Chapter 3

Yoon-ah made it to the required liberal arts class on time. She glanced at the students around her, then looked down at her clothes: a black shirt with jeans, and an eco-bag she’d gotten as a freebie somewhere. At least now she didn’t stand out.

Just as she thought, “I need to thank Young-won again after class,” the professor started fumbling around for some materials. Using the moment, she quickly grabbed her phone and sent a message.

[If not for you, I really would’ve stood out. Thank you, mentor. I’m happy we’re paired.]

Looking at the chat history, she realized every message between them for the past six months was only about work. Maybe she’d overdone it. Right when she began to regret it, a reply came—faster than expected since he should be in class. Curious, she opened it.

[You know where the student cafeteria is, right? Go to the nearest one.]

Huh? Out of nowhere? She tilted her head. She did have a campus map from the freshman welcome kit, so she could find it—but something felt off. If there was an announcement she missed because she skipped the mentor–mentee orientation, that would be bad.

She switched to the freshman group chat and searched fast, but found nothing helpful. If he knew, maybe it was announced in the small auditorium before she arrived? She hurried to type:

[I can find it. But I never got a notice to meet at the cafeteria. Is something happening there?]

This time, the reply didn’t come right away. The professor found the materials and resumed the lecture. Nervous, she kept fiddling with her phone.

After about five minutes, his message arrived:

[Did you not leave your lunch period open?]

Lunch? Only then did it hit her. She hadn’t thought about that at all.

The freshman guide hadn’t listed a lunch break either. She finally realized college wasn’t like high school.

Because she wanted to open the café in the evening, she’d packed all her classes into the morning and early afternoon. There was no time for a proper breakfast. At this rate she’d skip lunch too, then eat whatever at the café at night.

She had expected light dinners, but if she spent the whole semester living on bagels while running the café, she’d collapse.

When’s the add/drop period again…? She sighed. Even if this had been her long-held dream, opening the café so suddenly had been reckless. Too late to regret it now.

From then on she even forgot to reply to Young-won and forced herself to focus. Thankfully, the first class was just an orientation and ended soon.

Her body felt weak as she stood up, and her phone vibrated. Young-won was calling.

“Hello, Young-won.”

—“Your class ended, right? I’ll check your schedule. Come to the main entrance of the Business Hall.”

“…Okay.”

How long would she keep bothering him with small problems like this? She was near tears.

Feeling guilty, she took the elevator down and stared hard at her printed timetable. As a first-year, she had more general courses than major ones, so changing classes wouldn’t be hard. But if she pushed one class back an hour, she’d start the café even later.

It was time to finally make the decision she’d kept putting off: either open at night, or hire a full-time worker again.

Ugh… I rushed in with too much enthusiasm…

The elevator doors opened on the first floor. Packed like a can of bean sprouts, the students poured out and swept her along.

Going with the flow, she saw Young-won standing tall near the Business Hall entrance, surrounded by a group of female students chatting away.

He only nodded shortly with a blank face and barely spoke, but she suddenly thought, He must be popular. Of course—he was extremely good-looking.

With his longer hair pushed back, he really did look like a model.

As she slipped through the students toward him, he turned his head to her. Their eyes met, and she waved with an awkward smile.

“You’re already here. I came right away too.”

“Business Hall is always crowded. Let’s go somewhere else.”

He turned first. She quickly reached out and lightly pinched the hem of his sweatshirt. He tilted his head slightly toward her.

“Um, how about outside? There are a lot of benches nearby.”

“…You just want to sit outside?”

“The weather’s nice.”

“…Whatever’s comfortable for you.”

At his yes, she smiled with her eyes and nodded. He immediately spun around.

She didn’t want to steal more of his time by making him find some perfect spot. Better to be quick and disappear.

Even walking “slow,” his long legs were fast. She had to half-jog to keep up.

The girls’ eyes followed them.

“Who is that girl? Double major? She’s super pretty.”

“She’s the older student. They’re mentor and mentee.”

“What, twenty-seven? She doesn’t look it.”

“Didn’t you see the watch on her wrist? The diamonds were flashing.”

“Maybe she’s rich like Young-won—a gold spoon?”

One girl’s face crumpled with envy—how did they get paired like that?—when a male student suddenly popped in.

“My former owner… is a boss…”

It was Gitae, muttering dreamily. The girls’ faces all went cold. One of them, looking extra annoyed, asked:

“Boss of what?”

“‘Café Yoon.’ Near the start of the officetel area.”

They looked puzzled at the name.

Then one girl snapped her fingers and gasped.

“Hey! That place—wasn’t it opened by the ex-wife of that dermatologist who was a panelist on Yeon-Pro?”

“What, Lee Seong-hee? The influencer?”

“Yeah! They acted like lovebirds, then last summer the divorce news broke and she suddenly left the show from season 3 on. A senior said she saw Lee Seong-hee’s wife somewhere—and that ‘somewhere’ was Café Yoon!”

“Wow…”

They craned their necks to watch Young-won and Yoon-ah walking away.

Only (former) Sergeant Kim Gitae, who had once poured his life into girl-group fandom, stood there blankly, thinking about last summer.

“Did you pack your morning classes because of the café?” Young-won asked, looking at the printed timetable tucked into her planner. Yoon-ah nodded, worried.

“I thought about it, and I think I should hire a full-time worker again…”

“Until you find someone? Then you’ll only open in the evenings?”

“I think so. And if I change the hours, I’m thinking of adding beer to the menu. I’ll need a license though.”

A quiet café where most people nurse one coffee for hours was never going to have great sales.

If she cut business hours in half, it would be tough. Most of the alimony and settlement money was tied up in the café and the apartment deposit, and she was still sending monthly support to her parents like she had during her marriage.

She decided to try doing both for now. But Young-won’s handsome brows knit immediately.

“…You’ll run a night café while going to school?”

Who knew when she’d find a worker? He could already picture drunk creeps bothering a pretty owner working alone. And if her ex found out his former wife was selling alcohol…

Sure, these days no one looks down on a campus café selling drinks. But from what he’d heard, her ex sounded like a stubborn, old-fashioned jerk—shockingly immature for a guy in his mid-thirties.

Why am I worrying about him? I’m not the one who divorced him. The thought annoyed him; his brow twitched. Sitting beside him, Yoon-ah fidgeted and spoke softly:

“Um… you don’t have to worry that far. I can handle it.”

“How could you open a café with no plan…”

His voice came out irritated, his expression tightening. And he wasn’t wrong—the person most hurt by her unplanned opening was him. Guilty, Yoon-ah lowered her head like a scolded student.

But he didn’t continue the lecture. With a small sigh, he said something else.

“…Try posting on Dingdong Market. A hiring ad.”

“Dingdong Market?”

She looked up. She only knew it as a used-goods app.

“Yeah. I heard it’s the fastest way.”

“Wow, I didn’t know you could post jobs there. You really know everything. Amazing.”

“…Just try it.”

“O-okay…”

Shrinking into herself, she took out her phone, at least pretending to do it since the mood felt like she was getting scolded.

She couldn’t meet his eyes, just poked at her screen—feeling his sharp gaze on her.

After a short silence, he spoke again.

“Boss.”