Rendezvous (10)
“W-why did you suddenly come to that conclusion, if I may ask?”
I steadied my racing heart and forced a composed tone as I put the question to Su-ryeon. Of course, the shift in attitude was pointless—I had already given myself away completely—but I clung to the faint hope that it might still work. Maybe she had only been fishing with a hunch and no real proof. If that were the case, I could always claim I had simply been shocked by such an absurd accusation.
“Yesterday, when I wiped down Miss Ha-eun’s body…”
“W-wait a moment. You wiped down my body?”
“You were running a fever and sweating terribly. You insisted you were fine, but leaving you like that would have guaranteed a cold. So I took a towel and cleaned you myself.”
So that was why the clothes I woke up in had felt different. Still… even between friends, was it normal to wipe away someone’s sweat and change their clothes for them?
No. That wasn’t what mattered. Thanks to Su-ryeon’s care, I had woken up feeling refreshed. The real question was whether she had seen the marks left on my body.
“A-and then?”
I asked again, practically praying, the kiss marks I had spotted in the shower flashing through my mind. Please, anything but those…! I looked at her with desperate eyes, but what left Su-ryeon’s lips was the very last thing I wanted to hear.
“And… I s-saw them. The livid red marks still left on Miss Ha-eun’s body…”
She turned her head slightly, cheeks flushing as if even recalling it embarrassed her. The sight of her like that made my breath catch in my throat. When I remained frozen and silent, Su-ryeon composed her expression again and spoke in a grave voice.
“Miss Ha-eun. You can tell me. Yoon Seo-a… that girl has been sexually harassing you, hasn’t she?”
Her tone was nearly certain. I lifted my teacup for no good reason and wet my parched mouth. What now? Should I just spill everything to Su-ryeon? No—it was still too early to say. She didn’t seem to know exactly what the marks were. If I could talk my way around it carefully, I might still salvage the situation.
With that thought, I set the cup down and opened my mouth.
“S-sexual harassment? Nothing of the sort has happened.”
“Then how do you explain those red marks on your body? Anyone can see they’re k-kiss marks!”
Why does a young lady even know about things like that?! I wailed inwardly. Of course I understood that the daughters of the upper class, for all their elegant pretenses, were no different from ordinary women underneath. Knowing about such matters wasn’t strange. But… there was no need for her to put that knowledge to use right now…!
My hands trembled openly as I forced myself to keep speaking.
“K-kiss marks? Those are just insect bites…!”
“There may be parks on the grounds of Private Acacia Academy, but even you must know there aren’t that many insects. And more than anything… there were t-teeth marks left on your chest…!”
“T-teeth marks?!”
I hadn’t noticed anything like that when I washed! I stared at her, unable to hide my shock, and Su-ryeon’s face turned scarlet as she cried out.
“W-when I saw them they were almost gone, but they were definitely human teeth marks…! Which means someone b-bit Miss Ha-eun’s chest…!”
She couldn’t finish. As if she had reached her limit, she slammed her face down onto the table. I nearly lost my mind at the realization that I had been completely found out—yet something about her words felt incomplete. I scrambled to think.
Su-ryeon was focusing only on the kiss marks she had found on my body—specifically around my stomach and chest. That meant she didn’t know Yoon Seo-a and I had gone all the way. She only knew I had been groped or sucked on, more or less.
…On second thought, that alone was already a disaster. I was finished.
Having reached that conclusion, I buried my face in the table just like Su-ryeon. We stayed like that for a long while, faces pressed side by side against the wood. Su-ryeon was the first to lift her head. She pressed a hand to her forehead, sighed, and spoke to me in a far more solemn voice than before.
“I’m sorry for looking at your body without permission. But now that I’ve seen it, I can’t simply look the other way. I hope you understand that.”
There was nothing to understand—it made perfect sense. If I had discovered the same marks on Su-ryeon’s body, I would have made an even bigger fuss than she had. When I stayed silent but showed signs of agreement, she continued.
“Miss Ha-eun. Yoon Seo-a has started sexually harassing you. That’s correct, isn’t it?”
“…Yes.”
“I’ll help you. Let’s go to the Conduct Management Department… no, to the Student Council. We might be able to get help there.”
“The Student Council?”
I asked in a puzzled voice at her confident tone. Su-ryeon answered as if she had already thought it through.
“For ordinary harassment, people usually request mediation from the Conduct Management Department. But as you know, that’s the worst possible move. Unless you confront the other party directly and force a settlement, academy life becomes miserable.”
“But if it reaches the point of threatening a young lady’s chastity, the story changes. A young lady’s purity is a powerful weapon in itself. If someone tried to break it, even Yoon Seo-a would have trouble escaping discipline.”
Hearing her recite almost exactly what I had once thought myself, I hurriedly spoke up.
“B-but why the Student Council instead of the Conduct Management Department? That’s basically skipping the process and going straight to the result.”
The Conduct Management Department might brandish demerits and discipline with impressive force, but final approval always came from the Student Council. No matter how high and mighty the Conduct Management Department acted, it was still a subordinate body of the Student Council. I couldn’t understand why she wanted to ignore procedure and go straight there.
As if she had expected the question, Su-ryeon answered at once.
“The Student Council is assembled through recommendations from that year’s elected president. The Conduct Management Department accepts applications, but the academy itself usually selects the members and asks if they’re willing. In other words, the academy’s influence runs deep there.”
“So what does that have to do with—”
“The chairman of the foundation that established Private Acacia Academy is Yoon Seo-a’s maternal grandfather.”
Ah. At those words I finally understood how Yoon Seo-a had been able to act so freely inside the academy. With a father who was a minister and a maternal grandfather who was the very foundation of Private Acacia, her high-handed behavior suddenly made sense. It was her home ground—what was there to fear?
While I was thinking that, Su-ryeon reached out, took my hand, and spoke.
“The Student Council would at least hand down a fairer punishment than the Conduct Management Department. Of course, the matter itself won’t grow large. As you know…”
“Private Acacia Academy is a pure white flower garden.”
“Yes, exactly.”
A garden of young ladies without a single blemish or scandal. Of course, roughly ten students withdrew every year, and exposés that weren’t quite exposés leaked out from the darker corners of the internet—but that was the image it presented to the world. And even the Student Council, where the academy’s influence was weaker, was still part of Private Acacia. They would have no desire to magnify such a disgraceful affair.
“To be honest, going to the Student Council might not be good for you either, Miss Ha-eun. It’s awkward to say, but unlike Yoon Seo-a, your background is… weak. You’re from a commoner family.”
I had thought of that long ago. Private Acacia Academy was not a place that simply protected victims. It was a strict place that scolded you for being foolish enough to let yourself be victimized in the first place. A weak background was no excuse. I had come here knowing what kind of place it was. In an institution where ninety-five percent of the members were tied to the upper class, everyone else had to know how to conduct themselves. Those who failed and fell behind were none of the academy’s concern.
If I reported Yoon Seo-a to the Student Council, I would almost certainly face a considerable penalty myself. In the worst case, I might even have to consider withdrawing. Of course, since I had no intention of reporting her in the first place, that wouldn’t be necessary. Su-ryeon, unaware of what I was thinking, tightened her grip on my hand and continued.
“But Miss Ha-eun, no matter what happens, I’m on your side. If it comes to the point where you have to withdraw, I’ll ask my father to arrange protection for you. So that Yoon Seo-a can never lay a hand on you again.”
I was reminded once more how genuinely good Su-ryeon was. She belonged to the upper class, yet she treated both me and Chae-rin—commoners—without the slightest prejudice.
I covered her hand with my free one and smiled.
“I’m grateful for the offer, Miss Su-ryeon. But I won’t report Yoon Seo-a to the Student Council. Not for now, at least.”
“Not for now…? What do you mean, Miss Ha-eun? Does that mean you’ll just keep letting her harass you?”
“Of course not. Being harassed isn’t something anyone enjoys. It’s just that… I made a promise with Yoon Seo-a yesterday.”
“A promise…?”
“Mm, I can’t go into the details of how it happened, but she promised she would stop harassing me and start treating me with respect.”
“…Now, of all times?”
Su-ryeon repeated the words as if she couldn’t believe them, but I couldn’t blame her. Even I had no idea whether Yoon Seo-a would actually keep her word.
“I feel the same way, but reporting her to the Student Council would cost me a heavy penalty as well. I still want to continue academy life for a long time with you and Miss Chae-rin. If she breaks the promise, it won’t be too late to report her then.”
“That’s not wrong, but… are you truly all right with that? Just letting everything fade away as if nothing happened?”
It wasn’t as if I felt no resentment or anger over everything Yoon Seo-a had done to me. But clinging to it would only hurt me further. No matter how outrageous it seemed, that was reality. So the only choice left was to turn my eyes from the past and force myself to look ahead—even if the past occasionally surged up and unsettled me.
“Of course. If that settles everything.”
I smiled. Just as I always had.