The Popular Kid Joins the Student Council (2)

"..."

I stared at the student council application Mun Su-rin was holding out, a dozen thoughts colliding at once — starting with Why is this noona even here? and ending somewhere around How much aggro is this going to pull this time?

"...President. What brings you all the way out here?"

There were way too many students around, so I went with "President." She'd called me her underclassman, so she could live with a little formality.

"We agreed you'd think it over by today, didn't we? You've had enough time, right?"

Kim Young-han had told me that morning that each person only got one student council recommendation. She'd come here to spend hers on me. The student council president, in the flesh.

There's no universe in which I can turn this down.

"Please don't come find me in person ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠next time. Do you have any idea what people are going to say?"

"Sorry. I don't usually do this, but I wanted to see your face too. Heheh."

Hah... Mun Su-rin was never supposed to be this kind of person.

In the game, she was cautious. Careful. Measured to a fault. The cause was almost certainly the stalker and the paparazzi who hounded her half to death — but the stalker hadn't shown up yet, and the tabloids weren't nearly that vicious. She'd run into me too early.

In the original game, Lee Ho-yeon and Mun Su-rin only met after those incidents had already played out. So no matter how much she liked him, she had no choice but to take it slow. What photo is going to leak this time? What rumor is going to spread? Those fears always came first.

But now she'd met me far too soon. Which meant she wasn't hiding how she felt. She was walking right up and showing it.

Her affection had been 20 the first time we met. It had doubled without any real interaction between us, and that was all the proof I needed. A spike that sudden was more burden than blessing. There was no telling what kind of backlash it might bring.

"Haa... Fine. Of course I'll join."

"Great. Then I'll see you at the student council after class."

"Yes. See you later."

Mun Su-rin left the lecture hall beaming. The moment she was gone, every cadet in the room quietly turned to stare at me. Off to the side, a cluster of girls whispered among themselves, just low enough that I wasn't supposed to hear.

Ah. The aggro on this is going to be unholy.

Just thinking about what kind of posts were about to flood Everyday made my head throb. In the end I put on a face that said nothing had happened and turned my eyes back to the paper I'd been reading.

Once morning and afternoon classes were both over, there was somewhere I needed to stop before heading to the student council. The student council wasn't going anywhere. Lucy, on the other hand, would bolt straight back to the dorms.

I had to get into her social club no matter what, so I went and found her.

"Lucy. I heard you're starting a club."

"Huh? Who told you that? I haven't said a word to anyone except Rumi... Wait, did Rumi tell you?"

"Ah— no. I overheard you two talking earlier."

"Hmph. So? You interested?"

"Yeah. Never hurts to have more friends, right?"

A complete lie. Aside from Rumi and Lucy, I had zero intention of exchanging a single word with anyone in that club.

"But aren't you joining the student council? You think you'll have time for our club on top of that?"

"Think about it the other way around. Wouldn't club activities get a whole lot easier if one of your members was on the student council?"

"Ooooh!"

Lucy's eyes lit up like stars.

"You're in! You're so in! That's me, you, and Rumi — three people, that's the minimum. Now we just need a faculty advisor. I'll go find one."

"Okay. Catch you later."

Lucy slung her bag over her shoulder and took off at a happy little scamper, clearly in an excellent mood.

"Guess I should head to the student council."

I'd spent more than fifteen years in school and never once imagined myself on a student council. I'm really collecting the full set of life experiences in this eroge, huh.

Victoria Academy had an entire building dedicated to club rooms. Seventeen floors, with the student council occupying the very top. Club banners hung along the walls, each one advertising something different.

"Mana Research Club, Tea Ceremony Club... and an Insect Collecting Club? What even is that? They've got everything."

There were clubs that had absolutely nothing to do with Victoria Academy, as far as I could tell. I took the elevator to the seventeenth floor.

Ding-dong.

The doors opened onto the student council office, a restroom, a lounge, and a few other rooms. I walked into the office without thinking much of it. Grab whoever was closest, say I was here to see the president, done.

At a glance, the place was set up like a corporate office. Every desk had a holographic computer, and three people were hammering away at their keyboards, staring at their screens like their eyes were about to fall out. Judging by how bloodshot those eyes were, this was not a one- or two-day situation.

"...Did I walk into the wrong room?"

I stepped back out and checked the plaque. Not the student council office — the General Student Council Office.

Wait. That's the same thing.

"Can I help you?"

I'd been standing in the doorway like an idiot long enough that a girl who looked like a council officer came over to talk to me.

"I'm here to see the student council president. I received a recommendation."

"Ah~ You must be Ho-yeon. You really do have a good face."

"Sorry? Ah — thank you."

"President~ Ho-yeon's here!"

"Just a minute!"

A tremendous crashing and clattering erupted from the door at the back of the office, the one labeled Student Council President's Office. About two minutes later, Mun Su-rin stepped out in a perfectly neat cadet uniform.

"Sorry. Did I keep you waiting? Come this way?"

I followed her into the president's office. The room was immaculate — not a thing out of place. Mun Su-rin made the coffee herself and set it in front of me.

"Drink this."

"Thank you."

Sip. I had no idea what kind of coffee it was, but I was grateful it wasn't the instant mix Professor Lim Sol always handed out.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"One more person is coming, so just hang on a bit."

One more person? That was odd. I could understand her putting me on the student council because she liked me. What I couldn't understand was why she'd bring in someone else.

Wait. What if she wasn't recruiting me because she liked me? What if I'd gotten all worked up about recommendation tickets and fairness when she never even intended to single me out?

The thought hit me and my face went hot.

"Ho-yeon, what's wrong? Are you feeling okay?"

"No... I just had an embarrassing thought all of a sudden."

"Oh my. Is it because you're in noona's private space?"

Watching Su-rin noona laugh like that — hohoho — settled my nerves right down. That smile was not a smile you could produce without genuine affection. She liked me. That much was certain.

I'd just have to wait and see who this other person was.

"Come to think of it, I hear you've gotten close with Professor Lim Sol lately?"

"Huh? How did you know that?"

"It's pretty well known, actually. I think you're the first cadet who's ever been allowed into Professor Lim Sol's private lab."

"Ah..."

So the scuffle with the Mana Research Club at the Magic Hall had already made the rounds. Rumors around here moved way too fast.

"Still, be careful. Professor Lim Sol is beautiful and brilliant. She has a lot of fans. Some of them might start ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠looking at you the wrong way."

"Then isn't talking with the president right now just as dangerous?"

"Hm? Oh my, are you already teasing noona? Hoho."

Nice. I was pretty sure I'd just scored points with that one. If I kept picking them up like this, I might have her routed before long — except nothing in this world ever came that easy. I had to stay sharp.

"President. Your guest is here."

The same officer from before cut our conversation short. Couldn't she have been two minutes later? Shame.

"Okay, send her in."

The door swung open, and a woman with shimmering blonde hair and porcelain-white skin walked in. I couldn't help but stare.

Elise. First-year valedictorian.

What is she doing here? Why is she here?

Elise had nothing to do with the student council. No matter which route you took, she never came anywhere near this place. She ignored the spiral of questions in my head and greeted Mun Su-rin as if I weren't even in the room.

"Good afternoon, President. I'm Elise, first-year Class A."

Then she dropped into the seat beside me. Granted, it was the only other seat available.

"Welcome, Miss Elise. Would you like a cup of coffee?"

"I'm fine, thank you, President. But... is Cadet Lee Ho-yeon joining the PR Department as well?"

"Yes, that's right. I was hoping the two of you would take charge of it."

"...I see. Understood."

Hold on. Ma'am. The pacing on this is way too fast. The PR Department? What even is that? I wanted the Disciplinary Committee...?

"Um, Noo— President? What exactly is the PR Department?"

"You sat down in here without even knowing that?"

Elise looked at me less like she was scolding me and more like she genuinely could not comprehend how a person like me existed. Hey, is this my fault?

"Oh my, I'm sorry. I forgot to mention it beforehand."

So all that time I'd spent agonizing over recommendation tickets and the Disciplinary Committee was... yeah. Fine. I could live with that. This wasn't the first injustice the universe had handed me. I'd endure.

"The PR Department is a new office we established to promote Victoria Academy. On the small end, you'll be promoting the student council. On the large end, you'll be going out as official ambassadors representing Victoria Academy itself."

"And you want me to do something that important? I've never done anything like that."

"Mmm... It's fine. Ho-yeon, this is something you physically cannot fail at."

"...?"

What did that even mean? Not to brag, but I had never once in my life done any kind of influencer work. I'd spent most of my existence in a room playing games. I had zero confidence in this.

"Haa. Are you actually this stupid?"

"Hoho. It might not click right away. Easy, Miss Elise."

Apparently my blank expression was a little too honest, because Elise started tearing into me.

"Among the incoming boys, you. Among the incoming girls, me. That's why we were picked to promote Victoria Academy. You still don't get it?"

Among the girls, Elise. Among the boys, Lee Ho-yeon. The job was publicity — from campus ambassadors on the small end to external representatives on the large end...

Ah. It clicked.

They'd picked us one hundred percent based on our faces. That was why she'd said I couldn't fail. Fair enough. If you were handsome or beautiful enough, you could just stand there looking vaguely impressive and you'd still get a photoshoot out of it.

What mattered for Victoria Academy's publicity wasn't eloquence or raw ability. It was having a beautiful man and a beautiful woman using their abilities on camera. That was the entire point. Lucy and Rumi were heroines too, so they were plenty pretty, but Elise had a more balanced kind of beauty. That was probably why she'd been chosen.

"Mmm. I understand."

No, you people — I would need to have actually been good-looking growing up to relate to any of this! I did not spend my childhood hearing how pretty I was the way you two did!

"It feels a little weird saying this ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠myself, but if the two of you just stood still and let someone take pictures, you'd outperform most professional models. So don't worry about it."

"Yes, President."

"Yes."

I was dying of embarrassment just answering her. Was Elise not embarrassed at all? Was this just a regular Tuesday for her?

"Well, anyway. I called you both in today so the people who'll be working together could at least say hello. Go introduce yourselves to the rest of the student council."

After that, we made the rounds and exchanged greetings with the council members.

"Wow, the new PR kids are actual face criminals."

"Nice to meet you, nice to meet you~."

"Shame the vice president is out on guild business. He missed this."

Honestly, almost nobody on the student council mattered. The girls were ordinary-looking, and I didn't even need to glance at the guys. There was one exception. Vice President Shin Dong-min was someone I needed to watch.

Shin Dong-min was the villain of Mun Su-rin's route. He was in love with the student council president. He hadn't shown any hostility yet, so it was probably fine for now... but I still needed to be careful. I didn't have to worry about him until the stalker incident on Mun Su-rin's route kicked off, and luckily there was still plenty of time before that.

And then, for reasons I couldn't begin to guess, the president of the club association took one look at me, let out a strangled hiiiek, and vanished on the excuse that something urgent had come up. For a second I flashed back to what I'd done to the fishing club — but I'd never even met this person, so it was probably nothing.

After that, they showed us the room the PR Department would be using.

"We did prepare an office for the PR Department, since the paperwork requires one, but..."

Inside were two desks. On top of that, there were ornate lights that had no business being in a student council building, a holographic computer, a bathroom, and a bed. I am not exaggerating when I say it was nicer than the studio apartment I'd lived in before transmigrating.

"There probably won't be any document work or office tasks. That's what the rest of the council staff is for. You two don't need to worry about any of that — just handle the external appearances."

"Understood."

So they'd literally hired us as pretty faces. Wasn't that kind of a problem, though? Recruiting people based on looks and then not even giving them real work — didn't that cause issues?

Whatever. Not my circus.

"You don't need to report to the PR office every day or anything. I'll just pass the work along whenever a publicity job comes up. I've still got things to finish, so I'm going to head out. Make yourselves comfortable and leave whenever. Why don't the two of you talk a little? You'll be working together from now on."

Mun Su-rin shot me a wink from an angle Elise couldn't see, then walked out of the room.

The second she was gone, an awkward silence settled between Elise and me. Elise sat down at her desk and started fiddling with something. I just stood there.

Now what?

Elise showed no sign of speaking first. Was I supposed to break the ice?

A quest dropped while I was still deliberating. Well. Now I had no choice but to talk to her.

I was a little nervous, but with my social skills I could handle a conversation. It was fine. Elise could fly and crawl and do whatever she wanted — she was still a heroine. The moment that title got stamped on her, her fate was sealed. She was always going to end up under the protagonist.