Found You

"What do we do? Should we ask to switch?"

Ji-eum and Na-hee let out matching short sighs. Contrary to everything the professor had intended, the two campus loners had been torn into separate groups. Professor, that's so mean....

"Alright, gather up by group, introduce yourselves, and get your meetings started. Come to me if you have questions. Oh, and pick a group leader while you're at it."

No sooner had the professor finished speaking than students rose in a rush and began clustering by group.

"Ugh, what the hell. I signed up so I could be with you, Ji-eum..."

"I know. They're all strangers. This is going to be so awkward."

"Group 4 says to hurry up and gather. See you later. Waaah."

"You got this...."

Na-hee trudged off toward Group 4, and Ji-eum checked the group assignment list on the screen again.

Complete strangers, every last one of them. Drained of energy, Ji-eum slowly made her way toward the front, where voices were calling for Group 3—and then, suddenly, a familiar back caught her eye.

That's the one they said was Kwon Beom-ju...

The closer she drew, the stranger it felt—or rather, the less strange. That back did not belong to someone she was seeing for the first time today. Shoulders spread wide. A back packed with solid muscle. A height that cleared everyone else by a full two heads.

Ji-eum narrowed her eyes and approached with care. The moment she caught a glimpse of that striking profile, her eyes flew wide.

...Jemulpo Puppy?

Frozen where she stood, Ji-eum blinked her startled eyes again and again. Wait a second...

What's he doing here? How did this even happen? Same lecture, same group...

He's a student at our school?

A soundless cry caught in her throat. Still reeling from the shock, Ji-eum creakily turned her head to look for Na-hee. Na-hee was wedged into Group 4 in the back row, awkwardly fumbling through introductions with her teammates.

"Haa..."

Ji-eum squeezed her eyes shut. If they'd run into each other on the street, she could have at least dodged him. But of all places, they'd collided in a lecture hall she couldn't escape. She tried to think of a way to vanish without being noticed, but nothing came to mind.

This was the only way, then.

Ji-eum rummaged through her enormous peddler bag. What she pulled out were an emergency ball cap and a face mask—things she always carried, never knowing when or how she might need them. She jammed the cap down over her head and fastened the mask with painstaking care.

There's no way he'll recognize me like this.

They didn't even know each other's names anyway. If she could just get through the introductions and then, the second class ended, drop to her knees and beg the professor to switch her group, maybe the whole thing would be over.

"Hoo."

It's fine. It's fine. There's no way he'll recognize me when I'm hidden like this. She soothed her trembling self.

"Sorry I'm late..."

She approached the Group 3 cluster and ducked her head in a careful bow. Introductions happened to be underway.

"Oppa here is a first-year in Acting Arts. I might look twenty, but I'm way older than you kids, so keep that in mind. Name's Oh Gi-hyeok."

The short guy who'd taken to calling himself Oppa without even having met them said he'd gotten in after taking the CSAT three times.

"Hong Ga-hui. Physics, second year."

After the neat, pleasant-smelling female classmate's introduction, a conspicuously deep voice introduced itself.

"Kwon Beom-ju, third-year Philosophy."

So Jemulpo Puppy's name is Kwon Beom-ju. But Philosophy? Ji-eum, who'd been holding her breath as she listened, nearly jerked her head up in surprise. That really doesn't suit him at all...

"And you?"

"Huh?"

While she'd been lost in thought, her teammates' gazes had all gathered on her. Ji-eum calmly tugged the ball cap even lower. Here it comes.

"I'm..."

She cleared her throat and deliberately put on a low, husky voice.

"Lee Ji-eum, third year. Early Childhood Education."

"Alright, nice to meet you all."

Just as she'd hoped, he didn't recognize her. Relief lightened her heart. Wow, thank god....

After the brief introductions, they decided to pick a group leader. The method was rock-paper-scissors. Jemulpo Puppy—no, Kwon Beom-ju—lost three rounds straight and became the leader.

"I'll make a group chat, so let's exchange numbers first. If you don't pick up on time, I'm calling you. Just try me. Your life's gonna get real interesting."

"Yes..."

"Yes..."

"Yep."

Everyone answered meekly and held out their phones to exchange numbers. Ji-eum exchanged numbers too. With everyone except one person.

"Hey. You."

The man's voice landed right beside her. Ji-eum didn't lift her head, answering quietly.

"Yes?"

"You're the only one who hasn't saved my number."

A large, thick-knuckled hand entered her field of vision beneath the brim of the cap. The heavy gold ring on his index finger caught the lecture hall lights and gleamed gold.

That gangster ring of his is still going strong... At the gesture shaking the phone as if to say hand it over, Ji-eum swallowed dryly. When she hesitated, he held out his own phone instead.

"Want to type it in yourself?"

"...Ah, yes, yes."

Ji-eum hurriedly took the phone, typed in her number, and handed it back. Beom-ju saved it quickly, then shoved the screen in front of her eyes again.

"Go ahead and check. Make sure it's right."

I typed it in correctly, so what's there to check.

Ji-eum hiked her mask higher, narrowed her eyes, and leaned in toward the screen. The instant she confirmed the saved name, her breath stopped. Cr-crazy....

Ji-eum's face went white. Her head snapped up.

Kwon Beom-ju's smooth lips curved into a long, slow arc as they met her round, widened eyes.

Cough, cough. Ji-eum, who'd been eating campus cafeteria food, took one look at the phone screen Na-hee had shoved at her and choked, coughing hard. Na-hee waved her chopsticks, buzzing with excitement.

"Dude, he's actually famous? I think his nickname is Kwon Incheon."

The second Practical Investment class had ended, Ji-eum had told Na-hee that Jemulpo Puppy had shown up—and Na-hee had gone digging through the school community and unearthed all this.

"Another comment just went up."

"No, what even... He's good-looking, sure, but everyone's way overdoing it... Did they get paid for this? Let me see."

Ji-eum snatched the phone and checked the comments, frowning slightly.

If it were just today's post, she might have let it go—but there were traces of similar posts from before, more than a few of them. The whole world had been lying to Ji-eum.

"He's the high-demand, low-supply type. What did that comment say again. Right—because he's got that wild sex appeal."

"Hey, wild sex appeal...?"

Ji-eum's brow furrowed even deeper as she thought of Kwon Beom-ju. Those thick thighs stretching long beneath an angry swell of pecs. That booming voice. That unapologetically brazen attitude that didn't give a damn about anyone's stare.

Apparently that beast-like quality was what they called wild sex appeal—but there was demand for a guy like that? Why? Ji-eum handed the phone back, tilting her head.

"But what kind of creepy coincidence is this. You said you thought you'd never see him again after that one time. And now you run into him like this? At this point, isn't this fate sent down from heaven?"

Heaven must hate me....

This wasn't fate. It was a cursed connection. She still couldn't believe Kwon Beom-ju was a college student. Earlier, in a plain T-shirt and sweatpants, he'd at least looked like a guy their age—but back in Bupyeong, he'd been in a suit dripping with gold accessories, looking like some terrifying guy who worked at a loan shark firm.

Running into him in the lecture hall was already enough of a shock, and now he was a campus celebrity on top of it...

God, I'm going to lose it. What am I supposed to do now?