Weakness and Blackmail
"Next up, number three! Candidate Baek Eun-seo's speech!"
The moment my name was called, the auditorium erupted in cheers and applause that nearly brought the roof down. I took a deep breath, flashed the "relaxed and confident insider smile" I'd practiced in front of the mirror hundreds of times, and strode up to the podium.
Perfect. My steps, my gaze, the charisma overwhelming the crowd—everything. After holing up in a dingy corner of a PC bang all weekend, grinding out a precarious 3/10/2 KDA that had left my mental state in tatters, this thunderous roar healed me in an instant.
"Hello, fellow students! For Seong-eun High's solid future, your number three, Baek Eun-seo!"
After delivering the opening greeting with clear, resonant projection, I casually turned my gaze toward the section where the first-year newbies were gathered. Making eye contact evenly with the audience is the basics of a flawless speech.
That was when it happened.
...Huh?
Amid the hundreds of students, one guy stood out with an utterly alien vibe. Everyone else was cheering or clapping for me, but this one alone had his arms crossed, staring up at me with a bored expression.
Pale skin almost ghostly white, cool eyes sunken indifferently as if the whole world was a hassle.
Wait... that face...
A chill ran up my spine, goosebumps prickling instantly.
The PC bang part-timer from last night! The one who'd served me delicious ramen with an extra egg because my order wasn't going through, while I hid my messy hair under a hoodie and thick horn-rimmed glasses, whining pathetically!
Wh-why is that part-timer wearing our school uniform?!
My heart plummeted to the floor. No way, right? Last night, I'd half-hidden my face with bangs and spoken in a tiny, muffled voice. No matter how sharp-eyed someone was, they couldn't possibly recognize me from way down there at the podium...
He flinched.
The part-timer—no, the first-year underclassman—whose eyes met mine narrowed ever so slightly.
The moment his lips twisted into a smirk, the thread of my rationality snapped. Busted. That shady loser from yesterday had figured out it was me 100%!
"Uh... s-so, if I... if I become student council president..."
My voice, which had been ringing out strong just moments ago, suddenly started trembling like a goat's bleat.
"F-for all you students, um, a free and comfortable... school life... uh uh..."
My pupils shook like crazy. Cold sweat poured down my back, my mind went blank white, and not a single line of my prepared speech came to mind.
"Why's Eun-seo sunbae acting like that? Is she sick?" "She was so confident earlier, now she's totally stuttering. Must be super nervous."
Hearing the students murmuring, I wanted to crawl into a mouse hole right then. From perfect insider student council candidate to blundering idiot who forgot her lines—in seconds.
Eek...! Th-this way, everyone will see what a lame, true otaku loser I really am...!! No! If I crumble here, my perfect school life and the charisma I'd built with blood and sweat are done for!
I bit my lip hard to pull myself together and gripped the mic like I was crushing it. "Whew... Facing you all directly like this, even I get nervous. I hope this shows you how sincerely I'm approaching this."
I desperately tugged my lips into a smile, brazenly repackaging my fumbling as natural poise.
"Fellow students! Even the most perfect person slips up and shakes sometimes. But I won't hide my flaws—I'll be a friendly student council president who meets your eyes and breathes with you!"
My voice boomed through the hall, and for a moment, silence fell. Then—
"Wooooaaahhh!! Baek Eun-seo! Baek Eun-seo!" "Insane, that was so cool!" "Even the great Eun-seo sunbae gets nervous... so cute..!"
The massive cheers and applause poured in. Crisis management with overflowing humanity—alpha female perfection. The whole school was going wild for me. With this reaction, my election as president was basically sealed. I waved with a relaxed smile and descended the podium safely. Outwardly, it was the flawless exit of a victor.
But inside, my heart was burning pitch black.
What do I do... I barely scraped by the speech, but that first-year part-timer saw everything without batting an eye!
What if he comes to me after I become president, grabs my weakness, and makes demands I can't refuse? I blush with shame, insisting we're still students who need to focus on studies, but he smirks sleazily, saying your head says no but your body is honest, and then... No, that's... seriously dangerous. Just imagining it choked me. I couldn't let my dazzling social status crash overnight. I have to stop him. Seal that mouth no matter what...!
The second I slipped behind the podium, I clenched my fist with grim resolve and glared daggers at the guy in the first-year crowd.
"That concludes the candidate speeches. Please return to your classrooms, think over the promises, and vote carefully."
As the speeches ended and the first-years started filing out, I tailed them. Ideally, I'd grab his collar and drag him somewhere quiet for a little blackmail(?)... but...
"S-scary..."
Hiding behind a corridor pillar, I couldn't bring myself to approach the part-timer, trembling instead.
A mountain of a girl—an athletic type with a special admission— was stuck right next to him, walking protectively, scanning the surroundings like a bodyguard. Brown ponytail, tall and lanky, her vigilant glare screaming threat. How am I supposed to blackmail him with a scary girl like that around...? One punch and I'd bawl my eyes out...
In the end, the overwhelming next student council president gave up on the cool approach. Instead, I plastered myself to the pillar, peeking out just my face, endlessly waiting and watching for the bored part-timer to be left alone—maybe heading to the bathroom.
Thus began my desperate, shady stalking to protect my double life.
A few days passed since the student council election ended. The result was, predictably, a landslide win for Baek Eun-seo sunbae. Her "human touch in crisis management" during the speech, plus her kindness to every student without skimping on small helps, perfectly swayed the votes or whatever.
Anyway, school returned to normal daily life, and I figured mine would stay peaceful too...
Damn, she's staring again.
I glanced away from the gallery toward the corridor window. Outside, the newly elected student council president was spying from behind the window frame. She thought she was hidden, but she was peeking from a thin pillar... Our eyes nearly met, she flinched and hid—comedy gold. And even when hiding, her chest and butt stuck out—double comedy...
Anyway, I couldn't let her tail me forever like this. Time to talk, seal her lips, blackmail if needed...
Maybe it's because of Kang Ha-ri?
Since the Gukjeon opening rush, I'd been talking more with Kang Ha-ri, eating together often, so we were seen as a pair... Maybe she found Ha-ri scary or our secret talks annoying? Hmm... no choice.
"Hey, Kang Ha-ri. I'm thirsty—mind grabbing an ion drink from the vending machine? I'll pay."
"Huh? For real? Got it! Nah, forget the money—sis is treating today. Wait right there!"
Unable to stand it anymore, I inwardly tsked at Ha-ri's gleeful dash to the vending area. What's so exciting...? Then I stood, deliberately heading to the quiet school backside where no one was.
Now, appointment time. Catch you later!
As expected, Baek Eun-seo sunbae, who'd been tailing me, forced a charismatic expression and strode toward me purposefully.
Yeah, come quick and let's wrap this up—secrecy oath or whatever.
I stopped, waiting for her approach. But when she was about five meters away—
"Do-hyun! Wondered where you were going—whatcha doing here?"
Kang Eun-ho from my class suddenly appeared, linking arms with me all casual and buddy-like.
"Oh, Eun-ho. Just getting some air."
"Cool? Then come to the vending with me! My treat for bread!"
The moment Eun-ho grinned with our arms linked, I saw it. Baek Eun-seo sunbae's pupils dilate wildly, her steps screeching to a halt like she'd tripped on a rock...
Wh-how's she supposed to talk to me with cute, popular guys like that around...!
It was written all over her face like a billboard. In the end, she gave up approaching, stiffening like a wooden doll and marching stiffly past us.
"Huh? Isn't that the student council president?"
......Haa.
I sighed deeply at her rigid retreating back. For the student council president to have social skills this wrecked... And tomorrow, she'd be back stalking me all day, no doubt.
"Eun-ho, sorry. Vending later—got something urgent to handle."
I gently unlinked our arms and headed straight after the direction sunbae had vanished. No more hide-and-seek. Cutting out annoyances quick and clean is my life motto.
Round the corner, and there she was—no trace of her cool facade, head-butting the wall mumbling "Idiot idiot, Baek Eun-seo idiot..."—pathetic.
I approached without hesitation and tapped her shoulder.
"Sunbae."
"Eek?!"
She spun around with a weird yelp, eyes darting wildly. Looking down at the slightly shorter sunbae, I slipped on my service-job business smile and cut straight to it.
"We keep running into each other lately. Figured you might have something to say... right?"
Alone in the quiet school backside, my friendly service manner shattered the perfect alpha female mask. Baek Eun-seo's face flushed tomato-red.