Chapter 38
If I'd already created a tangle of promiscuous relationships, making pathetic excuses for myself would be a sin.
Even setting aside the countless one-night stands I had before I suddenly became deeply involved with the heroines this year.
I had already gone beyond being more than friends but less than lovers with Seo Ahyeon, progressing to a relationship that was nearly romantic, if still short by about 2%.
Meanwhile, wasn't I also maintaining a secret relationship with Baek Seol-ah, one we couldn't tell anyone about?
Though Seo Ahyeon had grasped the significance of that relationship to some extent, she had even said that, at least in words, she would tolerate it until she became my girlfriend.
To be honest, I was aware that I was doing something that would most likely get me stoned if the truth ever came to light.
Considering Baek Seol-ah and Seo Ahyeon's standing as female students at Cheongun Academy, there was no way this could be anything but even more reprehensible.
If this ever became known, there probably wouldn't be just one or two male students making voodoo dolls with me as the target.
On my left stood Seo Ahyeon, whose eyes were terrifyingly empty, devoid of even a hint of vitality.
On my right was Baek Seol-ah, grinning as though she found this situation terribly amusing─.
‘……If I'm destined to become trash either way.’
I squeezed my eyes shut and steeled my resolve for the major decision ahead.
Then I drew a deep breath, opened my eyes once more, and—
Yank!
“……?”
“Oh, uh.”
I pulled Seo Ahyeon, whose expression had been growing sinister, and Baek Seol-ah, whose smile had deepened as though she found this perfectly satisfying, toward me at the same time.
In other words, I had embraced two girls who were far too good for me, one on either side.
I knew perfectly well that this was a classroom with other students in it.
‘Ah, whatever.’
I had simply steeled my heart because I felt it was time for me to settle on a path once and for all.
No matter how I acted, I had already become something resembling a womanizer—or something close to one.
Shouldn't I at least avoid making someone who liked me sad?
Since Seo Ahyeon clearly hadn't expected this sudden embrace either, I turned to her first and whispered into her ear.
“I'm sorry, Ahyeon.”
“……Hwet.”
To put it another way, if I was destined to become trash no matter what, and that fact couldn't be changed—
Then I would become trash with my head held high. Even if that meant ending up as Han/Tae/Yang.
Despite my immoral behavior, this was probably the best way to avoid hurting the women who liked me.
For one thing, polygamy was legally recognized in this world.
Compared to the place I had originally lived, a man living with several women wasn't particularly taboo, either socially or culturally.
Of course, the prerequisite was that the man had to be capable of handling more than one woman.
That was a condition I could probably meet somehow if I pushed myself one or two levels harder than I did now.
In fact, there were even legendary high-level Awakeners who had built entire harem kingdoms…….
‘It wasn't completely impossible.’
It wouldn't be easy, but it certainly wasn't so impossible that I couldn't even attempt it. In the end, it simply meant that everything depended on how hard I worked.
Next, I would have to coax and placate the women I intended to make mine until they accepted the situation.
What about Baek Seol-ah, who wasn't quite 100% my woman just yet?
In fact, she wasn't one of the women in question.
No matter what happened later, the only person I needed to concern myself with right now was Seo Ahyeon.
‘What the hell is this girl?’
And that was when I belatedly realized that I had embraced Baek Seol-ah as well.
I'd done it reflexively, but now that I thought about it, she still had a boyfriend, didn't she?
Regardless of the fact that I was drawn to Baek Seol-ah's charms, inside and out, and sometimes felt the desire to make her my woman—
At this point, Baek Seol-ah was still Lee Hyeonseong's girlfriend, and from my perspective, she was simply my sex partner.
As I'd said many times, I didn't know what might happen later, but I couldn't treat her exactly the same as Seo Ahyeon right now.
Tap!
“?”
So I gently detached Baek Seol-ah, who had been nestled against my right side, from my embrace.
I didn't shove her particularly hard, either; I merely eased her away.
Baek Seol-ah, who had unusually refrained from rejecting my embrace and had obediently remained in my arms, backed away with a blank, bewildered expression, taking several hesitant steps.
She looked at me with hurt, reproachful eyes, which made me flinch for a moment.
“……Ahem. Anyway, Ahyeon.”
That lasted only a moment. With a cough, I glanced briefly at Baek Seol-ah and focused on Seo Ahyeon again.
Where had the terrifying expression she'd worn until a moment ago gone? Her face was now bashfully flushed.
She looked deeply thrilled by my embrace, our close contact in the classroom, and the deep, low voice whispering against her ear.
Seo Ahyeon looked up at me with an almost guileless expression, her violet eyes shining with love.
“No matter what happens between Baek Seol-ah and me from now on.”
I began speaking in as calm and serious a tone as possible.
“Whatever happens, I will never make you sad. It may be a terribly irresponsible thing to say…….”
“……Yeah, hwaat.”
“But this much I can promise you. My feelings for you will never change. Not ever.”
“Hwek…….”
At that moment, I realized that Seo Ahyeon liked having things whispered directly into her ear more than I had expected.
The content of my words probably played some part in it, but even so, she looked as though she was practically dying of happiness.
‘I see.’
I had thought I'd already discovered every weakness Seo Ahyeon had.
Apparently, there was still room to cultivate her further and explore new territory.
Feeling fairly satisfied by that realization, I lightly stroked behind Seo Ahyeon's ear as though tracing a line.
“Hut.”
As I'd expected, Seo Ahyeon's body trembled, melting into the pleasure of such ordinary physical contact.
Her expression was erotic enough that the male students among our classmates, who had merely been watching me with the two girls, all flinched in unison.
Seo Ahyeon then drew several deep breaths on her own and slowly calmed the trembling of her body.
Soon, she shot me a sidelong glance full of mixed emotions, worried her lips, and then─.
“……If you do it without a condom, you're dead. If it ever comes to light later, I'll bust your balls…….”
“……Mm.”
She had made a threat that sounded quite adorable, yet was unavoidably chilling to me as a man.
Even so, it was ultimately an answer that meant she would allow my audacious dream of a legally sanctioned affair(?).
I nodded gratefully and obediently accepted her threat.
After all, neither Baek Seol-ah nor I had ever had sex without protection even once.
There was no chance I would suddenly cross the perfectly reasonable boundary Seo Ahyeon had set now.
And so, I had successfully completed the most urgent task of reassuring Seo Ahyeon.
‘All right, then…….’
Now it was Baek Seol-ah's turn. I lightly patted Seo Ahyeon's shoulder, then turned my gaze diagonally toward the white-haired girl standing to the side.
Unlike a moment ago, Baek Seol-ah was crossing her arms with an utterly sullen expression, looking thoroughly displeased.
I let out a hollow laugh and thought:
‘Seriously, though.’
Just when I'd managed to deal with the biggest problem, I ended up facing a smaller mountain after crossing the larger one.
Ding-dong-dang-
It was exactly nine o'clock. The time had come for the academy's regular curriculum to begin in earnest.
*****
Now that I mention it, Baek Seol-ah and Seo Ahyeon weren't in Class 2-B like me in the first place.
They had simply come over to this classroom before class began as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
Strictly speaking, Baek Seol-ah was in Class A with Lee Hyeonseong, while Seo Ahyeon was in Class C.
Thus, as soon as the bell announcing nine o'clock rang, they left the classroom with contrasting gaits.
Unlike when she first appeared, Baek Seol-ah walked away irritably, apparently not at all pleased with how things had gone.
Seo Ahyeon, meanwhile, walked off in light, quick little steps that radiated satisfaction, entirely unlike her at the beginning.
They were heading to the Class A and Class C classrooms right next door to follow their respective schedules.
And in reality, the same was true of me.
“Hey. Happy? Now that you're dating Ahyeon.”
“……”
Unfortunately, the amount of time I could gain this way wasn't particularly significant.
This was an academy with a peculiar school system that blended the lecture structure of a university with the classroom-rotation system of a high school.
In other words, if I kept moving from place to place, I was bound to run into them eventually.
And of the two girls, the one whose schedule overlapped with mine more closely was─.
“I said, are you happy? Hm? Come to think of it, your complexion has been looking great lately. Is it because you got a girlfriend?”
“Why are you really doing this to me, Baek Seolgi?”
In the end, it was Baek Seol-ah, the original story's main heroine. I let out a deep sigh at her constant antics(?) from beside me.
Could a sex partner's jealousy really become this intense? Even I was learning that for the first time.
If this is how it's going to be, why don't you just dump Lee Hyeonseong and become my woman too?
I'll love you just as much as Seo Ahyeon.
‘Well……. Not that it would actually happen.’
I let out a hollow laugh at the impossible possibility that had crossed my mind and leisurely propped my chin up.
Though that belief had wavered a little recently, Baek Seol-ah was fundamentally an upright person.
Since I knew how much she loved Lee Hyeonseong, I could deny it all the more firmly.
Regardless of my personal wishes and desires, Baek Seol-ah would never easily become my woman.
“Yaaawn.”
Firmly believing that, I yawned broadly, intending to ignore Baek Seol-ah's meaningless whining beside me until it wore me down.
“……Tch……”
That was why I failed to notice it.
At that very moment─.
Baek Seol-ah, looking a little more genuinely upset, was about to say something else to me.
Perhaps something had been bothering her after all; she turned her head slightly with a dark expression.
I missed it entirely, and Baek Seol-ah didn't continue pestering me after that.
She merely approached me timidly after class ended and asked whether I could go with her to a restaurant she wanted to visit for our date that weekend.
Naturally, I nodded. Even if I didn't know why, a date was still a date.
Unless there was a good reason not to, I intended to go along with what the girl wanted—in this case, Baek Seol-ah's.
And when Baek Seol-ah smiled radiantly at my ready answer, I too let out a small chuckle and couldn't help feeling the same way as before.
‘Damn bitch.’
Still, she had one hell of a cute smile.
She really did keep making me grow more attached to her.