“Yawn…”
As usual, when the sun started to rise, I woke up from my sleep. Today, since Bora didn’t wake me up, I guess she didn’t go to work…?
With that question in mind, I got out of bed and pulled the curtains wide open. Sunlight slowly began to fill the room. The weather was clear, not a single cloud in sight.
I lay on the floor, enjoying the warm sunlight, rolling around lazily. Rolling around under the sunlight was always the best pastime. I could totally understand why people sunbathe.
After what felt like a few dozen minutes, I got bored of rolling around and decided to go hang out in the office. In the office, I saw Lee Haru, who seemed to have just arrived, and Bora, who was typing away furiously on her computer.
The Bald Man didn’t seem to have come in yet. As expected of a department head, he probably had the power to adjust his work hours freely.
All the employees below him had already arrived, yet he, who should be setting an example, hadn’t shown up. I made a mental note to glare at him later.
With my hands behind my back, I slowly walked into the office. Haru seemed to sense my presence and came over to me.
Then, she lifted me up.
“Hi~~”
1. Lift Hana up. 2. And then…
I flailed my legs in the air and had to beg her to put me down before I could escape her embrace. For some reason, she always picked me up like this whenever she saw me.
Bora didn’t pay much attention to me. Or rather, she was so focused on typing away at her computer that I was sure she must’ve hidden honey in it.
I ran over to Bora, trying to get close. I stood next to her, trying to peek, but sadly, my short height made it hard to see. I kept fidgeting around her, trying to get her attention. I was at that age where I craved attention.
Bora seemed to notice I was next to her and pulled me into her lap. Feeling the softness of Bora’s embrace, I could finally see what she was doing.
NewTube…? Oh, she said she was uploading a video, right?
But it seemed like the video of me on NewTube had exploded in popularity because Bora hugged me and said, “Hana, look at this. I don’t really get it, but so many people have started to like you.”
As she said that, she showed me a video. The video seemed a bit rough around the edges, probably because it hadn’t been edited by a professional.
But it looked like Bora had put in a lot of effort to make me look as cute as possible in the video.
Without realizing it, my hand reached for the subscribe button. It seemed like Bora had perfectly understood what the viewers wanted. Viewers who loved cute things would never skip this video.
“Wow…”
I couldn’t help but marvel at the increased views and subscriber count. Our Research Institute’s NewTube channel, which usually averaged 10,000 to 20,000 views, had a video of me that hit a whopping 100,000 views.
The comments were overwhelmingly positive. Some asked if there was really such a cute kid at the research institute, while others quietly just hit the like button and left.
I didn’t know people would be so interested in a video of me just watching TV or wandering around.
I had no idea there were so many people in Korea who found healing in watching cute things. Popular videos usually featured hunters showing off their skills or streamers playing games.
There were some daily life YouTubers, but they were few and far between. Videos featuring me had been lingering at the bottom of the popular videos list. Even though it was the first video and the channel didn’t have many subscribers, the view count was rising slower than I had hoped.
“Bora, do we have to keep filming?”
“Yeah… Hana, you might have to endure a bit more.”
“Ugh.”
I had no choice but to rest my chin on the desk. There wasn’t much I could do, so I had to accept it. And honestly, filming wasn’t all that bad.
It was a little embarrassing to have my videos uploaded, but it wasn’t a bad feeling. In fact, it was kind of nice.
Without realizing it, I had become a bit of an attention-seeker. So, there I was, sitting in Bora’s lap, watching her manage the channel.
Bora really was a jack-of-all-trades. She was great at research, video editing, and so much more. As I watched her work, I waited in her lap, wondering when the Bald Man would show up.
Department Head Kim Jaeman arrived five minutes before the official start time. I glared at him. The Bald Man seemed to feel the intensity of my gaze and avoided eye contact as he sat down.
As expected, I was the strongest here.
———–
This year, Kim Jisoo, a high school senior, was studying hard. Of course, in this day and age, being good at studying often meant there was a high chance of having a girlfriend.
On the other hand, kids with mediocre grades didn’t have girlfriends, while those with top grades in school seemed to have no trouble getting one.
Jisoo was one of those. He was academically ranked at the top of his school, and he was also secretly dating a girlfriend behind his parents’ backs.
Given his parents’ tendency to interfere heavily with his studies, it was obvious that if they found out about his relationship, they’d pressure him to break up.
So, unintentionally, he was in a secret relationship. Just dating alone was enough to flood his brain with endorphins, but secretly dating made it even more thrilling.
And not long ago, they had even held hands and kissed. The feeling of their lips touching was so sweet and fleeting, something he never wanted to lose.
He wished that moment could repeat infinitely. The softness of her lips was far more tender and squishy than he had imagined.
If time allowed, he would’ve wanted to kiss forever. The sensation of their soft lips colliding was an intensely vivid memory for Jisoo, who was going through puberty.
After that first kiss, Jisoo’s heart would race every time he thought about his girlfriend. He finally understood why people warned against dating.
But now that he was in a relationship, there was no turning back. He had to see it through. However, the problem wasn’t just dating his girlfriend.
It was natural for a boy and girl in the throes of puberty to start dating if they locked eyes. The real issue was that the longer he dated, the more his grades dropped.
Whether he was studying, eating, or going about his daily life, his girlfriend’s face kept popping into his head.
“Yeji, I love you! I saw you yesterday, but I want to see you again today!!”
If he hadn’t started dating her in the first place, maybe he wouldn’t have known, but now that they’d even kissed, his body kept craving her.
She even appeared in his dreams at night. That night, he had a wet dream and had to do laundry in the middle of the night—a secret, of course—but that’s how deeply Jisoo was into his girlfriend.
“Does this green tea really boost concentration?”
While he was brooding over this, a cup of green tea was placed at the academy he attended. A bright red sign in bold letters stated that due to limited supply, each person was allowed only one cup.
After drinking a strong cup of green tea, his girlfriend suddenly seemed less appealing.
“Hmm…”
Even though she was right next to him, he didn’t feel much. Compared to yesterday, it was like night and day. Before drinking the tea, every part of her body had been on his mind, but now it was like he was in a sage-like state, completely detached.
“Let’s study, Yeji.”
“Okay.”
As if they had made a pact, the two of them went to study after drinking the tea. It was a completely different vibe from before.
Even after studying for a while, no other feelings arose. Of course, some feelings did surface, but it wasn’t the unbearable desire from before.
By now, he should’ve been making excuses to get closer to his girlfriend, but today, Jisoo didn’t approach her even once.
From his girlfriend’s perspective, she didn’t go to meet Jisoo either. They just messaged each other on KakaoTalk to help with problems they didn’t understand.
After studying for a while, it was time to go home, and his heart started racing again.
“Did studying go well today?”
“Yeah, it felt like I really focused for the first time in a while.”
Holding his girlfriend’s hand, it was just like before drinking the green tea. His heart was pounding, feeling like it might burst.
The two of them went to a quiet alley, kissed, and then parted ways again.
