3. It's Not Even My Seat, Why Ask Me?
3. It's Not Even My Seat, Why Ask Me?
"⋯Crazy. Making such a fuss over a slightly crooked tie like it's a capital offense."
How could someone who spent three years wearing nothing but armor reeking of blood be used to handling such a cumbersome scrap of cloth?
Spitting out irritated grumbles,
I wiped the sweat dripping down my forehead and tidied my disheveled clothes from sprinting for dear life.
'Y-Yoouu! Haa⋯haat! I-If I catch you, you're dead meat!'
'If you s-stop right now, I'll f-forgive, forgive you! S-Stooop!'
Lucia's resounding shrieks echoing from the distance were still vivid in my ears.
"A person really ought to keep their temper in check, but this damn mouth of mine is always the problem."
Lucia, whom I thought would give up right away, chased after me relentlessly with fire in her eyes, causing me to waste far more time than expected.
At least the unprecedented catastrophe of being late to the entrance ceremony because of a chase didn't happen, which was a relief.
Even now, thinking of her chasing after me made the back of my neck ache automatically, but still.
'S-Stooop!'
Chulleong chulleong!
"⋯Whatever."
Carrying around not one, but two massive lumps of fat, how on earth could she run at such speed?
Her pursuit was tenacious enough that I could guarantee I would've been caught without a chance if I let my guard down for even a second.
No, really. She was so persistent that it felt more exhausting than the days and nights I spent in a chase against the Demon King's army pursuit squad.
Ungseong-ungseong.
"Whoa, look at all these people."
Fearing she might follow right behind me, I stepped straight into the great auditorium without even catching my breath, only to find the hall already packed with freshmen.
The dazzling magic lights illuminating the interior in a dizzying array, and the massive chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
And the gorgeous floral decorations filling the room were greeting me as I walked into the great auditorium.
"Hahahaha⋯. Deria-yang. To be frank, I hope we end up in the same class."
"O-Oh my! I think so as well. With someone like you, young master, around, these three years will surely be comfortable."
While I was looking around like a dazed country bumpkin,
the sound of laughter flowing from the noble scions, who seemed to have already gotten acquainted, echoed from all around.
"⋯⋯."
Birds of a feather really flock together, don't they.
They're already forming their little circlejerks all over the place.
'So predictable. All of that is just networking chatter. Tsk, tsk, tsk.'
I didn't have the slightest intention of mingling with them anyway.
In fact, getting entangled with them would be an outright disaster.
"Mm. Over there looks good."
I buried myself into a seat as deep in the corner as possible, a dim spot away from people's gazes.
'I'm tired, so wrap it up quickly.'
It's not like an entrance ceremony would be anything special.
Whatever they do, it's totally obvious anyway.
Some elderly dean will come out and drone on with a boring address,
and following that, whoever the freshman representative is will come out and take an oath. Or whatever.
It's just irritating that I have to sit here forever until that hopelessly cliché process is over.
Not that there aren't plenty of other reasons to be annoyed.
A place this bright, warm, and noisy just doesn't suit me at all.
"⋯When the hell is this starting."
As I sank deep into the backrest, endlessly waiting for it to begin, grumbles slipped out of my mouth without me realizing.
Hilkkeum.
Glancing to the side, I saw that people had gathered in their little cliques and were busy cheerfully introducing themselves, as if they were already close.
None of it was interesting enough to perk up my ears.
Just useless conversations like which estate they came from, or how their practical exam scores were.
"⋯⋯."
Even if it wasn't intentional,
I felt that eavesdropping on others' conversations wasn't right, so I gave a light shake of my head and closed my eyes.
[Could it be that you're jealous, Hero-nim?]
Above all, watching these little runts play around at my age,
it felt as though that damn bitch of a goddess's voice was echoing like an auditory hallucination, making the back of my neck throb.
"⋯I can't even sleep in peace, this is driving me crazy."
Going a few days without sleep and still functioning normally was possible, but that was strictly under normal conditions.
Up until recently, I had fought in a decisive battle against the Demon King,
and I was the guy dragged straight here without even being able to relieve my fatigue at the Demon King's castle.
My eyes were slowly drifting shut as if my body was screaming at me to get some deep sleep this instant,
but if possible, I couldn't fall asleep, at least until the entrance ceremony was over.
And for good reason.
Because if I fell asleep now, even I didn't know when I would wake up.
It's not like I had any friends here.
Much less did I believe there was anyone kind enough in this academy to wake up someone who would obviously be sprawled out sleeping pathetically once out cold.
At worst, I could make an unsightly fool of myself by being left all alone in the auditorium from the very first day of school.
'So I can't fall asleep. If I fall asleep, it's over, completely over!'
"⋯⋯."
However, contrary to such resolution, the realization that I was in a moderately warm and safe place caused,
"⋯Kuu."
my eyelids to grow heavier and heavier like lead regardless of my will, and just as my eyes were gently closing on their own—
"E-Excuse me⋯."
A slender voice that sounded like a woman's sweet tones cut through my drifting consciousness.
"⋯Keoheo."
At first, I naturally thought it was calling someone else.
The surroundings were loud with the noise of chatter,
and my expression was so menacing that I didn't think anyone would talk to me.
"E-Excuse me, pardon me⋯?"
At the desperate voice that persistently called out several times,
I forced open my drooping eyes to see what was going on and turned toward the direction of the voice.
"⋯⋯?"
There stood a boy.
No, his features were so delicate and pretty that it felt almost apologetic to even call him a boy.
Pale skin that stimulated protective instincts, and a smooth jawline that seemed to still retain a hint of baby fat.
What stood out the most was a sickly pale complexion as if he might collapse at any moment, and large eyes anxiously reading my mood.
'Is that the sickly pretty boy I've only heard about in stories?'
A skinny physique to the point that the uniform he wore looked a bit too large.
At a single glance, he gave off an aura that practically screamed, 'I'm perfect to bully.'
Judging by his looks, he didn't seem to be a mere extra.
His appearance was excessively radiant for an extra, after all.
No, before that, was there ever a character like that in this game?
"⋯⋯."
Well, since I quit after playing only the beginning, it could just be an extra I don't know.
Besides, extra or not, what does that have to do with me?
All I have to do is graduate.
"A-Are you⋯ awake?"
"⋯Were you calling me?"
I doubted it. Out of all these people, there was no way anyone would call for me.
Even as I thought that, since the pretty boy before my eyes wasn't looking at anyone other than me,
I asked the boy back in the brightest voice I could muster, but he flinched and trembled.
"H-Hii⋯ A-Ah, th-that is⋯."
Seriously, am I the Demon King or something?
I haven't even done anything wrong, so why is he freaking out and getting scared right off the bat?
The boy was fidgeting with his fingers while scanning the surrounding seats.
Following his gaze to check the surroundings, the other seats were already completely filled without a single gap.
Only the area right around my seat was completely empty, like the parting of the Red Sea.
'Ah.'
With a tearful expression, he opened his mouth.
"C-Could I⋯ possibly sit, in the seat next to you⋯?"
"⋯⋯."
His voice was so timid and sounded like he was about to burst into tears at any moment that a chuckle slipped out of me.
'I guess he has no choice since this is the only seat left.'
"I-If it's not okay, I'm sorr⋯!"
"Sit."
"⋯Pardon?"
"Sit. It's not even my seat, why are you asking me."
When I pointed to the seat next to me with my chin, color finally returned to the boy's face.
"Ah⋯! Th-Thank you very much!"
With an expression as if he had been saved, the kid carefully planted his butt in the seat next to mine.
Since he sat down anyway, it would be nice if he just relaxed comfortably,
but he cowered while reading my mood, even going out of his way to add a small 'Excuse me' under his breath.
'Huh?'
As the pretty boy kid sat next to me, a faint scent like flowers wafted from him.
Not that chestnut blossom smell commonly found on dudes,
but an actual floral scent.
"⋯⋯."
'Why does a guy smell so damn nice?'
Does he wear perfume? I wondered briefly before brushing it off and leaning back against the backrest again.
He's someone I won't ever cross paths with again once the entrance ceremony is over anyway.
Let's not pay him any mind and just tune it out.
Just as I made that decision and was slowly about to close my eyes,
"Um⋯."
Right at the moment I was gradually falling into the swamp of drowsiness,
a very small voice spoke to me from the side.
"⋯What?"
"I⋯ I'm called Ciel. Ciel Evergarden. If you don't mind me asking, your name is⋯?"
'Ciel. Ciel Evergarden⋯.'
It sounded somewhat familiar.
I chewed over the name carefully, wondering if he was someone among the figures I knew, but
"⋯⋯."
Ah, no use.
Even if I tried to remember, my brain wasn't working at all due to fatigue.
What was certain was that he didn't seem to be a noble at first glance.
Because if you were a noble in this world, something had to go in the middle of your name, like Lucia.
"Kang Han."
"Y-Yes?"
"Kang Han. My name."
"Gaan⋯ Han-nim? Your name sounds⋯ really strong."
"No. Not Gaanhan, Kang Han. Kang is the surname and Han is the given name."
"Ah⋯!"
Ciel nodded several times as if finally understanding, then let out a small smile.
"I-I see⋯. Kang Han. Kang Han⋯-nim."
"⋯⋯."
He already had a pretty face, but smiling shyly like that made him look just like a girl.
'This is straight-up fraud.'
I used to get scolded a lot by my family for looking rough like a thug,
and no joke, standing next to this sickly pretty boy might make people treat me like a monster instead of a human.
"Drop the '-nim'. We're both first-year classmates anyway, what's with the creepy '-nim'. Just call me comfortably as Han."
Considering the age difference, I'd probably be a hyung,
but by grade we're peers, so there's no need to draw lines and create annoying situations.
"A, ah... yes! Underst.... N-No, I got it. Han...!"
Ciel timidly gauged my mood and answered in a fading voice,
and looking just like a herbivore dropped before a carnivore, it was enough to make me chuckle.
"......."
'Still, this guy....'
Ciel Evergarden.
My brain wasn't working so I hadn't thought deeply about it, but looking closely, there was definitely a sense of incongruity.
The school uniform was strangely looser than his frame, and the throat was so smooth that no Adam's apple could be found.
Crucially, this kid.
From the way he looked, he was so prettily featured that it seemed like a girl insisting she was a guy.
'...Could it be a crossdressing girl or something?'
Considering that the genre of this trash game was technically a rom-com, it was a fully plausible scenario.
Thinking it's a sickly pretty boy when in fact it's a girl crossdressing because of some backstory,
you know, that kind of dime-a-dozen cliché.
"...Nah. No way."
"U-Um.... Is there something on my face...?"
Under my piercing stare, Ciel's cheeks flushed red as he shrank his shoulders.
"No, nothing."
After staring at him silently for a few seconds, I shook my head and turned away without lingering.
Whether it's a crossdressing girl or just a guy pretty enough to be mistaken for a girl, who cares?
'I didn't come here to play around with romance anyway.'
My goal was set from the beginning.
Endure for three years and get a diploma. Nothing more, nothing less.
'Hanah. Look after our family.'
Right, I have to go home.
Because my family is waiting.
"......"
The faces of my family, which I had tried so hard to forget, were creeping up again from beyond my memories.
'Not yet.'
At least until I return.
Until then, I can't let myself be trapped in the past.
Kku-u-uk.
Vigorously shaking my head to erase those thoughts, I buried myself deep into the backrest once more, and this time, a truly unbearable wave of fatigue washed over me.
'Should I just close my eyes, just for a second....'
I had scraped the bottom of the barrel for both physical stamina and magic power to slay the Demon King, and I hadn't even gotten proper rest.
My steel-like body was gradually screaming past its limits,
and holding out by force was honestly hanging by a thread.
"......!"
"......"
Right around the time the buzzing murmur around me began to fade into the distance,
Huk-huk.
[Ah, ah. Ahem. Mic test. Freshmen, please settle down and be quiet.]
Along with the sound of the magic megaphone echoing from the podium, the great auditorium's dazzling lights gradually dimmed,
and with all the students inside, the entrance ceremony seemed about to begin in earnest.
[First, I welcome you all who have entered Eldain Academy. Speaking as the dean....]
Whether it was the real world I used to live in or the game world I possessed,
in any world, speeches by high-ranking figures seemed to be pure sleeping pills without exception.
The moment a woman of an indiscernible age, sporting an impressive tight leather outfit, went up to the podium and started chattering,
the thread of patience I had barely managed to cling to snapped clean in two.
'Ah.'
Screw it. Let's just close my eyes for a bit.
Once the entrance ceremony is over, someone will wake me up or something.
If I'm sprawled out sleeping, someone might hit me to tell me to move.
Then I'll just wake up. Whatever.
Seureureuk.
My heavy eyelids slowly closed.