71. Are You By Any Chance Two-Timing?
71. Are You By Any Chance Two-Timing?
71. Are You By Any Chance Two-Timing?
The Villain Research Club.
A club dedicated to studying the villains who wreak havoc upon the world—
how to deal with them, and what their next moves might be.
Today was the auspicious day for accepting new members.
And the air inside the Villain Research Club room had gone ice cold.
"...Lee Seol-ha. What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you that. Why would someone like you show up?"
Lee Seol-ha, who had already joined the club.
She looked distinctly displeased that Yu Ha-yeon was one of the applicants.
Lee Seol-ha fixed Yu Ha-yeon with a menacing glare.
Then she shifted her gaze slightly,
and locked eyes with me, standing beside Yu Ha-yeon.
"Hey, Lee Seol-ha."
"..."
I offered her a small greeting.
But whether it was because some deep-seated resentment toward me still lingered,
she furrowed her brow before finally speaking.
"...Yeah. Hi."
A flat, lifeless reply.
Still, she made eye contact and returned the greeting. I'd take what I could get.
Lee Seol-ha looked troubled, as if even that small exchange didn't sit right with her.
"What the...?"
Yu Ha-yeon looked utterly baffled by Lee Seol-ha's reaction.
She dragged me into a corner and immediately started questioning me.
"Didn't you kiss her?"
"I did."
"Then what's with the atmosphere between you two?"
It was undeniably awkward for two people who'd shared a kiss.
Not a trace of that rosy aura to be seen.
To protect Lee Seol-ha's secret trauma, I just gave a vague excuse.
"Well, it's just... complicated."
"Hmm... Is that so?"
Despite her words, the corners of Yu Ha-yeon's lips curled upward. She looked positively delighted.
She probably figured things had fizzled out between me and Lee Seol-ha, and the thought seemed to lift her spirits.
"Good...! Kissing means it's over anyway...! So no more kissing her from now on...?"
"Th...That's one way to look at it..."
The trauma treatment wasn't finished yet.
But I still needed to treat Lee Seol-ha, for her own future. That meant things wouldn't go quite the way Yu Ha-yeon was hoping.
'Still, I can't ruin it for her when she's this happy...'
My cheating with Lee Seol-ha—who openly disliked her—must have weighed heavily on her heart.
Yet now, Yu Ha-yeon's expression looked as if a suffocating weight had been completely lifted.
Then, without warning, she grabbed my shoulders and spoke with sudden intensity.
"The next person you kiss... you know, right? Eat and throw away."
Kiss them, then eat the lips and throw them away, was what Yu Ha-yeon was telling me.
My ongoing infidelities seemed to have driven her a little out of her right mind.
A man takes responsibility.
A real man doesn't just take someone's lips and discard them—he keeps them close.
I had absolutely no intention of abandoning the next person I kissed.
While I was contemplating that future,
Ban Ha-na tugged at my sleeve and whispered.
"Si-jun. Someone's coming...! Someone powerful...!"
Someone powerful, heading toward the Villain Research Club.
I already knew exactly who that was.
The club president and student council president.
There was no one else who'd make Ban Ha-na react like this.
-Slam...!
The door flew open roughly, and the person I'd expected made her entrance.
"...So these are the new applicants?"
"President!"
President of the Villain Research Club, and Student Council President of Hero Academy.
Jin Ye-sol.
A figure being scouted by countless guilds, with a brilliantly bright future.
Behind her long blue hair, the other members of the Villain Research Club stood in a line.
The moment she opened the door and stepped into the room,
she swept her gaze over the applicants with curious eyes.
"Hmm..."
Jin Ye-sol surveyed the students through blue eyes.
Those eyes held the kind of leadership meant to guide others.
In other words, charisma.
Jin Ye-sol, smiling, turned to the male student beside her and spoke.
"Get rid of everyone from that line, down to the student over here."
A brutal directive delivered with a sunny smile.
The male student beside her, wearing round glasses—
Lee Jin-woo, the vice-president of the club and a character with a fair amount of weight in the original story—nodded and promptly began kicking out a total of thirty students.
The ones he removed were probably those who didn't meet the baseline criteria.
'That figured...'
The remaining applicants in the club room were now whittled down to twelve.
Having culled most of the hopefuls, Jin Ye-sol spotted Lee Seol-ha and dashed over to her side in an instant.
"Seol-ha, you're here too? So, what do you think of the new applicants? It's your first time seeing them—anyone you'd like to pick?"
"...Get your hands off me."
"Oh my."
Slap.
Lee Seol-ha smacked Jin Ye-sol's hand away, clearly not appreciating the hand on her shoulder.
Jin Ye-sol put on a pouty, hurt expression at the rejection.
Lee Seol-ha remained seated and began scanning the remaining students.
"..."
Her eyes swept the room, searching.
Then, her gaze met mine.
"Ahem..."
Her eyes went round for a moment. Then, as if nothing had happened, she resumed her scan.
It seemed like she might actually want me in the club.
Once her scan was complete, Lee Seol-ha opened her mouth to speak to Jin Ye-sol.
"There's no one I particularly want to accept... but there is someone I want to see dropped."
"You want someone dropped?"
"Yes. I don't want to have to see her here, too."
Though her tone was calm, the malice, inferiority complex, and jealousy beneath it were unmistakable.
Lee Seol-ha still hated Yu Ha-yeon.
"Haa..."
Beside me, Yu Ha-yeon let out an exhausted sigh.
She'd evidently figured out in an instant that she was the one Lee Seol-ha wanted dropped.
'Must be exhausting...'
To comfort her, I took Yu Ha-yeon's hand.
Her hand was warm, just like her lips had been.
"Mm..."
Jin Ye-sol traced the end of Lee Seol-ha's line of sight to see who was there.
And naturally, Yu Ha-yeon was standing in that spot.
She asked with a surprised expression.
"Seriously? Her?"
"..."
Lee Seol-ha said nothing.
Jin Ye-sol looked at her with an expression of keen interest.
Yu Ha-yeon had once turned down a scouting offer from the Villain Research Club.
And now, Lee Seol-ha wanted to drop that same Yu Ha-yeon they'd once tried to scout?
She seemed thoroughly intrigued by the situation.
"I don't know what your reasoning is, but this is interesting."
After saying that, she shifted her gaze to me, standing right next to Yu Ha-yeon.
'...Why are you smiling?'
It was terrifying.
Jin Ye-sol gave a quiet smile and then stepped in front of the students hoping to join the club.
She then posed a question to them.
"You all know what kind of club this is, correct?"
"Yes!!"
"Nn— mmph...!"
Amid the chorus of students shouting 'Yes!', Ban Ha-na had been about to proudly yell 'No!'.
I clamped my hand over her mouth and smiled as if nothing had happened.
"...?"
Jin Ye-sol blinked at the sight,
but then carried on.
"Our club analyzes and researches the villains that appear in the world. Hmm, just saying that probably doesn't give you a clear picture, does it? With your brains, I'd naturally expect you not to get it. I'll explain it kindly, so follow along carefully. Understood?"
Anyone who didn't know Jin Ye-sol might call that remark 'rude as hell.'
But Jin Ye-sol genuinely took it for granted that she was operating on a higher intellectual plane than everyone else.
She possessed an IQ of 150,
and was a monstrous talent who'd been the president of Hero Academy since her first year, after all.
She was an eccentric who knew better than anyone that she was not like other people.
"Well then, allow me to tell you about our club..."
Jin Ye-sol began her explanation.
A club that analyzes villain activity to predict the next incident.
Through that analysis, they could even deduce a villain's abilities and assist in their capture.
If they were sufficiently certain a villain was about to appear, they could even send an application to Hero Academy and gain authorization to apprehend the villain themselves.
All of that was part of the Villain Research Club, an organization that operated in small, elite numbers.
The students listening to Jin Ye-sol's explanation began to clap, awestruck.
"Whoaaa...!!"
"I really want to join...!!"
But unfortunately for them, the cheering didn't last long.
"Now that the explanation is over, we'll need to separate the hopefuls from those who actually pass, won't we?"
The people who wanted to join, and the people who'd be accepted.
Those were naturally two different groups,
and the authority over that decision rested solely with the president.
Meaning I could fail, while Yu Ha-yeon might be the only one to make the cut.
'I have to get in...'
I absolutely had to secure the Hidden Piece in the Villain Research Club.
It was my only shot at doing something about my Villain's Fate.
As if sensing my desperation, Jin Ye-sol started walking toward me.
"P...President...!"
"Seol-ha. Wait there."
Jin Ye-sol approached me.
Lee Seol-ha had tried to call out to her,
but she showed no intention of stopping.
She came to a halt directly in front of me.
"...You look familiar. What was your name?"
"Han Si-jun."
Han Si-jun.
I declared my name with confidence.
"Ah, yes... That was it. I'm terrible with names, you see..."
Jin Ye-sol smiled and made a little gesture as if she'd just remembered.
Then she leaned her face toward mine and asked a question.
A pretty rude one, at that.
"Tell me, Han Si-jun... are you, by any chance, two-timing someone?"
"...Excuse me?"
Was I two-timing anyone?
Jin Ye-sol stared at me with a cold expression, waiting for an answer.
"We place great importance on character, you see. Junior Han Si-jun."
Throwing out a rude question from the very first meeting—that was Jin Ye-sol.
But her question hit the mark dead center.
'...Does she know?'
Was she speaking from a place of knowledge, or was she just testing me?
Under the weight of those blue eyes that seemed to pierce right through me,
I couldn't be sure.