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Jeongwon Yoo: What do you think of this one?
Jeongwon Yoo: This one’s similar to that other top, but it’s 10,000 won cheaper.
It had been about a week since Jeongwon started sending Eunho a steady stream of messages about her shopping choices. Today, Eunho was looking at yet another message from one of her shopping trips.
“Does she think I’m her manager or something?”
But even so, Eunho put in real effort to help her pick clothes. Sometimes she’d suggest overly cute blouses or bootcut jeans, and he had to firmly reject those, so he couldn’t just skim through her choices.
And this had caused a surprisingly big ripple effect amongst their peers.
“If Jeongwon were a guy, I’d definitely confess my love to her, seriously.”
“I’d go for it even now.”
“Jeongwon, can you take a picture with only your back showing? I need to pretend I have a boyfriend.”
The interest from girls around Jeongwon grew daily. Not only her close classmates, but even female students from other departments who didn’t know her well were showing their affection. Some people even came up to Jeongwon, offering snacks after recognizing her from the student paper.
“Excuse me, are you from the Taekwondo Department? I saw you in the school paper…”
“Oh, yes.”
“You’re really handsome! Here, take this snack!”
While Jeongwon acted nonchalant, Eunho felt oddly uncomfortable as he looked on.
Do I actually have a talent for styling?
But in reality, Jeongwon had always been known as a striking beauty. If he had to analyze the reasons behind her rising popularity, Eunho’s clothing choices might account for 30%, while Jeongwon’s natural attractiveness made up the remaining 70%.
“…Life must be pretty good for her, in its own way.”
The group around Jeongwon, which had once been an even mix of guys and girls, now seemed to consist mostly of women.
Girls were bolder in expressing their affection and admiration, and some even followed her around as fans, which only made Jeongwon’s popularity more obvious.
“Hey, Eunho, have you checked the EveryTime app?”
“No? Did a good house listing go up?”
“Do you only use that app to look for rentals? There’s a post about Jeongwon Yoo.”
Eunho’s friend laughed, showing him the anonymous post on their university’s app, “EveryTime.” It didn’t name Jeongwon directly, but anyone would know it was about her.
“ ‘I want to date the handsome girl from the Taekwondo Department!’ ”
“I heard someone actually told Jeongwon they had a crush on her yesterday,” his friend continued.
“A girl?”
“Apparently, it wasn’t just one or two.”
Of course, girls could confess attraction to other girls. But Eunho hadn’t expected Jeongwon to receive confessions nearly every other day—and all thanks to his styling.
“Wow…”
Eunho looked up to see Jeongwon approaching from a distance, her walk like a runway strut.
“Hey, Jeongwon,” Eunho casually called out to her. She was dressed head-to-toe in clothes he had picked for her.
“So, I hear you’ve been getting a lot of confessions?” he asked teasingly, and Jeongwon, with a slightly stiff expression, waved her hand dismissively.
“It’s nothing, really…”
“Must be nice to be so popular.”
When he said this, Jeongwon shook her head with a serious expression.
“Come on, you know it’s not real. They’re just throwing around words.”
And with that, Jeongwon turned and headed for her next lecture.
***
Jeongwon genuinely believed this wasn’t serious. All of this—the compliments, the confessions—she thought it would all fade soon.
The positive responses she was getting from people were just because she was finally wearing “fitting” clothes, unlike the cute and flowy styles she was trying before.
Like they were all saying, “Finally, you’re dressed properly. That’s more like it.”
That’s what they were really saying, and Jeongwon couldn’t enjoy her newfound popularity because of it. All the praise she’d received before now really did feel like polite indulgence. Eunho had been right, even if she hated to admit it.
“Ah…”
Jeongwon sighed, closing her phone as messages kept coming in.
***
“Ah…”
She wasn’t the only one sighing. Eunho, too, let out a deep breath as he rested his head against the wall.
“What’s going on in her head?”
Eunho hoped he was just imagining things.
“…Really, what’s she thinking?”
Lately, he’d been in regular contact with Jeongwon—more consistently than his family or other friends.
Every day, Jeongwon sent him messages asking for feedback on clothes, from head to toe, for anything she was considering wearing. So, Eunho carefully selected outfits for her each time, always leaning toward what he thought looked best on her.
And without fail, Jeongwon wore exactly what he picked out the next day. Even when she bought clothes on her own, they were always along the lines of what Eunho had previously chosen for her.
“If I say denim suits her, she buys denim right away, and if I say a shirt would look good, she shows up in it the very next day.”
“What do you think? I just bought this.”
Eunho remembered the times Jeongwon had shown up in outfits that looked so much like ones he’d picked for her that it was hard to believe he hadn’t chosen them himself.
“Why do you keep wearing only what I suggest?”
He couldn’t figure out why Jeongwon had suddenly given up on her airy, flowy clothes and only wore the outfits he picked.
“…No way.”
Daily contact, wearing whatever he recommended the next day without fail, running up to him to ask how her outfit looked whenever they met, eagerly awaiting his praise…
“Isn’t this…?”
This felt a lot like flirting, didn’t it? Like she had feelings for him? Eunho ran a hand over his face, his thoughts tangled.
If anyone saw her wearing what he complimented the very next day, they’d assume she wanted to impress him.
“Wait, damn it, then was Ruby also…”
The pieces seemed to be falling into place. The way she’d acted all cute and friendly with him in Gun Tales, how she’d run off crying the moment he teased her—all of it…
“Oh my god, could it really…?”
Eunho started banging his head against the wall, as if that would halt his conflicted feelings, stopping only when someone called out to him.
“Hey, Eunho Ju. You’re going to give yourself a concussion.”
Jeongwon had come into the department room.
“When did you transfer to this department, Jeongwon? You’re always coming in here.”
“It’s for an interview.”
“Didn’t you already do one?”
“They asked me for another one…”
Jeongwon’s popularity really seemed to be skyrocketing. It looked like the school paper might make a whole feature on her, considering how they’d requested yet another interview.
“…Are you only going to wear those kinds of clothes from now on?”
“These kinds? Aren’t they the ones you recommended, you idiot?” Jeongwon snapped back, annoyed. And she was right. But what Eunho really wanted to know was why she kept wearing what he told her to.
“Well, it’s just that… uh…”
“What? Spit it out.”
Sighing, Eunho finally managed to speak. “Those other clothes—the camisole dress from last time—it looked good on you too.”
As soon as he said this, Jeongwon frowned in confusion. “Are you serious?”
“What do you mean? You think I’m lying? I already told you, Jeongwon. There’s no one as honest as I am. Why would I make that up?” he half-shouted.
“Fine, fine, I get it. Why are you so worked up?” Jeongwon covered her ears, seeming indifferent. “But still, it’s probably not as good as the clothes I’m wearing now.”
At that, Eunho really did yell, “No, damn it! It looked really good on you, so wear it once in a while!”
“You said it didn’t look good on me before! So why are you yelling now?”
“If you keep dressing like that, you’re going to end up with a girlfriend, damn it!”
Startled by Eunho’s outburst, Jeongwon fell silent, looking flustered. Her expression shifted into something slightly awkward as she nodded.
“All right, all right. I’ll think about it.”
But Eunho felt an uncomfortable, stifling sensation.
***
“Damn it… What’s wrong with me?”
His job had been to prevent Jeongwon from getting overconfident and creating more “Ruby victims.” But that explosion from earlier had completely undermined all his efforts.
Jeongwon needed to be stopped from deluding others, from giving them any ideas that might lead to misunderstandings.
“But why did I even say all that stuff?”
Eunho sat down in his room, clutching his head.
“Does Jeongwon really…?”
He couldn’t bring himself to finish the sentence. Could she actually like him? Was that really flirting? Eunho felt like he was losing his mind.
“No way, damn it. There’s no proof yet. It can’t be true. Get it together, Eunho.”
Taking a deep breath, he calmed himself, letting his thoughts settle. As they did, a memory flashed back to him.
He recalled Jeongwon in that beautiful ivory blouse at the mall, looking so good it had left him momentarily speechless.
“Argh! Damn it!”
Eunho pounded his head as if it were a drum. After nearly bashing it to pieces, he held his throbbing skull and blinked.
“What the hell is wrong with me?”
Whatever he was feeling, it had to be… hatred, didn’t it? Pure hatred.
Jeongwon was Ruby’s killer. She was the one who’d turned Ruby’s Memorial Day into an annual event. He’d been forced to commemorate the day that this murderer had destroyed someone he’d loved. It was only natural to think of her constantly. Of course, he’d be consumed with thoughts of harassing her, of exacting revenge every second.
So, every time she crossed his mind, it was completely normal. It was just vengeance, hatred—only those feelings bringing her to mind.
“But then why did I… compliment her?”
Who compliments a murderer? Did it make any sense? Was he some kind of villain fanboy?
“Damn it, what is wrong with me…?”
At a loss to understand himself, Eunho groaned, sliding off his chair and lying down on the floor.
“I wonder what she’s wearing today.”
In an hour, he’d have to head back out for his next lecture. He was curious. Would she be wearing the outfit he’d picked again?
Did she really listen to what he said and wear it? The curiosity finally got to him, so he left a little earlier than usual.
“Jeong… won.”
Jeongwon was at the school entrance, once again wearing clothes Eunho had chosen for her. This was definitely intentional. Just as Eunho was about to call her name despite the conflict warring in his chest, he paused.
“Jeongwon, want a drink?”
It was the good-looking senior who had been at the last drinking party.
“Oh, thank you.”
“By the way, Jeongwon, that outfit looks great on you. You look really cool.”
“Thank you.”
“You pull it off better than I could.”
They seemed close. Every time Jeongwon looked embarrassed by the compliment, her senior doubled down, as if trying to anchor her with praise. And as Jeongwon tried to escape, the senior’s words of admiration only pulled her back.
Jeongwon and her senior strolled toward the lecture hall, laughing together, looking like they were truly enjoying each other’s company.
“Now I’m getting annoyed.”
Standing by the school gate, Eunho narrowed his eyes, glaring after them.
“She’s out there being shameless… in clothes I picked out.”
He didn’t know what was “shameless” about it, exactly, but the rage building in him was unstoppable.

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