I Unknowingly Rejected My Favorite

༺ Jackpot! I hit the jackpot! ༻

“Let’s start the class. I’m going to check attendance.”

It was because of the Professor that I got into this awkward group, but it was also him who saved me from that sticky situation just now.

He felt like someone who spread their illness and then offered medicine. But if Doah was actually Luka, that medicine could end up as something precious like wild ginseng.

“Na Sunghoon.”

“Bae Yooncheol.”

The Professor called our names one by one.

Since her surname was Kim, Doah’s name got called earlier.

Anyways, banana milk… And low-fat only… Hm…

Including break time, the class was held for two and a half hours. During the first hour, the Professor delivered his lecture and afterwards gave us the remaining time to discuss amongst ourselves.

But of course, hardly any group discussed the project during the time span given.

For the groups whose members were close friends, they’d start to chatter as soon as it began, while the ones with a more awkward atmosphere would only talk when necessary and spent the rest of their time on their phones.

As for me, this was an opportunity to bring up the prosecutor show after our discussion ended.

“Alright. After a short break, you may have the time to discuss with your group members.”

“Taemin. Do you want to grab some coffee?”

Junseok nudged my elbow as soon as the break started. 

“Sure.”

“Are you guys coming?”

Junseok asked the girls in our group and they followed us out.

“I don’t think there’s much we can talk about in just an hour.”

Junseok grumbled irritably. Minji, who walked next to him, chimed in.

“Well, it’s better than having two hours of class.”

“You’re right, but it’s still annoying to pretend that we’re doing something. Should I take out my major’s assignment instead?”

“I’d rather have a small chat than get caught and look bad, Oppa.”

Junseok and Minji were walking ahead, while me and Doah followed behind.

Doah only looked at her phone screen, maybe to avoid eye-contact with me.

I thought she was texting, but what she actually did was play a very classic game, Brick Breaker.

It was a game that I played very briefly before, and it was only good to kill time.

Definitely wasn’t a game you should invest your time into.

“What do you want to drink?”

When we got to the cafe, Junseok pulled out his card and said that he’d pay in one go.

“I want Iced Americano!”

Minji was the first to answer, followed by me, who answered without thinking much.

“Me too.”

At that moment, I remembered that Luka had once talked about cafes.  I waited for her to choose what she wanted to drink with anticipation.

“I… Umm… Green tea latte.”

But her answer didn’t help me at all.

According to my own breakdown of Luka’s streams…

  「I often buy stuff like strawberry yogurt these days, you know? But there are days when I don’t crave sweets that much. If you know, you know.」

  「On those days, green tea latte is a perfect choice. You’ll never go wrong with it. Yet, not many people drink it.」

  「Wow. You guys really don’t know how to enjoy food. I feel bad for our Pink Army who doesn’t know how great the green tea is~」

Luka stood her ground firmly against all the booing that was plastered all over the chat.

And I, who was there, was strongly opposing Luka, who tried to convince us to try the green tea lattes.

“Here you go.”

When Junseok held out the drink, Doah reached out and grabbed the plastic cup.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s go back now. We’re running late.”

On our way back to the classroom,

Slowing my pace down a bit, I observed Doah’s back.

  「Chat, I bet you’ll never find me even if you meet me in real life.」

  「I’m a shy girl, so I cover my face a lot and don’t talk much either.」

  「Ehh~ I can talk freely like this because I’m on stream~」

Luka on the stream was a total social butterfly.

She was very expressive and skilled at directing her viewers.

If I were to list down all the things that I liked about her, I could go on even after listing down a hundred of reasons, but if I were forced to use only a single sentence, then I’d say…

[Luka is a very charming person.]

No matter how pretty Vtubers designed their models or how deeply they paid attention to details like rigging and facial expressions, the person behind that virtual character had to be equally as charming.

In the virtual world, when it came to appearance, everyone had an equal chance to look attractive.

After all, you could raise the bridge of your nose or enlarge your eyes with just a single click.

To survive in that place, you’d have to utilize your charm rather than look, and Luka aced it in that regard.

“Alright, you may start your discussion now.”

The noise died down at the Professor’s words as we officially started the discussion.

“First of all, should we go over the materials we brought?”

Since Junseok had already compiled all of our data before the class, he suggested that we review it together on the tablet.

“This is my material…”

In a typical model student style, Junseok prepared his materials very systematically.

“Anyway, I just thought a lot of people seemed to use this technique.”

“Ohh… That doesn’t look bad.”

“I agree.”

“Okay, let’s move on to Doah’s material.”

[The Rise of the Metaverse Market]

As soon as I saw the title, I let out a series of coughs.

  – Cough, cough, cough.

“Hey, Taemin? Are you alright?”

“Ah, yeah. Let’s continue.”

I wondered if she was specifically targeting me for spending day in and day out glued to a monitor, absorbed in only metaverse-related content. The article Doah brought seemed to be unexpectedly calling me out, as if it had struck a nerve.

“These new technologies are surely in the spotlight these days.”

Unlike me, who resonated with the article and was very hooked on it, Junseok read Doah’s article very studiously.

“But I’m not sure how much of these we can show on the video later.”

“Is that so?”

When she didn’t hear a positive reaction toward her article, Doah’s expression became like that of a sad puppy’s.

“I’m not saying it’s bad, I just can’t imagine the end result yet. Anyway, we should all finish our turns first, and let’s discuss it more later.”

After going over Minji’s and my materials one by one, in the end, we came full circle and decided to use Junseok’s material as the basis of our project.

“Then, we’ll proceed with mine, and I think it would be good to include some of your ideas in between.”

“Sounds good!”

I wanted to jump to the idle talk quickly, so like a fake boot-licker, I hyped up Junseok who had been working hard to get things done next to me.

“Doah, we’ll add it If there’s a way to include the metaverse idea too.”

“Yes.”

“Alright, then let’s proceed with this for now. I’ll write out the project plan.” 

“So that’s all for today’s discussion?”

“I guess so?”

I tossed the bait as soon as the leader gave his permission, just like a fisherman would.

“By the way, guys. There’s a popular prosecutor show these days. Did you watch it?”

“Yeah, did you watch it, Oppa?”

Minji, who seemed the most like a social butterfly among us, answered me immediately.

“People have been talking about it a lot, but I haven’t seen it yet.”

Everyone shared their opinions, but Doah, the one whose opinion I was most curious about, just clammed up and didn’t say a word.

“What about you, Doah?”

In the end, I couldn’t hold back and asked her that question.

“Ah… It was fun to watch.”

“Even to the latest episode?”

“Yes.”

Everything was okay up until that point, but the actual question was my next one.

“Who do you like the most among the characters?”

“I guess I like the female lead the most…”

Her answer matched with Luka’s, but sadly, I couldn’t dig in further. Or rather, I had no chance to do so.

“Alright, how’s this team doing?”

As soon as the Professor, who was checking on every group’s progress, walked up to our desk, Junseok straightened his back and explained our concept.

“The topic itself is good.. Um.. For now, you should go for it. Next week, I’ll monitor the progress and tell you if it’s okay for you to continue with it.”

“I understand. Thank you.”

“Thank you~”

Shit… Why did the professor need to have such bad timing?

I had to let go of the fish I caught even though I tried my hardest to lead the conversation as naturally as possible.

What should I even ask her next? Should I just do Twenty Questions…?

At this point, I hadn’t asked many questions, but I believed that Doah was most likely Luka.

After all, her answer matched Luka’s personal tastes that she talked about on the stream.

And when I thought I couldn’t be sure of anything due to the lack of a decisive factor…

“Doah. Tomorrow is my birthday, so I’m going out drinking with the girls. Do you want to come?”

“I don’t think I can make some time tomorrow. I have something to do…”

“Too bad. Hyunji and Jisun are coming too.”

“Really? Ah… But I’m really busy this week…”

As I listened intently to Minji and Doah’s conversation, my eyes widened at what I heard next.

“Ehh. We can just get the girls together again on your birthday. Doah, when is your birthday again?”

“It’s still far away.”

“So when is it?”

“Me? October 25.”

…Jackpot!

I hit the jackpot!!!

I could only look at Doah with my mouth wide open and a stunned expression. 

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