The Black Knight
Somi, who had been nibbling away at the cucumber that came with her grilled pollack roe, froze mid-bite. Around her, the reactions burst out one after another — Wait, what? Didn't those two break up ages ago?
"That's what I thought too. But Bae Ye-ri cornered Hwi-young and looked about two seconds from crying. The mood was so toxic I couldn't even breathe. Break up? Please. There's clearly still something there."
"Oh my god, so the rumor's true. Hwi-young's been attached at the hip with Ji-na sunbae in the directing crew lately, and Ye-ri's losing her mind over it and clinging to him again."
"Ha, honestly, finding out who Kwon Hwi-young's next campus couple is going to be is my biggest source of dopamine these days."
Somi quietly set the cucumber in her hand down on her napkin. The same cucumber that had been so crisp and refreshing only moments ago somehow tasted fishy and bitter now.
There was absolutely no reason for gossip like this to rattle her. What was there between Kwon Hwi-young and her, anyway? She had even resolved to fold away her feelings and give up on him cleanly, hadn't she? And yet the way one corner of her chest kept churning — that had to be the work of hormones and nothing more.
"Oh, so this is where you guys are."
Just as the table was being picked clean of side dishes, the pub door swung open and a crowd of grim-faced bastards poked their heads in. Somi's classmates.
The atmosphere naturally shifted toward them squeezing in at the table, and the moment one of them, wedging himself into the cramped space, met Somi's eyes, he pointed at her and shouted.
"Oh right, Kwak Som-i! Hwi-young sunbae was looking for you like crazy earlier. I think he's got something to say to you."
Silence dropped over the table in an instant.
"Hwi-young sunbae? Looking for Somi? Why?"
Seo-kyeong set down her fork, eyes going wide. In Hui-ju's and Ye-ji's gazes, bewilderment and curiosity sparkled together. And no wonder — Kwon Hwi-young and Kwak Som-i. Wasn't that a pairing with less in common than the earth and the moon? You could scrub your eyes raw and never find a point of contact.
"…Me? Why?"
Somi put on the most blankly bewildered expression she could muster, playing dumb as hard as she could. Her heart was hammering so hard it felt ready to punch through her ribs, but on the outside she wore the face of someone hearing the news for the very first time.
"Beats me. I ran into him in front of the production office earlier, and he was asking where you were, said your name and everything. He seemed kind of urgent, actually. Did you do something to tick him off?"
The classmate's oblivious elaboration sent cold sweat running down Somi's spine.
Why would he be looking for me? He's the one who asked for three days. Less than two days in, and he's looking for me — urgently, no less?
Something felt wrong. No matter how hard she turned it over, her thoughts wouldn't flow in a positive direction. Because there was exactly one reason Kwon Hwi-young could have for seeking her out. Somi clenched the fork in her hand even tighter, not noticing the marks she was carving into her own palm.
Fortunately, the moment Kwon Hwi-young's name came up, the attention fixed on Somi died down just as quickly. The topic of conversation slid over to the rumor that Hwi-young and Ham Ji-na were one step away from dating. At this point, it wouldn't have surprised her to learn the whole table couldn't drink without Kwon Hwi-young as their side dish.
Eventually, once the mood had ripened, the drinking game began — as inevitably as night follows day.
"Somi! Stop zoning out and spread those fingers. The game's starting."
At Seo-kyeong's shout, Somi startled and held out her hand. The rowdy noise buzzed in her ears, but her mind was entirely sold off to other thoughts.
"Yo, bare face folds. BARE FACE!"
Someone's bellow drew groans and laughter from all around. Somi, still turning Kwon Hwi-young over in her tangled head, tilted it absently and folded a finger without thinking. That was when it happened.
Bzzzt—
The phone tucked into her cardigan pocket rang.
An unknown number again. Somi, lips twisting into a nervous little squirm, let her finger hover over the answer button before pressing decline. Then she shoved the phone back into her pocket.
"Anyone single folds!"
Somi, reaching dully for her next finger, suddenly froze as a flash of déjà vu swept through her.
What if… what if there was even the smallest chance it was Kwon Hwi-young.
She fished the phone back out of her pocket. She didn't know his number, so she knew it was a hollow hope — and still she couldn't quite let it go. Frowning down at the screen, poking at it uselessly, she finally opened a new message window.
Her thumbs were busy tapping out the text when something abruptly blocked her view.
"Somi. Fold."
At the razor-edged voice from across the table, Somi looked up. Without her noticing when he'd come to stand in front of her, her eyes met Park Gye-beom's.
"Huh?"
"Anyone killing the vibe with an orange juice parked in front of them folds."
Gye-beom pointed at her juice cup with his chin. A fishy smirk hung at the corner of his mouth.
Park Gye-beom was her classmate, but thanks to retaking the entrance exams three times he was two years older than her. One day out of nowhere there'd been a confession, and Somi had turned him down. Their relationship, naturally, never returned to what it had been. Gye-beom had first avoided her outright, then at some point started making his displeasure unmistakably plain whenever their eyes so much as met.
She couldn't fathom why he was picking a fight with her now. What on earth had she done to get under his skin this time?
Somi let out a sigh and folded one more finger. Goddammit — of course it had to be the last finger.
Before the flustered look could even finish flickering across Somi's eyes, a 500cc glass landed on the table with a heavy thunk. The beer inside was so pale and watered-down that she didn't even want to guess how much soju had been dumped into it.
"Ah, I'm not feeling well today, so I really can't drink this. Um — is there anyone willing to be my Black Knight?"
From a seat far down the table, Seo-kyeong waved her hand briskly in the air.
"Hey, don't go hunting for a Black Knight. Have some conscience."
Gye-beom leaned deep into his chair back and crossed his arms. That unpleasant sneer still clung to his lips.
"Black Knights were banned before the game even started — you hammered that rule in yourself. Reaching in and bending the rules to suit you whenever you feel like it? That's a little rich, don't you think?"
The sight of him baring his fangs over something so trivial was a spectacle in itself. How long was she supposed to keep putting up with this petty grudge of his? From a distance she could hear Seo-kyeong and Ye-ji crying out, "Gye-beom oppa, what's your problem!" to calm him down, but he didn't so much as pretend to listen, staring hard at Somi.
"Anyone watching would think someone forced you into that seat. Sucking on juice in a bar, of all places, like it's nothing. You drag down the whole mood and then call for a Black Knight on top of it — what does that make whoever drinks for you? A sucker?"
Somi clicked her tongue, deeming him not even worth a reply. I killed the mood? Then I'll just leave, problem solved. My head's already a mess over the Kwon Hwi-young thing anyway — I was just thinking about heading out. She caught her friends' eyes and started to rise. But in that very instant, Gye-beom seized her wrist across the table and yanked.
"Hey!"
Caught off guard by the unexpected grip, Somi staggered and shot him a furious glare.
"What are you doing? Let go! Are you letting go or not?"
"You're the one who needs to explain what you're playing at right now. You think you're funny, Kwak Som-i?"
"Gye-beom oppa, why are you grabbing her like that!"
Even with the girls' protests, Gye-beom only tightened his grip on her wrist. The unpleasant heat radiating from his palm made goosebumps crawl up Somi's arms.
There was a limit to how much she would tolerate. Somi snatched up the beer glass in front of her, clouded white with all the soju stirred into it, then raised her arm high, ostentatiously. The impulse to pour this revolting liquid straight into Park Gye-beom's face surged up inside her. Just as she put force into the wrist holding the glass—
Beyond the top of Park Gye-beom's head, through the pub's wide window, a man's silhouette came into view, coming down the hill from campus. The tall figure walked with a phone in one hand while the other raked roughly back through his hair, a long exhale of irritation drifting up into the air. Then, absently, he turned his head.
Through the clear glass window, Somi's gaze and the man's met dead-on.
It was Kwon Hwi-young.
"Hey, Kwak Som-i. Can you not hear me? What are you even looking at right now—"
Clunk.
The pub door swung open and a wash of cool night air poured in. Along with it, a long shadow strode into the room.
In an instant, the surrounding noise died away. Hwi-young's gaze locked onto Somi — frozen mid-motion, glass still raised — like a magnet. His eyes traveled in order over her face, the beer glass in her raised hand, and Gye-beom's hand clamped around her wrist. And then those eyes, always so gently curved, went cold in a single stroke.
In the blink of an eye he was right in front of her, and his hand shot out. While Somi stood there too stunned to move, Hwi-young plucked the beer glass from her hand.
"…Uh—!"
And then, without a moment's hesitation, he began to chug it down.
Slam.
Having drained the glass in one go, he smashed the empty glass down on the table right beside Gye-beom's hand. Startled, Park Gye-beom's fingers sprang open, releasing Somi's wrist at last. Hwi-young watched it all for a moment with icy eyes, then lifted his head, wiping the foam from his lip with the back of his hand.
"Ahh, now I feel alive again. It's still way too hot out there, isn't it?"
His face was so perfectly composed that Somi almost wondered if those chilling eyes from a second ago had been her imagination. Her gaze wavered, unable to find anywhere to land.