Ch.179179. Representative Selection

That was none other than Junhu.

Now that we know each other’s identities, him coming to me is nothing unusual.

The situation is just awkward.

Something appeared that Seo Jin-won couldn’t see but I could.

Things took a rather amusing turn from there.

[Hyung! Soon, there’s going to be a break near Seoul! Dozens of people will die according to the future!]

“I know.”

“What do you know?”

This time it was Seo Jin-won speaking. Wait, this is confusing.

“Anyway, I think something’s about to happen. I need to go check it out. We’ll talk later.”

“Then I’ll tell you everything.”

[But what’s going on right now? Did you get caught?]

Adult Junhu kept rolling his eyes beside me. I nodded.

“Yeah. There’s a situation here. Anyway, what matters is that there’s a crisis right now.”

I grabbed Seo Jin-won.

“So you’re going to interfere with saving people? Kids might die because of you. Is that the kind of person you are?”

“No…”

“Then I’m going.”

Ignoring him, I vanished instantly with optical camouflage.

[Evolution]

From there, I transformed into a bird and headed to my destination.

Upon arriving, I dealt with the monsters.

Fortunately, there were no SS-class monsters, so I handled the enemies with ease in my adult form.

It was literally as smooth as could be.

Thanks to that, I got rid of the annoying Seo Jin-won too, which was great.

“Junhu, thanks to you I got rid of that nuisance.”

[That’s strange.]

“Why? What’s wrong?”

But Junhu’s expression was concerning.

[The enemies that were supposed to appear should have been stronger. They haven’t been sending many lately. But even though they sent them properly, the composition changed.]

“Maybe it’s because we’ve been anticipating their invasions?”

[That might be part of it, but there was supposed to be a particularly strong one this time. But it didn’t show up. If that’s the case, why waste resources at all?]

They came despite having to waste resources? Why? There must be a reason. These creatures have been using their brains lately.

“By the way, were there any larva-form monsters in the future we experienced?”

[Of course not, at least not the kind that attacked you. Unless you mean giant monsters in larval form. None of them even trigger the alarms. As the future changes, the enemies change their methods too. We need to be more careful from now on. I’ll try to gather as much information as possible by looking around.]

As I was about to leave, children were waving their hands from below.

I waved back as I departed, but I still had questions. Why bother?

They’re clearly up to something.

After this, I’ll have to send another anonymous tip to have that school checked again.

And I still had other issues to deal with.

[Seo Jin-won]

My phone kept ringing.

*

Seo Jin-won arrived home angry. He entered his room and roughly threw his bag down.

‘Don’t mess with me. He’s cheating.’

Do Jong-hyun is a monster. He probably thinks he’s the only one in the world who knows his identity.

He feels special, but in reality, he’s just Do Jong-hyun’s shadow. That’s not what he wants.

With just days left before the representative selection, he searched for news articles.

[Monsters again, successfully defended against the Break at the perfect time!]

Children were expressing gratitude to the monster, who was being hailed as a hero in the articles.

That monster was Do Jong-hyun.

‘How can he transform into different monsters?’

It was too strange to simply consider him a monster.

‘Transformation… with stored power? If I had that card deck…’

Could he also perform such feats?

Desire was blooming in his heart. From the beginning, he didn’t share the same disgust toward monsters that Dokgo Jun and other adults felt.

Just as consciousness changes across generations, his hatred toward monsters was relatively mild.

Moreover, Do Jong-hyun’s active role had helped improve their image.

The current atmosphere where people thank monsters or believe they help would have been unimaginable before.

He admired it, like how heroes are praised by everyone.

‘How did he get that power? Can you store it in a card deck? If I just had that card deck…’

His desire was slowly revealing the truth.

“If I had that power…”

He was confident he could do better than Do Jong-hyun. He could be a hero too.

‘Besides, Do Jong-hyun lied. He used monster powers to get first place.’

Seo Jin-won didn’t believe Do Jong-hyun’s explanation.

Like cognitive dissonance, he believed Do Jong-hyun had done it regardless of his denials.

He recalled the past year.

He should have been recognized right after the advanced class, but everything fell apart because of Do Jong-hyun.

Everyone focused on a few from the advanced class and Do Jong-hyun from the lower class. Others got attention, but not them.

That inferiority and various feelings were coalescing into one.

“I could do better! So…”

This was why he was obsessed with grades and showed determination that even Dokgo Jun noticed.

But that determination had now gone astray. Instead of striving to become stronger, he was blaming everything on Do Jong-hyun.

Having made up his mind, Seo Jin-won scrolled through his phone.

Not family photos or selfies. He was looking at pictures of Seol Yu-hwa that he had taken at some point.

It was calming him down. As his excitement subsided, he briefly found his ideal.

‘I wonder if I could get close to Seol Yu-hwa.’

His ideal type had always been the elegant and graceful Seol Yu-hwa.

But he never dared to show it.

‘Wait… both of us are going to the selection right now?’

Both Do Jong-hyun and Seol Yu-hwa were entering the selection. Moreover, they were likely candidates compared to their competitors.

The cheating Do Jong-hyun and Seol Yu-hwa both being selected as representatives?

“No…”

He clutched his pounding heart.

And around his house, a suspicious shadow appeared.

*

The next day, everyone was buzzing about the vote.

Since I was practically the only boy from the advanced class, everyone was interested in the girls.

Ariel and Seol Yu-hwa.

Seol Yu-hwa and Ariel.

The tension between these two was intense. They were fighting with atmosphere alone, without exchanging a single word.

It’s a headache for me. After all, they sit in front of and next to me.

Whenever Seol Yu-hwa does something to me, Ariel occasionally reacts.

If it were just a simple battle of nerves, that would be fine, but lately Seol Yu-hwa has been strangely taking the initiative.

“Jong-hyun. Is something bothering you? You don’t look well.”

She naturally placed her hand on my cheek. It looked like a friend showing concern, but she lingered for quite a while.

“Later…”

“Ahem.”

And at that moment, a cough was heard from somewhere.

Not from Ariel, but from Seo Jin-won. He had somehow come over and was pointing outside.

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

“Sure.”

Since he knows my identity, I can’t just refuse.

Once we were in the hallway, Seo Jin-won suddenly showed interest in my card deck.

“It’s obvious you transform with that card deck. I thought something was strange when the card deck appeared.”

“What do you want to say? If you know I transform into a monster, why not cooperate with me? If you help me, you could also…”

“Don’t be ridiculous! I know what kind of person you are. Let me tell you, I’m watching you. Because of you, who might turn against humanity at any moment!”

“Then keep watching. I’ll save humanity in my own way.”

Seo Jin-won grabbed my arm as I was about to leave.

“No, I can’t trust you. Hand over the card deck.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. As you’ve seen, I’m trying to save humanity. Are you going to keep interfering?”

“Shut up!”

At that moment, Seo Jin-won burst out in anger. Wow, that surprised me.

“I told you, didn’t I? If you act like a jerk, I’ll tell everyone.”

“Hey, are you going to keep this up? What do you want?”

“The card deck… give it to me. I can transform too.”

“That’s impossible. Only I can do it. Why is a normal summoner acting like this?”

What’s with him suddenly wanting to transform?

No. No. Looking at his behavior so far, it’s simple.

“Hey, don’t tell me. Are you coveting monster power?”

“You’re using it. What’s stopping me?”

“It’s impossible. Only I can use it.”

“I can use it too!”

At this point, I clearly felt it. Like Yoo Deok-min, there was a sense of madness.

“You’re like Yoo Deok-min.”

“What?”

“Be careful. This is advice. And if you really want to help, we can work together. Think about what needs to be done.”

If he ends up like Yoo Deok-min, it would be a disaster.

Really, I can’t even have a peaceful second year. There’s nothing much besides the test at the end of this month.

The training is still far off. I’d prefer that. At least he wouldn’t try to blackmail me or anything.

“What do you really want?”

He says he’s watching me? I need to watch him too.

Time continued to pass.

Finally, voting day. Just before mid-April. The representative selection voting had finally begun.

It’s not like there were campaigns or anything. Everyone could vote during their daily routine.

Perhaps because of this, the atmosphere between Ariel and Seol Yu-hwa was intense and cold.

It’s a contradictory expression, but it’s true. It’s similar to a cold war.

They didn’t make eye contact even once and only showed nervousness about the vote.

Until classes ended, the classroom was filled with tension.

The voting ended, and the announcement would naturally be the next day.

“Do Jong-hyun.”

Ariel looked at me and smiled.

“Did you vote well?”

“Vote? Haha, of course.”

“For me, right?”

I was momentarily speechless as Ariel asked with a grin.

In fact, I knew that voting for either side would cause problems.

Especially with Ariel’s personality, it was obvious she would ask.

“I knew you’d ask.”

“Then will you tell me? I can’t stand not knowing.”

At this point, I immediately stopped Seol Yu-hwa. She’s not the only one sensitive about this issue.

“Wait, Seol Yu-hwa. Neither of you knows who will be the representative. Don’t fight. I don’t like it.”

“Hmm. Well, I wasn’t going to care anyway.”

Seol Yu-hwa glared at me briefly before backing down. Ariel, unconcerned, asked me again.

“So who was it?”

“I voted for both.”

“What? Is that even possible? You’re lying, right?”

As Ariel’s expression sharpened, I shrugged.

“Both of you are excellent, so I wrote down both.”

“Then what kind of vote is that?”

I answered Ariel’s question by saying it was an invalid vote, and immediately got my hair grabbed.

“Are you joking? You have to choose one. Idiot!”

It would have been better if only Ariel scolded me, but the problem was that Seol Yu-hwa also sighed deeply beside me.

“If you were going to do that, you shouldn’t have voted at all.”

I did it to avoid getting scolded, but ended up getting scolded by both of them.

Come on, I was just trying my best.

They’re both difficult types to control. Well, this issue ended there, but the problem was the next day.

The next day, the representative selection results were posted on the school bulletin board and website.

2nd Year Representatives: Do Jong-hyun, Seol Yu-hwa

The moment I saw the results, I looked at Ariel with worried eyes.

She was silently expressing her anger more than ever before.

This was as expected.

Since only one would be chosen, one of them would suffer a significant blow.

But there was another gaze I felt.

This was clearly evident.

Seo Jin-won. As he was called to the instructor along with Seol Yu-hwa, he kept glaring at me.