Petty Streak
I sat at the desk, organizing documents. As always, Cha Yeri looked beautiful and elegant. But I hadn’t come to the student council office just to admire her usual pretty face.
“Given how things turned out, I believe the president should cover my dry-cleaning bill.”
“Kang Ijin. If you have time to say that, why don’t you look at one more document?”
“I’m doing both. But seriously, you’re really not going to pay for the dry cleaning?”
The student council office was quiet, with only the two of us since we still hadn’t recruited any other officers. Unable to endure my pestering any longer, Cha Yeri set her pen down with a sharp click.
“I distinctly remember telling you yesterday to stay put in that spot.”
Was she talking about leaving the drunk Lee Yena behind? “She drank without knowing her own tolerance and passed out. Why should I have to babysit her?”
“A girl was lying there alone. It could have been dangerous. As vice president and a man, it’s only natural for you to look after a female student from our school.”
Hmm. I had nothing to say to that. Cha Yeri had a point. She really only ever spoke the truth.
“I’ll take care of it next time.”
“Please do. Yena is my…”
“Precious friend?”
Cha Yeri glanced at me, but soon turned her gaze back to the documents. Lee Yena would get flustered and panicked at the slightest poke, but Cha Yeri didn’t lose her composure over something like this. She had probably been strictly taught how to manage her emotions from a young age.
“How did you find out about me and Yena? Did you investigate us separately?”
“Well, something like that. I’ll just say that I can do whatever you do, President.”
I plopped down arrogantly on the sofa in the student council office and crossed my legs with an air of superiority. I thought she would scold me for lying on the sofa with my shoes on, but Cha Yeri simply looked at me gently and spoke in a soft, tender tone.
“About that… I’ve decided to stop doing background checks on people from now on.”
“Why?”
What sudden change of heart was this? As I had seen, Lee Yena was an indispensable information source for Cha Yeri. She was a woman who had entered school with a plan to become student council president in the future. Now that she had achieved that goal, her new objective was to graduate as the greatest student council president in the school’s history. She was a perfectionist who designed every step of her path. For someone like her, more information was always better. Wasn’t that why she had enrolled the maid who had served her since childhood?
“When I thought about it, planting someone to do background checks… after experiencing it myself, I realized it wasn’t right, so I decided to stop.”
As expected of my exemplary president. The way she recognized her mistake and chose to move forward correctly was truly admirable. It made me even less willing to hand her over to Kang Suho.
“Then Lee Yena won’t be coming to school anymore? Should I take that as her breaking our agreement?”
However, I was against her stopping the background checks. That was one thing; this was another. I deliberately furrowed my brow. There was an agreement between her and me. It was that Lee Yena would absolutely not be allowed to leave the school. Stopping the background checks also meant there would be no more reason for Lee Yena to attend school. I had just found a fun toy to play with. I wasn’t about to let it be taken away midway. I glared at Cha Yeri with open hostility.
But… instead, Cha Yeri crossed her arms with a triumphant look on her face, as if she had won, and declared proudly,
“This time, you’re wrong.”
“Huh?”
“To be precise, the promise—not even a promise, it was blackmail—was that you wouldn’t tell Yena that you knew her true identity. I never said a word to Yena about that. So claiming I broke the agreement is incorrect.”
Then Cha Yeri looked like a child who had caught someone else’s mistake and was secretly proud of herself. What the hell was this creature? Damn, she was insanely cute.
“Ah… I see. I didn’t realize that.”
“Hehe. I thought you were meticulous, but you missed something this simple? Maybe I overestimated you.”
She had been overestimating me? I hadn’t known that. At her unexpected compliment, the corners of my mouth almost rose, but I held them back. I felt like pounding on her tiny chest like a drum.
“As the president said, I didn’t break the agreement, so I have no reason to be angry. I lost. Do as you wish with Lee Yena.”
“Really?”
“Why do you look so surprised, President?”
“…I didn’t expect you to admit it so easily…”
Cha Yeri tilted her head. She looked genuinely puzzled, as if she couldn’t understand my existence. That’s exactly what I’m aiming for.
I took half of the stack of documents on her desk and returned to the sofa. They were a jumbled mess of student suggestions and incidents from yesterday. I handled the ones that weren’t even worth reading on my own, sorting the important ones by priority, and spoke softly.
“There isn’t a single thing the president says that’s wrong. I think it’s amazing how you’re always so perfect and logical. President.”
“Is that so? Thank you.”
At my praise, Cha Yeri looked a little embarrassed and turned her eyes back to the documents.
“But President. Did you know?”
“Know what?”
“That you always look anxious, like someone being chased by something.”
“……”
Cha Yeri remained silent. I hadn’t said it expecting an answer, so it didn’t matter. I placed the organized documents on her desk and picked up the remaining half.
Our eyes met. She still seemed unable to process my sudden change in attitude.
“So instead of trying to handle everything alone, try relying on me a little. As you can see, I’m also the top student in our grade, just like you. At the very least, you should test whether I’m fit to be vice president or not.”
Cha Yeri’s tightly closed lips parted slightly. It seemed the words she had said to me on the entrance ceremony day had come to mind. Her lips trembled, then she spoke with a look of firm resolve.
“Kang Ijin… what I said to you back then was—”
“It’s fine. Why would you apologize? It’s embarrassing.”
But I scratched my head, cut her off without listening to the rest, and returned to the sofa. This was enough. I had shown her a bit of charm through the reversal while also displaying a carefree, non-petty side. I couldn’t allow her to apologize and feel relieved. A moderate amount of guilt would keep her thinking about me.
“More importantly, you know that the sooner you finish your work, the sooner I can go out and have fun, right? Hurry up. I promised my friends I’d go drinking with them today.”
Cha Yeri looked dumbfounded at my usual unserious attitude that had nothing to do with sincerity. But within that expression, there was also a faint smile.
“As I’ve said before, Kang Ijin, you need to have some seriousness as vice president.”
“I don’t want to live a life that’s too serious like you, President, with no friends.”
“W-what? What are you talking about, Kang Ijin? I have friends too…”
“Do you?”
“Well…”
Cha Yeri dragged out her words, unable to answer immediately. I gave her a look that said see? and smirked.
From what I had observed of Cha Yeri over the past year at school, I had never seen her spend time with anyone. She always ate alone, and even last year when she was vice president, she spent every lunch break in the student council office. Despite receiving the hearts of the boys and the respect of her juniors, Cha Yeri was actually… an incredibly socially awkward loner with zero friends.
“I-I have friends too.”
“Really? Who? Just so you know, I don’t count the blonde maid as a friend. Lee Yena is essentially not a friend but a subordinate. Even if you’ve been close like friends since childhood, there’s an undeniable master-servant hierarchy between a maid and her mistress that can’t be denied.”
“……”
Cha Yeri’s face darkened rapidly. It was obvious she had been about to mention Lee Yena and got caught by me.
“Kang Ijin.”
“Yes?”
“Hurry up and sort those documents and hand them over. Do you want to leave the student council office late?”
“Huh?”
“Actually, this is perfect. You told me to rely on you, didn’t you? I’ll give you more documents, so you handle all of them. That’s fine, right?”
I had indeed said that. But it was clear this was filled with Cha Yeri’s personal feelings. Since you’re going to become my woman, I’ll gladly accept even those kinds of emotions.
“Are you… sulking because I said you don’t have friends?”
“Kang Ijin. We are currently working on student council matters. Please refrain from personal remarks.”
Your tone is full of personal malice though, ma’am. Still, the fact that she was directly assigning me work meant I had definitely become much more comfortable around her. Her favorability must have gone up, right?
Anyway, today’s results were a huge success. I was very satisfied. If I continued progressing like this little by little, someday it would be me, not Kang Suho, standing by her side.
“President, it seems your hands have gotten a lot slower. Is it just my imagination?”
“……”
“You know I have that drinking appointment, right…?”
“I don’t think I have any obligation to hurry my work just because of your drinking plans. If you want to leave quickly, you should work faster too, Kang Ijin.”
“Yes, yes~ I’ll do that.”
“Answer only once. It makes you look rude.”
“Yes~ Mom.”
“Sigh… Seriously, Kang Ijin, I can never figure you out…”
Cha Yeri muttered and lowered her gaze, focusing on the documents. I glanced at her for a moment before sitting on the sofa and immersing myself in the paperwork as well.
Unlike before, not a single word flowed through the student council office. The sound of turning pages, the tapping of pens, and the subtle, not-too-close-not-too-distant position between Cha Yeri and me. I quite liked this quiet, mysterious atmosphere.