38. Friend
38. Friend
"Now, how about this — ?"
"Gyaaahk-gaaahk-gehck!"
With my handiwork, that Siwoo bastard convulsed like a freshly caught live fish from a seafood market, spinning about four times in midair before crashing into the corner of the hallway.
"That's roughly the feeling. Understand?"
"...I, I understand, so just let me go already..."
"Tch, such a fuss."
Seeing that Siwoo's tear ducts had moistened—him who never shed a single tear even once in the original work—he must have been in more pain than I imagined. I quickly walked over, deactivated the spell I'd cast on that Siwoo bastard, and applied a healing spell.
Lately, that Siwoo bastard had been asking me to teach him a cool finishing move, so I came up with a 'spell that makes your entire nervous system go insanely sensitive' and taught it to him on my way to school today. Honestly, it's a pretty inefficient spell and completely useless, but I just wanted to see that Siwoo bastard flop around again, so I pretended to teach him while messing with him a little.
"Of course you can't use it in actual combat. It's almost impossible unless there's a ridiculous gap in power or your opponent is blatantly off guard, so just keep it in mind. You get the feeling, right?"
"...Can't I use it on you just once?"
"As if."
Get real. Sorry to Siwoo, but the power gap between me and him is, at the very best, dragon versus rabbit level. And that's only because I've been feeding him opportunities lately while pretending not to notice. If I hadn't, the power gap would probably be around dragon versus ant level by now.
"Sorry, but the gap is too big for you to even get caught by it, so forget about using weird stuff and just train. Train."
"...Got it."
"...Uh... hey, Yuriel..."
As I was squatting down and giving that Siwoo bastard a hard time, a voice that seemed completely on edge reached my ears from behind.
"What."
A cool, cold voice slipped out unintentionally. Because my body always responds sluggishly compared to my emotions, the pitch of my voice doesn't change much unless it's that Siwoo bastard who provokes my emotional overflow. I could intentionally change my voice or expression if I wanted to, but I also wonder if there's even a need to go that far.
Anyway, perhaps because of how I am, a female cadet with a short, bobbed haircut—who seemed about to ask me a favor—fidgeted with a thoroughly nervous face. Then, as if making up her mind, she swallowed hard and spat out the words.
"Um, could you... maybe, since we have some luggage that's a bit heavy to carry... could you move it with your abilities?"
"Sure. Whatever."
It's not that difficult. With my answer, the faces of the short-haired girl and several cadets around her brightened at once. Seriously, is it that hard to talk to me? Felt like almost everyone had nominated one person to come and ask me a favor.
"What do you want moved?"
"Oh! Uh, you know that big wooden box near the field? Could you move that..."
"Ah."
As she said that, the wooden box filled with all sorts of suspicious equipment teleported right inside the classroom in an instant. Watching their mouths drop wide open in shock made me feel a bit sorry for the classmates who must have been struggling without my help all this time.
"...If there's anything else that's annoying, tell me. I'll do what I can."
"Th, thank youu!!"
The short-haired girl gave me repeated thanks with a slightly cracked voice, then ran back to her group, going on and on about "Jackpot! Jackpot!" while praising me over trivial things with her friends. ...I should have just helped them sooner.
"So seriously, what's our class booth concept anyway? Why are you making that face, you bastard?"
"...It's nothing. I was just spacing out for a second."
You scared me. He was making such a murderous expression that looked straight out of the original work, it honestly freaked me out a bit. ...Was it really that painful?
"...Our class? We decided on a haunted house concept yesterday or the day before yesterday. Don't you remember?"
"Yeah, I don't remember."
"Wow, look at how shameless you are."
Unlike me, whose social skills issue means my connections are virtually zero except for that Siwoo bastard and Seolhwa, who I recently got close with, our Siwoo bastard is quite popular, thanks to his gigolo-like looks and easygoing personality—just like the main character of an OP web novel. Probably because of that, he ended up as the head of our booth prep for this festival, but I don't get why he's whining to me about it. He was throwing a fit about being elected by force through voting, but is that really something to say to a friendless bastard like me...
"At first there was an idea to do a maid cafe, but I wasn't really into that sort of thing."
"Why not? That wouldn't be bad either."
Though it wouldn't be bad if I wore one. I probably wouldn't wear it myself. Thinking that and waiting for his answer, I saw that Siwoo bastard was, for some reason, staring at me with a strange expression.
"Eugh. I'm gonna puke. What's with that face?"
"...It's not that bad that you'd puke, is it?"
"Go pull that face on other girls, not me. They'd probably blush and eat it up, right?"
"...".
"What, why."
"Just go to sleep, damn it."
At Siwoo's nonsense, I muttered "Whatever" and sat on my desk, swinging my legs back and forth. Living up to the festival that only happens twice a year, all the cadets in my class were working together—carrying luggage, decorating the classroom to fit the haunted house concept, and racking their brains on how to make the booth even more fun.
"...Are you jealous?"
"Not really."
Siwoo sat on the desk next to mine and asked softly. Jealous? I'm not sure. I've never really thought about whether I could blend in with them, and I still don't fully know what kind of impact my existence would have on them.
I'm a genius. It feels weird saying this with my own mouth, but the person called Yuriel has always been that way, and she'll probably live a life unrelated to the word 'failure,' just as she always has.
A life where if she wants to achieve something, she can achieve it, and if there's something she wants to have, she can have it. Can a person living that kind of life really mix with utterly ordinary people?
...I don't know. I'll just do what I need to do first. There doesn't seem to be any more heavy luggage to move into the classroom anyway.
I got up from the desk and said to Siwoo.
"If there's nothing to do, I'm leaving."
"...Where are you going?"
"The dormitory. Going to sleep."
Liar. Obviously I'm planning to skip class with Hong Seolhwa and work on building favorability, but with that Siwoo bastard's pointlessly sky-piercing sense of justice, he'd beg me to include him in saving her if he knew the truth. Actually, even if I refused, he'd force his way in and try to save her anyway.
That's not ideal. He's already busy preparing for the festival; if he does that too, who's going to compete in the tournament?
Even though I constantly push him around, he's got serious pride and strong confidence in himself. He might not look it, but he's probably putting a lot of effort into this tournament. I can't go and burden him with that.
"Wait a moment. I'll walk you."
"It's fine, it's fine. I can manage on my own. Do I look like some kid who can't even do that?"
"Yeah."
"...".
"...".
"Ah, fine. Let's go together then."
For some reason, I couldn't refute that Siwoo bastard's words, so I eventually started walking towards the dormitory with that Siwoo bastard, who insisted on seeing me back. I'll just hang out in my room for a few minutes until that Siwoo bastard leaves, then go see Seolhwa.
After the sunlight filled the clear blue sky, at 3 PM, when it began preparing to descend, I was squatting at the rabbit enclosure, feeding a rabbit some cucumber, thinking about whether I'd ever had this much free time before.
"Aww, you're eating well."
The fluffy pink-furred rabbit, apparently quite hungry, started grinding down the cucumber with its tiny front teeth. After it finished the cucumber, I carefully stroked its scruff, and it seemed to feel pretty good—it ground its teeth lightly and wiggled its butt back and forth. Ah, so cute.
Watching that, Yuriel suddenly came to mind against my will. I don't usually think about it, but seeing this pink rabbit suddenly reminded me of her.
"...It does kind of look like her."
When I think of Yuriel, a lot of animals come to mind together. In appearance, she's like a cute rabbit, but the way she usually treats others is like a haughty cat, and when you actually get close to her, she's unmistakably a puppy.
"It's amazing, really, Yuriel is."
Our environments growing up and our talents are definitely polar opposites, yet how do our hobbies and tastes match so perfectly? It's truly amazing. What if I hadn't met Yuriel at the rabbit enclosure that day? I hate just imagining it.
"...I wonder what she's doing right now."
There are strong rumors that she's lovers with that person from Class 1, Siwoo-nim or whatever. They say she only ever talks to him in class.
I really like Yuriel who's cute and somehow clumsy when she's with me, but I'm also curious about the Yuriel who, in front of her boyfriend who asks her to do cute things, first blushes and refuses, then eventually gives in and acts cute like she can't help it.
"...I want to see that. That side of her too."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Eeek?!"
Startled beyond belief by Yuriel's voice suddenly coming from right behind me, I twisted my body sharply and turned around.
"...Uh, since when did you..."
"I just got here. What, were you talking about something?"
"No, I was just surprised... that's why I reacted that way."
At my habitually slipped-out formal speech, Yuriel thankfully nodded as if convinced.
"Sorry, I was planning to come right after lunch, but the moment I entered the dormitory, I suddenly got hit by a wave of sleepiness. I was late because I slept for a bit. I also changed clothes."
"Come to think of it, that's a hoodie I've never seen before. It suits you, Yuriel."
"Really? Hehe, thanks."
A boxy-fit hoodie big enough to be mistaken for a man's clothes. It might look unflattering on anyone else, but since it's Yuriel, her unique cuteness was fully highlighted, making her look quite beautiful.
"Oh, but what brings you here so early? I remember there's still time until classes end..."
Of course, I'm in no position to say that—I'm the one feeding rabbits at this hour—but I asked because I figured Yuriel should be preparing the festival booth with her Class 1 classmates right about now.
"Oh, that? You know, Seolhwa..."
Yuriel moved her lips around as if arranging her words, making a strange expression that seemed somehow odd,
"...Hey, do you wanna skip class together today? On the sly?"
She brought her slender index finger to her lips and proposed something she had never done before—no, never even thought of doing—a deviation from the norm.