Chapter 47
Chapter 47
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 47
Chapter Title: False Rumors (4)
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Three days had passed since Yang Woo-bin and Fuyuno Tsubaki were promoted to the Jincheon Class.
The Jincheon Class, infamous for constant incidents and accidents, had surprisingly maintained a peaceful state for a full three days.
On the third accident-free day in the Jincheon Class—a tranquility that would keep the original members tossing and turning in anxiety—Yang Woo-bin and Fuyuno Tsubaki were carrying on with their everyday routine as always.
Though the classes and practicals had grown more advanced, the shape of their daily lives remained identical.
Attending lectures together, practicing together, eating together, training together... it was a routine that had become utterly natural.
The Jincheon Class cadets gossiped about the pair every single day, watching them cling together from dorm exit until they parted for their rooms.
"Is that what a couple promising their future together looks like...?"
"That's not politics; that's love, right? Maybe they clicked first, not some family arrangement."
"At that rate, they might graduate from Dabcheon as a whole brood."
Rumors were like snowballs tumbling down a hillside—the more they rolled, the larger and more unstoppable they grew.
The whispers about the two, once just childhood friends dating, had ballooned into tales of an engagement blessed by their families, a promise for the future.
"Ehehehe..."
"What? Why the sudden laugh?"
Fuyuno Tsubaki, naturally, was the one reveling most in this relentless, swelling rumor.
"Huh? Just... feeling happy..."
"...Yeah, happy's good. I like the positivity."
"Ehehe, thanks, Yang Woo-bin."
Fuyuno Tsubaki adored Yang Woo-bin's subtle way—casual on the surface, yet keenly observant of her every detail.
She was endlessly grateful to him for turning her—once a nobody, Dabcheon's weakest, a blemish on the Fuyuno family—into someone so blissfully happy.
Just glimpsing his back sent her heart fluttering joyfully; walking beside him made her steps feather-light.
Having him at her side made her feel like she owned the whole world.
"Oh, right. Hey, eat this."
"Huh? Oh, sure, Yang Woo-bin. But what's this?"
"Chocolate. I made it myself, so don't leave any—eat it all."
"Hiee..."
Fuyuno Tsubaki gaped, mouth half-open, as she took the chocolate box from Yang Woo-bin—packaged so elegantly it could grace a luxury patisserie.
Just his presence made her feel worldly complete, and now he'd crafted this gift for someone as insignificant as her.
Overcome with emotion, she pressed the box to her chest and hugged it tight.
"Thanks, Yang Woo-bin..."
"If you're thankful, do well. You do well, and I'm at ease."
"Y-Yeah! I'll do great! Everything!"
Fuyuno Tsubaki was so hooked on his existence that life without Yang Woo-bin was unimaginable.
"U-Um, Yang Woo-bin, bathroom break—real quick...!"
Her Yang Woo-bin addiction sparked boundless gratitude and joy, pounding her heart so fiercely she feared it might burst, sending her bolting to the bathroom.
"Uuuu..."
Since time immemorial, the bathroom had been one of Fuyuno Tsubaki's scant refuges from universal torment.
Unlike old times, though, she'd fled here now to tame emotions too euphoric to contain.
She darted straight to the innermost stall upon entering.
But it was taken, so she slipped into the first empty one.
Thud.
"Fuuu..."
Ensconced in her emotional haven, lid down and seated atop the toilet, Fuyuno Tsubaki let out a dreamy breath.
Three minutes of deep breathing cooled her near-boiling heart to serenity; now, she could face Yang Woo-bin without crumbling.
Calmed in her sanctuary, she rose and reached for the door handle.
Click.
"Hey, see that? Fuyuno Tsubaki and Yang Woo-bin in the hall?"
"Duh, saw it. How smitten do you gotta be?"
But the two cadets' chatter drifted in as they entered, freezing Fuyuno Tsubaki mid-motion, hand on the handle.
She and Yang Woo-bin were the stars of their talk.
"Some anniversary today? Guy made her all that chocolate."
"Bet it's their engagement anniversary?"
"Handmade chocolate for an engagement anniversary... guy's a keeper."
"Jealous of Fuyuno Tsubaki. Fuyuno family's got prime picks."
The voices from the sinks had Fuyuno Tsubaki twitching her lips upward, then biting them down.
Thrilling as it felt, she knew such gossip could damage a guy's prospects.
In superhuman society, a male superhuman's prime value wasn't strength—it was chastity, purity.
Males, limited to one mana core, trailed females in power and growth potential endlessly.
Thus, purity was their sole edge; rumors of prior claims would hobble future alliances.
"..."
So Fuyuno Tsubaki's delight in the rumor's growth came laced with guilt.
Yang Woo-bin's radiant future felt tainted by her fault.
Yet she didn't fling open the door to correct them: "All rumors! Yang Woo-bin and I haven't even known each other two months!"
Because the thrill drowned her guilt each time.
She, who'd never known a kind bond, could pretend something real with the amazing Yang Woo-bin.
'W-Yang Woo-bin said it's fine. If he says okay, it'd be odd for side-character me to butt in. Right.'
Though acutely aware of the harm to men, she clung to his reassurance as pretext for silence.
"...Heh."
Quietly lifting her lip corners once more.
※
Click-
"Too long already. Yang Woo-bin's waiting—gotta hurry...!"
Patpatpatpat-
The two cadets finished at the sinks and left; thirty seconds later, Fuyuno Tsubaki scampered out like a puppy seeking its master.
The bathroom's sole occupant remained: the one who'd claimed the innermost stall first.
"...Fuu."
Dabcheon's guidance chief—and Yang Woo-bin's true childhood friend—Jin Se-jeong alone.
"Haaaa..."
Only after the place emptied did Jin Se-jeong slump her head and unleash a world-shattering sigh.
"How'd it come to this?"
While Fuyuno Tsubaki soared on wings of rumor-fueled bliss across Dabcheon, Jin Se-jeong writhed in abject hell.
Liking her childhood friend for ten years, pining seven... now he had another "childhood friend," and they'd pledged eternity.
Years of blood and sweat to reunite with Yang Woo-bin in glory felt like vapor, shredding her heart.
"Just three days ago, I was so happy. Every day waiting for Yang Woo-bin was pure joy... Why am I crumbling in a bathroom?"
Pathetic for the revered guidance chief.
"Still. These three days of... stalking—no, special oversight as guidance chief—taught me one thing."
From the day Principal Go Yeo-ryeong ignited the "Yang Woo-bin and Fuyuno Tsubaki are childhood friends" rumor, Jin Se-jeong had tailed them with special supervision (stalking).
Her packed schedule limited it, but it sufficed.
"They don't seem like inseparable lovers bound for forever. Generous estimate: friends... yeah, exactly that."
Uncovering they weren't rumor-level intimate was straightforward.
"Chocolate? Leftovers from cooking, probably. Yang Woo-bin's always been great in the kitchen."
Of course, witnessing the handover had plummeted her heart, iced her veins, driven her to the bathroom—but ten minutes of breathing steadied her.
"Phew, right. Time to act. Ask Yang Woo-bin straight. What's their deal? Really... that kind of thing?"
With special supervision done, resolved to her forte—direct confrontation—Jin Se-jeong opened the door and stepped out.
This was ten minutes before the culling began.