Chapter 45 : Rumors (3)

On the evening of the promotion ceremony, we packed our belongings from our original dorm and arrived at the exclusive dormitory for the Jincheon Class.

“So this is the Jincheon Class dorm… It looks like a hotel. I wonder what it’s like inside…”

Just as Fuyuno Tsubaki said, the Jincheon Class dorm looked no different from a top-tier luxury hotel.

It was far too grand in scale for just the 100 cadets of the Jincheon Class to use.

But because Daecheon spared no support for true geniuses, it could be called a world-class academy.

Those who used this facility only held their heads higher and didn’t feel burdened by it.

I added one more thing to surprise Fuyuno Tsubaki, who was already amazed by the grandeur of the dorm.

“Every room here is single.”

“Woooow…!”

With no further explanation, just hearing the words “single room” made Fuyuno Tsubaki’s eyes sparkle with anticipation.

She must’ve really struggled living in shared rooms until now.

Ever since she beat Han Yujin and proved herself, she had gradually been getting brighter.

“Let’s go in now.”

I chuckled at her transparent reaction and pushed open the large glass front door to enter the dormitory building.

“Ah, yeah!”

As I stepped forward, Fuyuno Tsubaki quickly followed like an excited puppy.

“Oh.”

“Woooow…”

The dorm lobby we saw after entering through the large glass doors was so impressive it drew a small gasp from me, and a medium-sized gasp from Fuyuno Tsubaki.

If the general dorm looked like a modern office building, then the Jincheon Class dorm looked like a seven-star hotel from the lobby alone.

A chandelier encrusted with jewels hung from the ceiling, a fountain flowed in the center, and the walls were decorated with elegant murals.

No wonder the Jincheon Class cadets held their heads high—using a place like this as a dorm would do that to anyone.

Of course, that pride would quickly be humbled once the selection process began.

Thinking about the upcoming selection made even this brief moment of awe feel like a waste of time.

“Wooooow…”

“Hey, Tsubaki. Enough admiring, let’s go.”

I called out to Fuyuno Tsubaki, who was staring with her mouth open like a golden retriever, and quickened my pace.

“Huh? Oh, okay! I’m coming, Woobin!”

As soon as I called her, she snapped her mouth shut and ran up to me with light steps, sticking close to my side.

“Hehe, I’m here.”

“Let’s go up. Time to actually unpack.”

“Yeah!”

It felt like it took forever just to enter the dorm.

Thinking there was nothing left that could surprise me, I got on the elevator with Fuyuno Tsubaki, heading toward our rooms.

Just as I pressed the button and the elevator doors were about to close, I saw the female cadets sitting at a lobby table start to open their mouths, which had been shut until now.

“Wow, look at how they call each other by name so sweetly… They’re definitely childhood friends.”

“She ran up to him like a puppy when he called her… and then stuck right by his side? Seriously?”

“In my family, it’s unthinkable for a girl to chase after a guy. Is the Fuyuno family more open than I thought?”

“No, they’re actually super conservative. Maybe she’s just open with her childhood friend…?”

With those squealing voices as the final note, the elevator doors shut with a thunk.

Maybe because even the elevators in the Jincheon Class dorm were high-end, once the doors closed, the noisy chatter vanished completely, leaving only silence behind.

“…”

“…”

We’d just been chatting comfortably a moment ago, but now things felt incredibly awkward.

Without turning my head, I glanced sideways at Fuyuno Tsubaki—and sure enough, her ears were burning red.

Yeah.

No way she didn’t hear that.

They were loud enough for half the academy to hear.

The promotion ceremony had just taken place at lunch, and now it was evening.

In that short span of time, the ridiculous rumor had already spread through the Jincheon Class.

If the cadets in the lobby saw us and were already gossiping about us being childhood friends, then honestly, it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the entire class probably thought so too.

Especially since the words came from Go Yeoryeong—not exactly someone anyone would think of as a liar.

In just half a day, I’d somehow ended up as Fuyuno Tsubaki’s childhood friend.

Still, what’s the big deal about being childhood friends?

Why are they freaking out over something so common?

“U-Um… Woobin…”

As I stood there speechless, baffled by how fast the rumor spread, Fuyuno Tsubaki, glancing nervously at me, broke the silence.

“Huh? What is it?”

“I-I, uh… Is it okay?”

“What is?”

“T-The rumor about us…”

At her cautious question, I tilted my head in confusion.

What rumor?

That we’re childhood friends?

That’s all, right?

Why is she being so hesitant?

Oh—wait. Is this about that?

I was confused for a second by how flustered she was over something so small, but then I remembered her past and nodded to myself.

Fuyuno Tsubaki had lived a life without a single friend—completely alone.

To her, a relationship like “friends” would be incredibly special.

So even asking if it was okay for a rumor like that to spread was probably a sign of her painful past.

There was only one thing I could say here.

Tsubaki was already shorter than me, and now she was bowing her head, making herself look even smaller.

I gently placed a hand on top of her head.

“Hup.”

Rustle, rustle.

“Hehehe…”

As I softly stroked her smooth, silvery hair, I finally answered her question.

“Hey, Tsubaki. What are you to me?”

“Huh? Oh—your flunky!”

“Right. You’re my flunky. And I’m your… hmm. What should I say? Your delinquent boss? That sounds weird though.”

“…Master.”

“…Huh?”

“…”

“Ah. Um.”

As we continued the conversation, Tsubaki casually dropped that verbal bomb, and for a moment, a heavy silence settled inside the elevator.

I couldn’t just brush it off as a joke—her voice and tone were the same as when she said, ‘One hundred people will be enough, right?’ earlier.

So I could only respond slowly and seriously.

“…If you like that, then we’ll go with that. Anyway, you and I both know what our relationship is. That’s enough. A dumb rumor isn’t going to change anything, so why worry about it?”

“T-That means…”

Looking up at me with eyes full of hopeful anticipation, she waited for my answer. I gave a soft chuckle and replied,

“It’s fine. A silly rumor like that doesn’t bother me.”

“A-Ahh…”

Just like I concluded earlier, even if a rumor spreads about us being childhood friends, it’s not like anything serious will happen.

Still, maybe even that “childhood friend” label was too stimulating for her—Fuyuno Tsubaki bit her lips inward and blushed furiously, her cheeks flushed and ears bright red, unable to hide her flustered expression.

Seeing how innocent she looked made me laugh without realizing it.

Ding—!

“We’re here. I’ll go first, Tsubaki. See you tomorrow.”

The male dormitory rooms were on a lower floor than the female ones, so I had to get off first.

“Uh, y-yeah. S-see you tomorrow, W-Woobin! Woobin!”

As I stepped off the elevator after promising we’d see each other again, Fuyuno Tsubaki stammered a farewell with a beet-red face.

“What’s with the stuttering over something like that?”

Wondering what had her so nervous that she still occasionally trembled, I turned around and headed to the room I’d been assigned.

“A personal room, huh… I’m finally gonna get a taste of what it’s like to live in Daecheon.”

***

Clunk.

After Yang Woobin stepped out and the door closed, Fuyuno Tsubaki was the only one left in the elevator.

Before she met him, loneliness had always been the norm for her.

But once she met him and experienced the joy that came from their connection, loneliness stopped being something natural.

She came to realize—ironically through that very connection—that loneliness is something painful, cold, and frightening.

“…”

That’s why, every time she had to part ways with Yang Woobin, Fuyuno Tsubaki trembled in fear of the loneliness that would follow.

But even if her body trembled with fear, loneliness never showed mercy and always returned without fail, tormenting her heart until the next time she could see him.

Fuyuno Tsubaki, who once took being alone for granted, had turned into someone who was most afraid of being left alone.

“Hu… Heehee.”

That was until just yesterday.

“Hehehehe~”

Even though she was alone again, and despite the terrible truth that she wouldn’t be able to see Yang Woobin until tomorrow, Fuyuno Tsubaki walked away smiling, her lips curled up in absolute happiness.

It wasn’t that she’d gone mad from the pain.

Her rational mind was fully intact, and the laughter spilling out now was purely from joy.

There was only one reason why a girl who used to fear parting could suddenly laugh after one.

“Even if that kind of rumor spreads, he said he doesn’t mind… Oh my gosh, it’s like a dream…”

It was all thanks to what Yang Woobin had said.

“I-It’s not quite the legendary green light… but still… it makes me so happy.”

Unlike Yang Woobin, who thought, “It’s just a rumor about us being childhood friends, that’s all,” the version of the rumor that spread in the Jincheon class was overwhelmingly pink-hued.

Yes, the part about them being childhood friends did spread—but that wasn’t all.

The atmosphere that Yang Woobin had completely missed was something Fuyuno Tsubaki, being a girl, had picked up on—and that’s where the gap in perception, and her misunderstanding, began.

“Hehehe.”

And so, Fuyuno Tsubaki used Yang Woobin’s words like a warm stove to heat her heart, heading to her private room—

Completely unaware of the disaster her misunderstanding would eventually bring.