Chapter 55 – This Isn’t The Character That I Know Of!

“Be secret friends with me.”

Secret friends.

Lee Seolha’s navy blue eyes were clouded as she said that.

Well, did I really need to worry about being secret friends?

There was no risk of us being caught unless Seolha suddenly went crazy and told Yoo Hayeon.

I also had a condition to fulfill until I returned to my normal self, so this was a spoonfed opportunity given my current situation.

I asked her something I was curious about.

“Can you be more specific as to what we’ll do as secret friends, Noona?”

“T-That’s… I’ll tell you slowly.”

Seolha’s face reddened as she said so. 

She suddenly hugged me from behind, and smelled me, as she began to rub her face on my cheeks.

“Haa… The best…”

“…”

I decided to just watch what she does without saying a word.

She hugged me as she would a doll, and took in my scent, filling up her empty heart.

It was a slight blow to my pride because she manhandled me, but it didn’t feel too bad.

Can I just not help being a Yeomisae1? 

A bastard crazy for women.

I don’t know if it had to do with my fate and I didn’t want to admit it, but I had no qualms about women touching my body.

Rather, it made me feel better.

I felt like I was getting more and more used to cheating, 

I decided to enjoy what she was doing.

Seolha was getting a whiff of whatever scent that I was emitting from my younger body.

Then she grabbed my hand, saying, “It’s small… It’s small…” while giggling to herself.

As she was carrying on with her perverse act, she asked something of me.

“Han Sijoon. Can you stand in front of me for a second?”

“…All of a sudden?”

“Yeah, Noona’s asking. Can you do it for me…?”

Seolha was suddenly asking me to stand up.

That was something I could do, so I got up without much thought.

When I did so, I could peer down at Seolha, who was sitting on the floor.

I could tell from looking at her from above, that although her eyes were hazy, the instincts within her were flaring up.

“Fuu… Haa… It’s so good? What should I do? E-Even so…lips won’t be right…? Since that’s too much of a crime…”

She kept staring at me while wiping her drool.

Her eyes moved in all directions as she looked at me like she was observing me.

Is this what getting molested by someone’s eyes felt like…?

True to her instincts, her gaze was too perverse.

She was outright scanning me up and down.

I couldn’t help but to look at her with contempt.

“That expression is also the best…”

“…”

Seolha, however, looked enraptured.

She had a preference for young people.

But that age range seemed much lower in her case.

Seolha kept staring at me with those clouded blue eyes of hers.

“Do you like Noona or Hayeon?”

“Of course, Hayeon.”

There was no comparison to be made.

Seolha would go back to being cold when I grew back up anyway.

But what about Hayeon?

She’d like me no matter what I looked like. Though I don’t know if she would if she caught me cheating.

It didn’t seem like Seolha liked my adamant answer, she puffed up her cheeks.

“…You shouldn’t be talking back to your Noona. That’s not allowed.”

“Noona…?”

Should I have just laughed it off?

I didn’t know her jealousy of Hayeon would extend this far.

I wasn’t sure if my firm reply made her jealous, but Seolha stared at me.

And then she began to mumble.

“That won’t do… Noona will have to scold you…”

After she said that, she hugged me and I couldn’t escape from Seolha’s arms until our room cafe time was up.

“Heh… You can’t say something like that to your Noona…”

The Lee Seolha that I knew of was dead. The character from V. AGE, who held first place in the popular vote for her pureness was gone.

She drooled as she remained true to her instincts; she was just close to being a criminal.

How is she going to handle it when she comes back to her senses?

I watched the way Seolha, who looked like she was about to lose herself, acted, as I worried about how she’d behave when she returned to her right state of mind.

She won’t kill me, will she…?

While I was unnecessarily anxious, the future Seolha, who snapped back to her senses, came to my mind.

She’d be regretting her actions and would be kicking her blanket all day.

Her countless kicks might even tear some holes in the blanket.

Just thinking about it was pretty sad.

 ***

I spent my days while I lived together with Hana, chatted with Hayeon at the training ground, and occasionally met with Seolha as secret friends.

Hana kept looking at my smaller self and yelling, “Sijoon! I told you to call me, Noona!”

But I ignored her because I had no plans whatsoever in calling her that.

There were some times when Hana hugged me so hard in our sleep that it woke me up.

And at the training ground, Hayeon even coached my training.

Focus! Your hands stopped!

She was helping me with my shooting training.

Due to the gap in our talent, she got a much higher score than me when she showed me a demonstration at the training ground.

Hayeon showed to me that she wasn’t a future S-Rank for no reason.

As I continued to consume the nutritional supplements and trained hard, my body also changed.

Strength 4.

Now I was strong enough not to strain my wrist even when holding a pistol.

I even considered, “Should I ditch the pistol and try using a sword?” but my stamina stat was 2.

Unfortunately, fighting up close was not suitable for me since my stamina ran out.

The time I spent as Seolha’s secret friend passed rather easily as well.

“Do you like Noona or Hayeon?”

Sometimes those kind of questions took me aback, but I glossed over them by laughing.

To be honest, Seolha would kiss me immediately if I asked her to.

During our time as secret friends, she wanted to do it to me first, but she shook her head, hesitating, as if thinking it wasn’t right.

…This much should be enough.

After a certain amount of time passed, Seolha’s reason would come back bit by bit, so I set my mind on getting her lips as soon as possible.

And today, I was heading to the president of the academy’ office with Hayeon and Seolha as we were the people who cleared the gate.

Hayeon asked me slightly anxious, “Sijoon. It’s nothing serious, right?”

“Probably yeah. I think they’re going to give us a reward? Don’t worry.”

Hayeon was holding my small hand as we walked together.

I could hear the academy staff, who misunderstood us as siblings, exclaiming how cute we were, which didn’t feel that great.

What part of Hayeon makes her look like a Noona?

No matter how physically different we were, this wasn’t it.

Hayeon and I were childhood friends.

I could never call her Noona.

Saying that to one person was enough.

“Seolha.”

“…Hey.”

We ran into Lee Seolha in front of the president’s office.

She was wearing a look of regret since I had to use informal language on her.

“Something’s off…”

“What is?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Hayeon sensed the mood between us so her doubts were growing deeper.

I looked at her and broke into a cold sweat.

It can’t be, right…

A suspicion with almost 100% certainty.

But it was a rather difficult situation due to the lack of evidence.

Hayeon held suspicions but she had no concrete evidence, so she was staring at us.

What would happen if Hayeon found out that I was secret friends with Seolha?

It was a future I didn’t even want to imagine.

I decided to drop the thought.

“We’re going to be late. Let’s go in.”

Our meeting was at 12.

Right now it’s 11:58.

We arrived at the president’s office by a hair’s breadth and opened the door, then we saw the president of the Hero Academy.

“Yoo Hayeon, Lee Seolha, and Han Sijoon. Is that right?”

“Yes, it is.”

Her hair had turned completely white and she looked like a kind grandmother in her 70s.

But contrary to how she looked, she used to be a S-Rank hero in her prime.

She was still a figure with the power to be active in the field.

When Seolha, who was next to me, saw the president, she confidently exclaimed, “H…Hello!! President Shin Haeyoung!! It’s an honor to meet you!!”

Seolha bowed 90 degrees as she greeted her.

For someone with strong pride, it was rare to see this side of her.

I could guess that she was acting like this because she envied Shin Haeyoung, a former S-Rank hero.

Seeing that, President Haeyoung gave her a light smile.

“On the contrary, I feel more honored. You three protected the other students, clearing the A-Rank gate by yourselves. I’m truly proud of you all.”

President Haeyoung used the same tone as a kind grandmother would.

She looked at me as she said that and we made eye contact.

…

It was a look mixed with regret and gratitude.

I could understand why she made such an expression. 

It’s probably because of the Black Dawn. 

Shin Haeyoung felt sorry because Shin Haeil, who was related to her by blood, had kidnapped me.

She was the younger sister of the boss of a villain organization, Black Dawn.

The older brother was the head honcho of the worst villain organization whereas the younger sister was the president of the Hero Academy.

From what I knew, their family relationship was twisted like a skein.

But that was Shin Haeil’s fault as well as the fault of the Hero Association that put in the request.

Shin Haeyoung did not need to feel sorry for me at all.

I slightly bent my head as if to indicate I understood.

President Haeyoung began to explain why she called us.

“The reason I called you three is simply to talk about the rewards for clearing the gate.”

“R-Reward…?!”

Seolha shouted, she looked as if her head was spinning after hearing about the reward.

She was still not in her right state of mind.

“Heroes are rewarded every time they clear a high-ranking gate. But…”

She trailed off.

“Because students are not treated as heroes, unfortunately, the Hero Association said they’re unable to grant you a proper reward.”

“Ah…”

Seolha said with a regretful tone.

It looked like she had been looking forward to the reward.

I was also disappointed, since lately I’d been running out of money.

Hana, let’s live on bread for the time being.

If I had money, I could buy her chicken.

But I was nothing more than an unskilled student, so I couldn’t do anything about the Hero Association’s law on rewards.

President Haeyoung told us not to be too disappointed though.

“That is why the academy is considering giving you students a small gift. Is there anything you would like to have?”

Seolha, who was not in her right state of mind, firmly yelled, “money,” while Hayeon whispered in the president’s ear, wanting to keep the reward a secret.

“I’d like it if I could have —.”

“Oh my? You two, I see that spring is in the air?”

After the president heard Hayeon’s request, she smiled as she began to look at Hayeon and me back and forth.

Just what in the world did she say for her to respond like that?

Although I was curious, I did feel slightly anxious.

As for the remaining reward talk, that was all me.

I decided to tell her what I needed most at this moment.

“I would like a weapon. A gun that is easy to carry, and which could be imbued with mana.”

“You desire something quite expensive… I… I understand… A promise is a promise…”

Shin Haeyoung wore a troubled expression, but she promised to give me what I wanted.

I believe that much of a reward was a given considering how much effort I put into clearing the gate. 

We discussed the rewards, and President Haeyoung also expressed her concern for us as she gave us words of caution about the gates.

Just as I saw her from V. AGE, she was an excellent educator.

Our conversation went on for half an hour, and when we ran out of topics, we realized it was time for us to leave.

As we got up and were headed to leave, the president called out to us.

To be specific, me.

“Then, I’ll see you next time. Before that, Student Han Sijoon?”

“Huh? Yes?”

Why was she calling me over Hayeon, who was displaying her S-Rank capabilities?

When I gave her a confused look, she said to me, ”Could I have a chat with you for a moment? It’s something important.”

President Haeyoung wanted to discuss something important.

I wasn’t stupid enough to reject her request.

The reformation or destruction of the Hero Association. 

There was an episode with Shin Haeyoung related to that.

It seemed the time had come to fix the Hero Association, which had been targeting my life.

Footnotes:

1Yeomisae is a slang word which quite literally means a man who’s crazy for women’s attention.