Chapter 71: The Kim Yoo-Sung Countermeasures Committee
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 71: The Kim Yoo-Sung Countermeasures Committee
The Shadow Student Council!
They were a prominent student group that controlled the private Ichijo Academy from the shadows.
Its leader was Saionji Kumiko, a direct descendant of the Saionji family—one of Japan's most distinguished noble houses. Even the academy's chairman trembled at her every word, allowing her to wield truly absolute power within the school.
The Shadow Student Council currently consisted of four members, listed as follows:
President
Saionji Kumiko.
Vice President
Akagi Shinjiro.
Treasurer
Akagi Minami.
Secretary
Kim Yoo-Sung.
Among them, the secretary, Kim Yoo-Sung, was widely rumored throughout the academy to be the student council's secret weapon.
And for good reason. Since the second semester of his first year, Kim Yoo-Sung had held the title of "The Strongest Man in the Academy."
Even the toughest delinquents in class became meek lambs before him. Those who bad-mouthed him behind his back for being Korean would, at some point, find themselves transferred to another school.
As soon as his second year began, the "Dojo Crushing Incident"—in which Kim Yoo-Sung toured every sports club in the academy—instantly dispelled any lingering rumors that a club captain might be able to defeat him. Furthermore, it left behind a legend that the cost of repairing the club equipment he broke amounted to nearly 200,000 yen (paid by the student council).
A man who stood at the apex of the school caste, excelling in both academics and martial arts, a warrior without peer!
The king of beasts who had conquered the jungle that was Ichijo Academy with a single fist!
That was the man named Kim Yoo-Sung.
But even a man like him could not escape one particular scandal—
The "octopus" suspicion.
*
"Alright, then. We will now commence the first meeting of the Kim Yoo-Sung Countermeasures Committee."
On a leisurely afternoon on a certain day in June.
Today was a no-club-activity day, so the three members gathered in the student council room, without Kim Yoo-Sung present, for a secret meeting.
The vice president of the student council, Akagi Shinjiro, who was also serving as the chairman of this committee, stood before a wheeled whiteboard. He had attached personally collected information and photos to it with magnets and filled the space with dense annotations in black marker. With a serious expression, he began his explanation.
"Currently, the number of women in Kim Yoo-Sung's orbit or otherwise connected to him has already reached seven. It is high time for you to feel a sense of crisis, my lady."
Hearing this, Saionji Kumiko clasped her hands together, rested her chin on them, and asked, "But Yoo-Sung hasn't shown any clear interest in anyone yet. At this point, aren't we just getting ahead of ourselves?"
SLAM!!
At her words, Akagi Shinjiro slammed his hand on the desk and passionately retorted, "You're too soft, my lady! You'll never survive this ruthless game of chicken with that kind of complacent attitude!"
"Sh-Shinji?"
Unlike his usual loyal demeanor, Shinjiro was a little different today.
But this, too, was a sincerity born from his concern for his lady.
Having mastered all sorts of games since childhood, he knew.
If she maintained this ambiguous position, she would ultimately be the first to be eliminated from this brutal race.
"You may think you still have a whole year left, my lady, but you must realize that, conversely, you only have a year left! If there's no progress in your relationship with Kim Yoo-Sung by the time this first semester ends so anticlimactically, you'll end up in the 'Hora Mo Zenzen' position!"
"'Ho-Hora Mo Zenzen'?"
"It means you'll become the loser of the heroine race!"
Thump!
Saionji Kumiko's face belatedly filled with shock upon hearing her retainer's loyal counsel.
Akagi Minami, who had been watching quietly from the side, chimed in.
"I agree with my brother's opinion. Currently, your relationship with Kim Yoo-Sung is quite ambiguous. It's too close to be simple senior and junior, but if asked whether you're like lovers, it's the kind of relationship that makes one tilt their head in confusion."
"W-well, we can just take things slowly..."
"My lady, you first met Kim Yoo-Sung last September. You haven't forgotten that, have you?"
"..."
At Minami's point, Saionji Kumiko quietly shut her mouth.
The day she had secretly slipped out of her mansion to experience the life of a commoner, she had run into Kim Yoo-Sung on the street.
Back then, she had been so shy that she couldn't even make proper eye contact with him, but she had improved so much now that she could converse with him casually.
If there was one person who had changed the most under Kim Yoo-Sung's influence over the past year, it would be Saionji Kumiko herself.
"It's been well over half a year since he became a member of the student council. Last year, you were able to force the issue and prevent him from joining other clubs to increase your time together, but that was impossible this year. It is indeed the right time for you to start feeling impatient."
Because unlike before, there are many more competitors around him now.
"..."
Though a little different from her brother Shinjiro, it was advice filled with Minami's own form of loyalty toward her.
And because that sentiment reached Saionji Kumiko, she was able to make a decision.
"...Very well. Go on, then. Tell me, Shinjiro."
"Thank you for trusting me, my lady."
Akagi Shinjiro bowed deeply before beginning to brief them on the contents of the whiteboard, one by one.
"First, the proliferation of women around Kim Yoo-Sung began with this blond transfer student."
As he spoke, he pointed his pointer stick at a photo of a blond, mixed-heritage girl at the very top of the whiteboard.
"Name, Kishimoto Rika. The only daughter of the famous manga artist Kishimoto Musashi, she is half-Japanese, having inherited her English mother's blood. As you can see, she has outstanding looks and is skilled at maintaining them. She has past experience as a reader model and possesses a remarkable talent for fashion. I believe you've met her once before, my lady."
It was indeed a familiar face, so Saionji Kumiko nodded.
"That's right. She was the type of person I just don't get along with."
"Her characteristic 'my pace' attitude, her friendliness in approaching both men and women without discrimination, and her exceptional figure and stunning looks... I believe that even someone as stoic as Kim Yoo-Sung would have no choice but to take an interest in her as a woman."
"...Alright. I'll remember her as a person of interest. Who's next?"
The person Akagi Shinjiro pointed to next was a red-haired, athletic girl.
"Name, Tojo Karen. The only daughter of Tojo Naoto, the 6th boss of the Tōsei-kai, the oldest yakuza organization in the Kanto region. Like her father, she is characterized by her blood-red hair and exceptional athletic ability. She's about the same height as you, my lady, but her chest is much smaller. While there's a saying that 'flat is a status symbol,' a woman's chest is ultimately one of her greatest weapons, so I believe you can afford to be relatively less wary of her."
"A small fry. Next."
"Name, Alexandra Ivanovna Romanova. A Russian exchange student who came to Japan through the sister school exchange project you recently organized, my lady. According to her classmates' testimonies, her nickname is Sasha. Her father, Ivan Vladimirovich Romanov, is the head of the Easter Egg Company, one of the world's leading conglomerates. She is a young lady whose background is in no way inferior to that of the Saionji conglomerate. What's more, I hear she is a genuine Romanov who has inherited the bloodline of the Russian imperial family."
"It seems I've invited a tiger into my own home..."
"Unfortunately, I'm afraid so. She has the most incredible background among all the individuals mentioned so far, so to put it bluntly, she's a character overlap with you, my lady."
"That's something that's been subtly bothering me, so could you please not point it out?!"
"My apologies."
Akagi Shinjiro bowed his head but still said what needed to be said.
"However, she is without a doubt the most dangerous person mentioned so far. While the others are still in the testing-the-waters phase, much like yourself, my lady, I've heard that she confessed to Kim Yoo-Sung as soon as she transferred."
"A-and what was Yoo-Sung's answer?"
"It seems he took it as a Russian-style joke, as he reportedly didn't give her an answer."
"...That's a relief."
Seeing her reaction, Akagi Minami poked gently.
"My lady, are you feeling relieved right now?"
"W-who, me?!"
As Saionji Kumiko jumped in surprise and denied the allegation, Akagi Minami flashed a sly smile and pulled a classic, "If you say so."
"Next, I will introduce a teacher who was newly appointed this year, Ms. Mizuki Nanae."
"...Why is a teacher on this list?"
"Based on testimonies that she blushes every time she hears Kim Yoo-Sung's voice, I thought there might be a surprising possibility, so I included her."
"Yoo-Sung does have a nice voice. Even I sometimes think about recording it to listen to before I sleep."
"...My lady."
As Shinjiro gave her a pitying look, Saionji Kumiko belatedly realized her slip of the tongue and said with a blush, "I-I haven't actually done it, you know?!"
To protect his dear lady's privacy, Shinjiro decided to move on to the next target immediately.
"Next is a current actress and an idol who recently formed a project group with other actors of a similar age, Minato Nao."
"Ah, I've seen her. She's been in a lot of commercials lately. ...But she likes Yoo-Sung, too?"
Shinjiro pushed his glasses up with his middle finger and nodded gravely.
"It's less 'like' and more akin to worship."
He read from a private investigator's report on Minato Nao that he had personally acquired.
"According to this file, immediately after enrolling, Minato Nao commissioned a private detective agency to periodically supply her with photos of Kim Yoo-Sung. After hacking her PC and smartphone search histories to deduce the reason, it appears Minato Nao has a severe muscle fetish and seems to have fallen for his muscles rather than his face."
"...Is he now seducing women with his muscles, of all things?"
As Saionji Kumiko muttered this in disbelief, Minami, who was beside her, nodded and chimed in, "I know, right?"
"I was the first one to like Yoo-Sung, but how on earth did things get so complicated... At this point, I could believe it's a cruel twist of fate."
"That is precisely why I said you couldn't afford to stand by any longer."
Akagi Shinjiro was moved, feeling that at long last, his lady and his sister seemed to understand him.
He fought back the tears that threatened to well up and pointed his stick at the last person listed on the whiteboard.
"Finally, we have the person who has known Kim Yoo-Sung the longest, Ayase Satsuki."
"What? Wasn't that me?"
"Unfortunately, she was in the same class as Kim Yoo-Sung since the first semester of first year. In other words, among all your rivals, she is the only one who knows what Kim Yoo-Sung was like in the past."
"That can't be..."
"However, the silver lining is that she has never been witnessed showing any significant interest in Kim Yoo-Sung. She's only on the list because she's the person he speaks to most comfortably in class, so she's a candidate who could be removed at any time. There is one peculiar detail about her, but it seems unrelated to Kim Yoo-Sung, so I'll skip the explanation."
After Akagi Shinjiro's long, long briefing finally ended, Saionji Kumiko, dazed by the endless parade of new faces, calmed her mind and body by sipping the green tea Minami had prepared for her.
"First of all, I understand you went through a lot of trouble gathering this information, Shinji. But you're not going to tell me this is all, are you?"
At that, Akagi Shinjiro's glasses glinted as he smiled.
"Of course not. Everything up to now was merely the prologue."
With those words, Akagi Shinjiro pushed the whiteboard to one side and projected a prepared image onto the empty white wall.
============================
<The Kim Yoo-Sung (and His Female Relationships) Countermeasures Committee>
Project S.U.V
============================
"Project S.U.V...?"
As Saionji Kumiko muttered as if in a trance, Akagi Shinjiro nodded and declared with grim determination.
"This summer, my lady, you must conquer Kim Yoo-Sung."
Otherwise, there's no hope.