The Ah~ Trap and the Cream Counterattack
Back in the classroom, Seo Seon-ha was sitting there primly, her desk overflowing with twelve tiers of bread stacked high.
"Couldn't get any because the line at the canteen was too long? I prepared some with a canteen theme, the kind you like, Yeon-woo."
"…Thanks."
Seo Seon-ha sometimes offers pure goodwill without any traps. In those moments, I just say thanks. She only slipped up once with that "commoner theme" bit.
…
Feels like I'm the wife of some drunkard husband who beats her every day but still chows down on the fried chicken he brings home.
Still, there's no upside to refusing what she gives me.
-Grab
I pick up one golden sausage bun. For a sausage bun, it's got this glossy sheen…
"The canteen line was long… where'd you get these?"
"I have my own dedicated canteen. A top-class patissier on standby at all times."
Don't make that amazing chef whip up sausage buns…
…Wait, hold up—why the hell does she even have a dedicated canteen?
"There's these black beads embedded in the bread. What are they…?"
"Sturgeon eggs. It's spawning season around now."
Poor genetically modified soboro bun… Canteen theme, my ass… What kind of wonderland is her personal canteen?
-Beam
Seo Seon-ha beaming with satisfaction at having crushed one of my escape routes on day one. The image of Han Hyun-joo fleeing in tears wouldn't leave my mind. She even smelled like peaches all over…
Now, to the teacher, I'm just some delinquent punk playing around like he owns the place, offing baby chick teachers left and right.
What do I even say next time we meet to smooth this over? This sucks…
"How about some wine to go with it?"
"No… we're still students."
"I'll get the law changed. Starting today, drinking allowed from age sixteen. Just give me one second to make a call…"
"No. Put the phone down. Who the hell are you even calling right now?"
"Hee-hee… Got it. We'll have a drink together when we're older."
If I haven't escaped by then.
"Eat up before it gets cold."
"…You expect me to eat all this bread by myself?"
This is enough to choke a dinosaur without milk…?
"Too much? Should Seon-ha eat some too?"
"…Do that, then."
Every now and then, she refers to herself in the third person as she lifts her hips slightly from the chair and scoots right up next to me.
She brushes her bangs aside with her fingertips.
Is she wearing lip balm? Her lips part with a subtle shine, carrying a fruity scent.
"Ah~"
Seo Seon-ha closes her eyes and opens her mouth.
…
What kind of honest bullshit is this?
Feed me? Me? To you? You're trying to kill me.
…
Seo Seon-ha, master of schemes and memory tricks, occasionally pulls stunts like this that I can't read.
Yeah. Back in the old game days… feeding her was probably routine.
But not now. Absolutely not.
"Sorry. Can't do it. Embarrassing if the other kids see."
-Scrape
Seo Seon-ha stands up from her chair.
"I'll clear everyone out."
"Sit. Sit down. Please don't."
"……Those lowly things. Should I just wipe them all out of this country…"
"What'd you just mutter turning your head?"
"Nothing. Feed me. Ah~"
…
It looks ridiculously out of place on her, but she throws tantrums like this sometimes. For someone who knows her low-favorability side, it's hard to get used to…
Tantrum… There was that incident last winter too.
Seo Seon-ha shoving her favorite candy at me.
-Why aren't you feeding me all of a sudden? Isn't putting candy in Seon-ha's mouth the joy of your life, Yeon-woo?
…Five years of that crap, so yeah, I earned being seen as a psycho.
-Just eat your candy yourself from now on.
I thought that'd end it. Until she spent four days chasing me around with her mouth open—A~ at school, A~ after dismissal, A~ outside my bedroom window, A~ when I groggily opened the toilet lid at dawn… The last one was a nightmare. 'Anyway.' No point dragging it out; she won't fold. She'll probably keep her mouth open until I give in this time too.
"Ah~" Like that.
Day one. How much progress has Seo Seon-ha made on me today?
Gave up the seat next to me, ruined the teacher heroine.
'Gotta salvage at least a little.'
If favorability can go up, it can go down too.
Just do something she hates.
I know exactly what, after grinding for five years.
-Grab
I seize a cream bun. Thick cream smeared on the split.
I shove it right into the corner of Seo Seon-ha's waiting mouth. Yield to the skin.
"……" "Hand slipped."
Of course it didn't.
Seo Seon-ha opens her closed eyes. Expressionless.
Well? What now?
Three things Seo Seon-ha hates.
Dirtiness. Contact with others. Pranks from others.
I combined all three.
Hate it even a little? Just a crack in that mountain of favorability…
-Smile
"……Yeon-woo, you're so mean."
Yeah. No way it'd work…
If this could dent it, I'd have dropped my pants in front of her ages ago.
Normally, it won't budge. The favorability I built and reinforced over five years for an easy game is rock-solid.
Tearing it down is like demolishing a bridge with a rubber mallet.
…
No… If I do something utterly trashy, unforgivable, it might make a meaningful minus.
But that's social suicide. Ruins relations with other heroines permanently—totally counterproductive.
"Wipe it off." "Huh?"
Seo Seon-ha's sluggish lips curl up.
"This."
She points to the corner of her mouth with her fingertip. The cream spot.
"You did it, Yeon-woo, so you wipe it."
"…!!!"
No way—a counterattack here!?
Attacking during a truce!?
Ah, I struck first.
"…Uh, y'know, other kids might see… Wiping's a bit much."
I recycle the excuse from earlier as emergency triage.
"Do that, then."
"Huh?"
"You don't have to wipe. But."
Seo Seon-ha props her chin on her hand, touching the opposite cheek with cream.
-Grin
"Seon-ha won't wipe either."
"…"
"Seon-ha won't wipe either." Her words ping-ponged through my brain. Then I got what it implied.
'…Cunning bitch.'
If I don't wipe it here.
She'll live with that cream on her cheek forever.
She'll ask everyone she meets from now on.
Some clown asks who did it.
-Yeon-woo.
That's how she'll answer.
Who else but a boyfriend leaves cream on the lips? The questioner will assume we're a couple on their own.
…
Truth is, I don't care if strangers misunderstand us.
But who'll be the first person that Seo Seon-ha—with cream on her cheek—goes to?
-Y-Yeon-woo did that? So they're dating… I must've been wrong…
-Uh… That Yeon-woo? From class 1-3?
-Ehh, Yeon-woo… I thought he liked me…
Main heroines' parade confirmed.
"I'll wipe it."
"Okay."
"Wait, just a sec… Need to prepare."
"Take your time. We've got plenty."
This is why I don't mess with her usually… Is she hyped 'cause it's the new semester? Pulling this retarded self-destruct.
'Screwed.'
Wiping sauce from the corner of her mouth.
I remember this boosts favorability decently.
Way more than picking up an eraser, at least.
'…'
Gulp…
Seo Seon-ha's favorability: nine and a half hearts.
Seo Seon-ha's favorability: nine and a half hearts.
One step before the final ten hearts to reach her ending.
Problem is, I don't know exactly where between 9.5 and 10 it sits—that fine-grained number.
If it goes up this time, I might hold. But if not?
If it hits 10?
Game over.
Seo Seon-ha ending.
Fake ending.
Cold sweat trickled down my cheek in waves…
Waiting Seo Seon-ha was already flipping through a wedding catalog with a rustle. Why does she even have that?
…
'Should I risk it?'
Hope it doesn't hit 10?
Blow one more time into a balloon bloated to its limit and pray it doesn't pop?
Leave it to chance?
"Seon-ha."
"Yes. I'm ready."
She sticks out her cheek.
…
"Close your eyes."
"Pardon?"
She blinks and tilts her head.
"I'll wipe it. But close your eyes."
"Why?"
"It's embarrassing."
…
"For real. Wiping your cheek… it makes me nervous."
"Ah…!"
A bit of suspicion fades from her.
"……You'll really do it properly?"
"Don't you trust me?" I asked with a rare serious face.
…
-Nod
"I trust you."
Seo Seon-ha closes her eyes.
…
I turn my head.
Toward the girl who'd been lurking at the back of the classroom, peeking this way. I flash her a hand signal.
She points at herself upside-down, mouthing Me?
'Yes, you!!!! Save me! Please!! Just once!!! I'll do anything!!! I'll lick your shoes later!!!'
Luckily, she got the signal and approached.
She took the handkerchief from me, wiped Seo Seon-ha's cheek, and handed it back.
…
Her closed eyes slowly half-open.
Her pale fingertip lingers where the cream was.
"Thank you."
"No prob."
"No lies?"
"Nope."
"Just this once."