A Grand Outing (2)
Between the two of us, the gun debate had pushed lunch back a little, so the three of us headed to a sushi restaurant nearby.
While Choi Marie strode into the shop with a perfectly entitled expression the moment I offered to treat, Han Sora trailed behind, stealing glances at me.
“…Are you sure it's okay to freeload? I only tagged along because, well, it just happened.”
“You argued with Senior Marie that passionately just a minute ago, and now you're saying this?”
“That was, um… also just something that happened.”
Still, she couldn't exactly turn around and walk home alone now, so Han Sora took her seat with an embarrassed look on her face.
“They've got a three-person set. We'll get one of those, then each order a rice bowl or something on the side. Oh, and let's add another row of eel sushi. It's my favorite.”
In contrast, Choi Marie had the menu picked out the instant she sat down—the difference in attitude couldn't have been starker.
With that kind of confidence, she's probably planning to pay for it herself.
Even Choi Marie couldn't be that shameless while freeloading, after all.
She'd promised to buy me a meal once I got into the Academy, but there hadn't been a chance to eat together yet, so she must have figured this was her opportunity.
“Isn't that a bit much, Senior Choi Marie? It's fine for us since we're Physical Enhancement Types, but I don't think Seonho will be able to finish all of it…”
“I can finish it, Sora. I mean, Senior Marie.”
“Yeah, it's nothing I can't handle.”
“See? He says he's fine.”
“…….”
It was rather cute, the way Han Sora watched me so carefully, apparently worried about the state of my wallet.
Not that my finances were anywhere near dire enough to warrant her concern. Owning my own place near the Academy—where property prices were sky-high—was proof in itself that money wasn't something I needed to worry about.
“Order whatever you want too, Sora. Don't hold back on my account.”
“I-I'm fine with just this, really…”
“What about you, Seonho? Not ordering anything else?”
“This should be plenty for me.”
“Alright. Then we're settled…”
With the order placed at the kiosk that every shop seems to have these days, the three of us sat back and waited lazily for the food to arrive.
The earlier argument had apparently broken the ice at least a little, because the two of them were now chatting away between themselves. I used the moment to quietly scan our surroundings.
It should just about be time for them to show up.
Just as that thought crossed my mind and my eyes settled on the entrance, three people walked into the restaurant.
One woman, two men. And judging by their uniforms—presumably Cheonmu Academy students—a tentative thought flickered through my mind that these might be the very people I'd been waiting for.
“So anyway, if I'd just swung properly back then, any monster short of a boss would've been—”
“Hey, isn't that Choi Marie? The pink hair?”
“…It really is.”
“…Ugh, why is that bitch here of all places, ruining the mood.”
…So my prediction had been right on the mark. They were the group of students who'd shown up badmouthing Choi Marie as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“…….”
“…Senior Choi Marie? Them?”
Hearing the voices, Choi Marie seemed to have figured out who they were, lapsing into silence. Han Sora cautiously studied her expression and called her name.
As for me, I quietly activated a self-buff while contemplating the group that would soon be approaching our table.
Suggestion: Eloquence
※ Target: Lee Seonho (Self)
“Hey, Choi Marie.”
“…….”
The moment the buff settled in, the three of them came over and picked a fight in perfect unison.
The tallest of the men—the one who looked like a swordsman—kicked at the leg of our table as he strode up to where the three of us were sitting.
“Been a while? Guess life's been treating you easy lately, huh?”
“…You came here to pick a fight over last year again?”
“Last year again? Fuck's sake, I lost my scholarship this year because of you, and that's all you've got to say? Huh?”
“What a shameless bitch. Not a flicker of change in that expression.”
“If you'd just held your position like you were supposed to, none of us would've failed the assignment. Why the hell did you charge out ahead like that, huh?”
“Haah, this seriously pisses me off. I had awful aftereffects for days because of you too.”
“…….”
The students hurled their accusations with the confidence of people who'd genuinely been wronged, while Choi Marie, clearly flustered, averted her eyes.
Objectively speaking, Choi Marie was in the wrong, so I could understand where those kids were coming from. But then again, was it really a grave enough sin to justify starting a fight every single time they ran into her in a private setting? I didn't think so.
And honestly, who was actually at fault didn't matter much anyway.
“…Talk about it later. Don't cause a scene in front of the juniors for no reason.”
“Juniors? You got dumped by your own classmates and now you're hanging around with juniors? Aren't you embarrassed?”
“…Truly shameless. Planning to drag another party down the gutter this time too?”
With that face, she played the slut villainess in the original story flawlessly.
Come to think of it—the woman who'd just spoken. Wasn't that 'Hong Rachel', the promiscuous priestess from the original novel?
Even leaving virginity aside, she was just an anal slut, which didn't exactly draw me in, and stacked up against Choi Marie, her looks were mediocre at best—rockfish-tier, if I was being generous.
Petty arguments about who was right or wrong were meaningless. No, I'd simply make use of this situation as a dedicated affection event for Choi Marie.
“Hey, you two—take some advice and run while you can. That bitch screwed around solo in Teamwork and Strategy last year and tanked her whole party. There's nothing good about hanging around someone like her, trust me.”
“I-I'm fine, actually…”
“We're giving you sincere advice here. We got stuck doing an assignment with her and ended up retaking the course next semester. She only managed to take it this year because nobody else would partner with her…”
“You're being loud. Couldn't you just leave? I have no interest in listening to seniors badmouth Senior Marie right in front of us.”
“…What did you say?”
My abrupt interjection—in a brazenly insolent tone, no less—swung the second-year swordsman's gaze from Choi Marie onto me.
“…….”
“…….”
At the same time, the slut-villainess and her bottom-feeder archer shifted their eyes to me as well, glaring.
“Hey. What did you just say?”
“I said it's ugly to watch—a whole crowd of you ganging up to pick fights over something that's already done and dusted—so I'd like you to leave. It's not as if any of us here need to hear the story, is it?”
“You little shit—”
“Whoa whoa, calm down, Doyun.”
“Let go of me, fuck. Hey, you're a first-year, aren't you? Which department?”
“Why do you ask? Planning to come find me later? Though it won't be Senior Marie you'll be dealing with—it'll be me.”
“…Kid. I'm only telling you this because you clearly don't know anything yet, but Choi Marie botched our Teamwork and Strate—”
“I said I don't want to hear it. Why do you keep trying to shove information down people's throats that nobody asked for? It's so boomer of you.”
“…….”
“Besides, if one person's mistake was enough to collapse the whole party, doesn't that just mean you were all leaning on Senior Marie far too much from the start? If you were actually the better fighters, you'd have been able to cover her slip-up, no?”
“……What?”
“You just weren't there to see the situation, that's all. Choi Marie charged out of formation out of nowhere, and—”
“Then I'd assume the situation called for it. Since your party fell apart because you failed to properly read the picture Senior Marie was seeing.”
“…….”
“…Wow, this kid is seriously impossible to talk to.”
Bicker among the three of you all day long for all I care. It wasn't going to make me back down.
An event where mere verbal dexterity multiplied affection into existence? There was no way I was letting that slip past. Choi Marie was the first heroine I'd ever met, after all, and our progress was still crawling along at a snail's pace.
Choi Marie's ideal type was 'a man she could entrust her back to'—a fact I knew from the original story. But there was no rule saying I had to fill that role through brute force the way Seo Woojin did.
I would simply become the dependable man in Choi Marie's eyes in my own way. In every respect except raw strength.
“Really, huh? Dragging around a junior just as nasty as you. Birds of a feather, getting all high and mighty together.”
“You seniors suit each other nicely as well. So do yourselves a favor and stop muddying the waters by entangling with us.”
“Right, fuck it. Getting tangled up with a bitch like her in the first place was the problem.”
“Ugh, disgusting. Let's just get out of here.”
“Morons. You'll learn your lesson once you get burned.”
Each tossing out one last insult, the three of them marched straight out of the restaurant.
Once I confirmed they were completely gone, I exaggeratedly clutched my chest in front of Choi Marie, as if I'd just dodged a bullet.
“Phew, that was a little scary. I was worried someone might suddenly start throwing punches.”
“…A-are you okay, Seonho? Why did you do that?”
“It just annoyed me. Strangers openly badmouthing Senior Marie right in front of my eyes—it was an eyesore, so I said something.”
“What if it had turned into an actual fight! You're physically weak, and yet you always, always have to go risking yourself like—”
“Dunno. Even if I get hit, some things just need to be said. I can't stand it when someone touches the people who matter to me.”
“I know that's just how you are, Seonho, but still…”
“And Senior Marie, don't go moping about it. I don't trust a single word from people who open with trash talk the second they meet you.”
“…I wasn't moping. I don't care what people like that say anyway.”
Yeah, right, she didn't care. Not even a minute ago she'd been so crushed she couldn't get a word out, just dodging everyone's gazes like she was begging them to stop.
The way her expression had finally loosened the moment the three left, only for her to shamelessly pretend nothing had happened—it was quietly endearing.
“Well, either way—thanks for getting angry on my behalf, Seonho.”
“I just couldn't hold it in. That's all it was.”
“…Thank you. Anyway.”
With a faint flush on her cheeks, Choi Marie offered her thanks once more and let the matter rest there.
Lunchtime at a Japanese restaurant, in the company of two juniors.
Under normal circumstances, Choi Marie would have been showing off a senior's easygoing poise. But beneath her placid expression, her thoughts were quietly churning with unease.
I never expected Seonho to jump in like that.
Truthfully, she hadn't anticipated it at all. The argument had been, first and foremost, a matter between herself and her own classmates.
The sensible thing—for anyone—would have been to stay out of a dispute they knew nothing about. Even when the person involved was an acquaintance, weighing right and wrong in a matter where someone had clearly erred was the correct course of action.
…Considering that her own trolling during that team assignment a year ago had led her teammates to fail, she was hardly in a position to complain even if the juniors had joined in condemning her.
And yet—never in a million years did I think Seonho would get angry on my behalf like that.
The way he'd answered, coolly and logically, the very accusations she herself had been unable to rebut.
It had been a bit of a stretch, sure, but nothing he'd said was wrong. That must have been why those girls had cut themselves off mid-sentence and walked out of the shop.
Honestly, he hadn't needed to go that far. It would have been enough simply not to side with them in condemning her. Her plan had been to wait until they left and then say, I'll do better this time, so just trust me through the group assignments.
“The eel sushi is great, Senior. Since you ordered it, you should have some too.”
“…Mm. Right.”
Not even ten minutes ago he'd been seething on her behalf as if the insults had landed on him personally, and now he was absorbed in his meal as if nothing at all had happened.
Watching him like this, it didn't seem as though he'd gotten angry to impress her. Perhaps he genuinely just hadn't liked seeing her torn down.
Truthfully—when she'd been floundering, at a loss for how to respond—having Seonho appear had been a relief.
…And for the first time, that frail-looking boy she'd always found so unreliable had struck her as dependable.
…It's just a mistake, surely.
That junior—tall, but with stamina so poor it practically leaked out of him. He wasn't even her type to begin with.
It was simply that she'd been grateful. Grateful that Seonho had believed in her without a shred of doubt. Grateful—maybe a little more than a little.
…Yes. Just that, and nothing more. A feeling no larger than that.