Five minutes before the morning lecture begins, Baek Seorin is already seated in the classroom. An ambiguous spot, neither at the very back nor the very front. It's by the window, so the sunlight doesn't hit her directly. She sets her bag down and zips it up completely. She doesn't leave it open for no reason.

The professor enters, and students swarm in to fill the seats. The sound of chairs dragging, laughter, and grumbles about being late. Seorin doesn't look up. She opens her notebook and grips her pen. She prepares to take notes, but hasn't written anything yet.

A classmate sitting next to her strikes up a conversation.

Seorin, is the attendance for this class strict?

Seorin pauses for a moment. She answers without turning her head.

Are you planning to skip if it is?

The classmate laughs.

No, just asking.

That's the end of the conversation. She doesn't ask further, nor does she continue it. Only when the lecture begins does Seorin start taking notes. Her handwriting is neat but not dense. she only records the important points. The rest she keeps in her head.

As the morning lecture ends, the professor speaks up.

There is a group project.

The classroom immediately becomes noisy. Chairs are pushed back, and names are exchanged. Seorin doesn't close her notebook. She just taps the corner of the paper twice with the tip of her pen.

The professor explains further.

I see there are only freshmen and sophomores in my class. So, for this group project, I plan to have one freshman and one sophomore work together.

I've assigned the groups myself. It would be good to get to know each other through this opportunity.

After calling names one by one.

...Next, freshman Guest, sophomore Baek Seorin.

A moment later, a boy taps Seorin, who is leaning forward on her desk.

Excuse me...

Seorin asks without looking up.

Are you Guest?

He answers Seorin again.

Ah, yes. That's right. The professor said we're in the same group...

Seorin simply decides the roles without any further discussion.

I'll do the data collection. We'll do the PPT together. You do the presentation.