Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: The Outsider Doing Background Checks
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*** Class 5 Female Delinquent, Sin Su-jeong's Perspective
I am an ordinary high school student who rules as the top female delinquent in Class 5 of Baekseung High School Year 1.
And at the same time,
I am the lackey of Yoo So-mi, the queen of our school and the undisputed ruler of Class 5.
Originally, I had planned to take over Class 5 the moment I started high school.
Studying is boring, school feels suffocating, and girls are sly creatures who will subtly try to put you under them if you don't establish the hierarchy right from the start.
So first, I'd crush any resistance upfront, then hang out with delinquents from other classes, smoke cigarettes, date boyfriends, and ride around on motorcycles together—enjoying a blissful high school life.
But my plan fell apart on the very first day.
Because in Class 5, there was Yoo So-mi: pretty face, big chest, delinquent-style uniform, glaring at everyone nearby like she was daring them to look away or die.
From day one, I was utterly defeated in the three key factors for determining female delinquent hierarchy: looks, style, and vibe.
I had planned to grab some easy-looking girl, pick a fight, make her my servant, then cozy up to the male class boss and swallow the whole class whole... But even the guys in Class 5 were scared of Yoo So-mi—no one dared to show off their delinquent cred.
But is it true what they say about turning misfortune into fortune? Yoo So-mi approached me first, smiling as she struck up a conversation.
She must have seen my delinquent outfit and decided to make me her personal lackey.
After that, without a single argument or drop of blood, Yoo So-mi ascended to the top of Class 5's hierarchy as our queen.
She hates the smell of cigarettes. So no one in Class 5 smokes anymore. Anyone who reeks of smoke gets the death glare from Yoo So-mi.
She hates disruptions during class. Chatty students get the death glare from Yoo So-mi. That's why Class 5 has a reputation among teachers for good classroom behavior.
She hates bullies in the class. So there are no outcasts in Class 5. Probably because she sees everyone except herself as equally enslaved.
Even the rough male students in class can't defy her will. Yoo So-mi is insanely popular among the male delinquents across the whole school.
At first, the class was tense and stressed out, but as time passed, everyone realized that as long as they followed her few rules, life was actually pretty chill. So they accepted it.
Before midterms, when grade-obsessed kids were on edge, opinions about Yoo So-mi wavered a bit.
Her glares are terrifying, but no one had ever seen her actually argue with someone or punish them directly.
It was the so-called "Yoo So-mi Paper Tiger Theory."
But the suspicions of those ignorant, arrogant fools were soon proven wrong.
Yoo So-mi single-handedly beat a male delinquent from Class 2 into a bloody pulp, proving once and for all that she was Baekseung High's true female boss.
Yoo So-mi commands the fear of all in Class 5.
Yoo So-mi earns the admiration of all in Class 5.
Yoo So-mi receives the love of all in Class 5.
Our Class 5 is united because of Yoo So-mi, and we trust each other because of Yoo So-mi.
Yoo So-mi is truly the queen of Class 5, and I'm happy to be her lackey.
Oh, Yoo So-mi has a guy she likes among our grade-mates.
Jeong Yi-an from Class 2.
She's never said it outright, but pretty much everyone in Class 5 knows it openly.
She gets confessions daily from delinquents of other classes (girls included) and always shoots them down with a fierce glare,
but whenever she talks to Jeong Yi-an during art class, a smile never leaves her face.
We envy that guy, but we wouldn't dare to be jealous or hate him.
Who would question the queen's personal pick?
Anyway, once marked as Yoo So-mi's prey, that guy only has two options left: date her or die.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I checked out the promotional Facebook account for the Seoul Character World event booth that Yoo So-mi had given me.
It was a Facebook account handling booth promo, but since it was a small-scale booth where Yoo So-mi basically made all the products herself, there were only two items, pretty simple.
One was stickers of the little sister character from My Little Sister Can't Be This Cute. Various outfits, multiple poses.
But the quality... it's like, "Not bad for a high schooler."
If it weren't for artist friends buying them out of loyalty, they'd definitely end up as toxic inventory.
The other was a translucent file folder featuring the little sister character from Yogano Sora.
This one's quality is insane. Unlike the slightly crude stickers, the image printed on the translucent file looks like a scan of a hand-drawn canvas piece.
As long as she doesn't price this one ridiculously high, it'll sell out the moment the event starts. If she'd made pricier stuff like eco-bags, towels, or mouse pads with this art... she'd have raked in huge margins...
But Yogano Sora is 19+ material!!! Yoo So-mi, you high schooler—where the hell did you even find this?
For reference, Yogano Sora is famous for its front-door fusion scenes.
Anyway, the huge gap between her hand-drawn work and what she does digitally shows that Yoo So-mi is still pretty unskilled at computer-based drawing.
Thinking back to before my regression, whenever someone wanted to try drawing, they'd impulse-buy an iPad first. So it was common to have people who could only draw digitally and sucked at hand-drawing. But it's 2011 now, and unless you're an aspiring webtoon artist, there's no way you'd have experience with digital tools.
Seeing what products Yoo So-mi will bring to the event is interesting, sure, but that's not why I asked her for this promo account.
It's 2011, the early days of SNS.
People treat fully public SNS spaces like personal diaries, posting raw personal info: real names, birthdays, phone numbers, friends' and family names, home areas, schools, etc.
Look at this. Even this booth promo account uses her personal Facebook. Let's see... Name: Kim Ji-su... Birthday's hidden, but her timeline blatantly shows her high school graduation year, so I can figure out her age.
Hmm... She went to a cram academy for retakers. No mention of getting into college the next year... Then this year's posts pop up.
Kim Ji-su, you're a third-year repeater, huh.
No wonder she skimps on booth expenses, pockets the operating funds, and doesn't even buy the girl a meal afterward... She always had that cheap vibe.
But then, what the fuck does this bitch do instead of studying?
.
.
.
I kept scouring SNS, gathering info on Kim Ji-su. Who comments on her posts? What posts does she like?
Checking comments she leaves on others' posts, I see she mostly reacts to artwork uploaded by doujin artists.
Kim Ji-su praises others' art in comments, likes them, acts all buddy-buddy...
She probably approached Yoo So-mi the same way.
Then I followed a link she posted asking people to check out "her" drawing, and boom—Yoo So-mi's artwork.
...So she's stealing Yoo So-mi's drawings to befriend other artists and boost her ego.
A third-year repeater desperate to chat with artists online, stealing their work? Kinda pathetic.
But that's that, and this is this. Touching my underage friend—the one and only friend I have at school—is unforgivable.
I need to figure out how to screw her over without hurting Yoo So-mi and so I feel satisfied too.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After a short think, I decided to go to Han Si-a, the expert in tormenting others.
As someone who'd lived over 35 years as a law-abiding citizen, the only idea I had was calling the cops—ruining Yoo So-mi's event prep to catch that criminal bitch.
That'd obviously nix her event participation, and Yoo So-mi herself would suffer going back and forth to the station for a while.
For reference, going to Class 1 to talk to Han Si-a pulls massive aggro from the other students there.
"Our class's top idol Han Si-a is talking to a guy from another class!!"
"Who the hell is that jerk?! ...Wait, it's that loser from next door? Why's that idiot talking to Han Si-a...!"
Something like that.
So if I need a private chat with Han Si-a, I have to do it after school, or text her to come out of the classroom.
Of course, since this is still a secret from Yoo So-mi, I called Han Si-a to the music room during break.
And I explained everything I'd investigated so far—the signs that Yoo So-mi was being targeted by a criminal.
"Who said I'm an expert at bullying others?"
"You're not?"
"...You still mad about making you a bread shuttle? That's not bullying; it's 'karma.' Anyway, So-mi has looked kinda down lately whenever she takes calls. So that's what was going on?"
Han Si-a looked conflicted after hearing my explanation.
A way to give that criminal a proper schooling without hurting Yoo So-mi? Even for top-student Han Si-a, that's not something you pull out of thin air.
But then words came out of Han Si-a's mouth that were a bit different from what I'd expected.
"Why wait for So-mi to ask for help?"
"Huh? Well, helping without being asked is just meddling, right?"
She looked at me like I was pathetic and said,
"We strike first, and as long as So-mi doesn't find out, we're good."
"...?"