“Hi.”
Su-yeon greeted them first.
The four male students who had entered the restaurant spotted them, too.
The guy in front raised a hand with a smile.
“Hi. This is the four-on-four meetup, right?”
“Yeah. We’re over here.”
Su-yeon gestured naturally.
Without realizing it, Yeon-ju straightened her back a little.
Jung Woo-jin.
The face she’d seen several times in the photo was right in front of her in real life.
He wasn’t as striking as she’d expected.
He wore a thin jacket over a crisp shirt, and his hair was neat.
He did have a gentle look about him, but he wasn’t all that different from the way he’d looked in the photo.
If anything, the guy walking in ahead of Woo-jin caught her eye first.
“We’re not late, are we?”
His voice was loud.
“You got here right on time.”
Su-yeon answered him.
“Thank goodness. This guy took a wrong turn.”
The guy pointed at one of his friends in the back.
“When did I?”
“You said we should go right earlier.”
“We could’ve gone that way, too.”
“After taking a ten-minute detour?”
“It was a walk.”
The conversation didn’t stop from the very beginning.
Yeon-ju relaxed a little.
She’d been worried that everyone on the other side would be stiff and awkward, but at least one of them seemed like he wouldn’t give her any reason to worry about that.
Su-yeon said, “Let’s sit down first.”
And then.
A problem came up.
A very minor problem.
But Yeon-ju noticed it right away.
The most talkative guy pulled out the chair across from Yeon-ju without a second thought.
“This one okay?”
“Yeah.”
Su-yeon answered immediately.
One of his friends sat beside him.
Then Woo-jin naturally took the next seat.
The last guy found a seat, too.
Yeon-ju looked at the table.
It was different from the seating arrangement they’d decided on beforehand.
Woo-jin was one seat over from where he was supposed to be.
As a result, there was a vague distance between Seo-jin and Woo-jin—not even a diagonal line between them.
Yeon-ju glanced at Hyeon-a.
Hyeon-a was looking at the seats, too.
Her gaze paused for the briefest moment.
But she didn’t say anything.
Su-yeon acted even more unfazed.
“We should sit, too.”
She sat in her assigned seat first.
Yeon-ju realized it.
She didn’t seem to have any intention of changing things.
‘It’s already gone off track.’
They’d seriously agonized over the seating arrangement until yesterday.
And yet less than ten seconds after the other side sat down, it had become useless.
As Yeon-ju took her seat, she remembered what Su-yeon had said yesterday.
When you have eight people together, there are so many variables.
The first variable really had arrived sooner than expected.
They started with brief introductions.
“I’m Kang Su-yeon. I’m a third-year psychology major.”
After Su-yeon began, everyone followed in order from beside her.
“I’m Jo Hyeon-a, a second-year Korean literature major.”
It was Yeon-ju’s turn.
“I’m Lee Yeon-ju. I’m a freshman business administration major.”
Her voice came out quieter than she’d expected.
The male student across from her said, “You’re a freshman?”
“Yeah.”
“We don’t have any freshmen on our side.”
Not knowing whether to smile, Yeon-ju awkwardly lifted the corners of her mouth.
Finally, Seo-jin introduced herself.
“I’m Park Seo-jin... I’m a first-year media communications major.”
At that moment, Woo-jin looked at Seo-jin.
“Media comm?”
Seo-jin’s shoulders stiffened just a little.
“Yeah.”
“We’re in the same major.”
“...Yeah.”
That was it.
Yeon-ju screamed internally.
‘No, you’re supposed to say more.’
But she couldn’t say that out loud.
Seo-jin lowered her gaze, and Woo-jin looked away, too.
It was too short to count as a first conversation.
Still, it was one sentence more than their previous meeting, which had ended with a single greeting.
Yeon-ju decided to think of it that way.
The introductions from the other side continued.
The most talkative one was Choi Min-seok.
A second-year media communications major.
The friend beside him was Kim Tae-hyun.
A second-year in the same major.
And Jung Woo-jin.
The last one, from a different major, was Park Jun-ho.
It matched what Do-hee had confirmed for them.
Yeon-ju matched the names to the seats in her head.
Min-seok.
Tae-hyun.
Woo-jin.
Jun-ho.
‘Confirmed facts.’
She wasn’t writing anything down, but they were automatically sorted into categories in her mind.
Min-seok said with a smile, “So, who set this up first?”
Yeon-ju’s heart lurched.
Seo-jin’s face stiffened, too.
But Su-yeon answered so easily.
“Through someone we know.”
“Oh, Do-hee?”
Min-seok said it.
This time, Yeon-ju was the one who was surprised.
Su-yeon didn’t even blink.
“You know Do-hee?”
“Not personally. Through a friend of a friend.”
“Small world.”
Su-yeon smiled.
That was as far as it went.
Nothing about ILY.
Nothing about Seo-jin’s request.
Min-seok didn’t seem all that curious, and soon brought up another topic.
“But if you’re a psychology major, can you tell everyone’s personality just by looking at them?”
Su-yeon smiled.
“I get that question all the time.”
“You can’t?”
“Then I wouldn’t have to study for exams.”
“Psychology majors study for exams, too?”
“What did you think our major was just now?”
Laughter burst out around the table.
Yeon-ju laughed along.
Su-yeon naturally went back and forth with Min-seok.
They talked about their majors.
Their class schedules for the semester.
The menu at the student cafeteria.
Their first group project of the new semester.
The conversation continued with nothing particularly special about it.
And yet, strangely, the silences never lasted long.
Min-seok did most of the talking.
Su-yeon kept up with him.
Jun-ho occasionally joined in, and Hyeon-a added a word or two when necessary.
Tae-hyun mostly listened with a smile.
Woo-jin was similar.
And.
Seo-jin barely spoke at all.
Yeon-ju watched Seo-jin fidgeting with her fingers under the table.
She was exactly the same as during their preparations.
No.
She was even more rigid than then.
‘What do I do?’
The conversation topics they’d prepared yesterday flashed through her mind.
Videos.
Life in their majors.
Campus events.
But none of them came up.
The conversation was heading in an entirely different direction.
Because Min-seok had started talking about the sports festival.
“Our major got knocked out in the first round of the soccer preliminaries last year.”
Su-yeon asked, “What was the score?”
“Seven to zero.”
“That’s not getting knocked out...”
“We got massacred.”
More laughter.
Seo-jin laughed quietly, too.
But she didn’t get a chance to talk to Woo-jin.
Yeon-ju glanced at Hyeon-a.
Hyeon-a was calm as usual.
The only difference was that she was slowly tapping a finger against the rim of her cup.
It seemed to be a habit she had when thinking through a plan.
Su-yeon and Hyeon-a’s eyes met briefly.
Very briefly.
Then Su-yeon said, “But if you’re in media communications, do you make videos for the festival, too?”
Yeon-ju’s eyes widened slightly.
Videos.
Hyeon-a looked at Su-yeon, too.
Min-seok answered, “We make a lot. Whenever there’s a department event, we’re practically worked to death.”
“Who’s good at it?”
“Woo-jin’s pretty good.”
Min-seok pointed to the side.
Woo-jin immediately shook his head.
“What do you mean, ‘pretty good’?”
“He’s in a small production group.”
“Why are you the one telling my story?”
“I’m promoting you.”
Su-yeon looked at Woo-jin.
“Do you like making videos?”
“I joined because I liked it.”
Woo-jin smiled.
“But now that I’ve tried it, there are a lot of nights we stay up all night, so I’m starting to regret it.”
“And you’re still doing it?”
“It is fun, though.”
Yeon-ju looked at Seo-jin.
Seo-jin was looking at Woo-jin, too.
But she couldn’t seem to get any words out.
This was it.
The topic they’d prepared.
Seo-jin had filmed videos before, too.
Yeon-ju almost opened her mouth.
‘Didn’t you say Seo-jin has filmed videos before, too?’
It was the sentence Hyeon-a had used as an example just yesterday.
And Hyeon-a had immediately said afterward,
You can’t do it that directly.
It’ll be way too obvious.
Yeon-ju closed her mouth.
‘Then what am I supposed to do?’
Once Woo-jin finished talking, the topic would move on again.
The opportunity wouldn’t last long.
Min-seok said, “I can’t make videos. Whenever I film something, my shaky hands turn it into a disaster movie.”
Jun-ho laughed.
“Your hands aren’t the only reason you can’t film.”
“Why are you attacking me personally?”
The conversation was about to drift in another direction again.
For a moment, Yeon-ju thought, If I bring up Seo-jin directly, it’ll be obvious.
Then.
What if I started with myself?
“I’m really bad at filming videos.”
Yeon-ju spoke.
She was a little surprised only after she heard her own voice come out.
Everyone looked at her.
For a moment, she wanted to run away.
But she continued.
“Whenever I film with my friends, they always scold me because I shake the camera.”
Min-seok reacted immediately.
“Then we’re in the same major.”
“I’m a business administration major.”
“The business administration major of the heart.”
Yeon-ju laughed.
Seo-jin laughed beside her, too.
Yeon-ju looked that way.
Then, pretending to be as casual as possible, she said, “But didn’t you say you’ve filmed videos before, Seo-jin?”
A brief silence.
Yeon-ju felt her heart pounding inside her chest.
‘Was that too obvious?’
Seo-jin looked just as surprised.
But perhaps because Yeon-ju had brought up her own story first, the question didn’t sound completely out of nowhere.
“Oh.”
Seo-jin spoke.
“A little, back in high school.”
Woo-jin turned his head.
“Really?”
“Yeah. With my friends... just something short.”
“What did you film?”
This time, Woo-jin asked first.
Yeon-ju kept her mouth shut.
Good.
That was enough.
The rest was up to Seo-jin.
Seo-jin still looked nervous, but she answered slowly.
“We made a short video to screen at our school festival.”
“What kind?”
“We walked around the school with our friends... kind of like a vlog.”
“Did you edit it, too?”
“A little.”
“Using what?”
“Premiere.”
Woo-jin’s expression changed.
Not dramatically.
But he looked a little more interested than he had a moment ago.
“You started with Premiere?”
“A friend taught me.”
“That’s really hard to use when you’re starting out.”
“Exactly.”
Seo-jin smiled.
“I kept putting the captions in weird places, so my friend had to fix them.”
“Everyone’s like that at first.”
Woo-jin smiled, too.
The conversation continued.
Yeon-ju quietly watched the two of them.
Seo-jin’s shoulders had lowered a little.
She wasn’t gripping her bag strap anymore, either.
Woo-jin had turned his body slightly toward Seo-jin.
Confirmed fact.
Yeon-ju recorded it in her head.
Woo-jin asked the follow-up questions first.
Seo-jin kept answering.
The conversation flowed naturally around their shared topic of video production.
And.
I don’t need to jump in anymore.
Yeon-ju picked up her glass of water.
Only then did she realize she was thirsty.
Min-seok, sitting across from them, said, “But if you’re in the same major, didn’t you already know each other?”
Seo-jin’s hand stopped again.
Woo-jin glanced at Seo-jin, too.
Yeon-ju’s heart dropped.
Su-yeon set down her cup.
“If everyone in the same major knew each other, Yeon-ju here would have to memorize a thousand people in business administration.”
Yeon-ju immediately said, “There aren’t a thousand people in our major.”
“It was an analogy.”
“You exaggerated way too much.”
Min-seok laughed.
“Do you know everyone in psychology, too?”
“No. I sometimes mix up my classmates’ names, too.”
“That’s a little harsh.”
“I recognize them when I see their faces.”
“What about their names?”
“I might remember when I see them.”
“That means you don’t know them.”
The conversation naturally shifted back toward Su-yeon.
Only then did Yeon-ju let out the breath she’d been holding.
At the moment when Seo-jin and Woo-jin’s relationship seemed about to be exposed too quickly, Su-yeon had casually steered the conversation in another direction.
She hadn’t made it obvious at all.
Seo-jin’s briefly tense expression relaxed again, too.
Hyeon-a gave Yeon-ju the slightest glance.
Yeon-ju couldn’t tell exactly what it meant.
Still, for some reason, she felt as if she’d been praised.
Once the food arrived, the atmosphere became much more comfortable.
When there was food to eat, it wasn’t awkward if the conversation paused for a bit.
Yeon-ju thought that helped quite a lot.
Min-seok was still the most talkative one.
“Who ordered this?”
“We all picked it together.”
Tae-hyun answered.
“Oh, right.”
“That was ten minutes ago.”
“My short-term memory’s not great.”
Su-yeon immediately asked, “Are you trying to get a diagnosis from a psychology major?”
“Is that possible?”
“Go to a hospital.”
Min-seok burst out laughing.
Woo-jin laughed beside him, too.
Seo-jin was now looking at everyone’s faces much more naturally than she had at first.
It still seemed difficult for her to speak to Woo-jin first.
But she wasn’t avoiding the conversation anymore.
Then Hyeon-a said, “Do media communications majors have a lot of assignments?”
Tae-hyun immediately sighed.
“A lot.”
“What kind?”
“There are videos, and a lot of presentations, too.”
Woo-jin said, “I have a team project this semester, and I’m already scared.”
Yeon-ju responded, “We have a team project, too.”
“Business administration has a lot, too, right?”
“We already got one in the first week.”
“Wow.”
“They said it’s market analysis.”
Min-seok said, “Then we’ll be your consumers.”
“We haven’t even decided what we’re selling.”
“I’ll buy pretty much anything.”
“That means you probably wouldn’t be much help with market analysis.”
Yeon-ju was a little surprised at herself after answering.
She was talking back to people she’d just met.
Su-yeon glanced at her from beside her.
Her eyes were smiling.
Yeon-ju deliberately pretended not to notice.
At that moment, Seo-jin asked Woo-jin, “Are you doing a video project this semester, too?”
Yeon-ju turned her head.
Seo-jin had spoken first.
It was the first time.
Woo-jin answered, “Yeah. We haven’t decided on a topic yet.”
“With your small group?”
“No. For a major class.”
“What kind of video are you making?”
“We have total freedom, so I’m still trying to figure it out.”
Seo-jin nodded.
“That sounds fun.”
“It might not be fun if you do it with me.”
“Why not?”
“If your teammates disappear on you.”
Seo-jin laughed.
“It’s the same everywhere, I guess.”
“You’re a freshman and you already know that?”
“I’ve started a group project.”
“Already?”
“Yeah.”
The two of them laughed.
Yeon-ju said nothing.
Neither did Su-yeon.
Or Hyeon-a.
This time, none of them pushed the conversation along.
There was no need.
Seo-jin had started it herself.
And Woo-jin had picked it up.
The conversation after that continued between the two of them on its own.
Only then did Yeon-ju begin to understand.
So this was the kind of opportunity ILY created.
Creating a flow beside someone so they could get a word out once.
But not saying the next sentence for them.
You could help someone right up until the moment they opened their mouth.
But opening it was ultimately up to them.
The problem came from an unexpected direction.
“Should we switch seats once?”
Min-seok suddenly said.
Yeon-ju’s hand stopped.
Hyeon-a’s eyes widened just slightly, too.
“Why?”
When Jun-ho asked, Min-seok said, “We keep talking over here. That way we can talk to the people on the other side, too.”
It was a good idea.
Too good, which was the problem.
It was much earlier than the seat-switching timing Hyeon-a had originally planned.
And more importantly.
Min-seok stood up first.
“I’ll go over here.”
He got up from across from Su-yeon and moved to the seat across from Hyeon-a.
Tae-hyun followed him.
Jun-ho changed seats with a smile, too.
Even Woo-jin stood up naturally.
It happened in an instant.
Yeon-ju stared blankly.
‘Wait.’
The new seats.
Where was Woo-jin going to sit?
The chairs moved around.
While everyone laughed and switched places,
Woo-jin grabbed one of the empty chairs.
Right across from Seo-jin.
Yeon-ju’s eyes went wide.
The seat Hyeon-a had planned from the beginning wasn’t directly across from her.
The idea had been to move closer naturally once the atmosphere had loosened up enough.
But now.
Much sooner than planned.
Without anyone leading him there.
Woo-jin sat directly across from Seo-jin.
Seo-jin froze.
Completely.
Yeon-ju could tell from her face.
This wasn’t part of the plan.
Su-yeon looked at Seo-jin, too.
So did Hyeon-a.
But no one moved right away.
Woo-jin had no way of knowing any of that.
He simply sat down and said, “Is it okay if I sit here?”
Seo-jin opened her mouth.
“Yeah.”
Her voice was too quiet.
Maybe Woo-jin hadn’t heard her, because he tilted his head.
“Hm?”
Seo-jin drew in a breath.
Then she spoke a little louder.
“Yeah. It’s okay.”
Woo-jin smiled.
“Good.”
Under the table, Yeon-ju lightly clenched her hands.
Should I help?
Should I throw out a topic?
Then her eyes met Su-yeon’s.
Su-yeon gave the slightest shake of her head.
Don’t.
That was how Yeon-ju understood it.
So she waited.
A few seconds passed.
Seo-jin touched her water glass.
Woo-jin served himself a little food, too.
A brief silence.
For no reason, Yeon-ju grew even more nervous.
And then.
Seo-jin spoke first.
“Hey.”
“Yeah?”
“That video you mentioned earlier.”
“The project?”
“Yeah.”
Seo-jin paused to take a breath, then said, “Could I see it sometime after it’s finished?”
Yeon-ju’s eyes widened slightly.
It wasn’t a line they’d prepared.
It wasn’t a question ILY had taught her, either.
It was something Seo-jin had thought of and said herself.
Woo-jin looked surprised for a moment, too.
Then he smiled.
“After it’s finished?”
“Yeah.”
“What if it’s terrible?”
Seo-jin smiled, too.
“Then I’ll be even more curious.”
“That’s harsh.”
“You’re the one who said it would be terrible.”
“I mean, it’s only terrible from my perspective.”
“Then maybe it won’t be terrible when someone else watches it.”
Woo-jin looked at Seo-jin for a moment.
Then he smiled.
“Maybe not.”
The conversation continued again.
Yeon-ju slowly exhaled.
This wasn’t a seat Hyeon-a had created.
It wasn’t a topic Su-yeon had created.
It wasn’t a sentence Yeon-ju had connected for them.
If anything, it was a seat that had appeared outside the plan.
And yet it was the most natural things had felt so far.
For the first time, Yeon-ju thought she understood for sure.
A plan going off track wasn’t necessarily a failure.
When people moved, the plan had to move, too.
And sometimes.
Doing nothing could be the best help of all.
Su-yeon started talking to Min-seok again with an unfazed expression.
Hyeon-a naturally joined the conversation from her new seat, too.
Neither of them paid any particular attention to Seo-jin and Woo-jin.
Yeon-ju followed their example.
But she kept her ears slightly open.
She could hear Seo-jin laughing from beside her.
It sounded much more natural than before.
Yeon-ju took a sip of water.
The first plan had gone off track as soon as it began.
The second plan had disappeared much sooner than expected.
And yet.
Strangely, things were getting better than they had been at the start.
Yeon-ju glanced toward Seo-jin.
This time, Seo-jin was the one talking first.
Woo-jin listened and smiled.
Yeon-ju turned her gaze forward again.
There was nothing else she needed to do.
At least for now.
The first request was moving forward little by little,
outside the plan.