025. The Designated Bully (2)
025. The Designated Bully (2)
A pretty-girl game, 《Velvet School Life!》
This infamous piece-of-shit game did not even have a pity system, but it did have a system between characters called "Chemistry."
Some characters, when put together in one party, had a mutually beneficial relationship—an overwhelming synergistic effect where "1+1" became "3" or "4."
And certain other characters were so incompatible that putting them in the same party produced disastrous results where "1+1" became "1" or "0."
It wasn't enough to just pull the strongest characters and throw them together.
That was why the Player had to collect as many different characters as possible and find the right combinations.
It was one more facet highlighting the dev team's persistent commercial scheme to sell just a few more characters.
Among these, the Chemistry between "Shin Se-hee" and "Lee Yu-ri" was particularly interesting.
On the surface, the two were polar opposites.
One was the daughter of a wealthy Hunter family, with an impeccable record, a cunning personality, and a high 4-Star rarity.
The other was a dirt-poor 3-Star girl with nothing at home but debt, a naive personality, and reactions that were especially fun when she got angry.
If you only looked at that surface-level information, it'd seem like Shin Se-hee would overwhelmingly grab Gukbap and yank her around by the leash, but...
'Thing is, it doesn't actually work that way.'
I pulled up the corners of my mouth at the sight before my eyes.
"Cheonhwa? Sorry for barging into your meal all of a sudden."
"...It's fine."
Shin Se-hee nodded stiffly, her face frozen solid.
Her voice came crawling out. The rigid line of her mouth looked like she was feeling extreme tension.
"But I didn't know someone like you ate this kind of food, Cheonhwa?"
"...Because Jin Yu-ha said it was good."
The place we'd headed to was an ordinary Korean set-dining restaurant.
Kang Do-hee always got interrupted at meals, so it seemed she'd come somewhere with private rooms.
"I've heard a lot about you, Cheonhwa."
Munch, munch—
Lee Yu-ri spoke as she picked up side dishes with her chopsticks.
"What kind of things...?"
"Jin Yu-ha's told me he's been indebted to you for a lot, Cheonhwa."
"I see... I, I've also been following your achievements, Lee Yu-ri. The Camela Forest Gat—"
Gasp!
Shin Se-hee clapped her hand over her mouth with a look of dismay.
One of Lee Yu-ri's eyebrows went up.
"Following? You sure phrase things weird. How did you know I cleared the Camela Forest Gate? Jin Yu-ha. You told her?"
Lee Yu-ri turned her head toward me.
"No? Don't remember ever telling her."
"Then that really is weird?"
"Th-that's because! It became a huge deal, didn't it!? An Unexplored Gate Exploration and preventing a Gate Explosion caused quite a stir—"
Shin Se-hee hurriedly tacked on, unable to hide her panic.
"Mm, I'm not so sure about that. It hasn't even been two weeks. The report probably only went up recently... I still haven't even gotten the remaining settlement."
"Th-that's..."
"By any chance, were you, like, doing some behind-the-scenes digging on me?"
Lee Yu-ri glared at her, eyes brimming with suspicion.
Now Shin Se-hee hung her head low, avoiding her gaze altogether.
Suddenly, Lee Yu-ri's eyes curved into a bright smile.
"Nah, no way. There's no way Cheonhwa would do that. She's every Hunter's idol. No way she'd be so brazenly underhanded."
Like a seasoned chef, Lee Yu-ri toyed with Cheonhwa, lifting her up and knocking her down at will.
The composure and smile on Shin Se-hee's face were shattering in real time.
Today, I got to see Shin Se-hee completely at a loss, unable even to needle Kang Do-hee like she usually did.
'Man, this doesn't even need a separate side dish.'
Nom. Nom.
I chewed on my meal, watching the show with great amusement.
Lee Yu-ri being Shin Se-hee's designated bully is an official piece of Velvetsra lore.
Even in the game, Shin Se-hee dodges Lee Yu-ri the moment she appears in the distance.
In PVP, if they meet as enemies, Shin Se-hee's spell failure rate skyrockets.
So I brought her along wondering if it'd still be the case now that this has become reality.
It was actually worse than the game.
From the moment she saw Lee Yu-ri, Shin Se-hee had been floundering like a frog before a snake, completely unable to put up a fight.
'But why does it turn out like this?'
Frankly, I had no idea.
That was just how the lore worked.
* * *
Shin Se-hee was bewildered.
'What is this person, really? It's like she keeps drawing my attention...'
Even though she had things she needed to be doing, her gaze and attention kept being pulled toward one woman.
It didn't even seem like she was using any special ability, yet her eyes helplessly kept tracking her.
The perfectly ordinary woman Jin Yu-ha had brought to the meal.
Tank. Lee Yu-ri.
She was clearly a person of no particular consequence.
When she'd investigated Jin Yu-ha, she had already confirmed this woman's name.
Right before entering the academy, the record of her forming a party with Jin Yu-ha and clearing the E-Rank Gate, Camela Forest.
Of course, she'd racked up a decent achievement by completing an Unexplored Gate Exploration and taking down the boss monster to prevent a Gate Explosion, but...
Since Jin Yu-ha had been in that party, it would've been no particularly difficult feat.
In other words, while she was a reasonably solid person, she fell infinitely short of catching Shin Se-hee's eye.
That had been the objective assessment Shin Se-hee had given Lee Yu-ri.
But now.
'...She's uncomfortable.'
She steals your focus as if compelling your actions.
For Shin Se-hee, who had lived her whole life without ever being pushed around by someone, this situation was entirely too alien.
Her head was a mess.
Composure slipped away.
Her smile was cracking.
Mistakes she would absolutely never normally make erupted one after another.
And there she was, a complete and utter idiot, answering everything she was asked with total honesty.
"I see... I, I've also been following your achievements, Lee Yu-ri. The Camela Forest Gat—"
Crap, she'd messed up again.
She'd let it slip out loud that she'd done a background check.
Normally, she would absolutely never have made such an absurd slip-up.
The more she tried to smooth it over, the more tangled it got.
She felt as if she'd been bewitched by something.
'Just what... is wrong with me?'
Shin Se-hee flicked her eyes toward Jin Yu-ha. Although her gaze snapped right back to Lee Yu-ri right after.
He was shoveling plain rice into his mouth as if her pathetic state was thoroughly entertaining.
'...What the hell. Is he treating me as a side dish right now!?'
As if he'd predicted this would happen.
That shameless face.
Indignation rose up inside her, and her tightly clenched fist began to tremble.
'So, starting today, I'm going to properly deal with Kang Do-hee...'
Just then, as she tried to think about something else—anything else—and was bringing Kang Do-hee to mind.
"Cheonhwa. By the way, I'm curious about something. I heard you made a deal with Jin Yu-ha. What was the deal?"
"...A necklace."
Gasp!
'Oh for real! What is wrong with me!!!!'
Shin Se-hee immediately whipped her head toward Jin Yu-ha, shaking it back and forth.
'You can't talk about that!!!'
At that, Jin Yu-ha flashed a sinister grin.
He opened his mouth toward Lee Yu-ri.
"That's, you see..."
"That's?"
"Mm—."
Arrogantly, he gave her a sidelong glance as if he were testing her.
The initiative that she should have held in her own hands had been completely stolen from her.
Thump-thump—
Thump-thump—
Her heart pounded fast as she watched his lips.
He let out a quiet scoff.
"Anyway, that's kind of Shin Se-hee's personal info, so it's a bit iffy just to go telling people."
Haaah—
A sigh of relief welled up inside her.
"Yeah? Then I guess there's nothing to be done."
Lee Yu-ri also let it slide lightly, as if the question hadn't been particularly important.
"Try some of this too. This one's good."
"Okay!"
Between the two of them, who'd started making goo-goo eyes at each other, Shin Se-hee had to endure the miserable feeling of having become a third wheel.
Even though it was her first time meeting her today, she understood.
Lee Yu-ri.
This woman made her unbelievably uncomfortable.
And what's more, she was the only one feeling uncomfortable.
Meaning, this woman was her natural enemy.
In a humiliation that felt as if she'd been stripped naked, all she could do was hang her head low and continue eating.
* * *
Man oh man. Bringing Gukbap was the answer after all. Should've brought her sooner.
Lunch ended, and because Lee Yu-ri's training ground was a bit of a ways off, she left first.
"Bye, Gukbap."
"Okay! I'll come here again tomorrow!"
I waved as I saw Lee Yu-ri off.
The very moment her retreating figure had fully receded into the distance.
Shin Se-hee, who'd been standing rigid beside me, opened her mouth with a subdued voice.
"That woman... What on earth is she?"
"Gukbap."
"...Gukbap?"
"Yeah, my reliable Tank."
"She's suspicious, Jin Yu-ha. You'd do best not to get close to that woman."
Shin Se-hee's face was stiff as she told me this.
Look who's calling who suspicious. It was absurd.
"Sorry, but from where I'm standing, you're the suspicious one."
"So you're telling me... you're going to bring that woman here to eat every day?"
"Yeah. Planning on it."
"..."
Shin Se-hee bit down firmly on her lip.
She glared at me for a long while before parting her lips again.
"I won't eat with you...."
"But I'm planning on bringing her."
"Forget it...! Just the two of you, go ahead and chow down on your cozy little lovey-dovey meal without me!!!"
She shouted at me, her face gone bright red.
Ah.
So she's pulling her foot right out of this now.
That's a bit of a shame, actually.
Really, is Gukbap that scary?
It was just the first day, so she'd been fairly polite and hadn't even said much.
Shin Se-hee had just chattered all on her own. She'd done all the self-destructing by herself.
Honestly, I couldn't fathom why she'd be this terrified of someone who was just cute and dependable.
'Gukbap wasn't a leash for Shin Se-hee... Was she actually some kind of badass attitude-adjustment bat?'
All I could do was tilt my head to the side.
* * *
Early morning the next day.
Ding—♬
Kang Do-hee frowned at the phone sound that reached her in her sleep.
"...Mm."
Kang Do-hee fumbled her hand around the head of her bed, then grabbed the phone and brought it before her eyes.
━━━━━━━━━━
【Nomination Request.】 ━ A-Rank Hunter Kang Do-hee
Request Type ━ Investigation Request.
Investigation Target ━ Velvet Hunter Academy. Male Quota Prospective Cadet Jin Yu-ha.
Request Objective ━ Confirm the possibility that the investigation target is a Demonized Human.
Request Completion Reward ━ 50 million won.
Request Period ━ Until the conclusion of Basic Training.
Relevant materials will be delivered sequentially with adjusted timing.
※ Requires special classified handling; direct contact with the investigation target is strictly prohibited.
━━━━━━━━━━
Kang Do-hee skimmed through the attached documents, her brow furrowing.
"What kind of novel bullshit is this? That quota guy... a Demonized Human...?"