Ttek-tteki (1)
The morning after I had finally crossed the line with Han Sora.
When I headed to the student cafeteria at the usual morning hour, I could already see a handful of people gathered and chattering away.
"So, how's the arm?"
"Bwahaha! Better than ever, that's how! Honestly, it feels even sturdier than before it got wrecked!! I swear I could lift a 3-ton barbell right now!!"
"…Y-you're going to hurt yourself again. I really think you shouldn't…."
"She's right. Quit spouting that muscle-brain crap all the time and just behave yourself for once, will you? The guy's whole selling point is his body, and somehow he goes and shatters one arm…."
Lively as ever this morning. Still, maybe thanks to the group chat, the others seemed to be getting along with each other surprisingly well.
The only blemish on my harem group chat was that Park Cheonho was in it, but well… he did come in handy last time, so I didn't really care.
"WOOOOOO! Lee Seonho! Good morning!!"
"Morning, Cheonho. Good morning to you too, Eunju, Sora, Hana."
"Ah, mhm…! Good morning, Seonho…!"
"Mm, morning…."
The moment I appeared, Cha Eunju's listless expression brightened at once, and she looked up at me with bright, sparkling eyes.
And Han Sora quietly flushed and averted her gaze as she answered—no doubt because of what happened last night, or technically, in the early hours of this morning.
Judging by her state, she barely slept at all.
To be fair, we didn't part ways until around six in the morning, so it was only natural. I'd gone straight back, showered, and changed my clothes before collapsing, myself.
And thanks to Do Yoonchae, whose timing has been mysteriously off-lately, walking out of the bathroom just as I came in, I even got a glimpse of her bare body first thing in the morning.
Was this some kind of stock event that inevitably fires off once a crossdressing heroine gets outed as a girl? Or was it just that Do Yoonchae's airheaded nature was showing through more than ever? Either way, I decided not to make a big deal of it.
"You're in a good mood this morning? You usually look dead tired on Thursdays."
"Me?"
"Yeah. You've got Movement Mechanics on Thursdays, so you always look wiped."
"…Oh. Right."
Thanks to Park Hana reminding me of a reality I'd momentarily forgotten, it finally sank in that today was Professor Shin Youngjoo's class. Not that I'd wanted it to.
Gonna be exhausted today too.
Still, one small mercy: thanks to the Seed of Manaroot, my stamina and strength were up. Starting today, I could keep the professor appeased at a reasonable level. Just lift a bit more than last week—another 10 kilos or so—and that muscle-brained professor would be satisfied enough.
That should carry me through at least this semester. Next semester, I'd have to schedule around his class and keep up my point of contact with Park Hana through a different course instead.
"Ah, good morning…."
"…Morning."
Soon Kim Isabel appeared wearing her veil as always, and Do Yoonchae, fresh off her morning workout, warily slipped into her seat as well.
Amid the same gathering as always, I'd raised both my stamina and my strength, so I quietly hoped academy life would go a little smoother from here on out.
"Hm! Grit's looking good today! Another 20 kilos, Lee Seonho!"
…Goddamn it.
Why is this lunatic professor already screaming first thing in the morning?
Even as I held one and a half times the weight I'd lifted just last week, Shin Youngjoo piled on more plates with his deranged logic, and curses erupted in my head.
"P-Professor… I… I really can't lift any more…."
"You still have breath left to complain, so you're clearly capable, Lee Seonho! Wasn't your grit supposed to be far beyond this level?!"
"……."
…Did he somehow find out I obtained the Seed of Manaroot?
Or was this professor simply so perceptive that he could tell my physical limits hadn't been reached yet?
Even without any confirmation, the speculation came to me naturally. In the original story, this Shin Youngjoo was exactly the type to escalate his training the moment Seo Woojin boosted his strength with some item or other.
Back when I read it as a novel, I'd assumed Seo Woojin was just voluntarily increasing his training load… but maybe this professor simply had a knack for seeing a person's limits.
-Clank.
"Come on! If you were born a man, you should be deadlifting at least 300 kilos!!"
"What does being a man have to do with anything in this day and age…."
"KATSU!! Move your mouth and put that energy into your arms instead—lift with your shoulders!! Did I teach you to waste your breath like that, Lee Seonho?!"
Teach me? We've known each other all of one month. The only thing he's ever actually done is gaslight me about "grit" while piling weight onto the big three lifts.
Park Cheonho, this professor, hell, even the recently deceased Jung Seokhoon. No wonder prejudice against raw-strength Physical Enhancement types was unavoidable.
"N-no, Professor… I'm seriously about to di—"
"KAAATSU!!! Listen up, Lee Seonho!!! Show me your grit!!!"
"Ngh, huuuaaagh…!!!"
…There was no atmosphere in which I could pace myself and play the martyr, so in the end, I lifted the 300-kilo barbell.
Since I was following the standards of a world with Hunters and Awakened abilities, my body—still tuned to the common sense of my old world—was screaming at the top of its lungs.
…Exhausted.
Today was already a full-load day with classes all morning and afternoon, and being worked to the bone by Shin Youngjoo through the entire Movement Mechanics period made it that much worse.
The one silver lining was that even after being tormented all day, my body didn't feel worn down like yesterday. If anything, my mind just felt a little bored.
"Aren't you going to shower, Lee Seonho?"
"…I'll rest a bit more."
"Fine, then I'll shower first. Do not come in."
"I wasn't going to."
Do Yoonchae had apparently gotten used to things now—even with her secret as a woman exposed, she could treat me like an ordinary roommate.
Of course, she could still suddenly strip down and barge into the bathroom at any moment, so vigilance remained essential.
Still, yesterday's dungeon expedition seems to have helped somewhat.
At the very least, it answered the question of why I'd placed second in the entrance exam. I'd probably dissolved a decent chunk of the pointless wariness she'd been carrying around until now.
Though the wariness I'd deliberately cultivated in her, of course, was still in place.
"…Do not come in, Lee Seonho."
"I said I wasn't going to."
Why did she keep acting like I was the problem, when the only time anyone's been in the bathroom together was when she walked in on me?
Admittedly, a strange curiosity had been building in me ever since Do Yoonchae disappeared into the bathroom and the sound of running water began… but I simply ignored it, as was appropriate.
Maybe I'll go for a walk.
If I fell asleep like this without loosening up the muscles Shin Youngjoo had abused, I'd wake up tomorrow morning with muscle aches, guaranteed.
It was Friday—no classes, but club activities. This was the critical window to check whether Lim Yujin had taken the hook I'd cast out yesterday.
I needed to plan my next date with Ma Nayeon too, and there was plenty to do over the weekend.
Min Yewon… well, no need to see her again this week.
Training the villainesses once every two weeks was plenty. Beyond that, spending the time conquering the main heroines was far more productive.
Lost in such thoughts, I stepped out of the dormitory, and the still-chilly April night air seeped into my skin.
Choi Mari… she's probably in the training hall, I'd guess.
I knew I could find her if I went now, but meeting Choi Mari tonight would only pile exhaustion on top of exhaustion rather than melt any of it away.
If only I'd started conquering Park Hana, I could've dropped by the combat department training grounds on the way and knocked out a light session or two.
Since there was precious little chance of getting her under hypnosis before the Outdoor Survival Practicum in the latter half of the semester, oh well.
'Lee Seonho!!! Th-this money—what is it?! Where did this come from?!'
'You remember the terrorists we fought in the underground passage of that illegal building? That's the subjugation bounty.'
'C-can I really take this much?! Wh-what about your share, huh?!'
'I didn't give you anything extra—it's split evenly between me, Eunju, and Isabel too, so no need to get weird about it. The guy you fought was a pretty high-priority target for the terrorist organization—'
'WOOOOOO!! Thank you, Lee Seonho!!! You're one hell of a guy!!!'
'Ah, fu—fine, fine, I get it, so get off me, man.'
…Instead of conquering Park Hana, I was somehow getting chummy with her twin brother instead. Truly remarkable.
Look, I understood this was a necessary step to remove obstacles from the Park Hana route… but a clinging musclehead was still a hard no.
Was there no gender-swap drug or anything in the original?
If he'd at least been a woman, that loud, boisterous idiot would've been a lot more tolerable than he is now.
Even the way he hollered and tried to throw himself into bear hugs might've been almost bearable through the pretty-girl filter. Granted, the contents would still be male and every bit as disgusting, but at least I'd be spared that sweat-soaked, muscle-bound exterior on the surface.
Well, as far as I remembered up to the point I'd read, no such drug existed. For one thing, introducing an element like that would flip the entire genre, so it was a risky item on several fronts anyway.
Even as he was now, he had his perks: he was merely loud, too dumb to scheme against me, and completely uninterested in women, so I didn't have to worry about him around my girls. There was no reason to go poking a hornet's nest for nothing.
"…Hey."
Still, if a similar event came up next time, maybe it wouldn't hurt to drag Park Hana out by force.
After all, she and I had history going back to before the entrance exam. She wouldn't come running without a shred of suspicion like Park Cheonho did, but with a decent enough excuse, I could take her into a dungeon expedition just like I'd done with Do Yoonchae.
"…Hey. Lee Seonho."
If I could just conquer Park Hana properly, taking the girls into a dungeon for sex would get a whole lot easier too.
As things stood, the heroines I could handle at will were Cha Eunju and Han Sora—and stretching it a bit, Kim Isabel. But this lineup had no tank, no matter how I looked at i—
"Hey! Hey! Lee Seonho! Are you ignoring me?!"
"……Ah."
While I'd been wandering down the night path lost in thought, a yellow-haired girl had sprung up right in front of me.
The moment I saw that face—the same one I'd crossed paths with just yesterday before dawn—a snort of laughter escaped my nose of its own accord.
"What is it, Ttek-tteki?"
"Why are you looking so pathetic, wandering a park alone—wait, what? Ttek-tteki?!"
All I'd done was tell her my honest first impression of her.
Yoo Ahrin scrunched up her face in displeasure and glared daggers at me.