Chapter 5

After finishing their meal, the two moved to an on-campus café, sipping iced Americanos and chatting a bit more.

“Oh, by the way, here’s a hot tip. There’s an idol among this year’s Philosophy Department freshmen. Crazy, right?”

“An idol? Who?”

“You know that guy who’s trending as the younger boyfriend type? Cha Yeon-woo. Heard of him?”

“You know I don’t follow idols. But why would an idol join the Philosophy Department?”

“No idea. Apparently, his agency’s CEO is a total nutcase. They want to make him the first idol with a Philosophy degree or something. Still, it seems like the school is thrilled about it. They even created some unheard-of special admission process to let him in. Oh, and there’s also a rumor that the Philosophy Department might be merged with another department next year.”

“What…?”

Hearing the word “merger,” Seol-rin’s face stiffened momentarily. Honestly, she’d often regretted choosing Philosophy as her major, given how hard it was to find a job with it.

But the thought of her department disappearing altogether made her feel unexpectedly upset.

For some reason, Professor Ma Tae-oh’s face flashed through her mind. He seemed deeply attached to the department, even organizing the resource room himself for the students. She wondered how he felt about it all.

Lost in thought, she was brought back to reality when Mi-yeon playfully tapped her shoulder.

“Anyway, take good care of our Yeon-woo, okay? Ugh, I’m so jealous. Why didn’t we have anyone like that when we were in school?”

“Jealous? It’s not like I’ll even run into him. Usually, managers handle everything for idols.”

“True, right? He probably won’t even show up after enrolling. That’s how celebrities are.”

“Oh, I have to go now. Mi-yeon, I’ll head out first. Let’s meet up after work if we can!”

“Okay. Hang in there today. You’ve got this!”

After parting with Mi-yeon, she checked the time. It was five minutes to one. Determined to finish organizing the materials she hadn’t completed yesterday, Seol-rin trudged toward the resource room.

Just in case there was another power outage today, she mentally repeated a mantra to stay calm and not panic like the day before.

“What’s going on?”

When she arrived at the resource room, she saw a group of people in work uniforms gathered outside. Upon closer inspection, they seemed to be maintenance staff.

It looked like the resource room, which hadn’t been fixed despite countless complaints, was finally being repaired. Watching the scene, Seol-rin muttered to herself.

“This is strange.”

She had no idea that this strange event was happening because of her.

***

Fifteen days had passed. Seol-rin had somewhat adjusted to her assistant duties and was getting along with Professor Ma Tae-oh without any major conflicts.

Of course, saying they were “getting along” wasn’t entirely accurate. There was no real sense of closeness between them. Other than work-related conversations, they barely spoke to each other. In a way, it was a rather bleak working environment.

But Seol-rin found it a relief. She sincerely hoped to maintain this distant relationship with him for the rest of the year. It was the only way she could safely complete her contract.

Since the maintenance staff had visited, the resource room hadn’t experienced any more power outages. This allowed her to use the room with greater ease.

Although it would still take time to organize all the materials the professor had requested, she was steadily building a database. With the new semester approaching, things would get busier with students, so she focused on organizing as much as she could.

That day, as usual, she was sitting at a desk with the professor, sorting through materials. But the outside noise was unusually loud. She could hear women squealing and the sound of a crowd moving about. It reminded her of the women holding banners outside the school gates earlier that morning.

Curious, Seol-rin tilted her head. Then she remembered what Mi-yeon had said about the idol joining the Philosophy Department.

‘Could it be that the idol is at school today?’

It made sense. To enroll, he would need to submit documents and possibly meet with his advisor or the dean. Thinking aloud, she muttered to herself.

“The idol really is joining the Philosophy Department, huh?”

“…You knew about this?”

Unexpectedly, Tae-oh, who was sitting across from her, reacted. Their eyes met briefly. His silver-framed glasses glinted as his indifferent gaze swept over her face. His stare always managed to make her heart race.

Trying to act normal, Seol-rin nodded and replied.

“Of course. The rumors are everywhere. I even saw fans gathered when I came to work earlier.”

“What do you think about it, Ms. Jin Seol-rin?”

“Me? About what?”

“About a celebrity joining our department. It could raise suspicions of special treatment.”

The question caught her off guard. Since he rarely initiated conversations, it was even more surprising. It seemed he was quite concerned about this celebrity’s admission.

Without much thought, Seol-rin replied casually.

“At first, I thought it was strange… But then I realized it’s not entirely a bad thing. Regardless of the reason, having a famous person in our department might help raise awareness about Philosophy.”

“But don’t you think someone else may have been deprived of an opportunity because of it?”

Although Seol-rin laid out her opinion point by point, Tae-oh countered with a question. Among her major courses, the one she felt least confident in was debate. Perhaps it was because of her personality—she wasn’t good at saying harsh things to others—but whenever faced with sudden counterarguments, her words would often get stuck in her throat.

However, for some reason, this time, Seol-rin managed to respond to Tae-oh’s counterquestion. She felt a sudden surge of emotion.

“Well… I don’t know if it’s because I’m just mean-spirited, but if the benefits for many students were to disappear because of one person I don’t even know, I think I’d hate that.”

“Benefits? What benefits are disappearing?”

“To be honest, I regretted majoring in Philosophy after graduating. Every time I went to an interview, I’d get laughed at. People would even say things like, ‘What’s the use of Confucius and Mencius in the real world?’”

“…”

Tae-oh didn’t respond. It was Seol-rin’s victory. She smiled faintly and concluded the debate.

“That’s why I actually welcome this situation. If famous people voluntarily choose our department, there must be a reason for it. And in the long run, it’ll mean that others won’t look down on us anymore.”

“That’s a valid point.”

Tae-oh also accepted his defeat gracefully. It was a surprising reaction. Perhaps because he was young, he was clearly different from the old-fashioned professors who only asserted their own opinions.

For a moment, Seol-rin thought that if she had studied under a professor like him during her student days, her college life might have been much more fulfilling.

After the debate, a long silence followed. The noisy commotion outside gradually subsided. Just moments ago, she had been relieved that they weren’t close, but now, for some inexplicable reason, she felt an urge to keep talking to him.

“Oh, Professor. By the way, the resource room doesn’t lose power anymore.”

“…I see.”

For some reason, Tae-oh’s gaze seemed to waver slightly, but Seol-rin didn’t notice. As she typed on her laptop, her mouth kept moving.

“When I was a student, I filed complaints about it over a hundred times, if I’m exaggerating just a bit. Back then, they wouldn’t fix it no matter what. But now, all of a sudden, it’s repaired. I couldn’t figure out why, but today I finally realized the reason.”

“…You realized the reason?”

Tae-oh suddenly turned his head sharply toward her. The subtle musk scent that wafted over reminded her of the time she had ended up in his arms in the resource room. Her face felt like it was heating up, and she started flailing her hands to cover her embarrassment.

“It’s all because of Cha Yeon-woo, that idol, isn’t it? Right?”

“…”

For a moment, Tae-oh didn’t know how to respond to her words. Honestly, he wanted to tell her that the small spark she had ignited had set everything in motion. But in the end, he kept his mouth shut. He felt strangely awkward about it.

Perhaps fixing the power outage for the sake of the assistant, or even for the students, wasn’t such a big deal. But Tae-oh found it difficult to take credit for things.

Unaware of this, Seol-rin continued to chatter, making her own logical arguments.

“Anyway, this is why you need to be famous in Korea. Look, as soon as they hear a celebrity is coming, they fix the resource room. It’s ridiculous. Sure, I like that the school is getting more recognition, but I think this kind of favoritism is a real problem. What do you think, Professor?”

“That’s not it.”

Sighing deeply, Tae-oh finally spoke. What had been a simple act of kindness for someone with a fear of the dark had suddenly turned into a pretense for welcoming an idol. He felt an odd sense of injustice.

“Excuse me? That’s not it?”

Seol-rin widened her eyes and stared at Tae-oh. For some reason, she thought his cheeks looked slightly red, but it must have been her imagination. Soon, Tae-oh’s blunt voice fell upon her ears.

“Let’s just finish what we were doing.”