Chapter 282
Chapter 282
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 282
Chapter Title: How to Steal the Protagonist's Woman
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"Bring your test paper out to the front right now. You no longer possess the qualification to take the exam for today."
"Uh... um... but Professor..."
At the professor's cold and decisive words, the surrounding students turned their attention to Louis with the rapt expressions of readers absorbing a novel's dramatic climax. Even though it was an exceptionally important exam for their own futures, their eyes were no longer on their own test papers—they kept flicking back and forth between the stern professor and the trembling Louis. The professor lightly tapped the wood of the lectern and barked out another command.
"Come out quickly and quietly. Do not disturb the other students who are actually trying to focus."
"I-it's all just a terrible mistake! I can still solve more problems... I haven't finished yet!"
"Whether you can solve more or not is entirely irrelevant now; you must get out this instant. If you continue to ignore my instructions..."
The professor sharpened his gaze, his aura flaring slightly, and he opened his mouth to deliver the final threat.
"I will score your entire exam as a zero instead of a partial disqualification."
"Ugh..."
Hearing the professor's uncompromising stance, I vented my mild disappointment to Armonia through our telepathic link.
‘Aw... I really thought he'd just fail him outright for the whole semester. I guess they still acknowledge his academic standing and what he's achieved so far.’
‘Still, this level of public humiliation should be more than enough for now, right?’
Suppressing a triumphant laugh that threatened to escape my throat, I headed toward the exit with a relaxed stride. Louis followed shortly after, clutching his test paper limply as his whole body slumped in defeat, his face visibly on the verge of tears. He looked utterly shocked and broken by what had just occurred, looking as if he'd completely forgotten about our little rivalry in the wake of his academic disaster. I submitted my paper first with a flourish, and Louis handed his in right after me with trembling hands.
As Louis submitted his work, the young professor tasked with collecting the papers looked at him with a neutral, yet cold expression and said,
"You are instructed to go and wait in Professor Magerta's research lab until further notice."
"Kgh... Yes, sir. I understand."
Before finally leaving the lecture hall, I turned back and silently mouthed a single word at Louis, who was still standing there in a daze.
-Slowpoke-
With that final parting shot, I exited the hall and stepped out into the fresh air. It was a genuine shame that I couldn't stick around to see his full reaction to my taunt, but I knew that if he caused another scene and somehow managed to drag me into it, it would only lead to trouble for my own status. I decided it was best to leave him behind to wallow in his own mess.
Luna found that she couldn't tear her eyes away from Louis until the very moment he disappeared through the lecture hall doors.
'...Louis, why did you have to be so stubborn.'
It wasn't just Luna who was affected by the scene. Not necessarily with scorn or mockery, but every single student taking the exam in the hall looked at Louis with a sense of profound pity. Everyone except for the professor and the assistants knew exactly why he'd acted out so recklessly. The guy who always went out of his way to flaunt his academic brilliance was now being pitifully dragged out of the hall by a mere teaching assistant. Normally, the students would have burst into a flurry of gossip, but since the clock was still ticking, they all eventually turned back to their papers to refocus on their own results. Luna was no different.
'Haa... what an absolute idiot.'
Luna figured that Seong Suho must have provoked him first to get that kind of reaction. But she also knew that the reason for the provocation, and the current mess Louis found himself in—it was all entirely Louis's own fault for letting his pride get the better of him. While she felt sorry for his downfall, it was self-inflicted, so she forced herself to start focusing on her own work again.
'This exam is definitely tough... and yet he managed to solve it all in under an hour.'
During this entire exam period, Luna always made it a point to check her answers with Seong Suho on the terrace after every test. And his answers had always matched hers with a terrifying level of perfection. From the very first check, she had never once found a reason to doubt his solutions. Each time she realized the depth of his knowledge, her respect for him grew, and her affection followed suit. Luna secretly wished that he would keep excelling, eventually becoming the idol she could look up to from afar. She hoped he would one day reach out to her from a position of absolute greatness.
If others could see her inner thoughts, they might label her as shallow or opportunistic. But the truth was that she had fallen for Seong Suho specifically because of his incredible abilities—the almost mythical ability to wield complex magic circles with only his mind. And crucially, he had shown that he was willing to throw himself in harm's way to protect her when it mattered most. Affection often fades if neglected, but Seong Suho was steadily watering the seeds of her devotion with his consistent effort and skill. Luna had always craved personal growth, and she found immense joy in learning from those she considered her superiors.
'...I am just so thankful that he doesn't nag or belittle me like Louis always did.'
Louis was indeed more technically skilled than she was at the moment. Yet, she felt absolutely no masculine appeal coming from him because he never truly fulfilled her intellectual or emotional desires. Whenever she tried to study magic, he would simply flaunt his own superior skills, effectively undermining her own hard work. It wasn't intended to be malicious, but he always steered her toward relying on his care and protection instead of encouraging her to learn for herself. She appreciated the sentiment, but she found the reality of it to be suffocating and annoying.
Seong Suho was fundamentally different. Where Louis tried to overprotect her by leading from far ahead, Suho chose to walk right beside her, hand in hand. He would occasionally take the lead when necessary, extending a steady hand to help her up when she stumbled. Most women in this world might prefer the former, but Luna was drawn to the latter with all her heart. To ensure she could keep walking side by side with him, she refocused all her energy on the exam paper.
'Phew... stay focused. I am almost done.'
She still had a significant amount of time left to review, but the difficulty of the problems began to spike exponentially toward the end of the paper. Before she knew it, she had finally reached the final, most daunting problem.
'I should check the level of this last one first, then decide: should I review everything else first, or solve this now and then review?'
As she had that thought and turned to the final page—she was greeted by an overwhelming wall of text.
'Phew... this is definitely not going to be easy. Let's see what we have here... Wait, huh?'
As she began skimming the problem, Luna sensed something very strange. Its sheer length and complexity screamed high difficulty to any normal student. But as she read through the requirements, it felt remarkably simple—the solutions were forming themselves automatically in her mind as if they were already there. It felt incredibly familiar, yet she couldn't immediately pinpoint exactly where she had seen this logic before. Seong Suho's practice problems from earlier in the week had used different Enel values and scenarios, so they hadn't matched this exactly, but the underlying theory was identical.
'...I can solve this one quickly.'
Shaking off her distractions, she confidently began to tackle the final challenge.
..
..
Heading toward the entrance to submit her paper, Luna felt a surge of certainty.
'That was definitely meant to be a high-difficulty separator.'
The other students exiting the hall at the same time looked as though they were still stuck on that last problem—some were practically ripping their hair out, others were teary-eyed, and many were panting like fugitives escaping a crime scene. Despair was written on their faces in every form imaginable. Unlike them, Luna had solved it smoothly and even had time to review the rest of her work at a leisurely pace. Submitting her document to the young professor at the door, she couldn't help but ask,
"Um, Professor... what exactly happened to that student who caused the disturbance earlier?"
"Ah, the Brandt Rup heir? I was told to have him wait in Professor Magerta's lab for a disciplinary hearing."
"Oh... I see. Thank you."
With a lingering look of pity toward the direction of the lab, Luna left the lecture hall. She had asked about him that morning out of genuine worry for his state of mind. But since they hadn't really had a chance to talk properly then, she planned to have a serious chat with him after the preliminary results were released. She mainly wanted to discuss the bet. Even agreeing to the wager in the first place had given her countless headaches. But the clashes between Suho and Louis were escalating to the level of a blood feud. She wanted to find a way to mediate, or at least stop them from constantly biting and clawing at each other.
'Phew... Suho winning will cause trouble, but Louis winning would be just as much of a headache.'
They both smiled at her words until the other rival was mentioned—then their eyes would sharpen like mortal enemies. Suho at least seemed reasonable most of the time, while Louis had become almost impossible to talk to lately.
'Phew... But given today's performance, Suho looks set to win the bet easily. I'll just have to ask him to be lenient then.'
In her heart, she already favored Suho. Louis had completely botched the preliminaries with his outburst, while Suho had breezed out as if it were nothing. Plus, she had no worries about his upcoming practicals—in her mind, top marks in written theory always translated to top marks in practical application.
"I should head to the terrace first."
As per their usual routine, she headed to their spot to wait for him. She spotted him instantly, sitting alone and looking out over the landscape. He was gazing calmly at the distant mountains, radiating an aura of quiet excellence.
'...He really should try to make at least a few friends.'
She knew she wasn't exactly one to talk about social grace, but she found herself worrying about him anyway. She recalled her own past—self-centered and ignoring everyone around her.
'...Seeing him like this now, yeah, I can see how I must have been quite frustrating to deal with.'
Approaching him felt like facing her own past self.
"Did your exam go well today?"
I spent the next hour chatting with Luna about the details of the exam. Since the prelims differed slightly by each student's specific affiliation, the papers themselves varied, but we were able to share the general logic we'd both used. She began to smile more as the academic talk flowed between us.
I offered her some sincere praise.
"It sounds like you aced it, as expected."
"You too, Suho—your logic sounded very solid to me."
"Me? I just happened to work hard on those specific topics."
I chuckled sheepishly, shaking my head to downplay my advantage.
"Checking the rest of the answers with me is going to be tough. You should go and do it with the kids who are taking the main attribute exams."
"...Can't we just go together? Why are you being like this?"
"..."
I had already decided that during lunch, I would slip away to the dorm to give her some social space. It wasn't that I was tired of her or needed to focus on my own studies—it was nothing as trivial as that. I simply wanted her to have her own time to integrate with her peers. I'd initially thought her protests meant she hated being alone. Now I realized the truth: she simply hated the idea of leaving me alone.
"We'll meet later..."
"...?"
I stood up and began dusting off my black cloak.
"Later... when my final evaluation results are good enough, I'll happily stand by your side in public then. But not right now."
"..."
Luna pouted her lips, grumbling under her breath at my decision.
"Why is some evaluation result so much more important to you than spending time now..."
"..."
I placed a comforting hand on her sulking shoulder.
"If it's just me who has to suffer the gossip, that's fine. But I won't allow weird or malicious rumors to spread about you because of me. No way."
"I don't care about any of that..."
Her sad expression nearly broke my resolve, but I forced myself to turn away.
"Anyway, later on I'll do exactly as you say. Just go and hang out with your friends for now. I'll see you at dinner tonight."
"...Yeah, okay."
Leaving her there still grumbling to herself, I headed back toward the student dorms. En route, I sent a telepathic message to Armonia:
‘Armonia, recap that thing from earlier for me again, right from the very beginning.’
She responded almost instantly.
Thud...
Luna plopped a massive magical tome down onto her desk, letting out a deep, tired sigh.
"Phew... is it even possible for me to finish this entire section by tonight?"
She pondered the book she'd borrowed from the restricted library, which was thick enough to require special permission just to open it. But compared to her other classmates, she realized she could start from a much easier point.
"I can just finish where I left off last time."
It was the same section she'd dozed off on while she was studying with Seong Suho. Even with that easier start, she found that she lacked the actual desire to dive back into the text.
'...I should probably take a short break first.'
Lazily glancing away from the desk, she flopped onto her bed, burying her face deep into the soft pillow. Exams test the ability to apply knowledge under pressure—an exhausting process even for the most diligent of students. Luna was no exception to that rule. Her body and mind were both completely drained from the exams, yet Louis had added to her stress with his drama, and now Suho was skipping their usual time together.
He had eaten a quick dinner then bolted straight to his dorm as promised, without any hesitation. It was annoying to her, yet she knew it was thoughtful of him. Still, a hint of anger lingered.
'...Such a meanie.'
She closed her eyes tight, visualizing Seong Suho's face in the darkness.
'...He feels so real to me now.'
She had lived her entire life with a total disinterest in men, yet after only a few months of knowing him, she found that she could recall his every feature perfectly. During his month of suspension, she had visualized him constantly while she was doing his assigned homework for him. Back then, some parts had been fuzzy, and she'd made mistakes in her mental image. But seeing him again had etched him perfectly into her mind.
The Suho she saw with her eyes closed was flawless—that was no exaggeration. Reaching out to pull on his smiling cheeks in her imagination, she murmured to the empty room,
"Pfft... you absolute dummy."
The thought of his grin coaxed a small giggle out of her, and her mood finally began to lift. But along with that relief came a rising sense of internal heat.
'...I have to hold back. I have a very big exam tomorrow.'
Without him there to satisfy her, she had found herself ending many nights lately with self-pleasure. It felt good in the moment, but the morning sun always brought a wave of shame with it. Her social circle of refined noblewomen scorned women who masturbated—it was considered far better to simply give in to the needs of a man.
'...I must hold back.'
Clutching the blankets with her eyes shut tight, her imagined version of Suho approached her, embracing her from behind.
"Haa... haa... no... stop it..."
Muttering denials to herself endlessly, her hand instinctively slipped under the hem of her skirt. The evening before her most important exam ended not with study, but with a desperate act of self-pleasure.