Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Monday morning.
I woke up at the usual time and washed up. By the time I finished my shower, Yang Hye-in was already in the room. I settled into the chair, and she dried my hair with the dryer, then carefully brushed it out.
I dozed lightly while waiting for my hair to finish drying. After Yang Hye-in's final inspection, I changed into my school uniform.
Then, as always, I followed her out of the room and headed toward the dining room—
That was when I noticed the atmosphere was slightly different from usual.
The servants normally didn't react much to Ye Sa-ra, but they at least showed her basic courtesy. Even if they didn't speak to her or give proper answers, they'd stop walking and bow their heads when she passed near them. Once she was gone, they'd move again.
Of course, that didn't mean they'd stopped doing even that much.
It was more that they were doing a little more than usual. Things they normally didn't do.
Usually, a bowing servant wouldn't look at me. They'd stare at the ground, making it hard to tell whether they were greeting me or just avoiding eye contact, waiting for me to pass.
But the servant who passed me didn't do that.
He stopped and bowed his head, but for a moment, his eyes lifted and met mine directly.
The servant hastily lowered his gaze again.
It was a trivial action. Frankly, it felt like the sort of thing anyone might do on impulse, without even thinking about it.
But at the same time, it was something I'd never seen before. Until now, inside this mansion, Yang Hye-in was the only servant who ever met my eyes without me calling for them first.
If I'd been a little more careless, I probably would have asked him if he needed something.
"......My lady."
As I swallowed my curiosity and walked past him in silence, Yang Hye-in, following behind me, spoke quietly.
"I'll fill you in in the car, shortly."
It seemed Yang Hye-in knew the reason for that servant's reaction.
I nodded silently and kept walking toward the dining room.
*
As soon as we got into the car, Yang Hye-in, seated beside me, pulled out her smartphone and showed it to me.
A news article was displayed on the screen.
But I knew what it was about even before reading the headline, because a huge photo was plastered across the article.
It was me, in a more boyish outfit—a cap pulled low, a black T-shirt, jeans, and a gray jumper. And Yu Ha-neul, clinging to my arm as if she were hanging from it, looking up at me and smiling brightly.
......Ironically, because the light radiating from Yu Ha-neul's face didn't show in the photo, I could see her expression much more clearly.
Pure happiness, without a single trace of worry.
[Yujin Group Heiress Appears After Years... A Mysterious Girl Seen With Her?]
It didn't use words like "romance" or "dating," but the implication was crystal clear. They were almost certainly fishing for clicks by hinting at that kind of relationship between me and Yu Ha-neul.
The article itself was short. [The sole heiress of Yujin Group, Ye Sa-ra, has appeared publicly for the first time in years. Standing with a girl who appears to be her age, she looked happy, contrary to widespread rumors.]
Honestly, it read more like a photo caption than a proper article. Probably because it was a breaking-news format.
"......So, the staff at the mansion looked at me like that because they saw this?"
"Yes, that's right.......I'm sorry. It was my oversight."
"Huh?"
Startled by Yang Hye-in's sudden apology, I made her repeat herself.
"I should have anticipated something like this might happen when you went out."
"Anticipated?"
"......Because you're different from ordinary chaebol children, my lady."
That was certainly true.
Even in the world I used to live in, chaebol kids sometimes showed up in the news or had their photos circulate online. I don't mean causing accidents. Just... photos that spread because people were curious about them.
Like a photo of some kid using a competitor's product when their dad is the company chairman. Or someone writing a cringey middle-schooler-tier post on social media that gets shared everywhere.
But their reach is usually far below that of celebrities. They don't appear in the media often, and aside from being born with a silver spoon, there isn't really much interesting about them. Unless they pull some crazy power trip, they rarely get more than a passing laugh.
Ye Sa-ra, however, was a slightly different story.
She was the heiress to a company with a staggering market capitalization of 3,600 trillion won.
Not just the largest in the country, but the largest in the setting of this world. About 30 percent of the global population uses smartphones made by this company. It commands 50 percent of the foundry market and designs its own semiconductors, too.
It isn't just ranked first in market cap; it's a company on an insane scale. Honestly, it's a wonder it hasn't been slapped down somewhere for growing this huge. It's the kind of company you wouldn't be surprised to see people make hyper-nationalistic videos about and upload to streaming sites.
"The shares you have formally inherited alone amount to 5.7 percent."
Right. I might be one of the wealthiest, if not the wealthiest—teenagers in the entire world.
Although, strictly speaking, it wasn't my wealth, but Ye Sa-ra's.
And that's just stocks. It's probably even more when you include real estate, though likely not as much as the stock holdings.
Even if I can't spend that money freely right now, the point is, if I ever married someone, that person would also gain access to enormous wealth.
Is it really any different from a prince or princess in a monarchy being hounded by scandals?
"And you've also been famous for your looks since childhood."
Even back then, searching Ye Sa-ra's name used to bring up photos with captions like "Top-Tier Looks Among the Rich."
"......."
I see. So every possible reason to be famous had been concentrated into one person.
And because she hadn't shown her face to the press for years, it must have unintentionally created an aura of mystique, blowing her image up even more.
"......Who do you think took this photo?"
"We'll have to look into that. There's a good chance this paper didn't take it themselves."
Meaning someone else might have taken it and sold it.
"The corporation may already be investigating."
"So that means......."
"Yes. It's possible the Chairwoman already knows."
A brief silence settled in the car. For a luxury foreign sedan with such a big engine, the interior was eerily quiet.
"......Has there been any contact?"
"Not yet."
I rubbed my eyelids with my hand.
"......I'm sorry."
"......No. I'm the one who went out without thinking."
At my words, Yang Hye-in pressed her lips together tightly.
I had been too complacent.
The enemy wasn't just in this house. Ye Sa-ra was famous enough that even people completely unrelated to me might see me as prey.
*
When I walked into the classroom, the murmuring instantly died.
For a moment, every kid in class stared at me.
Was it because the article had spread online?
Normally, even if they glanced at me when I entered, they'd go right back to their business. But now, they were staring as if their eyes had been completely stolen.
So I acted differently from usual.
Normally, I would have ignored them just as they ignored me.
But if they were going to stare at me, it was only proper I stared back.
I slowly swept my gaze around the room. Whenever I found a kid looking at me, I met their eyes one by one.
Ye Sa-ra might have a pretty face, but she also has rather sharp eyes. There's an aura about her where, just by narrowing them a little or raising an eyebrow, she looks like she could cut something with her gaze.
Sure enough, every kid who met my eyes quickly turned their head away.
Having cleared away every gaze like that, I walked slowly to my seat and sat down.
......Come to think of it, this wasn't just a crisis.
I'd already decided to benchmark the original Ye Sa-ra in order to escape the situation where the Chairwoman had me under her thumb.
I had no intention of completely breaking down the way the Ye Sa-ra in the game did. I just needed to make sure no one could ignore me—exactly like her.
They used money to influence the kids' parents to ignore Ye Sa-ra? They moved the school itself to turn Ye Sa-ra into a transparent person?
Then I just need to make such a mess that money can't fix it.
Unlike the original Ye Sa-ra, who let everything slide, this time I'll handle it as constructively as I can.
Skkrrrk. The classroom door opened again.
This time, the eyes darted toward it as well.
"......Huh?"
The kid receiving the stares was flustered. She was used to getting looks, but the ones aimed at her now were much heavier and sharper than the indifferent glances from before.
"Ha-neul!"
I called out to Yu Ha-neul, who had frozen under the attention.
"......H-huh!?"
She was even more surprised this time.
......Oh, right. Had I never called her by just her name before?
Well, that wasn't what mattered right now. What mattered was—
The desks were originally arranged in separate rows. Some kids pushed them together to sit with friends during breaks or lunch, but the rule was to keep them apart during class.
Not that any rule applied to me, the "transparent person."
I reached out and pulled Yu Ha-neul's desk toward me—then stopped short.
......It was heavy.
What on earth had she put in the drawers? Were they stuffed with books other than textbooks?
"Nngh."
I stood up, put my weight into it, and dragged the desk toward me.
It didn't take long before Yu Ha-neul's desk was pressed right up against mine.
Right. Since I'm a "transparent person," it doesn't matter what I do, does it?
Since I've drawn attention anyway, it works out.
Starting today, I'm going to be an attention whore.
It's already a foregone conclusion the Chairwoman will find out, so there's no point in backing down now.
I looked at Yu Ha-neul and tapped the chair right next to me with my hand. Tap tap.
"Here. Come sit."
And I grinned at her.
Sure, they could ignore Ye Sa-ra when she was alone.
But can they still ignore her now that she has allies?
The more ripples overlap, the more irregular and unpredictable they become.
"H-huh??"
Yu Ha-neul still had a massively bewildered look on her face.
Well, this is only the beginning.
Let's just see who wins.