CH 1

“Oppa, it’s been a while since I came.”

“Oh, really? Right, it has been a while.”

“Yes, I have something to brag about.”

“Oh, really? Tell me about it.”

“I managed to get the 1st grade in this year’s mock test.”

[T/N: 1st grade means that she’s in the top 4% of her cohort.]

“Wow, really? Congratulations.”

“Yes, so I can’t come over anymore.”

“Oh, real… What? Why?”

There was a commotion all around. It was the height of summer, and they were in the middle of a shopping mall square. 

A member of an idol group, who was sweating and signing autographs for less than 100 fans, widened his eyes.

Kang Hara’s eyes also widened in surprise as she proudly opened her mock test’s report card.  

It’s been 4 years since their debut. It has been a long time since this oppa, who’d tried various kinds of arrogant concepts but wasn’t able to become popular, has become dejected with dulled eyes.

What does it mean when you’ll win a spot in the fan sign event as long as you buy an album? 

It means that the number of fans have dwindled to the point where the fans could sing Yongbieocheonga and even Samiinguk in front of the oppas, and he’ll still have time to talk to all of them one by one.

[T/N: Yongbieocheonga (용비어천가) is the first work written in Hangul, and published in 1447 during the Joseon dynasty. Samiinguk (사미인곡) is a classical poetry published in 1588, and has reached the pinnacle of lyrical literature.] 

As such, she thought that this dull-eyed oppa, who kept repeating “Oh, really,” would continue doing that this time and let it pass by saying “Oh, really.”

To think that he’d actually asked why.

She was a little surprised, but Kang Hara soon regained her composure. Who was she? She got 1st grade in the mock tests. A perfect score for language. In other words, she grasped the implication behind Yuqi’s question perfectly.

‘Our Yuqi-oppa, so you were astonished that I’d dump you for someone else.’ 

Hara smiled quietly and pushed up her horn-rimmed glasses.

As the glasses slid down again due to sweat, Oppa continued to watch Hara with round eyes as he used the tip of his sleeve to wipe Hara’s nose bridge. 

Fortunately, the oppa that Hara held dear was an unpopular member of his obscure group. Even if he helped to wipe the sweat off a huge fan, it wouldn’t be talked about that much. 

“Why? Why can’t you come?”

“Well, now, I’m a senior in high school.”

The idol’s face turned dim.

“Oh, really?”

“Yes. That’s why, my mom told me to go to the fan signing event again when I’m accepted into Korea University’s law school.”

“Oh, is that so?”

Usually, singers wouldn’t even know the age of a fan. However, after oppa heard that, Kang Hara became different from the handful of fans.

As such, he who only says ‘Oh, really’ roughly knew Kang Hara’s age. 

It was none other than eighteen years old. 

Oppa’s head, which was used for memorising lyrics and didn’t move, began turning as he calculated when the fan before him would return.

It is currently August. In other words, she would take the CSATs in November of the following year, receive her results in December of the following year, and obtain the university’s letter of acceptance in January of the year after. She’s banned from being a fangirl for about a year and a half.

Big changes can occur in a year and a half, and it’s the remaining time before the disbandment of an obscure idol group.

The face of he who only says ‘Oh, really’ darkened rapidly. So just like that, another fan was drifting apart like this.

Uncaring, the manager that stood behind him spoke coldly. 

“Please move on—”

It was a cold treatment, as expected of a Mang-dol manager.

[T/N: Mang-dol means idol member or group that aren’t famous/didn’t become popular.]

She felt rushed. Hara began rapping.

“OppatruthfullyIalsocameheresecretlywithoutmymom’sknowledge. I’llcomebackassoonastheCSATshaveendedokay?”

He who only says ‘Oh, really’ was still an idol with business ethics. He extended his little finger towards Hara, who was walking sideways.

“You must get into law school. Alright? So come and see me. Promise? I’ll keep your mock test report card, and return it to you then.”

Wow, Oppa. Hearts entered Hara’s eyes as she watched oppa as he took her mock test report card. She had to lock pinkies with oppa, so she hastily rubbed her palms on her thighs. She couldn’t allow Yuqi-oppa’s hands to come into contact with her sweat.

But before Hara could reach out her hand, the manager pushed her by the shoulders.

“Please move on—”

“Ah, Hyung. Please wait a minute.”

He who only says ‘Oh, really’ pushed the manager away with a faint laugh and hooked his pinkie onto hers.

“See you again.”

So did she manage to see him again? That wasn’t the case. 

Originally, foreshadowing was always present in these kinds of stories, and in the case of Kang Hara, the phrase “I secretly came without my mom’s knowledge” became her foreshadowing. 

On that day, a C-grade gate just so happened to open at that shopping mall.

In a news interview, the owner of the shopping mall briefly summarised the reason why the gate was opened at the shopping mall, a private commercial facility.

[Ah, where would you find a building owner that adheres to all the fire department’s regulations in the Republic of Korea?]

Anyway, in order to cut costs, the owner of the building, who’d kept delaying the installation of the mana stone for gate prevention in the newly built shopping mall, became X, and numerous civilians were swept away.

It’s not like Kang Hara was swept away.

As she’d lied to her mother that she had night self-study today, Hara had to leave quickly. As such, she wasn’t swept into the gate because she had to leave the shopping mall in advance before the fan signing event was over.

However, she witnessed the sudden explosion of the shopping mall that she’d left through a bus window. 

[Breaking news. At 18:30 today, a gate opened at a shopping mall in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul. We’re connecting to Reporter Yoon Seheon, who is at the scene. Reporter Yoon Seheon?]

[Uhuhuhuhuuuu, Ahjussi, is our Yuqi-oppa safe and sound? Yes?]

[Student, I’m really sorry, but I’m about to do a live broadcast, hm?]

[Ahjussi, aren’t you a reporter? Uhuhuhu. Please tell me any news about our Oppa. Please.]

[Yes, yes. Student’s Oppa will be safe. Wipe your runny nose. Blow, there you go. Please calm down first.]

[…Reporter Yoon Seheon?]

[Oh, yes. This is Yoon Seheon. We are currently at the scene where the incident occurred, the shopping mall.]

Which fan would be in their right mind after witnessing their oppa being swept up into a gate?

It was even unclear whether his brother, who had promised with his pinky just now, was alive or not. Therefore, it was natural for Hara to run back to the shopping mall, hold onto anyone and shed tears. 

However, the other party was bad. 

The other party was a ground reporter for a broadcasting station, who had run over to cover the sudden gate appearance. In addition, the moment Hara hung onto him was the 10 seconds before connection to the scene. 

The appearance of Kang Hara, a high school student who cried out, “What will our Oppa do?” was broadcasted live nationwide. In distinct contrast to Hara was a reporter sighing and wiping the high school girl’s runny nose with the sleeve of his suit.

Of course, their appearances were immortalised as it was on X-tube. The number of views literally exploded. Apparently, it gave that station’s X-tube channel the highest number of views yet. 

The station became excited and released follow-up videos crazily. 

Although he’d messed up his first-ever job as a reporter due to a high school girl’s surprise attack, the stories of a handsome reporter that responded calmly circulated on all kinds of community sites afterwards. 

In that case, what did Kang Hara gain?

As a fan girl, Kang Hara made an achievement of the best gift she could give to her oppa at that time.

[Real-time search terms]

No. 1 Yuqi-oppa

No. 2 Kwon Wook

No. 3 Who is Kwon Wook?

No. 4 Yuqi-oppa, high school girl.

…Of course, it was truly foreshadowing that he who only said ‘Oh, really’ would awaken as an S-class in that gate on that day, and take the top spot in real-time search terms frequently, but that’s a later story.

Anyways, in return for her great accomplishment, Kang Hara was smacked on a rainy day till dust swirled about. 

“This lass! Disgracing me so much that I can’t walk with my head up high!” 

Didn’t she say that, “I came here without my mom knowing” was a foreshadowing?

That day, the whole family, who’d gathered at the table for dinner, watched Kang Hara’s tears and snot show through a live broadcast.

Her mother, who thought that Hara was doing night self-study, was flabbergasted, and her father dropped his spoon. Her younger brother went, “Wow, you’re mad. Wow,” and used his smartphone to take a picture of the TV screen. 

“You were also lying when you said that you’ve gotten 1st grade in the mock tests, right? What happened to the report card!”

She couldn’t say anything in response to her mother’s scolding. It was because if she’d told her that she gave it to an idol-oppa, she might have been smacked.

Eventually, her mother had even called Hara’s homeroom teacher to confirm in front of the crying Hara. Her father, who’s next to her, pretended to stop her by saying, “Oh-hoh, why are you checking it for when it’s not like you want to advertise the family’s disgrace!” but the one that paid the most attention to what the homeroom teacher said was none other than Hara’s father.

The next day, her homeroom teacher chuckled and pulled on Hara’s cheek, saying, “Oh, what a troublemaker.” Her best friend, Jiah, consoled Hara with a smile.

“What would you have done if you had poor grades?”

It was considered fine when her homeroom teacher pulled her cheeks, and the same goes when other schoolmates said, “Is that her? ‘Yuqi-oppa’, her?”

However, as soon as she heard Jiah’s words, she became agitated and furious. She doesn’t know why. Now that she thought about it, Jiah’s words might have been an opportunity.

“After the lass that I’ve raised has grown up, she went out and disgraced her family.”

“If you weren’t good at studying, someone like you would’ve been quite…”

Her parents, who used to say that all night. Ripped posters and the remains of an album formed a pile in front of Hara, who was kneeling on the floor and crying.

Eventually, Hara shouted at Jiah angrily.

“Should you be telling me that now?”

Jiah was bewildered by Hara’s words.

“Hey, I said that to cheer you up, so why are you so annoyed?”

That kind of fight happened right before lunch. Eventually, Jiah left Hara alone and went for lunch.

Hara remained in the empty classroom and tried to comfort herself. It’s fine. It’ll all be forgotten once she goes to university. 

Even though it was immortalised within all kinds of community sites since yesterday, she’d turned from ‘invisible nerd 1’ to ‘Yuqi-oppa, her’ in school. At home, all of her pocket money was cut off and things were taken away and received the threat that ‘You’ll be kicked out of this house if you do anything that stands out before going to university!’ 

In any case, it’s something that will be forgotten after she goes to university.

In truth, she wondered if it would really be forgotten, but her tears would flow constantly if she didn’t think in this manner, so she kept turning on her positive way of thinking

It’s alright. She’ll become a law student. She’s going to enter the University of Korea’s Law School, smile in front of Yuqi-oppa and say, “I was so worried about Oppa and it ended up being immortalised.”

The fact that her “Yuqi-oppa” has yet to be rescued from the gate was a hindrance to Hara’s positive way of thinking, so she pretended to be in the dark.

So did Kang Hara become a law student?

No.

How could that be?

She should have noticed when a gate appeared on the day she took her mock test’s report card to a fan sign behind her mother’s back, and ended up having her tears and runny nose broadcasted live nationwide.

The fact that Kang Hara’s life wouldn’t go the way she wants it to.