episode_0047

047

The spacious living room of Lee Siwoon’s mansion.

“….”

“….”

An unknown silence weighed heavily between us.

Choi Changwon’s pupils wandered aimlessly like a lost child, but soon his gaze met Soyeon’s.

For a moment, Soyeon and Choi Changwon’s eyes intertwined.

The emotions reflected in Soyeon’s eyes were not of reproach or resentment.

Rather, they seemed to convey a hint of sadness and empathy.

As if understanding the emotions in Soyeon’s eyes, Choi Changwon hesitated, biting his lower lip and averting his gaze.

It seemed difficult for him to meet Soyeon’s eyes any longer.

Despite his flaws being exposed, instead of blaming her, he looked at her with pity, which made Choi Changwon feel ashamed and embarrassed.

With his head bowed, Choi Changwon bit his lip harder.

“Changwon.”

“….”

“I don’t understand why you did this.”

“….”

“I….”

“….”

Suddenly.

“….Ha.”

Choi Changwon burst into a bitter laugh unexpectedly.

“….Damn. Seriously.”

He muttered curses, wearing a crestfallen expression.

“….Yeah, that’s probably it.”

He mumbled to himself, seeming somewhat resigned.

“Huh, yeah, you don’t know, right? Why I did this?”

Finally, with a resolute smile, Choi Changwon turned his gaze towards Soyeon.

It was the gaze of someone who had already let go of everything.

“Soyeon, do you really not know why I did this?”

“Changwon….”

Having already resigned himself, Choi Changwon seemed determined to let out all the emotions he had been holding in.

Suddenly, like an injured animal, Choi Changwon growled loudly, blaming Soyeon.

“It’s all because of you, you!”

“Ah.”

“You approached me first!”

“What do you mean by approaching….”

“You came up to me on your own and pretended to be interested!”

As far as I know, Choi Changwon is someone with a lack of affection.

His parents were both working when he was young, so he didn’t receive proper attention and love growing up.

Despite having considerable talent to be admitted to the Union, he struggled to form proper relationships due to spending a lot of time alone.

In the midst of this, Soyeon must have approached him.

To help Choi Changwon, who didn’t fit in well with other kids, she must have done various things to help him socialize.

Moreover, she would have promised to help him if he had any difficulties.

A pretty and kind girl who helped with various things, listened to his stories, and always smiled warmly, Choi Changwon couldn’t help but feel excited.

Furthermore, as far as I know, Choi Changwon is a loner.

Although he had some girls interested in him due to his abilities, his somewhat plain face and dull, uninteresting personality often led to them losing interest after a while.

But Soyeon must have been different.

Soyeon must have sincerely helped Choi Changwon and offered him support when he was struggling, so it’s no wonder he felt drawn to her.

“You just liked hanging out with guys, right? That’s it, right?!”

“Ah, no.”

So it wasn’t strange for Choi Changwon to have misconceptions.

After all, Soyeon had been helping and interacting with others without expecting anything in return.

Just imagine a pretty girl helping others without any ulterior motives and laughing cheerfully by their side.

From a man’s perspective, it would be easy to misunderstand, ‘Oh, does she have an interest in me?’

In the past, Soyeon had a boyfriend, and because of her beautiful appearance, most of the boys hesitated to approach her romantically.

However, in the case of Choi Changwon, he was ranked 34th among the freshmen, and Soyeon had broken up with her boyfriend, so he seemed to think she was interested in him.

Of course, no matter how you look at it, Choi Changwon’s actions were never justified.

“You pretended to be interested in me! Always doing this to other guys too!”

“Changwon, that’s not what it seems, I need your help…”

“Damn it, you bitch!”

…His words are a bit harsh.

Choi Changwon, as if he had no more hesitation, unabashedly insulted Soyeon with offensive language.

But if he goes as far as saying that, can she still endure it?

Yi Sun, Soyeon’s guardian.

The reason why Yi Sun and I have been silent until now is because of Soyeon.

Soyeon kept gesturing as if everything was fine.

But if Choi Changwon goes as far as saying that, I can’t bear it anymore.

If Yi Sun doesn’t step in?

Then I will.

I’m getting annoyed too.

I’m deliberately listening to the situation to provoke it, but he’s just blabbering nonsense, that guy.

“Jin Soyeon! You act like this with other guys too…!”

“Shut up, Choi Changwon.”

“Yi Sun, you’re also fooled by that bitch…!”

“I told you to shut up.”

Yi Sun reached out with a cold expression and grabbed Choi Changwon’s neck. Soyeon seemed angry after being insulted several times. With great emotion, she choked Choi Changwon’s neck.

Choi Changwon choked for a moment, then quickly exerted his strength to push Yi Sun’s hand away. Yi Sun took a step back.

“Cough, cough, damn it, Yi Sun…!”

…

Yi Sun looked at Choi Changwon indifferently while shielding Soyeon behind him.

Choi Changwon didn’t seem to like that sight, as he once again threatened Yi Sun and Soyeon with a menacing expression and furious eyes.

“You guys are always like this, always. Only I’m the bastard. Isn’t that right?”

“You brought this upon yourself, Choi Changwon.”

“Changwon, stop this, enough.”

“Shut up! Damn it… you should be prepared for this outcome. You guys.”

With a distorted expression and intense anger in his eyes, Choi Changwon glared at Soyeon and Yi Sun.

Since it was impossible to salvage the situation any further, it seemed like Choi Changwon had accepted the situation as it was.

But that guy.

I’m not going to intervene?

Well, I didn’t plan on stepping in from the beginning. Yi Sun is enough on his own, and I’ve prepared various things in case of emergencies.

…Above all, it’s a highlight scene, so wouldn’t it be better if Yi Sun knocks him down for a better picture?

“Go to hell!”

…

In an instant, Choi Changwon formed a sphere of magic and fired it at Yi Sun and Soyeon, but Yi Sun swung the hidden wooden sword under the table to redirect the magic sphere sideways.

The magic sphere hit the wall with a loud thud, and Yi Sun took advantage of the opportunity to quickly approach Choi Changwon and strike his abdomen, solar plexus, and throat. Oh, what? That’s amazing?

“Crack!”

For a moment, while Choi Changwon was incapacitated, Yi Sun tripped him to the floor and pressed his back with his knee, completely subduing him.

“…He’s kind of cool.”

Would you call it a scene you’d see in a movie?

In the blink of an eye, approaching and striking the opponent, completely overpowering them, seemed like a scene from an action movie, half jokingly, it was like a scene from an action movie.

‘He looks pretty cool.’

I silently admired.

“By the way, I didn’t expect Choi Changwon to be subdued so easily. He was ranked 34th, after all.”

Of course, Choi Changwon was unarmed and vulnerable in close combat, so the situation was much more favorable for Lee Siwoon. However, I was slightly surprised by how easily he was subdued.

It feels like Lee Siwoon has become much stronger than he was during the assessment.

I guess he’s the talented male protagonist, so he’s growing rapidly even if we leave him alone.

“Y-You’re not letting go of this?!”

“Choi Changwon. I told you I would give you a chance earlier. It’s because of Soyeon.”

“W-What?”

“If you had confessed and asked for forgiveness from the beginning, Soyeon would have shown some leniency.”

“T-That’s…”

Of course, it only meant that she would show some leniency.

In the end, Choi Changwon couldn’t escape punishment.

After all, Lee Siwoon was angry from the start.

He wouldn’t just let it go, would he?

Bang!

“Are you okay, sir!”

“Sir!”

The security team rushed into the living room after banging on the front door.

They were all dressed in black suits and armed, looking at us.

Most of them were former heroes, so they were powerful.

No matter what Choi Changwon did, there was nothing we could do.

“It’s okay. The job is done.”

“I see.”

One of the security guards glanced at the fallen Choi Changwon and nodded.

They seemed to understand the situation vaguely, prepared for any unforeseen circumstances.

“Should we take this man with us, sir?”

“Yes. We’ll decide on his fate later… for now, please do so.”

“Understood, sir. Then.”

As one of the security guards nodded, the rest approached Choi Changwon and led him out of the living room.

Choi Changwon struggled with a grim expression, but it was futile.

Soon, there were only three of us left in the living room.

Soyeon, Siwoon, and me.

The three of us stood in silence for a while without saying anything.

And then.

“Ah, well, it seems to have ended somehow.”

“….Yeah.”

Soyeon weakly nodded.

“What do you think we should do with Choi Changwon?”

“Well, considering what happened today, we should inform the academy of the truth and see how the situation unfolds. Reporting to the police wouldn’t make much sense.”

“He could be expelled, right?”

“Probably.”

In the Republic of Korea’s top academy for aspiring heroes, a bizarre stalking incident occurred where a male student stole and collected items used by a girl or filmed her, so the level of punishment would definitely not be lenient.

As the top institution for hero training, the punishment for such behavior was quite strict.

As for us… we may have… technically trespassed into someone’s home, but Siwoon would handle it well.

“Siwoon’s background is indeed useful.”

Whether it was analyzing fingerprints, quickly finding out Choi Changwon’s personal information, or having former hero security guards… his background was beneficial in many ways.

“Both Yuseolhyun and Siwoon. I guess I need to get closer to them to some extent.”

This time it was just a simple stalking incident, but in the future, we would be involved in much bigger incidents than this.

At that time, Siwoon and Yuseolhyun’s backgrounds would serve as reliable shields and powerful weapons.

“….Well then, I’ll go first. I’m feeling a bit tired. See you later.”

“Okay, Jinho.”

Should I start making some room now?

Since Siwoon has impressively subdued the stalker, it would be nice to give them some space to talk alone.

Choi Changwon may not have been a stalker, a suspicion that I had first, but after that, Lee Siwoon took care of things almost on his own, so Soyeon would feel grateful to him.

Although she may have felt a bit disappointed to find out that Choi Changwon, whom she considered a friend, was a stalker, she believed that Siwoon would comfort her well.

In fact, because of this incident, they might become even closer.

“Maybe Soyeon will… realize that she shouldn’t help guys so easily in the future?”

Of course, Soyeon, who is practically a corpse without any sense of boundaries, won’t stop helping other kids just because she experienced this, but maybe she’ll be a bit more cautious after this incident?

Or maybe not.

“…Anyway, I hope I can leave her alone a bit and get closer to Siwoon.”

With that thought in mind, I slowly made my way forward.

***

“…Soyeon, are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah.”

Jin Soyeon, who was staring into the distance where Lee Jinhyuk had left, was suddenly brought back to reality by Siwoon’s voice.

When she glanced at him, Siwoon was looking at her with his usual indifferent gaze, but she could sense a hint of concern in his eyes.

“…I didn’t know Changwon was thinking of me like that.”

“Soyeon.”

“…So he thought I would do something like that.”

Jin Soyeon murmured bitterly.

Yeah, she didn’t know.

Choi Changwon’s feelings.

She just thought they could get along as friends.

Some people believe that there’s no such thing as friendship between a man and a woman, but not Jin Soyeon. She believed that men and women could be friends.

But how did it end up like this?

“Come to think of it, I didn’t know that Jinhyuk liked me and I hurt him without knowing… and now the same with Changwon…”

There’s a saying that goes, “Once is a coincidence, twice is fate.”

Jin Soyeon pondered over the words that Choi Changwon had spat out.

– You’re the one who approached me first!

– You just came up to me and pretended to be interested!

– You just liked fooling around with guys, right? Isn’t that true?!

– You seduced me by pretending to be interested! And you always did that to other guys too!

“…Did I do something wrong?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Siwoon, do you think my actions were a bit… like that?”

“Soyeon…”

In fact, there was a lot to explain.

Jin Soyeon didn’t help guys with a hidden agenda.

She genuinely helped people in need with all her heart and soul, regardless of gender.

She didn’t possess the malice to subtly seduce and manipulate guys like Yoo Seolhyun did, she just genuinely wanted to help others.

It’s just that some guys fell for her in the process.

“Soyeon, it’s really great that you get along with the guys in class. But being too close to guys… can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. It might be good to be a bit more cautious.”

“…Yeah, I know. I’m aware of that too.”

Jin Soyeon was confident that she could distinguish between guys who liked her and those who didn’t.

She could to some extent, and she tried her best to behave properly.

She shouldn’t give any room to guys who liked her.

But when it really mattered, she tended to miss the signs.

Like this time.

“Oh.”

Suddenly.

Out of the blue.

She remembered the things that Lee Jinhyuk and Yoo Seolhyun had mentioned a few times.

…The fact that Siwoon actually likes her.

“Siwoon.”

“Yeah.”

“…I hope you don’t think it’s too weird and just listen to me.”

“…”

Normally, she wouldn’t pay much attention to such words, but with Jinhyuk and Changwon’s cases in mind.

Furthermore, Isiwoon isn’t particularly close with other girls, but there was a certain closeness with Jinsuyeon.

Especially after helping out like this today.

There’s a saying that even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes.

That’s why Jinsuyeon pursed her lips with a slightly cloudy expression and slightly trembling eyes, hoping that Isiwoon wouldn’t be like that.

“….Um, I mean, um.”

“….Suyeon?”

Did Isiwoon notice that Jinsuyeon’s demeanor was a bit off?

Isiwoon looked at her with a more serious expression.

“Is there… um, do you… have… interest in me…?”

Suddenly,

“….”

Isiwoon’s expression stiffened.