“It’s finally over. It’s been a really shitty year. Lee Yeo-ju.”
He's a classmate I became close with while taking a lab class together. He was the one I asked about the experimental method, and until the end of my third year, he was always on my side, no matter what.
"If I graduate here and the professor cuts off my undergraduate research position... what will I do to make a living?"
The assistant laughed at my words and bit into a squid leg. Then, sarcastically, he scolded me by grabbing my head.
"I don't think you'll fail. You'll never fail."
"How can you be sure of that"
"What are you not sure about? Are you because you broke up with that Seokjin senior again? No, that guy only cares about his face... He should care about his girlfriend... It's a shame... It's really a shame!"
Jo Yeon would easily and loudly speak up about my work as if it were her own. While I couldn't even open my mouth in front of people, Jo Yeon always protected me wholeheartedly, no matter what. Jo Yeon was like a giant tree to me.
"When you finish school, will you go back to your parents' house? Or to a studio apartment?"
"I should go back to my parents' house and continue working part-time. Are you going to work as a research student?"
"Yeah.. it's the end.. but it's not the end.. I have to watch those guys flirting again in front of me.. what am I going to do without you.. sob.. "
Our final graduation party was filled with stories about men, past relationships, and other classmates, but even the usual jokes were met with laughter and a chuckle. It was such a warm day.
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Drumroll-
I opened the office door and finally went to work. The professor in the lab next door was giving his undergraduate research students 800,000 won, but my professor was only paying us 600,000 won. (Is he really going to jump to the professor next door?)
"Hey, ma'am, please send me a summary of how to use the centrifuge. I'll print it out and keep it next to me."
"yes"
The office atmosphere is unusually gloomy today. Senior Seokjin, who never comes in early, is lying face down in his desk. When I arrive, he jumps up and gives me some work. He's not usually this welcoming in the morning... Something's clearly up.
Nano Lab Group Chat (4 people)
Seokjin
“I’ll start cleaning the lab in 5 minutes.”
10:25
I clean every Monday at 10:30. I have to keep it clean after remodeling or something... I headed to the lab with my mind still awake.
Squeak-
I opened the lab door and saw Seokjin sitting at the lab bench, fiddling with his phone. Looking at the clock, I saw there were still about three minutes left, so I checked the centrifuge I'd been assigned earlier.
"This is a new centrifuge, so it's a bit different from the one we used. Please check it out and write it down."
“Oh, okay.”
After those words, an awkward silence settled over them. The door opened again and the rest of the classmates came in. Suji's face looked like she had a cold.
His complexion didn't look too good. I put on my gloves, took out the vacuum cleaner, unplugged it, and turned it on.
“I’ll vacuum this side first.”
Beyond the sound of the vacuum cleaner, the air was filled with something heavier than before.
“Oh, what is it? Why is the air cold?”
“Hey, if someone suddenly says you resemble something, that’s flirting, right?”
A guy who never said much suddenly asked me a question about plotting. Bewildered, I turned off the vacuum cleaner and opened my mouth.
“What… for example? What do you say it resembles?”
“It looks like a puppy or a cat or something like that.”
“I don’t think you would do that to someone you’re not interested in..?”
As we were chatting about such trivial things, the cleaning was quickly over. I turned off the vacuum cleaner, found a mop, and started mopping. Then, I saw a guy I was quite close with in the lab in another room, and my mischievous spirit kicked in.
"Huh? Oppa, oppa! You want to fight me? I think I'll win! Oppa, fight me. Come on."
I walked towards my brother, pretending to box. But as I approached step by step, I realized that my brother wasn't the only one in the space.
“What? What did he just do?”
I quickly turned my face and moved to the corner. Everyone laughed at my sight, but I couldn't raise my head, embarrassed and ashamed. I quickly finished cleaning up and returned to my office to sit down. Before I knew it, it was lunchtime. I finished my pending assignments, quickly went outside, bought four bungeoppang (fish-shaped bread), and came back.
Drumroll-
Sensing that the quiet office was deserted, I hummed and sat down. I ate my fish-shaped bread, one bite at a time, searching for a paper on my experiment. Then, a rustling sound behind me startled me and I turned around.
“Is it tasty to eat bungeoppang alone?”
My eyes met with Seokjin's and I smiled awkwardly and looked back at my laptop.
“Oh, yes.. but why aren’t you eating lunch?”
"I don't have any appetite. Are you looking for the paper?"
“No matter what website I visit, I don’t see anything about my experiments. I’m just arguing with GPT.”
“Wait a minute, if you go to this site you can easily find papers like that.”
Seokjin's body came in behind me, wrapping around me. For a moment, I flinched and dropped the fish-shaped bread I was holding in my mouth.
“Huh? No, no, you could have just said it out loud.. Why are you going this far.. when you have a girlfriend..!”
“Ah..sorry, I didn’t mean anything.”
Seokjin's expression hardened. "I must have hit too hard." Seokjin rolled his eyes and moved away.
“Thank you for teaching me. But I have a question...”
“What is it?”
“Are you feeling unwell today..? Honestly, since I was cleaning earlier, I just... ate a whole bowlful, so I can’t even eat the fish-shaped bread.”
Seokjin sat down with a faint smile.
“Is it that obvious? I was the one who couldn’t keep my promise.”
“Why..? What is it? I’m curious. Hurry up.”
“I broke up with you yesterday.”
For a moment, I felt a pang of relief, as if I'd been hit in the head with a rock. On one hand, I was relieved that the goosebump-inducing couple had broken up, but right now, I felt sorry for Seokjin's expression.
“Ah.. no, suddenly stopping like that.. huh..? Oh, just like that.. yeah..”
“Would you like some bungeoppang?”
Seokjin burst out laughing in front of me, as if the laughter he had been holding back had finally burst out. He grabbed the fish-shaped bread I had handed him and put one in his mouth, asking, "What's this?"
He bit his lip and then opened his mouth to talk about Suzy.
"Don't hate Suzy too much, she's a good person even though she looks like that on the outside."
"Who hates whom? I don't really hate people (except you)."
Even as he said that, Seokjin's expression was still quite empty, as if filled with longing. That's how it is between people. No matter how long or short a separation is, it never becomes dull. Those good memories...
Where can I bury all my memories?
Drumroll-
"Hey, let's go out for a smoke. I have something to talk about."