Ch 181
Became a swordsmanship instructor at the academy
Chapter 181
Not long after dinner was brought, the kids who had gone for environmental cleanup activities arrived.
But somehow the atmosphere is strange?
Don't tell me they noticed that I'm the only one with Three-Flavor Fried Rice?
I quickly poured the black bean sauce to avoid being caught, so it's probably not that. Maybe they got into a fight while cleaning?
No way. If that were the case, Lee Ji-sung wouldn't look so intact.
Besides, our champion of justice Minhee wouldn't have stayed quiet if a fight had broken out.
It seemed fastest to just ask, so I casually approached Seong Ji-an.
"Ji-an."
"Yeah?"
"Did something happen while you were cleaning?"
"It must have been nice for you to slack off here alone while we were all suffering, right?"
Nam Ji-hyeon, that girl. She's picking a fight again as soon as she sees me.
"Slacking off my ass. I was fixing the computer and doing document work the whole time."
"You should stop giving Chan-seong a hard time. Earlier, Eunseo Senior said that Chan-seong fixed the computer."
"Even a slug has the skill to roll around."
"Stop picking fights. What happened that made the atmosphere like this?"
"You see that girl Yu Hye-ji over there? She says she's Lee Ji-sung's fiancée."
At Nam Ji-hyeon's words, I thought 'So what?', but fortunately Ji-an followed up with an explanation, so I could understand the situation.
I thought it was already known that Yu Hye-ji was Lee Ji-sung's fiancée, but it seems everyone was unaware of it.
As I took a spoonful of greasy fried rice and reconsidered, it definitely seemed that way.
But still, something feels off.
From what I know, in the original work, Lee Ji-sung doesn't get particularly involved with Yu Hye-ji during his first year.
Seong Ji-an, Nam Ji-hyeon, and Yu Hye-ji are all Lee Ji-sung's heroines, but the heroines who appear in the first year are Seong Ji-an and Nam Ji-hyeon. Yu Hye-ji only recognizes his true identity after they become classmates in the second year.
Hmm, is it because they're in the same student council?
Haha... It seems like a snowball effect created because of me.
Since I helped Do-hyun early on, Lee Ji-sung couldn't recover his relationship with Do-hyun through material support, so he joined the student council instead.
I simply thought it was no big deal and tried to brush it off, but the problem is quite serious.
Of course, even in the original work, Lee Ji-sung steals Yu Hye-ji from Kim Do-hyun during the summer vacation of their second year.
But at that time, Lee Ji-sung had built up a friendship by helping Kim Do-hyun during his first year, and when Do-hyun meets his heroine Se-jin in the second year, it doesn't escalate into a major conflict.
But now they're both freshmen and their relationship is still at its worst.
Moreover, Se-jin, who should have become Do-hyun's heroine, likes me...
It seems like it'll be quite difficult for the two of them to become friends.
I just helped Do-hyun because I felt sorry for him, but I never expected the aftermath to be this big.
"Just looking at her, it doesn't seem like it was her own will. Yu Hye-ji is really pitiful too. Having such a scoundrel as a fiancé."
"Right? It must have been an engagement arranged between the families, right?"
Yu Hye-ji.
The third generation of Yuseong Group. While it can't compare to Hwasin Group, Yuseong Group is also a major corporation that definitely ranks within the top 10 in the business hierarchy.
Moreover, in terms of company size alone, while Yuseong is somewhat lacking compared to Hwasin, Yuseong has something that Hwasin doesn't have.
Because Yu Hye-ji's father is Jeong Ji-hwan, the master of Yuseong Guild.
Although she has a different surname from her father, there's no complicated family history or anything like that. It's just that Jeong Ji-hwan, who married into the family, didn't pass on his surname, and she took the surname of her mother, Yu Min-jeong, who is the president of Yuseong Trading.
Right now, both Nam Ji-hyeon and Ji-an seem to think Yu Hye-ji is pitiful, but my thoughts are a bit different.
If I were to compare the heroines to animals, Seong Ji-an would be a loyal dog that wags its tail well toward its owner.
Nam Ji-hyeon would be about like a cat that picks fights often and has a quite prickly personality.
But Yu Hye-ji is described in the original work as an imugi (dragon larva) that constantly aims for ascension.
Personally, I think that expression is a bit too generous, and she could be called a wolf in sheep's clothing.
A perfect pretender whose outside and inside are completely different.
On the surface, she pretends to be kind like Seong Ji-an, but in reality, she's the typical bad woman type of chaebol daughter who divides people into classes based on their social position or wealth.
While not as much as Luciel, she's quite vain and extremely calculating and selfish.
That's why during her three years of middle school, even though her fiancé Lee Ji-sung was causing trouble, she not only didn't stop him but acted as if she had absolutely nothing to do with it.
Of course, after falling head over heels for the protagonist Lee Ji-sung, she becomes the number one contributor who supports the protagonist both inside and outside.
SNAP!
That girl Yu Hye-ji breaks her chopsticks while eating.
"Hye-ji?"
"Ah, I unconsciously put too much force into it."
"There should be new chopsticks... Oh, here they are."
"Thanks."
She seems quite annoyed.
Well, Lee Ji-sung suddenly revealed that she was his fiancée.
The other heroines are heroines too, but I really don't want to get involved with that girl if I can help it.
"Oh, right. Chan-seong, Ji-an and I decided to go to Ares Guild for our field trip too."
"What are you talking about? Didn't you both say you were going to Bicheon Guild?"
"Since Ji-hyeon is going to Bicheon Guild, we can visit there later even if not now. Same with our Hwasung Guild."
"No, then there are many other good guilds too?"
"Other places would probably be similar, but this time Ares said they're making major changes."
This is a big problem.
It's not just annoying, but since Se-jin personally asked me to come to their guild, Se-jin will definitely be there too.
If she sees Seong Ji-an clinging to me... Ugh, it's horrible just to imagine.
Of course, Eunseo handled it better than I expected without much fuss, but that's because we already knew each other and she recognized me.
Seong Ji-an is completely meeting her for the first time and she's a new student...
"Are you so happy to go with Ji-an? You're so happy you can't even speak."
Nam Ji-hyeon, I really need to give her a proper lesson someday...
I should talk to her in advance this evening.
If I tell her the truth that there seemed to be something like a romantic interest between the original owner of this body and her, she might understand.
No, she will understand.
Well, it's not like I did anything wrong, and it's just Seong Ji-an mindlessly throwing herself at me.
"Huh? Are you guys going to Ares for your field trip too?"
Yu Hye-ji approaches us after hearing our conversation, but... wait, you guys too?
"Oh my, Hye-ji, are you going to Ares too?"
"Weren't you going to Yuseong?"
"I actually wanted to introduce Do-hyun to it, but Do-hyun said he wanted to go to Ares. As for me, I see Yuseong all the time, and like you guys think, I can introduce Do-hyun to Yuseong during vacation."
I thought Do-hyun would likely go to Ares, but even that girl Yu Hye-ji...
Lee Ji-sung, who was eating jjamppong in the corner, also heard our conversation, so he'll come to Ares too.
This feels like it's going to be quite troublesome.
Actually, what I'm most concerned about is Do-hyun.
That guy Do-hyun has grown incredibly tall since I last saw him, and he was originally handsome but has become even more handsome.
I trust Se-jin, but thinking about the original work, I wish they wouldn't get involved at all...
Should I tell Se-jin not to come?
Since I need to talk about Seong Ji-an too, if I say something like that for no reason, she might get suspicious...
Nothing is going right anyway.
***
While cleaning, I asked Yu Hye-ji where she was going for her field trip, but couldn't get an answer.
I deliberately approached her because it seemed like Kim Do-hyun would go to the same place she was going.
She seems angry because I revealed my identity... but even so, I'm her fiancé in name, so it seems a bit too much.
I thought I was completely screwed since things got even worse with Kim Do-hyun, but fortunately I found out where Kim Do-hyun was going during the meal, so that's good.
After dinner, as I was about to return to the dormitory, I got a text from Yu Hye-ji.
[Come to the rooftop.]
I thought about just ignoring it since I wouldn't hear anything good anyway, but I still came to the rooftop thinking that some relationship improvement was necessary to become friends with Do-hyun.
"Lee Ji-sung, what are you trying to do?"
The Yu Hye-ji who was smiling sweetly and acting nice in front of Kim Do-hyun is gone, and there's some venomous viper here.
"What did I do?"
"What were you thinking when you revealed the fact that I'm engaged to you?"
"Because my fiancée was smiling flirtatiously at another man?"
"Are you kidding? You were the first one to say in middle school first year that you had no intention of following an engagement arranged by the family, and that we should pretend not to know each other."
I said that?
When I think about it, the memory comes back... That's definitely what happened.
"Well, I was young then. Since it's a promise between families, I can't just decide on my own..."
"Don't talk bullshit. Since when have you cared about such things!"
Does she like Kim Do-hyun that much?
I know she becomes Kim Do-hyun's heroine in the original work, but this is really pitiful for Lee Ji-sung.
"Why? Even though he knows you're my fiancée, he still seems to like you."
"So what? Are you jealous now?"
"Well, maybe something like that."
That girl Yu Hye-ji has a completely dumbfounded expression.
"I'm warning you, don't interfere with my life. Unless you want to get beaten to death."
...Quite violent.
Was what she showed in front of Kim Do-hyun an act?
"If you hit me... GAG!"
She suddenly approaches and grabs me by the collar, and I couldn't react at all.
Come to think of it, her dad was also one of the Ten Stars, right?
Being a magician really sucks.
"If I hit you, what? You've been bullying some commoner losers and now you think you're hot shit, but don't treat me the same way. I know very well what kind of treatment you get at Hwasin Group anyway."
She looks at me pathetically as I'm gagging, then lets go of my collar and leaves.
It seems like that girl knows that I'm an outcast from my father's favor because I'm a troublemaker who only causes accidents at Hwasin Group.
I should be used to it by now, but it really feels like shit.
It's not even something I did, so why do I have to be treated like this...
No good.
At the gym, I thought that no matter what, I wouldn't give up even my fiancée, but I changed my mind a bit while coming up.
Since she's not my type anyway and I'm not interested in her, I was going to ask her to help me get closer to Kim Do-hyun since I'd give her a divorce.
But now I'm feeling spiteful, so I can't do that.
***
"Isn't the guild building's location really amazing?"
"It looks like you can see the Han River directly, it must be incredibly expensive?"
The Ares Guild building is located in Seongdong-gu.
More precisely, if you go from Seongsu Station toward Gangbyeon North Road, it's among the apartment complexes there.
This glass building that appears to be at least 20 stories high is the Ares Guild building.
Of course, Ares Guild doesn't use the entire building, but anyway, the owner of this building is Ares Guild.
With a Han River view and this height, at current market prices, it would probably be more expensive than the building they bought in Gangnam.
Even though they stumbled a bit when Kim Dae-chan retired, a top 10 guild is definitely a top 10 guild.
Besides, the stumbling was just because their image took a hit due to Kim Dae-chan, not because of economic problems.
Se-jin, this girl was really a rich young lady.
"It's still just Seongdong-gu though. Our Bicheon Guild building is in Gangnam."
"It seems a bit lower than our Yuseong Group headquarters. Yuseong Guild is 30 stories."
Most of the kids are purely impressed, but the rich kids start comparing buildings as soon as they see it.
"Ji-an, your guild building is bigger than this too, right?"
"Pro... Probably?"
Even Seong Ji-an joined the comparison group, but surprisingly, Lee Ji-sung is quiet.
Even if you combine all of theirs, it wouldn't buy half of Lee Ji-sung's company headquarters, so with that guy's personality, he'd be itching to say something like this.
Just as I was thinking he was managing his image, the bus stopped.
"Today's field trip is conducted by the guild itself, and the guild will provide transportation, so everyone listen well. Don't cause any trouble. So you can have an enjoyable field trip."
After listening to the teacher's meaningless sermon, as I was about to get off the bus, the outside seemed quite noisy.
Don't tell me Se-jin came out to greet us?
That girl really. Even if I'm coming, still.
If the heir apparent who will soon become the guild master comes out to greet us, it would diminish her gravitas... What?
From the entrance, people wearing matching camouflage-patterned clothes and red and black caps pulled down low are walking out in a line.
One person steps forward from the center... Kim Dae-chan?
No, why is that old man here?
"Welcome to our Ares Guild field trip. Fledgling Hunter School chicks."
He speaks stiffly with a poker face, but something's wrong.
This was definitely supposed to be a field trip, not a training camp...