Chapter 7.6 - Lightly 6 (2/2)

“Are you okay? Are you still upset? Do you want me to go say more stuff?”

Hearing my words, she slowly shook her head and met her eyes with mine.

“No… you don’t have to… it’s just…”

Light flickered and returned to her eyes as she made a cat-like smile before whispering.

“Thanks Yunjae.”

Her breath tickled my ears.

“I was actually very sad after hearing that sunbae’s words and… seeing Yunjae walk up like that, it was so cool… you know? You were saying all that so boldly and… my heart was fluttering so much. Hihit.”

“…”

I was worried for nothing.

*

Lying down on the bed, Song Mirae raised her arms slowly. Underneath the fluorescent tube giving off light, she spread out her fingers and could see the light creeping through.

Light…

Blankly, she stared at that and could feel her heart starting to beat faster.

And remembered the things that had happened that day.

Receiving the music sheets Yu Minji-sunbae gave a day before and following them to the composing department’s interim presentation without knowing anything; her song that had been in a mess and the sunbae that pointed that out; her head that turned blank and… Jo Yunjae who talked while staring directly at that sunbae.

“Haa…”

With a few grins, Song Mirae operated her phone and brought up the search bar of several SNS apps.

Jo Yunjae, Jo Yunjae…

After pressing hard on the enter button, she saw the empty search results. He doesn’t do much SNS huh… thinking that, Song Mirae went back to her own SNS pages downhearted.

Twitter, instagram, facebook… She could see her account that was logged into all sorts of SNS websites. She then saw the few words and images that were there as well as the meaningless praising words and posts of males showing off…

Glancing over all that, she touched her dry lips for a bit.

“Not fun…”

It was somewhat different from before. The happiness that filled her for a short moment after seeing those comments now felt ever so meaningless.

Was it because of what happened today?

She stared blankly at her phone before pressing the back button to leave her status page.

“…”

Song Mirae wanted to be the protagonist – a protagonist that monopolised the spotlight and the gazes of everyone. Was that perhaps the reason she was attached to these kinds of SNS and interests?

Looking at the list of males that were following her, she felt a thought pass through her head.

‘Boring.’

She was under the wrong impression. Protagonists weren’t made with others’ help but rather, it was something grasped by one’s own hands and through one’s own efforts.

Not her background nor the looks she was born with but…

Effort.

Like what Jo Yunjae had shown in front of everyone. That spot of the protagonist which he earned through his efforts… shined incomparably to the fake she had been aiming for.

“Suh-ah.”

“Why”

Lee Suh-ah

Seeing the back of her head that had been tied up to a ponytail, Song Mirae gave out a smile. Lee Suh-ah who was still studying despite the mid-sems being over already – she wanted to be like her at the start.

A protagonist who could always get first place through all the hardships and a person who had the talents as a soprano which was the protagonist itself.

Those thoughts started shattering after watching Han Dasom surpass her within one month, and seeing Jo Yunjae today made those thoughts change again.

Right.

Like how Jo Yunjae was able to find out certain things due to not being a composing major student,

‘Wouldn’t I be able to become a protagonist even if I’m not a soprano?’

I could do Carmen or something.

Let’s act out a gypsy lady unbound and free. Making a happy smile, Song Mirae whispered to the back of Lee Suh-ah’s head.

“Suh-ah Suh-ah. I feel so good today. Hihit.”

“…You promised to not talk to me while I’m studying.”

“Aang. C’mon listen listen. Do you know what happened today? I thought I became the female lead of a drama or something!”

“Ehew… what happened?”

Towards Lee Suh-ah who lost to her whining and turned around, she started talking on and on about how the sunbae that was picking a fight was shattered and how Jo Yunjae stood up for her. She also made a fuss saying that perhaps he did all that because he was interested in her.

Without even noticing Lee Suh-ah’s quivering eyes, she chattered endlessly before a thought suddenly appeared in her head.

“By the way… Yunjae’s household also seems to be not so well off right?”

“…Probably. He was wearing a school uniform during the Improvement Concert and is also studying hard, probably for the scholarship.”

Uh… that’s not good though…

After thinking about Lee Suh-ah and Jo Yunjae one after another in her head, Song Mirae made a teary expression. There was a reason why her best friend had to come first and Jo Yunjae whom she started to like more had to win the scholarship as well.

The problem was that there was only one person that could come first.

Then… who was I supposed to cheer for?

Song Mirae grabbed her hair and fell into deep anguish.