Chapter 8

The Stages of Matchmaking

          Lee Soo Jung runs towards the library, this time not because she’s trying to catch a certain someone. She’s been monitoring matchmaking requests for the past weeks and her projects have been piling up.

          She thinks she’s enjoying this matchmaking gig too much. At first she was sceptic about the purpose of the club but now that she’s seen people, mostly requestors, be satisfied with the results of their matchmaking, she feels content and maybe a bit of pride at what they have accomplished to do. Some requestors even discovered what and who they really like through the club.

          It’s a satisfying feeling, but it won’t support her in the future.

          /Though she’s thinking of continuing the club after she graduates, that’s if the same people would be willing to help her with it/

          The library isn’t as busy as usual, other students have probably found some other place to hang out or maybe she’s the only one who’s behind deadlines. She chooses a table near the back, closer to the windows, aware that no one she knows or who knows her would disturb her while studying.

           The newly found fame of being ‘the founder’ of the famous matchmaking club is occasionally tiring. She can’t always have someone interrupt her study periods just so she could remind them that they have a website they could go to if they have a request.

          She stretches her limbs, preparing for a couple of hours of studying and research.

~0~

          A few hours later, she’s done with most of her research projects. She looks around the library; students are starting to pile in. The other tables beside her are full; she’d probably have someone asking to share her table any minute now.

          “Yo, Soo Jung-nim...”

          She’s not expecting this person to be it. “Yo? Really, Lee Seok Min. Yo?”

          The other person smiles bashfully, like Kim Sung Gyu, his eyes forms into crescents as he smiles. She can’t help but smile back. “I was trying to be cool. Didn’t work, did it?”

          Lee Soo Jung shakes her head; she doesn’t think Lee Seok Min could be described as cool. “Don’t try to be... You’re way better than cool...”

          “Soo Jung-nim...”

          “Sit... Aren’t you here to share tables?”

          “Ah yes... That and have a discussion about the Matchmaking Structure...”

          “The Matchmaking what?” Someone hit her, for a club president she’s always clueless.

          “The request > interview > deliberation > action > observation > conclusion process? Anyway, I’m here to talk about the fourth one to be exact...” He sits down in front of her, extracting his laptop and a few requests forms from his bag.

          So much for a club free afternoon, Soo Jung thinks it can’t be helped. The more popular the club is the more requests they’ll be receiving. It’s a good thing they’ve already figured out how to sort the good requests from the bad ones. It’s also a plus that they have Yoo Ji Ah in the club since they have someone who can tell the requestors the bad news when their requests are turned down.

          “Here...” Seok Min shares his laptop screen to Soo Jung to see where he’s pointing.

          It’s the request from the Man Hwa guy. She’s held an interview with him a couple of days ago. The guy seems to be normal having listed an assortment of hobbies ranging from the weird (only eating ramyeon for a month, wearing nothing else but black coloured clothes and bringing raw chicken anywhere) to the mundane (photography and collecting mangas).

          The hard thing about this matchmaking is that they still don’t have an idea who the girl is. They’ve tried checking the comic book shops around the campus with no luck. There are a few girls on the list; unfortunately, none of them has left borrowed books at the library.

          Their last options are the university library and the comic book club.

          As Soo Jung looks through the file, trying to decipher what actually is wrong with it. Lee Seok Min just watches her. He has a tendency to do that when they’re together, it’s a little bit unnerving.

          “What is it, Seok Min?”

          “Huh?”

          “You’re staring again...”

          “Oh... That... Well...”

          “Spill... Patience is not a virtue I have right now...”

          “Well... Soo Jung-nim.” He takes a deep breath. “Well...”

          “Yes?”

          The pause dragged to being an entire full minute of silence, Soo Jung decided to just continue perusing the request file for anything that needs to be discussed. If there is then they need to talk about it in the next club meeting, although she thinks everything is well organized. Seung Hee volunteered to check the anime club since she has a friend who’s part of the club while Hye Rin volunteered to look through the university library’s database. And Lee Ji Ah’s back to giving out bad news be it online or in person.

          She thinks they’ve got everything pretty much covered. So what else is there to discuss with the fourth part of the process?

          “Ermmm well... I think I like you, Soo Jung-nim. But this is just a theory of course. I mean people tend to develop feelings towards each other if they’re in constant with each other in close proximity...”

          “Huh?” Fish out of water.

          “I mean, you probably feel the same...”

          “Eh?” She’s definitely a fish out of water.

          “Okay, maybe not. Moving on...”

          “Wait... What?” Did Lee Seok Min just...

          “Don’t worry about me Lee Soo Jung-nim. I’ll live.” He takes the laptop from Soo Jung and started typing on it. “Anyhow, I think this Kim Myeong Soo guy could be a potential stalker. And I don’t think we should go on with matchmaking someone to a would-be stalker.”

          She’s unable to drop the previous subject, since it’s the first time a person actually confessed to her. Though this particular confession doesn’t feel like it.

          Lee Seok Min is set to ignore her and avoid the topic. He’s currently busy rummaging through his bag again, pulling the manhwa that was given to her by their client and placing it in front of her.

          “However, if you girls are really intent to pursue this request, this manhwa is a clue so I decided to bring it here; if it was a personal manhwa it would probably have a name on it.”

          She feels guilty because it seems like she didn’t acknowledge what Lee Seok Min said but it’s hard to get back to that topic if the person is keen to ignore you.

          “There you are!” Lee Hye Rin sits right next to Seok Min, fixing her bag on the seat next to hers. Her arrival dispenses the unmentioned tension. “I was hoping I’d see you guys before I start pestering the student librarian. I didn’t know what manga volume it was...”

          “Here...” Seok Min slides the manhwa towards Hye Rin.

          The other girl frowns upon seeing the manhwa in front of her.

          “Why do you have this? It’s mine. I’ve been looking all over for it.”

          Shocked is an understatement.

~0~

          They all decided to leave the library after the shock sets in. Lee Seok Min was able to dodge the questionable issue of him possessing a manhwa that one of their club members has been missing for ages. And the student librarian was tortured for naught. Lee Soo Jeong thinks, she and Lee Seok Min have an understanding to not divulge the details to Lee Hye Rin about the potential of her being match made to a serial ramyeon enthusiast or else it would become messy.

          The thing is how would they be able to keep something like that? Seung Hee would definitely cooperate, Ji Ah is questionable. She should’ve shut down this request from the get go then she wouldn’t have to deal with this unrelenting headache.

          “Hey Matchmaker!” someone familiar calls her.

          Lee Soo Jung can’t help the smile that’s forming on her face; it’s been a while since she spoke with the object of her affection. The few times she’s able t stalk him, he was pretty much buried in books.

          She waits for him to match her stride. He does so in three steps. She doesn’t remember him being that tall to have such big strides. She checks his legs for good measure.

          “Yes, Soo Jung?”

          “Legs... I mean... Hi, sunbae, how have you been?”

          “Finally free from deadlines... You? Are you still busy with matchmaking?”

          “Yeah and school stuff too.”

          They walk towards the University gates, she thinks it’s good timing to ask him out. She’ll have her first date with awesomeness today. She has decided; it’s now or never.

          “How’s the matchmaking business?”

          “Thriving...” She gloats. “We’ve been consistent in receiving requests. Speaking of, I thought you said you’d challenge me. The request line would be free after this last one since we haven’t chosen yet...”

          “I already did...”

          “Huh?”

          “Sent a request.” He smirks.

          Any thought of future dates just flew out of the window. She didn’t know it could be possible to be more shocked today.