Campus Log - Chapter 58

Even as I said it, I thought I was being an idiot. Leaving the easy path right in front of me and deliberately taking the harder way. My head felt like it was on fire from running the calculator too much.

“The professor doesn’t tend to make the exams particularly tricky. I can manage on my own.”

If Joo Seung-jae had just been looking out for me as a senior, I might have bought him a coffee and gladly taken the exam. But knowing full well that what he wanted wasn’t something like friendly camaraderie between upper and lower classmen, I couldn’t reach out just because my situation was difficult, even if I felt desperate.

A clear look of disappointment rose on Joo Seung-jae’s face. I was almost afraid of what reaction might spring from his tightly sealed lips. I quickly bowed my head.

“I’ll be going first.”

“Hey, Sang-hee.”

Joo Seung-jae didn’t give up and followed me.

“It’s not like I want something from you. I just thought it might help you, that’s all.”

The first floor of the business building was noisier than usual today, scattering Joo Seung-jae’s voice in all directions. It would be nice if we could part ways here, but Joo Seung-jae didn’t seem ready to give up easily.

“It’s really nothing. I don’t expect anything from you in return.”

It was when I reached the entrance of the business building, bumping into people’s bags. I quickly found the reason why it felt especially crowded and loud. Right in front of the business building, some girl was crying pitifully.

“Isn’t that Yang Subin?”

The woman’s name escaped Joo Seung-jae’s lips. But my gaze flew first not to the girl sniffling with her eyes red and raw from crying, but to the man standing facing her.

With a crying woman in front of him, Ryu Eun-seok was sweeping his bangs back. His narrowed brow, his firm lips without a trace of a smile, his eyes that glanced at Yang Subin then looked up at the air—the combination of these expressions showed just how troubled he was right now.

The most typical scenario that came to mind seeing that scene was a quarrel between lovers.

And since both happened to be the famous pretty and handsome students at Baeksan University, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they looked like the protagonists of a youth romance drama.

“How can you do this to me!”

In the midst of it all, Yang Subin’s delivered line was enough to stimulate everyone’s imagination. The buzzing business building fell as quiet as if doused with cold water. Everyone even stopped breathing and watched the real-time drama unfolding.

“How much I was looking forward to it! How could you go without a single call…”

Ryu Eun-seok openly sighed. The look in his eyes, tilted to one side, clearly showed irritation. The face that always carried a gentle smile had dropped a few degrees in temperature.

Ryu Eun-seok closed his eyes tightly and turned his head. Soon his eyelids lifted, and his dark pupils beneath long lashes turned toward the onlookers.

Ryu Eun-seok’s eyes met mine. The distance wasn’t far, so I could clearly see everything—that he was looking directly at me, that his jaw twitched uncomfortably, and that his gaze then shifted away as if something displeased him.

Now Ryu Eun-seok was looking next to me. His face, as solid as if wearing a porcelain mask…

…moved toward where someone was standing, and at the same time, Joo Seung-jae’s shoulder flinched. Startled by whatever it was, the senior nearly dropped his phone.

“Whoa, s**t.”

Right after an exaggerated exclamation burst from Joo Seung-jae, who had barely caught his phone, Ryu Eun-seok’s facial muscles hardened even more than before. The man’s complexion now resembled cement paste mixed with water.

Turning back to Yang Subin, Ryu Eun-seok gently pulled on the woman’s slender wrist. It seemed he was trying to move elsewhere. But Yang Subin, as if refusing to be dragged away easily, forcefully shook off his grip.

“Let go. I don’t need you to placate me.”

Ryu Eun-seok’s jawline bulged thickly for a moment before returning to normal.

“If you want to talk to me, follow me.”

The man didn’t attempt to take Yang Subin somewhere else again. Instead, he left the choice to her and walked away first. His figure disappeared around the business building.

Yang Subin took a step a beat later. Even though she must have felt the pouring attention, she didn’t hide her tear-stained face. Instead, she held her neck even straighter, as if she had judged that showing her reddened eyes was better for her pride.

Once Ryu Eun-seok and Yang Soo-bin left the front of the business building, the watching students quickly grew noisy. Talk of a lovers’ quarrel, of Ryu Eun-seok being a low-key bad boy, of Yang Subin being pretty even when she cries—those stories jumbled together and pounded against my eardrums.

“Sang-hee, if it’s really too much pressure, I’ll just post it in the department group chat.”