Campus Log - Chapter 94

“Yeah.”

I knew it.

If he hadn’t been controlling his expression, a bitter, irritated laugh might have slipped out.

Eunseok kneaded Sang-hee’s hand like a stress ball while calming his breathing.

“What did he say?”

“Just asked how I was doing. He said he’s going to live in Jeju for a month.”

“Anyone besides Dong-ha?”

The passenger seat fell silent.

When Eunseok glanced over, he saw Sang-hee’s eyes narrowing behind her gold-rimmed glasses.

“Why are you interrogating me like this?”

“Because I have the right to ask now.”

Wearing a shameless expression, Eunseok lifted their joined hands into the air.

At a loss for words, Sang-hee let out an exasperated breath.

“Then I’m asking too.”

“Go ahead.”

Since he had absolutely nothing to hide, Eunseok accepted confidently.

After all, anyone conducting an investigation ought to be completely above suspicion themselves.

“No, actually, I’ll just give you my phone. Look through whatever you want. Hold on, let me unlock it first.”

“Forget it. Why are you taking it that far?”

Sang-hee looked utterly disgusted and refused outright.

Still, the counterattack must have worked, because during the drive to Cheongju, Eunseok managed to extract several pieces of information from her.

That Joo Seung-jae, who had somehow gotten her phone number, kept messaging her persistently. That even if Sang-hee took a day or so to reply because it was annoying, he would immediately send follow-up messages. And that, because of that, she actually found Joo Seung-jae more burdensome than Lee Dong-ha.

Eunseok’s fingertips tapped against the steering wheel.

Until the amusement park, his mood had been inflated like a balloon—but now, Joo Seung-jae had suddenly pierced it like a needle.

As he replayed what Sang-hee had said, his jaw unconsciously tightened.

By the time they arrived in Cheongju, it was nearly midnight.

During the drive, Sang-hee kept fighting off sleep; her cheeks and jaw would puff out and relax again as she yawned repeatedly.

He told her she could sleep, but that only made her force her eyelids open more firmly.

“Take this.”

After stopping the car in front of Sang-hee’s apartment, Eunseok pulled a panda T-shirt he had secretly bought from the back seat bag.

Sang-hee’s eyes widened as she recognized it as the same one he had given her earlier.

“What? When did you buy this?”

“I told you we should wear matching ones.”

He sulked slightly, remembering how she had scolded him earlier.

“Now that we’re actually a couple, I can say things like that, right?”

The streetlight slanting into the car brushed across Sang-hee’s face, tinting her cheeks a soft red.

Sang-hee glanced at him with the corners of her eyes that already had a hint of premature laugh lines, but she didn’t refuse the T-shirt. Seeing her carefully put it into the shopping bag, the chest that had deflated like air leaking out because of Joo Seung-jae swelled back up.

“Goodbye.”

Getting out of the car, Sang-hee bent down and made eye contact with Eun-seok inside the window.

“…Happy birthday.”

Leaving a quiet farewell, Sang-hee quickly turned around. She was in such a hurry that her brown hair fluttered faintly. Even after Sang-hee had completely disappeared, Eun-seok’s car lingered in the same spot for a few more minutes.

Arriving home, Eun-seok picked up his phone as soon as he finished washing up. He talked on the phone with Sang-hee, who kept her voice very low so as not to be caught by her parents, for over an hour. The mirror reflected his face, smiling foolishly like an idiot.

After hanging up, he ate the carrot cupcake Sang-hee had bought for him. The cake, which had been carefully brought all the way from Yongin, was sweet enough to make his tongue tingle.

***

“Did you take Organizational Management Theory?”

“Yeah. In my sophomore year.”

“Cost Accounting?”

“That too, in my sophomore year.”

While meeting Sang-hee at a cafe and putting together a course schedule, Eun-seok held his head in his hands and sighed deeply.

He wanted to take a few classes together next semester, but there were no overlapping lectures. Sang-hee, who was thorough and planned ahead, had already finished even her general education credits before going on a language study trip to Canada.

“Then I’ll take Labor Relations.”

Eun-seok confidently chose a lecture from the third-year curriculum. If he wanted to realize his dream of sitting side by side in class, he had no choice but to adjust to Sang-hee.

“You’d understand it better if you took Organizational Management Theory first.”

“Doesn’t matter. Let’s take Advertising Theory together too. It has group projects.”

“I’d rather avoid group projects.”

Sang-hee pouted her lips. Looking at the schedule she had drawn up in advance, it was indeed filled only with subjects that involved crunching numbers.

Business department classes were one of two things: either endless presentations, or wrestling with calculators and graphs. Sang-hee, who was sick and tired of free-riding students, chose the latter.

“I want to do group projects with you too.”

“Do you want to get an A as well?”