Chapter Text
Kim Dokja isn’t usually clumsy. But fate decided that he would be for this week.
They needed to go back to university in mid-January. This means it’ll still be winter, so he has to pack up his winter clothes when returning since he’s also staying in the university’s dorms. But the thing is, he only packed his uniform and a few scarves, and then absolutely nothing more. He can’t even go back home or ask anyone to send him his clothes because it’ll be a waste of money, too.
“Ahh…damn it.”
Thankfully, his type-A uniform could pass off as winter clothing. After all, it has so many layers. He’s heard about other students talking about how it’s such a waste of uniform design when the fabric is shit. Truthfully, he quite agreed with that but right now, all he feels is gratitude for the university for designing it to be at least suitable or wearable enough for classes when you forgot your damn winter clothes.
So then school comes and he’s wearing a white long-sleeved polo, matte black necktie, a (slightly) thick gray vest, then a black coat and slacks. It’s warm, to say the least. Because it’s got a lot of layers and thankfully, their school isn’t that shitty for them to not have at least any heater.
Second years were called to the auditorium for a light assembly, just to welcome the first years. He laughs in his mind, good luck to them, really. This University really will fool you because the payment for this huge, good-looking University is your soul. Like, not even kidding. If he hadn’t had any luck during the qualifying exams, he wouldn’t have graduated in his first year at this university.
Kim Dokja passed through countless people, wanting to get a seat at least in the middle of the auditorium so he could see the screen properly. His eyes started getting poor due to his, well, unhealthy habits. Now he has to wear glasses and sit near screens or monitors to be able to focus on discussions and see them clearly.
That aside, he was thankful that he immediately got a seat. Sighing, he opened his phone to read his novels while waiting for the assembly to start.
“Sooyoung-ah, make sure to take pictures of the admins and professors, okay? Not the freaking students.”
“Nuh-uh. My camera, my choice,” she immediately responds. Not many know her, but maybe under her alias, many would recognize her. It’s not like she’s keeping it a secret; she just prefers not to brag about it.
Besides being a member of the council and the photography club, she’s been handling one certain intwt account where she would post the unofficial photos she would take during meetings or events like this assembly. It sometimes serves as a matchmaker for the students, leading to her account getting lots of love and attention.
And because her account isn’t causing any serious harm or crimes, it wasn’t getting asked to be taken down or anything related.
“C’mon, Sooyoung-ah. You’re taking many more pictures of the students than the professors and admins.”
“Why not? What are they even gonna do with their bunch of pictures when you only need like 5-10 of them when passing a report? And hey, I’m not the only one who’s taking pictures. They can cover the rest for me, dude.”
“You’re still the best photographer out of all of us, and you know they prefer you, too.”
Han Sooyoung threw a lemon candy in the air before catching it with her mouth and showing both of her palms. “Guess what? I don’t care! I’m not getting paid, you know. I bought this camera for me, not for them.”
Her clubmate sighed. “Ah, fine, do whatever you want.”
“I always do~”
Han Sooyoung, aka TLS123, is basically Seren University’s matchmaker and a popular photographer and writer on Twitter. People can’t wait for her posts because they often seem to change up students' love lives. But she’s quick to say that the photos she takes are totally by chance. If you and your significant other are truly meant to be, it’ll just happen. If you try to force it, you’re not gonna get anywhere.
Han Sooyoung looked around, humming while taking pictures of random people. And all of a sudden, a plain-looking student catches her attention. By plain, she meant a student who’s wearing a uniform in the middle of winter. Normally, students wouldn’t even wear their uniform because it’s their chance to show off their winter outfits. Not that wearing uniforms during the winter is unheard of, but students rarely wear theirs.
Plus, the guy isn’t exactly plain either. He’s fine, pretty guy, maybe 7 or 8-ish out of 10. But that’s just her opinion, yeah? She thinks that maybe the reason why he looked quite plain is because of his style or aura, or mood surrounding him.
Actually, the longer she stares, the more confused she gets. ‘Cause honestly, if he weren’t wearing a men's uniform, she wouldn't have mistaken him for a woman whose style is closer to men’s.
"Oh my fucking god, I'm going insane. Han Sooyoung, you have work to do, come on bitch, focus." She sighs and shakes her head.
Thinking about her work made her lazy to take close-up photos, but still, every photo she took at that time included the pretty man. He was pretty, so like, why not, right?
And so, when the event ended, she straight up went to class not to learn but to edit the photos she took. Well, she’s still able to listen, so leave that part out to her ears and brain and hope that she’ll actually be able to understand something while editing, or else, she’ll have to pester Yoo Sangah again to give her some notes here and there.
Opening up another lollipop, she started to look through the photos and delete the ones that looked shitty while the others remained to be edited. She’s already good enough, so she just needed some minor edits here and there, and then she’s done! After that, she transferred the photos to her hard drive, planning on posting them through her computer.
As soon as she got home, of course, she faced her computer. After sorting and posting these pictures, she’ll have to write some story updates and then ask Yoo Sangah for some notes because apparently, her ears and brain failed her.
While uploading the pictures, she noticed how there were so many photos of the pretty guy she had seen earlier. He may not have been the subject but he’s always there and worst is, he’s so fucking eye catching that if the other studnets notoced it, they’d think she has a thing for the pretty guy. But like, yeah, she prefers taking pictures of pretty people, but that doesn’t mean she has a thing for men, okay? Great eye candy but hard pass.
And so, to solve this dilemma of hers that suddenly appeared like a mushroom, she looked for photos where the pretty guy could have a partner so she won’t have an issue, and bingo~
She found a picture where another man was looking at the pretty man. She squinted her eyes and looked at the other following photos that included the pretty man, and my, oh my.
“Would you look at that~?”
Han Sooyoung smirked at the thoughts running through her head.
“Someone just fell in love at first sight, huh?”
With the evil plan she had in her mind, she posted all the photos, waiting for the right time.
A minute later, her phone started vibrating nonstop, and she couldn't help but laugh even if she hadn’t seen the notifications. Because it’s just either a lot of students saw her posts and started going through each and every one of them, or the two guys she plotted to be together are now going viral. Either way, she’s just so sure that those two will go viral by the end of this day.
Morning .
Han Sooyoung cackled as soon as she woke up. Looking at alarm clocks, stretching, or any shit isn’t what she does first thing in the morning, no. She checks her phone for notifications. And she doesn’t even bother looking at the post she made last night. It was the trending section she checks first and holy shit, they really were trending.
After going through some posts, she discovered that this handsome guy was popular because, well, top of the class, class representative, an officer, and a famous gaming streamer—Yoo Joonghyuk. Now that she thinks about it, the name does ring a bell.
“No, I have to attend a family gathering with my cousin. Oh, I forgot to tell Joonghyuk, hold on.”
‘Ohh!’
Yoo Sangah’s cousin! Hell, she can’t even believe these coincidences. Who would ever think that she actually knew this guy? At this rate, she probably wouldn’t even be surprised if the pretty guy ended up being connected to her in some way, too.
That aside, as she scrolled through countless reposts of the photos she took of Yoo Joonghyuk and the pretty guy, most of them were zoomed in and cropped, even commenting how Yoo Joonghyuk looks like some lovesick fool who couldn’t stop staring. There were even posts of, “Ooh he wants that cookie so effin’ bad,” that made her laugh even more.
But not all people were accepting of the trending ship. Most of them were Yoo Joonghyuk’s fans too, criticizing the other students for shipping the two when it could just be some hidden grudge or was a coincidental glance, and basically even telling people not to ship them because they could be straight.
Anyway, shippers or haters, it’s still the reason why the two continued to trend on intwt—all is well, all is well.
A week after.
Kim Dokja and Yoo Joonghyuk are still trending. But of course, being the dense person that Kim Dokja is, and for being not-so-chronically online, he didn’t know that he was trending with Yoo Joonghyuk.
And so after his classes ended, he trudged to the cafeteria to eat something. He woke up late and almost missed his first class, so he wasn’t able to eat. The worst part is, his classes at that time were 4 hours long, so he had to rely on his strong will to keep going and hold on just until the classes finished.
The moment he sat down, he thanked for his food and was about to start eating because really, he’s just so hungry, when a student approached him.
‘Please, please, can we save this for later…?’
"Hi, sunbae! I'm Jang Hayoung, nice to meet you!"
Kim Dokja sobbed internally. “Sorry, but I’m really hungry, can I eat first…?”
“Oh! I’m sorry, sunbae! Of course, you can eat. But uh, can I sit with you? I just wanted to ask a few questions…”
“Um, sure.”
As Kim Dokja started eating, Jang Hayoung continued to talk.
“I’m not sure if you know, but sunbae, I’m actually your classmate in one of the few courses in your year. And you know, recently, you were trending on intwt, so I figured if I could ask you about it—”
Still half-unfocused, Kim Dokja hummed, nodding his head.
“So sunbae, what’s your relationship with Yoo Joonghyuk sunbae?”
A fit of cough and panic suddenly happened at their table. Jang Hayoung, who also panicked, quickly opened a bottle of water and handed it to Kim Dokja, who drank it quickly.
“I’m so sorry! I was just— cough —surprised—w-what do you mean relationship…? And with whom? What is going on…?”
“Eh? Um, sunbae, did you not know?”
“Know what???”
“You were trending on intwt last week! Actually, until now, but that’s not important. Uh, TLS123’s pictures went viral again, and you guys were there, so people started shipping you guys. That’s why I asked if you two have some kind of a relationship or if you guys know each other…”
While Jang Hayoung was talking, she quickly typed and scrolled on her phone to show him a picture of him in the auditorium. He was sitting near the front and the middle aisle, while a handsome guy on the opposite aisle, just near him, was staring at him.
“W-who…”
“You don’t know him?!” Jang Hayoung held her chin, murmuring something and looking troubled.
“I’m so sorry, sunbae.” She started. “That’s Yoo Joonghyuk. He’s a consistent top student, 2 years straight class representative, a part of the student government body, and a gaming streamer! He’s totally popular, that’s why when the picture of the two of you came out, you trended immediately.”
“Oh.” That is the only thing he could say. Honestly, nothing of what she said has sunk in. Because to be honest, if anything, he’s actually scared shitless because if this Yoo Joonghyuk is this famous, he’ll probably get jumped by his fans anytime and anywhere, right? Dear god, it’s just his second year here, and he’s already going to suffer?
“W-well, to be clear, I don’t know him and I’m not in a relationship with anyone. I hope it’s clear with the other students as well because the last thing I want is to get jumped on for being associated with him, you know?”
Those who were around them who were eavesdropping felt so thankful to Jang Hayoung, who approached Kim Dokja and asked because they've been wanting to ask him too. But they just couldn't because for some reason, Kim Dokja really looks intimidating and doesn’t seem like the type who’ll accept such bullshit questions.
“Oh, don’t worry, sunbae! They’re all supportive of your ship!”
“Ah, no, that’s not…” You know what? Nevermind…
“So anyway, rumors are going around about how you and Yoo Joonghyuk have some secret relationship that’s been going on. I mean, to be fair, if you look at the picture, I’d say he really wants you, probably in every way.” Jang Hayoung sighed. “Honestly, what I’m even more surprised with is the fact that you guys don’t talk to each other in class. I’ve seen you both steal glances at each other, so I thought you guys were, you know.”
“...I’m sure that’s not the case, it’s probably just some coincidence or maybe the camera’s angle, but who knows? Maybe he’s not really looking at me—wait. Hold on. Did you say ‘in class’? We’re classmates, too?”
Jang Hayoung stared at Kim Dokja. "Oh dear, help this man."
“Wait, actually, what do you mean by stealing glances? I’ve never even seen him in class before!”
“Lost cause…Sunbae, I had a hunch that you’re not really that good with people, but this isn’t really what I was expecting…I mean, how am I even gonna be surprised at this point when I always see you reading web novels even in class..." She sighed and shook her head in disbelief.
“Just to remind you, I’m in front of you and you're insulting me like that???”
“Sunbae, if anything, you deserve it.”
Kim Dokja sighed as he walked down the hallway, thinking about the rumors going on. For the past few days, he's been stalking Yoo Joonghyuk's social medias and boy, he looks straight as fuck. To be clear, it’s not that he has a crush on him. He just wanted to know who this Yoo Joonghyuk is and why he’s famous. Well, now, of course, he knows the reason why.
His social media gave out a mysterious vibe, which girls definitely would go crazy for. It just adds to the fact that if you really wanna see him, you’ll have to look for him personally AND stare at him. To be honest, Yoo Joonghyuk really is eye candy. I mean, where would you even see that kind of handsome every day? Besides the fact that he’s handsome as fuck, he’s also smart and hard-working, probably a genius, even.
In conclusion, totally out of his league, and he’s out of Yoo Joonghyuk’s league.
If anything, Lee Seolhwa from the Medical Department would suit him much better. She’s like Yoo Joonghyuk, too, after all. Beauty and brains. But at the same time, wouldn’t they clash a bit due to their priorities…?
Well anyway. He just hopes Yoo Joonghyuk would at least say something or deny any rumors spreading to clear them both out. It’s hard to sleep and even breathe knowing someone could just jump at him anytime sooner because they didn’t want Yoo Joonghyuk getting shipped with a guy like him, after all. Plus, his body actually hurts from the amount of stares he’s getting. Like he already wore masks, to hopefully get less attention, but it doesn’t work either.
It’s not like he could be the one to tell people. Like yeah, sure, he already told some of his close friends and classmates that he and Yoo Joonghyuk had nothing to do with each other but it’s so freaking obvious that they don’t really believe him at all and that frustrates him. So, unless Yoo Joonghyuk denies the rumors himself, that’s the only time that everything will finally be able to die down.
"DOKJA-SUNBAAAAEEEE!"'
At that very moment, he felt like his soul just really ascended to heaven because it's either good news or bad news, and he just hopes it's good news or else he'll really go straight to heaven—if he's going to heaven, that is.
"Hayoung-ah, w-what is it?"
"Why do you look like you just came back from the dead? I mean, no, why do you look like you're dying?" At least she looked worried.
"Don't mind. So what is it?"
"I HAVE TWO GOOD NEWS!" She said while shaking his shoulders. He couldn’t even make a happy reaction or whatsoever. He just probably looks like some constipated person who really needs to go to the bathroom as soon as possible.
"You don't look very excited, huh…”
“...What is the good news?"
"YOO JOONGHYUK FINALLY SAID SOMETHING!" Suddenly, he could feel his soul coming back to him. Everyone around them also looked at them, but he didn’t mind. He gasped, eyes sparkling at what Jang Hayoung just said. Right now, what Yoo Joonghyuk said is what’s more important because he’ll finally be able to be free from misunderstandings.
"Oh my god, thank the heavens! So, what did he say?!" He's really desperate for this to be all over, so please, please—
"HE SAID IT'S TRUE AND YOU'RE VERY PRETTY, THAT'S WHY!"
A collective gasp.
Pressing his lips into a thin line, he let his soul leave his body.
"WAH SUNBAE!"