In an instant, his mouth hardened. Whether Seon Wooyeon liked the change in expression or not, Junseong let out a faint chuckle. He clenched his fist, lifted his chin, and sneered.
“You knew, didn’t you?”
There was no need to ask what he knew. Wooyeon kept his mouth closed, and Junseong confidently continued the conversation. He didn’t care if his tone attracted the attention of the other students.
“One of the teammates must have told you. I decided to make it and send it. But even after knowing that, you didn’t contact me. And now, you come trotting over like a dog needing to relieve itself, isn’t that right?”
“……”
“Do you not care about your grades? Judging by how boastful you are.”
Wooyeon was surprised that Junseong accurately understood the situation. It seemed like he anticipated that the information would reach Wooyeon without any plan. While Wooyeon remained silent, Junseong twisted his face in irritation.
“Why do you believe and beg so shamelessly?”
Surprisingly, it was a phrase he had heard in middle school. The following words were slightly different from back then.
“Is it because your face is so average, and you’re dominant, so nothing stands out?”
‘Because your family is well-off, is that why you don’t stand out?’
Wooyeon sighed with untimely emotion. Somehow, Junseong’s face became even more brazen.
“At first, I ignored it because it annoyed me. I thought I’d talk to you… but.”
“……”
“Forget it, fuck it. I’m an idiot for trying to have a conversation.”
It was a ridiculous statement that could become a topic of ridicule for a long time. Could there be a story as amusing as the fact that Kang Junseong attempted a conversation? If Wooyeon had been his lover, he might have drunk at least three bottles of soju by now.
“The PPT is on your laptop, right? Try presenting it. With your amazing English skills, it should work somehow.”
“……”
“If you can’t do it, I’ll do it for you.”
Junseong said this with a smirk, raising his gaze. In the fleeting eye contact, Wooyeon felt a strong hostility.
“But then, I’ll omit your name. You know an F appears if you can’t get a score, right?”
It seemed like this was what Junseong aimed for from the beginning. Wooyeon forcibly presenting and embarrassing himself or giving up the presentation and ruining his grades. The latter might be fine, but the former would be a loss for him as well. It was a truly troublesome act.
“Do the other teammates know about this?”
“What do they know? They’re like mute idiots. Do you think they care about their grades?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“They do care.”
Wooyeon countered with a slightly broken voice. Mocking Wooyeon as if he didn’t hear anything or care, Junseong sneered.
“What does it matter if they care? They’ve come to university, yet they’re still engaging in childish bickering? Like, ‘Professor, he did this’?”
Junseong mockingly imitated their immature quarrel, making it clear that he didn’t know who was the more immature one.
“Hey, there are only a few people in the lecture. Do you think the professor will listen to that?”
As Junseong said, the professor wasn’t interested in how they did their group project. In the end, the result was what mattered in this world. Perhaps, as in middle school, there was a possibility of distributing grades reasonably and wrapping it up.
“Kang Junseong.”
At this point, a disturbing feeling crept in. What kind of fate tied them together, forcing them to be like this even in university? Four years had passed, but why hadn’t the person named Kang Junseong changed at all?
“Why do you hate me so much?”
Wooyeon felt a bit uneasy asking that question. It was a question he hadn’t asked even once, considering it not worth asking. Naturally, Junseong shrugged and grumbled.
“Hey… It sounds hilarious when you say it.”
Seeing Junseong so pleased with his statement, Wooyeon envied him for a brief moment. If revenge was only about something like this, Wooyeon would have shaken off memories of the past long ago. It was unnecessarily complicated emotions that bound him this way.
“When I approached you to become friends, who ignored whom?”
“……”
“If you’re sorry, apologize now. Then I’ll give you the script. Since you’re good at English, you can say it in English.”
Junseong took out a paper he had tucked between his major books and waved it in front of Wooyeon. Judging by the prepared script, it seemed he had expected Wooyeon to apologize and make a request. Wooyeon glanced at him and muttered in a dry tone.
“You really… haven’t changed at all.”
“What?”
Junseong furrowed his brow as if asking what he meant. Confusion mixed in with his toughened face. Placing one hand on the desk, Wooyeon leveled his eyes with Junseong’s.
“Do whatever you want.”
Startled, Junseong’s pupils shook. The pheromones emanating from Wooyeon felt overpowering. Wooyeon fixed his gaze on Junseong and spoke evenly.
“Whether you present, or leave out my name. Get a score with the material you created, or do whatever you want.”
“……”
“Whatever you do, handle the consequences yourself.”
“…Hey, do you think I’ll be scared if you say that?”
Junseong, who had calmed down for a moment, spat out with an angry expression. Wooyeon straightened up and showed an emotionless face. Whether Junseong thought Wooyeon was ignoring him again or not, Junseong clenched his teeth.
“I didn’t tell you to be scared.”
“……”
“I find it fascinating how you live like that.”
Indeed, he was a fascinating guy. Despite how much he hated being ignored, he still looked down on the topic. Whether he was pretending to be tough to not seem weak, or if he just had a bad personality, Wooyeon didn’t want to associate with him.
“Damn, don’t regret it later…”
Junseong retorted with an angry face, but before he could finish speaking, the professor walked in. Without even looking at him, Wooyeon returned to his seat. Since it wasn’t that far away, he could clearly feel Junseong glaring at him.
“Today is the day for the mid-term project presentations, as mentioned before, the scores are significant…”
After the professor finished various announcements, he called the teaching assistant. While the assistant turned on the projector and operated the remote, Wooyeon found the USB he had put in his pencil case. All the tasks he had prepared for the past two days were in it.
“Now, let’s start the presentations from Group 1. The presenter from Group 1, please come forward.”
Junseong was expected to stand up immediately, but surprisingly, he sat still, watching Wooyeon as if waiting to see how well he would do. Wooyeon walked slowly to the front, holding the assignment and USB.
“The presenter is… student Seon Wooyeon?”
“Yes.”
“Let’s see the report first.”
At first, Junseong seemed uneasy. Wooyeon handed A4-sized papers to the professor, even though there shouldn’t be a report. Wooyeon plugged the USB into the professor’s laptop and opened the prepared PowerPoint presentation.
[I am Seon Wooyeon, the presenter for Group 1.]
Perfect English pronunciation echoed within the lecture hall. Junseong, with a pale face, was watching the screen that the projector had beamed. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to give him a satisfactory feeling.
[Our group is presenting a currency converter suitable for the global era…]
‘Let’s do it like this.’
That day, after hearing Wooyeon recall everything, Dohyun smiled subtly. He occasionally connected sentences with a calm and gentle voice.
‘In my opinion, it seems like Kang Junseong thought that something would get through to you anyway.’
Surprisingly, what Dohyun said was almost identical to what he heard from Junseong today. After inquiring about it in the group chat, it was undeniable when none of the three group members responded. He guessed that Junseong thought that even if the team members didn’t say anything, if Wooyeon became anxious, he would contact Junseong first, and he wouldn’t hand over the PPT until he heard what he wanted; Dohyun had even matched Junseong’s nonchalant thoughts.
‘Even if the team members hadn’t said anything, he thought you’d contact him first if you became anxious. If you contact him, he won’t hand over the PPT until he hears what he wants.’
Thinking about it now, he couldn’t have been any more of an amazing person. Without even having a conversation with Junseong, how did he accurately predict his thoughts one after another? Wooyeon couldn’t even imagine such a thing.
[The expected effects at this time are…]
‘So, don’t contact him until the day of the presentation. Instead, contact other team members and ask for the materials given to Junseong. Let’s remake the PPT with that material by the day before the presentation.’
In a way, all the efforts Wooyeon put in over the weekend turned out to be futile. He had to discard all the research, make a new assignment, and even write a report.
‘Just ask them to keep quiet since you’ll definitely give an A to the team members. Just leave out Junseong’s name.’
‘What if they talk?’
‘They won’t. Seeing what he’s doing, they won’t like it either. They’ll probably stick with the side that gets good grades.’
Dohyun’s predictions were accurate. When Wooyeon contacted the team members asking for the material, they willingly sent the material they had given to Junseong. Although the content was a mess, Wooyeon liked their proactive attitude. Who would have known that the mention of “leaving out Junseong’s name” would stir up so much talk?
‘If the professor says something, just say you couldn’t contact him, so you left it out. There’s a record, right? You asked for the PPT, but they all read and ignored it.’
Following Dohyun’s advice, Wooyeon stayed in the group chat without leaving. Just in case, he also took screenshots and purposely contacted the other team members by phone. Everything was done as Dohyun instructed.
‘He’s definitely getting an F.’
They said the group project had a weight of 50%. If a good grade didn’t come out of here, no matter how well you did on the final exam, it was difficult to get a good grade overall. As Dohyun said, it would either be an F, or a C at best.
‘But what if I say I’ll give them an A, and don’t get a good grade, what do I do?’
‘Wooyeon.’
The last remaining anxiety was erased with Dohyun’s final words. In his incredibly kind voice, he shared the most trustworthy information he’d heard until now.
‘I’ve taken this course.’
So, for two days in the club room, they made a new PPT with the materials the team members provided. Occasionally, Seongyu and Garam helped, and surprisingly, Garam showed her talents in design. The result was about three times more polished than the one Wooyeon had initially created.
[…That concludes our presentation. Thank you.]
E/N (Roxy): the way my heart dropped so fast when I saw the project was worth 50%…… I would literally jump off a cliff if I were Junseong QAQ
Talk about “difficult to get a good grade overall” like bro has no chance of passing. Better luck next time
50% and he still did that! Wow… Junseong, dude you should have just started at all. Although since he started late I could see him not bothering to check grade ratios.
I forgot to put not before started sigh
Dohyun and Wooyeon are definitely meant for each other. Junseong you are out
That’s some good friends right there 🥰
Urgh.. this reminds me during my uni’s time. That did happened to me like an hour before the presentation they gave me the ppt and ask me to present just because i looked more extrovert and didn’t call me during the meetings. When i asked, they said I’ll just do the presentation. Like how am i gonna present the thing that i know nothing about? 🥲