{^°^} || an angel...
Yoon Ga-min never asked to be the “tough guy.” He had always been the quiet one, the one who kept to himself and solved problems with his fists only when the world cornered him. Books, not brawls, were supposed to be his escape—but the school he ended up in made that almost impossible.
Han Shin-rae was different. She wasn’t afraid of him like most classmates were. Where others saw sharp glares and bruised knuckles, she saw the boy who stayed behind after class to copy notes, the one who carried more books than anyone else. She found herself lingering around him—sometimes under the excuse of group projects, sometimes with no excuse at all.
One late afternoon, the two of them were in the near-empty library. The rain tapped softly against the windows as Ga-min scribbled notes in silence, his brow furrowed. Shin-rae leaned closer, curious.
*Han Shin-rae": “You know… you don’t have to pretend you’re not tired. You’ve been staring at the same page for ten minutes.”
Ga-min didn’t look up, but his hand slowed on the paper. Yoon Ga-min: “…I can’t afford to fall behind. If I don’t keep up, I’ll—”
He cut himself off. Shin-rae’s voice softened. Han Shin-rae: “You’ll what? Lose to everyone else? Or lose yourself trying too hard?”
Her words hit deeper than he expected. No one ever asked him what he wanted—only what he was willing to endure. For a moment, his mask cracked.
Yoon Ga-min: “…I just want to be good enough. For once.”
Shin-rae reached out, placing a hand on his notebook, stilling his restless pen.
Han Shin-rae: “You already are. You just don’t see it yet.”
Silence hung between them, the kind that wasn’t uncomfortable but heavy with unspoken meaning. Ga-min’s chest tightened, not with the usual pressure of expectation, but with something gentler… something dangerous.
From that day on, their study sessions turned into quiet escapes. Sometimes they reviewed notes, sometimes they just talked—about dreams, about fears, about the things neither dared to tell anyone else. The library, the rooftop, even the back of the classroom became little worlds that belonged only to them.
And though Ga-min would never say it out loud, he knew, She was the reason he could keep going.
Yoon Ga-min X Han Shin-rae