Performing Evaluation Prep (2)
“Huh?”
A sudden request from Yu Seolhyeon made me wrinkle my brow slightly. In the game, she had never once offered me such a request before.
“Why? Me?”
Yu Seolhyeon was ranked seventh at admission.
There were countless cadets who would want to train alongside her.
Since she had been personally taught by the Demon of the Creative, Yu Gapryeong, her combat prowess was on par with the male protagonists.
She had been trained since childhood in expensive sword manuals and inner techniques, giving her physical abilities far superior to ordinary cadets.
Excluding Siwoo and Daehan, she was the strongest force here.
“Not interested?”
“I’m not saying I’m not interested.”
Yu Seolhyeon giggled and asked in return. I quickly shook my head.
“There are plenty of other good ones besides me.”
“Indeed, judging by combat performance alone, there are many better ones than me.”
She nodded slowly with a relaxed expression.
“But right now, we don’t even know what the theme of this performance evaluation is, do we?”
I knew, but—
I had watched it over and over in the game.
“Instructor Hong Dae-ye also said to select teammates considering various situations, so simply looking at combat ability isn’t a great idea.”
Yu Seolhyeon stared at me with a faint smile.
“During middle school, you were praised for your exceptional tactical simulation in the Great Dungeon War and your skills as an operator, right?”
“It wasn’t bad.”
“I heard you never missed first place?”
Ever since I knew I had noticeably poor talent for being a hero, I studied literature and theory to the extreme.
I had to enter the Union Academy with Soyeon and become a wonderful hero.
…Until I remembered my memories from this life.
“Since we don’t know what kind of evaluation it will be, I wanted to pick one tactically excellent person as my teammate. Ah, and don’t worry. There are already enough fighters.”
“……”
Yu Seolhyeon smiled sweetly and gently patted the shoulder of the girl standing beside her.
A girl with long twin tails stood there, shooting me an annoyed look.
It looked like she didn’t like me at all, but she was holding back because of Yu Seolhyeon.
“Seo Nari, right?”
Seo Nari.
Seventeenth at admission.
Her body was so petite that she looked like a middle-schooler, but she was actually an abnormality with monstrous strength.
One of Yu Seolhyeon’s loyal followers, she had been active with her since childhood.
She admired the beautiful and haughty Yu Seolhyeon and took on the role of driving away the insects that flocked around her.
“Seo Nari……”
From Seo Nari’s perspective, I wouldn’t be welcome at all.
She was the type of character who always appeared in subcultures like “I like onii-chan~.”
“Tch. You knew my name already?”
“It’s been a month now.”
With this level of force, they could compete with Siwoo’s or Daehan’s team.
Yu Seolhyeon and Seo Nari had skills that didn’t lose to the male protagonists one-sidedly.
“Honestly, your combat ability isn’t all that reliable, but I and Nari are close-range dealer and tank, so we needed a supporter or long-range dealer. You, Jinhyuk, can shoot a bow decently, right?”
“You said my name is Jinhyuk? You’re lucky. You think you can gather a team like this with your skills?”
I scratched my chin at the words from Yu Seolhyeon and Seo Nari.
She was rattling on, but I already knew it was all for show.
There was no real reason to believe her.
Compared to me, there were plenty of more useful and tactically helpful cadets.
Yet Yu Seolhyeon had approached me, which meant she had another plan up her sleeve.
“It’s because of Soyeon, isn’t it?”
Siwoo acted completely differently toward Yu Seolhyeon, so I felt a strange mix of irritation and disgust.
Given her personality, she wouldn’t just stand by and watch.
Having lost to an ordinary commoner girl in every way, her pride must be stinging.
“It was always like that even in the game.”
One of the events that triggered when Jinhyuk and Siwoo’s interaction count exceeded a certain number was Jin Soyeon being seduced by the villainess to fall into a predicament.
From the beginning, one of Yu Seolhyeon’s character settings was to seduce the heroine’s lover, spark conflict, or make the heroine think Yu Seolhyeon liked her so she would break up with her.
As a true villainess, she had a rather ruthless and petty personality.
“I didn’t expect Yu Seolhyeon to move this early.”
I glanced sideways at Jin Soyeon and Siwoo.
They were chatting in the crowd.
“Siwoo is approaching aggressively much earlier than in the game.”
In the game, since I was dating Soyeon, Siwoo had hesitated until jealousy took over.
Because of that, Yu Seolhyeon clashing directly with Soyeon came much later.
But now it was different.
“Well, it doesn’t matter.”
After all, I had originally planned to team up with Yu Seolhyeon.
I had already prepared plenty of stories to persuade her.
“Fine, as long as you two are okay with it.”
“Good choice.”
Yu Seolhyeon smiled faintly with a strange look in her eyes.
Ah, she started early, Yu Seolhyeon.
Most men would lose their minds if a woman with looks like hers gave even a hint of a smile, but as someone who knew her character settings, I found it completely boring.
“Ah, but there’s one condition.”
“Hmm?”
Yu Seolhyeon blinked in surprise.
“Condition?”
“Yeah.”
“Hah, ridiculous.”
At that moment, Seo Nari’s face twisted in frustration as she shouted like someone who had just rescued a kid from a river and was about to steal his bag.
“Hey, Jinhyuk. You can’t be talking about conditions like this……”
“Nari.”
“Huh?”
“Can you be quiet?”
“O-okay, got it.”
As soon as Yu Seolhyeon spoke, Seo Nari deflated like a dog that had been rained on.
Her sharply raised eyebrow drooped powerlessly, and her twin tails, which had been swaying, now hung limply.
“Tell me the condition. What is it?”
Looking at me with eyes half curious, half interested, I slowly opened my mouth.
“During this performance evaluation, you will follow my orders. That’s it.”
“Hmm?”
Her eyebrow lifted slightly.
“Well…… I don’t really want to.”
She might find it ridiculous from her perspective.
I had taken pity on her once, and now she wanted to act like the boss.
If she were an ordinary person, she would think, ‘Does this guy not get it?’
But that wasn’t the case with Yu Seolhyeon.
Isn’t that right?
“I don’t think she would say something like that without thinking, and she must have prepared ways to persuade me.”
“If you follow my orders, I promise that our team will finish first in this performance evaluation…… or at least second.”
Ah, honestly, if things went poorly, I might not even get first.
But I was pretty confident.
I was a veteran of this game.
I already knew the strategies.
“Hehe. What confidence is that?”
Yu Seolhyeon laughed like she found it ridiculous.
How could she not, when she was talking nonsense about something whose type she didn’t even know?
I would have reacted the same way.
“Interesting. Other teams won’t be easy. Your ambitions seem great.”
Yu Seolhyeon glanced at Siwoo and Daehan.
No matter what, she probably didn’t have the confidence to beat those two for sure.
“For now, I like it. Let’s assume you do as you said. But……”
She smiled wickedly and asked in return.
“……If the results aren’t good?”
“……”
“If the results are bad, can you take responsibility? It’s the first performance evaluation, and I was taking it seriously.”
You weren’t taking this performance evaluation seriously at all.
If you really were, you wouldn’t have picked me as a teammate in the first place. It’s just showing off.
“Then what about a bet?”
“……A bet.”
The entire conversation had been building up to this.
For Yu Seolhyeon, the keyword “bet” was very important.
“Instead of following my orders, if you can’t keep your promise, I’ll make you your maid during academy life. How about it?”
“Hmm?”
Yu Seolhyeon’s eyebrows suddenly twitched with interest.
It seemed she was interested in the idea of being her maid.
Ah, she really does like these kinds of things.
I was glad I had memorized her character settings well.
“Interesting. You’re confident?”
“Just average?”
“It seems like you’re taking it too lightly. Is that okay?”
“What is?”
“If you can’t keep your promise…… I plan to force you to keep it.”
Yu Seolhyeon’s eyes flickered for a moment.
If she failed, she would never forgive me.
Because bets were something she was very sensitive about.
Ever since she was a child, through bets with Yu Gapryeong and others, she had gained things or lost them.
Her grandfather never let her off the hook, and no matter what the bet, the result had to be accepted.
That’s why for Yu Seolhyeon, a bet had become a kind of belief and value.
“So it’s fine?”
“Good. Let’s do that.”
If she couldn’t accept the bet’s result, she might even drag out the family’s power. That showed how important bets were to her.
“Ah, right. You shouldn’t deliberately lose just to make me lose the bet, right?”
“Hehe. What strange things you say. Of course you should prioritize grades over bets?”
No, you prioritize things you’re interested in much more.
Well, anyway, given Yu Seolhyeon’s personality, she wouldn’t deliberately lose.
She had strong pride, after all.
“Jinhyuk, you’re here……”
Jin Soyeon approached with a cheerful grin, walking briskly.
She stopped abruptly when her gaze landed on Yu Seolhyeon.
Their eyes met.
“Ah, Seolhyeon. Hello.”
“Yeah.”
After a month, we had talked some, but she still seemed a bit uncomfortable.
After all, things hadn’t started well from the first meeting.
“Quite the unusual combination. What were you two talking about here?”
“I was listening, too.”
“Ah, Nari. Yeah, that’s right.”
“What’s with you? Don’t tell me it’s because I’m short and you couldn’t see me?”
“Aha, of course not? Ehehe, our Nari~ is so cute~.”
“Enough already? Hey, hey! Don’t touch my face! Are you crazy?!”
When Jin Soyeon reached out to touch Seo Nari’s cheek like a little cousin, Seo Nari quickly stepped back.
She looked thoroughly disgusted, so Jin Soyeon coughed awkwardly.
Then she looked at me.
“Anyway. Jinhyuk, did you find a team?”
“Team?”
“If not, I’ll team up with you.”
Jin Soyeon placed her hand on her hip and stood straight, chest puffed out.
“Who else would take care of you if not me? Hihihi. You really should be grateful to me.”
“No, aren’t you on a team with Siwoo?”
“Yeah, but you know. When I talked to Siwoo about finding the last person, he said you’d be fine too, right?”
“Ah, really?”
“As expected from the top student. Right? If our Jinhyuk can team up with someone like me, that’s fine.”
“……It feels like you’re forcing me in just because of you.”
Why is she so oblivious?
Because she’s the reverse harem protagonist or something?
“Anyway, if you don’t have a team, let’s team up.”
“No, it’s fine.”
“Ehh, ehh, you keep turning me down. You don’t have to take it so seriously, you know? Siwoo said it’s fine……”
“I already have a team.”
“……Huh?”
As soon as I finished speaking, Jin Soyeon blinked twice.
“Eh? Huh? No, you already have a team?”
“That’s how it turned out.”
“No, who? Who are you teaming up with?”
“Me.”
Smiling sweetly.
“I’m going to be on a team with Jinhyuk this time.”
Yu Seolhyeon answered with a smile.