The pleasantly cool weather passed in the blink of an eye, and before long, the season arrived when people pulled their collars tight against the cold wind.
Eun Hyeonchae still followed Nam Seonwoo everywhere, and Seonwoo no longer tried to stop him.
“Ah…… Senior.”
At the cold sensation that landed on the tip of his nose and vanished, Hyeonchae let out a quiet sound of wonder. Seonwoo followed his gaze upward and saw white snowflakes falling from the sky.
“It’s the first snow of the year.”
It was already winter. Seonwoo murmured the thought aloud, then turned to the side when Hyeonchae’s silence struck him as strange.
Hyeonchae was opening and closing his hand, his face tense.
His intentions were so obvious that Seonwoo snorted and pretended not to notice, slipping his hands into his pockets. A faint, disappointed sigh followed, barely loud enough to hear.
Apparently giving up on his plan to secretly hold Seonwoo’s hand, Hyeonchae answered a moment too late.
“It’s my first time seeing the first snow.”
“It falls every year. How can this be your first time?”
“I never even knew when it first fell. It never meant anything to me.”
Did he even understand what he was saying?
Seonwoo stared at him after that brazen answer, and Hyeonchae’s clear eyes turned toward him.
Perhaps because it was snowing, Hyeonchae’s clothes looked unusually thin today. When Seonwoo asked whether he was cold, Hyeonchae shook his head and answered quietly.
“……I think I like it when it snows.”
“Yeah. I never knew it was this pretty. Me too.”
“Didn’t you see a lot of snow, senior?”
“It’s my first time seeing it with you.”
Hyeonchae silently turned his head as though trying to hide the way his face had instantly flushed pink. He pretended to play with snowflakes that melted the moment they touched his hand.
Seonwoo laughed softly at how cute he looked, but his gaze lingered for a long time on Hyeonchae’s particularly full lips.
* * *
Seonwoo glanced at Eun Hyeonchae, who was sitting diagonally across from him.
Hyeonchae’s gaze was fixed on his laptop beneath his thick eyelashes. Seonwoo watched his slightly tense brows and tightly closed lips for a moment, then quietly stood up.
He had not made a sound, yet Hyeonchae immediately lifted his head. Without hesitation, he closed his laptop and stood as well.
The moment they stepped outside the reading room, Hyeonchae asked,
“Where are you going?”
“To smoke for a minute. I’ll be right back, so why did you follow me?”
Seonwoo already knew Hyeonchae would not go back inside just because he told him to, so he said nothing more. He bought a drink from the vending machine and pressed it into Hyeonchae’s hand.
Perhaps because it was exam season, the smoking areas around the library were especially crowded. Seonwoo could not bring a nonsmoker like Hyeonchae into that hazy raccoon den, so they ended up walking quite a distance away.
The moment Seonwoo put a cigarette between his lips, Hyeonchae held out a lighter.
They had repeated the act dozens of times by now, and both had grown used to it. These days, whenever Hyeonchae was around, Seonwoo did not even bother taking out his own lighter.
He looked down at Hyeonchae, who sat quietly on the bench with the drink in his hand as though his work was done.
“You were studying hard.”
“……I worked harder because you were there, senior.”
At the immediate reply, Seonwoo could not hold back his laughter. He could never seem to get used to Hyeonchae’s unadorned sincerity striking him so directly.
“Next week, stop following me around and study for your own exams.”
“Following you around won’t affect my grades.”
The words, Look at you bragging, rose all the way to Seonwoo’s lips. He gave Hyeonchae an incredulous look.
“Other than two major classes, I have exams all next week. I don’t even know when they’ll end. Are you planning to wait outside the whole time?”
“……Am I not allowed to?”
Hyeonchae glanced at him cautiously, clearly having intended to do exactly that.
With the hand not holding the cigarette, Seonwoo gently pressed down on his head and stroked his hair.
“I won’t be able to take my exams with that kind of pressure. Don’t be stubborn. Don’t come next week.”
“…….”
“I’ll buy you a drink when the semester ends.”
Their eyes met, and Seonwoo slightly raised one eyebrow. At the gesture demanding an answer, Hyeonchae nodded with a bright expression.
* * *
After finishing his final exam, Seonwoo headed to the club room.
Around twenty people had already gathered. With the ski camp now less than two weeks away, everyone seemed to have plenty to do.
“We’ve chartered the buses, and the groups have all been assigned.”
“What about the room assignments?”
“We still haven’t received all the applications and consent forms. We told everyone to submit them by the end of this week. We have plenty of rooms, so once we get those, it won’t take long to divide everyone up.”
“Right. Since it’s exam season, let’s not rush things too much this week…… Nam Seonwoo!”
Iwon, who had been speaking with Donggeon, spotted Seonwoo and waved happily.
Seonwoo walked over to him and casually flipped through the piles of paper. They were densely filled with schedules, checklists, and lists of necessary supplies.
“You’re here early. Did your exam go well?”
“Probably.”
“Didn’t you attend every class this time too? Wow, now that we’re juniors, I’m actually getting to see Nam Seonwoo manage his grades.”
It was less about managing his grades and more that he, too, had worked harder because Eun Hyeonchae was watching.
Until now, Seonwoo had usually considered skipping one or two classes on his own to be basic courtesy and had been careless about attendance. He merely smiled without saying anything.
“Is there anything I need to do?”
When Seonwoo looked around and asked, Iwon took his wrist and pulled him down into the seat beside him.
“You’re coming somewhere with me. The group outfits are finished, so we need to go to the factory and check the samples. This will be done soon…… Let’s leave at four. You don’t have anything today, right?”
At Iwon’s casual question, Seonwoo nodded just as naturally and set down his bag.
“Take your time.”
With so many people participating, there was a great deal that needed to be prepared in advance.
While the officers filled out permission forms on one side of the room, Seonwoo gathered with the younger members and helped with miscellaneous tasks such as cutting name tags and folding information sheets.
Because the work was repetitive, they chatted casually as they went. During that time, Seonwoo overheard two sophomores talking to his right.
“Hey, did you hear? We have the most new members out of all the clubs this year.”
“No way. More than Union and CDB?”
“Yeah!! The rumor that Eun Hyeonchae joined spread, so ten more people signed up even after the new-member welcome party. I thought half of them would quit before camp, but only three left.”
“Now that you mention it, people in my department suddenly started asking whether I was in the ski club. They wanted to ask about Eun Hyeonchae.”
At the repeated mention of Hyeonchae’s name, Seonwoo could not hide his interest.
“Hyeonchae must be popular.”
At the sudden question, Sujeong, who had been in the middle of the conversation, turned toward him with wide eyes.
“Yes. Extremely. You’re in Business, right, senior? No one in Fine Arts or Agriculture, which are close to the College of Humanities, doesn’t know Eun Hyeonchae. I was shocked that so many people in Schuphur didn’t know him.”
“Ah.”
Seonwoo’s department and Hyeonchae’s were located at opposite ends of campus, and even the entrances and bus routes they usually used were different.
He had already known that, but being reminded of it made Seonwoo fiddle with his phone. He could not help feeling concerned when he thought about Hyeonchae crossing that long distance every time.
At Sujeong’s words, Jinsol’s mouth fell open.
“What? Yang Sujeong! You should’ve told us something like that earlier. You kept him all to yourself until now? We lost three whole semesters!”
“It would’ve been weird to bring it up for no reason. Anyway, he was famous for never participating in department activities. He barely spoke, only attended class, then left immediately. You could count on one hand the number of people who had ever spoken to him. But after joining Schuphur, he started showing up at school every day. Everyone keeps asking what on earth Schuphur does to make him act like that…….”
“We haven’t done anything yet.”
“Exactly. It’s fucking awkward.”
As Sujeong and Jinsol burst into laughter, Jiyeong joined in from beside them.
“There are sightings posted on the Korea University community every day too. People say two handsome guys are always walking around together. Sometimes they even post what they ate at the cafeteria.”
“Ugh, I hate stuff like that. No matter how handsome they are, they’re still ordinary people. Have they completely thrown privacy out the window?”
Seonwoo also looked baffled by something he had known nothing about, then glanced at his phone when it vibrated in his hand.
“But the really weird thing is, someone added up all the sightings of Eun Hyeonchae and got forty credits. Does that even make sense?”
“Forty credits? Puhahaha. Of course it doesn’t. Either they calculated it wrong, or some of the sightings were fake.”
“True. You have to ignore at least half the posts on there.”
“……Hello. Yes, Hyung.”
Seonwoo gestured to the younger members that he was stepping out to take the call and stood up.
“You said the camp location hadn’t been decided last time. What happened?”
“We decided on Inun.”
Dongjin let out a disappointed groan, paused for a moment, then spoke.
“The twins called yesterday, and so did Madam Jin’s side. They want me to book you.”
“Already?”
“Yeah. They were worried someone else would snatch you up, so they called this early! But how could you be so heartless and run off to Inun?”
It had not even been Seonwoo’s decision, yet he had somehow ended up in an awkward position.
Apparently noticing his hesitation, Dongjin abandoned all dignity and began pleading.
“Seonwoo-ah. Teach them, huh? Huh?”
“It’s not that simple…… Ha…… You haven’t told them I’m going to Inun yet, right?”
“It’s your business. I can’t say something like that without your permission.”
“Once the camp schedule is finalized, I’ll contact you first. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“All right. You have to call me by next week!”
After ending the call, Seonwoo sighed involuntarily.
It was not that he could not understand Dongjin’s position.
The camp schedule would be busy, but that was mainly from a freshman’s perspective. Seonwoo had always only shown his face when necessary, so he could probably find time somehow.
Even so, the reason he kept refusing was simply……
He did not want to make personal plans while he was somewhere with Iwon.
Nothing could ever take priority over Iwon.
When Seonwoo returned to the club room, the work was apparently already finished. Iwon was coming out with Seonwoo’s bag as well.
“Where were you?”
“I stepped out to take a call.”
“Who called?”
“Dongjin Hyung. He asked whether I could work during the trip.”
“Ah, Hwang Dongjin…… What did you say?”
“Nothing. It wasn’t important.”
“Did you say you’d do it?”
At Iwon’s unusually persistent questioning, Seonwoo gave him a look as though wondering why he cared so much and answered casually.
“I told him I couldn’t.”
“Good.”
Only then did Iwon smile.
* * *
By the time they drove in Iwon’s car to the factory in Cheonan and finished the inspection, it was already eight o’clock.
Seonwoo tried to estimate what time he would arrive home, then spoke to Iwon.
“I’ll drive on the way back.”
“Okay. Aren’t you hungry? Let’s eat before we go. We’re not in a hurry.”
Seonwoo’s exams were over, and it was already past dinnertime, so he was hungry too. He readily nodded.
However, the moment they entered the restaurant, Iwon sat down, ordered soju, and handed him a glass. Seonwoo finally shook his head.
“I’m good. I have to drive.”
“We can sleep here and leave tomorrow.”