Chapter 15
Chapter 15
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 15
Chapter Title: Elected as Class Leader
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“Ugh, those devils...”
Jing Xiao grumbled as he poked at his breakfast stir-fried pork with his chopsticks.
Even without understanding the words, Nagase Ritsu seemed to grasp the sentiment from the tone, nodding sullenly in agreement.
Kim Jun-woo and I had succeeded in properly startling the guys early in the morning under the pretense of waking them up.
The two foreign trainees freaked out, flailing their arms or kicking to push us away.
In contrast, Ban Yo-han just stared at us with the bleary eyes of someone freshly woken from sleep and asked nonchalantly,
“Was it fun?”
His reaction made the pranksters feel embarrassed instead, so Kim Jun-woo sheepishly climbed down from the bed. But thanks to the system, I was certain Ban Yo-han had been pretty shocked.
Above all, his favorability had dropped by a full 5 points at once.
That was a significant change compared to Jing Xiao and Nagase Ritsu, whose favorability hadn't budged.
Anyway, with such a perfectly calm expression on the outside, I briefly debated whether to apologize or not.
Should I? For something like this? To a game NPC, no less? Even feeling a bit embarrassed? It seemed fine, but maybe I'd be stirring up trouble unnecessarily? Though the trouble was already there.
Then, just like that morning, my eyes met Kim Jun-woo's, and we realized we were thinking the same thing.
“Sorry if we scared you too much.”
“Sorry.”
The apologies came out immediately. Relationships can spiral into disaster over the tiniest, most subtle triggers, and we knew that all too well.
The guys who'd been pranked exchanged glances among themselves at the sudden apologies popping up midway through a bland, meager meal.
Jing Xiao snickered first and waved it off.
“What, you apologizing for that?”
“[It's fine. But watch out tomorrow morning.]”
“Yeah. Looking forward to tomorrow morning.”
Even Ban Yo-han said that, so we begged them to let it slide and scooped a bit more of the scant stir-fried pork onto their trays with our chopsticks since portions were small anyway.
Favorability went up. We gave them extra kimchi too, and it rose again. Food really is the best way to win favor.
In a cutthroat show where we sell tearful bonds for screen time day after day, we might as well get along.
A thuggish program, a beggar of a game.
And here I was, the champion, thinking I just wanted to hole up in this familiar corner of the room—where I could pinpoint everything with my eyes closed—and play the game.
With that needless kerfuffle resolved without issue, draining a bit of mental energy in the process, we headed to the practice room on time for roll call.
With over 30 trainees piling in and gathering at once, even the spacious practice room felt packed.
“Attention, everyone, for a moment!”
I had no idea how he'd ended up with that role, but Kim Jun-woo stepped forward with the class leader sticker in hand and delivered his lines.
“Everyone! Before we start practice, we need to elect a class leader. Though the term is short—less than three days—I hope we choose someone who can properly represent our class and fulfill the role well.”
It was quiet. Not easy to get thirty-two vigorous young men this silent.
“......”
Usually, this kind of thing just dumps minor annoyances on someone.
Especially when it wasn't even leader of a small group for easy screen time, but class leader for over 30 people.
‘Still, with this many people, at least one desperate for screen time should volunteer.’
That was when Ban Yo-han shot his hand up.
Sudden anxiety hit me. I felt like I needed to forcibly yank that confident hand down and cover his mouth right then.
For one thing, that expression screamed it wasn't a self-nomination, no matter how you sliced it.
And I'd pissed him off last night and again this morning.
Kim Jun-woo, sweating bullets with no volunteers as he pushed through, spotted Ban Yo-han and lit up like he'd been saved.
“Yes. Trainee Ban Yo-han.”
“I'd like to nominate Trainee On Raon.”
See?
“It'd be great if you could share your reasons too.”
“Though Trainee On Raon is on the younger side age-wise, as everyone knows, his thoughtfulness and care for others make him exceptionally suited to be class leader.”
The trainees' gazes turned to me.
With Ban Yo-han's short, punchy pitch—looking like he'd held the top spot for 'teacher's pet' all 12 years of school—half the room seemed already swayed.
The other half was probably thinking, ‘As long as it's not me.’
Same as me. I shook my head vigorously.
“Absolutely not. I'm not outstanding enough to represent the class!”
“He's even humble. I strongly recommend him.”
This guy—I thought he'd brushed off any petty grudges from yesterday's interview—but no, he must be doing this out of anger from this morning.
You said you wouldn't entrust the future to me.