Chapter 49 : Thinning Out (1)

Jin Sejeong locked eyes with Fuyuno Tsubaki, who had grabbed her wrist.

Despite facing her with hostility, Tsubaki showed no signs of backing down.

Her unwavering attitude made Jin Sejeong feel as if her insides were boiling.

It was because, compared to her own heartbreak over Yang Woobin’s fall from grace, she felt like a petty, narrow-minded woman.

“You knew, didn’t you?”

That’s why Jin Sejeong asked, her voice sharp, directing the question at Fuyuno Tsubaki, who had stopped her from dragging Yang Woobin away by holding onto her wrist.

The question implied: I’m reacting this sensitively because I just found out, but you’re calm because you already knew, aren’t you?

It was a self-protective statement, meant to console herself that her heartbreak was unavoidable.

“No, I just found out now too.”

“…What?”

But the answer Fuyuno Tsubaki gave was the exact opposite of what Jin Sejeong had hoped for.

“D-Don’t lie. That kind of shocking and awful confession—if this is your first time hearing it, it doesn’t make sense that you’re so composed. I mean, he just admitted he went around doing such disgraceful things, and you’re saying there’s no problem? That’s not normal!”

Unable and unwilling to believe Tsubaki’s words, Jin Sejeong frowned and raised her voice, denying the answer.

“Why do you think it’s weird? I don’t think it’s strange that I see no problem with Woobin.”

Even then, Fuyuno Tsubaki responded with eyes and a voice that didn’t waver in the slightest.

Her unshakable demeanor was too genuine to dismiss as a lie, and it made Jin Sejeong feel as if a heavy, sticky emotion was tightening around her heart.

That emotion was something Jin Sejeong had never felt before—inferiority and defeat.

It was the first time she had ever experienced the feelings of inferiority and defeat as a woman, and with that, even the anger that had filled her completely drained away.

“How can you be so unaffected? Woobin must be… someone special to you too, right?”

In that state, Jin Sejeong asked in a voice completely devoid of strength, almost pleading.

This time, it was a raw, honest question without any hidden meaning.

Fuyuno Tsubaki didn’t even hesitate before answering.

“Just like you said—he’s someone special. So it doesn’t matter to me what he’s done or what kind of life he’s lived. There’s only one thing that matters to me.”

She paused briefly, stepped closer to Yang Woobin, and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with him. Looking back at Jin Sejeong, she finished:

“To be someone who can support the Woobin who saved me. That’s all that matters.”

“…”

Faced with the sincerity in Fuyuno Tsubaki’s voice, Jin Sejeong was at a loss for words.

While she had harbored selfish thoughts even after Yang Woobin saved her life, Tsubaki thought only of repaying him out of pure gratitude.

Being confronted by Tsubaki made Jin Sejeong feel like she alone had become trash, and she could no longer meet her gaze.

Overwhelmed by a sense of defeat, she dropped her eyes and began to release her tight grip on Yang Woobin’s wrist—when she noticed something in her field of vision.

“…?”

It wasn’t Tsubaki’s left hand holding her own wrist.

It was Tsubaki’s right hand, the one touching Yang Woobin.

Her fingertips were lightly grasping the edge of his academy uniform—and in those fingers, Jin Sejeong saw an emotion she knew all too well.

“Ha.”

Jin Sejeong let out a disbelieving scoff and looked up at Tsubaki again.

Because the feelings in Tsubaki’s fingertips were those of lingering affection, obsession, and anxiety—emotions Jin Sejeong had felt every day since breaking up with Yang Woobin.

“You, hey…”

Realizing that Tsubaki was clinging to Yang Woobin not purely out of gratitude, but also for personal reasons, Jin Sejeong regained her confidence.

And just as she was about to expose everything Tsubaki had been hiding—

“Looks like it’s about to start.”

Yang Woobin, who had remained silent ever since the shocking confession, suddenly spoke up with a cryptic remark.

[We will now begin the ‘Weeding Out.’ One week from now, any Jincheon class cadet with a gray Jincheon card will be demoted to the Beom class. Good luck surviving.]

Immediately after, an announcement echoed across the entire Jincheon area—declaring the start of the “Weeding Out” with no prior warning or signs.

“What the…?”

“Let go of me for now.”

While Jin Sejeong was momentarily confused by an announcement that even she, the Disciplinary Committee President, hadn’t known about, Yang Woobin brushed off the hand that was gripping his wrist.

“Huh?”

“If we run into each other again, go easy on me, shorty.”

After saying something else that made no sense, he took a step back and separated himself from Jin Sejeong.

Now apart from Yang Woobin, Jin Sejeong found herself with only Fuyuno Tsubaki still holding her wrist.

There was no reason for her to let Tsubaki keep holding her now that Woobin had pulled away, so she tried to shake her off—but by then, it was already too late.

Vmmm—

Before she could even shake off the hand, a bright white light filled her vision, signaling a spatial transfer.

Flash—!!

When the light that had washed out her vision finally faded, Jin Sejeong realized she had been transported to a vast open field.

“···” “···”

Still with Fuyuno Tsubaki holding her wrist.

***

※

“I didn’t think she’d react that intensely.”

Now that I had landed in the field used for the real midterm evaluation of the Jincheon Class—the so-called “Selection”—I began walking forward and recalled the look on the shorty’s face just moments ago.

I had expected her to glare at me with contempt, but I hadn’t anticipated the tears.

That part wasn’t in the plan, and it had left me so flustered I couldn’t say anything.

“Maybe I should’ve just stuck to the original plan… No, no. This was better. The original plan would’ve been worse.”

The original plan was to bring the shorty along as an ally, just like Fuyuno Tsubaki.

But she had grown far bigger than I’d imagined.

And someone like me, right now, could only be a stain on someone like her.

“I figured she might have become the successor… but to think she’s the top student and the Disciplinary President… She’s grown way too big.”

Everything she’d achieved—things even I, the master of underdog hero narratives, couldn’t pull off in a game—was massive.

Sure, I had limitations due to the system, and I’m confident there’s nothing in this world I couldn’t accomplish if given the time and freedom.

But even so, what she achieved was undeniably amazing.

She’d climbed to that position through sheer effort and talent, without any knowledge of the original storyline like I had.

She’d grown so much, it felt embarrassing to even call her “shorty” anymore.

To ask someone like her—someone who was already amazing and destined to grow even more—to help me take revenge, to destroy the Yang family that once took her in… That wasn’t something a decent person would do.

“She’d soar high even if I did nothing… How could I block the path of a friend like that?”

So I scrapped the original plan of recruiting her as an ally, and instead, decided to use her.

Using her influence as the Disciplinary President, I had her drag a bunch of students with her.

In front of all of them, I made my little “confession.”

Of course, it was all lies.

I’ve spent my entire life tied to the family and barely even seen the outside world, let alone people.

Plus, because of the Vow of Non-Combat, I’ve been forcibly stuck as a virgin.

But none of that mattered.

What mattered was that I looked like a blonde-tanned delinquent, and that no one was in a position to question what I said.

I said it myself—who was going to call me out on it?

Thanks to that, I successfully established myself as a trashy, promiscuous jerk.

And more importantly, I spread the rumor—right in front of a bunch of students—that the Yang family’s successor is a complete degenerate.

“···Phew.”

I didn’t expect the shorty to react so emotionally.

I didn’t know she still thought of me as such an important friend.

I do feel bad about that.

But it was something I had to do.

Because destroying the Yang family and taking my revenge is the goal of my life now.

Only then can I shatter the cursed Vow of Non-Combat that binds me.

Even if I felt guilty for hurting her, I didn’t regret it.

Because it was something I had to do.

“Later… after I destroy the Yang family, I’ll bow my head and apologize.”

Maybe I’ll say something like, “Everything I said back then was a lie. I’m actually a virgin. I’m sorry!”

She probably won’t forgive me.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she slammed the door in my face and told me to get lost.

“Well, to even get to that apology, I have to crush the Yang family first. So that’s still years away. I’ll think about that when the time comes. For now… let’s focus on what needs to be done.”

Burying the guilt and the apology deep in my heart, I started walking toward my destination.

“Let’s go.”

The Jincheon Class’s midterm evaluation, “Selection,” was the perfect opportunity to eliminate the malicious variables that would only interfere with the story’s smooth progression later on.

I’d waited so long for this day.

“Yang Woobin’s ‘Selection’—begins now.”

Today was my true debut.