Chapter nine
The club room is tense and mysterious. Jihyun could tell that the others were contemplating a lot, thinking a lot, Jihyun would too if she was just a bystander. It's only natural that other students would eyes them closely when seeing Riki and Jihyun in the same room for the first time since the last debate and since that video of them at the park went out.
The moderator cleared his throat to pull the attention away from the two who weren't even looking at each other. "Remember, despite anything that is currently happening right now, any insults, or negative slash hate speech towards anyone in this room will not be accepted nor tolerated. We're here to debate as a club so be responsible about this, all of you."
At least there was someone mature in here.
"Now as all of you know, the competition will be taking place some time from now, meaning that this will be our last debate before we choose the freshman duo to represent us in the competition, use today's debate wisely, everyone."
Jihyun wasn't worried about it. Actually, she wasn't sure if she wanted to be a part of the competition given that it will only draw more attention from everyone and not just those apart of her university. She was already used to the university, but everyone was a bit too much.
"Today's debate topic was kept unmentioned because we wanted to observe how you all would debate without knowing beforehand, that way those that will pick for the competition will be our strongest picks."
He rests his crossed arms on the surface of the podium and leans forward. "Where you have seated yourself determines your teammates. So team A will be on the side of Riki, whereas team B will be on the side of...Mae."
Jihyun sighed. It was obvious both with his glance and the pause he took before speaking that he was going to say her name, but luckily he rounded about that decision and mentioned somebody else.
"The topic today is between relying on thinking versus relying on emotions. Team A gets thinking and Team B gets emotions, as always, I'm the moderator so Team A...state your points, you have three minutes."
Jihyun halts. He really wasn't playing, this debate means a lot. That means she and her teammates need to configure points for their argument asap so that they could be prepared. Only thing is, she's more than sure that they only would have points for the thinking side, too. Think, she needed to think—ironic actually.
"Relying on thinking to make any kind of decision allows us to responds in ways that are mature and adaptive of our given situation."
At least it was somone else who opened up, Jihyun couldn't bear listening to Riki's voice just yet, or at all.
"Thinking means we have a better understanding of our circumstances, so making decisions based on conscious thought can prove to be more beneficial than making decisions based on emotions," Riki says.
That's pretty ironic, too. If only Riki had used his thoughts, then maybe they could have talked this out earlier.
"That's enough for our opener," Riki concludes, an air of carelessness in his tone.
Heck. Jihyun hadn't even thought of one for her own either. Surely her team would look to her for an opening as well, she was the best on the team after all. For a moment, the room is silent. It was frustrating how dependent her team was on her, but she had to forget about thinking and just say whatever comes to mind first.
"Thinking too much prior to decision making strips us of our ability to make decisions in the future that concern emotions or feelings. It inhibits our emotions in the long run, and oftentimes thinking before making a decision is stands as the reason most people don't enjoy their lives. We need to rely on our emotions, because eventually thinking will lead to overthinking, and then the habit to think about every little thing. It is our emotions we are built on in the end."
"I'm not choosing a winning team this round, instead I will just be choosing the two that will be representing us in this competition. Before that, I want to thank all of you for your participation and also for this astounding debate. If I were to choose a winning team, it'd be pretty difficult."
He looks among the teams with a small smile. It's a bit sweet. It makes her think, how glad must he be to see his club go from just a mere thought to this in a few years.
"From team A, our representative will be Riki."
Jihyun's not surprised, but still very dissatisfied by the news, but it's fine. As long as she's not the one competing with him. Perhaps the moderator will pity her for the scandal and choose someone else so that she could avoid the attention, but if not, couldn't he had at least called her name first? Now it just feels like a defeat.
That doesn't matter. She just needs to not be the next one called. Forget everything, forget about being the best on the team, she couldn't be on the same team as Riki. He's too dislikable, and she's caged in this stupid scandal with him too.
"And our second representative from team B will be Jihyun."
"I don't think we'd make a great team, actually," Jihyun instantly chimes in. The moderator laughs softly.
"Though I am grateful that you apply your debate stance in real life—speaking before thinking, smart one—if you disregard the online issue for now, you two will realize how great of candidates you are for this competition."
The tips of her ears tint red at the first statement, embarrassing. Still, the scandal was too bug of a problem to treat as if it was nothing.
"But our—"
"My schedule would clash, I can't do it," Riki deadpans.
"And we clash too much, we won't be a good duo. Can you choose someone else perhaps?" Jihyun adds, her hopeful tone contrasting the glare she levels at Riki for interrupting her.
It doesn't help that everyone else is already whispering.
"I am sorry about that, and Riki I'm sure your schedule is not as hectic as it used to be at this moment."
Yikes.
Jihyun bites back her laugh.
"You two will just have to get used to working together. I'll have you two submitted as our duo if you have no other major issues with it, but if that is all, then I suggest to put aside these petty reasonings so that you can not only represent this club, but our school well too."
Unfortunately, Jihyun had nothing to say to that, bathing in her indignance as she sits back in her chair with a petulant expression, and Riki's affronted narrowed eyes remain on his face because of the moderator's comment. It's funny to see him mad over it, served him right actually.
"Okay then. If that is all, the club is dismissed for the day, and I suggest that you and Riki, Jihyun, begin to work together so that this can be a smooth ride for all of us. No fussing. Got that?"
Jihyun crosses her arms, annoyed. "Fine," she mumbles, looking off to the side to preempt eye contact with anyone.
"Riki?"
His voice is saturated with frustration and it's amusing. "Sure."