Chapter 5: Affection Level 29
The day after I cleared Si-hyeon’s first event, I headed to school with my heart hammering in my chest.
Favorability at 29…
From this point on, she and I were no longer just student and teacher.
Si-hyeon hadn’t noticed yet, of course…
Is it even possible to clear every one of her events without her hitting Stage 3—the point where she consciously realizes she’s in love?
I thought about it for a second.
…Yeah, no chance.
From everything I’d seen, Si-hyeon had never once fallen for anyone of the opposite sex while growing up. That meant I would be her first love.
And what is a first love, exactly?
It’s that vigorous little something that makes your heart pound at the mere brush of a breeze.
Which was why simply lending her the counseling room had jacked her Favorability up by eighteen points.
Anyway, to sum it up:
“Outside of the actual events, I need to keep contact to an absolute minimum.”
That’s how love works, right?
Distance the body, and the heart follows.
If I never got tangled up with Si-hyeon, her Favorability might even drop.
After all, this place wasn’t a game—it was reality.
“All right! Let’s do this!”
Strategy set, I shoved the fear aside for the moment.
I can do it! If it’s me!
I ended up leaving a little early…
For some reason, Si-hyeon’s eyes had opened earlier than usual that morning. She had no idea why. She’d gone to bed at roughly the same time as always, yet here she was, out the door ahead of schedule and already on her way to school.
There’s almost nobody around.
Walking through the quiet morning streets, that strangely empty scenery, she found herself replaying the events of the day before.
The brand-new fourteen-inch ultra tablet that had appeared in the counseling room.
It was incredible. Maybe because the pen was made by a company that actually manufactures LCD tablets?
In the end she hadn’t even read any manga yesterday—she’d spent a full hour just drawing. No regrets, though. That hour had been pure joy.
And only now did Si-hyeon truly understand how much she loved to draw.
…Maybe I should try drawing manga as a hobby…?
The thought that had always felt impossible suddenly seemed within reach: creating a comic of her own. Until now, even reading manga had been difficult. But now she had a free space—a place where no one would interfere no matter what she did.
“Mmm… the story…”
She had only ever been a reader. Coming up with a story herself was completely new territory. Where did you even start? Genre? Characters? World-building?
“It’s harder than I thought…”
She was beginning to grasp, if only faintly, the struggles that creators faced—struggles she’d never noticed while simply reading.
And so, alone in the empty classroom, Si-hyeon kept turning the idea of her future manga over and over in her mind until her friends arrived.
“Si-hyeon, hi~!”
“Hi…”
“Ah, Bom, Gyeoul—morning.”
“You’re early today?”
“Yeah, just kind of happened.”
“…Amazing… I still want to sleep more.”
“That’s because you stayed up late last night…! Si-hyeon, do you know what she was doing last night? Yesterday she—”
And then:
“All right~, everyone take your seats, take your seats. Good morning~.”
“Ah…”
Their homeroom teacher walked into the classroom. At once the noisy class settled into their seats and morning assembly began.
Teacher looks tired.
From the moment he entered, Si-hyeon found herself staring only at him. Until that morning she had been fretting over the manga she wanted to draw as a hobby. Just a moment ago her head had been full of chatter with her friends. Now, strangely, she could only gaze at the teacher and think about him in a daze.
That was when Bom, sitting beside her, suddenly whispered:
“Doesn’t Teacher seem single?”
Gyeoul, who had overheard from right behind them, answered at once.
“…He looks like he lives alone.”
“Right? He should take a little better care of himself.”
“Uh, uh-huh?”
“He’s still pretty young, but he just walks around so casually. Seon-woo-ssaem in second year always looks so put-together. Ahh~, I wish our class had a cool teacher like that for homeroom~.”
“Eye candy… nice…”
“…….”
Ordinary high-school-girl gossip. At that age it was a common topic—who dressed well, who didn’t, who was popular, who wasn’t. Si-hyeon usually found those conversations pretty interesting. On a normal day she might have timidly agreed and giggled along with them.
But.
“…Isn’t Teacher… kind of handsome, though?”
Compared to what the other two were saying, the teacher looked plenty warm and attractive to Si-hyeon’s eyes.
“……Huh? …For real?”
“…Whoa.”
“Uh…?”
Seeing the two of them startle and look flustered at her words only made Si-hyeon more flustered herself.
“W-well, he’s tall, too.”
“Just a little above average.”
“And his face is at least…”
“…Si-hyeon… your standards are low.”
“I think you twins are the ones with high standards…”
“Ehh~, he’s just average?”
“You three over there—full of energy first thing in the morning. How about putting that energy to use cleaning the bathrooms?”
“Eek…!”
“…….”
“…….”
The teacher’s warning put an end to the three girls’ chatter.
“…….”
Yet Si-hyeon still turned the conversation over in her mind, wearing a faintly sulky expression.
No… just now he even looked pretty commanding…
Were her eyes really that low? For some reason it felt unfair. Still, she told herself not to dwell on it. Everyone’s tastes were different.
Honestly? Those twins had the niche taste, and hers was the mainstream one. That was the conclusion Si-hyeon settled on.
And right then—
“Ah…!”
A perfect idea flashed through her mind.
I’ll make him the protagonist…! The teacher!
It was the very thing she had been wrestling with all morning: the story for the light hobby manga she wanted to draw. In that instant she decided the main character would be based on her teacher.
Then the setting can be a school… a girls’ high school full of worries… hehe, once one thing’s decided, the rest is easy!
The moment the story started flowing, her mood lifted at once. Her heart was already pounding with the urge to start drawing chapter one. She realized all over again just how serious she was about manga.
The protagonist’s personality and design…
While roughly sketching out the framework of the comic during morning assembly, Si-hyeon found herself staring blankly at the teacher standing at the podium as she fleshed out the main character.
“…….”
“…—Anyway, midterms are coming up soon. Start studying so you can get good grades.”
“My god! Teacher! What happened to the freedom you talked about on the first day!”
“Chris, freedom only becomes true freedom when it exists inside responsibility. Let’s at least carry the minimum amount of responsibility, shall we?”
“Holy moly!”
In school stories the protagonist was usually ordinary except for one quirky trait. That rule still applied even if the protagonist was a teacher. Of course there were works where the main character was a blond delinquent teacher… but those leaned heavily into comedy.
The genre Si-hyeon wanted to try was a school youth romance. In that case…
“…….”
Wouldn’t her own homeroom teacher fit rather well?
“Teacher!”
“Hm? Oh—uh, Si-hyeon?”
“…Why do you look so startled?”
“Uh, no reason. …More importantly, what is it?”
The second morning assembly ended, Si-hyeon hurried straight over to him. Making a request like this was a little embarrassing… but Teacher was kind. Surely a small favor like this would be all right?
“Um… I need a little help from you, Teacher…”
“Uh?”
Strictly speaking she didn’t need to talk to her homeroom teacher just to design a protagonist. But Si-hyeon wanted to talk to him anyway. Come to think of it, ever since he’d lent her the counseling room they hadn’t really had a proper conversation.
“Thank you, Teacher. …You’re not too busy, are you?”
“Uh, no. It’s after school anyway.”
“That’s a relief.”
Keep contact with Si-hyeon to the absolute minimum. That had been my strategy.
I’m sorry… it’s… a request related to my hobby…
Of course she had to come at me with a topic I couldn’t ignore.
I can’t just brush this off…
The hobby was manga, naturally. And manga was the central axis of Si-hyeon’s events. Any worries she had about it could easily affect the events still to come. Ignoring a conversation like that? Who knew what kind of butterfly effect it might trigger later. After all, this wasn’t a game—it was reality.
So I had no choice but to meet her in the counseling room exactly as she asked. The seating was the reverse of the last time we had sat across from each other: Si-hyeon in the counselor’s chair, me in the visitor’s seat.
“So… are you enjoying the manga?”
“Yes, thanks to you, Teacher… I’m really grateful. …Ah! And this tablet, too!”
Si-hyeon’s cheeks flushed pink as she held up the tablet for me to see.
Good—no change in Favorability.
I needed to get through this without anything happening. She had said she wanted advice about the manga she planned to draw as a hobby. I’d already confirmed with the mirror that she wanted to start drawing, so…
“So? What can I help you with?”
“Ah, it’s nothing big. …I just wanted to ask you a few questions.”
“Questions?”
“Yes… hehe, I need them for designing the characters in the manga.”
“Ahh, that kind of thing?”
If that was all, it shouldn’t be a big deal. Finish quickly and get back to working out. I let my guard down completely.
Then Si-hyeon asked:
“What’s your ideal type…?”
“Pffft…!!”
This… is still character design research, right…?
“S-sorry…! It’s for reference for the heroine!”
“Ah, ahh, r-right, of course.”
…Si-hyeon claimed it was for the heroine, but whether the info was for the protagonist or the heroine made no difference. It was still a question about ideal types.
Her Favorability was currently 29. She must have asked something like that unconsciously. Hmm, the feeling wasn’t entirely unpleasant…
…At the same time, I felt a strange sense of mortal danger.
And right then—
Ding!
Oh no…!
« Teacher… you like girls like our Si-hyeon, don’t you? »
« Anyone over thirteen is basically an ajumma, I think. »
« I guess I prefer someone mature. »
« My ideal type is a diligent, responsible kid. »
« Pretty face, big chest, and money. »
They’re here…! The choices…!!
The scenery around me froze, and several options floated into view. Apparently the system had decided Si-hyeon’s question was an important event-related problem.
What the hell is wrong with these choices…!!
A couple of them looked like pure bombs. Pick those and Respect would plummet. Respect played a vital role in this game. The higher it was, the more seriously students took my words; the lower it was, the more they completely ignored me. Roughly the same feeling as getting dating advice from a pot-bellied, balding ugly middle-aged guy.
So the only safe options are the two harmless-looking ones…
But there was a problem. Odds were high that one of those two was a Favorability-boosting choice.
Which one…? Which of the two…
I studied the options carefully, weighing and re-weighing them. Which one would let me get through this without touching Si-hyeon’s Favorability?
And my choice was…
This oneee!
Ding!
« I guess I prefer someone mature. »
Time began to move again.
“Hmm… someone mature, I suppose?”
“Yes…?”
“Haha, ever since I was young, mature people have always made my heart race~.”
How’s that!!
That’s the correct answer, right? Right?
Hurry up and give me a no-reaction Favorability response!!
I had two reasons for picking this option.
One: « My ideal type is a diligent, responsible kid. »… that was obviously Si-hyeon. She was the textbook definition of diligent and responsible. If I described an ideal type that overlapped with her, she would definitely go—
A-arett… th-that ideal type is… watashi…?
—and Favorability would shoot up for sure!
Reason two: no matter how you sliced it, “someone mature” made you think of an older woman. Which meant—
Huh? I’m younger… so it’s not me…
—that was the direction it should flow!
How’s that!
That’s the right answer, right?
“Someone mature…”
Ding!
Student No. 31 Hong Si-hyeon’s Favorability has risen by 5.
“Pffft…!!”
“Ah, Teacher?!”
Why…?
You’re not an older woman…
Si-hyeon’s Favorability… 34.
Only six points left until Stage 3 at 40.