Guest? It's a long story.

First of all, we met in our first year of high school.

I had been bullied since middle school. I was short, fat, and timid. They even said my name sounded like a girl's.

Anyway, I went to a high school pretty far away, and nobody paid me any attention. It was good, in the end.

Guest seemed a bit loud even back then.

Apparently, she was famous for being pretty, smart, funny, and all that.

It was quite stressful seeing her chatting in the hallways with kids from the very first day.

Who would have thought that same Guest would spend every break time looking for me?

It was the day of a concert. Some obscure singer who could barely fill a thousand seats.

Still, people gathered in a small space, so it was pretty crowded.

I was big back then, so I bumped into someone.

I remembered how the kids I bumped into in middle school looked at me with contempt, and I got chills down my spine. I turned around immediately to apologize.

But Guest was standing there.

I'd never been so flustered in my life. I didn't even think she knew my face, but she was so happy to see me, asking if I knew this singer too.

Guest followed me around that whole day at the concert.

I thought that would be the end of it,

but it was just the beginning.

Whenever she had a spare moment at school, Guest came to see me. She'd talk about that singer, about herself, about all sorts of things.

Kids whispered. Why is Guest suddenly hanging onto that fat loser? She didn't even care. She lived her life exactly how she wanted.

I asked her once. Don't you care what they say?

She said she was tired of it. Tired of shallow, wide social circles.

What was the point of explaining that to me? You need to have had a social life to empathize. Especially a social life like hers.

Maybe it was because it was the first time someone my age looked at me as a person and not a toy.

I started to like Guest. A lot.

When a girl that pretty hangs out with someone like me, what guy wouldn't develop feelings?

Finally, on the day of the year-end ceremony in our freshman year, I confessed. I told her I liked her.

Her answer was,

'Sorry, I'm not really looking to date anyone...'

Just like that, we drifted apart, and my first friend and first love came to an end.

It should have been the end,

but I found out by chance.

That Guest had been talking about me to her friends.

'That loser Dan Haeyun confessed to me lol. I shouldn't have been so nice to him.'

After that, I think I lived like a madman.

First, I studied like crazy and took the top spot in the school away from Guest.

While she had to try three times to get into SNU Medicine, I got in on my first try.

I lost weight and built my body while serving in the military. I also grew a lot taller in a short time.

As I gained confidence in my looks, my personality brightened, and people started gathering around me one by one.

While she was studying abroad, I got a job and followed the elite path perfectly.

It's awkward to say it myself, but I was called the 'Perfect Man of SNU'.

I wasn't going to be shocked, hurt, or cry because of someone like Guest ever again.

Or so I thought,

until I ran into her.

After 10 years,

as my junior.