Cultural Festival (4)
“Kids, it's time to elect the festival committee.”
Class meeting time. The moment we'd been putting off forever—but one that had to happen eventually—had finally arrived.
“Ehh~?”
“We haven't even picked all the players for the games yet.”
“The student council came to me, and I had no choice.”
The time to pick the festival committee had come.
“Everyone, don't be shy. If anyone's interested, raise your hand for now.”
Of course, no one raised their hand.
The class rep nodded and said, “Well, one's already volunteered, so let's just randomly pick the last one.”
“Someone already volunteered?”
“Who?”
“Me.”
All eyes turned to me for a moment. Lee Yuyeong was no exception. Her eyes went wide like she'd been betrayed, her mouth hanging open.
I hadn't affirmed or denied anything from the start. But from her perspective, it must've felt like a betrayal. I'd seen the dartboard and recommended her to the class first, saying she was great at darts. Back when we'd gone head-to-head at the arcade in the amusement park, just the two of us, I'd already seen her skills.
Once I hyped her up, Yuyeong got all smug and showed off her impressive form. Even holding back just enough, none of the class kids could touch her. Of course, she didn't go full throttle—too overwhelming, and no one would challenge her—so she kept it to a razor-thin margin.
That sealed her as the player, and she was off the hook for the committee.
“Taeyang?”
Yuyeong called out to me, sounding dissatisfied.
“When did you decide to join the committee?”
“Pretty recently. Got interested in this stuff.”
“...Recently, huh?”
She kept shooting me suspicious glances.
“Well, now that it's like this, let's both do our best.”
“......Heh~ Something feels off.”
“Get a grip.”
A glint of yandere flashed in her eyes, but I ignored it for now. No matter how crazy Yuyeong got, she wasn't the type to ditch responsibilities she'd taken on in front of the class.
Just then, as the class rep was about to set up a random draw for those without assigned roles, someone raised their hand.
“I'll just do it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. Just for the volunteer hours.”
A guy who usually just studied raised his hand. Probably for college apps. Anyway, things were going smoothly.
This way, I could put some distance between me and Yuyeong.
And three days later...
The smooth flow I'd expected suddenly twisted.
Right now, I was hiding from Yuyeong the fact that I was aiming for Elmae High School.
Of course, I hadn't told Iri or anyone else yet, either. The only one who knew was Choi Gahee.
So the absolute worst-case scenario was Gahee spilling it to Yuyeong or Min Iri. Those two would lose it and demand I go to Pulkkot High instead.
Should I contact Gahee first?
I opened our chat window for a second, then closed it right away.
Think about it. The guy who cut ties out of nowhere suddenly messages asking her to keep his high school choice secret. From Gahee's side, she'd just think I was scheming to ditch everyone again, just like I did to her.
Not even warning her in advance like she did—just ghosting everyone out of the blue. My image was already bad enough; if it got worse, would Gahee even listen?
Hell, she might get pissed like when I declared our friendship over and start blocking me.
Who knows where it'd go from there.
You don't touch a bomb unless you have to.
So I decided on a different approach. Prepare for if Gahee tells Yuyeong. If Yuyeong hears the details from her, I'll just say I recommended Gahee to knock her out of the running on purpose.
It'd still be lying to Yuyeong, but no choice right now. No other options.
“Worst case, but what can I do.”
“Huh?”
A voice came from beside me. I turned to look.
Only then did I hear the knock.
Did my voice carry that far? I didn't think I'd spoken that loud.
“Come in.”
I let her in first. It was my sister who entered.
“What's up?”
“Oh, uh... Thought we'd order in today.”
“Sure.”
“Anything you want?”
“I'm good with whatever.”
I waved her off, telling her to pick whatever she wanted. She nodded like she got it.
“So what's the worst case?”
“...Huh?”
“Heard you from the door. Wanna tell your sister what it is?”
She was waiting with a pretty serious look.
“Oh, it's nothing.”
I tried to brush it off, but she didn't look like she'd let it go easy.
“Something you can't even tell your sister?”
“It was about my test scores.”
“Didn't do well?”
“Not as good as I hoped. I studied hard, but oh well.”
I threw out the random test excuse, and after staring at me for a sec, she nodded.
“Got it.”
She clearly didn't buy it. But she let it slide anyway.
But I'd have to tell her eventually anyway.
“Hey, sis.”
I called her back as she turned to leave. She stopped without a word, waiting for me to speak.
“Uh... I'm thinking of going to Elmae High.”
“...Not Pulkkot High School?”
It was way closer and more convenient than home, even without considering White Sis. But I was choosing a school that meant taking the subway every day.
“Yeah, Elmae... uh, it has a higher deviation score.”
Might be a lame excuse. The difference wasn't that huge anyway. Plus, with inner grades and stuff, it might even be a disadvantage.
“No other reason, right?”
“Yeah, no other reason. And...”
I almost hesitated but asked casually anyway.
“Keep it secret from the other sisters or Yuyeong for now. They might worry or try to stop me. I'll tell them myself later.”
She stared at me quietly, then nodded.
“Okay.”
Phew~ Convinced her for now, at least.
“But Taeyang.”
Her voice made me tense up for no reason. White Sis left the room after one last line.
“Don't choose one worst to avoid another.”
“.........”
She wasn't saying more. No idea if she knew something or was just going off my reaction.
But that line made me flinch without thinking.
She didn't notice as she left.
“I-it's for the sisters.”
To escape the yanderes. To stop giving the heroines any more deep emotional scars.
But even then, I didn't realize.
What kind of aftermath was waiting from the choice I'd made...
The festival committee orientation day arrived.
The committee members gathered for the first time. Pulkkot High School's student council and committee joined Pullyip Middle School's auditorium.
The vice principal gave a boring speech from the stage, then the student council presidents came out and greeted everyone together, asking for their cooperation.
“...On festival day, most of you'll be guides and safety staff.”
But their words weren't registering with me.
The other boys were sneaking glances somewhere, and my eyes followed.
But there was one difference between me and them.
“.........”
Why the hell are you here?
“Huh? Taeyang? Gahee-ya. Isn't that Taeyang over there?”
“Huh? Where?”
I locked eyes with the two girls drawing all the middle school boys' attention—the ones I'd been staring at too.
I turned away immediately.
Seong Juyeon, Choi Gahee—why were these two Love Chain heroines, who were supposed to be doing maid outfits for the second-year cultural festival, here staring at me?
“For prep, we'll split you into promo team, planning team, and support team.”
We raised hands by group. Then shift people if numbers got uneven.
“Planning team?”
Obviously, Gahee didn't raise her hand until I did.
“Boys too, please raise your hands.”
As the student council president said, the boys seemed to be waiting to see which pretty senior they'd end up with.
Made sense—middle schoolers saw zero appeal otherwise. At least they'd want hot seniors.
“Next, support team.”
Finally, boys started raising hands for support—because Seong Juyeon did.
“Support team's got a decent number of guys.”
But planning and promo had drained the pretty girls to work with hot senior guys, so support spots were still open-ish.
The rest didn't know where to go or were waiting for a fave senior/junior.
“Perfect, all teams have room. If you can't decide, we'll randomize.”
Student work, so easy to pick up—we'd use the computer to randomly assign.
Lots grumbled about not getting their pick, but no one argued.
Gahee was fidgeting hard, glancing at me like she was scared we'd split up.
Just go with Juyeon. No fun working alone because of me.
“First, Pullyip Middle School committee assignments.”
Wait, hold up... what??
Gahee let out a relieved sigh right then. Her thoughts were obvious.
“Third-year Kim Taeyang... senior, you're on support team.”
The second-year middle school council president announced, and Gahee shot her hand up.
“Over here!!”
“Yes?”
Already eye-catching for her looks, everyone focused when she spoke.
“M-me too! Support team!!”
“Uh... your name...”
“Choi Gahee.”
“No, wait...”
Things going down like this??
“Wait, me too—support team.”
“Me too!”
“Actually, I wanted support.”
Then ridiculously, guys started raising hands one by one, eyeing each other.
With the two beautiful senior committee stars on support, the boys swarmed.
This much competition—maybe I could slip to another team?
“Hold on!! Everyone quiet!! We'll randomize after all. Starting now!”
Unlike the flustered middle school second-year prez, the savvy Pulkkot High second-year prez stepped in.
“Support's full—closed. And no switching teams now that they're set.”
Even my escape route got sealed off.