“…But, did you get permission?”
Those words stayed with me longer than I thought.
Jungkook was calm and his voice was low.
Kim Yeo-ju had that line running through her head all day.
I felt like I had brought the camera for nothing.
I think I took it for nothing,
I think our eyes met for no reason.
“Speak and take a picture.”
Actually, it could have been just a simple courtesy,
Those words felt strangely… like emotion.
A bit of caution that you don't want to come close.
Or, perhaps surprisingly, the opposite is true.
—
Yeoju was checking the photo paper alone in the photo club room.
Under red lights, shapes quietly float on the water.
The scene where he wears a fencing uniform and takes off his mask,
The back of a person standing with his back to the light,
And — that scene where the eyes were looking straight into the lens.
When I pressed the shutter, I just thought the ‘composition’ was good.
Now that I look at it, it was a feeling.
A subject that becomes conscious.
That kid wasn't just a scene in the frame.
“…That’s strange.”
The female protagonist placed her finger on the photo.
As if I could reach it.
At that moment,
In the photo, his eyes seemed to keep following the female protagonist's fingertips.
—
The next day, gym class.
It was physical education class for the first grade, so everyone was busy going back and forth between the main building and the gymnasium.
The female protagonist, wearing a gym uniform, quietly passed by the gym.
Through the open door, I came across a scene of the fencing club's training.
ah,
There's more.
Jungkook taking off his helmet.
His hair was soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead,
Armor on the arm, sword in the hand.
“Jeon Jungkook! Lower your arms! Move your knees together!”
The coach's voice was sharp, but Jeong-guk silently regained his composure.
The movements were smooth and had a sense of weight.
It seemed like we were progressing along a precisely calculated route towards something.
At that moment, the female protagonist was completely captivated.
I didn't come here to take pictures.
I didn't even take the lens off
The gaze looking at the state of affairs,
It wasn't just a glance.
He held his sword quietly
He took a few steps forward and took off his helmet again.
And, quite by accident—no, quite naturally
I looked towards Kim Yeo-ju.
Our eyes met.
A breathtaking second.
The heroine instinctively accepted the gaze without avoiding it.
Jeongguk also didn't avoid eye contact.
There was no word between them,
It was clear that something had come and gone.
The female protagonist turned around first.
I quietly closed the gym door and went out into the hallway.
A feeling of heat rising inside the body.
I didn't even exercise, but my heart started beating strangely.
“…I saw it again.”
We encounter it strangely often.
The timing is too good to be called a coincidence.
It's fate, we don't say anything to each other.
After school. Photography club East.
“Kim Yeo-ju.”
The head of the photography club called Yeoju.
“Did you know we’re going to start filming the festival poster next week?
"This year, we've decided to go with a sports and arts collaboration. The main model is the fencing team."
“…Who is it?”
“Jeon Jungkook. The ace of the second-year fencing club.”
The female protagonist just nodded slowly.
It's my first time hearing that name
I felt like I practically knew it.
That kid
Because it was already in the composition before I even picked up the lens.
Someone who stimulates emotions, draws attention, and shakes the frame.
The kid always moved first outside the frame.
—
That night,
Yeoju took out her diary for the first time in a long time and wrote briefly.
The shutter wasn't pressed today either,
It felt like I took a picture.
He's out of the frame too
It shook me.
—
On the day of filming.
Jeongguk stands in front of Yeoju.
“You don’t have to say anything this time. Just take whatever pictures you want.”
The heroine took up the lens.
His eyes met again precisely—the heroine's gaze.
Just before pressing the shutter,
The heroine knew.
This time, it is not a ‘moment’,
I think I'll end up taking a picture of that kid himself.