Chapter 41: Fate and the Team Project

In fact, this whole situation was no different. Yesterday, on the final day we could choose our own team project partners, Na Eun-hyeok’s proposal to join forces was one of those rare, lucky coincidences in my life. And yet, watching myself reject him with such utter rudeness made me think that perhaps this was fate. In truth, if I dug deep, I knew it was a flaw in my inherent personality, but it was easier to blame everything on destiny to lessen the self-reproach.

In the end, my group assignment was left to the stars. The TA had announced that students who didn’t form groups in advance would be randomly assigned. My luck usually sucked, so I figured I’d probably end up with a student who would eventually drop the class. Including all of that, I chose to believe in fate.

The student cafeteria was quiet as lunch hour wound down.

Since food service ended at two, everything from the ticket machines to the serving counters was empty. Black earthenware pots sat before small groups of students huddled around fluorescent lime-green tables. Today’s menu had been salmon steak sets and cheesy pork cutlet nabe; the salmon had sold out first, forcing the latecomers to settle for the nabe.

Cooling pots that once held the pork cutlet sat before me, Seong-jin, and Gyu-tae. Han Gyu-tae scooped up the spicy broth with his spoon. A lover of soup, Gyu-tae’s pot was already starting to show its bottom. Beside him, Seong-jin—whose light blue shirt was perfectly crisp without a single wrinkle—looked up.

“So, to recap… you’re a ‘Regressor’?”

“Saying it like that makes it sound like a fantasy novel.”

Over lunch, I had told them everything that happened in Zelpia. Meeting Sephiroth, him picking a fight, then somehow clearing a dungeon together, and—presto—a hidden quest appeared. Blah, blah, blah.

Han Gyu-tae and Park Seong-jin’s reactions were quite colorful. In particular, when they heard that the legendary post “How to Clear Beginner Quests with Tears of Withered Wildflowers” was written by Sephiroth himself, they reacted so violently they nearly fell off their chairs.

As veteran players, Gyu-tae and Seong-jin seemed to be suffering from a grade-A shock. Well, it was shocking. A newbie who hadn’t even been playing for a week was suddenly being called a Regressor. Even I knew this wasn’t exactly a common occurrence.

“That’s incredible, Eonha,” Seong-jin said, chewing on a soggy piece of cutlet. Beside him, Han Gyu-tae nodded, brushing back his ash-brown hair. His oversized vanilla-colored knit sweater slid down his wrist.

“Right? So Sephiroth is actually helping you now?”

“That’s the gist of it.”

“Man, that’s insane. A newbie being carried by Sephiroth? If you posted a summary of this online, the internet would lose its mind.”

“If you post a summary, I’ll break your head first.”

“Aing~ Hyung, don’t you trust me? Would I really do that?”

“Stop acting cute.”

I pressed my hand against Gyu-tae’s forehead as he gave me a nauseating wink. He laughed, his eyes crinkling, and went back to scraping the bottom of his pot. Honestly, this guy was a total waste of a handsome face. If he was going to use those pretty features like that, he might as well give them to someone else. I glared at his forehead while Seong-jin pushed up his glasses.

“So, are you going to keep doing the hidden quest?”

“Yeah. Probably.”

“And the dungeon we went to was part of that?”

“Yeah.”

“Hey, Eonha. I’m counting on you from now on.”

“For what?”

“Call me whenever there’s a hidden dungeon.”

Seong-jin tapped my shoulder lightly. His dark eyes behind his transparent lenses sparkled with an overwhelming amount of intensity.

“Judging by the Hidden Pieces we got, this looks like a quest you’re the first to trigger. Let me grab some decent Hidden Pieces while I can.”

“Ah, right, right! Chae Eonha, call me too, okay? You know our friendship, right?”

“Piss off.”

“Aing, honey~”

“Did you get shot in the head?”

I was getting ready to unleash a barrage of insults at Han Gyu-tae as he continued to wink. He didn’t even flinch, preparing to fire off a series of “love bullets” at me. Usually, the moment I opened my mouth, a machine-gun spray of practiced curses would come flying out.

“Uh, Eonha.”

Except, a voice suddenly spoke from behind me.

I whipped my head around, startled. Na Eun-hyeok was standing there. He was wearing a black trench coat over a gray zip-up hoodie; despite the coat’s length, it hit perfectly at his shins. His hand was tucked into the left pocket—a posture that could have looked slouchy on anyone else, but on Na Eun-hyeok, it looked effortlessly stylish. When he smirked, his eyes curved like a fox’s. His long eyelashes cast deep shadows.

I froze. If the Snow Queen herself had frozen the world, it wouldn’t have been as stiff as I was at that moment. My tension spiked to the point where I just wanted to bolt. No, Eonha. Stay calm. Even if you’re dragged off by a tiger, you can survive if you keep your wits about you. I looked up cautiously at “Tiger” Na Eun-hyeok. He looked as kind as ever.

“Hey, Gyu-tae. Hey, Seong-jin.”

“Oh, h-hey.”

Seong-jin and Gyu-tae looked at each other and offered awkward greetings. Na Eun-hyeok ignored their tension and spoke directly to me.

“Did you see the announcement for the S.B.D. team assignments?”

“Uh, h-huh? No?”

Stock, Bond, and Derivatives. This Economics Department course, with its terrifying name, was popular even among Business majors. It was also one of the classes Na Eun-hyeok and I took together. Of course, “together” simply meant we existed in the same room at the same time. I usually sat somewhere in the back. Na Eun-hyeok always sat in the middle of the second row. That was the literal and metaphorical distance between us.

But why was he bringing up the team project announcement now?

The S.B.D. course was graded 40% midterm, 50% final, and 10% assignment. That 10% was the team project—though “project” was a generous term; it was mostly just solving practice problems. Every two weeks, we had to solve about five problems and submit a report showing the work. Naturally, the teams were small, usually two or three people.

Wait. No way.

My bad omens never missed their mark.

“It looks like you and I are in the same group.”

What?

“But back then, I said I wouldn’t do the group…”

“Yeah, you rejected me. But I guess we ended up together anyway by coincidence.”

Yesterday, a lucky coincidence had brushed past my palm, and I thought my fate was to miss that chance. But the current situation was telling me otherwise. Whether I rejected him or not, we were destined to be in the same group.

But right now, romantic fatalism wasn’t the issue. Reality was crashing down far too hard for me to worry about destiny. How on earth did I end up on a team with Na Eun-hyeok? This group was set for the rest of the semester, and we had to meet every two weeks to solve problems. I had to meet Na Eun-hyeok every two weeks?

I hoped there was at least one other person. S.B.D. groups were often three people. I asked with a desperate heart:

“Who’s the other teammate?”

“It’s just you and me.”

I was doomed.

If there were a friend to act as a lubricant, I could just talk to them. It would be awkward, but I could manage. But doing a team project alone with Na Eun-hyeok? This was too cruel for a social disaster like Chae Eonha!

“So, about that.”

Unlike the despair-ridden me, Na Eun-hyeok looked perfectly relaxed.

“Could I have your phone number?”

“Ah, y-yeah…”

The word “no” almost made it to the tip of my tongue before I swallowed it. With trembling hands, I took Na Eun-hyeok’s phone. It was a clean, black device without a case. It hadn’t looked that big in his hand, but in mine, the screen felt huge. My dazed face was reflected in the glass.

“Just type it in and I’ll call you.”

“Uhh, okay.”

Anyone watching would think I was an idiot. Seong-jin and Gyu-tae watched me with concerned eyes as I let out zombie-like grunts, unable to form a sentence. My fingers shook as I typed 0-1-0… I was leaving my number on Na Eun-hyeok’s phone.

It might seem stupid to others, but I was dead serious. I was actually quite upset with myself. This was a chance to show my best side to the person I liked, yet all that came out of my mouth were mechanical, awkward sounds that were a billion light-years away from my true feelings. I didn’t even dare look at his face for fear of my expression stiffening again, so I handed the phone back with my head down.

“Thanks.”

His sweet, gentle voice hummed in my ears. Na Eun-hyeok’s shadow flickered pleasantly, and then my phone vibrated. The moment those eleven digits I’d never seen before appeared on my screen, I felt a literal shiver. Na Eun-hyeok’s number was in my phone.