Rebuilt Love Battlefield
It wasn't lunchtime yet, so the canteen was still empty. The moment I turned the corner into the deserted backyard behind the academy, Choi Su-yeon threw both arms around my neck and pressed her body flush against mine.
It was a bold, unhesitating show of affection, but her face told a different story. She looked seriously pouty.
"Senior~! You're seriously the worst! I figured you had plans on the weekend, but you went and made that much progress with Yuri senior?! You left me completely out!"
"If you'd been there, things probably would've gotten even wilder."
"...How far did you go?"
"All the way."
"......"
Choi Su-yeon stuck her lips out in a full pout, then yanked my neck forward and rose onto her tiptoes.
"...♥"
She kissed me, her tongue sliding wetly against mine. We'd already kissed so many times that neither of us felt the slightest hesitation. Su-yeon moved her hands from my neck to my cheeks, gripping them tightly as she deepened the kiss even more, as if she wanted to erase every trace of Yuri from my lips.
When our mouths finally parted, her cheeks were slightly flushed. She stared at me, squeezing my face a little harder.
"I did say I have a lot of greed when it comes to women, but I didn't expect you to be this ridiculously proactive. It pisses me off."
"At least I didn't lie. Wouldn't you rather I just put everything out in the open instead of hiding it and ending up two-timing everyone?"
"Wow... you've got some nerve."
After letting out a genuine sigh of amazement, Su-yeon wrapped her arms around my waist, pressed herself even closer, and looked up at me.
"But why is it that even after hearing such ridiculous, shameless things right in front of me, I still can't bring myself to hate you, Senior?"
"Hmm, well... because you're my woman?"
Su-yeon's eyes trembled for a second. But she quickly recovered, still pushing her lips out in a pout.
"Did you say the same thing to Yuri senior?"
"It's not exactly the same."
"Jerk."
Without a hint of fear, she pinched my cheek. The old Han Seong-jin would've never imagined letting someone do that, but Su-yeon had accepted my change better than anyone, and that made her own behavior pretty daring.
"Does Yuri senior know about us? About this kind of relationship?"
"She doesn't yet. I did tell her I have a lot of greed for women, though."
"The fact that you said 'yet' means you'll tell her eventually, right?"
"That's right. I have no intention of lying or hiding anything."
"Then as your woman, I guess I have no choice but to help you out, Senior?"
"How?"
"Who knows? You'll find out if you wait and see?"
Su-yeon grinned like a little devil. The results of that ominous "wait and see" appeared immediately at lunchtime.
Lunchtime.
Like always these days, Choi Su-yeon casually came up to the third-year cafeteria and sat with us. At first Lee Yu-ri had snarled at her, demanding to know why she was here, but now even Jeong Eun-ji seemed used to it and didn't say anything.
On the surface it looked like a peaceful lunch, but that peace shattered the moment we finished eating. After we'd all put our trays away and returned to our seats to rest and let our stomachs settle, Su-yeon suddenly called out to me.
"Huh? Seong-jin senior? Look over here for a second."
"What?"
"You've got something on your lips."
Su-yeon pointed at the corner of my mouth. I didn't feel anything there... but at her gesture I instinctively reached up to touch my lips. Nothing. At the same time, Su-yeon leaned forward, bringing her face close to mine.
"Can't be helped. I'll wipe it off for you."
Then she kissed me right on the lips for everyone to see.
"!!!"
Even I was caught completely off guard, so I froze on the spot. The ones who were even more shocked were...
"Y-you, you, you... what the hell are you—"
"C-crazy—"
Lee Yu-ri, who had become my girlfriend, and Jeong Eun-ji, who disliked both me and Su-yeon. Naturally, Yu-ri's reaction was far more intense.
"Hey!!! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"
Her face bright red, Yu-ri glared daggers at Su-yeon. She was so shocked that she didn't even care that every eye in the cafeteria had turned toward us as she shot up from her seat.
Su-yeon, completely unfazed, kept a calm expression and smiled at Yu-ri.
"There was something on senior's lips, so I wiped it off?"
"Don't give me that crap! There was nothing on Seong-jin's mouth! And even if there was, you use a tissue or your hand, not—"
"Really? I think Seong-jin senior prefers this way. He has a lot of greed for women, after all."
"Exactly! And Seong-jin's girlfriend is me!"
Jeong Eun-ji watched my friend boldly declare herself as my girlfriend and looked up at the ceiling with a migraine-inducing expression, squeezing her eyes shut. Meanwhile, Su-yeon didn't even blink at Yu-ri's girlfriend declaration.
"Oh, congratulations. But whether Seong-jin senior has a girlfriend or not doesn't matter to me. As long as I can be with him, that's enough."
"You...!"
"Anyway, didn't you two decide to date knowing this? That Seong-jin senior has a lot of greed for women? At his level, it's not even weird if he has several women...♥"
As she spoke, Su-yeon slyly slipped her arm through mine and rubbed her chest against me. Yu-ri's eyes blazed with fury at the sight.
Normally I would've been the first one to get cursed out in a situation like this, but Su-yeon's antics had drawn all of Yu-ri's aggro in her direction. So this was what she meant by helping me?
She could naturally insert herself into the romance battlefield while making sure I didn't get yelled at by Yu-ri?
Now that I think about it, this girl is kinda scary.
Meanwhile, Yu-ri—who had thought she was completely victorious—was visibly boiling with rage at the unexpected counterattack. She glared with wide, axe-like eyes and started shouting at Su-yeon.
"Who the hell are you to butt in between me and Seong-jin!? Seong-jin and I, on the weekend—"
Yu-ri suddenly realized that what she was about to say was definitely not something to shout in front of other people. Her face flushed crimson as she abruptly lowered her voice so only the three of us at the table—me, Su-yeon, and Eun-ji—could hear.
"We went all the way on the weekend. There's no room for you to butt in. Nowhere."
"W-what did you just say?!"
The one who was even more shocked by those words was Jeong Eun-ji. She looked utterly stunned that her quiet, studious model-student friend had declared she'd had sex over the weekend.
Su-yeon's face hardened for the first time. She'd already heard about it from me, but being hit with the news directly from the other woman in this uneven power dynamic seemed to have soured her mood.
"......So what? It's not like having sex once means you're automatically getting married these days."
"What?"
"Whether he's your boyfriend or not, whether you had sex or not, it doesn't matter to me. You two can keep flirting and playing lovey-dovey. I'll do my own thing and play with Seong-jin senior too."
"You... I just said I'm Seong-jin's girlfriend and you still—"
"If it bothers you that much, why don't you break up with him? I'll date Seong-jin senior instead. Oh, and unlike you, Yuri senior, I'm very open-minded. Even if you keep hanging around while I'm dating him, I won't complain. How's that?"
Yu-ri's face turned so red I was worried she might actually explode. Her whole body trembled violently. Finally she made up her mind, grabbed my arm, and screamed.
"Shut up! No matter what anyone says, Seong-jin's girlfriend is me! Not someone like you!"
"Then it's decided. You can be Seong-jin senior's girlfriend, Yuri senior. I'll just keep doing what I've been doing and stick to him. No complaints, right? If you have any, you can break up with him."
"You... who the hell do you think you are..."
Having just become my official girlfriend, Yu-ri seemed to feel like she'd suffered a crushing defeat by getting tangled up with Su-yeon's provocations. She shook with rage, tears even starting to well up in her eyes.
The atmosphere wasn't one where I could casually interrupt, so I'd stayed quiet in the middle like a dead mouse. But now I realized it was time to step in. I reached out and gently wiped away the tears forming at the corners of Yu-ri's eyes.
"Yu-ri, don't cry. No matter what anyone says, you're my girlfriend. There. Stop that."
"Sniff... sniff..."
If you thought about it, I was the bastard who had just stood back with my arms folded, watching the two of them fight. But Su-yeon's aggro had been so intense that Yu-ri couldn't even think about that. She simply accepted my comfort in silence. No—in fact, the way she clung to my arm even harder when I wiped her tears made it seem like she considered this a victory.
Su-yeon glanced at me for a moment, then pulled out her phone and typed something. After lunch ended, I checked my messages and found this waiting for me.
Even after the situation calmed down and Su-yeon returned to her second-year classroom for afternoon classes, Yu-ri still seemed to be boiling inside.
That fucking bitch... Seong-jin's girlfriend is me, it's me! We've already done it twice! No matter how much you try to act up...'
I had told her multiple times that I wouldn't treat her carelessly and that I truly liked her. By now Yu-ri no longer doubted those words, and I had also taken her side during that fight. Because of that one action, the fact that I had stayed quiet while the argument grew seemed to have been completely forgotten in her mind.
She didn't like that Su-yeon kept clinging to me, but since I had already openly admitted to having a lot of greed for women and still put her first even then, her way of thinking was gradually adapting to this strange situation.
And two more days passed. It was Wednesday—the day the results of the April pop quiz would be posted.