Omniscient Victim's Perspective (1)
We walked with the sunset at our backs.
"Now we're high schoolers too."
"Yeah."
I glanced to the side.
Her eyes, fixed hazily on the sky while avoiding only me.
-Thud thud -Click clack
The day had only a few steps left.
Two long shadows stretched across the road.
The small shadow let go of the hand she'd been holding since the café.
Three steps. Two steps. One step.
The usual intersection where we parted.
"Today was fun."
"Uh."
"Today was fun."
"Yeah."
"…"
"I had fun too."
"Hehe."
Cute.
"I'm going."
…
I wish this road were longer.
"Text me later."
Her footsteps fading away from me looked so relieved.
As if she'd finally set down the giant she'd been carrying on her back.
He, who had been growing faint, suddenly turned back to look at me, who had faded away.
"Ah…"
Unknowingly, the heel of my shoe lifted slightly. I raised my arm again. The large shadow vanished in an instant.
"You've arrived."
"Cat hair on that outfit. Throw it out."
"Understood."
Click, click. Her shirt buttons came undone one by one.
"Why is Ban Gyu-ri in class 5? Didn't I tell you to slot her into 6, 7, or 8?"
"I'm sorry. I thought class 5 was on a different floor."
"The textbook distribution sign-up sheet was sloppy too. Why do I need an expert who can't fool ordinary people?"
"I'm sorry. I overlooked how much sharper her instincts have gotten since last year."
"You know Lee Yeon-woo's blood sugar came back high on the recent health check?"
"It was just a bit above average—not anything to worry ab—"
"…"
She bowed her head deeply as she took the skirt after the shirt.
"I'll swap out every drink on campus to zero-sugar immediately. For the canteen pastries, we'll keep purchases impossible by lining up outsiders like today."
"Tend to the delivery apps he favors too. Acquire any shop that won't compromise on ingredients. Check the vegetable aisle quality at the mart where Yeon-woo's mom works, on the regular."
"Yes. The highland farming's progressing smoothly. Spots for the vinyl greenhouses are…"
I brushed past her as she scribbled in her notepad.
The long corridor filled with the echo of a single set of footsteps.
Washed up and opened the door.
A vast, dark room—bed and desk. Nothing else but paper.
Papers crunched underfoot with every step.
"…This one and… this one…"
I picked a few off the floor, peeled a few from the walls, and sat at the desk to revise them.
Slightly updated intel as of today. All about one person.
Then I flipped open a notebook.
I preferred ones soft enough to mold to my brain.
Replayed the tasks and variables I'd scheduled around tomorrow's routine.
"Smile here, play dumb appropriately there, step on this one…"
-Snap
The mechanical pencil lead broke.
A shard of the snapped lead bounced into the box on the desk.
"…"
I rose from the chair. A breeze sent a few floor papers fluttering.
Opened the bottom drawer of the desk and pulled out a key.
-Click
Inserted the key and turned. The box lid popped open.
A zinc-alloy ring lay inside.
Cheap thing. Stains easily, rusts in no time.
Cleaned my hands and slipped it on after ages.
On my ring finger.
I couldn't remember anything too far back.
At fourteen, I'd decided my non-existent past was simply that.
Just forgotten the footprints I'd left behind. Plenty of reason for a moderately depressing life.
Unless a person named Seo Seon-ha had popped into existence one day—that would've made logical sense.
Name: Seo Seon-ha. Role: Sub-Heroine. School: Ium Middle School. Grade: 1st year. Conquest Difficulty: —
[Character Description]
A woman who always pretends to be perfect, like an ice block. From birth, she's been on the 'haves' side for wealth, grades, background—everything. Her decisions allow no reversals. Others' opinions aren't even reference material.
The optimism of a suddenly created human didn't last long.
A document on the monitor neatly defined my existence.
If I hadn't clicked into that "developer log" folder amid the servants' performance evals, I'd never have found it.
-Click -Click
Girls from the same middle school had been assigned roles like main heroine or sub-heroine.
I spent days holed up in my room after. Opened and closed that folder thousands of times before reaching a conclusion.
Inside a game. This place.
Realizing it untangled all the mysteries.
Expected relief—instead, my head went ice-cold.
This world was fake.
I was a doll shaped for the user's whims, a canary in a cage.
Slightly better than a canary: no wings.
-Swoosh…
"……"
I stood with half my foot on the windowsill.
Looked down.
The monitor that fell first lay shattered across the first-floor garden. Its only crime: showing me the truth.
"…"
What if I died? What if Seo Seon-ha died?
…
I stepped down from the sill. Didn't die. Reversed my decision.
[Her decisions allow no reversals.]
Hated becoming a human boiled down to a few pathetic lines of settings more than death itself.
"Hey!"
A male student I'd never met grabbed me in the hall. Held out candy.
"You're Seo Seon-ha, right? I'm…"
Male students' attention. Nothing new, but it felt different now.
2nd year class 3, seat 16.
Anyone approaching me like this was almost always from the same class, same number.
Sometimes scrawny, sometimes chubby, sometimes wide-eyed with curiosity—they'd all confessed under that number.
"Would you mind stepping aside? You're in the way."
A few rejections and they'd leave.
Even the clingy ones didn't last hours.
Then I'd track down the so-called main heroines from the files and pull the same stunt on them.
Bestowed favors, basked in gratitude.
Did whatever, then vanished one day.
Utterly repulsive behavior. Not even human.
'…'
What am I even saying.
To the world's one true human.
'Whatever.'
Knew the world's truth now, but ironically, no need to tweak my behavior.
Kept on as before, and the people chasing me dwindled steadily. Lived like a passable fool in this fool-filled fool of a world.
Fortunate or not.
Time, at least, flowed straight.
One day I pulled up that document on my laptop again. Two years later.
Name: Seo Seon-ha. Role: Sub-Heroine. Position: Student Council President, Ium Middle School. Age: 16. Grade: 3rd year. Conquest Difficulty: Nearly Impossible.
[Character Description]
A woman who always pretends to be perfect, like an ice block. Wealth, grades, background—from birth on the 'haves' side, she's never learned to care for others. Doesn't treat people as people. Keeps what's useful, discards the rest. Her decisions allow no reversals. Others' opinions aren't even refe—
Besides student council president and the 3rd-year age update, more changes.
[Doesn't treat people as people.]
No people here—how am I supposed to treat people as people?
Another change.
"Conquest difficulty… nearly impossible?"
Apparently, I'd become that kind of woman over these two years.
"Could've just said impossible."
No plans to play along forever with fools whose heads were full of seducing women.
Even if Seo Seon-ha had been born purely to amuse some user that way.
-Thud
Snapped the laptop shut. A guy was sitting there.
"This is the student council room. Why barge in without permission?"
"Hello. This…"
Long time no see. Visitors had been rare lately—enough to wonder if the game's distribution had halted.
Messy black hair, fierce vibe, eyes worn ragged with exhaustion.
A stranger, but I knew him.
Last year: 2nd year class 3, seat 16.
This year: 3rd year class 3, seat 16.
"Would you mind stepping aside? You're in the way?"
"Yep."
His nameplate read Lee Yeon-woo. This fool's name.
"Why are you doing this to me!? For real!?"
"Huh?"
Wrong one. Big time wrong.
First couple days, he just seemed like a guy with nothing better to do. By the end of the week, I pegged him as an oddball.
Below is an excerpt of that guy's bizarre antics over the past few months.
He tailed me every time I showed up.
I shook him off by sprinting—track team experience—and he muttered, "Gotta raise my agility," then started maniacal morning track sessions until he matched my pace.
Bribed half his class to snag the bus seat next to me on the training camp trip. Didn't clock it until he was handing out roasted sweet potatoes at the rest stop.
When I flat-out said no way I'd hold his hand, he dangled himself from a third-floor window.
-You're insane?! -Seon-ha…! If you don't grab this hand, I'll fall to my death!!! Wait, die? Fall?
Unlike past #16s who never stirred at night, this one was active round the clock. Some weird "save point" base camp pitched right outside the mansion… Does he not sleep?
Caught whiff of pansy scent on the walk home, busted for liking them. Now he pelts me with pansies every encounter—torment. Nearly spilled about my non-existent goons. Student council room soon overflowed with them.
"Ah…!"
I ruffled my hair in a frenzy. Pansies showered down.
Patched a tiny spark of delight from the nonsense—made me hate how game-character it felt, irritation surging.
Back home.
-Creak
Opened the door. Room stuffed with pansies.
"Told you to toss them all!"
I snapped at Yu-ri, who took my uniform.
"Did toss them, but Yeon-woo oppa showed up and refilled."
"What?! How'd he even get in…? Guards asleep?"
"Guards got chummy with Yeon-woo oppa, let him through."
"That's not allowed! Why are guards buddying up with Yeon-woo opp—hold on, did you say 'oppa'?"
"Ah, sorry. Slipped out."
"Hey!!! You got chummy too!?"
Infiltrated my inner circle, burrowing deeper into my life.
"Miss, curtains?"
"Why."
"Pity the sunniest room in the mansion's slacking on its job."
"Whatever."
-Swish
Curtains parted. Pansies gleamed an electric blue. Hated it.
"Miss."
"What."
"How about getting friendly with Yeon-woo oppa—no, Yeon-woo-ssi."
"Why."
She scanned my face. "Why the smile?" "Nothing." She pressed on.
"Just seems like a good guy."
"Don't call home-invaders 'good guys.'"
"Means he likes you that much."
…
"Yu-ri. Bet?"
"What kind?"
"That guy gives up within a month or not."
"…Miss, you're dead set?"
"Yeah."
"Bet he quits, then."
"I'll bet he quits."
"You win, then. He's quitting anyway."