My Stalking Diary

Chapter 30

The presentation for the Culture and Arts Industry Business Model class was successful. Choi Kyung-won seemed comfortable standing in front of the students, delivering the presentation and even throwing in jokes at appropriate times.

He answered questions smoothly. Joo Kwon-oh explained to me, who was amazed, that in the Business Administration department, they have so many team projects that they’re used to giving presentations.

After confirming the professor’s satisfied expression, Choi Kyung-won returned to his seat, grinning and fist-bumping Joo Kwon-oh. Choi Kyung-won also seemed pleased with his own presentation.

However, the next group faced difficulties from the start. The presenter had brought the wrong USB and had to go fetch the correct one. The professor graciously decided to resume class after a five-minute break.

During this awkward pause, Choi Kyung-won turned to me and asked:

“Jeong-ha. Do you have any more exams left?”

“I’m all done.”

“Huh? Really? Even your major exams are finished?”

“For my major, practical work replaces midterms, so there are no separate exams.”

“That’s sweet.”

“No wonder Jeong-ha oppa looked so relaxed. We have to take exams for everything.”

Shin Ji-ye also showed a similar reaction to Choi Kyung-won, looking at me with envious eyes.

“Same for us. The tiresome Business Administration department.”

“By the way, where did Kwon-oh oppa go?”

“To smoke.”

“That oppa is diligent too.”

“Anyway, he’s quite the heavy smoker, that guy. Oh, about our after-party on Friday. Is it okay if a few more people from our department join?”

“Suddenly?”

Shin Ji-ye asked back, puzzled by the question of whether it was okay to include people we didn’t know.

“There are a lot of guys who go crazy for drinking gatherings. It became awkward trying to schedule with everyone individually.”

“Hmm. What if it’s awkward?”

Thankfully, Shin Ji-ye voiced my concerns. However, Choi Kyung-won shook his head as if to say not to worry.

“If it’s just us, Ji-ye, you’d be the only girl. Wouldn’t it be awkward for you to be stuck between male seniors? It’ll be more comfortable if some girls from our department join too.”

“…Will it be okay with people we don’t know?”

I cautiously added my concerns.

“We can introduce everyone and get to know each other that day.”

It was an incomprehensible answer. How can you become close on the first meeting? It would be awkward enough drinking with strangers. Besides, wouldn’t it be tiring if there are too many people?

As I was considering how to politely decline, Choi Kyung-won lowered his voice with a playful expression.

“And actually, this might be TMI… but there’s a girl in our department named Seo Yu-jung…”

To summarize Choi Kyung-won’s explanation, there was a girl in their department who liked Joo Kwon-oh, and he wanted to create a natural opportunity for them to talk at the after-party.

“Ah, that sounds fun! We’ll get to see Kwon-oh oppa’s potential romance firsthand.”

“Totally possible. Yu-jung has been asking me to help her out for a while, but the timing never seemed right. Joo Kwon-oh kept playing hard to get. What do you think? Sounds interesting, right?”

“Absolutely. How many more people are coming?”

“Probably three or four? We’ll have to see when we get there.”

Shin Ji-ye betrayed me and was easily persuaded by Choi Kyung-won’s smooth talk…

Well, not many people would want to miss out on such gossip. Only extremely introverted people like me would be reluctant.

“Is that okay with you, Jeong-ha?”

“…Yeah.”

I answered reluctantly. In the end, they were asking me to be a supporting character to help push Joo Kwon-oh’s romance.

Despite my answer just now, I suddenly don’t want to go.

“If you guys want to invite friends too, feel free to do so.”

“We don’t have many gatherings in the Culture Department, so we don’t drink much. I’m always the only one who feels left out.”

“That’s great then. Everyone in our department has a good personality, so it’ll be fun.”

The extroverts, completely unaware of my growing fatigue, excitedly planned the Friday after-party.

*

Maybe I shouldn’t go to the after-party after all.

I thought this countless times while eating lunch, painting in the studio, attending classes, and lying in my apartment.

No matter how I looked at it, it didn’t seem like a place for me. The pretext was celebrating the successful completion of our liberal arts group project, but the essence was just socializing for the Business Administration department.

On top of that, there was the added purpose of helping push the girl who liked Joo Kwon-oh.

If Choi Kyung-won openly tries to set the mood and place the female classmate next to Joo Kwon-oh, how would he react?

When we drank alone, he paid attention to me, but at a drinking party with girls interested in him, of course, he wouldn’t.

Besides, Joo Kwon-oh is always favorable towards women. If they suggest meeting separately, he would definitely accept. In fact, quite a few female classmates had already gotten his number in the lecture hall.

I can already vividly imagine what will happen on Friday. Joo Kwon-oh sitting face to face with another woman, drinking, laughing heartily at a few jokes, losing a game and ending up in a funny situation, and them developing mutual feelings.

But do I really have to be there? I would only be allowed the role of clapping without saying a word in front of the main couple. It’s obvious I’ll only get hurt…

[Joo Kwon-oh: What are you doing?]

I was just deciding to make an excuse and skip the after-party on the day of. Struggling with my doubts, I barely escaped from the pit of emotions thanks to Joo Kwon-oh’s message.

[Joo Kwon-oh: Are you busy with exams?]

[Joo Kwon-oh: ?]

Recently, he often initiated conversations with me. The topics were usually trivial.

I had just finished showering and was drying my hair with a towel before bed when I checked my glowing phone screen and got excited. Every time Joo Kwon-oh sent me a KakaoTalk message, it felt like a basketball was bouncing in my chest.

But today, I felt both happy and depressed. It was because I kept remembering what Choi Kyung-won had said.

Even if I like Joo Kwon-oh, even if Joo Kwon-oh shows some interest in me, the person who ends up with him will probably be the female classmate Choi Kyung-won is fully supporting.

Childish and foolish jealousy. I didn’t want to fall into this obvious quagmire.

[Me: Not busy]

I hesitated before sending a slightly delayed reply. Then came a quick response.

[Joo Kwon-oh: Dinner?]

[Me: I ate. You?]

[Joo Kwon-oh: Me too lol]

[Joo Kwon-oh: (Photo)]

I immediately checked the photo Joo Kwon-oh sent. It seemed to be taken at a restaurant, with the table full of abundant dishes. It looked like he ate with friends, not alone.

“…”

Even this photo made me uneasy now.

Although faces weren’t visible, I could roughly see that there were other people beside him.

Were there women too? Probably. This thought came first.

Feeling deflated, I stared at the chat window for a long time, not knowing how to respond.

[Joo Kwon-oh: See you on Friday]

[Joo Kwon-oh: Good night]

When I didn’t reply anymore, Joo Kwon-oh said goodbye first. Feeling pathetic for being so uninteresting even in KakaoTalk, I wrote a reply.

[Me: Good night to you too]

*

Friday.

I ended up coming after all.

My mind kept flip-flopping between “I shouldn’t go” and “I should go,” which made me leave late.

When I checked the time, I had already missed the meeting time by twenty minutes.

[Joo Kwon-oh: Where are you?]

[Joo Kwon-oh: ?]

[Ji-ye♥: Why isn’t Jeong-ha oppa here yet?]

[Choi Kyungwon: Did you get lost?]

[Ji-ye♥: Hurry upㅜㅜㅠㅠㅜ]

Reading the KakaoTalk messages in the group chat, I sheepishly rubbed my neck. Then, after taking a deep breath in front of the building, I went in.

I could see Joo Kwon-oh, Choi Kyung-won, and Shin Ji-ye already seated around a large table, chatting. Besides them, there were three unfamiliar faces – one woman and two men. They must be the Business Administration students Choi Kyung-won mentioned.

“Oh? Jeong-ha oppa is here.”

“Ryu Jeong-ha! We sent you KakaoTalk messages but you didn’t reply, we thought something had happened.”

Choi Kyung-won gestured for me to come and sit quickly. As I hesitantly approached slowly, Joo Kwon-oh stood up from his seat.

“Sit over here. Hey, you guys, move out.”

“Why? He can just sit in the empty seat.”

“This guy can’t drink well, so we need to seat him by the wall.”

“What does that have to do with sitting at the end?”

Choi Kyung-won grumbled, unable to understand Joo Kwon-oh’s strange logic.

“And Jeong-ha doesn’t talk much. He’ll get tired if he’s stuck between the noisy ones.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yeah. All the art students are quiet.”

“That’s true.”

What kind of conversation is this? Unlike me, who was dumbfounded and felt like laughing in disbelief, this time it seemed to sound like a reasonably persuasive argument, as Choi Kyung-won willingly gave up his seat.