Chapter 31: Mochikun Part 1

After the incident at the beach, Choi Dabin deliberately tried to avoid Kim Dohyun.

Since her close friend showed interest in him, she thought it was right to keep her distance.

For a long time after that, there wasn’t much of an opportunity for them to interact deeply.

‘No way, I never thought Kim Dohyun would be interested in books.’

Today, everything changed when he joined the library club.

Even if Choi Dabin didn’t want to run into him, she now had no choice but to face him.

As she let out a sigh filled with concern and made her way to the library, she saw Kim Dohyun reading an erotic novel.

‘So, he’s into that kind of thing too.’

The amusing situation triggered a playful side of her.

“What are you doing?”

Dohyun flinched in surprise, turning around to look at her, his face unusually flustered.

“Hmm… Is that your kind of taste?”

Kim Dohyun’s ears turned red in embarrassment.

‘Wow… this is my first time seeing him like this.’

Seeing his normally stoic face turn so flustered was a fresh shock to her.

‘Haha… Yuna should’ve seen this expression.’

After teasing him for a while, Choi Dabin eventually came to her senses.

‘What am I doing? I’m supposed to keep my distance from Kim Dohyun.’

Stopping her mischief, she grabbed a book as the teacher instructed and sat down.

From her desk, she glanced at Kim Dohyun, who continued to read with an indifferent expression, completely immersed in his book.

His focused face contrasted with the flustered look he had shown earlier, and she almost laughed unintentionally.

‘Somehow, seeing him so focused on a light novel is… kind of cute…’

Snap out of it!

Dabin shook her head quickly, scolding herself for thinking such things.

Her focus was scattered, and no matter how hard she tried, the contents of the book in front of her wouldn’t sink in.

‘Ugh… why did it have to be the library club?’

Knock, knock.

While she was trying to focus on her book, Park Youngha tapped lightly on the table.

“Aren’t you two thirsty? I’ll go grab something to drink, so keep reading in the meantime.”

Looking at the clock in the library, she realized time had flown by.

Her neck felt stiff from hours of reading.

As someone used to reading books while lying in bed, sitting upright felt awkward to her.

Stretching her arms high above her head to relieve the stiffness, she noticed Choi Dabin fiddling nervously with her fingers.

Something felt off.

She wasn’t focused on her book and seemed unusually uneasy.

Then, she glanced at him and quickly hid her hands under the table.

‘What’s with her?’

Curious, Dohyun asked her.

“Are you uncomfortable?”

“Not at all.”

“Then, is the book boring?”

“It’s my favorite book.”

“Right.”

Her answers were curt.

An awkward silence filled the library.

‘Does she not like me or something?’

With every exchange, he felt more suffocated.

Still, considering he was the one who saved her life, ‘wasn’t she being too cold?’

He thought about why she might dislike him.

He had noticed for some time that Choi Dabin was intentionally avoiding him.

Though he hadn’t paid much attention to it before, the situation had now changed.

‘It’s probably because of Yuna.’

Seeing his attitude of maintaining only a proper distance, she might think he was stringing her friend along.

‘Yeah… I guess it might look that way to her.’

It’s better to clear up misunderstandings before they pile up.

Since they’d be seeing each other often in the library club, there was no reason to maintain a tense relationship.

Tapping the cover of the book she was reading with his fingernail, Dohyun spoke.

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

Dabin lowered her book and looked up at him.

Her cold expression was beautiful, in a way that contrasted with Yuna’s warmth.

This was a good chance to clear up misunderstandings.

If they kept going with this tense atmosphere, every day would feel suffocating.

“Is this about Yuna?”

“What… what do you mean?”

As expected, her tone betrayed her discomfort.

‘She’s definitely misunderstanding something.’

Remembering that maintaining eye contact helps convey sincerity, Dohyun stared directly at her, silently pleading for her to understand.

“I told you, she’s just a friend. Stop misunderstanding.”

Dabin fidgeted with her hands nervously, avoiding his gaze.

She didn’t seem convinced at all.

It was best to leave no room for doubt.

“She’s not my type. Honestly, you’re closer to my ideal type.”

“What… what are you saying?”

“Just saying, that’s all.”

With that much said, the misunderstanding should clear up a bit.

‘Yuna and he weren’t in that kind of relationship—they were just friends.’

“You two aren’t fooling around, are you?”

Right then, Park Youngha returned to the library.

In one hand, she held orange juice; in the other, paper cups.

As Dabin poured the drinks, Dohyun couldn’t help but wonder why it was just the three of them in such a large library.

Curious, he asked Youngha.

“So, when are the other members coming?”

“There are only two library club members—you two.”

“Ah, I see.”

“A small group isn’t too bad.”

***

After finishing club activities, Dohyun returned home to find Kim Harin slumped on the living room sofa.

Seeing her gloomy expression, he thought to himself, ‘What’s wrong with her now?’

Harin was fiddling with a small teddy bear, pouting.

“M-Mochi-kun…”

Mochi-kun?

“Did that character get hit by a truck and die today?”

Well, it would be sad if a favorite character died.

I asked her indifferently, “Why Mochi-kun?”

Her face looked like she was about to burst into tears.

“A limited-edition Mochi-kun plush came out… I applied for it, but I didn’t get it… It’s so sad…”

Harin hung her head lower, whining even more.

“I really wanted it so badly…”

‘What am I supposed to do about it?’

‘Should I handcraft one for her?’

Suppressing that thought, I gently patted her head with my palm.

“That’s a shame. But there’ll be another chance, right?”

“But it’s limited-edition…”

Ugh, how troublesome.

“Did you check if it’s sold somewhere else?”

“Yes…”

It’s unfortunate, but there’s nothing to be done.

Sometimes, you just have to accept the cold reality.

‘While I’m at it, I should start preparing dinner.’

I continued patting Harin’s head with my palm.

“Hehe…”

Finally, she seemed to regain a bit of her spirit.

Like coaxing a child begging for a toy from their parents, I spoke gently to her.

“You can just get it next time, right?”

“Okay.”

“What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Your favorite—curry rice with lots of meat!”

“Oh, sounds good. Can’t wait.”

Harin, who had regained her smile, tied on a cute apron and bustled about with newfound energy, making me smile.

‘Right. Mochi-kun or whatever, life goes on.’

***

The next day.

As soon as I arrived at the academy, a wave of sleepiness washed over me.

School really is a place that works like a sleeping pill the moment you get there.

I let my heavy body slump onto the desk.

‘Today, I’m sleeping straight through until lunchtime.’

Just as I was about to close my eyes for a break, I heard Seo Yuna and Choi Dabin chatting at the desk next to me.

“But seriously, how can you not think Mochi-kun is adorable?”

Oh right. She’s a Mochi-kun fanatic too.

When I took pictures for her at the beach, her phone case had a Mochi-kun character on it.

After listening to Harin whine about Mochi-kun all day yesterday, I was on the verge of becoming Mochi-kun’s number one anti-fan.

‘Why are girls so obsessed with stuff like that?’

Dabin’s voice rose a notch as she passionately continued.

“Mochi-kun is, like, super pale and has this squishy belly that’s totally charming, and that relaxed expression is so cute too…”

“Dabin, I respect your taste, but could you please stop trying to convert me to Mochi-kun fandom?”

Yuna gave her a dismissive glance and replied flatly.

‘At least she’s normal.’

She seemed interested in appearances but not in characters.

“You idiot! Mochi-kun isn’t just a character—he’s healing, pure healing! I’m telling you, you’d love him if you gave him a chance!”

Waving her hands dramatically in the air, Dabin tried to persuade Yuna.

I thought to myself, ‘She’s completely out of her mind.’

Yuna, uninterested, turned her head away while Dabin continued to argue.

It was like watching a battle between a spear and a shield.

The chaos next to me was already overwhelming this early in the morning.

“I won two Mochi-kun plushies this time. They’re seriously cute. Want one?”

Hearing this, Yuna hesitated for a moment, then shrugged and answered, “Just resell it for a high price. It’s limited-edition, right?”

“What? Are you even human? How could you think of selling Mochi-kun for money?”

“It’s just a plushie,” Yuna replied indifferently.

Dabin shot her a stunned look.

“Are you a robot?”

As I lay there listening to their conversation, Harin’s crestfallen face from yesterday suddenly came to mind.

She had slumped on the sofa, teary-eyed over not getting the limited-edition Mochi-kun plushie.

‘Is that thing really so important to her?’

I couldn’t quite understand being upset over a plushie, but thinking about how Harin usually handled all the household chores made me feel a little guilty.

‘She cooks three meals a day, cleans, does laundry…’

Thanks to her diligence, I could live pretty comfortably.

Fine.

It wouldn’t hurt to owe her a favor for once.

The plan started forming in my head.

‘If Dabin had won two Mochi-kun plushies and Yuna didn’t take one, then there’d be an extra one.’

‘All I had to do was ask Dabin to sell the spare plushie to me.’

‘I’ll ask her about it at the library club later.’

Having made up my mind, I closed my eyes.

But then, ‘why should I go out of my way to take care of Harin?’

‘She’s a total brocon anyway, so she’ll keep liking me no matter what I do.’

‘Still, she’d probably be thrilled.’

‘She might even jump around on the couch in excitement all day.’

‘Or worse, she might throw herself into my arms.’

‘That would be… troublesome.’

‘Anyway, giving a gift to a heroine isn’t a bad thing.’

With that thought, I drifted off to sleep on the desk.