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Join the Server“That’s truly a shame. It almost reminds me of last year, when our soccer team tried to use the school field, only to be rejected because the reservations were full.”
“Damn it… Are you doing this out of spite for what happened back then?”
“Ah, I must admit, I wasn’t in the best mood at the time.”
“It was you, wasn’t it? You’re the one who did this, you crazy bastard.”
“Even so, only the practice fields within Gangbuk are blocked. Couldn’t you simply go as far as Gangnam to play?”
Even Eunhae, who wasn’t particularly familiar with the local geography, knew that Gangnam was quite a distance from here.
“Damn it, is that even a reasonable thing to say!”
“Kim Taeyoung, you told me the same thing back then. You said if there was no place to practice, I should go out and find somewhere else.”
“…Are you saying then and now are the same? Back then, there were plenty of empty spots near the school, in Gangbuk!”
“I’m sure there are plenty in Gangnam too. If you go as far as Gyeonggi Province, there will be even more.”
Jung Seunghee tilted his head slightly.
“Since it’s not my problem, I’m afraid I can’t help you. Good luck with your troubles.”
“Damn it, you crazy bastard!”
“Hyung! Taeyoung Hyung!”
“Hyung, calm down! We’re avoiding him because he’s disgusting, not because we’re scared.”
The graduate student, who was being restrained, seemed to relax into the hands that held him back. Even to Eunhae, it seemed a hundred percent certain that Jung Seunghee would win if he and the graduate student were to fight.
‘Wise are those who know when to retreat.’
Regardless of the curses hurled from behind, Jung Seunghee’s face remained composed and calm.
“Let’s go, Noona.”
“Uh, what?”
“You said you needed caffeine. Let’s go get some coffee.”
“Oh, right…”
Eunhae quietly took Jung Seunghee’s hand and left.
Once they were seated at the cafe, the tension finally began to dissipate.
‘This is the first time I’ve actually seen him fight.’
“It was scary, wasn’t it? I’m sorry, Noona.”
“Uh, yes. It was a little scary. But it wasn’t because of you.”
“No, it was absolutely because of me.”
Jung Seunghee took a sip of his iced americano. A wry smile touched his lips as he lowered the glass.
“I rented all the soccer practice fields in Gangbuk.”
“…What? Really? That senior wasn’t just misunderstanding you with wild speculation?”
“No. I rented them all. For the entire month. To be precise, until the day of their team’s friendly match.”
Eunhae’s lips parted in astonishment.
“…There must have been a reason when you did that. What happened?”
“I could have just acted out for no reason, you know.”
She shook her head at Jung Seunghee’s words.
“That might be true, but… no, I don’t think you’re the type to do that.”
“…”
Jung Seunghee’s brown eyes deepened. Eunhae’s gaze, reflected in his clear pupils, was utterly straightforward.
“I told you I sometimes play with the soccer team.”
“Yes.”
“I even participated as a guest member in last year’s sports festival.”
The soccer team was a central club. Naturally, they were in charge of the soccer matches during the sports festival.
However, the Physics Department team had interfered with the soccer team’s participation in the game.
“They claimed that since the referees were also from the soccer team, they would make biased judgments in their favor. But the truth was, they just didn’t like me.”
Jung Seunghee shrugged.
“I’d clashed with those seniors once before.”
“…You’re subtly a trouble maker, aren’t you?”
“I don’t think so, but what can I do if they think that way?”
“No, that attitude seems to fuel the fire even more…”
“Anyway, the soccer team said they would referee fairly, and if it really became an issue, they would bring in referees from other teams. But they kept provoking us.”
“Hmm. That’s really too much.”
“Eventually, they colluded with other teams and rented out all the fields. So the soccer team couldn’t use them.”
Eunhae frowned.
“Wow, that’s truly malicious.”
“When we protested, that’s what they said. ‘Why didn’t you schedule it first?’ and ‘If you have no place to practice, go out and find somewhere else.’”
“…”
“I felt so bad for the soccer team members. They went through so much because of me. Thankfully, we found a place to practice outside of school, but it took an hour to get there, so we lost a lot of time.”
“You must have been really stressed.”
“I just got… quite pissed off. And I have a good memory, you know. I remember everything, good and bad.”
Jung Seunghee grinned.
His mischievous smile was cute, but thinking of the graduate student who’d been targeted, Eunhae’s feelings were complicated. Of course, that person probably deserved it, but…
“Oh, but if you rent out all the nearby practice fields, won’t innocent people, not just from our school, be unable to practice?”
“Of course, I didn’t mess with the schedules of people who regularly practiced there. I was told that double booking was fine as long as it wasn’t under the names of our department’s soccer team members. I just said I was booking them as a reserve.”
“You’re… quite thorough, aren’t you?”
“I don’t want to accumulate bad karma by inconveniencing others just to get back at someone.”
“Wow… It must have cost a lot of money to rent all those practice fields.”
“A little?”
“A little? Even just calculating it roughly, it seems like a huge amount of money.”
“I haven’t calculated it, so I don’t know. I’ll sort it out later, but it’s been deducted from various places, so I can’t calculate it immediately.”
Even at ten thousand won per hour, it would surely exceed a million won. To just spend it without a second thought, the scale of money he handled was vastly different from hers.
“I definitely shouldn’t fight with you. I’d surely lose.”
Eunhae made a resolution.
‘I must never cross Jung Seunghee.’
Lacking both eloquence and financial power, she would be ruined before she could even react.
“I’m not that scary of a person, you know?”
“No, you are a scary person.”
She was suddenly reminded of Jung Seunghee’s nickname.
A Tosa dog.
Not just a mad dog, but a Tosa dog. A fighter who doesn’t let go once they bite.
“I thought your personality was on the quiet side… but it wasn’t.”
“Everyone has different sides to them.”
“That’s true, but.”
Even as she pondered, Eunhae looked down at her hand, which was still holding his.
Even for the sake of the talisman’s effect, it was difficult to separate from Jung Seunghee.
‘But maybe it would be better to just wear a hat and be alone like before…’
For some reason, being next to Jung Seunghee made her feel like she’d get caught up in these kinds of troubles. It wasn’t a premonition, but her instincts pricked at her, warning her.
After the graduate student clashed with Jung Seunghee, the distance between her and her classmates grew even wider.
However, they hadn’t been close to begin with, so she didn’t care much. Her classmates also didn’t bother her.
And finally, midterm exam season arrived.
“This is my first time studying in the library.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I always studied at home.”
Habitually holding Jung Seunghee’s hand, Eunhae drank her latte. At first, it was hard to drink it without syrup, but now the savory taste of the milk suited her quite well.
When she drank alone, she would secretly add a little syrup since Jung Seunghee wasn’t there.
The breeze blowing towards the bench near the convenience store was warm.
“…It’s spring.”
“Yes.”
“The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, too.”
“They are.”
“Why do cherry blossoms bloom during midterm exam season? Why?”
Eunhae exclaimed, feeling wronged.
Jung Seunghee, holding an iced americano, replied calmly.
“Because it’s the season for cherry blossoms to bloom?”
“It’s so unfair!”
“Then let’s go see the cherry blossoms.”
“No! If I don’t study, my GPA will drop!”
“What’s your GPA, Noona?”
“…I’m not telling the top student in the department.”
“Alright. It’s privacy, so I won’t ask any further. If going outside feels like too much, it’s fine to walk around campus a bit when you’re resting, isn’t it? I heard the cherry blossoms behind the College of Business are pretty.”
“I want to be free…”
“That just means you don’t want to study.”
Eunhae let out a long sigh.
“People who only speak the truth aren’t popular.”
“What do I need popularity from others for, when Noona likes me?”
“…Oh, right.”
She couldn’t quite bring herself to say that she wasn’t dating him because she liked him. She had that much tact.
“But Noona, you got into our school, yet you don’t seem to like studying much?”
“You don’t have to like studying to get accepted, do you?”
“That’s true, but… on average, you do. It’s hard to get those grades if studying isn’t your aptitude.”
“My dad said that if you aim for Korea University, you can at least get into a university in Seoul.”
Eunhae could never live in a dormitory.
Even with the best assignment, dormitories were two people to a room. She would inevitably have to meet a roommate.
And then she would see her roommate’s fate…
For that reason alone, Eunhae only applied to universities within commuting distance from her home.
You think this chapter was thrilling? Wait until you read Crow's Golden Fragment! Click here to discover the next big twist!
Read : Crow's Golden Fragment
