I'm Screwed (2)
I'm Screwed (2)
Long, flowing silver hair cascading over the Black Academy uniform.
Skin so pale it seemed almost translucent, as if it had never seen sunlight, with half-lidded eyes that strangely swirled with a crimson hue.
The most overwhelmingly beautiful girl I'd ever seen in my life, breathtaking enough to make my jaw drop.
As I stood there dumbfounded, my gaze completely stolen, she tilted her head slightly and asked.
"Is this your first time on campus?"
"Uh, yes. I'm a freshman, after all."
I answered like an idiot, feeling dazed.
"The paths can be quite confusing, so I'll guide you."
She naturally approached my side and matched my pace as we walked.
And the moment she looked at me, pulled up the corners of her mouth, and smiled.
Ever so subtly, a sweet fragrance washed over me.
I instinctively sniffed.
"...Peach?"
At my muttering, she let out a small laugh.
"It's perfume. You're quite observant—no. You have a good nose, don't you?"
But it was strange.
It was too sweet to be just a regular fruit scent or an artificial perfume smell...
It was as if someone had shoved overripe, almost rotten peach flesh right under my nose.
A sticky, thick sweetness that seemed to pierce directly through my nostrils into my brain, sending a tingle down my spine.
We walked side by side across the campus.
The academy at dusk was disgustingly beautiful.
The classical marble buildings and golden magical lamps floating in the air. The lively laughter of aspiring knights and mages echoing from afar.
She pointed here and there with her thin, white fingers, explaining softly.
"This is the central garden."
"That's the practical training ground over there."
"And that building—"
Thump.
She suddenly stopped. Her words cut off too.
"Uh, why are you..."
When I instinctively turned my head.
She was staring intently up at me from an extremely close distance right under my chin, having approached without me noticing.
A distance close enough to feel her breath.
The thick, sweet peach scent hit me again, strong enough to numb the tip of my nose.
I felt almost intoxicated.
For a moment. Was it just my imagination?
Her crimson eyes staring at me.
Her pupils, which should have been round, appeared long, sharp, and vertically slit like those of a reptile or a predator.
My heart sank to the pit of my stomach with a thud.
A cold sweat ran down my spine.
"......Why are you doing this?"
When I asked in a frozen, stiff voice, she blinked slowly.
Her pupils had returned to their original round shape.
She smiled with the same pretty, innocent smile as before.
"It's nothing."
She took one step closer to me.
A distance where our shoulders almost brushed. Her crimson eyes staring up at me flashed with a strange, captivating light.
Her red lips moved slowly.
"It's just, you look a little—."
Gulp. My Adam's apple bobbed violently.
"—delicious."
"......What?"
As I froze in place like a statue, completely flustered, she let out a light, tinkling laugh as if she'd expected that reaction and turned away gracefully.
"Just kidding, kidding. You look so serious."
As she began walking lightly, her silver hair dyed red by the evening sunset glow fluttered as she looked back.
Her red lips formed a smooth, alluring curve.
"It'll be easier to remember my title than my name, right?"
After pausing briefly, she gave me a playful grin.
"Just call me comfortably from now on. 'Pretty Representative-nim'."
On the first day of school.
My spine went cold from just one gesture of this dangerous girl called the Pretty Representative-nim.
Even though I felt good about it.
Swept up by her pace, I found myself crossing the campus with her in a daze. And the place we arrived at was...
In front of the academy's male dormitory, a majestic stone building.
I swallowed hard and stopped walking.
"This is the freshman dormitory."
The silver-haired girl standing right next to me said in a soft voice.
Her silver hair shimmered mysteriously in the evening sunset glow.
At the same time, because of the much closer distance than before, that sticky, sweet peach fragrance washed over me again.
"...Nice."
A dazed comment escaped my lips before I realized it.
She tilted her head slightly and looked up at me.
"What is?"
"...Nothing, just. The school facilities are really spacious and nice."
I averted my gaze and hastily covered up.
There was no way the school buildings were in my sight. All my nerves were focused on this unreal beauty standing next to me right now.
Honestly, it's hard to even stand straight.
'Is there any reason for the top-ranked student of the entire freshman class to be this friendly to someone she just met?'
Even for a lost lamb of a freshman, this level of kindness was a bit... excessive.
"The dorm room assignments should be finished by now, but as a freshman, the interior layout must be confusing, right? I'll take you to your room."
"...Uh, yes. Thank you."
Refuse? Are you crazy?
What kind of stupid bastard would turn down such a pretty girl offering to escort him first?
We stepped into the dormitory lobby.
Dozens of male students who had already checked in were gathered in small groups chatting in the lobby.
And the moment we entered.
The air in the lobby instantly froze coldly, and I could feel all eyes sharply focus on us.
"Huh? That silver hair... Isn't that the freshman representative?"
"But who's that guy next to her? Some squid..."
"Why is the female top student coming into the male dormitory with someone...?"
Jealous, piercing stares and murmuring from all directions.
It definitely wasn't a normal picture.
But she didn't pay any attention to the surrounding gazes, treating them like dust.
Instead, she very naturally took one more step toward me and then.
—Swish.
She softly wrapped both her arms around my right arm, linking them together.
"It's this way."
"......Huh?!"
Holy shit.
It felt like a fuse in my head snapped, pop.
The warmth I felt through her thin uniform shirt was so vivid.
Above all, the sensation of two heavy, insanely soft mounds pressing against my arm.
The ears of Lee Jeong-hoon, a 20-year virgin since birth, turned red as if they were about to burst.
"Uh, um. Representative-nim...?"
"There are stairs."
She answered nonchalantly with smiling eyes.
"You might trip."
'An aspiring superhuman capable of entering this academy would trip on mere stairs?!'
It was an excuse so ridiculous even a passing dog would laugh.
But I desperately tried to keep the corners of my mouth from reaching my ears and nodded like a fool.
"...Ah, yes. We should be careful. Of course."
Her soft touch firmly wrapped around my arm didn't let go even once until we reached the end of the third-floor corridor.
Rather, with each step, it felt like the chest contact was becoming more and more intense.
"What's your room number?"
"Uh... Room 312."
"Ah."
She smiled brightly.
"That's a good room. Though it might be a bit small for living together?"
After checking the nameplate in front of me, she finally released my arm and took a step back. I almost clicked my tongue in disappointment without realizing it.
I took the key from my pocket and opened the door.
Click.
The room was more spacious and pleasant than I expected.
Two beds, two desks. My roommate didn't seem to have arrived yet, as it was completely empty.
I put down my bag and turned around to see her still standing in the open doorway, staring intently at me.
"May I come in?"
I blinked in surprise.
A girl in a male student's room? On the first day of school? And with someone she just met?
Honestly, I was excited, but I played it cool.
"...Uh, yes. Well, come in. It's a bit messy... not really, yet."
She stepped lightly into the room.
And slowly, with a very meticulous and persistent gaze, she began scanning every corner of the room.
Almost like...
A predator checking if the 'cage' for its prey was sturdy enough.
"It's nice. Quite cozy for a freshman room."
"Do you also evaluate dorm rooms, Pretty Representative-nim?"
A silly joke to ease the tension. But she didn't laugh.
Instead, she turned her head and looked straight at me.
"Lee Jeong-hoon."
"...Yes?"
She took one step, swiftly approaching me.
And her white, slender finger slid up over the nameplate on my chest.
My breath caught. She was too close.
My vision was filled with her unreal face, and my brain felt dizzy, melting from the intense peach pheromones stinging my nose.
"Earlier."
Her crimson gaze slid stickily from my eyes, slowly downward... toward where my heart and dantian were located.
"During the magic power measurement. It shone incredibly brightly, right?"
"...Yes. But they said it was just a machine error, that my ability hasn't manifested."
When I shrugged awkwardly, she covered her mouth and let out a small laugh, "Heh."
"Really?"
And suddenly. Her index finger moved past my nameplate and tapped right in the center of my chest.
"Here."
"...Yes?"
"Magic power."
—Thump!
My heart pounded as if it would break my ribs.
From just that slight touch of her hand brushing against my chest, all the hairs on my body stood on end, and I felt an electric tingle running up my spine.
Shouldn't I be running away?
She tilted her head slightly and asked in a lazily moist voice.
"By any chance. Do you have a girlfriend?"