I Don’t Want to be a Villainess – Chapter 58

In the end, even when I arrived at the student council room, that uneasy feeling didn’t go away at all.

How should I describe it?

It was like the feeling of watching the protagonist in a novel execute some grand plan, only for the villain to say, “I actually knew everything all along”.

Well, thinking about it now wouldn’t lead to any conclusions, so I decided to set it aside for the time being.

Let’s handle the tasks in front of us, one by one.

Of course, what I was referring to wasn’t about the things happening “right now” in front of me.

I was talking about the group meeting with the chairman this Saturday.

In fact, the current situation wasn’t anything significant at all.

No matter what happens here, it will benefit me.

“….”

A sharp-looking man with oval-shaped glasses, fingers interlocked, was staring at us with an extremely serious expression.

It was the student council president.

His neatly trimmed black hair was parted to one side, forming a clean-cut part.

Except for his somewhat youthful face due to his age, it was a hairstyle fitting of a corporate worker.

It was the kind of hairstyle you’d expect from a strict male lead in a drama.

Speaking of strict male leads, I think I know who this person is.

However, I couldn’t be entirely sure.

Because the person I was thinking of… or rather, the “character” was one drawn with rough strokes like in a basic drawing program.

Yes, he strongly resembles one of the three male protagonists from “If You Wish”.

The issue was, I wasn’t particularly interested in the male characters.

All I knew about Yoon Da-ho’s route was what I had seen in the streamer’s playthrough and a bit of information I’d looked up on the wiki about Nam Da-un.

The only reason I remembered his appearance was because he appeared on the main menu screen of “If You Wish”.

I didn’t even know his name.

I might have seen it a few times in the wiki, but I didn’t bother remembering.

Even though “If You Wish” became famous for being a one-person-developed game and made waves in its niche community, such games are typically only played by a select group of people.

Most of the content in the wiki seemed to be written by one person, with many unfinished sections.

Perhaps this character didn’t even have a wiki entry because they weren’t of much interest to the contributor.

While I was lost in thought, the student council president cleared his throat.

“Uh… so, Yoo Ha-neul, right?”

“You can just call me by my name.”

Ha-neul, who was sitting demurely beside me, spoke confidently.

“Okay, then… I’ll call you Yoo Ha-neul.”

At the president’s words, Ha-neul nodded.

“And… Lee Soo-ah?”

“I-It’s fine if you just call me by my name too.”

“Thanks for being considerate.”

Then, the student council president, looking extremely tense, glanced in my direction.

…His first impression and current image were quite different.

Unlike the strict, corporate boss-like first impression, his current expression looked, well… quite feeble.

Was he perhaps a character with a gap moe?

…Well, considering he’s a male character, there’s no reason for me to feel anything about that.

Oh, now that I think about it, during Yoon Da-ho’s route, when Ye Sara started causing havoc, the student council was described as folding immediately under a few of Ye Sara’s words.

Maybe he’s more fragile than he looks.

After a brief moment of eye contact, the student council president averted his gaze.

He looked back at Ha-neul.

“You’re an external transfer student, right?”

“Yes.”

The student council president read from the papers spread on his desk.

“Your entrance exam scores were excellent, you promptly answered any questions the teachers asked, and you’re attending on a full scholarship.”

“Yes.”

“You haven’t broken any school rules?”

“Of course not.”

“Good, let’s keep up the good work.”

“Pardon?”

As soon as the president finished the questioning, Ha-neul seemed startled and repeated herself in disbelief.

“President!”

Son A-reum, the disciplinary committee member who had been standing next to the president with a smug expression, shrieked, but the president ignored her and turned to Lee Soo-ah.

“Next is Lee Soo-ah.”

“Huh? Oh, yes.”

Startled by the abrupt end to Ha-neul’s questioning, Soo-ah stammered.

“The eldest daughter of Lee Won Corporation. Your grades in middle school were above average, your appearance is neat, and you’re popular among your peers—”

Stopping at that point, the student council president cleared his throat again, as if embarrassed.

Well, it’s hard to deny that ever since Soo-ah and I became close, her relationship with her previous friends had become quite distant.

Even if they pretend I don’t exist.

“…Anyway, as far as I know, you haven’t broken any school rules. Right?”

“I, I haven’t…”

“During a class, a newly employed teacher accidentally erased what they had written on the board and got so flustered that they couldn’t continue the lesson. Witnesses say that it wasn’t related to you, and it seems like the disciplinary committee made a mistake.”

“Huh?”

Soo-ah’s mouth opened slightly in disbelief.

“So, well…”

The student council president adjusted his glasses.

“Let’s keep up the good work.”

“President!”

The disciplinary committee member slammed the desk with a loud bang.

Thud, a sound that seemed painful echoed.

“Ow…”

And seemingly genuinely hurt, the committee member grabbed her struck hand with her other hand.

Tears welled up in her eyes.

“This desk is seriously solid. Maybe you should go to the nurse’s office?”

“No, that’s not the point right now!”

If she’s actually hurt, isn’t it important?

…Well, since she probably won’t listen, I just stayed quiet.

“President, what on earth are you talking about?

You have three people sitting here who are wreaking havoc on school discipline!

And what you’re saying doesn’t match up with the actual events!”

“That’s right! I was clearly hugging Sara throughout the entire class!”

Ha-neul, who had been sitting quietly next to me, suddenly stood up and shouted.

No, you weren’t hugging me…

You were just sitting on top of me…

Does that count?

“You just said you didn’t break any rules a moment ago, didn’t you?”

The president’s eyes shook violently behind his glasses.

He seemed flustered by the sudden change in Ha-neul’s statement.

“I said I didn’t break any rules!”

“But you did! How is clinging to each other during class not breaking the rules?”

The disciplinary committee member seemed enraged at Ha-neul’s sudden reversal.

“Is there any rule that says ‘you can’t hug during class’ written down?”

Ha-neul threw out an absurd argument!

The committee member’s mouth fell open, but no words came out!

The effect was tremendous!

Well, if anyone else had spoken that confidently, it’d leave anyone speechless.

“…”

The student council room was filled with silence for a moment.

“There, there’s something called common sense that you should follow even if it’s not explicitly written down!”

Yeah, that’s true.

There is something called common sense that everyone follows.

And yes, I did break that common sense.

“But didn’t you say you’d punish us according to the rules? If it’s not written down, then it’s allowed!”

Ha-neul, that’s not the kind of thing you should say with your hands on your hips and your head held high…

Is it because she’s the protagonist?

Her ability to stir things up is amazing.

The problem was that all that attention was now being redirected toward me, as the disciplinary committee member began glaring at me.

Looking at it this way, Ha-neul really did seem like the protagonist’s loyal right-hand woman defending the villainess.

While swinging my crossed leg back and forth, I said to Ha-neul,

“That’s enough. They probably weren’t planning to listen from the start anyway.”

“But…!”

…She’s acting, right?

She has to be acting.

She looks genuinely upset.

I decided to believe that Ha-neul wasn’t actually upset about not being able to cling to me during class.

With my arms crossed and the tip of my foot lightly swaying, I raised my chin haughtily.

…At least, that’s what I thought I did.

Since I’d never done it before, I wasn’t sure if it looked right.

Then, I stared straight at the student council president.

The president’s pupils trembled as they met my gaze.

“President, why don’t you say something about me too? I promise I won’t go around saying that the president spoke to me.”

No matter how he appeared, he was still one of the male leads… presumably.

So he must have some level of resolve as a male lead.

“….”

The president avoided my gaze for a while.

“Th-Then, the disciplinary hearing will be adjourned…”

He hastily stood up.

“President!”

“You, come see me for a moment.”

He said in a rather stern voice to the disciplinary committee member who had called him.

“…Pardon?”

The committee member seemed slightly taken aback, but when the president quickly walked out of the student council room, she hesitated for a moment, then hurriedly followed after him, glancing between us and the door.

“…”

Well, really.

No matter what, how does the president leave the student council room with students still inside?

“…”

Ha-neul, who had stood up earlier, slowly sat back down.

The confident expression she had worn just moments ago had completely vanished, replaced by a near-perfect blank face.

…She’s kind of scary.

I should make sure not to do anything that might anger her.

“So, this is reality after all.”

Ha-neul muttered softly.

While I was completely ignored, Ha-neul and Soo-ah weren’t exactly invisible.

They were only ignored in relation to their association with me.

Of course, Ha-neul was also disregarded for not being from a wealthy family, but the nature of the disregard was different.

When people ignored Ha-neul, they would bump into her shoulder without apologizing or mock her as they passed by.

When they ignored me, it was as if I didn’t exist at all.

In my case, it was an obsessive level of pretending I wasn’t there.

Of course, because otherwise, they would have to admit I was actually there.

“I guess… I was taking this too lightly…”

Soo-ah said, her head drooping as she fidgeted with her fingers.

Then suddenly, she looked up and gazed at me with sorrowful eyes.

“You’ve been treated like this all along, haven’t you?”

“…”

I couldn’t answer her.

I’d never experienced that.

Of course, for the past two months since I came to this world, I had lived that way, but for most of my life, I lived a fairly ordinary life.

I couldn’t even imagine how Ye Sara must have felt.

Maybe the difference in our behavior, compared to the original Ye Sara, came from the gap in our experiences.

While I was still silent,

Suddenly, Ha-neul jumped up again.

“Sara!”

“Y-Yes?”

I was startled by her sudden loud voice calling my name.

“From now on, we need to work even harder!”

“…What?”

For a moment, I wasn’t sure what she meant and looked up at her.

Ha-neul was staring at me with eyes burning with determination, like a hot-blooded protagonist from a super robot anime.

“We need to stick together more, stand out more, and spread more rumors! So that people won’t be able to ignore us anymore!”

“…W-What?”

I was so taken aback by what I heard that my response came out all jumbled.

“That’s right, Sara.”

Suddenly, Soo-ah, who was sitting beside me, grabbed my hand.

With eyes as glistening as a tragic heroine in a romance manga, she looked at me.

“Let’s work hard together.”

…

Uh, um.

So, you’re saying, even more than now?

Just how far are you planning to go…?