Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: The Outsider Who Scores a Free Meal
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◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ —Han Si-a's Perspective—
Bad dreams have a way of becoming surprisingly familiar if you have them often enough.
The weight of corpses pressing down on my body. The warmth of blood soaking into my skin.
Then, I vaguely realize it.
Ah, it's that dream again.
If I don't wake up soon, I'll be exhausted all day.
Ways to escape unpleasant dreams vary from person to person, but in my case, I close my eyes and shake my head side to side.
In the dream, my whole body is pinned under heavy corpses, so my limbs are hard to move consciously. But my neck isn't.
Shaking my head in the dream eventually makes me shake it in reality too, and the stiffness and dizziness in my neck wake me up.
So today, I tried to do the same thing, shaking my head just like always...
But something felt different from usual.
Normally, my mother's face should be right there in front of me, her forehead blown open and covered in blood.
Today, though... the color seems a bit lighter somehow. Wait, no—it's pink.
That's right. Turns out, the thing crushing me wasn't my mother's corpse at all. It was cotton candy!
I think I ate cotton candy just like that recently.
It was incredibly sweet back then. I wondered if this one would taste the same.
So I decided to give it a little taste.
Moments ago I was buried under the cotton candy, but somehow I'd already sat down at the table, all ready to eat.
Then again, cotton candy isn't that heavy no matter how you slice it. Being pinned under it sounds way weirder than it feels.
I picked up a fork and tried to twirl it up like pasta strands.
Suddenly, Jeong Yi-an popped up behind me and snatched the cotton candy off the table.
"Muahaha!! The Bread Shuttle contract is already over, Han Si-a! If you want cotton candy, bet against me again and win fair and square!"
I figured he'd run off with it, but my bodyguards—who'd been waiting by the door—grabbed him and dragged him back in front of me.
"Gah!! You cowards!!! I won't bow to the power of money!!!"
Haa...
What a cute little thing.
Even though I knew it was a dream, everything felt even hazier, more surreal.
I looked around and realized I was back in my room before I knew it.
And there on the bed was Jeong Yi-an, tied up tight with ropes, sprawled out with a blindfold over his eyes.
And I pulled a leather whip from my waist...
...Huh? A blindfold? Leather whip?
This is weird.
Weird weird weird weird!!
I thrashed my head side to side and woke up in the middle of the night.
To make sure I'd really snapped out of it, I pinched my wrist.
Worried I might drift off again and have the same dream, I showered to wash away the cold sweat.
But I still couldn't sleep deeply, too anxious about dreaming something similar again.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Baekseung High School's festival is over.
And finals are just three weeks away.
Last exam, I lost to Han Si-a by a single question.
No—I chose the right answer, but the naive teachers who can't see the future botched the question, so I lost unfairly.
This time will be different.
Before diving into exam prep, I thoroughly analyzed why I lost last time.
And I reached a very simple conclusion.
It was this:
'I lost because I studied too hard.'
Whoa! Studying too hard and getting questions wrong? What an idiotic thought! you might say. Hold on.
There's a solid reason for this.
Ever heard that a 'genius character' in fiction can't exceed the author's own intellect?
No matter how genius a character is by setting, the thoughts and actions they have come from the author's brain.
So, the 'genius' in a story can only be as smart as the author at best.
Sorry to hardworking creators, but there's some truth to it.
Now, flip that around a bit: Couldn't high school exam questions made by teachers be seen as 'fiction' in a way?
High school teachers make high school exams.
The people solving them are high schoolers anyway, maybe other teachers reviewing them.
So, the difficulty tops out at high school teacher level, no matter what.
Exactly. These low-level high school exam questions are meant for high schoolers who study hard—not for a highly educated regressor like me!
I overdid the studying, turned simple preview-review stuff into something overly intense, and tripped up on weird parts. That's all.
Knowing too much is a curse, huh? Heh.
.
.
.
"Finals are about three weeks away now. Aren't you studying separately this time, Yi-an?"
Yoo So-mi asked while I was working part-time at the sandwich shop.
She said she was curious because last midterm I had dark circles from studying so hard, but now I looked fine.
"I realized that doing everything in moderation is best. So this time, I'm just steadily doing previews and reviews for the exam."
She pondered my words for a moment before speaking.
"So you'll be less busy than during the last exam period?"
"Yeah."
"Got time this weekend by any chance?"
"...?"
If I weren't a 35-year-old uncle inside, I might've gotten my hopes up prematurely. Luckily, I'm an uncle, so I stayed calm.
As I stared at her without a word, Yoo So-mi explained.
"We still have the money from Seoul Character World last time... We were gonna use it to eat something delicious, right? If you're free, I wanted to treat you to a nice meal this weekend."
Whoa. She's buying me food.
Even an uncle's heart skips a beat at that.
She said she'd originally tried to pay during our last food crawl, but Han Si-a stopped her.
Han Si-a felt bad for dragging us into festival prep and ended up covering Yoo So-mi's meal instead.
After that, Yoo So-mi kept trying to treat us but couldn't align schedules.
So she decided to buy me food first, then Han Si-a separately.
...Of course, I paid during the food crawl. It was my penalty for losing the bet.
Just you wait, Han Si-a...!
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The bustling Sinchon streets on a weekend, teeming with young people.
I used to wander here back in the day, chasing the hollow romance of campus life.
But reality? Booze, booze, booze, karaoke, booze.
As an outsider who never liked crowds anyway, I hadn't come back since—except for TOEIC classes.
My memories were at least three years from now, so I worried things might've changed a lot.
But the shops inside the buildings were different, sure—Sinchon was still Sinchon.
Still packed with young folks, proselytizing ladies everywhere...
Speaking of, this lady's been tailing me for ten minutes, striking up conversations. Go away already.
Plenty of flashy types with expensive clothes and watches around—why target a poor high schooler?
I'm almost at the meeting spot with Yoo So-mi, but dragging this cultist along feels off.
"Hey, Yi-an! Over here! Who's that lady, though?"
We'd agreed on a café, but we ended up bumping into each other right outside.
I'd been ignoring the cultist to avoid embarrassment, but now that we're here...
"This lady's a cultist. She's been following me since the station... Ma'am, please leave already. Or I'll call the cops?"
But...
"Ooooh! This student has such kind eyes too—you're perfect for believing in the Way. Let's go into the café and chat~"
Haa... this bi—
Some people just don't get it.
Talking more would just waste time, so I pulled out my phone to call the police.
Then Yoo So-mi approached the cultist lady, grabbed her shoulders with both hands, and said:
"...Hey. My eyes still look kind to you? Beat it."
"Gaaah!! My shoulders!! Let go!!!"
The cultist who'd tailed me for over ten minutes fled at Yoo So-mi's words and a bit of force.
Our school's top boss for a reason. Reliable as hell.
.
.
.
The café was packed, as expected for weekend Sinchon—no empty seats.
Waiting around for someone to leave felt awkward, so I was about to suggest we go.
But Yoo So-mi casually sat right next to a woman occupying a whole four-seater by herself.
"Yi-an! Over here~ I saved you a seat!"
"...?"
No way? Sure, she's the school boss and a delinquent type, but even against a rude solo four-seater hogger, blatantly taking the seat like this...?
As I panicked inwardly, the woman next to her spoke up.
"Hey, sis is here? So that's the Yi-an oppa you mentioned?"
"Yeah. Yi-an, this is my little sister, Yoo So-ha."
Phew... Turns out the solo four-seater was family, and she really had saved the spot.
The way she scared off that cultist lady was so intense, I must've seen her through tinted glasses.
...But why's she here?
"Sis, I feel like that oppa just treated me like a third wheel. I'm against this. Break up with him quick!"
"...?"
"Kidding, oppa. Lame reaction—not fun. Parents are out today, so I tagged along to score some food. Cool with that?"