I Fell in Love With My Tomboy Friend’s Avatar

Eunho had to pause for a moment to think about those words.

I’m the one who should be asking her what she means by that.

However, seeing Jeongwon’s devastated expression, he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. Sweat prickled his back. Eunho briefly reflected on his life as if it flashed before his eyes.

He couldn’t figure out what part of his behavior had upset Jeongwon so much. But before he could get to that thought, Jeongwon threw the shopping bag.

“Hey, Jeongwon!”

He didn’t even have a chance to react to the bag hitting his chest, before Jeongwon ran out of the room. A bewildered Eunho caught the bag and chased after her.

“What’s wrong with you, seriously!”

Eunho grabbed Jeongwon’s shoulder with one hand, stopping her in her tracks. Jeongwon halted weakly.

“What is your problem now, again?” he yelled. “Are you not going to do the modeling? Huh?”

Jeongwon remained silent under his grip.

“Jeongwon, just say something,” he snapped, but Jeongwon didn’t respond. She just stood there, as if her sentience had left the building. Eunho’s frustration mounted as he tried again and again to provoke an answer.

“Hey, you…” He tightened his grip, considering whether he should turn her to face him, but suddenly, he noticed something. Jeongwon’s shoulders were trembling slightly. Uneasiness dampened his irritation. Had he really stopped Jeongwon, a top Taekwondo student, with just one hand?

The moment he formed that thought, a mind-shattering crack passed through Eunho’s head.

Damn. What the hell? Even a bomb wouldn’t have been that loud…

Eunho intended to speak aloud, but his mouth barely moved. He suspected he’d only managed to produce a thought. He hadn’t fully registered the impact of what he’d just felt, but his mouth still wouldn’t open.

Did… Did I just get slapped?

In shock, he lifted a hand to his left cheek. It was burning hot. He couldn’t comprehend how exactly he’d been struck.

What he did know was that he had been slapped by the top Taekwondo student. Slapped by Jeongwon Yoo.

“…What are you doing…” he said thickly.

His brain wasn’t processing things clearly as a result of bouncing off his skull. But one thing was obvious—this wasn’t even Jeongwon’s full strength. Even so, Eunho wondered if his head was actually still intact. The pain was excruciating.

He felt his cheek and confirmed his head was still attached. Only then did Eunho start to grasp the situation and look at Jeongwon. Her hand was trembling before his eyes.

…What the hell?

But before Eunho could open his mouth from the shock, he was hit by another wave of alarm.

Jeongwon was crying.

She was crying harder than he’d ever seen, even when they were kids. Eunho felt like his mouth was glued shut and his chest ached at the sight. It was as if his heart had plummeted to the floor.

“…Why are you crying…”

Jeongwon never cried, no matter how much he teased her, and yet wide trails of tears were now carving their way across her face right before his eyes. She had once vowed never to let anyone see her cry, but now, she wasn’t even bothering to wipe them away. Instead, she was pouring all of her energy into glaring at Eunho through the mask of misery across her face.

It felt worse than screaming and cursing. If she’d cursed at him or hit him like she usually did, he would have felt relieved. This side of Jeongwon brought his heart to a stuttering stop.

“I trusted you, Eunho.” Jeongwon’s voice shook as she spoke. “I really thought you weren’t the kind of person to publicly humiliate me. Not anymore.”

It was hard to look her in the eye. His chest ached at the sight of her glassy eyes, and he struggled to respond.

“I know you were like that before,” she choked out. “But lately… I thought we were kind of friends.” She scrubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, unable to stem the flow.

“Was it… Was it entertaining for you? Seeing me all excited, making me think I’m something I’m not… How did that make you feel? Huh? You must’ve thought I looked like such an idiot.”

Eunho’s brain was refusing to process what Jeongwon was saying. It wasn’t that her crying interrupted her words, but rather that he couldn’t comprehend why she’d feel this way.

He had no intention of humiliating her. At least, this time he really didn’t. He couldn’t understand which of his actions had pushed Jeongwon to this point.

“When did I ever…” he stammered. “When did I ever humiliate you?! Why are you crying, seriously!” His flustered hands reached out to grab her shoulders, but Jeongwon shook them off.

“The idiot who trusted you… is me,” she murmured. “Why… Why do I only realize what’s happening after I fall for it, every time…” Jeongwon bowed her head, evidently incapable of responding to Eunho’s question. Her shoulders shook with sobs as she whipped around and ran.

“Hey, hey, Jeongwon! Where are you going?” Eunho shouted after Jeongwon’s back. He may have yelled, but he couldn’t bring himself to reach out and hold her back. Instead, Eunho stood there, staring as Jeongwon disappeared.When she had vanished, he looked down at the hand she’d shaken off. It was already turning red.

“Shit, what on earth just happened…”

He had made Jeongwon cry. He had tormented her near the point of tears more than once in their long history, but until now, Jeongwon had never actually cried. There were times when her eyes would well up, but she never let those tears fall. It seemed as though she’d break apart if she ever did.

But this time, Jeongwon left him behind, crying as if she no longer cared who saw her tears, and blaming him for the whole thing.He had sometimes wondered if he might one day be able to bring Jeongwon to tears. He’d even imagined it. But seeing it in reality made him feel disgustingly miserable.

“What did she even mean… What did I do?”

Eunho fumbled with the shopping bag Jeongwon had thrust at him and checked inside.

“…It’s a men’s uniform.” His heart dropped to his feet. “Damn it…”

Was this why she’d finally snapped? Eunho let out a deep sigh. She believed he had called her here just to put her in a men’s uniform and make her look like a fool.

“No, that wasn’t it at all… I swear, I didn’t mean to…”

Eunho sank to the floor, setting down the shopping bag and pulling out his phone. His thumb trembled as he tapped on the screen. Jeongwon had every right to be angry. He couldn’t fully understand why she had cried so much, but considering how overwhelmed she’d been lately, it made sense.

Eunho Ju: I think the others made a mistake. Come back so we can talk.

Eunho subconsciously brought a finger to his lips and chewed at the nail. Surely the men’s uniform was the reason for her outburst, but if that was the case, maybe he could still fix it. He waited anxiously for Jeongwon’s reply.

It was deeply frustrating that his classmates had made such a stupid mistake, especially given how sensitive Jeongwon was about this sort of thing.

“Idiots. How did they not know Jeongwon would react poorly to this? How did they manage to do something this thoughtless?”

Eunho’s leg bounced with impatience. He grew more and more tense as the minutes passed without a reply from Jeongwon. If he just explained that it was a mistake, she’d probably calm down quickly.

Eunho Ju: The others mixed the clothes up, I’ll get you the women’s uniform. Just come back and do the model audition.

In actuality, the situation was the result of Jeongwon’s recent issues with Hayan and whatever relationship had sprung up between Hayan and Eunho. Eunho, however, was completely oblivious to that fact.

“Oh, she read it.” Eunho seized his phone with both hands.

“…What’s going on?”

He waited on tenterhooks for a message to appear. Yet, even after ten minutes, thirty minutes, there was no reply from Jeongwon.

Frustrated, Eunho tried calling her, but she didn’t pick up. “She isn’t answering my calls, either? What’s up with her? She’s not usually like this.”

Jeongwon wasn’t the type to get mad over something small and cut off contact. It was strange. Normally, she would have been cool about it, accepting an apology and moving on. She had always been aloof to an unusual extent.

“…This is strange.”

Jeongwon didn’t answer his calls the entire day. Anxiously, Eunho checked the clock on his phone screen again and again.

In the end, Jeongwon did not participate in the model audition.

***

“Jeongwon Yoo.”

Jeongwon walked right past without even looking at Eunho. Her cold attitude triggered his fists to clench tightly. It had already been a week since Jeongwon started ignoring all of Eunho’s messages, not even returning a greeting when they crossed paths, treating him as if he were dead.

What on earth is her problem?

It wasn’t like before—when she’d avoid him but still be aware of his presence. Jeongwon genuinely treated him as if he were a ghost—someone completely invisible, even when he was nearby. Every time Jeongwon pretended not to see him, Eunho almost felt like a leper, coming closer and closer to death each time.

He even asked her friends if they knew what was wrong, but most of them just said she seemed the same as usual with them. A few of them asked if the two had fought again.

It would actually be better if we’d fought… Are we fighting?

But Eunho couldn’t bring himself to answer that. Her disregard was so one-sided that calling it a fight didn’t feel accurate. Eunho couldn’t tell if he needed to apologize, or if so, what he should even apologize for. Whenever he looked into Jeongwon’s cold eyes, he found it hard to speak. Whenever he thought he should just ignore her back, like before, his heart ached.

He wanted to resolve the misunderstanding. If there had been something so awful that it made Jeongwon break down, it was best to clear things up. So, in the end, Eunho couldn’t help but grab Jeongwon’s wrist to stop her as she passed by one day. The words poured out of him.

“Hey, Jeongwon. Let’s talk. What exactly is the problem with you? Was it because I recommended you? Did you hate it that much?”

Jeongwon just listened to Eunho’s outburst silently, staring at the ground and refusing to meet his eye. There was no answer.

“Come on, say something,” he demanded. “I recommended you because I genuinely think you’re pretty. I didn’t do it to make a fool of you. Do I look that bored to you?”

Jeongwon’s gaze shifted to his fingers clamped around her wrist. When he finally fell silent, she raised her head and shot Eunho a look of utter contempt.

“You idiot.”

She twisted her arm free from his grip. Without giving him a chance to explain himself further, she hurried away. All Eunho could do was look down at his now-empty hand.

“… Damn it, seriously…”

He felt strange. The more Jeongwon rejected him, the stranger he felt. It wasn’t the simple discomfort or sadness that usually came with rejection. No—he felt empty.

He and Jeongwon had never been close. Since they were young, Eunho had always bullied Jeongwon without retaliation. Despite that, they’d never lost contact and never became true enemies. Jeongwon had always stuck by Eunho’s side as a childhood friend. No matter how much Eunho mistreated her, she had remained in his life.

Perhaps that was why Eunho had treated her so casually, thinking she would always be there no matter what he did.

“What the hell is this?”

But this time, he had lost Jeongwon because of some unknown mistake. She wasn’t returning to his clutches. If he only knew what he did wrong, he would apologize and try to fix things, but he had no idea this time.

“Is it really going to end like this?”

He and Jeongwon would become total strangers. They would pass each other without a word, without even saying hello, and end up even worse than strangers. When Eunho reached that conclusion, his chest hurt so much he felt like he couldn’t breathe.

“Can’t you at least tell me what I did wrong?”

Even saying something like this would never reach Jeongwon. If they had fought and their relationship ended like that, maybe he would understand. He never imagined things with Jeongwon would end so bitterly.

Eunho simply sat down on a bench and rested the back of his hand across his eyes. The sunlight was so blinding it irritated him.

“Eunho.”

Eunho didn’t bother to remove his hand. It wasn’t Jeongwon’s voice.

“Eunho Ju.”

Someone grabbed Eunho’s hand and pulled it away from his face. He squinted against the sudden burst of sunlight. A face appeared in his hazy, unfocused vision.

“What are you doing here?”

It was Hayan. She examined Eunho’s face up close, smiled, and sat down next to him.

“You don’t look happy? Aren’t you going to class?”

“Not interested,” he muttered, waving her off like an overeager sales clerk.

“I didn’t come to sell you anything…”

“Then go away.”

“What, do you want to buy something? Do you want this?” Hayan waved a protein chocolate bar in front of Eunho’s face. “I’ll sell it to you for a hundred won.”

“No thanks.”

Even though Eunho answered dismissively, Hayan just giggled. Eunho didn’t have the energy or the will to respond to her jokes, so he just leaned back against the bench. Hayan seemed to get the hint and began drawing patterns in the dirt with her toe.

“So, how are things with Jeongwon?” she asked.

Eunho turned his head without lifting it from the back of the bench. She was watching him with that same smile.

“Did she cool down?” Hayan continued. “I heard she was a bit salty after the audition.”

Could her reaction even be described as “a bit salty?” Something about Hayan’s phrasing bothered him. Hayan spoke about Jeongwon like she was some child having a minor tantrum. Was it her naturally cheerful expression, or was she holding back something? Or maybe everything was just irritating to Eunho, so even Hayan’s expression aggravated him.

“I don’t know, damn it.”

Eunho sighed and covered his face with his palm. Whether or not he felt disquieted by Hayan’s tone didn’t matter to him. The only thing on his mind was figuring out what was going on with Jeongwon.

“Hmm, I see. That must be tough.”

Hayan’s voice reached him through the hand shielding his face. It sounded like there was a bit of laughter at the end.