A New Heroine

Chapter 9

Se-eun and I stood before a wooden gate bearing the sign 『Striking Sword Way』. Beyond it lay the Korean branch of a world-famous swordsmanship dojo.

"S-Se-eun... Isn't this place a bit much for beginner kendo lessons?"

I was playing the original Si-hyun: timid, dependent, and hopeless. Se-eun regarded me with undisguised contempt.

"You're the one who wanted to learn. This place has the best instructors. What do you want me to do, take you somewhere second-rate?"

"N-No. S-Sorry..."

We both rubbed our foreheads in frustration. Pretending I was this pathetic was exhausting, but Ha-rin could still be listening.

We exchanged sour looks and entered the grounds.

A week had passed since I first asked Ha-rin to let me learn kendo.

She'd refused immediately, with a look that could have killed me.

But I kept begging, putting the original Si-hyun's helpless puppy-dog expression to good use. After a full week, Ha-rin finally relented.

For now, at least, the rules of society still restrained her possessiveness.

In three years, those restraints would be gone.

'I have to find allies who can stand up to Ha-rin before society collapses.'

As Se-eun and I followed the path, the dojo came into view.

My pulse quickened.

The heroine associated with this place was my favorite in the entire game. Just the thought of meeting her made my chest tighten with anticipation.

A few days earlier, I'd slipped Se-eun a note with the dojo's name. She'd then pretended to discover it herself while searching online.

If Ha-rin found out I'd deliberately picked a place where I might meet beautiful women, she'd never forgive me. The deception was necessary.

In exchange, I'd promised to take Se-eun and her friends to karaoke.

It was a small enough favor.

'She really is easy to please sometimes.'

A huge dojo resembling a Japanese shrine rose beyond the path.

It looked out of place in the middle of Seoul. Then again, this world had never been particularly concerned with realism.

"Yaaah—!"

"Hyah—!"

Shouts echoed through the building, punctuated by the sharp crack of bamboo swords striking one another.

We hesitated at the entrance, both unsure where to go.

Nudge, nudge.

Se-eun bumped me with her shoulder, trying to force me to go first.

'I don't know where I'm going either. What's your hurry?'

I was about to glare at her when someone spoke.

"Are you here to enroll?"

I turned toward the voice almost involuntarily.

"Hello. Is this your first visit?"

I knew that gentle, clear voice. I'd heard it countless times in the game.

A young woman with loosely tied black hair looked up at us, smiling warmly.

She had been kneeling on the dojo floor, poised and graceful, like the very picture of traditional Japanese elegance.

When she noticed us, she rose smoothly and approached.

"..."

She wore a kendo uniform and moved with quiet confidence. Ha-rin's beauty was overpowering; this woman's presence was reassuring instead.

Arikawa Hayase.

My favorite character—the samurai who stayed beside the protagonist through everything.

The game described her as one-quarter Japanese, though it also said her father was Korean and her mother Japanese. The background details were never entirely clear.

And now she was standing right in front of me.

When our eyes met, surprise crossed her face. A blush followed almost instantly.

"Ah...?!"

She faltered mid-step, lost her balance, and pitched forward.

Fortunately, she didn't hit the floor.

I was close enough to catch her.

"...Huh?"

Her dark hair swept through the air as she fell.

I caught her around the waist, stopping her just before she struck the ground.

Naturally, I tried to look as heroic as possible.

"Are you all right?"

Even my own face radiated sheer coolness. Hayase, looking utterly smitten, held her breath as if mesmerized by me. But then—

Boing, boing.

What is this supreme lump I'm feeling in my hand?

"......?"

"......?"

Hayase's gaze and mine dropped at the same time. And there it was: my hand, slipped inside Hayase's dogi.

"Eh...?"

"...??"

Hayase's face turned so red it looked like it might burst. Every so often she twitched her body and let out embarrassed, nasal moans. In my hand, a huge, marshmallow-soft mass of flesh was being kneaded. Of course, I hadn't meant for this to happen.

'W-what the hell?!'

My hand was moving on its own, freely kneading Hayase's enormous chest. Too stunned to think, I looked at Hayase, and then,

『"Optimal Progression" is being applied.』

A message flashed in front of me, as if it were confessing to being the culprit.

Haha, I'm screwed. I was just at the police station not long ago, and now it's another trip to the station for sexual harassment?

Right then, Park Ha-rin's bone-chilling glare flashed before my eyes. Just as a dizzying chill crept up my spine, Hayase pulled her dogi's collar closed and shuffled backward, hesitant.

"I-I'm sorry!"

Her face was bright red.

"I've never met anyone quite so handsome before. I must have lost my composure. I don't normally stumble like that..."

She glanced at me and immediately lowered her head again.

Even her ears were red.

At least she didn't seem inclined to make a scene.

'Thank goodness.'

"No, I'm sorry. I should have been more careful!"

I bowed. Hayase immediately bowed even lower.

"No, it was my fault!"

"Really, I'm the one who should apologize."

"But I—"

"No, I insist!"

Why did this feel like a competition to see who could apologize more politely?

Somehow, neither of us knew how to stop.

"Are you two finished? Or should I come back when you remember we're still standing here?"

Se-eun's irritation cut through the exchange.

I straightened at once. The last thing I needed was another reason for Se-eun to turn against me.

"All right. Apology accepted."

"Th-thank you!"

I wasn't sure what she was thanking me for. Hayase kept bowing anyway.

Then—

"Pfft—hahaha!"

Laughter rippled around the dojo.

Even the students who'd been sparring lowered their bamboo swords to watch. A burly man approaching us laughed loudest of all.

"Well, would you look at him! No wonder my girl's gone all flustered. Handsome little feller, ain't he?"

He had close-cropped hair and a diagonal scar stretching from his forehead toward his cheek.

Han Hyeok-do. Hayase's father.

He was broad-shouldered and powerfully built, with the rugged looks of a handsome man grown older.

Fortunately, it seemed no one had seen me groping the chest of the Striking Sword Way's representative beauty.

Otherwise, they would never be smiling so warmly. They'd have tied me up on the spot, throwing a fit to test whether their real blades were harder or I was.

"You an actor or something?"

'Father-in-law already? And we're speaking casually? That's fast.'

Then again, this world's behavior rarely matched my expectations.

I gave up trying to make sense of it.

"No, sir. I'm a high school student."

"Really? Huh! And who's the young lady with you? Your girlfriend?"

Se-eun blushed. I grimaced.

"She's my younger sister."

Se-eun shot me a glare so fierce I could imagine her putting a kitchen knife in my side three years from now. I ignored it.

"Good-looking family, then! Young lady, want me to introduce you to my son?"

"Only if he's better-looking than this idiot."

"...Huh?"

Hyeok-do rubbed his chin and studied me for an uncomfortably long time.

"That's a tall order. Can't say you see a face like this every day."

'Of course you don't. I'm practically the world's sole example of perfection.'

"Then never mind. Just register us, please. We don't have all day."

Se-eun strode into the dojo, visibly annoyed.

The moment she stepped onto the practice floor, she stopped short.

Her eyes widened. She clamped a hand over her nose.

"Ugh!"

She recoiled. Ah, yes—the unmistakable smell of well-used kendo equipment.

#

I changed into a kendo uniform in the wooden changing room Hayase had shown me.

'I still can't believe Ha-rin agreed to let me train here, even with Se-eun as a chaperone.'

It was hard to believe Ha-rin had consented at all. Better still, changing into a kendo uniform meant taking off the clothes she'd planted with listening devices.

I couldn't shake the feeling that she had another plan.

'What if she followed us? Worse, what if Se-eun told her everything?'

I dismissed the thought. Se-eun wouldn't do that.

In the game, even after her organization fell apart, she remained loyal to the people she'd chosen to trust.

Loneliness had made her guarded, but once someone earned her loyalty, she never betrayed them.

That was the Se-eun I knew.

I adjusted my uniform and stepped out.

"Took you long enough."

Se-eun stood in the corridor, her silver-gray hair gathered into a ponytail.

We exchanged a glance before walking down the old wooden corridor together.

"Where's your phone?"

"Dunno. It's valuable, so I stashed it in my bra."

This little brat?

I glared at Park Se-eun's big chest. Sensing my gaze, she covered her chest.

"What? Now you're acting like a big brother and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠staring at your little sister's chest? Are you out of your mind? That's why you're so unpopular."

I have no idea what logical connection there could possibly be between staring at my little sister's chest and being unpopular.

I go to an all-boys' school, you damn fool... At a place like that, being popular is a disaster waiting to happen.

Park Se-eun shot me a fierce side-eye, her face reminding me of Park Ha-rin's. Then she grabbed her kendo top and yanked it wide open to both sides.

"If you're that suspicious, go ahead and search for it yourself."

"Whoa!"

I was so flustered that heat rushed to my face. But Park Se-eun was wearing a sports bra. The excitement nearly fizzled out, but it was a size that didn't fall short of Park Ha-rin's.

"Ahaha! Surprised, huh? Surprised?! That's exactly why you can't stay a virgin."

"Like you're any different."

"Ugh, are girls and guys the same? If you're a guy, you should be ashamed of yourself. Did you just sexually harass me?"

Honestly, men and women aren't valued equally. I couldn't come up with a rebuttal.

"Seriously, why'd you suddenly flash your chest? And where's your phone again?"

"My chest is for flaunting my figure, and my phone is enshrined in the changing room."

She was still in middle school, and her idea of a joke could be unbelievably childish. But a prank involving Ha-rin's surveillance could get us both killed.

My expression must have given away how seriously I took it. Se-eun faltered.

Then she forced a cheerful tone.

"Wow, Si-hyun. You've actually grown up a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠little."

"I'm still taller than you."

She studied my face for a moment, blushed, and looked straight ahead.

"Then... can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"What happens to me in the future?"

"What do you mean?"

She hesitated, glancing at me repeatedly before finally asking:

"Who am I going to marry? And... how long will I live?"

"..."

For a moment, I didn't know what to say.

Then I noticed how anxiously she was watching me.

"You'll meet a decent, honest guy and live happily. Just stay away from tanned blond troublemakers."

She looked disappointed, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠quickly hid it behind a bright expression.

"Kang Yu-seong is the only tanned blond guy we know."

"Exactly. Stay away from him. And do you really need to perm your hair into some old-lady style later, just to attract men?"

Se-eun chuckled and brushed back her hair.

"Don't worry. I'll grow it long and elegant, like Carmen Dell'Orefice."

Her eyes curved mischievously as she glanced at me.

"Then my future husband can worry about me instead."

"Poor guy."

We traded barbs all the way down the corridor. Eventually, Se-eun stepped in front of me, blocking my path.

"You really can't see your own future, can you?"

"What are you talking about now?"

She wore a mischievous smile.

"That woman Hayase earlier was shoving her chest right at you, did you not notice?"

I stopped in my tracks.

"Wait, for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠real??"