Yang Su-bin’s account would truly feel like hitting rock bottom in terms of creepiness.

While observing the life of Ryu Eun-seok, which felt worlds apart from mine, I checked the notification again—his follow request was still pending. My thumb hovered over the screen but didn’t press anything.

It’s a shred of self-respect.

Not wanting him to find out why I created a private account was the first reason. And a trivial principle that Ryu Eun-seok should also have something to want—that was the second reason.

Honestly, the latter weighed more. Even in this small way, I wanted to act aloof. It was a useless sense of competition.

A guy who could get thousands of likes with just a single photo probably wouldn’t care at all, though.

I went back to the chatroom with Ryu Eun-seok. Scrolling up, I passed the playful way he called my name, the panda photos, and even the strange first arrangement we made to eat lunch separately in the same place.

I don’t know why I’m reviewing this—it’s not even class material. But I moved through the screen, meticulously scanning the conversations I’d had with Ryu Eun-seok.

When I scrolled back down, a new message bubble I hadn’t seen earlier was there.

It seemed Ryu Eun-seok had noticed I was reading the message. His sense for these things was uncannily sharp. He perfectly caught the exact moment the number 1 disappeared.

So embarrassing…

I flopped face-down on my pillow and pulled the blanket over my head. If my roommate hadn’t been there, I might have kicked my legs into the air over and over. To escape this awkwardness, I needed to fall asleep as quickly as possible.