Chapter 35 –
Family Members Can’t Do Stuff Like This To Each Other!

“What should I do…?”

I was brooding about it in my head, but the answer had already been decided.

When I thought about it rationally, my life was more precious.

I asked Fenrille.

“Mutt. What’s the condition? There must be conditions, be it a kiss or something of the like.”

How do I distinguish a woman from a wife?

I need to know if I could qualify or not.

–Fenrille. Mating. But. Humans. Different. Several. Females. Same time. Grab heart. Place. Mouth.

Fenrille defined a wife through the act of mating. But since I’m a human, he’ll follow the ways of a human.

That condition wasn’t that bad for me.

“So I have to kiss the four women whose hearts I won over…”

–Has to be. Long time. Fulfill it.

“…You’re not actually in a rut, are you?”

Should I view him as Fenrille, the S-Rank monster, or as a dog in heat?

Whichever way I look at it, it’s the latter in my eyes.

As of right now, he didn’t seem that reliable, but it’s an assurance for my lifespan. 

I know doing these kinds of things to four women was not right, but no matter how much I’m all for pure love, I had to do it for the sake of survival.

“Alright. That qualification. I’ll try it.”

A good-looking appearance.

A decent personality.

In terms of my physical looks, I was on the qualified side.

It was a challenge reasonable to an extent.

Anyway, I’d die if I stayed still and did nothing.

Whether I die staying put and sucking on my thumb, or get stabbed to death with a knife by the girls…

Of course, it was right to choose the latter. Moreover, in the latter case, I had a chance of surviving.

I just don’t need to get caught.

If I’m not caught, I’m not guilty.

If I’m not caught, I won’t get stabbed with a knife either.

If I’m not caught, I won’t even die.

It meant I could clear the world of V. Age.

It felt like I was playing with fate, so I immediately dropped that behavior.

“Yoo Hayeon.”

Whenever an important matter arose, her name popped up.

In situations like these, have I become dependent on my childhood friend?

As I needed her help, I picked up my phone and called her.

Right now it was 6:00 p.m.

It was the hour where students were leaving school and enjoying time to themselves.

After one, two, ten seconds of the phone ringing, I heard her voice.

–Hello?

A crystal clear voice.

There was a bit of playfulness as she smiled while answering the phone.

 I asked her.

“What were you doing?”

–I was just thinking about training. Why?

Hayeon had recently said she was going to train intensely.

She felt very responsible for my kidnapping.

Can you postpone your training a little today? There’s something I want to tell you.”

–…All of a sudden? Is it important?

“It is very important.”

–…Alright. I’ll be there in 10 minutes.

Upon my emphasis on the importance, Hayeon said she was on her way.

After I told her, “Okay,” I got ready to head out.

I wore a hat since it’d be a hassle if the students recognized me.

After that day I had been pestered by the reporters, I searched online and found hundreds of articles pertaining to me.

–Return of the kidnapped student, Han Sijoon?! Where has he been all this time?

–Connection with the villains. What is his identity?

Tabloid articles which made no sense and had zero grounds to their statements.

Reading the articles made me laugh, but after seeing several of them I could get the feeling.

So I’m pretty famous.

Aside from the Hero Academy’s security, it was a given for people to pay attention to the case since a student had been abducted on campus.

In a world like this, of course, it would be even more popular among the students.

That was why until I returned to my classes at the Academy, I had to hide for a week.

Interest will go down as time goes by.

After 10 minutes, I received a text message from Hayeon that she arrived, and left my room to meet her.

I mean who’s going to come in anyway?

Paying even more attention to security than usual, I firmly closed the door and stepped outside.

***

Hayeon, who had been waiting in front of the dorm, looked the same as usual. But seeing as she was wearing a training suit, it seemed like she was going to head straight to the training ground after she heard what I had to say. 

With my hat firmly on, I approached her, and Hayeon recognized me and spoke to me.

“What is it that you need to tell me? I won’t let it slide if you’re here to make fun of me.”

Yesterday’s crying incident.

Because Hayeon and I had been together for a long time, we could not be honest with each other, and often hid our innermost feelings. That was why her crying yesterday was a precious event that could be seen once a year.

Maybe she felt embarrassed about it, but Hayeon’s ears turned red.

I spoke to her in a serious tone so that she wouldn’t misunderstand.

“If I was going to tease you, I would do it properly. Today’s not the day. I really have something to tell you.”

”R-Really? Well…okay.”

Hayeon was nervous about what I was going to say.

I was also hesitant to bring up this topic, so I was a little embarrassed.

I never imagined I would say this to her…

After I said that, we walked toward the empty park so that no one could recognize me.

“…”

“…”

We walked silently.

I was hesitating because I was preparing my mind.

As for Hayeon, she seemed to have picked up on the strange mood.

It was almost like the mood before someone confessed; the innocent mood where they would suddenly lock eyes here as he shouted, “I like you.”

I looked at Hayeon with sincerity in my eyes.

“…Yoo Hayeon.”

“W-What…! Han Sijoon!”

She flinched as she stepped backwards.

I looked around, after I was sure no one was around, I grasped both of Hayeon’s hands who was stepping back.

“S-Something…like this, I need to prepare myself…!”

“You Hayeon.”

Hayeon was desperately trying to avoid my eyes.

Her face was painted red.

If she was her usual self, she would’ve tried to cover it up with her playful behavior, but she couldn’t do that before my sincere look.

Feeling nervous, I took a gulp, then said, “I never expected I would say this to you, but…”

“You’re being too sudden…! You idiot!”

“Introduce me to a girl.”

“…Hah?”

Hayeon let out a perplexed sound, not understanding what I meant.

As someone with zero experience in dating, I did have a lot of courage.

What’s with this reaction of hers? 

I also didn’t understand.

In that mood, Hayeon said to me with a firm expression, “….So what you wanted to say, don’t tell me, it’s that you want me to introduce you to a…girl?”

“Yeah. I realized after I was kidnapped, it feels regretful to die without dating. I also want to try it out at least once.”

Hiding the fact that it was a relationship for survival, I told her a small lie.

Hayeon had many female friends around her, so she could introduce me to at least one of them.

Han Yoowol, Na Hoona, and Ban Hana are ambiguous to see as romantic partners.

Each and every woman around me was all out of reach.

Han Yoowol was a heinous villain, Na Yoona was a business woman who would lead the corporation in the future, and Ban Hana was just Ban Hana.

Although they were beautiful, they couldn’t be seen as romantic partners, so my best choice was getting introduced to someone by Hayeon.

Since I had that thought, Yoo Hayeon asked me with a look of betrayal, “Y-You weren’t going to confess to me?”

“…? What are you talking about? Why would I confess to you? We’re family.”

Family.

How can family members date each other?

If you ask anyone passing by, they’ll answer that it’s impossible.

Hayeon and I did not share the same blood, but having lived together for 12 years, she was like family to me.

For me to kiss her, who was like that to me?

Nah, that’s not right.

Externally, Hayeon was a beautiful lady, but before that she was family.

I was somewhat reluctant to kiss her.

“So you’ll introduce me, right?”

“…”

The unresponsive Yoo Hayeon.

Was there no one she could introduce?

She quietly mumbled, “Am I really training to protect a guy like this…”

“What?”

“Haa…”

I didn’t hear what she actually said but she was suddenly letting out a huge sigh.

Then her eyes flew wide open and she shook off my hand.

She began to ask questions in an imposing manner.

“You. Give it to me straight. Do you want to be introduced to someone because you want to date? Or is there a girl around me that you like and want?”

“…I just want to try dating.”

“Aha… So I see?”

Why is she suddenly being understanding?

Whenever Hayeon said she understood in that type of tone, the outcome wasn’t good.

Did I slip up with my words or something?

As I anxiously thought back to my past actions, there was a smile on Hayeon’s face again. 

Is she bipolar? Why does her expression keep changing?

A wide range of changes to her emotions that I could not understand.

As if she had come up with a great idea, she gave a bright smile as she said, “If you want to date, I’ll do it for you. How about it?”

“We’re famil…”

“Don’t start with the family talk. With how things are between us, we could get married and register our marriage if we actually wanted to. You said you wanted to date at least once before you die, right? Then do it with me.”

To be specific, I had to date many people.

If I said that now, Hayeon may put me halfway to death, so I decided to withhold it.

“Still, with you, it’s a bit you know. Things might get awkward when we break up…”

Before I could finish my sentence, Hayeon started spluttering.

“T-Then…do it for practice…! Practice! You’ve never done it before, and I’ve never done it before either. Let’s practice…!! It’ll be good to use when you’re in a relationship later.”

Hayeon said when I disappeared, the male students kept flocking to her.

She must also think of me as family.

She offered to date me for practice.

…Practice, huh.

I’ve definitely never been in a relationship, and I didn’t know how to win a woman’s heart either.

What would it be like to practice with her in a situation like this?

Hm…

It was worrying.

But what Hayeon said about dating practice was quite persuasive.