Taehyeon is very curious when he sees that he has been added to a new group chat. The most interesting thing here is the fact that Bada is the one to invite him to this group chat yet he is doing a very good impression of a studious person as they sit in their after school study group together.
Today's study group is only a study group in the sense that they are all claiming to be studying something. The worksheets they are filling out are terrible photocopies of worksheets Taehyeon swears they all did two weeks ago. Only Bada seems to be working. Minjeong is playing some sort of pencil and paper game with Jeongwon from Bada's class. Hyejin from class 1 is very blatantly texting and hasn't even made even an accidental pen-stroke on her own page. When they were all in the same class last year their study group efforts were a bit more concerted than this. Strangely, the buzz of anticipation in the air for the third years' final exams has dragged motivation in this borrowed classroom right into the gutter.
There is a lot that Taehyeon could be doing instead of pretending that he thinks he can bring his maths scores up to scratch. One thing Taehyeon could do right now is to check whatever this weird group chat is. Taehyeon, Bada, Bada's collection of Eoleunjeol boys and Minjun. Wonderful. Taehyeon immediately leaves the chatroom and goes back to trying to remember the right answers to this worksheet.
"What did you do that for?" Bada grumbles. He isn't exactly speaking quietly but only Minjeong's ears latch onto the question firmly enough that she steeples her fingers on the desk and looks cheerily between Taehyeon and Bada.
"I didn't do anything." Taehyeon waves the question away and gets back to work.
"I'm adding you back to the group. Somebody specifically asked me to set this up and they will be very disappointed if you don't give it a chance."
"What have you been telling people about me?" Taehyeon asks. "I'm happy that you're making new friends, but isn't it a bit weird that after seeing—" Taehyeon narrows his eyes at Minjeong and decides that she won't be able to decipher the code name so easily "—'That Person' for about two seconds I'd want to be able to talk to them whenever?"
Bada is quiet for a long moment and gives Minjeong the same sort of appraisal as Taehyeon. He says, "It was actually 'That Person' who asked me to set up the group chat."
"Oh. Why?"
"I'm not sure. 'That Person' is worried about you feeling pressured, I think."
"Are you not going to share with the rest of the class?" Minjeong asks, clearly at her limit for butting out of things that aren't her business.
"No."
"Taehyeon made a friend recently," Bada begins.
"Hey!" Taehyeon shouts before Bada can provide Minjeong with any more of his private and delicate information. "I think there's a ghost outside. Let's go out into the corridor and protect everyone."
Helpfully, some girls run down the corridor and shriek. Is there actually a ghost? No way. That would be ridiculous.
"I'm not good with scary things like that," Bada says, face paling and his lips beginning to tremble enough that he can't speak with his usual ease. "T-take Jeongwon. She's tall and brave."
Jeongwon suddenly looks alarmed but Taehyeon suspects she isn't worried about the ghost. "I think it must be a ghost that will go away if it sees some really close best friends," are her words of encouragement.
Bada looks half convinced until the sharp sound of chair legs groaning against the floor. He screams and cowers behind his arms until he realises it was just Hyejin pushing her chair away from the table. He clears his throat and tries to recompose himself as Hyejin wordlessly leaves the classroom.
"You don't think she got possessed by the ghost do you?" Minjeong asks in a very serious voice. Taehyeon might actually hate her.
"Can that really happen? Will she need an exorcism? Jeongwon, you have to hurry up and— What's that?"
Taehyeon is briefly startled by the sound too but he instantly finds himself at a loss. After rushing over to the window into the corridor he can't claim to have a better idea of what is going on. Hyejin is throwing punches and kicks like there is no tomorrow. The sound is her roaring whenever she gets a good hit in, Taehyeon presumes. This isn't helpful.
Taehyeon leaves the classroom and finds himself awkwardly trying to fend off Hyejin's fortunately untrained fighting.
"Hey, can you stop that now?"
"Did the ghost leave already?"
Mostly disappointed that he needs to say as much at all, Taehyeon says, "There never was a ghost."
"Isn't that what you'd say if you were in cahoots with the ghost who wanted to eat my soul?"
"That is true," Taehyeon concedes, "but I just made up the ghost so that Bada would come out here to talk to me instead of spilling all my secrets to Minjeong."
"Are you talking about Kim Minjeong?" Hyejin asks with narrowed eyes.
"Yes?"
"The Kim Minjeong you left in the classroom with Kim Bada?"
The specificity isn't helpful. Taehyeon could have come to the realisation that he's an idiot without that. Taehyeon scrambles to get back into the classroom (what idiot closed the door? It must have been him but he can't imagine why he would have been that stupid) and his whole body is chilled with dread when he sees Minjeong's satisfied smile and Jeongwon's apologetic aversion.
Oh no.
"What's going on?" Taehyeon asks. Hyejin nudges her way past him and puts her wireless earbuds into their case. Even she is expectantly looking at Taehyeon. What does she think she is going to hear?
"Bada was just telling me all about your cruelty to your new friend. Won't you seem rude if you keep refusing to be in the group chat even when Lee Minjun asked really nicely for you to join?"
"You told—"
"I swear I didn't say anything about that!" Bada says. His eyes are sparkling with something like fear. He wouldn't tell every detail about this just because of the fake kissing rumour. Taehyeon knows he has work to do before being forgiven but this wouldn't ever be part of the punishment.
"Then how—"
"He told me himself, silly!" Minjeong laughs. "Remember that day when you didn't come to school on time? He told me he was your friend back then."
Taehyeon isn't sure he should accept that explanation but he also doesn't want to risk messing this up by letting her in on any more details.
Smiling stiffly, Taehyeon encourages everyone to change the subject. Nobody really wants to do their worksheets. Taehyeon doesn't blame them really, but he would absolutely appreciate random classmates not speculating about how he could possibly become friends with Jeonwon Metropolitan High School's heartthrob. Things could be much worse. At least everyone is just having fun laughing about how undesirable and pathetic Taehyeon is.
"Wouldn't Taehyeon's uncoolness drag Lee Minjun down?"
"No way. There are rumours that Lee Dongmin is friends with Bada and nobody thinks he is any less cool."
"I thought everybody hated him because of his glamorous and sophisticated university girlfriend."
"Has anyone seen her?"
"I have," Jeongwon says quietly.
Hyejin and Minjeong stare at her like she sprouted a horn from her head and started vomiting rainbows. Well. Taehyeon is guilty of looking at Jeongwon the same way. When he tries to meet Bada's eyes to spontaneously develop bestie telepathy, Bada looks away. What does he want to hide from their absolutely functional bestie telepathy?
"You've seen the girlfriend?" Minjeong asks with almost as much betrayal as Taehyeon is feeling right now.
"Is she pretty? How glamorous and sophisticated are we talking?" Hyejin badgers.
Jeongwon glances shiftily towards Bada before not quite meeting Minjeong's eyes. "She came to the school one time. I'm sure lots of people have seen her by now."
"Is she pretty?" Hyejin presses, leaning so far over the desk that it pushes all the other desks so they skid and scrape on the floor.
"Can you chill out?" Minjeong asks primly. "I just found out that Jeongwon hates me."
"When did she say that?" Hyejin mutters. "I thought we were talking about glamorous and sophisticated university girlfriends?"
"I didn't think it was worth mentioning," Jeongwon says reproachfully.
Minjeong stands up with so much force that her chair clatters backwards and knocks over two of the desks behind her. Taehyeon is too afraid to make a witty and hilarious comment.
"I don't think I will have anything worth mentioning to you either," Minjeong says. She turns to Taehyeon and says, "You can bring my stuff. I'm going home."
"Wait, me?" Taehyeon asks. He doesn't get a response. Minjeong slides the door open and makes a good effort at slamming it shut behind her. Nobody else wants to say anything either. Except for Hyejin, of course.
"Do you have any pictures of this girlfriend? Did she bring any friends when she came to school?"