Campus Log - Chapter 39

I spent the entire weekend holed up in my dorm room. After enduring a day surrounded by people on Friday, the holiday was necessary to recharge my energy in bed. Only then could I safely make it through the next week.

Even when my roommate made loud phone calls, I didn’t escape to the study room. I just turned up my earphones’ volume, pulled the covers over my head, and spent the day drifting between sleep and wakefulness.

Aside from mealtimes, I barely moved for two days, during which Ryu Eun-seok’s messages occasionally arrived. Nothing particularly urgent.

What are you up to?

When’s your birthday?

I answered that it was May 28th. I gave the date without much thought, but when I saw the message that arrived 20 minutes later, my eyes—drowsy and blurred—snapped wide open.

Changed the locker password to your birthday

0528

Locker 25 next to the department office

Ryu Eun-seok hadn’t let go of his offer to share the locker. Instead, he’d even gone down to the Business Building on this precious weekend to change the password in advance.

Unsure how to reply, I let my gaze wander over the screen. After a long deliberation, the only thing my thumb managed to type was a simple acknowledgment.

Oh… thanks.

Once sent, it felt too curt, almost impolite. So, I added a panda emoji captioned Thanks so much.

I felt like a serious otaku, but there was no helping it. I am actually an otaku, so… well.

A message from Ryu Eun-seok arrived almost immediately after he read my reply.

The tall cub is the dad panda, right?

It was surprising he recognized them so quickly, having only seen pandas a few times. Forgetting how tired I was, I sent emojis of each family member and asked if he could tell who was who.

Ryu Eun-seok still couldn’t distinguish the twins. But he sincerely responded to my excited chatter about the panda family.

Only much later did it dawn on me that I’d been chattering one-sidedly. Even my parents aren’t interested in pandas, so meeting someone willing to listen made me giddy, and I ended up babbling all sorts of things.

When I grew awkward and didn’t continue the conversation, a white message bubble appeared on the left.

So the youngest is a bit softer?

The older sister is fearless

Answer me

Why’d you stop talking

Hey

Hong-hong

Sang-hee-hee-hee

I didn’t reply and turned my phone over. Cool air still flowed in through the open window, but my face showed no sign of cooling down.

It really was a textbook, overly excited otaku conversation style.

***

On Monday morning, I stood in front of Locker 25, as Ryu Eun-seok had said. Thick textbooks were pulled out of the backpack dangling with panda keychains.

I felt bad about moving all my stuff in, disrespecting the original owner, but ignoring the gesture after he even changed the password didn’t sit right either. So, I decided to just leave a few books I rarely used as a courtesy.

I quickly locked the cabinet and stepped back. There was still time before the first class, so no one was passing through this hallway.

It wasn’t like I was stealing, but the reason I was being cautious was that I was worried students who knew this was Ryu Eun-seok’s locker would find it odd. With the conflict at the pork belly restaurant already on many people’s lips, I didn’t want to add more fuel to the gossip.

Classroom 308 for International Financial Management was empty. I opened my planner and neatly laid out pens of different colors and panda stickers I’d bought in Yongin.

With only a month left until finals, I needed to create a four-week completion plan. From today on, I’d focus solely on studying. Playing around ended with the sports event, until the semester break started.

Just as I was drawing neat lines with a ruler and highlighter in my planner, someone plopped their bag down in the seat next to me. Startled, my yellow line jagged crookedly. I raised my eyes and glared at the intruder.

“Hi. Why are you glaring?”

Ryu Eun-seok sat beside me with a puzzled expression. Unaware of his disruption, the man tilted his head at the colorful planner on the desk.

“Wow, top students are different. I should learn a thing or two sitting next to you.”

I pressed my lips tight and picked up the correction tape. He even lent me a locker; I should let this slide.

“Huh?”

Ryu Eun-seok, who had been annoyingly peering at my planner, suddenly moved his hand behind my back. His arm stretched around my waist as if to embrace it. I stiffened my body, only my eyes rolling around.

Ryu Eun-seok swiftly snatched the bag I’d left on the empty seat. The backpack, much lighter now that I had a locker, was dragged away limply.

“What? Why’d you do that?”

“This.”

Ryu Eun-seok touched the panda keychain hanging from the zipper and smiled brightly. Recognizing something he’d given me, his shoulders puffed up with satisfaction.

“It’s even cuter seeing you carry it around like this?”

I pretended to focus on my planning again and gave no response.

“I should get one too.”

For a moment, I imagined Ryu Eun-seok dangling a panda plushie around. A guy who even cares about wearing expensive t-shirts—what’s he going to do with that? Picturing that mismatch in my head made the corner of my mouth twitch.

“I guess they don’t sell them online.”