The Breaking Point
Meanwhile, in “New Beginning (4).” While Baek Seolah and Han Taeyang were exchanging stories too embarrassing to be overheard by others, Seo Ahyeon—who had been heading back to the dorm to rest as Han Taeyang had suggested—was suddenly grabbed by an unexpected hand and dragged somewhere.
Dragged was an overstatement; she had merely been pulled into the narrow gap between two buildings while walking down the path. Still, before Seo Ahyeon could even think to resist the sudden grip, she found herself yanked aside.
Thud—!
“What the hell is this?”
“……Minjun?”
Kim Minjun, who had pulled her into the shadowy space between the buildings, spoke in an uncharacteristically urgent tone. One hand slammed against the wall beside her head in a classic “wall slam,” while his bloodshot eyes glared at her. His hair was disheveled, and in his other hand he held a smartphone displaying a community forum post.
Startled by her boyfriend’s sudden appearance, Seo Ahyeon nevertheless glanced sideways at the screen.
“Huh……?”
Her eyes widened when she saw the post titled [What the hell is this? Real-time from Second Magic Hall Room 307 today…] along with the attached photo. Taken from the back of the classroom, the image showed a black-haired girl sitting on a male student’s lap.
‘That’s me?’
Of course it was. The girl was Seo Ahyeon, and the boy was Han Taeyang. Since the photo had been taken and uploaded today, the identities were obvious.
Normally, when a girlfriend was shown such a picture by her boyfriend, she would apologize, look guilty, or something along those lines—especially since the man in the photo wasn’t her boyfriend but a third party. It was practically evidence of cheating. If she had any shame, she should feel guilty and lower her head.
Yet Seo Ahyeon merely blinked at the photo and thought to herself:
Ah, it came out pretty well.
A thought that would have made Kim Minjun’s already bloodshot eyes roll back in fury.
‘I should go back later and save it.’
Seo Ahyeon didn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt about it. She simply examined the photo with a critical eye. The quality was decent, as expected from modern smartphones, and the angle wasn’t bad either. She especially liked the expression on her face as she looked at Han Taeyang with affection.
She wasn’t the type to brag about it, but Seo Ahyeon knew her own looks were quite good. Combined with how well the photo had turned out, how could she not want to save it? It was perfect for a wallpaper or profile picture.
‘Ah…… Maybe not yet? I’m not actually dating Han Taeyang right now.’
The latter would require their relationship to progress a bit further. Still, as Seo Ahyeon gazed at the awkward expression of Han Taeyang in the photo—awkward because he was reluctantly letting her sit on his lap—with eyes full of affection, Kim Minjun spoke again.
“……You ignored my calls all weekend and didn’t even come back to the dorm. What exactly have you been doing?”
“……”
“Seo Ahyeon. Did I have to find out about my own girlfriend through the community?”
Kim Minjun growled in his usual aggressive tone, though there was a clear undercurrent of anxiety that hadn’t been there before. In contrast, Seo Ahyeon flinched reflexively but felt a strange sensation at how much less fear she experienced compared to before.
‘……Whenever Minjun acted like this, I used to either cry or shrink back. One of the two.’
Strangely, she didn’t feel like crying at all right now. She couldn’t help feeling a little intimidated, but at least not a single tear came out. If anything, being provoked by Baek Seolah had felt more frustrating and upsetting than this. This was…… how to put it. A little……
‘……Cute?’
Seo Ahyeon tilted her head at the first word that came to mind, then quickly found a more fitting one. Yeah, “cute” carried a sense of endearment. This was closer to “pathetic.”
“……Haha.”
She let out a hollow laugh, feeling strangely empty. So that was it. Kim Minjun’s pressure had actually been this light all along.
‘I’ve been scared of this kind of pressure until now, apologizing first and clinging to him pathetically.’
Ah, how pathetic. Just thinking about it made her feel disgusted and embarrassed about her past self.
While Seo Ahyeon was lost in this sudden moment of self-reflection, Kim Minjun continued, his fists trembling with rage.
“Yeah, I did tell you to go get fucked by another guy. But that didn’t mean you could ignore my calls and give him both your body and your heart.”
His bloodshot eyes were fierce, and the way he had her pinned against the wall was intimidating. But Seo Ahyeon simply waited with wide, innocent eyes. At the very least, she owed it to the man she had once truly loved to hear him out to the end.
Unfortunately, instead of saying what he should have said, Kim Minjun chose to vent his one-sided anger and frustration through action. Click!
Apparently unsatisfied with merely pushing her against the wall, Kim Minjun huffed as he unbuckled his belt. He forced a cold smile—the kind Seo Ahyeon used to fear—and commanded,
“Get on your knees and suck it first. I’ll listen to your excuses later.”
“……”
Without the slightest remorse for his own actions, he treated Seo Ahyeon like a criminal and demanded sexual service. Placing his hand on her head as if it were natural, he tried to force her down. He wanted to take off his pants and underwear and shove himself into her mouth in the dark gap between the buildings.
“……?”
But—
Press—
“……Haa, Minjun.”
No matter how hard he tried to push her down, nothing changed. Seo Ahyeon simply stood tall, her expression calm as she ignored his strength. Instead of kneeling, she grabbed the wrist of the hand Kim Minjun had placed on her head.
Crack—!
“……Kuh!?”
It was only natural. She was one of the most promising physical-type awakened students in the academy. Kim Minjun, on the other hand, was just an ordinary magic-type who never trained his body. When it came to raw strength, the gap between them—ignoring even the difference between male and female—was overwhelming.
This was the first time Seo Ahyeon had ever used physical force against Kim Minjun in their year-long relationship.
‘Calm down, my heart.’
Her heart was pounding like crazy from experience and ingrained power dynamics, but as an awakened, she could suppress it to some extent by circulating her mana.
“Minjun, it’s about time we……”
Finally taking her first step toward overcoming her fear of Kim Minjun and her own timid nature, Seo Ahyeon was about to say that it was time to end things between them when—
“……?”
She suddenly stopped, her eyes widening at something that had entered her field of vision. She looked down with genuine confusion.
In other words—
“……Eek.”
Staring at Kim Minjun’s exposed member after he had removed his pants and underwear to demand sexual acts, Seo Ahyeon let out a strangely subtle voice. She couldn’t help it. The most recent male anatomy she had seen up close was Han Taeyang’s, which she had taken with her body all weekend—and the impact had been so great that it had distorted her memory of Kim Minjun’s size.
What that meant was—
“Minjun…… Is that fully erect right now?”
“……What?”
The Kim Minjun in her memory and the one standing before her now were so different that it created a sense of disconnect. Seo Ahyeon looked at him with genuine bewilderment and a hint of pity.
“No, um. No, right? It’s just not fully hard yet? Should I touch it a bit? Maybe it’ll get bigger.”
“……?”
“That’s weird. Even so, I don’t think it was ever this small…… Was I mistaken……?”
“!!”
That day, before Seo Ahyeon could even finish listing all the things she had endured in their relationship and declare that it was over, Kim Minjun’s mind—
“……What…… did you say?”
—had already collapsed under the weight of a devastating shock.
Crack.
‘Ah, what? Was it really just my imagination?’
On the other hand, it also meant that Seo Ahyeon’s shock in that moment was so great that she had unknowingly crushed her boyfriend’s self-esteem without even realizing it. She even reached out on impulse before awkwardly pulling her hand back, thinking, ‘Ah, I was going to break up with him.’
Instead of touching Kim Minjun’s member, Seo Ahyeon awkwardly scratched her cheek. Kim Minjun staggered, his mouth hanging open, unable to form a single word.
From another perspective, well—
“……Minjun? Why are you suddenly stumbling? Are you feeling sick again?”
“……”
“Geez, I told you to exercise more.”
Wasn’t this already the best possible revenge against her ex-boyfriend, whom she was about to break up with? Even if it had been an unconscious act of revenge that the person involved hadn’t even realized.