Heroine Event
I stepped into the student council office and was about to greet her cheerfully when Cha Yeri immediately shut me down with a scolding.
She really acts more like a mom than my own mom. Should I start calling her Mama?
"You want me to change in here?"
"You're as cold as ever, President. Good morning to you."
Even though she clearly finds me annoying, she still responds properly to my greeting instead of ignoring it. That's almost pathologically upright. She's the kind of woman who makes you itch to corrupt her.
"What brings you here so early in the morning? I don't remember calling for you."
"Obviously I came to see you, President. But... your hair accessory is different today?"
Cha Yeri looked different from usual. The hair tie that normally held her long, straight black hair in a neat ponytail now had a red ribbon decoration I'd never seen before.
"Yes. Yena tied it for me... It's my first time wearing something like this, so it feels awkward. What do you think?"
What? This was Lee Yena's doing? You damn bitch, you should've told me that earlier. The moment I saw it, I nearly had a heart attack from how cute it was.
Of course, she'd simply changed the tie she used to hold her hair. But the fact that she, who always kept things plain, was wearing a decoration for the first time—and how perfectly it matched her black hair and dark crimson eyes—made it an enormous change for someone like me who was completely in love with Cha Yeri.
Now all that was left was to change that godawful skirt that went down past her knees.
"President, do you live without looking in a mirror?"
"It suits you incredibly well."
Cha Yeri's eyes widened just a little. She seemed quite surprised by my honest answer. I let out a small chuckle and nodded. Then, gazing at her with deep, meaningful eyes, I alternated my gaze between her and the ribbon.
"Plus, it matches your small frame so perfectly that it's cute."
She went from embarrassed to stern, then back to embarrassed. Compared to when we first met, her expressions had become incredibly varied. If it had been the prickly version of her, she would've cut me off immediately and told me not to overdo it.
"You trust me, right? It suits you so well that you could wear it for the rest of your life, not just for a while."
"Huh?"
I went out of my way to compliment her and she suddenly gets prickly again, that bitch. Should I grab her by the twin tails and use them as handles?
The corner of her mouth twitched slightly. It was because I'd frozen with an exaggeratedly hurt expression on my face. Just seeing that reaction made coming to the student council office and making a fuss completely worth it.
"President, you've been smiling a lot lately, haven't you?"
"When I first met you, President, I thought you were a cold robot. Don't you remember telling me to resign as vice president the moment you saw me?"
"I won't leave until I achieve my goal. Even if it kills me."
Why is she suddenly curious about my goal? Is she trying to find out what it is, grant it, and then kick me out of the student council? I absolutely can't let that happen. My goal can only be achieved by staying in the student council.
"Are you really curious? It might hurt you if a kind person like you finds out, President."
I curled one corner of my mouth into a sly grin and spoke in a meaningful tone. However—
Cha Yeri didn't back down. She was prepared to hear whatever I had to say.
'Huh...?'
This wasn't the reaction I wanted. In this situation, the scene I had imagined was Cha Yeri sensing something suspicious and refusing. But she was doing the complete opposite, steeling herself to listen to anything.
It didn't seem like I could just brush it off now...
This is bad. There's no way I can tell her I came here to flirt with the heroines in the student council office.
If I said that, her favorability toward me would definitely plummet. Was there some plausible excuse I could give?
While I was lost in thought, trying to come up with something—
Cha Yeri took a sip of her tea and spoke with a relaxed expression.
"Excuse me? You're going to guess why I joined the student council?"
She'd already noticed? Does that even make sense? Then why did she calmly leave the task of recruiting new members to me? Was this a trap? But even though I'd been found out, her favorability didn't seem to have dropped at all.
I tried to guess what she thought my goal was, but quickly realized the thought itself was meaningless. Since she was going to tell me directly, there was no need to speculate. I swallowed hard, calming the tension rising inside me, and asked.
"What do you think my goal is?"
A beautiful smile like something out of a painting spread across her face.
"Ah..."
Cha Yeri elegantly held her teacup and gazed at my bewildered face with gentle eyes.
Ah... what do I do about this?
I was surprised by what Cha Yeri said. I was surprised that she'd swung and completely missed with such confidence.
What the hell. I got scared thinking I'd been caught.
Of course, what she said wasn't entirely wrong. It was true that I'd joined the student council to target her. But if she asked whether I'd joined because I loved her, it felt a bit ambiguous. My feelings toward her were closer to possessiveness than love.
Someone might ask what the difference is, but it was a matter of priority. I didn't want to possess her because I loved her. I wanted to possess her because she was a heroine, and as a result, I ended up falling in love with her. The desire to own her came first, not love.
It was the same with how I treated Jeong Sua. The way I acted affectionately toward her was like carefully polishing a precious plate I treasured every single day.
Let's think this through carefully...
What kind of reaction should I give to this woman who was leisurely sipping her tea, convinced she'd guessed correctly? I needed to figure out how to gain the maximum benefit from this situation.
Should I just admit it and use this chance to be more aggressive?
If I acknowledged that I liked her, it would give me a free pass for all the flirting I did with her... Huh? That's not a bad idea at all.
In that case, even the kiss I demanded as the bet's reward, or the fact that I often showed up at the student council office without being called—everything could be justified with 'because Kang Ijin likes her.'
Even during bets, instead of awkwardly making up excuses to demand a kiss as a reward, I could boldly ask for one outright! Why? Because I like Cha Yeri and joined the student council to achieve that goal!
Wow, damn. Why didn't I think of this before?
"I was too embarrassed to say it, but you guessed it exactly. I'm surprised."
"Since when did you know?"
"You mean the kiss, right?"
When I pointed it out precisely, Cha Yeri shot me a sharp glare before clearing her throat and correcting herself.
"So you knew from the very beginning."
Wait, isn't she going a bit too far with this?
Was the problem that Cha Yeri's mind was too sharp? Or was my image inside her head simply too highly regarded?
I went to the bar because I didn't want to run into Sua, and it wasn't an act—I was genuinely angry about the misunderstanding. I really just drank at the bar and left, but she kept painting me as trash, which was incredibly unfair. The bet was both to prove my innocence and to satisfy my own desires. She was calling me trash for something I hadn't even done. It was my way of saying, 'Then you should experience getting screwed over too.'
"That's right. It was all part of my plan."
I lied without a single shred of shame. The sly smile that accompanied it was a bonus. Thank you so much for misunderstanding me like this. I don't even know what to do with myself.
"In that sense, are you free this Saturday?"
What else? Let's go on a date. No matter what, I have to make progress with you.
"I want to buy some reference books. Could you help me pick them out, President?"
"Is that really so surprising?"
"You'll help me, right? Your cute junior and fellow student council member is asking for your help."
Even if Cha Yeri saw me as an eyesore, she wouldn't be able to refuse. She was the type who believed that guiding juniors was the proper mindset a senior should have. Plus, the fact that she always nagged me whenever she saw me suggested she had a strong desire to guide me as well.
But Cha Yeri rejected my proposal. Just as I was wondering if I'd overestimated her, she gave me the reason.
"Excuse me?"
I stared at her with a genuinely stunned expression. This wasn't an act. Seeing my face, Cha Yeri smiled with clear satisfaction.
"What are you doing together on the weekend?"
That's not enough at all, you bitch. You can't hang out with that guy. He's a total piece of shit! I still can't understand why all these heroines are so stupid that they willingly walk straight into a pile of crap.
This was clearly just a polite formality. There was no way I could butt in without reading the room. Besides, in the current situation, I couldn't compete with Kang Suho. True to his role as the protagonist, he was quickly building a close relationship with her, while I was nothing but an annoying pest who had joined with her as my target. There was a chance she might invite me along only to completely ignore me and focus solely on Kang Suho.
"No, I'll just go buy the reference books by myself."
She didn't look sorry at all, but it didn't matter. Because no matter what, I was going to follow them on that date anyway.