Shin Jonghak was sitting at the highest point of the Veritas class room, his body relaxed against the chair, his arms crossed over his chest. His golden gaze wandered lazily over the cadets in front of him, full of disinterest, with one exception.
His eyes caught on a girl sitting in the front row.
With her light brown hair cut into a bob and her blue uniform with white sleeves falling perfectly over her shoulders, Chae Nayun seemed oblivious to the attention she was attracting.
'This is my chance. A chance to open her eyes. If I tell her what I found out about that bastard, she'll never want to look him in the face again. And then I'll finally be able to...'
With an almost abrupt jolt, Shin Joghak stood up, threw his hands into his trouser pockets and prepared to walk over to Nayun
He started down the steps.
Curious eyes turned to him. Low murmurs broke out among the cadets, but they were soon silenced; everyone there knew how temperamental Jonghak could be. So it was prudent not to mess with his temperament, no one there wanted to have their life as a hero before it had even begun.
But Jonghak didn't care about any of that, his attention was solely on her.
And with every step, the distance between him and Chae Nayun diminished.
When he was just a few meters from her, he stopped for a moment, watching her.
She was concentrating, sliding her finger across the translucent screen of the smartwatch, her eyes shining with a mixture of boredom and mild interest.
Nayun looked up when she saw him approaching.
His eyes, which a moment before had been relaxed, now narrowed in confusion. She seemed about to ask him what he wanted, until, unintentionally, her movement caused the translucent screen of the tablet to tilt slightly.
And that's when Jonghak saw it.
On the surface of the screen glowed a name and a message.
A name that had made her blood boil since the moment she first met him last week.
[Theo Sagan]
The sight of that name, associated in some way with Nayun, made something inside him twist with frustration and silent anger.
He took a deep breath, trying to keep control, but it was like trying to hold back sand dripping through his fingers.
'Stay calm... Maybe they were just exchanging contacts.'
Thinking this, Jonghak changed the reason he had come down here.
'...Even if I doubt there's anything more between them. This bother is killing me, I'd better sort it out, and then tell her.'
Taking two deep breaths, Jonghak opened his mouth.
"Nayun, can I talk to you for a second?"
For a moment, she just stared at him, as if trying to guess his intentions.
The murmuring of the surrounding cadets seemed to grow, but Nayun simply didn't care.
"I'm all ears."
Nayun replied as she switched on her smartwatch and let an eyebrow rise, curious about what Jonghak wanted to talk about.
He felt a twinge of relief rise in his chest, clinging to the hope that perhaps he was exaggerating.
That, in the end, the relationship between Theo and Nayun was nothing more than friendship.
With that thought giving him a little more breath, Jonghak took a deep breath, closed his eyes for a brief moment, and then let out the question that had been simmering in his mind ever since he saw that name in Nayun's contacts.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Nayun blinked, not in surprise, but as if she had understood why Shin Jonghak had come to her.
She looked at him in silence, to her it didn't seem like a big deal.
But for Jonghak, every second without an answer was like a blade pressing even deeper into his heart.
'Say no. Just say no.'
He felt cold sweat break out on the back of his neck, his heart racing at a painful pace, it was as if the whole world was suspended at that moment, hanging only on her answer.
"Yes, Theo and I are together."
Contrary to every expectation, the answer he received made all his neurons stop working, and what came out were words that were no longer in his control.
"...Since when?"
Nayun crossed his arms and spoke.
"Does it matter?"
Her voice was cold, making Jonhak regain some clarity, but the expression he found on her face made him feel as if something had begun to break inside him.
His eyes fluttered, fighting something inside him, perhaps the urge to scream, or the desperate need to deny what he was hearing.
But before he could find any way to hold on to the illusion, Nayun continued, her voice firm, once again shattering any of his expectations.
"Theo and I are really dating, and I plan to announce our relationship this week."
Jonghak's world seemed to collapse in slow motion.
"No..."
He muttered, his voice hoarse, almost inaudible.
His body wobbled forward a little, as if he had been punched in the stomach.
"No..."
He repeated, in a desperate whisper, denying not only her words, but everything they represented.
"No..."
But Nayun, merciless in her need to be honest, to cut off any feelings he had for her, struck the final blow.
"I love him."
The sound of those words went through Shin Jonghak like a thin, sharp blade.
He stood there like a broken statue, unable to react.
The trust, the pride, the hope, the years of repressed feelings, everything was crushed in a single instant, without even the chance to be said.
...
Outside the room, with the door ajar, Yoo Yeonha stuck his head through the crack, trying to hear and see what was happening on the other side.
Curiosity was inevitable, especially with the visible tension that had arisen between Jonghak and Nayun.
When Theo Sagan's name came up, she couldn't help but frown, even though she knew that one day that moment would come between Nayun and Jonghak.
The moment when Nayun and Theo would announce their relationship to everyone.
Yeonha, with her head still stuck in the doorway, watched everything in silence. Her breathing became heavier and a growing tightness took hold of her chest.
'Idiot...'
She thought, with growing anger, an anger that had nowhere to go.
'Idiot! Why did you like her? I was always on your side, I supported you... But no, she... She's the choice. I was never good enough, was I?'
Yeonha's thoughts were like an internal storm, a whirlwind of feelings that she tried, but failed, to control.
The pain wasn't just from the revelation of Nayun and Theo's relationship, but from the feeling that she was invisible in Shin Jonghak's eyes.
'I've been here the whole time...'
Her heart was squeezed as she watched Jonghak swallow every painful word that came out of Nayun's mouth.
'My love, my family, my origins... Was all that so useless to you that you didn't even see me in your eyes?'
Yeonha closed her eyes tightly, the feeling of rejection tearing at her rationality. It wasn't just about unrequited love, but about everything she had tried to offer, and what he had never realized.
Even though he tried hard, even though he gave his all to always be in the top 10 in the overall rankings at the Military Academy and at Cube, he never treated her as anything more than a friend.
Even his efforts to always stay ahead of Nayun in the practical and theoretical tests, he never praised her more than a friendship allowed.
His eyes were always fixed on Nayun, never on her...
There came a time when envy and pain began to mix in her heart in a way that she could no longer control. What began as a seed of resentment slowly grew into something darker, something she never thought she would be able to feel.
And as a last resort...
Yeonha approached Nayun like a false friend, disguising the venom of her frustration under a gentle smile and a friendly posture. She knew exactly how to behave, how to make Nayun believe she was a friend. But inside, she was eating away at herself, swallowed up by a burning desire that she could no longer deny.
Everything felt like a game. When Nayun smiled at her, when they talked, Yeonha forced herself to maintain the expression of someone who was happy for her friend. But deep down, it was a silent war. A war of feelings, of unspoken insecurities, of envy disguised as kindness.
She saw herself there, next to Nayun, pretending, while anger and bitterness poured out of her, as if they were the fuel that powered her every action. She could no longer look at Nayun without asking herself:
'Why you, and not me?'
...