Recreation – 1

To cut to the chase, both Hestia and I passed the interview. It seems Seol-ah’s words were true after all.

As soon as I entered the club room, I felt someone’s gaze sharply fixed on me. When I discreetly looked to see who was glaring at me, it was that senior who had particularly attacked me during the interview. The senior who made eye contact with me approached.

“You, I’ll be watching you. Behave yourself.”

She spat out in a voice that showed clear dislike. First day and I’ve already become a senior’s least favorite person.

“Yes. I understand.”

I obediently agreed. To be honest, I didn’t really care whether the senior showed an aggressive attitude toward me or not. She returned to her seat without changing her expression.

The fact that I botched my interview is true, and according to Seol-ah, there isn’t much that senior can do to me. She said the senior doesn’t have real power in the club. Besides, I’m not trying to use the club for delinquent activities, so I won’t have any reason to clash with her.

After she left, Hestia spoke in a voice that others couldn’t hear.

“I’m glad we both got in.”

“Yeah. I would have been really concerned if I had failed and you had followed me out of obligation.”

The thought of her giving up the club she wanted to join because of me filled me with self-loathing. I don’t want to be the male character in dramas and movies who blocks a capable woman’s path.

“Even if you had failed, I wasn’t planning to follow you.”

“You said you’d follow me after the interview was over.”

“That was just to comfort you.”

But that’s one thing, and hearing from Hestia’s own mouth that she never intended to follow me in the first place is still disappointing. Sensing that my expression had become gloomy, Hestia quickly tried to smooth things over.

“I’m joking! Don’t look so sad. Were you that upset that I said I wouldn’t follow you?”

“Is it that obvious on my face?”

I recalled Seol-ah’s words that my lying skills were on par with Hestia’s and Cordelia’s. Considering that Cordelia had hidden her unhappy engagement from Hestia, my lying skills might be worse than Cordelia’s.

“…A little?”

“Hestia. Look into my eyes.”

“…”

Hestia avoided my gaze. I could guess her answer without her having to say it. At least I must be better than Hestia.

“Forget it. Being good at lying isn’t exactly a valuable skill anyway.”

“That’s right. I think being honest is better too.”

Hestia agreed with my statement, which was close to resignation. Honestly, it wasn’t very comforting.

“By the way, will you be okay?”

“With what?”

“That senior who just warned you.”

Hestia was worried that the senior who had just issued a warning might interfere with my club activities.

“It should be fine, right? Yes, I performed poorly in the interview. But if she starts picking on me for no reason when I haven’t done anything wrong, I’ll just report her to the other seniors.”

“Mikhail, you’re surprisingly bold in unusual situations.”

“Only after going through a lot of major incidents recently. This kind of thing doesn’t really bother me anymore.”

Having gotten into trouble with the Crown Prince twice and eventually beating him up, a senior’s watchful eye was hardly a tense crisis for me.

While we were chatting for a moment, the club president came out and led the new students. He handed out papers to the freshmen and announced that everyone should check their assigned groups. It seems they decided to form groups due to the large number of people.

“Everyone, please move to your assigned groups!”

As expected, the first club activity was recreation. One or two seniors were included in each group, and we would introduce ourselves and play simple games to break the awkward atmosphere. Looking at it this way, it wasn’t much different from a university club.

“What group are you in?”

“I’m in Group B. What about you, Mikhail?”

“I’m in Group B too.”

Fortunately, Hestia and I were in the same group. I no longer needed to anxiously glance at her group, worrying that someone might bother her in a different group.

I made eye contact with the club president who was busily managing club members, moving here and there. He winked at me. It probably wasn’t that the president was flirting with me, but more likely that he had pulled some strings for our group assignment. Few people in the Academy were unaware that Hestia and I were engaged.

Seeing the president’s look, I became more confident in what Seol-ah had told me. It seems she was the only one opposing my acceptance, and all the other seniors were in favor. Now that I look around, the gazes of other seniors on me are also meaningful. It’s like the look given to the boss’s son who suddenly joined as a new employee.

“Thinking about it again, I don’t think we need to worry about that senior.”

“Why?”

“Because I’m a lovable junior?”

“Are you crazy?!”

Hearing my sudden statement, Hestia let out an uncharacteristically harsh word. But it wasn’t entirely incorrect. To be precise, I’m not a lovable junior but a junior with a lovable background, but that’s not much different.

“The fact that I got accepted despite bombing the interview means the other seniors liked me, right?”

“Bombing the interview isn’t something to brag about.”

“I know. I’ll do better from now on.”

I moved to Group B with Hestia. Two slick-looking male seniors and one flashy-looking female freshman were already waiting.

“Now Group B is complete.”

Slick senior #1, wearing a blue badge, clapped his hands to get our attention. It seems this senior will be our group leader for today.

“Now that all the members are here, shall we start with self-introductions? I’m Antoni Schweik, currently a third-year. I’ve been in the travel club since my first year, so this is already my third year. I look forward to working with you all.”

Slick senior #1 introduced himself as Antoni and began his self-introduction. Judging by his name, he seems to be a commoner, but he didn’t show any signs of being intimidated by Hestia and me. Starting with him, everyone made their introductions in order.

Slick senior #2 next to him was a second-year named Marcus. In contrast to Antoni, Marcus seemed uncomfortable dealing with us despite being a noble himself. The way he kept glancing at us while speaking clearly showed that he was being careful around Hestia and me.

Since my social circle is limited to Seol-ah, Cordelia, and Hestia, I don’t usually notice, but most students show attitudes similar to Marcus’s when they hear my status.

In fact, I once tried to strike up a conversation with the student next to me during a class I was taking alone. But as soon as that friend heard my name, he adopted an uncomfortably servile attitude. Eventually, he never sat next to me again. He probably didn’t want to risk offending me.

This is one reason why I haven’t made other friends yet. It’s definitely not because I lack social skills. I’m different from Cordelia, I’m different.

“Next?”

“Oh, it’s my turn.”

After the seniors’ turns, it was time for Hestia and me to introduce ourselves. Hestia gave a rather thorough, exemplary self-introduction, but I honestly had nothing to say, so I simply stated my grade and name before sitting down.

“I’m Seria von Richthofen! I don’t have any particular hobbies, but there are things I like!”

The flashy-looking female freshman was the last to make her introduction, which she began energetically. Honestly, she’s the type I’d rather avoid. Despite being a first-year, she already wore a uniform that was tailored to fit her body snugly, makeup applied just enough to avoid being specifically reprimanded, and accessories. Kindly put, the flashy-looking Seria, or less kindly put, she looked like a delinquent.

Antoni, the group leader, responded to Seria’s words.

“Oh, things you like? What are they?”

“Handsome men.”

Seria scanned our faces while licking her lips. Crazy girl. I felt goosebumps rising on my forearm. The other seniors seemed to feel the same, as they just smiled awkwardly with blank expressions.

“Well, that’s… possible. Um, it’s good to see you being so open-minded and progressive.”

“Thanks for the compliment. You’re handsome too, senior. Do you have a girlfriend?”

Sensing the uncomfortable atmosphere, Antoni tried his best to put a positive spin on her behavior. Her seductive eyes sparkled toward Antoni. I unconsciously grabbed Hestia’s hand tightly.

The image of Hestia dyeing her beautiful silver hair a dull gold, wearing her neat and tidy uniform shortened to look vulgar, introducing herself to strangers by saying she likes handsome men…

“No way!”

“Mikhail, why are you suddenly like this?”

“Hestia. I think it’s better to keep our distance from that person.”

My Hestia would never be like that! Just a moment of imagining it almost made me cough up blood. I absolutely cannot allow Hestia and her to be friends.

There was a voice of conscience saying it wasn’t good to be so possessive and interfere with Hestia’s personal life, but I casually ignored it. Isn’t it also the role of a fiancé to protect her from friends who could be a bad influence?

“It’s not good to judge someone based on a momentary impression.”

“Hestia, please. When someone talks like that in the first meeting, do you need more judgment?”

“Don’t worry. The kind of thing you’re concerned about won’t happen. Besides, I don’t think she’s interested in me anyway.”

Hestia was indeed a kind and diligent model student. I was left speechless by her principled stance. Fortunately, as Hestia said, the delinquent named Seria didn’t show much interest in me or Hestia. It seems she’s not interested in a man who is already taken or a model student girl. Only then did I breathe a sigh of relief.

“Now that we’ve finished introductions, I’ll explain the activities we’ll be doing today in detail.”

Antoni stood up from his seat and clapped his hands. He did that earlier too; it must be a habit. He explained today’s schedule in detail.

“Since it’s the first day, everyone will probably feel awkward. So we’ll play a few simple games to get to know each other, and in the afternoon, true to our club’s name, we plan to go on a simple trek to the mountain behind the school.”

The mountain behind the school didn’t have a specific name, so everyone just called it the “back mountain,” but unlike its name, it was quite tall and rugged. At the mention of trekking such a mountain, the women’s faces contorted. While Hestia didn’t look particularly enthusiastic either, Seria especially seemed to have no intention of hiding her dissatisfaction.

“You’re saying we’re going hiking. I’ll lose all my makeup if I sweat.”

“There’s no need to worry that much. We’re just going to take a leisurely stroll. We don’t plan to go all the way to the summit either.”

Seria’s expression softened a bit after hearing Marcus’s supplementary explanation that they wouldn’t be aiming for the summit. However, she still didn’t look entirely satisfied.

“Let’s talk about that later and focus on the simple games I mentioned earlier. The person who comes in first in the group will receive a few small gifts prepared with the club dues.”

Antoni took over the conversation again. Everyone seemed motivated by the mention of gifts. Obviously, they wouldn’t be anything too expensive, but the prospect of receiving gifts through games seemed to create a will to concentrate.

“The first game we’ll play is the finger game.”

“The finger game?”

It’s an unfamiliar name. The other two freshmen also seemed to be hearing it for the first time, tilting their heads. Is this a game from this world, different from Earth? Seeing our confused reactions, Antoni explained the game in detail.

“Everyone holds up their hands like this, and we take turns describing a person we want to target. Everyone who fits the description puts down one finger. If you put down all five fingers, you’re out.”

So that’s what it is. The finger game was what was commonly known in Korean drinking gatherings as the “Son Byeongho game.” It was my mistake to expect something different from this world’s games.

“Shall we do a practice round first?”

While I quickly lost interest since I already knew this game, Hestia and Seria beside me seemed quite intrigued by this game they were seeing for the first time, their eyes sparkling.

“First of all, women put down a finger.”

Antoni opened the game with a neutral gender reference. Following that, simple instructions like “first-years put down a finger,” “men put down a finger,” went around once, and then it was Seria’s turn.

“Isn’t everyone making such boring attacks?”

She grinned wickedly. I was suddenly overwhelmed with a sense of unease.

“Hmm, people who have never had sex, put down a finger please.”

Wow, crazy girl. Seria’s finger didn’t move an inch.