Chapter 6
Chapter 6
The entrance ceremony was boring.
Thinking back to my middle school graduation, I didn't have any friends here I'd be happy to see again, and I wasn't planning to go out of my way to make new ones. Naturally, I had zero interest in the school itself, so I felt no excitement whatsoever.
Back then, I'd been able to enjoy high school because of my close friends. Ye Sa-ra was a kid who got bullied instead. I don't know where the root cause lay. But whatever it was, I had no desire to bust my ass befriending the kids who'd spent their time collectively ostracizing her.
Around me, kids chattered noisily, about how good their new uniforms looked, how nice it was to see each other again. The business world runs entirely on connections, doesn't it? They moved diligently, hunting for friends who could be advantageous to know from a young age.
Of course, in the middle of all that, not a single one of them approached me.
"......."
Was this some kind of cool-indifferent-syndrome thing?
I'd been staring blankly out the window when the thought suddenly struck me, and I furrowed my brow slightly.
Honestly, "It's not that the world isn't interested in me, it's that I'm not interested in the world~" is usually just self-rationalization. There's a clear difference between "can't" and "won't."
"U-um, excuse me......."
Come to think of it, I never had that many friends. That one friend I sat next to by chance in high school, who happened to be reading a light novel so I instinctively thought of them as a kindred spirit, or the kid who was that friend's friend and then became my friend too...... anyway, by the time I'd graduated college and finished my military service, hardly any friends I kept in touch with were left.
"H-hey, so......."
I started to seriously deliberate.
Was I actually a total outcast deep down? Had I simply rested on my laurels just because I had a few friends I'd stayed in contact with for over ten years, and kept the act of forging new connections at an excessive distance? Was the real reason I'd never had a girlfriend simply an attitude problem on my part?
"U-uh, hi?"
No, thinking about it logically, my looks had also played a part in my failure to become popular. I considered my own appearance above average, sure, but looks make up a huge portion of self-confidence. Pretty and handsome people are, from childhood, surrounded by—
"HI!?"
"AGHK!?"
Someone suddenly shouted right into my ear with all their might, and I let out a bizarre noise without even realizing it. I sprang halfway out of my seat in shock, then crashed back down, my butt slamming against the chair. There's barely any fat on this body, so it felt like my bones hit the chair directly, and it hurt like hell.
What the—? What just happened?
Unable to grasp the situation, I looked around. Whether it was because of the kid who'd just yelled in my ear, or because of the freakish noise I'd made that no one had ever heard before, the chattering that had filled the room just moments ago had completely died.
"Oh, uh, sorry. For suddenly yelling like that......."
Wait, I was more shocked that there was actually a kid here with the nerve to talk to me directly.
I turned my gaze toward the source of the voice. Could it be Lee Su-a, the girl I'd taken a picture with last time?
......My prediction was completely off the mark.
The kid standing where I'd turned to look was radiating an intense light from her face. So intense I couldn't keep my eyes fully open and look straight at her.
......What the? Was she Jesus? Had heaven decided I was too pitiful and sent a saint to be my friend?
Well, not likely. More than that, my sixth sense must have activated again. Same principle as when I saw Lee Su-a at the graduation ceremony.
Anyway, how utterly useless. If I could actually interpret the light coming from her face, then it might be of some use. As it is, it's nothing but a hindrance to daily life.
I narrowed my eyes and looked up, barely managing to make out the kid's face.
A neat appearance. Dark brown eyes. And a brown ponytail. She had a good figure, but it wasn't as strikingly prominent as Lee Su-a's, whom I'd seen yesterday, just a pleasantly nice degree.
......Wait, a brown ponytail?
A brown ponytail...... in this world where hair colors are comparatively more diverse than in reality, that's a fairly ordinary hairstyle. So I could be wrong. I could be wrong, but......
Damn it, I tried to check her nametag, but that intense light reached down to about her chest and I couldn't see it properly.
"You. What's your name?"
Unable to read the name, I ended up asking her directly.
"Huh? Oh, my name is......."
The kid, who'd flinched for a moment looking at me, cleared her throat with an "ahem" and then answered.
"I'm Yu Ha-neul. We're in the same class starting today. Nice to meet you."
Right, that was the name.
The female protagonist of If You Wish, which I'd watched through a streamer's broadcast. The default name of the character the player controls.
A chestnut-brown ponytail and brown eyes. An image that's lively and cute.
That was the shared description of the protagonist in that game.
And that protagonist was holding her hand out to me.
Without a moment's hesitation, I took that hand and answered.
"......I'm Ye Sa-ra."
"Ye Sa-ra? That's a pretty name."
I could hear the murmur of voices around me, but I paid no attention.
Because the kid standing before me now, shaking my hand, was the one and only savior who could reverse the destruction of my preordained future.
......So was that why light was shining from her face like that?
I'd have to think about this more carefully later.
*
Entrance ceremonies are exciting.
And the word "exciting" is essentially no different from saying you're just as nervous.
Especially if you're a kid with no friends to talk to.
Yu Ha-neul had been able to enjoy her middle school years precisely because she had close friends. Because there were kids to laugh and chat with, kids to walk home with after school, she could get through each day without feeling lonely.
But in high school, that wouldn't be the case.
After all, Yu Ha-neul had finally gotten into the Hwayeong High School she'd always admired.
Hwayeong High School, called the best high school in the Republic of Korea, was the dream of every teenager. From the uniforms selected by top designers, to the school buildings designed by top architects, to the finest teaching staff. Moreover, the only ones who could attend that school were those with top-tier ability, or kids whose families could afford the school's astronomical tuition.
It was so famous for the number of children from the business and political worlds attending that there was even a joke: if you made a friend at Hwayeong High School, you could live off the meals they'd buy you for the rest of your life.
So quite a few unsavory rumors had spread as well, but in the eyes of the kids, it was nothing but an object of admiration.
There were several ways to enter Hwayeong High School.
The easiest was graduating from Hwayeong Middle School. Since it was a school operated by the same foundation, they didn't separately evaluate grades upon entry. Middle school was the same; if you graduated from Hwayeong Elementary School, you could attend all the way through middle and high school. Provided, of course, that you could regularly pay the enormous tuition.
Even when entering from outside, it wasn't as difficult as you might think. Hwayeong High School didn't cut students based on grades. If they did, there might be students who couldn't move up from middle school. Hwayeong Academy, having no intention of cutting off their long-term "customers," didn't administer a separate entrance exam.
Truthfully, even without that, the kids who were going to attend had already been in the school pipeline since childhood, and anyway, most of the newly entering kids could afford that kind of tuition.
But still, a school was a school, and so it also needed some achievements to show "as a school."
That was why they selected scholarship students every year and fully exempted them from that huge tuition. The exam to become one of those scholarship students was so difficult that, to outsiders who didn't know the internal circumstances, it made Hwayeong High School look like a place only extremely talented and extremely wealthy kids could attend.
Yu Ha-neul was one of those "outside admits."
Naturally, she'd had a tearful farewell with the friends she'd known before, though they met up to hang out again literally the next day, and had no acquaintance whatsoever with the kids who'd been attending this place since practically middle school.
That wasn't to say not a single person had spoken to her. There were definitely kids who talked to Yu Ha-neul even though they were seeing her face for the first time.
"Hi! I haven't seen your face before. What's your name?"
"H-huh? Oh, I'm Yu Ha-neul."
The somewhat nervous Yu Ha-neul answered that way.
"Yu Ha-neul? Oh, could it be the Yu of Yuga Noodles?"
"Yuga Noodles?"
When Yu Ha-neul tilted her head quizzically, the kid floated a question mark above their own head and fell into deep thought.
"Ah, then the 'Yu' of Yu Pharmaceuticals?"
"Yu, Yu Pharmaceuticals?"
Why suddenly a drug company name?
As flustered as Yu Ha-neul was, the kid who'd spoken to her also looked a bit taken aback.
"Ah, um, sorry. That's the full extent of my knowledge on this. Would it be okay if I asked what your parents do?"
Why her parents all of a sudden......?
"Uh, they just work at a company......."
"Ah......."
The kid's face instantly became a picture of "troubled."
"Are you an outside admit, by any chance? A scholarship student?"
"Yeah, a scholarship student......."
"Ah~ I see. That explains it."
The kid nodded as if they finally understood, then said, "Oh, I've got other friends to go say hi to," and simply walked off.
That kind of conversation was actually on the longer side; usually, they'd ask one or two things, then immediately lose interest and go elsewhere. Once that happened two or three times, suddenly there were no kids around her at all.
What the? Did I do something wrong......?
Yu Ha-neul idly sniffed at herself. She didn't smell like anything.
Was my attitude not great? Did rich kids have some special etiquette they had to follow?
She sat there thinking about it for a long while, but no answer came.
"......Alright."
If they wouldn't come to her, then she just had to go to them first.
Having made up her mind, Yu Ha-neul sprang up from her seat. And, determined to get as friendly as possible with her classmates, she strode confidently toward where the kids were gathered.
But when the kids saw Yu Ha-neul approaching them, they giggled among themselves.
And then they subtly edged away.
Yu Ha-neul's steps toward them were forced to a halt. No matter how clueless a person was, when the other party showed that kind of attitude, you could only grasp exactly what situation you were in.
"......."
Dumbfounded, Yu Ha-neul's mouth fell open.
So...... was this, like, ostracism right now?
She couldn't be sure yet...... but for someone who usually made one or two friends easily on the first day of a semester, the kids' reactions were far more shocking.
"......."
Yu Ha-neul turned away. She shifted her steps toward kids gathered in a few other places, only to soon realize that everyone in the classroom was subtly avoiding her.
......No, not "everyone."
There was exactly one kid who didn't avoid Yu Ha-neul.
Though, not avoiding her was all it was; she didn't seem interested in Yu Ha-neul. Actually, looking closely, she seemed uninterested not just in Yu Ha-neul, but in everyone in the classroom.
There were no kids around her. But whether it was because of that aloof, dignified attitude she had as she stared out the window with no expression, it looked less like she was being ostracized and more like she simply wanted to be alone.
"Alright."
Let's try talking to that girl too.
Who knew? Seeing how not a single kid was talking to her either, maybe she was also an outside admit?
Well, her hair was incredibly well-groomed, though.
And for some reason, the way she was resting her chin on her hand also looked incredibly refined.
Seeing her skin, white as snow, she didn't look like she went outside much.
Truthfully, "because she was alone" was just an excuse. I simply wanted to talk to her because a kid with that kind of appearance was there. It was true that she stood out for being alone, but her looks made her stand out just as much.
"U-um, excuse me—"
When Yu Ha-neul approached her and carefully tried to speak, the chatter around them subsided a little.
She could feel the sidelong glances.
"H-hey, so......."
Though she momentarily lost her nerve under those gathering eyes, Yu Ha-neul steeled herself once more and tried again.
But the kid quietly gazing out the window still showed no sign of answering. What could she possibly be thinking about so deeply?
"U-uh, hi?"
No answer.
But at least this kid didn't run away.
Maybe she was so lost in thought she hadn't heard me? Thinking that, Yu Ha-neul took another breath.
And then,
"HI!?"
She greeted her like she was yelling with all her might.
"AGHK!?"
And then, the kid who'd just moments ago been sitting there with such an eerily pretty, expressionless, atmospheric face let out that bizarre noise and jumped with a start. There was a loud thud as her butt hit the chair.
Silence.
It wasn't the snickering the kids had let out every time Yu Ha-neul approached them before; a heavy silence followed, as if they'd just witnessed something impossible.
"Oh, uh, sorry. For suddenly yelling like that......."
Yu Ha-neul apologized as the girl looked around, seemingly still unable to grasp the situation due to the sudden change.
Hearing that voice, the girl looked up at Yu Ha-neul. The eyes looking up at her narrowed. Was there something she didn't like? The girl's gaze was scarier than she'd thought. Especially, narrowing eyes with red irises into a glare—wasn't that a bit too terrifying?
But still, the girl didn't run away. She stayed seated and listened to what Yu Ha-neul had to say.
Though it was a bit frightening, Yu Ha-neul felt relieved by that fact.
For a while, the girl silently looked Yu Ha-neul over with narrowed eyes, as if assessing her, then opened her mouth.
"You. What's your name?"
"Huh? Oh, my name is......."
When she heard my name, would this kid also make this or that guess about my surname? And if she decided I wasn't necessary, would she coldly pretend not to know me?
There was no way to know without asking.
Yu Ha-neul swallowed dryly and spoke.
"I'm Yu Ha-neul. We're in the same class starting today. Nice to meet you."
As calmly as she could, she slowly brought out the words she'd been rehearsing in her head since earlier.
The eyes looking at her narrowed even more. But now, those eyes didn't look like they were assessing someone. Rather, they were probably closer to a smiling eye-smile.
A beautiful smile that could make anyone looking lose themselves for a moment.
And that girl, as if it were nothing at all, gently took Yu Ha-neul's offered hand.
"I'm Ye Sa-ra."
A simple self-introduction, with no assessment and no questions.
"Ye Sa-ra? That's a pretty name."
Yu Ha-neul meant that sincerely.