Chapter 73

Did she seriously think she was hiding?

If she was aiming to draw attention with that pose, I'd have to hand it to her; it was devastatingly effective. More so than anything I'd pulled last week to get people to notice me.

Come to think of it, that's another method. Start blatantly stalking a teacher, and they'd probably be so freaked out they'd call the police on you.

......Never mind. I can't go turning Ye Sa-ra into a criminal. If we're being technical, spraying water on that bald teacher's head was a crime too, but by that standard, the bullying going on inside this school is a far bigger one. Still, that's a bit different from a serious felony that would completely swing public judgment against you.

Anyway, I stared quietly at the blue hair fluttering past the edge of that tree, then spun around.

My goal had been to get the other kids' attention from the start. If I've got a stalker like that tailing me, nobody can just pretend not to see me anymore. I welcomed it. And a Disciplinary Committee Member holds a semi-official position at school. If she kept slapping me with Penalty Points or hauling me up to the disciplinary board, I'd be grateful.

Still, I had to hand it to her nerve. She must've gotten an earful from the Student Council President, yet here she was, tailing me without a hint of shame.

*

......No, seriously, I really have to hand it to her.

"Hey, Sara? Doesn't it feel like someone's been following us for a while now?"

I was strolling around campus after a leisurely lunch when Ha-neul, stuck to my side, asked me that. Strictly speaking, "feels like" was an understatement. There was already someone blatantly attached to our trail.

Right. This was about the Disciplinary Committee Member Son A-reum, who'd been following me since I arrived at school this morning.

When you think about it, it's seriously impressive. There's no way she could've known when I get to school, which means she must have come in way earlier and waited for me. And I'd actually come in earlier than usual today.

Seeing Ha-neul come to the classroom with that gloomy face right before homeroom made me think I should've messaged her first, but......unfortunately, I don't usually carry a smartphone. After nearly two months of living like that, the very concept of carrying one around has vanished from my mind. Even though I knew Yang Hye-in wouldn't be with me, it never occurred to me to bring it separately.

Thankfully, her expression lit up the moment she saw my face.

Anyway, the Disciplinary Committee Member kept tailing me after that. She tried hiding, behind hallway corners, beside doors, behind shoe lockers, in the bushes or behind trees along the walkway, but her long hair gave her away ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠every time. It wasn't just me; everyone around was giving her strange looks, and she was completely oblivious. I honestly couldn't figure out how she'd gotten into this school through the Outside Admit track.

If she'd at least tied up that long hair, she might've been a little less obvious.

Maybe she had some severe spatial perception deficit? I'd seriously considered it. Sometimes people who pull perfect scores on tests are bizarrely incapable of assembling model kits, so maybe this was one of those cases.

"She's been at it since this morning. I'm sure it'll be fine if we just leave her."

I didn't really know what exactly the Disciplinary Committee Member had heard from the Student Council President. Maybe she'd heard the truth. Maybe she'd just been warned not to do it.

Of course, whichever it was, the fact that she hadn't given up on me meant either she didn't believe what she'd been told, or she was following her own sense of justice despite being told to be careful.

Either way, you had to call her principled.

It was strange that a girl with such a strong character wasn't one of the heroines. Her face doesn't exactly glow with light, either.

"......So, is she like......a stalker......?"

Lee Su-a, stuck to Ha-neul's other side, asked.

Now that I thought about it, those two were keeping a little more distance today. Sure, they still had their arms linked through mine, so to anyone watching we were plenty close, but it was different from last week when they were practically clinging to me. Now it was just light, casual arm-linking on both sides.

......Had they actually seen the will?

The most likely person to have taken the will was Yang Hye-in, and the next most likely was these two. They'd been in my room a fair number of times.

Thinking about how So-hee suddenly vaulted the wall and barged in yesterday, maybe Yang Hye-in had shown these kids the will—

Why?

Yeah, why would she?

Yang Hye-in was just Ye Sa-ra's employee. Even if she'd grown somewhat fond of her over the past three years, Yang Hye-in would never have let that show to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ye Sa-ra. It was only after I entered this body and started going wild that she began speaking to me first or tolerating my actions.

So what reason would she have to go out of her way to visit these three kids, show them the will, and explain things?

......Even if I asked Ha-neul or Lee Su-a now, I probably wouldn't get a straight answer.

Should I set this aside for now, too? Yang Hye-in would be back tonight anyway. I could just ask her directly then.

"Calling her a stalker is a bit much when she only follows me inside the school. Mm......."

I trailed off and sank into thought for a moment.

There was still a little time left in the lunch break.

"Hey, you two."

I called to the two people on either side of me.

"How about we take a little walk?"

Well, we were already walking, technically. But we might as well head over to that place, the one without CCTV.

*

Unfortunately, we weren't the only ones in the park.

The reason this park had no CCTV was supposedly so the rich kids could trade goods and money among themselves in private. That story seemed to check out. The park already had clusters of two or three people quietly murmuring to each other. Some were trading notebooks or passing books back and forth.

I let myself briefly imagine what might be tucked between the pages of those books.

At any rate, thanks to that, the park wasn't really a quiet place. Not noisy, but a constant low murmur of conversation hung in the air.

Well, that was before the three of us showed up.

The moment we three, or, more precisely, the moment I appeared in the park, the kids sitting near us started sneaking glances our way. Some of them had already stopped talking.

Was I really that scary?

No, I suppose I was. I was someone who could casually obliterate a company if necessary. With my personal assets alone, I could jerk a mid-sized corporation around on a string. And if I happened to overhear the conversations going on here, I could use them directly as leverage.

What was the real reason they were so terrified of me? Because of Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung's shadow behind me? Because I'd been rampaging around like a lunatic lately?

Or because they were all too aware of everything they'd done to Ye Sa-ra up until now?

Whichever it was, they had every reason to feel their legs go numb.

I deliberately swept past the benches where the kids were sitting, and they turned sheet-white, scrambling to their feet in a panic. After I'd circled about half the park like that, even the kids on the far side hurriedly got up and cleared out.

So easily scared. I hadn't heard a single word of their conversations. Still, imagining them trembling anxiously in bed tonight was a little satisfying.

Team Leader Han Ga-ram was nowhere in sight. Did she not work during lunch? That did seem like her, honestly, given her image. Someone who works exactly as much as she's paid. Well, people like that get the job done properly, so they're easy to work with.

With the park now empty, I planted myself smack ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in the middle, claiming the bench at the very center. Ha-neul and Lee Su-a stood there blinking at me, so I smiled at them and patted both sides of the bench with my hands.

"Sit down for now."

They looked a little puzzled that I'd deliberately come out to the school park, but they sat down on either side of me as I'd asked.

Good. Now, what posture would look the most "villainess"-like?

Legs crossed, sitting with an arrogant expression—that seemed best.

The moment I crossed my legs, the two of them seemed to catch on to what I was thinking.

I smiled, lifting the corners of my mouth.

"You've got something to say, don't you? There's no one around. Why don't you come on out?"

When I said that in a slightly louder voice, the Disciplinary Committee Member emerged from behind a tree in the distance. It was the thickest tree around here, but it was still too thin for a person to hide completely behind. Honestly, standing there was so incredibly obvious that even the kids fleeing to get away from me were sneaking glances at her. Not that she seemed to realize it.

"You noticed I was hiding. So you've got a decent eye, at least?"

Maybe because she'd realized there was no one else around and she was facing all three of us, the Disciplinary Committee Member's voice was trembling a little.

......Her aim might be off, but I had to admire her courage. She had to know that Ye Sa-ra was the richest teenager in the world. So she'd judged that I was using that money to commit misdeeds around school, and in her own way, she'd stepped up for the other students.

The problem was that the real direction of the bullying was hidden somewhere an outside observer could never see.

That's why, even at the game's ending when Ye Sa-ra met her ruin, Yu Ha-neul never found out that Ye Sa-ra was in that kind of situation. Well, Ye Sa-ra's attacks were aimed at Yu Ha-neul, so Ha-neul didn't exactly have the bandwidth to care.

Anyway, honestly, she'd been hiding at a level where you could see her even without a "decent eye"......but telling her that would only hurt her feelings, so I decided to let it slide.

"May I ask why you've been following me around?"

At my question, the Disciplinary Committee Member glared sharply at me and answered.

"......You already know, don't you?"

"Walking around with a classmate on each arm?"

I asked with a leisurely expression, and the furrow between her brows deepened.

"You think that's all?"

"I'm not sure what else there would be. I've been behaving myself today."

"......A student who's behaving herself doesn't go to another class's room and draw the Milky Way on the chalkboard."

I had, admittedly, drawn quite a lot of stars on the teacher's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠instructional chalkboard. And I'd specifically gone to the Disciplinary Committee Member's class to do it, so naturally I'd drawn this much aggro.

I could feel the stares boring into me from both sides, but I made a point of ignoring them.

"Why don't you try asking your classmates? Whether I actually did it."

"......."

Right.

The reason I'd come out to this spot was to provoke the Disciplinary Committee Member.

Everything she'd tried last time had failed. Giving me Penalty Points. Getting me disciplined. It had all been cut off at the Student Council President level. So at first, I'd thought she might just give up.

But no—she still hadn't given up. How commendable.

As long as this opportunity was still on the table, wasn't it best to make use of it?