Chapter 28
Chapter 28
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 28
Chapter Title: What I Want
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"Mm, time's up. That's all for today's mana basics class."
As Instructor Ji Gye-eun wrapped up the mana fundamentals lesson and left, the cadets packed their things and rose from their seats to head to the next class: basic physical training.
Basic physical training, naturally, wasn't held in the circular lecture hall but in the training room, so they all had to move to a different location.
"......"
But Fuyuno Tsubaki remained seated like a stone statue, even as all the other cadets filed out.
Because Yang Woo-bin had told her not to go until he got back.
"Fuyuno Tsubaki... It's satisfying to watch her get wrecked every time, but I kinda feel bad for her too."
"Feel bad? Why? You were watching with rapt attention earlier when Sun-hee made her eat dog food right there on the podium."
"That was just funny because she's the lady of the high-and-mighty Fuyuno Family, getting humiliated like that in some backwater class. It's still funny now, same as always. But... all the girls who used to bully her got taken out, and now she's got a new master right away?"
Sun-hee and Jin-sook, the ones who'd been tormenting Fuyuno Tsubaki, had both ended up with caved-in faces and shipped straight to the infirmary—in perfect harmony.
But even so, she was still chained up like a dog.
"She's probably no better than a mutt. When those two went down, she must've thought her leash was finally off... and then bam, a new master shows up, even more vicious-looking. And a guy master, at that."
A new player had entered the scene: Yang Woo-bin, the blond tanned thug with skills leagues above the previous punks, and now she was shackled to him.
In the superhuman world, letting a man dominate you as a woman was a humiliation beyond measure.
A woman with two mana cores could grow twice as fast and strong as a man with one, by simple math.
Even with that massive physical advantage, being under a man's thumb was as good as admitting defeat as a female.
"A guy master... Separate from feeling bad for her, it suits her—the disgrace of the Fuyuno Family."
In a superhuman society where strength defined human worth, losing to a man as a female was so shameful that the prideful would choose death over it.
Watching the Fuyuno lady endure that right in front of them, the two ordinary cadets from the backwater class clicked their tongues while claiming pity—but they couldn't hide their smirks.
"......"
Fuyuno Tsubaki heard their brutally direct mockery right to her face but couldn't say a word.
'Ugh... ungh... I keep thinking about it... My heart's pounding through my whole body...! How can his hand be so big...? And it was so warm—not just my hand, but my whole body felt toasty... I've never felt anything that warm before.'
Her head was already stuffed full with the memory of Yang Woo-bin gripping her hand tight, so she couldn't hear what anyone else was saying.
'I wanna see him soon... When's he coming? Waiting for someone feels this good?'
The pleasant fluttering in her chest, the lingering warmth of his hand, the echo of his "wait here" in her ears.
Everything he'd given her, Fuyuno Tsubaki just loved it all.
'Getting wrecked still scares me... but it doesn't feel bad, which is weird.'
The fact that even "getting wrecked" didn't feel off meant her feelings for Yang Woo-bin were anything but ordinary.
'I've heard "you're gonna die" or "you're dead" a million times... So why does it sound okay coming from him?'
But Fuyuno Tsubaki had never felt kindness or love from anyone in her twenty years of life, so she didn't recognize the seed of emotion sprouting in her heart.
'...I wanna know. If I meet Yang Woo-bin and talk, spend time together, maybe I'll figure it out?'
So all she could do was wait for him, nurturing that pleasant curiosity.
'I wanna see him soon.'
For the first time in her life, the thought of wanting to see someone echoed softly in Fuyuno Tsubaki's heart.
※
Clank. Screeech—
"Listen to it creak. Someone kick the door or what? Tch."
I tossed out some appropriately thuggy lines as I entered the circular lecture hall, and there was just one girl left: the one with ash-gray hair.
Fuyuno Tsubaki.
I'd told her to wait, and she'd skipped class to do it. What a good girl.
I'd said she'd get wrecked if she bolted, but no one would take that literally—so her sticking around was purely her own choice.
Thinking that, I called out to Fuyuno Tsubaki, who was fidgeting for some reason.
"Hey, Fuyuno Tsubaki. Good job waiting. Nice one."
"Uh, uh? Th-thanks..."
Fuyuno Tsubaki wasn't like the other backwater cadets; she was someone who'd be sticking with me going forward, so I planned to treat her well, just like I had with that kid back in the day.
Of course, I wasn't going to be all sweet and gentle like before.
Because I had my destiny as a thug: to drag the family name and prestige through the mud.
Long story short, I aimed to be a total raging asshole to everyone... but reasonably warm to my own people.
"Anyway, I had you stay because I need something from you. Came to borrow it."
"Uh, huh? From me?"
To that end, I smirked with one corner of my mouth like a proper thug and strode toward her.
The closer I got, the more she trembled, eyes darting everywhere like she didn't know where to look. Guess I scared her pretty good.
Well, yeah—I'd just caved in two faces right in front of her, so no wonder.
A bit of fear toward me would help maintain the thug image and smooth things out for both our futures, so I had no intention of being all nice and erasing it.
I sauntered right up to her desk, smirking with just my lips, and she spoke in a quivering voice.
"S-sorry... I don't have anything... I don't know what you want from me, but I probably can't give it..."
Her tone and voice sounded so genuinely apologetic that I was momentarily speechless.
The receiver feeling sorry for the giver? It was hard to process, rationally or emotionally.
...Had she lived a life where she had to apologize even while giving? Well, coming from the Fuyuno Family...
The Fuyuno Family ranked third among the world's great houses, so they were a major player even in the game's storyline.
Players could gather info on them, including stuff on Fuyuno Tsubaki.
'Traitor who devoured the previous family head at birth; a cursed monster who shouldn't even have her name recorded after death.'
That was how the Fuyuno Family described her in their records.
For a great house obsessed with face like them to record it that way... God knows how much bullying she'd endured. Just imagining it made me click my tongue.
"Tch."
"Uh, huh? S-sorry if I upset you."
"Nah, not your fault. Just... something worth tching about."
"R-really? Good..."
"......"
Fuyuno Tsubaki really was pitiful the more you looked at her.
But her pitiful days ended today. Stick with me, and no more pity.
As the owner of an ultimate constitution, she'd grow ridiculously strong under my guidance.
With that resolve to toughen up this pitiful girl, I got to the point.
"Anyway, I never ask for what you don't have, so relax. What I want from you ain't money or stuff."
"Uh, oh? Really? Then... what do you want?"
"You."
"Eek?!"
My words were too blunt; Fuyuno Tsubaki's eyes went wide, and she practically leaped from her chair.
Her face flushing beet red was kinda funny.
So I let out a kuhuhu laugh and spelled out exactly what I wanted from her a bit more.
"Hey, Fuyuno Tsubaki. Be my sidekick from now on. Lend yourself to me while we're at the academy. I saved your ass twice— you can do that much, right?"
Telling someone you just met today to be your lackey outright? Only a total psycho thug would say that.
Even I, committed to thug life, felt a twinge saying it—it was peak villainy.
But if I couldn't pull off stuff like this without flinching, I'd never achieve my ultimate goal of destroying the Yang Family. So I stared her down, words unfiltered.
She hesitated a bit... then nodded, face still crimson, and answered me.
"M-my unworthy self... but please take care of me...!"
"...?"
For some reason, she sounded happy about it.
※
That night, after becoming Yang Woo-bin's sidekick, Fuyuno Tsubaki buried her face in her thick blanket, replaying the day's events.
More precisely, picking out the heart-fluttering words he'd said to her.
'Hey, Fuyuno Tsubaki. Good job waiting. Nice one.'
"Ungh..."
'What do you want?'
'You.'
"Ungh...!"
'Lend yourself to me while we're at the academy.'
"Hnggg...!!"
Thump thump thump!
His words—embarrassing enough to make her legs kick the blanket wildly—weren't unwelcome at all, and Fuyuno Tsubaki writhed uncontrollably.
"Hey! You crazy?! So damn loud!"
"Eek?! S-sorry..."
Luckily, backwater cadets lived in four-to-a-room dorms, so her thrashing was quickly halted by the shout from her roommate.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Her body stopped squirming, but her heart wouldn't quit racing, so Fuyuno Tsubaki clutched her trembling chest and waited for tomorrow.
'...I wanna see him soon.'
It was a new experience for her—someone who'd never once looked forward to the next day.