DPLO Chapter 11

Whether I was lucky or not, I didn’t have to force a conversation with Jeong Sujin. Just then, Kang Euihyun and Han Jio were walking toward us one after the other. Han Jio, who was walking half a step behind Kang Euihyun, kept glancing hurriedly at him before spotting me and quickly straightening his clothes.

At the same time, the men reached the front of the art museum and stood beside the women they had appointments with. Quiet greetings like “Hi” and “You got here fast” were exchanged between them, clearly conscious of the others. Their gazes remained fixed solely on their respective partners, as if preemptively disciplining their eyes to prevent them from wandering in the wrong direction.

“Chaewon said she came to see the exhibition too.”

Jeong Sujin glanced at Han Jio and dutifully reported to her date. There was no need for that. Kang Euihyun already knew exactly who he would run into here.

“Let’s go in, Oppa.”

I looked up at Han Jio, not Kang Euihyun, as I spoke. Then, I was the first of the four to enter the museum. Fortunately, Han Jio followed closely so I wouldn’t be lonely, and Kang Euihyun’s soft, measured voice trailed a couple of steps behind. I wanted to flip the middle finger toward that low bass.

When I told him I had plans with Han Jio here at this time, Kang Euihyun hadn’t said a word. Therefore, his meeting with Jeong Sujin here was an intentional act beyond excuse. Whether the locations happened to overlap and he didn’t give me a warning, or whether he belatedly decided on a date course that followed mine, there was a clear intention of Kang Euihyun’s.

I wasn’t curious about his goal. It was likely just a malicious whim to enjoy himself. He probably wanted to spend time with Jeong Sujin while simultaneously monitoring my date, likely thinking he was doing the job Yoo Dokyeom should have done.

I found this two on two setup hilarious. One man who knew everything. One woman who tried to awkwardly dangle a bait and only ended up making her own arm hurt. And then one woman and one man who knew nothing at all.

Han Jio and Jeong Sujin were both naive fools, but in terms of who was more pitiful, the latter won by a landslide. At least I hadn’t thought of bringing Han Jio along to the place where Kang Euihyun was dating. Jeong Sujin received absolutely no respect today.

Kang Euihyun might have thought this strange date would be efficient and interesting, but that was a huge delusion. He had simply made a bad move, one that betrayed Jeong Sujin while simultaneously crushing my innocence piece by piece.

The museum had more people trying to capture their own images in photos than people actually looking at the art. Since the environment wasn’t conducive to leisurely appreciating each piece, I avoided the crowds and stood before a pink painting hanging in the corner.

“Want me to take a photo for you?”

Han Jio asked, pulling out his phone. He had been busy glancing around to see where Kang Euihyun was this whole time; it seemed he had finally remembered why we met.

“Please take it from behind.”

I didn’t reject Han Jio’s offer. Both the other visitors and I were the same in that we needed proof that we had attended the exhibition. I wanted to show Kang Euihyun that I could enjoy this exhibition with ease, and that I was determined to have a great day with Han Jio, no matter what he was plotting.

“I’ll take it.”

As I was fixing my hair and posing, Kang Euihyun’s voice rang out.

“Go stand next to Chaewon.”

Turning around, I saw Kang Euihyun holding up his phone. Han Jio, pushed aside, looked at the photographer with a skeptical expression. After treating me like a prospective criminal just for eating pizza together in front of the house, he suddenly changed his attitude and offered to take a photo of our backs. He must have been wondering if this bastard was crazy.

“Sure. Let’s take it together, Oppa.”

I smiled brightly and beckoned Han Jio to come closer. At those words, the man walked toward me, quickly stuffing his phone into his pocket, his cheeks flushing red.

We stood side by side with our backs to the artwork painted in a highly saturated pink. Han Jio’s firm forearm brushed against me. I felt his tension transferring directly to me.

“Taking it now.”

All my nerves flew to my back. I wondered how I would look on the six inch screen in Kang Euihyun’s hand, what expression he was making, what Jeong Sujin was thinking as she watched, and whether Han Jio and I looked reasonably well matched.

The sound of a shutter clicked about three times behind me. Just from the sound, I could picture how carelessly and half heartedly Kang Euihyun had taken the photos. The shoot ended in an instant without a single piece of advice on how to pose.

“I’ll send the photos through Chaewon.”

The photos of me and Han Jio were uploaded to the chat window where I messaged Kang Euihyun. It would have been easier for everyone if he had just taken them with Han Jio’s phone from the start, but Kang Euihyun took them with his own and went through the cumbersome process of sending them to me to pass on to Han Jio.

I glared at the phone in Kang Euihyun’s grip. The photos that would remain on that memory card were incredibly irritating. Hadn’t my bluff been left as a vivid record? I wanted to snatch it away and delete them all right now.

“Shall I take one for you too?”

Perhaps satisfied with the photo just taken, Han Jio readily asked Kang Euihyun. Jeong Sujin didn’t seem to dislike the idea either. I stepped aside, pretending to look at other paintings, giving them space. I still couldn’t get used to the sight of Kang Euihyun being with another woman.

“Take it with this.”

Kang Euihyun handed his phone to Han Jio and stood next to Jeong Sujin. All the photos of the four of us were destined to gather on one specific person’s phone. Did he have some kind of storage obsession?

“Okay, one, two, three.”

While Han Jio worked hard, bending his knees to take the photo, I moved on to the next piece. I had no hobby of torturing myself by watching a scene that would crush my heart with my own two eyes.

“Chaewon, are you perhaps upset?”

Having finished the photos, Jeong Sujin came over to me and spoke. The men had stepped back a few paces, sensing that the women were having an important conversation.

“I’m sorry. It seems like you had an important appointment, and we interrupted.”

My temples throbbed, once because of the very situation where Jeong Sujin was apologizing, and again because of the way she grouped Kang Euihyun and herself together with the word ‘we.’

“Euihyun Oppa worries about Chaewon a lot usually. He said he’s seen her since she was little, so she still looks like a baby to him.”

Jeong Sujin realized that today’s encounter was no accident. She wasn’t unaware that he had followed us because he was worried about his friend’s baby like younger sister, and that in the process, her own date had been relegated to a mere excuse. Yet, far from being offended, she was instead worrying if my feelings were hurt and defending Kang Euihyun.

“Chaewon understands. Oppa’s worry must have gotten the best of him.”

I stared blankly at Jeong Sujin, who was asking me to understand Kang Euihyun. Was she just a kind person, or was she an idiot? Or was the culprit such a master manipulator that a commoner couldn’t even attempt to catch up?

“Are you okay, Unnie?”

“Huh? What?”

“I’m asking if you’re okay with Oppa arbitrarily turning this into a double date.”

At my question, an awkward smile bloomed on Jeong Sujin’s face. The dark eyes of the woman, who glanced back at Kang Euihyun before returning to me, looked as if they had been borrowed from some country puppy.

“I, uh, to be honest… I think it’s fun.”

The needle of my scale, which had been swinging back and forth regarding Jeong Sujin, stopped at the ‘idiot’ mark. I arbitrarily decided that ‘Idiot’ would be the title prefix for Jeong Sujin’s name and gave her a kind smile. There was no need to waste energy engaging in a power struggle with a fool who knew nothing.

“As long as you’re having fun, Unnie.”

The smile was fake, but the words were sincere. If Jeong Sujin wasn’t hurt, then I didn’t have to feel sorry on Kang Euihyun’s behalf either. Instead of spending time on that, I should focus on how to torment the instigator of this meeting.

“I’ll suggest we eat separately.”

Jeong Sujin stepped forward like a mediator. I suppressed the urge to be sarcastic and nodded obediently. 

Jeong Sujin is trying to help me, Jeong Sujin is not the one who put me in this awkward position, I repeated incessantly to myself.

After finishing the tour of the exhibition, Kang Euihyun, who had been talking quietly with Jeong Sujin, cast a glance my way. In his eyes, which usually maintained a constant temperature, there was now a particularly irritated look. It was an emotion I had witnessed last autumn when I stubbornly insisted that I wouldn’t apply for early admission to Baekyoung Women’s University.

“Yoo Chaewon.”

Kang Euihyun called me separately. The way he pulled a wallet from his pocket was ominous. Despite being swept up in a bad premonition, I couldn’t abandon the habit of trotting over when he called.

“Use this to buy dinner.”

Kang Euihyun pulled out several fifty thousand won bills and pressed them into my hand. Both Han Jio’s and Jeong Sujin’s eyes fixed on the money. The sight of a college student giving an allowance to another college student must have looked quite peculiar.