A Crack in the Resolve
"Why don't you break up with him already?"
"..."
"With Kim Min-jun."
I'm really not the type to get easily intimidated, but this time was a bit of an exception.
I had only uttered those few words, but the expression that washed over Seo Ah-hyun's face was something else.
It's chilling...
I was almost worried I'd be dragged off to some dark corner and disposed of without anyone ever knowing. Of course, that was just a figure of speech, and I knew Ah-hyun wouldn't actually harm me. Still, the glare she was giving me right now was sharper than ever.
It was probably the fiercest look she'd ever given me.
We had never been on good terms to begin with. But a situation like this was rarer than one might think. That was mostly because I had never intentionally provoked her or crossed the line before... until today, when I finally set a precedent.
Should I throw a party to celebrate?
A smirk slipped past my lips at the absurd thought, which only made Ah-hyun's eyes narrow even further.
I knew exactly why she was reacting this way.
Actually, you'd have to be insane not to know.
Think about it. Even if we had a normal, reasonably friendly relationship, if I suddenly blurted out, "Hey, you should probably dump your boyfriend," the mood would instantly turn to shit. And since we were far from friendly, the current atmosphere was beyond salvageable.
But then again...
So what?
If I cared about that kind of thing, I wouldn't have brought it up in the first place. Ah-hyun just stood there, silently glaring at me as if she wanted to murder me. Her expression was murderous, yet she didn't seem particularly flustered. My words had clearly crossed a line, but since it was Han Taeyang saying them, it wasn't exactly out of character.
"You already know he doesn't love you. You've been dragged around by him for a whole year; there's no way you haven't realized it by now."
I continued, quite satisfied with how well I had played the role of a thorough delinquent over the past year. Ah-hyun's expression grew even colder, and the air between us froze completely. As I said, I didn't care. If anything, I openly sneered at her.
"I mean, sure, he probably has some affection for you. He wouldn't keep you around as his girlfriend if he didn't find you attractive at all. But still..."
"...Hey, you piece of shit."
As I opened my mouth to push her buttons further, Ah-hyun finally snapped. A curse slipped through her teeth, her face twisting into an expression far more savage and menacing than usual.
"This is your first and last warning. Open your mouth one more time, and I will kill you."
"..."
Sssss—
Ah-hyun was genuinely threatening me now, even channeling her mana. A fierce purple haze began to shimmer around her entire body. I stared back at her with emotionless eyes, my lips parting once more.
"You know it's true. That bastard Kim Min-jun only sees you as a substitute for Baek Seol-ah..."
BOOM!
That was the end of her verbal warnings. Ah-hyun immediately translated her intent into action. Her fist flew forward at a speed that would have been impossible to track with the naked eye without using mana, brushing past my cheek by a mere centimeter.
Her tiny fist boasted a destructive power that completely defied its size. With a sharp, spine-chilling crack of breaking air, her punch cleanly shattered the wall right behind me.
Crumble, drip...
I could only pity the school wall, which now had a hole the size of a teenage girl's fist punched straight through it. I wore a look of mock sympathy as I glanced back and forth between the wall and Ah-hyun.
It was definitely a violent reaction, but... well. Even after everything I'd said, her punch was merely a warning that grazed my cheek.
She hasn't changed a bit.
It was both pitiful and tragic. There was a reason why I, someone who had always been wary of getting too close to the heroines, found myself paying special attention to Seo Ah-hyun. The others... like Baek Seol-ah or Ryu Chae-eun, could at least take care of themselves. But Ah-hyun couldn't. She was incapable of it because, deep down, she was incredibly timid.
People might ask how on earth she could be considered timid after the way she'd acted in front of me. But I could say with absolute certainty that this girl, whose eyes were trembling slightly right now, was the most timid girl in the entire academy. Even though she knew exactly how her boyfriend viewed her and treated her, she couldn't bring herself to let go of her affection. She lacked the courage to leave, so she desperately clung to him.
She's basically a battered wife...
She was a pathetic girl who always made me look at her with pity, whether I wanted to or not. Just look at her now. The helpless trembling in her eyes was enough to bring tears to my own.
Because of her punch, the distance between us had shrunk significantly. We were close enough that she could easily use physical force on me again, whether with her fists or her feet. Yet, Ah-hyun just stood there, as if maintaining this distance was the absolute limit of what she could do.
"Obviously," I continued, shrugging my shoulders at the flinching Ah-hyun, "I don't intend to force or coerce you. Command rights or whatever, honestly, that would be overstepping. It's just a bet from a ranking match, after all."
Did I really expect to make her break up with Kim Min-jun using a minor privilege like a ranking match bet? I had never harbored such naive thoughts. My goal was simply to deliver a shock to her system, and if possible, plant a seed of doubt in the cracks of her resolve.
"If you don't want to break up, do whatever you want. It's your choice, and your responsibility. Honestly, it's not like we're close enough for me to actually care, right?"
"...You know that, yet you still..." Ah-hyun let out a ragged breath, her voice thick with resentment.
Admittedly, even I felt a bit shameless saying that. But hey, I was supposed to be a blonde, tanned delinquent. A certain level of shamelessness was practically a job requirement. If not, whatever.
"Anyway... think about it. Ask yourself why I'm going this far to tell you this. Isn't it about time you woke up?"
Deciding I'd said everything I needed to, I casually stretched and wrapped up the conversation—completely unilaterally. As I turned to leave, Ah-hyun flared up.
"Hey! You think you can just spout whatever nonsense you want and walk away? Are you out of your mind?!"
"What, want to talk some more? Should we go to a cafe and have a heart-to-heart date?"
"What kind of crazy—!"
Of course, as always, our chemistry was terrible. From my perspective, it was highly cost-effective. Ah-hyun looked like she was about to explode from my casual, mocking reply. I delivered the final blow, scraping her raw nerves one last time.
"You can glare and scream all you want, but you're still just a coward who can't even throw a proper punch at a delinquent like me without the excuse of a ranking match."
"...!?"
"I'm off. Let me know if you decide to break up with him. I'll at least give you some friendly advice."
All in all, of the entire year I'd spent in this world knowing Seo Ah-hyun, this was easily the conversation that had made her the angriest. Ah-hyun screamed at the back of my head as I walked away, "Who's your friend?!" but I just tossed back a casual, "Same-grade friends~"
She really was incredibly fun to tease. Chuckling to myself, I made my way out of the building.
"Whew."
There wasn't much for me to do while the ranking matches were underway. There were no classes today either. Normally, I would have headed straight back to the dormitory to sprawl out and take a nap, but...
I feel kind of tired.
For some reason, I wasn't in the mood today. Had I drained my energy without realizing it? Sure, having a war of nerves with Seo Ah-hyun wasn't anything new, but I had openly crossed the line to provoke her just now. I was confident it would be fine, but I couldn't help but feel a lingering tension. What if Ah-hyun had actually lost her mind and decided to hit me? I probably would have ended up in the hospital for at least a few weeks.
Of course, if I went all out, subduing her wouldn't have been difficult, but I did have a conscience.
If you tap-dance on the line of moral decency, you have to be prepared to take a hit.
Well, whatever. In the end, nothing happened, so it was a win for me. No matter how petite her fists were, getting hit in the face would have inevitably left me with a nasty black eye. To have said everything I wanted to say without sustaining any physical damage(?)—what could be better? All's well that ends well.
"..."
After a moment of self-congratulation, I slumped onto a bench and looked up at the sky. The blue sky above Cheonun Academy was peacefully clear, completely indifferent to my inner turmoil. A bitter, self-deprecating smile crept onto my face.
"...What the hell am I doing?"
Seriously, what was I doing? At this rate, all my resolutions would go down the drain. How long had it been since I vowed not to interfere with the sweet couples of the original novel's first volume, swearing to remain a strict outsider?
Yet somehow, within this single month, every single one of those vows, resolutions, and oaths was on the verge of being shattered. It was already too late for Baek Seol-ah, with whom I had tangled bodies after getting the male lead's official stamp of approval. And now, I felt like I was starting to interfere with Seo Ah-hyun far more than necessary.
But I couldn't help it.
It wasn't like I didn't have excuses. The former could be chalked up to 100% Lee Hyun-seong's fault. As for the latter, Ah-hyun and Kim Min-jun's relationship was vastly different from what I had envisioned.
I must have mentioned this in passing before. While this world was undoubtedly based on the novel I had read, it wasn't a carbon copy that followed the original text to the letter. It felt more like the novel was a somewhat documented version of this world, which existed independently from where I used to live... Strictly speaking, this world might have come first, and the novel second. At least, that was my gut feeling. I didn't have any concrete proof.
Regardless, the relationship between Seo Ah-hyun and Kim Min-jun in this world was... how should I put it? It didn't have any of the sweet, lovey-dovey chemistry of the Volume 1 couple I had cherished and liked. In fact, it was safe to say there was none of it left at all. And that was entirely due to Kim Min-jun's degeneration.
Whether the original novel had failed to properly depict his true nature, or whether his character had corrupted as a butterfly effect of my reincarnation into this world, the result was the same. He didn't love Ah-hyun; he was just keeping her around like a plaything.
...Which highly displeased me. After all, I genuinely loved this world and cared for the heroines.
"Should I just steal her away...?"
For me, someone who had always been wary of initiating any NTR developments myself, to mutter such a thing—even if it was just a meaningless monologue—spoke volumes.
And then...
"St-steal...? What?"
"...Huh?"
It happened right then. As I leaned back against the bench, lazily staring at the sky, a familiar male voice drifted into my ears. I pulled my back away from the bench and snapped my gaze forward. There stood a guy, frozen in an awkward posture.
My face contorted in sheer bewilderment.
"Lee Hyun-seong?"
"Oh, um... Hey, Han Taeyang."
"...What the hell are you doing here?"