This work is fiction.

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《To My Beloved Hate》Episode 1

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A week had passed since the new semester started.

Seoyun was alone again.

After class, she went straight home,

and if she had a free period, she was at the library.

If someone talked to her, she answered.

But she never started the conversation first.

When people suggested getting closer, she smiled and turned them down.

“Sorry. I’m more comfortable going around alone.”

That was the easiest way for Seoyun to keep her distance from people.

That day too, after class ended,

Seoyun avoided the crowded central stairs and headed down the back path.

The campus was busier than usual because of festival preparations.

Students were moving tables,

and people carrying huge boxes were running back and forth.

Seoyun was walking while checking her phone when she turned the corner.

That was when it happened.

Bang.

“……!”

She collided hard with someone’s shoulder.

The book she was holding fell to the floor.

“Ah…….”

Seoyun frowned and bent down.

Before she could, the other person picked up the book.

“Here.”

Seoyun took the book.

“Thank you.”

And then she put it right into her bag.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“You’re not hurt?”

“No.”

Seoyun answered briefly and turned away.

But the man spoke again.

“Sorry.”

Seoyun stopped.

“……Yes.”

“Is that it?”

Seoyun slowly turned back.

“What else am I supposed to do?”

The man was silent for a moment.

“No. Just.”

“I said it was fine.”

Her tone came out colder than she expected.

But Seoyun didn’t care.

The next day.

Seoyun arrived at the lecture hall a little earlier than usual.

She sat down, turned on her laptop, and plugged in her earphones.

She tried not to pay attention to anyone around her.

But not long after,

she felt someone pass by beside her.

Seoyun looked up.

It was the man from yesterday.

The man also spotted Seoyun and stopped for a moment.

“……We meet again.”

Seoyun answered without even taking out her earphones.

“I guess so.”

The man didn’t smile.

He just went to his seat and sat down.

Seoyun turned her gaze back to the screen.

Then the professor came in.

“All right, today we’ll start by checking your presentation prep for the group project.”

Seoyun wrote it down in her notebook.

A moment later, the professor started checking the groups.

“Group 3 is Han Seoyun, Choi Yeonjun, Kim Minseok, Lee Jihu.”

Seoyun’s pen stopped.

She slowly lifted her head.

The man sitting by the window raised his hand.

“Yes.”

Choi Yeonjun.

Seoyun let out a short sigh inside.

‘Of all people.’

After class, the four of them gathered briefly for the group project.

“Should we make a group chat?”

Kim Minseok said.

Seoyun nodded.

“Yes.”

Yeonjun took out his phone.

“Give me your number.”

Seoyun looked at him for a moment.

“We can just use the group chat.”

“Still, just in case.”

“The group chat is enough.”

Seoyun’s answer was firm.

Yeonjun didn’t ask again.

“Okay.”

That was all he said.

Seoyun actually liked that.

A person who didn’t try to force closeness.

A person who didn’t keep talking to her.

And yet, strangely,

that made him stand out even more.

A few days later.

The four of them met at the library to work on the group project.

Seoyun arrived first and organized the materials.

A moment later, Yeonjun sat across from her.

“Did you sort the materials?”

“Yes.”

“Let me see.”

Yeonjun checked the laptop screen Seoyun handed over.

“I think this part is fine.”

“Then I’ll go with that.”

“Yeah.”

That was the end of the conversation.

Seoyun organized the materials again.

After a while,

Seoyun’s laptop screen suddenly went black.

“……What.”

The battery had died.

She rummaged through her bag, but the charger wasn’t there.

“Ha…….”

Just then, Yeonjun opened his bag.

“I’ve got a charger.”

Seoyun immediately shook her head.

“It’s okay.”

“You’re out of battery right now.”

“I can do it when I get home.”

“We said we’d organize the materials today.”

Seoyun looked at him for a moment.

“So I’ll handle it myself.”

Yeonjun didn’t insist any further.

“Okay.”

And he really didn’t say anything else.

Seoyun was, oddly enough, flustered.

Most people would have insisted at least once more.

‘Why is he just letting it go?’

That was strange.

A little while later, as Seoyun was about to close her laptop,

Yeonjun placed his charger on the table.

“Use it if you need it.”

“…….”

“If you don’t use it, I’ll just put it away.”

Seoyun looked at the charger.

“Why are you going this far?”

“How so?”

“For me.”

Yeonjun thought for a moment before answering.

“Because we’re in the same group.”

At that, Seoyun shut her mouth.

Nothing more,

and nothing less.

Yeonjun looked back at his own materials.

Seoyun stared at the charger for a long time before carefully taking it.

“……Thank you.”

“Yeah.”

A short answer.

Seoyun turned her laptop back on.

It was strange.

He was kind, but not burdensome.

He came closer, but didn’t cross the line.

That made her even more wary.

People always act like they’re fine at first.

Then at some point,

only after they’ve gotten as close as you’ve allowed them to, do they show their true selves.

Seoyun looked at the charger and thought,

‘What if it’s the same this time?’

So she decided not to get any closer.

Not yet.

Until she knew what kind of person Yeonjun was.

She would never trust him first.

Seoyun turned her gaze back to the screen.

And looking at Yeonjun across from her, working on the assignment without saying a word,

she quietly drew a line in her mind.

‘This far. No further.'

She wasn’t going to let him cross that line.

At least, not now.