Don't Pretend to Be Close
“Don’t pretend to be close. She’s a good kid!”
Did Su-a really show me that text just to provoke me? I stared at the text asking if I had time during lunch—the “obvious reason”—and flashed a bright, casual smile. I could tell just by looking at Su-a’s innocent eyes. She didn’t mean anything by it; she just showed it to me because I was bouncing on my heels next to her. It wouldn’t be very adult of me to pout just because I felt a little jealous in such a trivial situation. We’re friends now, but I’m two years older than her, after all. Hmm, hmm. Besides, jealousy? I realized it a bit late, but that’s a ridiculous feeling, too. I’ve already forgotten about someone like Seo Woojin long ago. Of course, I occasionally masturbate while looking at the photos I saved in my gallery, but that’s just… it’s not that I haven’t forgotten him, it’s just that I treat him as material to get me off. Someday, I’ll meet a guy who’s even more of a jerk than him, treats women poorly, and, anyway, has a huge dick. I’ll make him regret letting go of a girl as pretty and devoted as me!
“…….”
…But, um. How should I put this? Would it be better to just tuck my tail between my legs and beg Seo Woojin for forgiveness? Should I ask him to hold me the way I like, even if it’s just occasionally, since I’ll stop lying and be honest about my desires from now on? Rather than desperately searching for a man who meets all my criteria, maybe I should just grovel at the feet of the already-proven Seo Woojin….
As I shook my head to clear the options that had been bothering me more frequently lately, Su-a’s golden eyes turned toward me.
“What are you doing?”
“Oh, a bug landed on me!”
“A bug?”
“Yeah! A really ugly one!”
“Ugly…?”
The name of the bug was none other than that bad guy. So, before Su-a could ask again what it was, I quickly changed the subject.
“Right. So, what are you going to do at lunch?”
“…? I have to eat…?”
“No, no. Seo Woojin just asked if you were free, didn’t he? On KakaoTalk.”
“……Ah.”
As I brought the conversation back to the topic that had briefly veered off course, Su-a’s expression began to change by the second. She, who only ever wore a stiff, uncomfortable expression in front of other boys, was acting like a total girl right now. A girl. Her cheeks were flushed red, and the corners of her mouth were twitching every now and then…. Sigh. Even middle schoolers and high schoolers wouldn’t make such an innocent face. I don’t know for sure, but it seems the influence of her long-time hobby, romance manga, is quite strong. She’s seen everything from me giving him a thorough blowjob at the start to us having sex like I’m being rammed by an onahole. Anyone would think this was some kind of childhood friend romance.
I swallowed my honest thoughts and poked the side of Su-a’s foot.
“He said to meet up later, so why don’t you just eat lunch with him too?”
“W-well…. I don’t know about that…. If people see us together, the teacher might be in trouble because of unnecessary rumors…”
“Then should I come with you? It’s at least better if there are three of us, right?”
“……Hmm….”
But Su-a’s answer was ambiguous. If I had to define it, it was closer to “I don’t want to.” Seeing as she was groaning uncomfortably rather than looking like she was genuinely conflicted, it was clear. Two is embarrassing. Three is unwanted. Then what on earth does she want? Should I call over Baek Seoyeon, whom I saw for a second, and have the four of us eat? They could just go to a secluded place like the emergency exit stairs and enjoy themselves in secret, so why is she being so difficult….
I looked at Su-a and sighed, lightly hugging her arm.
“Then should we just ditch Seo Woojin and eat together like usual? Nice and cozy? Oh, was it ‘cozy and nice’?”
“……That’s also a bit….”
Then what the hell do you want? Just act like yourself, you know? Like, “I’m going to go get fucked.” Does it hurt to say that? I’m so frustrated I could die. Should I just go ahead and ruin her meeting with Seo Woojin? Since it’s annoying that I was misunderstood and our relationship was cut off, maybe I should just ruin their relationship for real, even if it’s late….
It was while I was having these wicked thoughts, kneading and playing with the arm of the indecisive Su-a. Over there, near where the unremarkable teacher was, a small conversation reached my ears.
Surprisingly, it was a voice I didn’t recognize. I definitely knew the teacher with the light tone, but the student was a mystery. I know most of the students, even those not in Class A, with a few exceptions…. My head naturally turned toward the entrance of the training hall where the voice had come from.
What I saw there was a girl with pure white, medium-length hair that reached her shoulders. Seeing her hair, I remembered. She was definitely the kid who slept sprawled out at the desk behind me every single day. A little less so lately. Her name is Jiyoon, right… but was her surname Lee? Or Park? There are so many people with the same surname in the same class in Korea that it’s confusing…. Anyway, that girl named Jiyoon suddenly complained of wrist pain and walked slowly out of the training hall.
Thinking about it, it was strange. She’s definitely in the magic department, and she mainly deals with ice, not heavy weapons, so why would her wrist hurt? There’s no way she got hurt during training. I’ve heard several times that she’s as strong in the magic department as Su-a is in the mutant type. I’ve actually seen it from the side, too. And it’s strange to think it hurts from overuse. Su-a, who handles a sword, or me, a martial artist, would be worse off if that were the case. Every time I see her, the training ends just by her filling the opponent’s surroundings with icy blue ice. Even when we were given individual assignments, unlike the other kids who were racking their brains, she just froze everything around her and finished it.
…And in that situation, her wrist? She doesn’t even move much, does she? Wouldn’t it be more natural to say she sprained her ankle while walking?
“……Hmm.”
Come to think of it, she slipped out with a similar vibe during class last time, too….
…. …Wait a minute.
A girl strong enough that she doesn’t need to visit the infirmary. A girl pretty enough that it would be fine to annotate her as “equal to or less than me.” And just a total pervert, Seo Woojin. As I continued my deduction, I inserted Seo Woojin into the equation, and only then did I let out a small gasp and finish my thought.
“…….”
…Her. Is there any way to use her?
As I started a new line of thought.
To conclude, my attempt to find a groundbreaking way to use Lee Jiyoon (I heard about her from several other friends and, unexpectedly, from Su-a, who knew her name) ended in failure. Along with that, I also failed to figure out the exact relationship between her and Seo Woojin. I could have followed her to the infirmary a beat late and eavesdropped, but what if I ruined their good time? I’d just be adding to my already bad reputation for no reason. In the past, I would have liked it the more my bad reputation piled up, but it was hard to do that now. If I said to Seo Woojin, “Are you turned on? Are you turned on? Don’t you want to rape me?” and he actually got turned on and dumped me, how could I like that? Now is the time when I need a good image. One that makes him want to pick me up. One that makes him want to grab me with all his desire. A good image to make him do that.
N-not that I’m clinging to Seo Woojin, of course. Maybe “insurance” is the right word. I’m just making a big concession. If there had been a decent male around, Seo Woojin would have been…
…. …Anyway. I hadn’t figured out a plan to use Lee Jiyoon, nor what kind of relationship she had with Seo Woojin, but there was no need to worry too much about that. Because ever since she entered the academy, she’d just sleep sprawled out on her desk whenever she could. She did it during class, and during breaks. And it was the same now, as lunch was almost over. If I wanted to, I could get close to Lee Jiyoon at any time. Even if the other party didn’t want to.
“…….”
“…….”
As lunch was ending. I was sitting backward on my chair, resting my chin in my hand, and flashed a bright smile as I met the dark green eyes looking at me crookedly. It was unpleasant because a boy who was chatting with his friend slightly behind Lee Jiyoon was looking at me, but I tried my best not to show it. Brightly, brightly.
“……Why do you keep looking? Is it some kind of punishment game?”
“Just because!”
“…….”
Did she dislike my bold answer? Or was she just annoyed that her personal time was being interrupted? Lee Jiyoon’s pretty brow furrowed slightly. By the way, to think she’d consider this a punishment game. Contrary to her appearance, she might lack confidence in her looks or communication skills. Setting aside the fact that she might have social anxiety like in some manga I saw because of Su-a…, looking at her now, her makeup is very light… or rather, is it non-existent? And yet, to be this pretty… Hmm…. So this is why Seo Woojin had his eye on her. No friends, no confidence in her looks, yet pretty and has big breasts. To call her the “loser girl” that men cry out for… she’s a bit closer to the ill-tempered gyaru vibe like Su-a, though. I can give her 90 points just for the fact that she has a slight vibe of Su-a, who is already a sex partner, on her face.
…Seo Woojin, I guess that’s his type. Not that I’m the cute type either. Hmm.
“You have a friend sitting next to you. Go play with her.”
“Su-a has work to do right now~”
“Work?”
“Yeah. Should I call it a love affair…? Oh, is it a secret from the others?”
“……Ha.”
Does she approve of my face too? With that thought, I answered Lee Jiyoon and chewed on the small potato chips I’d bought for dessert. Su-a is in that kind of relationship with Seo Woojin just like you, you know. She’s probably doing it somewhere right now, too. I wonder if Lee Jiyoon knows. Or does she have no idea, just like I hadn’t noticed the relationship between Lee Jiyoon and Seo Woojin until now? Or maybe I’m completely wrong? Maybe her wrist really did hurt, or something like that?
As I continued to think about this and that, I started fiddling with my phone, which I’d placed on her desk. I wasn’t trying to do anything special, just checking the time. …And checking one other thing. While I was at it.
“Hey. Do it at your own desk. Don’t do it here.”
“Whyyy. It’s spacious, let’s use it together.”
“……You’re really annoying….”
It was intentional, of course. I didn’t have anything to talk about with Lee Jiyoon, so I had to form some kind of forced common ground, didn’t I? Just like how I started talking to Su-a about manga. That’s why I showed her an anime character wallpaper I’d prepared in advance, but unfortunately, she didn’t react at all. What a waste. I searched and picked the one she’d most likely know. Hmm. She’s always sleeping sprawled out on her desk, so I thought she might be an otaku, but I guess that’s not it either. …That was the only thing I’d prepared. This is a disaster. What do I do now? Normal kids get close after talking for a bit, but types like Lee Jiyoon or Su-a need a “trigger”…
“What’s so annoying? You can’t reach this far even when you’re sleeping sprawled out anyway.”
“It’s just annoying that you’re looking this way.”
“Annoying? That’s harsh. I’m doing this because I want to get close to you, Jiyoon.”
“Get close? With me? …Why?”
“Why would there be a reason to want to get close to someone…? That’s a bit cliché. Hmm-…. …Because you’re pretty?”
“Are you, like, into that? Because I’m pretty?”
“No, no. Why is the conversation flowing in that direction…!”
I examined Lee Jiyoon’s appearance while chatting lightly, but I couldn’t find any hints. Her clothes were just the academy uniform. I didn’t think she’d be interested in makeup talk. No accessories either. It was also awkward to casually bring up dating. She didn’t seem to have any intention of getting close to me right now. Just as I was about to try saying something else, Lee Jiyoon slumped over onto her desk as if she were too annoyed to deal with me.
…It can’t be helped. I’ll give up for today. I didn’t think we’d get close in just one day anyway. It’s okay. Instead, I’ll have to make her super annoyed starting tomorrow. Oh, of course, even if it turns out later that Lee Jiyoon doesn’t have much of a relationship with Seo Woojin. Then, well, I can just bring her to Seo Woojin as a gift, like Su-a.
Thinking about it, a lot had happened in just one hour. Baek Seoyeon had suddenly come to me and asked me to teach her how to masturbate. Lee Jiyoon had come at a bad time and left after only touching me, pretending to be a student who came for treatment among other students. On the bed where I taught Baek Seoyeon how to masturbate. On the bed right next to the one where I first had sex with Han Su-a. …While sitting comfortably. While receiving a cute blowjob from Han Su-a, who was kneeling on the floor in her gym clothes, looking like she was terrified of being caught.
“Huu….”
But that was it. It had been a while since I’d had time with Han Su-a, so I let out a sigh because all we’d done was a blowjob. …Fuck. If it weren’t for the fact that the number of students coming to the infirmary had increased because the mid-term evaluations were just around the corner, we would have had sex as usual. Come to think of it, I avoided a dangerous situation because we only did a blowjob. Of course, that wasn’t because I wanted to, but because I had no choice.
Everyone is working so hard to become a great hero, and just as Han Su-a was swallowing all my semen and hesitantly sticking out her tongue to show me, there was a knock at the door. How could we have had sex in that situation? We didn’t even have enough time to pray that we wouldn’t be caught and to ventilate the room. What if the timing had been a bit better? Such thoughts crossed my mind. Or maybe I should have found a place where people rarely go—that thought also intervened. It was probably because I was looking forward to training Han Su-a immediately after resolving the relationship between Lee Hayoon and Lee Jiyoon.
If it was going to be like this, should I have asked to meet after school when it was safe? I leaned back in my chair and picked up my phone, which was vibrating next to my laptop, to check the notification. As expected. There was a text. The sender was Han Su-a. It was a message that seemed fine at first glance, saying her heart was pounding because she almost got caught by a stranger. But it wasn’t like I was trying to exchange messages like this.
“…….”
But it wasn’t like a man could spend all day grumbling to himself. I decided to postpone my lover’s game with Han Su-a until after school, left a suitable reply, and stood up. I wanted to smoke to clear my complex thoughts, but I didn’t want to break the non-smoking streak I’d already started. Instead, I decided to eat something delicious for lunch. Well, since I’d decided to replace lunch with simple convenience store food today, it would be expensive gimbap at best.
The convenience store in the academy wasn’t too far from the main building. Actually, they said there were several places besides this one, but who knows. It’s not like I use the convenience store often. Since it was a topic I wasn’t interested in, I quickly erased it from my mind.
“Welcome!”
The facility was bigger and cleaner than I thought. Other than that, the impression that there were more students using the convenience store during lunch than I thought… was all.
There was a perfectly fine cafeteria right next door, and they could buy food outside the academy, so why were so many people eating here? I questioned the scene I didn’t quite understand and walked to where the gimbap seemed to be. And there.
“……Oh. Seo Woo…”
“…….”
By chance, I met a familiar face.
“Seoyeon-sunbae.”
“D-don’t call me sunbae. …It feels weird when you call me that…”
Baek Seoyeon. …Yozora’s friend who asked me to teach her how to masturbate a little while ago. No, maybe “lackey” is a more appropriate expression now.
“You say don’t call you that, but last time you clearly said not to use weird titles like ‘Ms. Baek Seoyeon’ in front of others and to call you something like sunbae—”
“T-that was then!”
“Then what should I call you now?”
“H-have you forgotten I’m the student council president!”
“Do you prefer that? I don’t really know the difference between student council president and sunbae. It’s just twice as long.”
“……Anyway, just do as I say.”
“Yeah, well…. Student Council President. Is that okay?”
“……Yes.”
At first, I wasn’t going to acknowledge her since we were both in an awkward relationship, but I spoke first because I noticed she recognized me too. What came back was Baek Seoyeon’s sudden outburst, heard amidst the noisy chatter of students. Well, maybe she was just surprised to meet me suddenly in a place like this. I understand. Because of Yozora’s request, or threat, she had talked about heat cycles and had her panties touched in front of me. That’s understandable. I changed the title to Student Council President as she wanted and picked up one of the gimbaps I saw in front of me.
“…….”
Come to think of it, looking at her appearance, she doesn’t look like the type to even glance at a place like this. Is she here because she missed lunch like me? Anyway, it’s an unexpected sight.
“What are you doing here?”
“A-and you…”
“I came to buy gimbap. I couldn’t eat lunch.”
“……I’m just here for coffee.”
“Coffee?”
“The line at the cafe was long, so I’m replacing it with a cafe mocha here. …I’ve never tried it before, though.”
“Aha.”
So she wasn’t missing lunch because she was digging around in a quiet place like a bathroom because she was in heat. I had high expectations because she was a Gumiho, but I nodded at her boring answer as expected. Just then, I spotted a cafe mocha cup next to her, so I reached out and handed her the coffee instead.
“Here. Cafe mocha.”
“……!”
“What are you doing? Take it.”
“……Um, wait a second…”
But Baek Seoyeon didn’t reach out, just staring intently at my hand instead of taking the coffee right away. Looking closely, it seemed like she was even slinking away backward. As if I’d handed her something disgusting instead of coffee. …That’s strange. I checked again, and it’s definitely a cafe mocha. Could it be a brand she dislikes… but didn’t she just say she’d never tried convenience store coffee?
I racked my brain for a moment, but quickly got annoyed and let out a frustrated sigh as I handed her the coffee.
“Take it quickly. Other students are piling up behind you.”
“…….”
Only then did Baek Seoyeon carefully take the coffee. It didn’t feel like she was just taking it, but rather… like she was determined to hold only the bottom of the cup no matter what happened. …She seems to be treating me like someone with a contagious disease. Does she hate touching me that much? Who knows. I said a brief goodbye and parted ways with Baek Seoyeon, then headed straight to the empty checkout counter.