Chapter 17: Group 5 Assembles

“Where’s Group One?!”

“Group Three!
Group Three, gather over here!”

The people who had checked the list first began shouting.

A few particularly enthusiastic ones even shot their hands straight up, volunteering themselves as human flags.

The area in front of the podium, bustling like a marketplace, gradually began to clear as people who had confirmed their names moved off to find their respective groups.

Only once no one was left standing in front of the podium did Woo Seon-kyung step forward to look for his name.

Group Five – Ahn Seokhyeon.
Woo Seon-kyung.
Yoon Bom.
Hong Jaeyoung.

Every single name was unfamiliar.

“Um…”

At the tap-tap on his shoulder, Seon-kyung turned around to see a small cluster of people standing awkwardly together.

“Ah—are you… Group Five?”

At Seon-kyung’s question, all three nodded at once.

Silence followed.

Awkward gazes darted busily back and forth.

Seon-kyung let out a short sigh, clearly troubled.

He brushed back his bangs and spoke first.

“I’ve never done a group project before, so I don’t really know how this works.
What should we do?”

“Well… since it’s our first time together, we can start by assigning roles and making a simple plan.
But first, we should probably find a place to sit…”

The girl with the bob cut who answered him looked the most familiar.

Wasn’t she the class representative?

He’d seen her speak up a few times before.

Seon-kyung nodded and glanced around.

Unlike usual, the lecture hall remained packed even after class ended.

Groups had already formed here and there, deep in discussion about their projects.

The scene resembled a wholesale market, dozens of voices overlapping until his head buzzed.

Seon-kyung shook his head.

“We won’t be able to hear ourselves think in here.
Should we go to the café on the first floor?”

“Eh?
Ah—yes!
That sounds great!”

The group members responded, unable to hide their surprise.

Honestly, they’d been worried about what to do after realizing that auditor had been assigned to their group.

So when he took the initiative to speak up, they were nothing but grateful—and amazed.

Seeing their transparent reactions, Seon-kyung swallowed a quiet laugh.

‘I might call myself a voluntary loner, but it’s not like I lack social skills.’
It seemed his image had been thoroughly misunderstood.

“Let’s go.
It’s on me.”

Deliberately softening his eyes, Seon-kyung gestured toward the classroom door with his chin.

He slung his bag—laptop inside—over his shoulder and headed out first.

The others followed behind him, as if enchanted, their steps hurried.

***

“I’m Yoon Bom, the first-year class rep.
I’m twenty, Beta.”

“I’m Ahn Seokhyeon!
Twenty years old, Omega!”

“Hong Jaeyoung, twenty-one.
I repeated a year, Beta.”

Whether by coincidence or by the professor’s intention, all members of the group were first-years.

Since everyone introduced themselves with their secondary gender included, Seon-kyung hesitated briefly before introducing himself as well.

“Woo Seon-kyung.
Twenty.
Omega…”

Ah, of course.

At his introduction, the others nodded in understanding.

The vague rumors surrounding the mysterious auditor finally clicked into place.

Though it was well past lunchtime, the café was still fairly crowded.

True to its reputation as a hot spot frequented even by students from other departments.

They managed to secure exactly one table.

The round table looked like it was meant for two at most, but they borrowed chairs from elsewhere and squeezed in regardless.

They sat so closely around the cramped table that their knees nearly touched.

There was barely enough space for drinks, and only Yoon Bom’s laptop—hers as group leader—occupied the tabletop.

Introductions were barely over, yet conversation already seemed to have run dry.

Everyone just glanced around, gauging one another.

Meanwhile, Ahn Seokhyeon—the Omega sitting across from Seon-kyung—kept staring at him with a slack, grinning face, as though feeling some strange sense of solidarity over them both being male Omegas.

The gaze made Seon-kyung uncomfortable, so he turned his head, pretending to look around the café.

“Ahhh!
This won’t do.
I can’t stand awkwardness!”

Unable to take it any longer, Yoon Bom yelled as she ruffled her hair.

“We’re all in the same department.
Shouldn’t we just talk casually?
Strictly speaking, you’re basically our batchmate too.”

“Right!
We’ve been taking classes together this whole time anyway.
The three of us are the same year and already know each other well.
There’s no senior here to enforce hierarchy, so let’s just be comfortable.”

“Yeah, whatever—just hurry it up.
I’ve got a part-time shift at four.”

“…..”

They were all this chatty—how had they managed to hold it in until now?

Starting with Yoon Bom, everyone chimed in one after another, then collectively turned to look at Seon-kyung, waiting for his answer.

How could he possibly say no at this point?

“I’m fine with that too.”

“Great.
Then let’s get this over with quickly.”

Yoon Bom opened her laptop.

She tucked the bobbed hair falling against her cheek behind her ear and cracked her fingers decisively.

When she rolled her neck from side to side, she almost looked grimly determined.

“First, let’s pick a topic, then assign roles.
Is there any exhibition you’ve been wanting to see?”

The moment she finished speaking, two hands shot up.

Given the floor, Ahn Seokhyeon and Hong Jaeyoung rattled off a list of places they wanted to visit, tripping over each other.

The assignment was already forgotten.

A never-ending list of exhibitions fueled purely by personal interest poured out.

Yoon Bom diligently typed everything down.

The professor’s claim that this group project would be fun wasn’t entirely a lie.

Given the nature of their department, most students enjoyed gallery and museum tours.

Despite disliking team projects in principle, there was a subtle air of excitement.

Finding it interesting, Seon-kyung chose not to interrupt and quietly observed the discussion.

“Seon-kyung, what about you?
Anywhere you want to go?”

Maybe because he’d participated so little, Yoon Bom stopped typing and pointed directly at him.

Seon-kyung liked exhibitions too.

Not just famous museums—he frequently visited small independent galleries and solo artist shows as well.

He’d vaguely heard that a special exhibition had recently opened at Raum, but he’d been too busy just keeping his head above water to pay attention.

Part of him considered using this chance to visit.

But he didn’t want to take the risk of exposing his personal ties.

He decided to blend in quietly instead.

“I’m fine with anywhere.
You guys decide.”

“What about Dark Room?”

Ahn Seokhyeon mentioned an exhibition that had been popular since early last year.

It was a sensory experience involving one hundred minutes of extreme darkness and was often recommended as a date course.

For an exhibition that wasn’t an international master’s showcase, its level of public success was rare.

Analyzing the factors behind its popularity sounded interesting, and it fit the assignment perfectly.

However, Yoon Bom shook her head firmly.

“No.
It’ll be a nightmare filling slides later.
We can’t exactly use nothing but pitch-black photos.”

“Ugh, she shoots everything down…”

Ahn Seokhyeon’s eyebrows drooped into an upside-down 八 shape.

His plump lower lip jutted out, cheeks puffing up as if filled with air.

Watching him like this up close made him look like a living, breathing chipmunk.

Are Omegas usually this naturally cute?

Even though he was a guy, Seon-kyung found himself thinking so.

On Seon-kyung’s right, Hong Jaeyoung seemed fed up with the lack of progress.

Arms crossed, he leaned his head back.

The flimsy wooden chair groaned under the pressure, letting out a creeeak but refusing to recline.

Glancing at the watch on his wrist—his shift must be approaching—he lifted the brim of his cap, ruffled his flattened hair, and spoke up.

“Bom, honestly, if we nitpick like this, there’s nowhere we can go.
Let’s just play it safe and pick a major one.”

“Major where?
If you say Raum, I’ll kill you.”

“Raum Gallery?
You mean the special exhibition?
My friend went the other day and said it was an absolute visual overload.
When you’ve got money like that, the curation quality is on a whole other level.”

At Hong Jaeyoung’s words, Yoon Bom and Ahn Seokhyeon each added a comment.

Raum?

Hearing the familiar name, Seon-kyung perked up.

“Raum would be nice… but how are we supposed to get in?”

“Why wouldn’t we?”

Unable to hold back, Seon-kyung asked.

All three pairs of eyes snapped toward him at once.

Ah—

Thinking it was because of his polite speech, he hurriedly corrected himself.

“Ah, sorry—why wouldn’t we?”

Yoon Bom felt a bit melancholy.

Seriously, what a sheltered young master.
Looks fancy on the outside, but clueless about everything.

Where was she even supposed to start explaining?

In a gentle, measured voice, Yoon Bom laid out reality.

“Listen carefully.
Raum’s special exhibitions aren’t like their permanent ones.
Each visitor gets a dedicated docent.
That limits the number of people who can enter at a time.
Tickets sold out on the very first day.
You can’t go even if you want to now.”

“Was it always that popular?”

“They don’t do special exhibitions often.
And when they do, they’re huge.
This time, there were even rumors they went all out, so it’s been absolute chaos.”

“Hmm.”

Listening, Seon-kyung nodded thoughtfully.

It had been a while.

The last one was nearly half a year ago, back in autumn.

Just how much effort had they poured into it for things to blow up like this?

Intrigued, Seon-kyung rested his chin on his hand, thinking.

“Let’s go to Raum.”

“Did you not hear a word I said?
How exactly are we supposed to get in?
It’s sold out.”

“All we need are tickets.”

“What?
You can get them?”