MTLNOVEL Chapter 1
Everyone has someone they admire and look up to. And for most teenagers and young people aged 10-20, it was quite common to pour such admiration on idols or actors, that is, celebrities.
“Hey, this is a bomb! Did you see Instagram?”
A girl burst into the large auditorium and quickly ran to her friend. She was so excited that she didn’t even notice how she bumped into the notebook of a student sitting in the last row. The owner of the notebook, Kang Hangeom, habitually adjusted the shifted notebook.
“Kang Hoon is getting married!”
“What? Seriously? Didn’t he recently quit his idol career and become an actor?”
Hangeom again found himself on the sidelines of the noisy auditorium. He wasn’t particularly interested in conversations about show business. Initially, he was a complete novice in this field.
“He posted a handwritten letter on his social media page announcing the wedding. But you know what’s even cooler? His chosen one turned out to be a long-time fan.”
Hangeom’s hand, which was flipping through the pages of a book before the lecture started, trembled. This was quite an interesting story. Although he wasn’t interested in the celebrity’s wedding, the mention of “marriage to a fan” involuntarily caught his attention.
“They say she’s one of the few dedicated fans who has followed him since his debut.”
“Other fans must be in shock, right?”
“But isn’t it romantic? To marry your favorite idol whom you’ve loved for so long.”
Marriage to a beloved idol.
This phrase made a stunning impression. Hangeom thought that such things really do happen in the world. He always believed that stories about marriage or romance with fans only existed in novels.
“How old are you to get so excited about celebrity talk?”
At that moment, a guy put his bag on the seat next to him. Hangeom startled and straightened up, not realizing that his body had been slightly leaning to the side.
“Conversations about handsome guys are always interesting. Though you wouldn’t understand that, right?”
“Wow, what looks. This is really a serious social problem. Don’t you think so?”
A classmate, whose name Hangeom couldn’t quite remember, suddenly addressed him with a question. Immediately, the two girls who had been eagerly discussing some Kang Hoon also turned their attention to Hangeom, sitting in the last row. He vaguely heard someone say, “Huh? Was someone there?”
“A-are you asking me?”
“Of course. Who else is here besides you. Your name is… Ah! Cha Hyeonthae, right?”
Not even close. Not a single letter matched. It was like a complete lack of desire to even try to remember his name.
But Hangeom was already used to such situations. The large glasses seemed even more noticeable due to his small face, and the long hair covering his eyes looked quite messy due to its thickness.
Moreover, Kang Hangeom, dressed in plain clothes of dull colors and with a matching bag, by normal standards belonged to the category of so-called “outcasts”. In this harsh university world, it’s hard to find someone who would remember the name of such an outcast and communicate with them in a friendly manner.
Therefore, those who didn’t remember his name were still okay. On the first day of the semester, one classmate even made a whole show, deciding that Hangeom was a freshman, and offered to treat him to lunch.
“So what do you think about this?”
“Huh? About what?”
“About the world ruled by the cult of appearance.”
Hangeom thought deeply. If he was an outcast, then his classmate, who didn’t remember his name but unhesitatingly asked such questions, must belong to the opposite category.
“Well… I think any extremes are bad, but…”
Hangeom hesitated a bit.
“Appearance is something a person is born with. Isn’t it natural for people to instinctively be drawn to beautiful things? In that sense, I think it’s not something that can be simply criticized…”
The classmate who asked the question was clearly stunned by such a clear answer and couldn’t say anything. Hangeom, thinking he had said something wrong, nervously blinked and adjusted his glasses.
“Right? Hey, you’re somehow different from this idiot.”
Immediately, the girls nearby enthusiastically supported Hangeom.
“But hearing that from you is kind of funny.”
The classmate, not expecting Hangeom to answer like that, smirked. To top it off, he unpleasantly looked Hangeom up and down.
“Y-yeah, right? I’m not in a position to talk about others either… L-let’s try hard together!”
However, Hangeom, unfortunately, didn’t have enough insight to notice the classmate’s mockery. When he demonstratively clenched his fist, saying “Let’s try hard!”, the students nearby started to giggle.
“Hey, you…”
“Ah, sorry, but I need to finish reading this… It would be great if we could end the conversation.”
Hangeom smiled awkwardly, scratching his head. Then he turned his attention back to the book. It was a detective novel he had been engrossed in lately, and he was eager to find out what would happen next. It was just at the climactic moment when the criminal’s identity was being revealed, making the reading even more important.
Not noticing the puzzled look of his classmate directed at the back of his head, Hangeom immersed himself in reading again.
“By the way, looking at Kang Hoon, I thought he looks a bit like that senior.”
“Who?”
The classmates, apparently, hadn’t finished discussing Kang Hoon and resumed the conversation.
“The idol of our English department.”
“Senior Do Wonhyeok?”
Boom-
And it was none other than Hangeom who reacted to this name. At the mention of Do Wonhyeok’s name, Hangeom’s notebook and pencil case fell from the desk with a crash.
There was a chuckle from the classmate who had involuntarily received a “counter-attack” from Hangeom earlier. Hangeom hurriedly gathered his things with trembling hands.
At that moment, the professor entered the auditorium. Since it was the first week of the semester, the class, fortunately, ended with just an orientation. Thanks to the two-hour lecture ending in 30 minutes, happy students left the auditorium one after another.
Hangeom was no exception. There was plenty of time until the next lecture, and he decided to finish reading the book in the student lounge. He was determined to uncover the identity of the killer in the mountain cabin murder case by the end of the day.
Resolutely going down to the first floor, he bought a drink from the vending machine. Suddenly remembering what he had heard earlier, he turned on his phone and went to the search portal.
[Kang Hoon]
As soon as he entered this name, the actor’s profile photo appeared first. Hangeom adjusted his glasses and looked closely at the screen.
No. Those nameless classmates said this actor looked like senior Do Wonhyeok, but from Hangeom’s point of view, they looked nothing alike.
“Senior’s skin is much lighter. His eyes are bigger, and senior doesn’t have such pronounced double eyelids as this person. The nose is high, but it looks like the result of plastic surgery… And senior has a perfect nose shape, as if sculpted, although he didn’t have surgery. Ah, no matter how you look at it, senior is much more handsome…”
“Do you want to crawl into the phone?”
While Hangeom was comparing the differences between Kang Hoon and Do Wonhyeok with incredible concentration, a voice suddenly came from above. Startled, Hangeom flinched and looked up.
“Uh…”
“If you’re done using the machine, can I use it?”
Hangeom confusedly opened and closed his mouth. The very senior he had just been eagerly comparing to the actor on the screen was standing right in front of him. It was incredible luck. Meeting the senior in the very first week of the semester.
“Ah, yes.”
Hangeom unnecessarily adjusted his glasses and, muttering “G-good luck to you,” quickly left the lounge.
“‘Good luck to you’? What an unusual greeting.”
Do Wonhyeok, watching the quickly retreating Hangeom, tilted his head to the side.
“Do Wonhyeok! What are you doing there?”
“I felt thirsty, decided to buy something.”
Wonhyeok, dropping money into the machine, unhesitatingly chose an ionic drink, and then naturally joined the conversation with the approaching classmates.
“By the way, you were just talking to someone here, right?”
Wonhyeok remembered the figure standing next to him a minute ago. A guy dressed in black from head to toe, staring intently at the phone screen and muttering something strange. If the book tucked under his arm hadn’t said “2nd year English department,” he probably wouldn’t have addressed him so politely.
“Who was that?”
Asked another classmate. Wonhyeok shook his head.
“I was alone. Yu Bin, you must have imagined it.”
There was a pure smile on his face, without a trace of lie.
∞ ∞ ∞
“Hey. Hey! Kang Hangeom!”
“…Huh?”
“What are you doing? We’re discussing our activities for this semester.”
Hangeom, who was sitting in the club room and daydreaming, came to his senses at the words of Baek Woojin, a member of the same club.
“But the seniors haven’t arrived yet, so we’ll have to wait.”
Lee Hyuna, another sophomore, said indifferently.
Currently, Hangeom was a member of one of the central clubs at the university. It wasn’t a place for any outstanding activities, just an ordinary book club. They mainly engaged in reading books on topics of interest, sharing impressions, recommending books to each other, and occasionally holding discussions – in short, doing things that parents would love, exclusively healthy activities.
Therefore, the club couldn’t be popular, and it had only 9 members: 4 sophomores, including Hangeom, 3 juniors, and 2 seniors.
“By the way, I heard yesterday that the club president said if we don’t recruit new members this time, we’re in serious trouble.”
Hearing Hyuna’s words, Baek Woojin jumped up from his seat.
“Seriously?”
“It seems only three freshmen have expressed interest in joining so far. And we need to recruit at least 4 new members, so we’re short exactly one person.”
“Can’t we quickly find one person? Maybe you could bring one of your friends?”
“My friends run away in horror as soon as I say the word ‘reading’.”
Baek Woojin sighed heavily, looking at Hangeom, who was still in a daze. Hyuna quietly muttered, asking why he was in such a state today.
“W-Woojin. What’s the date today?”
“What? You’ve been silent all this time, and now…”
Suddenly, Hangeom hit the table and opened his eyes wide. Hyuna kindly informed him of today’s date.
Hangeom quickly turned on his phone and opened the calendar app. Of course, there was only one entry: “March 2 – Start of semester”. Hangeom tapped on today’s date and entered the input field.
[First conversation with senior this semester]
After writing this, he smiled contentedly. He was so happy that he could consider this day his second birthday instead of his biological one. Who would have thought that right after the start of the semester, he would not only see the senior up close but also talk to him.
You could say he had used up all his luck for this semester.
“Do you want to crawl into the phone?”
How can the senior joke so cutely even with a stranger? Moreover, his face, slightly smiling while saying these words, looked like a real sculpture. And that’s not all.
“If you’re done using the machine, can I use it?”
Others would just push and squeeze in front, but the senior even asked for permission. This gentle voice seemed to stick to the ears and wouldn’t let go. Probably even if the senior cursed with this voice, it would sound beautiful.
“Kang Hangeom. Did you hear what we were talking about?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I knew it. Just in case, do you have any acquaintances who might join our club?”
“Woojin, I don’t have friends.”
Yeah, shouldn’t have asked.
Woojin nodded and patted Hangeom on the shoulder. It was a gesture of sympathy, but Hangeom didn’t care about that right now. He was so happy that he wouldn’t care even if the world ended tomorrow.