* * *

Why is Ha Sumin calling all of a sudden?

Jeongseo stopped in his tracks, staring down at his phone.

He wondered if something had happened, but his hesitation didn’t last long.

“Hello?”

• …….

No response came through the line.

Jeongseo tilted his head in confusion, and Seobok, who had stopped alongside him, looked up curiously.

Thinking the call might have disconnected, Jeongseo checked the screen, but the call was still active.

“Hello?”

At his second attempt, a voice finally came through.

• Oh, uh, it’s me, Ha Sumin.

“Yeah, I know! What’s up?”

Jeongseo resumed walking slowly, pondering the reason for the unexpected call.

But no plausible explanation came to mind, and his curiosity only grew.

• Uh… there’s no particular reason. What were you doing? I hope I didn’t interrupt anything.

“No, not at all! I was just walking Seobok and heading home. What’s up?”

• Seobok? You have a dog?

“Yeah! He’s a wolfdog. Super cool!”

Ha Sumin didn’t seem to have any urgent reason for calling, as the conversation meandered aimlessly.

It wasn’t until Jeongseo reached his house that the call finally ended.

“What was that about? Why did he call?”

In the end, Jeongseo couldn’t figure out why Ha Sumin had reached out.

---

Grade 11, Class 4, Student 25. Beta.

Ha Sumin ranked mid-to-upper in the science track academically, and his looks were decent enough for him to consider himself average—or slightly above.

In fact, he was subtly popular, especially among the first years.

Over the summer break, he had grown noticeably taller and was aiming for 180 cm.

He was sociable and had been in two relationships since middle school, the longest lasting 98 days.

Both times, the other person had confessed to him.

His last breakup, caused by his partner cheating, had left him so disheartened that he hadn’t dated anyone since starting high school.

“Hey, Ha Sumin! Wanna hit the PC room before cram school?”

A classmate slung an arm over Ha Sumin’s shoulder as they descended the stairs.

“I’ve got homework to finish after school. Can’t go.”

“We had homework?”

“Yeah, math problems.”

“Oh, crap!”

His classmate, visibly annoyed, ran off to his seat.

Ha Sumin shook his head and returned to his own.

As soon as he entered the classroom, his gaze drifted to his seatmate.

Round brown ears peeked out, and a soft profile, delicate and cute, came into view as the other boy turned slightly.

Recently—or maybe for months now—Ha Sumin’s attention had been entirely consumed by Seo Jeongseo.

There wasn’t any particular moment that had sparked it.

At most, he’d thought Jeongseo was cute from the start—a nice-looking kid among the many in their grade.

In their first year, they weren’t in the same class, and seniors had warned against befriending Jeongseo, claiming it would ruin their school life.

But now that they shared a class, Ha Sumin found himself watching Jeongseo more and more.

Even the smallest actions made his chest tighten inexplicably.

By the time he realized it, he already liked him.

However, there was one enormous and dangerous obstacle between Ha Sumin and Jeongseo: Pyo Yoontae, the black panther who sat behind Jeongseo.

Whenever Ha Sumin tried to talk to Jeongseo, Pyo Yoontae’s glare was enough to send chills down his spine.

Ha Sumin knew all too well that he didn’t stand a chance against Pyo Yoontae in terms of appearance, academics, or any other measure.

So if Jeongseo and Pyo Yoontae were already dating, Ha Sumin wasn’t about to harbor any futile hopes.

At least, that’s what he told himself…

As he sat down, Ha Sumin turned slightly toward Jeongseo.

The latter was chatting with Hyun Junhyun, while Pyo Yoontae scowled silently, his chin resting on his hand.

“What are you guys talking about?” Ha Sumin asked, leaning in.

“Junhyun’s taking the Computer Skills Proficiency Test on Saturday,” Jeongseo replied.

“Junhyun? Really?”

Ha Sumin glanced at Junhyun, who groaned dramatically and slumped onto the desk.

“My mom made me do it, saying it’d be useful. I’m gonna fail for sure. I didn’t study at all.”

“Is it a written test?” Ha Sumin asked.

“Yeah, just the written part.”

“If you cram for two days and get lucky with your guesses, you might pass. It’s for Level 2, right?”

“Level 2 is hard?”

Ha Sumin easily joined the conversation, but Pyo Yoontae remained silent, his piercing gaze fixed solely on Jeongseo.

Usually, Jeongseo would notice and pacify Pyo Yoontae at this point.

But lately, things had been different…

“Jeongseo.”

Pyo Yoontae’s voice made Jeongseo flinch slightly.

“Huh?”

“When should we start preparing for our biology presentation?”

“Oh…!”

With about ten days left, it wasn’t urgent but not exactly far off either.

Pyo Yoontae’s suggestion seemed surprisingly delayed.

Jeongseo glanced around nervously before mumbling, “Today… I can’t…! There’s a town hall event, and they asked me to come!”

---

The Village Hall…

While Ha Sumin also lived in the countryside, seeing Seo Jeongseo’s town made him think, ‘Now that’s what you call rural.’

Sure, his own neighborhood probably had a village hall too, but he had never paid any attention to it.

But that wasn’t the important part right now.

What really mattered was that Jeongseo, who used to hang out with Pyo Yoontae almost every day after school, had been avoiding him for several days now.

Ha Sumin couldn’t understand why Pyo Yoontae, who claimed he was here to find his first love, was showing such blatant lingering feelings toward Jeongseo instead.

If their relationship wasn’t mutual—no, even if it was mutual but they weren’t officially dating yet—didn’t that mean he still had a chance?

Sumin, unsure of what to do, stared intently at Jeongseo and Yoontae, who were fumbling for excuses about why they couldn’t spend time together again today.

If he just let this opportunity slip by without doing anything… A strong premonition told him that he might never get another chance.

°❀•°❀°•❀°

The day for their life sciences project presentation was fast approaching—it was set for next week.

Jeongseo realized he could no longer avoid it.

It wasn’t something he could do alone, and it would affect Pyo Yoontae’s grades too.

At least they had already decided on a topic over the phone, so all that was left was to prepare the presentation slides and the script.

Keeping some distance from Yoontae seemed to have calmed his suddenly pounding heart a bit.

Honestly, he wondered if they even needed to work together.

Yoontae could handle the slides while he prepared for the presentation.

Why not just divide the work?

But Yoontae insisted that they meet in person to work together, leaving no room for negotiation.

As a result, nothing had progressed so far.

Toward the end of the day’s final class, Jeongseo felt a poking sensation on the back of his neck.

Startled, he flinched, only to realize that Yoontae’s finger had moved to his back, tracing letters as if writing something.

Even through the fabric of his school vest, the pressure left a trail that made his skin tingle.

Jeongseo couldn’t understand what Yoontae was doing until he focused carefully—it spelled out “Hand.”

Confirming that the teacher was busy writing something on the blackboard, Jeongseo reached back with his hand.

A small note was dropped into his palm.

When Jeongseo unfolded it and read the contents, his shoulders jolted in surprise.

“Jeongseo, stop being so distant. I’m on the verge of snapping ^^. Don’t even think about running away today—let’s get this PPT done.”

Jeongseo knew it was time to stop stalling.

He carefully wrote a reply in the corner of the note.

“Okay! Sorry!”

Feeling like something was missing, Jeongseo hesitated before drawing a small, sheepish, sweat-dripping rabbit doodle in another corner.

Then, he nervously passed the note back to Yoontae.

Yoontae, who immediately unfolded it, looked pleased at first, but his expression turned into a frown when he noticed Jeongseo’s scribble.

“What is this?”

It was an odd, wobbly creature with long limbs, almost alien-like.

Yoontae wondered if it was supposed to resemble his face.

Feeling a chill from the dark, beady eyes, he quickly folded the note and set it aside.

After school, the two headed to a training center.

Instead of going to Yoontae’s house, they decided to work at a café on the training center’s first floor.

Jeongseo had suggested using the library’s multimedia room, but they compromised on the café.

Understanding Jeongseo’s reluctance, Yoontae didn’t push further and brought his laptop down from upstairs.

When he arrived, Jeongseo was already sitting in a corner, looking around the café.

As Yoontae placed the laptop on the table, their drinks arrived, and Jeongseo quickly retrieved them.

Sitting across from Yoontae, Jeongseo awkwardly avoided his gaze before finally speaking.

“We decided on genetic modification as our topic, right? My mom works in biotech, so I was thinking of asking her for help…”

Just as Jeongseo, who had been avoiding Yoontae until now, jumped straight to the point, Yoontae’s eyes narrowed.

Jeongseo’s phone vibrated on the table, drawing both their gazes to the screen.

[Ha Sumin: Are you on your way home? 5:11 PM ]

Jeongseo instinctively grabbed the phone at the sight of the name, but it was too late.

The tension in the air thickened.

* * *