School Festival #11
School Festival #11
For a good while we danced and sang, enjoying our own private festival. The unconscious student council president was hoisted up on a pole. And from his neck hung a placard that read: PUBLIC-CONFESSION FIEND.
As the victors, we had the right to flaunt our spoils, so we didn't hesitate to parade around carrying the pole with the student council president dangling from it.
"One! Two! One! Two!"
Marching with the pole to Leona's cadence, I felt a thick sense of solidarity welling up from deep inside. Yeah. This is the power of us first-years.
We could pull together this much strength!
"...Student council president."
I looked up at him, hanging from the pole.
Sure, it started from a misunderstanding, and he did it to save me—but he was already beyond forgiveness.
Let him atone, trapped in a prison of his own making.
"Excellent! With this, the victory of us first-years will be known far and wide! It's sure to be honored and talked about for ages! Everyone will shout the names of the first-years from the rooftops!"
Leona was absolutely ecstatic. More hyped up than I'd ever seen her, she launched into a speech about the precious value of honor and victory.
Meanwhile.
"Yo. How about we start tidying up the knocked-out seniors."
"Ohh...! The men are all Egg Body!"
"Egg Body?"
"It means naked-desu."
"What country are you even from, you bastard!"
"I am American, and Korean, and Japanese. I have now decided to choose my nationality based on my own benefit, yow!"
"You crazy psycho!"
In my view, this Brian bastard was a bigger lunatic than the student council president... I thought about that sort of thing while helping my friends clean up.
"Hey. Kim Geun-cheol."
"Uh, Yu-ri—no, you disloyal little—you! You just ditched Leona and bolted?"
"N-no, the thing is! The thing is...!"
"Some friend you are! No loyalty, none!"
I never knew Yu-ri was this disloyal!
"Bullshit! You started the weird stuff first! I heard all about it—you drew Leona's aggro and then you just wouldn't stop praising her like crazy! How the hell am I supposed to endure that embarrassment!"
"As a friend, aren't you supposed to endure it together?"
"Heh. So, Kim Geun-cheol?"
As I kept applying pressure, Yu-ri suddenly narrowed her eyes and spoke, like some monsterkin in a death game presenting a tricky quiz.
"Who do you think danced better, huh?"
"Yo, yo! Ken! Help me clean up the ceiling!"
"Gladly, Scream Man!"
"Where do you think you're going!"
Now is the time to retreat!
Because I still haven't properly evaluated Leona's alluring, exotic dance and Yu-ri's sexy dance. Both of them.
Anyway.
The moment news of our victory spread, the chaos ended. People who came to their senses started helping us tidy up the auditorium, and the audience members who'd fled in panic were starting to come back in, too.
What an insane battle that was.
"Phew, what a thing. Geun-cheol. I never imagined the student council president would be someone so much like you."
"What the hell are you talking about, you bastard! In what way am I like that guy!"
"Looked exactly the same to me."
"Bullshit!"
"Geun-cheol. Strong denial is just affirmation, you know. More importantly, it's a shame you couldn't sing, huh? I was looking forward to it."
What?
"Hold on... shit. You're right. My song! My song!"
Was my song just cut like that?!
"Kim Geun-cheol? Did you say song?"
"Where did my song go!!!"
My dream of being scouted as a superhuman singer!
"Uwaaaaah!"
"Oh dear...! Kim Geun-cheol wanted to sing so badly! What a shame!"
I dropped to my knees and wailed. Leona came over and rubbed my back.
"Sniff! Leona! I'm so frustrated!"
"Damn it all! The pole! Where's the pole!"
—Papapat!
Leona ran off and started shaking the pole the student council president was hanging from. Time marched on.
* * *
Once the insane student council president was hung from the pole, the chaos was swiftly resolved.
It was resolved so swiftly, in fact, that this sudden incident was manipulated and distorted into a kind of surprise show planned by the student council, and that's what was announced to the public.
So the majority of the audience that had run away returned to the auditorium. What the hell, does that make sense?
What about my song?
"Goodness. To think something like this would happen. Unbelievable. The student council president went berserk? Absurd."
Instructor Lee So-ra, who arrived late, pressed a hand to her forehead.
"More to the point, several second-years were on him and they still couldn't suppress one student council president?"
"That's what I'm saying. No, but Instructor? Where in the world were you? I was absolutely certain you instructors would resolve it. I was very surprised when you didn't come. It felt like being a child whose guardian vanished, you could say. I was so terrified and frightened I thought I'd go crazy."
At my words, the instructor paused briefly, then sighed, looking apologetic.
"Well... there was a bit of... transporting alcohol..."
"Ah."
It seemed the instructors and staff were planning to commemorate the festival with a drinking session once it was over.
"Well, that's totally valid."
Honestly, I get that.
"One of us should have stayed on post, though. I apologize. That was my oversight. So, Kim Geun-cheol? Did the performance go well?"
"No, actually, the terrorist attack just happened to occur right when it was my turn..."
"Oh dear. What a pity."
I was giving the instructor a brief rundown of the situation when.
"Cadet Kim Geun-cheol! Cadet Kim Geun-cheol!"
I heard a voice calling me from over there.
What now?
I went over, and it was the upperclassman emcee.
"What is it?"
"Oh, you came! The performance was briefly interrupted earlier by that surprise play, right? So there was a slight adjustment in the order. Cadet Kim Geun-cheol's turn got pushed back a little, and it's just about to start now. Hurry over and sing for us!"
"No, really?!"
Oh my god!
I can sing again? I thought I was going to lose the chance for sure, but it came back around!
"Hooray!"
Can there be any greater joy than this!
I have to go right now.
"Then I'm off!"
"Come on up!"
I immediately kicked off the ground and ran for the stage.
Yeah. This is the reason heroes must fight with self-sacrificing devotion. An era of chaos. If heroes don't fight, the chaos never ends. To restore things and reclaim daily life, heroes have to fight.
"Oooh...!"
I arrived.
The gale of chaos had swept the scene earlier, but the seats were still more or less filled.
Though about thirty percent seemed to have cleared out.
Well, this is fine.
No. It's more than fine, it's enough.
—Step.
I stood on stage. The upperclassman emcee gave the crowd a suitable explanation, then handed me the microphone.
"Then, Cadet Kim Geun-cheol! A quick word, please!"
"Heh heh heh, looks like I ended up going last. A surprise show from the student council—what an entertaining performance that was."
Without meaning to, I ended up closing out the event.
"Anyway, since I'm last, I'll put my all into it! Everyone! Please listen to my song! The song I'll sing is Bum-jun's Thorn!"
—Waaaah!
—Oooooh!
Still, since it was the finale, the audience gave a good roar, and I savored the flowing accompaniment as I began to sing.
* * *
"Alright. Let's see it. How well can this bastard really sing."
Taking a spot in the second-floor seats, Woo Yu-ri stared at Kim Geun-cheol on stage.
Earlier she'd been so shocked by all these thoughts, but now that she knew the whole truth, she felt incredibly lighthearted. She didn't even know why—she just wanted to enjoy this comfort right now.
Kim Geun-cheol's song.
Honestly, she was looking forward to it. She was so curious to see how this guy who seemed like nothing but a joke could sing.
First, she could think of two possibilities.
Number one, he'd just do something bizarre like he always does. Coldly speaking, this was the most plausible outcome.
The ending where he'd made all that big talk but couldn't actually sing well.
If he ruined the final stage, the atmosphere would turn sour, and in many ways, for a long time—no, for the rest of his life—she'd be able to tease Kim Geun-cheol about it.
The school festival. On the stage, no less. She'd be able to milk this and tease him until the day he died.
'I'm kind of looking forward to that.'
Already imagining how to make fun of him, Woo Yu-ri then recalled the second possibility.
'But, what if he's actually good?'
The possibility that Kim Geun-cheol might really sing well, just like all his big talk.
Honestly, even though the guy was clumsy and had a severe case of narcissism, when it was time to do something, he did it. Since he was that kind of guy, if he really could sing well...
'Then, I think that might be kind of cool.'
She imagined Kim Geun-cheol singing beautifully with an elegant voice. A jarring image. It didn't suit him at all. It was even cringeworthy. Honestly, him suddenly unleashing a Lion's Roar and knocking out the audience would be more believable.
'No way, really?'
But if he did, that would be kind of fun.
Thinking that, she watched Kim Geun-cheol grab the microphone. Soon, the accompaniment started to play, and Kim Geun-cheol began to sing.
"..."
Song flowed from the guy's mouth.
A sorrowful love song.
Heartbreaking lyrics unfolded.
Listening to that song.
"No, what the hell!"
Woo Yu-ri thought.
"He's just normal!"
He's singing at a perfectly average level!
"Where's the bastard who said he'd sing well!"
She screamed, feeling cheated, but there was no way her voice would reach him.
And on top of that, even though that bastard Kim Geun-cheol was singing with perfectly average skill, he was putting his whole body into it, pulling a tearful, emotional facial expression as if he were some kind of world-class artist, just belting out the song with his entire soul.
That made it even more annoying...!
"BECOOOOME A THOOOORN!!!"
"How the hell do you become a thorn!"
Well, still.
Maybe because it was the final stage and a famous song everyone knew.
"JUST GO!!!"
"JUST GO!!!"
"JUST GO!!!"
Everyone in the auditorium started singing along.
"..."
Watching that scene, Woo Yu-ri gave a little snort of laughter.
"YEAH, JUST GO!!!"
And joined the chorus herself.
Enjoy this moment while it lasts, Kim Geun-cheol.
When the time comes, you'll have to judge just how amazing the embarrassing sexy dance I did was. Though of course, if you side with Leona, you're a dead man walking.