Chapter 52
-Vroooom~!!
“Whoa, ahahahaha~!!”
About an hour after entering the amusement park and starting to ride various attractions.
Cha Eun-joo was laughing with an exuberant look on her face, showing a level of excitement I'd never seen from her before.
Ironically, the reason she could have this much fun merely riding bumper cars was the ‘height restrictions’ posted on nearly every attraction.
‘Guests 150 cm or shorter who wish to ride the water slide must be accompanied by a guardian….
‘For the Magic Castle, guests without a guardian….
‘Guests wishing to ride the Air Swing must have a guardian….
Wherever she went, there were rides she ‘couldn't’ ride alone and could only board with a guardian accompanying her.
Ever since I became Cha Eun-joo's guardian as a matter of course when we rode the carousel, she had naturally ended up riding every attraction pressed right up against me.
Riding attractions alone with the person she liked, bodies pressed together, must have made it feel like a real date. Thanks to that, she didn't even seem bothered anymore by Kim Isabel firmly holding my hand whenever we moved.
…In fact, it was obvious that Kim Isabel was a little miffed because I kept riding almost every attraction alone with Cha Eun-joo.
-Kwaaaang!!
“Eek, hyaaak?!”
“…You shouldn't let your guard down, Ms. Cha Eun-joo.”
Kim Isabel had accelerated and blatantly rammed the side of the bumper car Cha Eun-joo and I were riding.
It was more aggressive than usual for her, but I could understand it well enough. Kim Isabel's affection for me had risen above its normal level because of the ‘Succubus Heart.’
In that situation, Cha Eun-joo, who had been clinging tightly to me for a while now, must have seemed like a rival in love.
Although she normally showed almost no negative emotions such as jealousy, the suggestion's influence had left her pressed against me while I stayed with Cha Eun-joo the entire time, so this was inevitable.
-Kwaang!
“Hieeeek?!”
“Lee Seonho! Where are you looking?”
“Hey, Han Sora! Why have you been targeting only us while leaving Kim Isabel alone?!”
“Because it's only fair to make it two against two! It's unfair if you're the only two!”
We were all riding in a single car, so what did she mean, two against two? Han Sora kept ramming our car from the side opposite Kim Isabel, pressuring us with that ridiculous excuse.
-Thud, thud, thud!
“This isn't going to work, Eun-joo! Turn the wheel, turn the wheel!”
“Which way?!”
“Anywhere! We can't just keep taking this!”
“O-okay…!”
I didn't know whether Cha Eun-joo had done it intentionally or had unconsciously turned in a random direction, but either way, she turned the wheel toward Kim Isabel with all her strength.
As the direction changed, she stepped on the accelerator beneath her feet, and immediately afterward the bumper car carrying us slammed precisely into the rear of Kim Isabel's car.
-Kkwaaaang!!
“Hieeeeuht?!”
“All right, next is Han Sora! Target Han Sora!”
“O-okay…!”
-Squelch.
“Hngh, I-I'm going…!!”
I couldn't tell whether she didn't realize I was clutching her breast in the confusion, or knew and was deliberately pretending not to.
And so Cha Eun-joo and I rolled around inside the cramped car a few more times as we attacked the other two.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“Ah, that was fun. I feel so much better.”
“You spent the whole ten minutes ramming only Cha Eun-joo and me, Han Sora.”
“Well, Isabel and I were on one team. Right, Isabel?”
“…That's right. Since you and Ms. Cha Eun-joo were on one team, I suppose it couldn't be helped.”
Han Sora jokingly tossed out the claim that they were on one team, while Kim Isabel agreed with it rather seriously.
Meanwhile, Cha Eun-joo, dazed from being attacked from both sides, clung to my arm almost as soon as she got out of the bumper car.
“That was fun, hehe….”
…I think I understand now why this amusement park had height restrictions.
They were probably an element the original had created specifically to help win over Cha Eun-joo: taking her on a date to Amusement Park Neverland so they could ride attractions alone together under the pretext of being her guardian.
And, along the way, get in some Lee Seonho-bashing—the Lee Seonho who had been the villain in the original—by saddling him with the image of a piece of trash who had worked Cha Eun-joo so hard yet never once properly taken her to the amusement park she liked.
Unlike the other heroines, whose relationships had been established to some extent by the end of their second year, Cha Eun-joo had remained Lee Seonho's lackey until just before the start of her third year. It could also be seen as a favorability event for a latecomer.
‘Well, thanks to that, I've made good use of the situation now.’
Of course, I couldn't be certain. The point where I dropped the original was when Lee Seonho lost to Seo Woojin and Cha Eun-joo had just joined Seo Woojin's heroine lineup.
Since I had been emotionally invested in Lee Seonho rather than the protagonist, I quit because it left a bad taste in my mouth to see Cha Eun-joo, practically my only hope, betray him.
To be fair, the original Lee Seonho had committed so many sins that he couldn't really complain about Cha Eun-joo betraying him. In fact, putting up with two years as his subordinate meant she'd endured a lot.
“I've had plenty of fun, and now I'm hungry. Shall we go get something to eat?”
“Already? It's only four o'clock.”
“Oh, really? Then shall we hold out on snacks and go out for dinner later? Is anyone here who needs to get home early today?”
“I-I'm fine.”
“I told the head priest that I might be late today, so I'm fine too.”
“I'd rather get home late anyway. It's not like anyone's waiting for me at home.”
“Oh, really? Do you live on your own, Lee Seonho?”
“Live on my own… Well, something like that.”
It was closer to being kicked out than living on my own… but there was no need to explain Lee Seonho's background to them.
“Seonho, I want a churro….”
“Sure, I'll go get you one.”
“…I want a churro too, Mr. Lee Seonho.”
“Sure, I'll get one for you too, Isabel.”
“Hey, me too! Just get me one!”
“You got the biggest share of the settlement last time, and you still want me to buy you something?”
“It hasn't come in yet. Once I get paid, I'll buy you a meal at the academy cafeteria, okay?”
“Fine, do whatever you want.”
Having somehow become the errand boy for three girls, I leisurely headed toward the snack stand and reached for my wallet.
-Kkwaaaang!!!
…The enormous Ferris wheel in the center of the amusement park began tilting as it exploded.
⁎ ⁎ ⁎
“Whoa, it's really going up! Hey, Hana! This thing is really going up!”
“…Please shut up and stay still. It's embarrassing. Why are you acting like a country bumpkin from the provinces who has never seen this before?”
“Of course I'm excited—it's amazing! There was nothing like this in Birangol! Seoul really is something else! Oh, ooooooh!”
“There are plenty of Ferris wheels in the provinces too, you know? Haah, seriously….”
How embarrassing.
That was the thought Park Hana had had most often since coming to Seoul.
Her twin brother Park Cheon-ho, born only a few minutes before her, was anything but brotherly.
He made a huge fuss over everything in sight like a young puppy, brazenly struck up conversations with strangers, and, on top of that, never seemed to have any intention of lowering that pointlessly loud voice.
Since she didn't know anyone in Seoul, she had no choice but to spend time with him, but there had already been more than one moment today when she had wanted to abandon her own flesh and blood and run away.
He had climbed onto decorations that clearly weren't meant to be touched and asked her to take pictures, and when he dropped a coin beneath a vending machine, he had tried to lift the entire thing out of the way.
When he tried to haggle because the food at an amusement park was expensive, she had genuinely wanted to abandon him. She only endured it again and again because he was family.
‘This is why I tried to come up to Seoul alone without telling this idiot Park Cheon-ho.’
He could simply have taken the academy entrance exam in nearby Daejeon, so why had he insisted on following her all the way to Seoul to take the Cheonmu Academy exam?
With a brain like that, even the written exam was bound to be touch-and-go. Unlike her, who had ranked in the nineties among the top scorers, this fool had only barely cleared the minimum passing score.
Thanks to his good combat instincts, he had managed to submit a haul packed with materials, including an orc…. But there was probably no chance this idiot would get into Cheonmu Academy.
Prime Academy or Chosu Academy, where the practical exam carried more weight, or, with extraordinary luck, perhaps Myeongwol Academy—that was probably his limit. No matter how she thought about it, Cheonmu Hunter Academy was completely unsuited to this idiot.
He had taken the exam there as well, so once the results came out in a few weeks, he would end up living in another academy's dormitory anyway. Telling herself to endure it until then, Park Hana quietly calmed her mind.
“Wow, it's really high! Seoul's Ferris wheel really is different. Oh, I can see the Cheonmu Academy building too!”
“What good will looking at it do? If you don't get in, you won't even be able to come near it from now on. You'd be better off looking over there at Chosu Academy instead. I heard you couldn't even answer half the written exam.”
“I think I did fairly well on the practical exam, so it'll work out somehow! Even if it's Cheonmu, if someone like me stands out in the practical exam, they probably won't care much about the written score, right? If I rank first in the practical exam, they won't even care about my written-exam score….”
“I heard another group even took down a subspecies orc. We didn't see anything like that. No matter how much we stuff our submission with goblin and orc materials, unless we come in first….”
“……Hey, you can see Namsan Tower over there too! Look at that, look!”
“Yeah, I can see it. Though it's as hazy as Park Cheon-ho's future.”
Life in that rural village—with fewer than twenty students in total from elementary school through high school—was finally coming to an end. Once the admission results were announced next month, she would leave that tiresome countryside village and settle in Seoul in earnest.
This idiot could do whatever he wanted, whether he entered another academy or returned to Birangol. Unless he received special admission, there was no way this guy would enter Cheonmu Hunter Academy.
If they happened to resolve a villain alliance or monster wave that appeared in the city, maybe things would be different. Of course, the very idea of such a thing happening in the first place was absurd….
-Kuuung!!
“Hkyaaak!!”
“W-what was that?!”
As she was thinking that while watching Park Cheon-ho stupidly stare out the window, another tremendous impact soon enveloped the two of them.
-Kuuung!!
Inside the swaying Ferris wheel. Her body tilting. The scenery outside the window changing rapidly.
She didn't know exactly what was happening, but Park Hana had no trouble realizing that the Ferris wheel they were riding was collapsing.
“Uwaaak?! W-what is this?! Are Seoul's rides normally like this?!”
“It's collapsing, you moron! Open the door, quick! You know what you're good at! The thing you do all the time—breaking and smashing things!”
“But you told me not to climb on things because they might break!”
“Agh, fuck! If we don't get out now, we'll both die like this!!”
Although both Park Cheon-ho and Park Hana had awakened abilities that enhanced their bodies, there was no way they could survive falling straight down from this height.
They had to escape as quickly as possible to save their lives, so Park Cheon-ho, who had belatedly realized how serious the situation was, threw a kick at the exit door with all his strength inside the collapsing Ferris wheel.
-Ppaaak!!
“I opened it, Park Hana! Should we jump down now?!”
“If you jump down without thinking, you'll just die sooner, you idiot! Step on the lower cars beside us and go down one compartment at a time!”
“Okay, got it!”
Thud. Thud. Thud.
The two of them escaped by stepping from car to car on the collapsing Ferris wheel.
Unfortunately, they had no time to worry about rescuing anyone else. Looking after themselves was the only means of self-preservation they could manage.
After pulling off an escape practically worthy of an acrobatic show, Park Hana somehow got away from the collapsing Ferris wheel and muttered with a shallow sigh.
“Haa, crazy. I really thought we were going to die. Hey, let's get out of here first. I don't know what's going on, but we have to run….”
“…Come to think of it, isn't this exactly the opportunity heaven has handed us?”
“What is?”
“Obviously, a chance for Cheonmu Academy to grant us special admission! If we catch the bomber ourselves, not only Cheonmu but every other academy will be scrambling to recruit us!”
“Hey, are you out of your mind?! How are you supposed to catch a terrorist when you don't even know who it is?! And I'm already practically guaranteed admission, so I don't need to do something like that….”
“Park Hana, look over there! There's someone suspicious! That one—the person in the black hood!”
“Hey, Park Cheon-ho! Stop fooling around and let's get out of here already!! Argh, that idiot…!!!”
Even as she cursed him, Park Hana couldn't bring herself to abandon her older twin brother and had no choice but to follow him.