I Fell in Love With My Tomboy Friend’s Avatar

“Wow, Eunho is such a man!”

“Hey, why are you helping her? Hayan didn’t even ask for it.”

“Isn’t Eunho so cool?”

All his classmates were busy applauding and cheering for Eunho’s white-knight antics. The male club members who had tried to get Hayan drunk looked embarrassed and refused to meet his eye.

“That was so cool, want to kiss?” Seokjun whispered in Eunho’s ear.

“Shut up, damn it.” Goosebumps shuddered across Eunho’s skin.

Eunho wanted to escape all the attention immediately. He had no heroic intentions or anything like that. His priority was to avoid any misunderstandings with Jeongwon, that was all.

Which was why he’d downed Hayan’s beer in one shot.

“If you don’t know your limit, drink slowly,” he said roughly

Leaving the surprised Hayan behind, Eunho gathered his bag.

“I’m leaving.”

“You’re leaving after doing that? Why? She totally owes you a favor now.”

“Forget it.”

Despite Seokjun’s protests, Eunho left his seat. It was a perfect exit. Thinking they wouldn’t try to stop him now, Eunho made for the door.

***

“…What’s going on?”

Jeongwon had lifted her head to peek at Eunho’s suddenly-raucous table. She’d witnessed Eunho tossing back an entire cup of beer without coming up to breathe, slamming it down in front of Hayan with a bang. He’d even heard his iconic line ’If you don’t know your limit, drink slowly.’

“Is this guy filming a movie?”

Even after Eunho’s hasty departure, his table was still talking about him. Jeongwon looked at Hayan, the department’s goddess, who was now coming to terms with what had just happened. Her face seemed slightly flushed. Whether it was from the alcohol or because Eunho’s main character act was cool, that was unclear.

“…Wait…”

The pieces snapped into place—Eunho had been telling the truth. She realized that even if it wasn’t her, he would have helped. Even if it was some other girl who was in trouble, he would have stepped in. He really did just want to put showoffs in their place when they acted out in front of him.

So that wasn’t it.

Jeongwon had thought that maybe, just maybe, Eunho might have had feelings toward her. She thought she was getting special treatment somehow. She thought he’d helped her because she was his friend, or something like that.

He still dislikes me, I guess.

Jeongwon felt her mood drop, even though she was just reminding herself of an unchanged fact.

“Hayan, your skin is really bright.”

“Really living up to your name: ‘white’.”

Jeongwon couldn’t exactly understand why she suddenly felt low. Maybe it was because Hayan resembled a perfect porcelain doll—pale, pretty, cute, and petite. Someone everyone wanted to look out for. Someone so cute that even other girls found her endlessly adorable. If Hayan was in danger, it seemed like anyone, not just Eunho—no—even Jeongwon would throw herself into the thick of it to save her.

After all, compared to Jeongwon, Hayan was really delicate, thin, and small. She looked like she might break from even the slightest bump.

If it was me instead of Hayan in that situation…

If it was Jeongwon experiencing that simple difficulty of drinking too much, not some other trouble, would Eunho have helped?

Probably not.

Jeongwon’s fingers curled around her glass.

Would guys have even wanted to make me drink like that in the first place? Probably not.

Jeongwon quietly looked down at her glass.

***

“This is great!”

Eunho thought it was quite fortunate that he could end the evening in such a suave manner and go home. But before he could get far, something snagged his hand, halting him from moving forward

When he turned around, someone was gripping his thumb with her small hand. Hayan looked up at him with bright, cat-like eyes.

“What are you doing?” he asked awkwardly.

“Eunho. Thank you for earlier…”

Her tone was cute and high. She stretched the ends of her words out in an adorable way. Her voice paired well with her dainty beauty.

She seems like she’ll be trouble.

He wasn’t good at dealing with such tender-hearted, nice girls. Unlike Jeongwon, who was outgoing and easy to deal with.

“Ah, yeah,” he muttered. “Be careful with alcohol.”

Regardless, there was no need to show his annoyance and look like an ass to Hayan. When he tried to leave again, Hayan wouldn’t let go.

“What are you doing?” he asked again.

“Where are you going?”

“Home, of course,” he answered, nonplussed.

“Why are you leaving?”

“What kind of question is that?”

Hayan wouldn’t let go of Eunho’s thumb and just looked up at him with bright eyes.

“Why are you going home?”

“I’m going to play games.”

“Games? You can play games here too. Want to play drinking games?”

“Not games like drinking games.” He couldn’t keep a note of exasperation out of his voice. “This is why I can’t deal with popular kids.”

“Popular? You’re popular too. Let’s hang out, Eunho.”

Is she from the Taekwondo department too, Eunho wondered, tugging against her bear trap fingers. While it was cute that she was giggling and swaying his thumb left and right, her grip was so strong that it was hard to pull his thumb away.

Finally, Eunho tried to use quite a bit of force to shake her off. Then Hayan became sulky, her lips forming a pout and looking up with pitiful eyes.

“I thought…”

“What,” he asked flatly.

Hayan made a little whining sound and recaptured Eunho’s thumb to draw him closer. She seemed a little upset.

“I thought you drank for me because you were interested in me.”

“What?” Eunho felt blindsided.

“Was that not the reason?”

Hayan’s fingers shifted to hold his entire hand.

So this is why she’s so popular.

Eunho looked down at Hayan’s pale, clear face, shining with the confidence of someone who’s never been rejected. She seemed like someone who had only received love all her life.

Hayan’s gaze never left Eunho’s face as she continued to gently swing their joined hands left and right, like a child playing.

“Want to go for round two, just us?”

Eunho’s eyes widened. Did “just us” mean just Hayan and Eunho? As if reading his gaze, Hayan smiled and spoke again.

“You don’t like noisy places, right? Let’s go, just the two of us.”

Suddenly, Hayan’s childlike finger-holding took on a strange feeling. Eunho couldn’t shake her hand off, but he couldn’t return the squeeze either. His head was filled with a fog of confusion.

Huh? Why suddenly with me? Why just the two of us? As a man... should I go along with this?

He and Hayan were merely acquaintances, not particularly close.

They weren’t even close enough to greet each other in passing. Besides exchanging hellos a few times after Hayan joined the school magazine editorial department, they hadn’t shared anything else.

But why is she suddenly acting like this with me? Because I drank in her place?

He thought Seokjun was being dramatic. Could Hayan have read his behavior as flirtatious? As a man, he should go along with it, but…

This is too much effort.

While Hayan was pretty and cute, that was all there was to it. He didn’t particularly want to do anything with Hayan. It wouldn’t be good to make himself seem like an ass, but it didn’t seem like there would be any benefit in seeming polite either.

And most importantly… the burning quest starts today.

If he didn’t participate in the event starting today, his cumulative participation would drop and winning would become difficult. He couldn’t waste his time on Hayan if he wanted to get the equipment he’d been eyeing.

And anyway, it would be even more problematic if things worked out with her.

Now that he was thinking about it, Eunho had helped Hayan to prove that he would help other girls besides Jeongwon if they were in trouble. But if he ended up with Hayan, wouldn’t that somewhat tarnish the innocence of his actions? What if people started to think that he only helped girls he was interested in—even though he had no interest in Jeongwon at all. It would be irritating if people believed that he was just trying to appear attractive to girls.

Eunho eventually shook his head. “Sorry, not tonight.” He glanced at her face, worried she might cry or get upset.

“Hmm…” Hayan narrowed her eyes at Eunho, then immediately let go of his hand.

“Okay, take care!” Her tone was surprisingly relaxed as she turned and walked away.

What on earth?

He was perplexed how Hayan, who had been whining and clinging to him until seconds before, had so easily let him go.

Well, I guess she made the suggestion without much thought.

What more was there to think about? Eunho also casually turned around and headed home.

***

Eunho entered the classroom with a somewhat haggard face from gaming all night. A loud voice greeted him.

“He’s here, he’s here.”

The classmates who had been quietly watching Eunho approach cleared their throats, stretched their hands into the air, and dramatically delivered their lines.

“Stop drinking.”

Eunho frowned, hearing his own words spoken like an anime character.

“What are you doing?”

“If you don’t know your limit, drink slowly,” they said in unison.

Flustered, Eunho hit a random classmate’s back. “Stop it.”

“Hey, stop it.”

“Are you joking?” he demanded.

“Hey, let’s joke.”

“Oh shut up.”

“Hey, shut up.”

The classmates’ teasing was endless. While they were busy giggling and tormenting Eunho, he tried to ignore them and found a seat in the corner of the classroom.

Even though Eunho had moved away, his classmates were still imitating him in the center of the classroom.

“Crazy bastards.”

“Really.”

“Whoa, shit!”

Sitting next to Eunho was Jeongwon. The seat had been empty until just now, and Eunho was startled, not knowing when she had arrived.

“Shit, are you a ninja? Why are you sneaking in here like some kind of bandit?”

“It’s a required course for second-year Taekwondo majors. Taekwondo and Assassination. For students applying to the National Intelligence Service.”

“…Really?”

“Of course not really,” she snorted.

Having Jeongwon next to him was annoying. Not only that but, when Jeongwon was nearby, he kept remembering that day. The day she climbed on top of him, trying to break his arm, and gritting her teeth while holding him down.

Feeling suddenly irritated, he grabbed his book to move seats. Then Jeongwon carefully asked, “Don’t you think Hayan is cute too?”

He was about to leave with his books, but found himself putting them down again. Eunho looked at Hayan who was joking around in the center of the classroom. It seemed their classmates had started teasing her now.

Hayan, a beauty who made a positive impact on others and was cute, moon-pale, and soft. Despite not being particularly short, she was thin and small. People even marvelled at her willowy build when they got up close.

“Hmm.”

Eunho quietly looked at Hayan. Objectively speaking, she was definitely adorable. Like a younger sister from next door.

“She’s cute,” Eunho answered casually and shifted his attention away from Hayan.

***

“…Really?” Jeongwon’s gaze didn’t leave Eunho. She scanned his side profile as he looked at Hayan. “I see.”

So Eunho was just like other guys. Though it was obvious, it felt strange to remind herself of this fact.

“Then… What if…”

“What,” he said, annoyed, now looking down at his phone.

Cautiously, Jeongwon asked, “If someone like Hayan asked a guy to date her, he would definitely say yes, right? Just looking at her face.”

She wasn’t trying to test him. She was just genuinely curious. She could feel inferiority slowly creeping up from her toes.

“Huh?” Eunho said, in a way that made Jeongwon feel slightly stupid. “She’s pretty but… Not all guys would do that.”

Eunho actually sounded aggravated. He didn’t take his eyes off his phone. Jeongwon felt a strange hope, seeing Eunho only having eyes for his phone, rather than for herself or Hayan.

So she asked, “Then, do you remember the dress Hayan wore that night? The denim one.”

“Oh? Did she?”

“Do you remember or not?”

“Come on, why are you asking,” Eunho briefly looked up from his phone to shoot her a look of irritation. Jeongwon watched him think for a few moments.

“I remember,” he said finally.

“How… do you think it would look if I wore it? It’s not really super feminine… Someone like me could wear it, right?”

Eunho blinked at Jeongwon once. Then fixed his gaze back on his phone.

“That wouldn’t be…” he muttered, trailing off.

Jeongwon looked at Eunho’s side profile and fingers for a while. She tried to say something, her lips trembling, and finally managed a weak response.

“Oh. I see…”