Chapter 15
As I've said time and again, the Cheongun Academy I attend is an institution for training Awakeners.
Though classified as a university, what students studied there differed greatly from what one would normally study at a university.
For example, the ‘ranking matches’ held twice a month, separately from written, midterm, and final exams, were one major distinction from ordinary universities.
Rattle-
“Second-year Class B Han Taeyang, report to the waiting room.”
“Yes, sir.”
Today was the second Monday of April, when the ranking matches were held.
I opened the door and left the classroom when the instructor called my name.
The Cheongun Academy grounds were roughly the size of two or three ordinary university campuses from my previous life combined, and contained all sorts of facilities.
Among them was a massive arena where students used their Awakening abilities to compete in ranking matches, commonly called the stadium by the students.
Well, its official name was Gymnasium One, but only the particularly fussy faculty members called it that.
“……Oh?”
By the time I arrived at the stadium at a leisurely pace, I spotted a female student standing with her back against the wall of the waiting room.
Apparently, she was the one scheduled to face me today…….
She was a girl with thick black hair tied in a ponytail.
Her unusual violet eyes were an added bonus.
Perhaps she had heard the sound of my voice as I entered the waiting room, because she turned to look at me as well.
“……Ugh.”
The instant she confirmed my face, her expression twisted as though she had seen something downright hideous.
I let out a snicker and lazily waved at her, Seo Ahyeon.
“Yeah, good to see you too, Seo Ahyeon. Still, isn't making a face like you bit into something instead of saying hello a bit much? You've got the wrong way of expressing your joy.”
“……What nonsense are you spouting? Of course I look like this after seeing someone I’m not happy to see.”
“You're still such a bashful girl.”
Despite receiving such a direct insult, I shrugged and answered her shamelessly.
Experience had taught me that responding this way annoyed Seo Ahyeon even more.
“Who says I'm bashful……!”
As expected, Seo Ahyeon immediately peeled her back away from the wall and reacted indignantly.
“……Hoo, no, forget it. It was my mistake for trying to talk to you.”
“Oh.”
Surprisingly, that reaction only lasted a moment. Seo Ahyeon calmed her anger much sooner than usual, then took several deep breaths before gazing at me calmly.
She even went a step further than usual, twisting the corners of her mouth provocatively as she continued.
“We'll be facing each other in the ranking match soon anyway. I suppose I'll get to beat that irritating face of yours myself. I'll put up with you a little longer until then, just this once.”
“Oooh.”
I couldn't help showing genuine admiration.
Was Seo Ahyeon actually growing as a person?
In the past, whenever I needled her this skillfully, she had been the sort to come charging at me in a fit of temper without a single exception.
Now it seemed she had realized that the longer she talked with me, the more she was only getting herself worked up.
And being matched against me as her ranking-match opponent seemed to have helped her develop a little more patience.
I clapped my hands and looked at Seo Ahyeon as though I were proud of her, but unfortunately, that was more than she could endure, and a cross-shaped vein appeared on her forehead.
“……What's with that expression? You look like you're thinking something extremely infuriating.”
“That's unfair. You've misunderstood.”
“It doesn't look like a misunderstanding……”
Seo Ahyeon planted one hand on her side and shot me a sidelong glare.
Her experience over the past year told her instinctively that I was probably thinking something irritating, but she had no proof, so all she could do was glare at me like that.
I met her gaze with a sly grin, and Seo Ahyeon once again let out a low ‘Ugh’ as though she had seen something she shouldn't have.
It was truly poor treatment, but whatever.
‘This much is just cute.’
I wasn't particularly offended. Strictly judging only the conversation we'd just had, who had dealt more damage to the other?
From my perspective, I was satisfied just from thoroughly irritating Seo Ahyeon with a few simple remarks.
Anyway.
“So, have you made any progress in your love life lately? Though I imagine you're still being bossed around.”
“……Could you not talk to me as though it's only natural? Didn't I just make it obvious that I don't want to talk to you?”
I leaned my back against the wall like Seo Ahyeon, leaving about two steps between us.
Our ranking match could not begin until the bouts between the students who had gone in before us were over.
Until then, we had to wait quietly in the waiting room, which was rather boring.
If we had someone with whom we could exchange a little light conversation, surely it was better for both of us to do so.
In other words, small talk. Wasn't that reasonable?
“I wonder if Kim Minjun is doing well. Come to think of it, I haven't seen him since last winter, and he hasn't had a chance to meet face-to-face with me since then.”
“Ah, stop talking to me……”
Of course, that person was Seo Ahyeon, who was none other than one of the original story's heroines. Like Baek Seol-ah before her, she was someone I needed to keep as far away from as possible.
But every heroine was different, and I had always treated each of them differently.
What mattered in the end was guarding against a future in which I grew needlessly close to them.
I also had to avoid causing trouble for guys who, like the original Han Taeyang, were in perfectly normal relationships.
In the end, as long as I made the heroines despise me, the method didn't matter all that much.
And with Seo Ahyeon, lightly getting on her nerves like this was the most effective approach.
It was a customized strategy that seemed similar to the one I used with Baek Seol-ah at a glance, but differed slightly in whether I actively initiated conversation with her.
In any case, thanks to this consistent attitude, my favorability rating in Seo Ahyeon's eyes must have not merely dropped into the negatives, but reached rock bottom.
That was exactly what I wanted most.
After all, it was best to build relationships as hostile as possible with the heroines of the original story.
‘Baek Seol-ah was a different matter……. Though it’s too late now.’
Baek Seol-ah, with whom I had formed a relationship that I couldn't tell anyone about over the past few days, was an exceptional case.
Realistically, how could there be two perverts with such twisted tastes as Lee Hyunseong in this academy?
In all likelihood, there wouldn't be any more of the original male protagonists asking me to sleep with their girlfriends, so I could simply treat the other heroines as I had been doing until now, excluding Baek Seol-ah.
“……”
When my thoughts reached that point, however, I had to pause after feeling something strange.
The fact that Lee Hyunseong had suggested NTS play to me in the first place was already absurd enough.
Hmm.
Hmmm.
‘……There can't really be two perverted bastards like that, can there?’
Come on.
‘No way.’
An ominous thought crossed my mind for an instant, but I soon let out a hollow laugh and shook my head.
It was a truly ridiculous assumption.
Even so, the unpleasant feeling refused to disappear completely. As I scratched my cheek with a sour expression, Seo Ahyeon studied me sidelong and spoke.
“Stop being curious about my love life, which is none of your business, and why don't you tell me what happened? I still haven't heard what went on between you and Seol-ah.”
“What? That again?”
She had brought up a topic that doubled the unease weighing on me.
I had barely dismissed the ominous premonition I'd just had as a delusion and shaken it off, and now she had to interfere like this.
Knowing why Seo Ahyeon was curious about it, I openly frowned and showed my reluctance to speak, but she didn't back down easily.
“Enough, just tell me. This is the first time in a year I've seen Seol-ah talk with you for that long. Of course I'd be curious, wouldn't I?”
Until just moments ago, Seo Ahyeon had clearly been avoiding me as though she found even dealing with me bothersome.
Perhaps she thought she had found an opening from my reaction, because her eyes sparkled as she persistently pressed me for an answer.
In an instant, our positions had reversed.
I answered sourly.
“If you're only pressing me because Kim Minjun told you to come interrogate me……”
“Ah, that has nothing to do with it. I'm curious too, so tell me already. And stop with that ridiculous excuse that nothing happened.”
“Tch.”
This time, perhaps she had guessed exactly what I was going to say. Seo Ahyeon cut me off impatiently, though more gently than she had a few days ago, and urged me to answer.
But I wasn't particularly eager to respond. I rubbed the back of my neck with an uncomfortable expression.
‘How did things end up like this?’
Seo Ahyeon wasn't lying when she said she was curious about what had happened between Baek Seol-ah and me regardless of her own relationship. Of course she was interested.
After all, this was ‘that’ Baek Seol-ah—the model student who had regarded me as an irresponsible delinquent and scorned me throughout the entire year we had known each other.
Who would have guessed that she would actually take the seat beside me during class?
Even setting aside Kim Minjun's feelings as someone who had a crush on Baek Seol-ah at the beginning of last year, it was enough to pique anyone's curiosity.
Moreover, the incident had already become a subtle source of gossip on the academy's online community.
Baek Seol-ah didn't even know the academy community existed, so she probably wasn't aware of it.
Seeing people use anonymous sites to post things like ‘Did Baek S— sleep with Han T—? LOL’ had sent my blood pressure through the roof.
Worse still, what infuriated me most was that it was an extremely cold and accurate analysis that I couldn't even deny with a lie.
‘Ugh, if only that damned bastard Lee Hyunseong weren't involved…….’
Well.
In practical terms, Lee Hyunseong was the biggest contributor to creating the opportunity that allowed me to take liberties with Baek Seol-ah's body.
Whether I regarded him as a benefactor or the culprit depended on the circumstances each time.
A moron who handed his girlfriend over to another man deserved whatever treatment he got.
Anyway, I smacked my lips and once again glanced at Seo Ahyeon standing to the side.
She was a petite girl who looked as though she had no intention of looking away until she heard the answer she wanted.
“……If you're that curious, fine.”
I looked over her body as I began to speak. She was generally youthful-looking and slim, but not so lacking in feminine curves that one couldn't find them at all.
“It can't be helped. How about this, Seo Ahyeon?”
“……Huh? What?”
[Second-year Class C, Rank 7 Seo Ahyeon. And second-year Class B, Rank 31 Han Taeyang. Enter.]
Right on cue, the waiting room's speakers emitted an electronic announcement calling Seo Ahyeon and me.
I pointed my thumb toward the stadium entrance as I watched Seo Ahyeon lift her head.
“We're going to fight a match anyway, so let's make a bet. If you win……. I'll tell you about the ‘what happened between you and Baek Seol-ah’ that you're so curious about.”
“……? What? Really?”
“If I win instead.”
Then I laid out the terms to Seo Ahyeon, who had opened her eyes wide in disbelief.
What would happen if the bet was accepted—and if I won it.
I declared the terms to Seo Ahyeon with a subtly lowered gaze.
“You'll obey one command from me, no matter what it is. If that doesn't bother you, go ahead and accept.”
“Huh……?”
Seo Ahyeon's response was brief.
She let out a disbelieving laugh.
Perhaps it was because the terms I'd proposed were so absurd. After all, it was practically a blank check granting me the right to command her, so maybe that was understandable.
“Are you an idiot? I don't know what you're thinking, challenging me to a bet like this.”
Probably not. Her reaction was closer to the opposite. As I had inwardly guessed, Seo Ahyeon sneered as she murmured.
Her gaze shifted for a moment toward the monitor hanging diagonally from one side of the waiting room's ceiling.
This was why Seo Ahyeon could mock me and remain so relaxed even after being offered a bet with seemingly unreasonable and hardly fair conditions.
────────────────
[Seo Ahyeon] [Class C] [Physical Type]
Overall second-year ranking: 7th
[Han Taeyang] [Class B] [Physical Type]
Overall second-year ranking: 31st
────────────────
As the numbers displayed on the monitor indicated, there was quite a gap between Seo Ahyeon's and my ranking-match positions.
Seventh and thirty-first.
A gap this large usually meant a matchup where the higher-ranked fighter would overwhelm the lower-ranked one ten times out of ten…….
Putting aside the question of why the academy, which generally prioritized power balance in ranking matches, had arranged such a matchup.
“Perfect. I wanted to beat you up anyway, especially after what happened last week, Han Taeyang.”
Seo Ahyeon colored her pretty face with blatant competitive spirit and twisted up the corners of her mouth.
Then, as though she gladly accepted the bet, she crossed her arms to stretch and spoke.
“Don't come crawling to me later, begging to pretend this never happened. Don't regret it.”
“By all means.”
I readily nodded and gestured with my chin toward the entrance leading to the stadium arena.
Seo Ahyeon looked supremely confident.
She acted as though she couldn't even imagine a future in which she lost to me.
With that, she walked onto the stage first.
*****
A little over ten minutes passed.
[Match concluded.]
It was a straightforward rectangular arena, with no special obstacles or environmental hindrances whatsoever.
Having left only the two of them on the stage, the speaker's electronic voice calmly made its declaration.
[Winner.]
A single word announcing the result of the short bout.
[Second-year Class B Han Taeyang.]
“……”
[The rank changes can be checked later on the stadium's central monitor. To ensure the smooth progression of the ranking matches, students are requested to exit promptly……]
The artificial intelligence's formulaic words that followed─.
At least, Seo Ahyeon didn't hear them.
She lay sprawled miserably on the arena floor, her pupils trembling faintly.
“Hoo……”
Han Taeyang, who had forcefully subdued her by gripping her slender neck, merely let out a brief sigh and wiped the sweat from his brow.
A student mock battle held between students under the name of a ranking match.
It was fundamentally structured so that students in the thirties would have difficulty defeating the strongest students in the top ten.
And indeed, the ranking match between Han Taeyang and Seo Ahyeon, fought over the course of a little more than ten minutes, had been shockingly one-sided.
There was only one problem.
The match prediction, which would rarely have been wrong, had been turned completely on its head.
“……How, could this be?”
The magic covering the entire arena had rendered Seo Ahyeon's HP in bright red, and it had already hit bottom, showing 0%.
By contrast, Han Taeyang's HP, after cleanly subduing her, was still more than half intact.
It was unbelievable, impossible—or at least it would have been according to the statistics.
Last year, during his first year, Han Taeyang had always remained a student somewhere in the middle-to-upper ranks.
That meant he had never even had the opportunity to meet Seo Ahyeon, who had boasted a top-tier ranking since then.
Han Taeyang had possessed only a fairly ordinary win rate even among those middle-to-upper rankings, so how could he suddenly overwhelm Seo Ahyeon now?
Seo Ahyeon stopped breathing as her pupils trembled faintly, filled with profound shock and disbelief.
“Then I won the bet, Seo Ahyeon.”
“……”
“Don't beg. I won't let you off just because you do, so don't bother.”
Han Taeyang released Seo Ahyeon's neck when the timing felt right and rose to his feet indifferently.
He held out a hand to her as if telling her to grab it and get up.
Seo Ahyeon could only stiffen, unable even to consider taking that offered hand.