Unrequited Love Obsession Diary - Chapter 27

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 27

 

* * *

 

Seodang dog Shin Yeon-jae had been in an exceptionally good mood lately.

 

“Yeon-jae, did something good happen to you?”

 

Enough for Si-eun to ask.

 

“Huh? No?”

 

Yeon-jae answered while playing innocent.

 

But Si-eun only stared at Yeon-jae with suspicious eyes, as if trying to see right through her.

 

“Really? But right now, this face can only mean two things.”

 

“Two things?”

 

“Either something good happened to you, or you’ve gone crazy.”

 

“…”

 

“Don’t tell me you’ve gone crazy?”

 

“No!”

 

“Hmph. You have too many secrets.”

 

Si-eun said in a sulky voice.

 

Yeon-jae glanced around nervously, wondering if Si-eun was really hurt. But contrary to Yeon-jae’s worry, Si-eun immediately changed the subject as if nothing had happened.

 

“What should we eat for lunch today?”

 

Si-eun asked while linking arms with Yeon-jae.

 

“What do you want to eat?”

 

“Ah, Shin Yeon-jae, come on! Not me, you! What do you want to eat?!”

 

“Hmm. This time I’ll really think about it seriously.”

 

“Good. Today we’re definitely eating whatever you want to eat. Oh, the professor’s coming!”

 

Si-eun hurriedly returned to her seat.

 

Soon after, a phone notification rang.

 

Make sure to pick a lunch menu

 

Yeon-jae smiled slightly after checking the message from Si-eun.

 

Ever since introducing Hyeonoh, Yeon-jae and Si-eun had become close enough to hang around together frequently.

 

To be more precise, it was closer to Si-eun dragging around Yeon-jae, who tried to be alone as usual.

 

What mattered was that Yeon-jae had ended her long loner life and started hanging out with Si-eun’s group.

 

She had been hanging out with Hyeonoh and Dohan quite a bit recently. But Yeon-jae usually went around alone unless Hyeonoh called her out.

 

She attended classes alone, ate alone, and studied alone.

 

Did she hate that?

 

No.

 

Yeon-jae had been alone for such a long time that she was used to living alone. As people commonly say, being alone was comfortable for her.

 

So if you asked whether she hated being led by Si-eun’s hand to hang out in a group, that wasn’t the case either.

 

‘Actually, it’s nice.’

 

These days, through Si-eun, Yeon-jae was rediscovering the special emotions that only the existence called ‘friend’ could provide, which she had forgotten about for many years. Feeling grateful to Si-eun was a bonus.

 

But the reason Yeon-jae was in a good mood today wasn’t because of Si-eun.

 

‘Coming to school together with Dohan sunbae.’

 

It was because she had run into Dohan on her way out from home and went to school together.

 

Once she found out they lived in the same neighborhood, strangely enough, she ran into him more often than before.

 

She had run into Dohan by chance within the apartment complex while heading out to school and went to school together several times.

 

When you’re together, you naturally have to engage in conversation.

 

Gone was the past Shin Yeon-jae who would be startled and react in the same pattern every time Dohan spoke to her.

 

Now Yeon-jae could have conversations with Dohan without awkwardness, even if she wasn’t proactive about it.

 

Every time they ran into each other coming and going, they would have various conversations and accumulate new information about each other. Most of it was trivial information.

 

“Sunbae, have you read any interesting books lately?”

 

“I recently read Ted Chiang’s novels and they were interesting.”

 

“What music do you enjoy listening to these days?”

 

“Hmm. I don’t know much about music.”

 

“I’m also curious about your favorite movie genres…!”

 

“Maybe because there’s not enough laughter in daily life? These days it’s comedy. By the way, Yeon-jae. The questions you ask every time we meet sound just like blind date questions.”

 

“Ah! I’m sorry.”

 

“Nothing to be sorry about. It’s interesting. Ask more.”

 

The information she heard directly from Dohan’s mouth got stuck in her head automatically the moment she heard it, without having to write it down somewhere to memorize it. These days, Yeon-jae didn’t even bring her notebook.

 

‘Oh right. Come to think of it, today we talked about Hyeonoh sunbae.’

 

Suddenly, Yeon-jae reflected on the conversation she had with Dohan a few hours ago.

 

* * *

 

While Yeon-jae knew that Dohan and Hyeonoh were best friends, she had no idea where the two had met or how they became close.

 

Honestly, she thought such detailed circumstances weren’t something to ask about unless the parties involved told her directly. For that reason, Yeon-jae hadn’t even thought to ask about it.

 

However, when there’s a mutual acquaintance, stories about that mutual acquaintance naturally come up at least once during conversations.

 

Today was the same. As they exchanged various stories on the way to school, Hyeonoh coincidentally became their topic of conversation.

 

“Why are Hyeonoh sunbae’s grades so good when he doesn’t even study for exams? We had a quiz last week in the business administration class I take with Hyeonoh sunbae, and I thought he hadn’t studied at all, but only his grades were good.”

 

“He’s just smart.”

 

“You’re smart too, sunbae.”

 

“Me? Not at all. I’m just hardworking.”

 

“That’s a lie.”

 

Now Yeon-jae could joke around even in front of Dohan. Of course, just because she could joke didn’t mean she wasn’t nervous. Still, this was remarkable progress.

 

“But since when have you two been close?”

 

Yeon-jae asked suddenly.

 

“Elementary school?”

 

“You’ve really been friends for a long time.”

 

“We didn’t know we’d end up going to the same school too.”

 

“How did you become friends?”

 

“Ah, we were hanging out in Canada when we were in elementary school?”

 

“Canada?”

 

“Yeah. Vancouver.”

 

Early study abroad experiences are common these days, but the name of a foreign city coming from Dohan’s mouth felt very unfamiliar.

 

“When I was young, I went to Canada for short-term language courses every vacation. I attended a language institute run by Hyeonoh’s mother, and that’s when we met and became friends.”

 

This was a story she had never heard before. High-quality information heard directly from the person involved. For the first time in a long while, Yeon-jae missed her notebook.

 

“Wow. That’s amazing. I had no idea because neither of you showed any signs of it.”

 

“It’s nothing special. I went through elementary, middle, and high school all in Korea anyway.”

 

“Still.”

 

This time, instead of answering, Dohan only showed a faint smile.

 

“I heard Canada is nice. Is that true?”

 

The questions continued naturally.

 

“Yeah. When I was young? These days the situation has changed so I’m not sure. The weather isn’t that great either. It rains a lot and it’s cold. But I kind of liked cloudy days. Kang Hyeon-o hated them terribly though.”

 

“Why did Hyeonoh sunbae hate them?”

 

“Normal people would prefer sunny days.”

 

Dohan chuckled after saying that.

 

“Anyway, Hyeonoh played with me a lot. After all, a kid who comes in temporarily during vacations and a kid who actually lives there have different situations. Hyeonoh was much better at English too.”

 

After finishing his words, Dohan looked out the bus window with a thoughtful expression.

 

Yeon-jae glanced at Dohan’s face reflected in the window and blushed at her earlobes once again.

 

He had always been watching Dohan, yet failed to notice anything about studying abroad. Somehow his pride was hurt. At the same time, he felt quite pleased.

 

The university was overflowing with people who bragged for life based solely on their experience of living abroad. But in Dohan, he couldn’t find any trace of such self-boasting behavior.

 

The moment she realized this fact, Yeon-jae found herself captivated by Dohan once again.

 

‘Right. I did think it was odd that he had a hockey team he supported in Canada.’

 

The scattered pieces of information finally fell into place belatedly.

 

Hockey wasn’t a particularly popular sport in Korea.

 

Thinking that Dohan had spent his childhood in Canada every vacation, it made sense that they often talked about hockey games.

 

And that his conversation partner was always Hyeonoh too.

 

Suddenly, Yeon-jae imagined the figures of two young people standing in a country she had never visited.

 

But wait a minute. Hyeonoh sunbae’s mother ran a language institute?

 

“Did Hyeonoh sunbae actually live in Canada?”

 

“Hyeonoh’s nationality is Canadian too, didn’t you know?”

 

Dohan smiled lightly as he looked at the surprised Yeon-jae.

 

* * *

 

Dohan went to Vancouver when he was twelve years old.

 

It was from when his parents entered into full-scale divorce mediation.

 

His parents, who were professionals, were people for whom their own careers had always been the most important thing.

 

Perhaps because of that, while people usually fought over who would get custody, neither of Dohan’s parents wanted custody.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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