whatthehuhyusay

[whatthehuhyusay]

going to post the headcannons soon!

[whatthehuhyusay]

hellooooo

anyone interested in gf!yunjin headcannons?

i’m brainrotting i’m sorry

[whatthehuhyusay]

READ ME

paring: bookstore owner!huh yunjin x fem!student!reader

preview: you’re a broke, overworked snu pre-med student just trying to survive your first semester when you stumble into a cozy little bookstore in search of used textbooks. and instead, accidentally leave behind a piece of your heart. when you can’t afford the books, the impossibly pretty owner with the soft smile and cinnamon voice surprises you with kindness you weren’t expecting. you try to forget her, but she doesn’t forget you — and when you finally go back, everything shifts. maybe this semester won’t just be about surviving after all.

a/n: hello!! my first fic >.<

the first thing you noticed about the bookstore was the smell.

not like old-dusty-grandma-bookstore smell, but—warm. like cinnamon and ink and the kind of coffee that you just know was brewed by someone who knows exactly how many seconds to let the espresso sit before pouring the milk. it was the kind of place that made you want to write poetry, or read tolstoy, or fall in love with someone who wore rings on every finger.

and it was quiet. not dead-silent like the library in finals week, but soft. like a whisper. like maybe if you stood still long enough, the books would start talking.

you adjusted your backpack straps, trying to ignore the way your stomach twisted every time you thought about your bank account. or, more specifically, the fact that it was as empty as your fridge. which was currently housing a single bottle of expired kimchi and a half-eaten rice ball.

classic.

you stepped further inside, your shoes squeaking against the hardwood floor, and that’s when you saw her.

behind the counter. blonde hair pulled up in a messy kind of bun that looked both chaotic and intentional, like she’d been running around for hours and still somehow looked like a pinterest board. she had a ring on her thumb and a bandaid on her pinky, and she was flipping through a paperback with the kind of focus that made you feel like you were intruding just by existing near her airspace.

you cleared your throat.

she looked up.

and smiled.

oh no.

you felt your brain short-circuit a little bit because—wow. she had beautiful lips. and this sleepy, crooked smile that made your bones feel like warm pudding. and her voice, when she spoke, was low and casual, like she was so used to talking to strangers that flirting was just muscle memory.

“hey, welcome in,” she said, leaning on the counter. “looking for anything specific?”

you held up your phone, where you’d typed out a list of textbooks for your korean lit seminar and one very overpriced econ course you were already regretting enrolling in.

“just some textbooks,” you said. “mostly used, if you have them.”

she took your phone, her fingers brushing yours for half a second, and then she turned toward the computer.

“snu student?” she asked, typing fast.

you nodded. “first year. somehow already drowning.”

“ah,” she shot you a sympathetic look. “welcome to the club.”

you watched her as she scanned the shelves behind the register, grabbing books with practiced ease. like she knew the store better than her own apartment. like she lived here.

(maybe she did.)

ten minutes later, she had a stack in her arms. your exact list, all used copies, some with notes in the margins and coffee stains on the covers. they looked loved.

you loved them already.

“this is all of them,” she said, placing them gently on the counter. “with the used discount, it comes to—” she glanced at the screen, then winced slightly. “68,000 won.”

you smiled, tight-lipped.

reached for your wallet.

opened it.

and then you froze.

you knew what was in there. you knew. but somehow, seeing the pathetic 12,000 won in cash and your debit card—which you were 99.9% sure would get declined—felt like a slap anyway.

you looked up, panic rising in your throat like acid.

“i—” you started, clutching your wallet like it owed you something. “i’m so sorry. i thought i had more in my account, but—i guess my scholarship money hasn’t come in yet, and my parents are kind of... tapped out right now, and—i’m really sorry. i didn’t mean to waste your time.”

you were talking too fast. your cheeks burned. your eyes stung in the way they always did when you were humiliated but trying very hard not to cry in public.

she didn’t say anything at first.

just tilted her head a little. looked at you with something that wasn’t pity—thank god—but wasn’t nothing, either.

and then she smiled again, soft this time.

“don’t worry about it.”

you blinked. “what?”

“seriously,” she said, pushing the books into a neat stack. “no big deal. i’ve been there. just come back when you can. or not. either way.”

you stared at her.

she stared back.

and you had this wild, irrational urge to hug her. or marry her. or at least ask her name.

but instead, you just nodded, muttered another apology, and turned around fast enough to nearly knock over a display of poetry anthologies.

on your way out, you heard her laugh.

and later that night, when you were lying in bed with your rice ball dinner and a pit in your stomach, you thought about that laugh.

and the way her eyes crinkled when she smiled.

and how maybe, if you ever got your scholarship money, you’d go back.

for the books.

…probably.

yunjin tried not to think about you.

she really did. she had more than enough to do — a double shift, three boxes of new arrivals to catalog, and a growing pile of receipts that looked like a papercut waiting to happen. her to-do list was scribbled on a sticky note she’d stuck to her phone case, which was both practical and a little tragic, depending on how you viewed organizational systems.

but she kept glancing at the door.

just in case.

maybe you’d come back at the end of the week.

maybe you were waiting for payday.

or maybe you were just too embarrassed. (she’d seen the look on your face — wide-eyed, apologetic, like you were two seconds from bolting out of your own skin. it made something in her chest twist weirdly.)

“you’re doing that thing again,��� chaewon said, swinging into the back room with a half-eaten donut in one hand and a very dramatic sigh.

“what thing?” yunjin asked, totally not defensive.

“the thing where you stare at the door like a sad golden retriever.”

“i’m not—” yunjin paused. “okay, maybe a little.”

chaewon raised an eyebrow and plopped into the creaky desk chair, spinning lazily. “is this about the pretty girl who almost cried in front of the register?”

“…i don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“sure you don’t.”

yunjin sighed, leaning against the counter. “she was just… cute. and stressed. and she really wanted those books.”

chaewon tilted her head. “so why don’t you just find her?”

yunjin blinked. “what, like stalk her?”

“you’re literally a bookstore owner. not interpol. calm down.” chaewon took another bite of donut and spoke through it. “what did she say she studied?”

“uh…” yunjin tried to remember the conversation — the nervous smile, the way your hands trembled slightly when you handed her your phone. “she mentioned econ. but also something about korean lit? oh — and she said it was her first year.”

“so she’s a freshman at SNU,” chaewon said, tapping her donut against her chin like it was a stylus. “probably undeclared, but taking lit and econ?”

“maybe,” yunjin said, eyes narrowing. “wait — she said something about pre-med. i think. like she was already drowning.”

chaewon snapped her fingers. “boom. pre-med. that narrows it down.”

“not really?”

“okay, but she also said she’s on scholarship, right?” chaewon grinned, that mischievous look she always got when she was about to do something slightly morally questionable but deeply entertaining. “i could ask my friend in the admin office. she owes me a favor.”

yunjin blinked. “you have a friend in the admin office?”

“i have contacts, yunjin.”

“you’re terrifying.”

“thank you.”

chaewon clocked out at seven, leaving behind her half-empty iced americano and a playlist full of early 2000s girl group bangers echoing quietly through the store.

the second she was gone, yunjin made her move.

she pulled out the list you’d shown her — still saved in the system from earlier — and made her way through the shelves like a woman on a mission. she found every book you’d asked for, even the stupidly expensive econ one with the cracked spine and four different highlighter colors bleeding through the pages.

she didn’t even flinch at the total this time.

as she scanned each one behind the register, she imagined what your face would look like if she handed them to you. if she said, hey, i remembered. and i didn’t want you to go without.

not out of pity.

but because you looked like someone who worked hard. like someone who didn’t ask for anything unless it was absolutely necessary. someone who probably hadn’t had many people do something for you just because.

she slipped the receipt into the front cover of the lit anthology and placed the books into a paper bag with tiny stars on it — the last one in the drawer. her favorite.

then she wrote a note.

just a sticky note, folded in half.

nothing dramatic. just:

in case you still need them. no strings attached. - yunjin

and below it, in smaller handwriting:

p.s. you left a mark on my tbr list. come back and tell me if you like han kang.

she placed the bag on the back shelf, behind the counter. right next to the “lost & found” box that only ever held one lonely scarf and a pair of broken glasses.

and then she waited.

not like a sad golden retriever.

(maybe a little like a hopeful one.)

you were lying flat on your back, staring at the ceiling like it had all the answers, when your roomate, minji, poked her head into your room with the kind of energy that said i’m about to fix your life whether you like it or not.

“okay,” she said, arms crossed, “how long are you planning to sulk before i have to stage a full intervention?”

you groaned. “i’m not sulking. i’m just… reflecting.”

“reflecting,” she repeated, completely unimpressed. “on how broke you are?”

“…yes.”

she sighed and flopped onto the foot of your bed, pulling your blanket over her legs like it belonged to her (it did, technically — she stole it from your laundry three weeks ago and never gave it back).

“you know,” she said, “you could just go back. to the bookstore.”

you rolled over and buried your face in your pillow. “i can’t. it’s too humiliating. she probably thinks i’m a scammer.”

“she probably thinks you’re cute.”

you peeked at her. “what?”

“nothing,” she said quickly, but with a tiny smirk that screamed i know things. then she reached into her hoodie pocket and pulled out a folded bill. “here. take this.”

you blinked. “is that—minji, no. i can’t take your money.”

she shoved it into your hand anyway. “it’s not all of it, but it’s half. and i know you’re too stubborn to ask your parents. so just… go. see if the books are still there. maybe she held them.”

you stared at the cash in your palm like it was burning a hole through your morals.

“minji, i’m serious—”

“and i’m serious,” she said, sitting up. “you’re not getting through pre-med without that econ textbook. unless you want to fail and cry and drop out and move home and become a barista.”

you opened your mouth to reply.

“which, for the record, i would fully support,” she added, “but you’d be very annoying about it.”

you sighed.

and twenty minutes later, you were standing outside the bookstore again, your heart hammering against your ribs like it was trying to escape your chest.

the bell above the door jingled softly when you stepped inside.

the store looked exactly the same — warm light, soft music, the smell of paper and cinnamon and something floral you couldn’t quite place.

but the girl behind the counter wasn’t there.

your heart dropped a little, irrationally.

you glanced around, unsure what to do, when someone — a different employee, not the girl with the dimpled smile — looked up from the desk and nodded toward the back.

“you looking for someone?” they asked.

“uh—i was here a few days ago. i ordered some textbooks?”

they blinked. “oh. you’re that girl.”

you froze. “what?”

they just smiled. “hang on.”

a second later, they reached under the counter and pulled out a paper bag with tiny stars on it. your name was written on a sticky note in neat handwriting.

you blinked. “wait—these are mine?”

“yup.” they nudged the bag toward you. “my co-worker, yunjin, left them for you.”

you opened it slowly, your breath catching when you saw every single book from your list — the same worn copies, the same covers. a receipt was tucked into the front, and when you checked the total, it read ₩0.00.

your fingers trembled.

“is she… here?” you asked softly.

the employee gestured toward the back, where you could see someone restocking the fiction shelf. blonde bun. rings on her fingers. a faded t-shirt with a sun on it.

your heart did something very stupid.

you walked toward her before you could overthink it.

and when she turned around — a paperback in one hand, a pencil tucked behind her ear — she smiled like she’d been expecting you.

“hey,” she said, soft and casual.

you held up the bag, your voice catching.

“you paid for them.”

“guilty,” she said, leaning against the shelf. “you kind of looked like you needed someone to.”

you blinked fast, trying not to cry in a bookstore. again.

“thank you,” you said, stepping closer. “really. you didn’t have to—”

“i wanted to,” she interrupted gently. then, with a small shrug, “plus, now i can guilt you into telling me if you liked the lit anthology.”

you laughed, breathless with relief and something else. something warmer.

you reached into your tote bag, pulled out a pen, and scribbled your number on the back of her sticky note.

when you handed it to her, you felt bold. maybe for the first time in weeks.

“you can ask me when i finish it.”

she took the note like it was something delicate. looked at it, then at you, and smiled — slow and soft and a little bit dangerous.

“i will,” she said. “promise.”

[whatthehuhyusay]

welcome to kari's universe!! only f!reader

guidlines | masterlist

kari 06 she/her virgo

loves le sserafim, aespa, other k-pop GG, beabadoobee, taylor swift, laufey, and coffee

BLOG INFO

sfw and nsfw (18+) content will be found here. majority will be angst, fluff, and lightly suggestive with some nsfw/smut here and there.

i love writing and recently started getting into it a bit more!!

fandom list (blue highlighted are my favs to write)

huh yunjin, kim chaewon, kazuha nakamura, giselle (aeri uchinga), yu jimin (karina), sakura miyawaki