Unrequited Love Obsession Diary - Chapter 61

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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 61

Yeon-jae’s name flowing from Gio’s mouth, who had somehow started speaking casually with Yeon-jae like a friend, felt unfamiliar somewhere, and struck him as strangely fresh.

“Right now, you and Dohan hyung both like the same woman. But it seems like Yeon-jae is getting along well with Dohan hyung.”

“….”

Hyeonoh couldn’t react to those words at all. He was just dazed like someone whose mind had been stolen.

“Now that I think about it, that consultation you had about a friend’s problem while lying was actually about Yeon-jae and Dohan hyung. Geez. What? You said you’d step forward and help them get together? How do you walk such a thorny path all by yourself?”

He could no longer hear clearly what Gio was even saying.

The cigarette between his fingers had already grown short without him taking more than a few puffs.

The world was quiet.

As if everything except himself had fallen into a long sleep.

Only one thought remained in Hyeonoh’s mind.

Ah, I’m screwed.

A single thought dominated Hyeonoh’s head, undeniably so.

Though he had unconsciously denied it, the truth was that all the emotional fluctuations he’d experienced pointed to something clear.

Hyeonoh finally acknowledged it.

He didn’t know when it had started.

But for quite a long time, through all the time that had passed without him having a chance to name it.

He had been liking Shin Yeon-jae.

And even now, he was standing in the center of those feelings.

* * *

When had it started?

Hyeonoh carefully retraced his steps.

From when he decided he should go pick up Yeon-jae, who might be stamping her feet in the pouring rain?

No.

From when Lee Do-han stepped forward himself, saying he’d walk Shin Yeon-jae home?

No.

From when Shin Yeon-jae’s trivial message made him laugh foolishly?

No.

From when he picked up the notebook that Shin Yeon-jae had dropped?

No.

From when he realized they were taking care of the same cat?

No.

From when he first saw Shin Yeon-jae secretly throwing away alcohol?

Yes. This seemed right.

This was definitely the beginning.

And upon realizing this fact, several moments he had completely forgotten came to mind.

* * *

The freshman welcome party two years ago.

Shin Yeon-jae, who kept her back straight even amid the commotion and curses surrounding her.

Those who found Yeon-jae presumptuous for holding her head high to seniors, as if it were their own business.

Or people whose eyes simply sparkled with curiosity.

Various types of people gathered to form a crowd around Yeon-jae.

Among them, Hyeonoh belonged to the latter group if he had to choose.

Their first meeting was when he stuck his neck out with his hands in his pockets to look at Shin Yeon-jae.

When he saw that small face from afar, Hyeonoh felt bewildered, absurd, and also amused.

So he kept laughing.

Another moment that came to mind now.

That day, when Hyeonoh, who wasn’t humorless but wasn’t particularly frivolous either, kept laughing foolishly, a classmate asked.

“Kang Hyeonoh, have you lost your mind?”

“It’s interesting.”

When Hyeonoh simply summarized it, his classmate didn’t ask further. Watching fights was enjoyable for everyone. He thought that must be the reason.

While Hyeonoh was looking at Yeon-jae like that, Yeon-jae never once looked at Hyeonoh.

Only Hyeonoh was unilaterally watching Yeon-jae continuously.

A first meeting that only Hyeonoh remembered while Yeon-jae was unaware.

It meant their relationship was unequal from the start.

There couldn’t have been a more appropriate beginning for a relationship that would lead to one person’s unrequited love.

Hyeonoh at that time acted like he knew everything about the world, but was utterly clueless about his own emotions.

For that reason, he failed to notice that his gaze kept automatically turning toward where Yeon-jae was, and eventually looked away.

He had no hobby of persistently staring at someone who wouldn’t look back at him.

* * *

When they met for the second time, Yeon-jae was taking care of the cat that Hyeonoh had been cherishing.

Calling it by a completely different name from the one he had given.

It was absurd.

Amugeoi, who wagged its tail even more in front of Yeon-jae than it did for him despite him taking it to the hospital, was absurd, and Shin Yeon-jae, who named it Jjinppang even though it wasn’t a white cat, was also absurd.

Nevertheless, every connection begins with some trivial coincidence.

Hyeonoh came to look at Yeon-jae once again.

Was it because he found the coincidence that kept catching his eye fascinating?

Hyeonoh was curious about what kind of person Yeon-jae was. He wanted to meet her again.

Because he wanted to meet her again, he wandered around places where Amugeoi frequently appeared without any real purpose.

But how strange.

He thought that since they had crossed paths twice, a third meeting would easily happen, but from the third time onward, they never encountered each other.

Even when he deliberately fed Amugeoi, he didn’t get up right away but lingered for a while.

At the same time, he had no idea why he was doing this.

What is all this pointless behavior…

In the end, Hyeonoh, who couldn’t meet Yeon-jae again until the semester ended, asked a classmate just before vacation.

“Um… you know. Which department had their freshman welcome party at the same pub as us this year?”

“Don’t you know? I think it was the College of Liberal Arts.”

Damn. How many colleges were there under the College of Liberal Arts anyway.

The College of Liberal Arts was where all sorts of humanities departments gathered. History? Philosophy? European Languages? Social Sciences?!

I have no fucking clue…

In the end, Hyeonoh grabbed a few more people and asked.

No one knew.

He thought at least one person would definitely know, but there wasn’t a single one.

So vacation came, and Hyeonoh forgot about Yeon-jae.

Actually, that’s a lie.

Not often, but occasionally, he still thought about Yeon-jae. In a somewhat wistful way.

‘Will I be able to see that girl again next semester?’

And indeed, the next semester, Hyeonoh saw Yeon-jae. Not while taking care of Amugeoi, but in a Business Administration class.

Yeon-jae, sitting alone in the back row, constantly scribbling something.

When he first went to that class orientation, Hyeonoh had actually planned to drop it immediately.

He was getting tired of taking the same professor’s class for three consecutive semesters, and the professor, who had been quite impressed by Hyeonoh’s presentation last semester, had come to remember Hyeonoh’s existence clearly.

Even today, as soon as he stepped into the classroom after being late, the professor called out Hyeonoh’s name from the podium.

Not even for attendance, but purely to acknowledge him.

“Student Kang Hyeon-o, you’re taking my class again this time?”

Hyeonoh, who had been awkwardly smiling while looking for an empty seat, was thinking of immediately going on his phone to access the school portal and drop the class.

He definitely was going to do that.

But then a face caught his eye.

It was Yeon-jae.

* * *

He withdrew his drop request.

He stuck to the class, enduring the awkward situation of having his name called by the professor every time.

Later, he found out they were even taking another class together.

It was only when attendance was called that he learned her department and name.

Hyeonoh, who had suddenly ended up taking two classes with Shin Yeon-jae, spent each class period rolling his pen meaninglessly while watching Yeon-jae.

As he accumulated facts that only an observer could know, even the class time that had always been boring flew by quickly.

It was strange.

Hyeonoh thought Yeon-jae was different from the other students taking the same class. That she stood out just by existing. That she was distinctive.

And suddenly.

He became confused about whether it was Yeon-jae who stood out, or whether he was making Yeon-jae stand out in his eyes.

So when he discovered the notebook, the words “I’ll help you” just came out.

And when questioned about why he was helping her, he could never give a plausible answer.

And despite claiming to help, he kept creating three-way meetings instead of just the two of them.

Looking back, it was a problem with an obvious answer.

Why did I say I would help you?

The truth is, I didn’t give a damn whether you got together with Lee Do-han or not.

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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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