Campus Log - Chapter 57

“What do you mean, the third time? I’ve only cried once here. Why are you exaggerating?”

Ryu Eun-seok, who had been provoked, took a deep breath. Each time, his broad shoulders rose and fell together. It seemed he was looking for his own way to calm down.

“I can’t say anything.”

When I grumbled quietly, Ryu Eun-seok let out a wry laugh.

“You say things to make me emotional, then why are you scolding me for being tearful?”

Even as he snapped back sensitively, his face was clearly full of embarrassment.

“Emotional, my foot. You’re the one who’s overdoing it.”

“Saying thank you would have been enough, but you had to go and cheer me on too—that’s why.”

At the word “cheer on,” this time I felt awkward. It wasn’t such a grand gesture of goodwill. It’s just that I had secretly been jealous of Yang Soo-bin getting celebrated by her friends, and then I received a cake myself, so I was happy and just rambled on.

And I was even happier that the person who paid such attention to me was Ryu Eun-seok.

Having thought that far, I hurriedly drank my coffee. Lately, my expectations toward Ryu Eun-seok had definitely grown. He came with me to see the pandas, picked me up, got me a doll and even a cake—my shamelessness was reaching its limit.

Like Ryu Eun-seok said, it should have been enough to just say thank you…

But that he would do things like this only for me, that I held a slightly more special place in his heart than others…

…I found myself wanting even that utterly absurd thing.

My increasingly brazen heart secretly frightened me.

“Eat your cake quickly. We need to go back to studying.”

I urged him by tapping Ryu Eun-seok’s forearm. Only then did he move his spoon, scooping up a generous amount of cake and pushing it into his pouting lips.

It seems the scent of acacia flowers encourages unnecessary honesty. I should probably only exchange silly jokes here from now on.

***

“Sang-hee.”

I stopped on the landing at the call from behind. Joo Seung-jae was coming down the stairs. I stepped aside to avoid being in anyone’s way and greeted him.

“Hello.”

“Oh, hi. Hey, you know…”

Joo Seung-jae’s face, lit obliquely by the light streaming through the window, was clearly tense. Surely he wasn’t about to say something strange. I rolled my eyes and checked to see if anyone nearby was listening.

“You’re taking Professor Choi Kyung-young’s Investment Theory class, right?”

“Yes.”

“That professor has been giving the same exam questions for five years now.”

I knew. The professor, stuck in a rut, filled his lecture time by reading line by line from the textbook he published under his own name, and he didn’t appreciate students asking questions either. He didn’t even show the courtesy of changing the numbers when reusing the same multiple-choice questions from last year.

So if you just sat quietly in your seat, there was no better class for students who could get their hands on past exams to earn grades for free.

“I have a copy of last year’s exam I got—I was wondering if you might need it.”

It was a tempting offer. Having no way to obtain past exams, I had no choice but to inefficiently memorize the entire book. If I took what Joo Seung-jae was offering, I could prepare for this exam more comfortably.

But nothing in this world comes for free.

He had held onto my glasses, bought me drinks, and now if he handed me past exam questions, he would naturally develop expectations to match.

“I can send it to you if you need it.”

My heart urged me to say yes right away, but my head wouldn’t readily nod. The pressure of having to repay Joo Seung-jae for the exam locked my lips shut.

“It’s okay.”