The Gimbap Project

Prologue First Day

"Yedeul ah, gather round, palli!" A girl ran into the classroom, gesturing wildly to her friends who gathered around her table.

"Omo, did you see him? The new guy?" One of the girls squealed.

"I heard he's a senior from class 3A! My band senior is in that class and she told me all the girls have been going crazy over him all morning. I'm so jealous!"

"Aish, it has never been worse to be a junior," someone else grumbled.

"He's so dreamy...I saw him briefly in the corridor and he's literally perfect."

"Jinjja? Is he that handsome?"

"Oh, you should have seen him. Warm eyes, tanned skin, and goodness, his hair must be made from the finest silk."

"Ya, don't forget his smile! It's so bright it can light up the whole of Seoul!"

"He seems to have a good personality too. You can tell with guys like him. They're literal walking sunshine."

Just then, another classmate let out an excited shriek. "Yedeul ah, palli! He's coming!"

A flurry of activity followed as the girls from class 2A scrambled to get to their classroom window, one of them bumping right into Hong Hae-in, who had been oblivious to the chaos, lost in a book with her headphones on. The girl mumbled a quick apology, but Hae-in barely acknowledged it, a frown etched on her face as she watched her classmates gather at the window like excited fans.

Seriously, what has gotten into everybody?

Hae-in wasn't dumb. It only took her five minutes to catch wind of the new arrival in their high school from her fellow councillors. Frankly speaking, his arrival had caused quite a stir amongst the school community, for hushed conversations and excited whispers had been buzzing around her all morning, even spilling over into class time. The entire school seemed to be in a frenzy over this new student, and it wasn't even lunchtime yet. Even the boys seemed to be swept up in the excitement and that's saying something because they are well...boys.

Hae-in scoffed. This new guy must be just another average Joe. They're all probably just overexcited because they haven't seen anything new around here for a while. He's just a shiny new toy caught in all this hype that would die down eventually. After all, girls get so easily swept up in anything vaguely attractive these days and jump on them like leeches, it's not even funny.

Poor guy, Hae-in thought with a touch of pity.

But as quickly as the pity came, it left when the squeals grew louder at his arrival in their corridor.

Rolling her eyes, she cranked up the volume on her MP3 player, drowning out the girlish squeals around her. She pointedly focused on her book again, ignoring everything outside her little world as Mr Popular strolled past the window.

Of course, the girls went wild. Some were already trying to shove notes into his hands while others fought for a better glimpse of him.

So, who was this boy they were all going crazy about?

It was none other than Baek Hyun Woo.

The newest addition to their high school's reputable swimming team.

It had only been three hours into his first day at Hanil Foreign Language High School and Hyun Woo already felt like he had seen it all. And by "it all," he meant the entire female population of the school. Coming from a small town called Yongdu-ri, he certainly hadn't expected such a chaotic welcome.

He couldn't say he enjoyed the constant attention but he was secretly relieved that his father had been wrong. The Seoul crowd seemed way more welcoming than what he had expected. He had spent days bracing himself for a tough crowd, for he had heard students in Seoul tend to be rather competitive and even ruthless. Therefore, he had been expecting some students to size him up on his first day. But so far, all he had gotten was warmth, warmth that made him feel optimistic about transferring to this elite school in the middle of the semester. All those warnings from his Abeoji about standing firm and upright seemed completely unnecessary now, as well-intentioned as it was.