Chapter 87
Chapter 87
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 87
Chapter Title: Lionesses' Face-Off (2)
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“Aah~ You don't know yet, do you? While our Sanghyeon was saving me from a place packed with all those scary old men... he said he'd marry me... one. heart. one. body♡. It's basically a public proposal!”
More like a strategy to flaunt his company shares...
“Ah...? Phew...”
Saki, upon hearing that, first let out a sigh of relief that it hadn't been some fling with a junior, but then her lips puffed out in jealousy at the mere fact that something like that had happened without her knowing.
“Tch. Everything you say is so damn childish.”
“Childish!? I'm the CEO of Tachibana Enterprises! I'm on a whole different level from you commoners!”
Harumi planted her hands on her hips, cheeks flushed red. Her petite frame only made her look even cuter as she tried to act all high and mighty.
“Don't make me laugh. I've already done that with Yuu. Something... extremely intense. Hmph. Way too advanced for a little kid like you. Yuu's is so huge, you couldn't even handle it.”
“Eek...!!”
Harumi trembled for a moment before tilting her chin up, pretending to be unfazed.
“Hmph. I could marry a commoner anytime I wanted. You can't.”
“...!”
Saki's mouth snapped shut in an instant.
Reality.
Whether in Korea or Japan, getting married in your early twenties without a solid financial foundation was next to impossible. Even with all the perks for newlyweds, they were barely in their first or second year at the academy—marriage wasn't easy at this stage.
But Harumi had the backing of a mid-sized company owned by the Aida family.
At the very least, she had total freedom when it came to wedding costs or a honeymoon home.
“Euheen, hehehehe! I win!”
Happy about it?
What am I gonna do if they're already turning this into a battlefield...
“...”
Saki's expression had turned deadly serious.
Bickering over figures or hickeys was one thing, but this was a genuine, reality-based gut punch. Harumi had clearly crossed a line.
Just as I was about to step in and mediate between them, Ren slowly rose from her seat.
“Both of you, stop it.”
“What did I do?”
“Harumi-senpai. This is the academy rooftop. If anyone sees us, they'll think a huge fight's breaking out.”
“Ugh...”
Saki flinched and scratched the back of her head.
“Sorry, Ren. But this girl keeps provoking me...”
Harumi turned her head away with a pout, still clinging to my arm.
“I was just being honest? If I like something, I say I like it. If I want to do something, I do it. What's wrong with that?”
Ren's smile vanished.
“Being honest and being a nuisance are two different things.”
“Wh-what...?”
It was a voice completely unlike her usual tone.
There it was.
The icy Ren from the start of the semester.
“I've been watching, and you've gone too far, Harumi-senpai.”
“I knew Ren would take my side!”
“No, this isn't about taking sides. As Sanghyeon-kun's 'first' girlfriend... I have a duty to judge whether the next women in line for the harem will truly contribute to Sanghyeon-kun's—and everyone's—happiness.”
Ren put heavy emphasis on "first" before continuing, not giving Harumi a chance to interrupt.
“And from what I've observed so far...”
Gulp.
Overwhelmed by her aura, Harumi shrank back.
“Harumi-senpai, you don't meet that standard at all.”
“Huh?”
Harumi gripped my hand tightly.
It had been a while since I'd seen that confident, rich-heiress vibe from the game, and it was nostalgic, but even I had to admit she'd gone overboard. I understood her desire to monopolize me, but as a guy dating three women at once, that was something I couldn't just overlook.
“Yeah, Harumi. Even I think you went too far.”
“S-Sanghyeon...ah...? You too...?”
Harumi's small shoulders trembled.
“U... uuu...”
She bit her lip hard, tears welling up in her eyes. Her hands still clutched my arm with desperate strength.
“I... I'm Kanemochiru... I'm on a different level from you commoners...!”
Her voice still rang with arrogance, but the tremor betrayed her. Yet as Ren's cold gaze bore down, Harumi's shoulders hunched even further. Her baseless pride had no more strength to hold on.
“Harumi.”
I called her name in a low voice.
“The moment I decided to help you, those two accepted it without a shred of hesitation. Even though we had only just started dating.”
“...!”
“It was right around the time they desperately wanted to have me all to themselves. Right, Saki? Ren?”
Ren blushed but nodded with a gentle smile, while Saki fanned herself with her hand, whipping her head away as she muttered, “W-well, yeah, I guess.”
“......”
“But you're a year older than us, Harumi, and the CEO of a proper company. You can't act like this. It's not mature.”
Harumi's eyes wavered at my words. The hand gripping mine tightened, then suddenly went limp.
“Uuu.... Uuugh...”
Her cheeks burned red—whether from shame or something else—as she hung her head low.
After hesitating several times, she finally looked up at Ren and Saki and spoke.
“Um... sorry...”
“Hmm~? Didn't quite catch that?”
Saki smirked, sensing victory. She was clearly venting her earlier frustrations. Normally, this would lead to Harumi snapping back, but not this time.
“I... I was too greedy. Ren, Saki... I was wrong...”
“Wh-what...?”
Saki floundered, caught off guard by the straightforward apology.
Ren closed her eyes briefly before nodding.
Saki scrutinized Harumi's face to gauge her sincerity, then sighed and looked away.
“Haa. Fine. I'll chalk it up to a mistake. When Ren and Yuu started dating, I felt that boiling rage inside me a few times too. I'll say you just got swept up in it for a bit.”
“Th-thank you—!”
“But! This just wipes the slate clean on your rudeness so far. It doesn't mean you're getting a free pass on the interview. You were so cocky earlier I couldn't say it, but... marriage? Not happening without our say-so, got it?”
“A-ack...”
Harumi bit her lip again, glancing nervously between me and the girls.
“Marriage is a system supported by the state within legal bounds. And for couples in a harem, the order of things is even stricter. No polygamy, not even engagement, without the existing girlfriends' or wives' permission.”
Harumi was on the verge of tears now.
“I don't wanna... sob... I wanna do it... h-hic... I'm gonna marry him!!”
She sniffled pitifully, just like a little girl who declares she'll marry her dad when she grows up, only to cry upon learning fathers and daughters can't marry.
With our height difference, it did kinda look like a father-daughter pair.
“Ahem! Don't cry. Anyway, we'll give you a grace period—three weeks from now, until the end of term.”
Come to think of it, time had flown by that fast.
At this point, it was best to stick together and solidify our bonds.
Leaving these three alone while I wandered off could spell disaster.
Something we four could do together...
Typically, this called for summer cram school or an Okinawa beach trip, but my plans were different. We weren't in a position to relax with vacation events yet.
This whole crazy game world is too unstable.
Plus, watching the events so far, they were subtly deviating from the in-game storylines and branches.
The guys who attacked Ren moved faster and more recklessly than expected, and lurking behind them was the mastermind, Kurogami Reina.
Saki's very existence was an irregularity.
Harumi's case was similar—in the game, she abruptly got sold at an underground auction at the end of August, but in reality, she'd been suffering under Kenji long before that. And crucially, he tried to sell her off as a sex slave by advancing her hospital bill deadline.
Of course, that bastard Kenji was probably halfway TS'd into a male prostitute by now.
At any rate, the implications were clear.
My possession of this world had twisted the causal chains.
It was a pretty common cliché in isekai possession stories, so not hard to guess.
Which meant the girl meant to fill the last spot in my heroine lineup was probably in grave danger right now.
So, I needed an activity where I could move with my three heroines and run into her.
“Hey, girls.”
Harumi, still fidgeting, along with Saki and Ren, turned to me.
“How about we all join a club together?”