Chapter 230
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 230
Chapter Title: Lesson 45. Founding Festival Preparations - 5
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After opening up to each other to some extent, the two took a bit more rest in the flower garden before heading out.
Not only had he bared his innermost thoughts, but Ban Yu-won had shaken off the dust from his entire body as well. He thrust his face toward her.
"Is my face still swollen?"
He asked in the most pitiful tone he could muster.
"If you're trying to guilt-trip me, cut it out. You think I don't know you've been teasing me like this all day?"
Dokgo Yeon squeezed his hand with excessive force, her eyes sharpening as she pressed him.
"Be grateful I'm even letting this slide. If you weren't you..."
"Huh? If I weren't me, what—aaagh."
A tremendous pressure crushed into their clasped hands.
Even as he let out a scream like a demon king meeting its wretched end against a hero's holy sword, Ban Yu-won didn't let go of her hand.
Dokgo Yeon eased up once her anger had somewhat subsided, but she didn't release his hand either.
As long as neither one deliberately pulled away, it felt like their hands would stay linked like this—a strange sensation.
Thinking about it, it was quite remarkable.
Ban Yu-won and Dokgo Yeon were fairly close, but until today, they were absolutely not the type to hold hands.
The very idea of Dokgo Yeon of all people holding hands with a guy and walking together was utterly unimaginable.
But today, a special situation had arisen: a date between a man and a woman. With both implicitly agreeing to it, an atmosphere had formed where refusing to hold hands felt awkward.
It's like how even if you have no intention of dating someone, once you've accepted their date invitation, you end up rationalizing linking arms: "I said yes to the date, so refusing to link arms would be weird..." Same principle.
Maybe he should really bow deeply to Ortima next time he saw him. Ban Yu-won started seriously considering it.
"Aren't you hungry? Want to grab dinner?"
"...Yeah."
Ah, her responses were clearly getting shorter.
Every time she opened her mouth, she risked slipping up, so she'd switched to a no-talking strategy.
Now that she was quiet, Ban Yu-won itched to draw more words out of her, but Dokgo Yeon shot him a glare as if reading his mind and squeezed his hand hard again.
Ban Yu-won felt like his heart was in a vise and froze in place.
"Didn't you say we were going for dinner?"
"R-right, we are."
He gave up.
Not just Dokgo Yeon—Ban Yu-won was equally swayed by her every little word and action.
In the end, the two spent the rest of their time together like high school couples on their very first date, fumbling awkwardly.
Before entering the flower garden, they'd been locked in what felt more like a battle of nerves than a date, hyper-aware of others' gazes.
Now, walking the streets dyed in twilight hues, they were too focused on each other's reactions to spare a glance for Union Academy or Ronica's citizens.
"Have you been to this restaurant with anyone else?"
"Of course you're the first. ...Though I did get the recommendation from Graham sunbae."
"Really? Hmm, okay..."
Still, Dokgo Yeon seemed fairly pleased, a smile playing on her lips unlike when she was at the academy or the tower.
The words Ban Yu-won had poured out, swallowing his embarrassment, seemed to have had some effect, conveying his sincerity.
"...Whew."
After a light drink with their meal, as it came time to return to the academy, Dokgo Yeon finally let out a sigh and relaxed her body.
"Now we can finally end this farce."
"Did you have fun?"
"Do I really have to say it?"
She scoffed, releasing his hand as she spoke.
But then she realized that until hearing Ban Yu-won's story today, she hadn't grasped his true feelings either—and cleared her throat awkwardly.
"It was fun. Guess you run into perverts like you at some point in life."
"Isn't it a bit much to call someone who said you're pretty a pervert? I meant it sincerely, objectively."
"Ahem. But..."
Just as he was about to protest her baseless pervert label—despite her obvious delight—Dokgo Yeon cleared her throat again, glancing at him cautiously.
Him seeing her check someone's mood like this was a first.
"Yeah?"
"Is that... all?"
"...Huh? All of what?"
Ban Yu-won was at a loss for words.
Dokgo Yeon pressed on in a highly imperious tone... though she herself seemed flustered, words tumbling out like machine-gun fire.
"I'll forgive you for presumptuously judging my appearance. Even the positive subjective evaluation... fine, it's your taste, I won't interfere anymore. ...What about the rest?"
"You mean besides looks?"
She hadn't outright agreed, but that was as good as confirmation.
Hearing it, Ban Yu-won suddenly wondered if he'd messed up earlier from sheer panic.
There had to be more to her pathological aversion to being treated like a girl besides her looks—yet he'd only praised her beauty, which might have left her feeling dismissed instead!
"You want to know how I think of you overall? Hold on, give me a sec."
"...I'm going home."
"Hey, wait! Just a moment!"
Called out so directly, Dokgo Yeon spun away with a dramatic swish, mortified beyond endurance.
If he hadn't used his Origin Sword to precisely read and intercept her movement, she really would've slipped away.
"You asked, and now—!"
"I told you today's been weird! I spouted rare nonsense—forget it!"
"Let's clear up the misunderstanding first!"
After five minutes of fierce tussling (which looked like nothing less than lovers' quarreling to onlookers), Ban Yu-won finally pinned her down, panting as he forced out words.
"What I meant by not wanting misunderstandings is... I figured I didn't need to spell out how I feel about your other qualities."
"I know you think well of me, so no need to spell it out..."
"You seemed hung up on your looks, so I focused there—but yeah, it must've sounded like I'm just a face-obsessed guy."
"You are, though. No... I mean, no. Whatever, drop it. Ugh, you beast!"
Why bring up Lucelle all of a sudden?
Her hand groped at her empty waist—had she meant to draw a sword?
"It's more than just liking you— I really, really like you? You always look out for the whole team, guide us to grow properly..."
"So that's why you called me mom-like?"
She was still hung up on that joke.
One wrong word here, and it was all over.
"No, that包容力 is what makes you attractive."
"How's that different from being mom-like?"
"You don't think your mom is pretty."
"Back to that?"
"Isn't that a huge difference?"
Dokgo Yeon turned away without responding to Ban Yu-won's words.
Truth be told, he had plenty more to say.
About the parts of her that felt cute, or the charm in her little quirks—endless material.
For instance, her current sulky expression as she averted her gaze was unbearably adorable.
He wanted to convey that all those aspects combined made her 'pretty' to him.
But saying that would likely make things even more awkward between them. Having achieved today's goal, it was best to quit while ahead.
...Especially with two women he was already responsible for.
"Misunderstanding cleared up now?"
"My mistake... We shouldn't have ended up in this situation from the start."
Dokgo Yeon sat down right there, not bothering to shake off his hand gripping her sleeve.
But soon, with a long sigh, she patted her cheeks—mimicking Ban Yu-won's habit when sorting his thoughts—which made him chuckle despite himself.
"I admit my behavior so far has been objectively strange."
She finally spoke again, her voice much calmer, which eased Ban Yu-won's mind.
"You're using 'objectively' a lot today, huh?"
"Gonna nitpick that?"
"Sorry."
Dokgo Yeon stood, brushing off his sleeve as if to prove she wasn't running away.
"Thanks to you, my head's a bit clearer now. I'll correct my view of Ortima. You must've been worried I'd get the wrong idea, but even if I deluded myself greatly, I'd never heed a worm like him. Wasted effort, huh."
"Not wasted. Your head's clearer now, right?"
"Quit nitpicking... Aah, you're making it weird again!"
She punched his chest lightly, hesitating before murmuring in a quieter voice.
"Thank you."
"...Yeah."
Dangerous.
He'd nearly pulled her into a hug.
And gotten kicked flying.
As Ban Yu-won struggled to suppress his instincts, she continued.
"I was born the daughter of a massive religious order's leader."
"That... yeah, I kinda suspected. You mentioned 'the Church' sometimes. They handle martial arts too, right?"
"Yes."
The Demonic Cult!
It really was the Demonic Cult!
"From birth, I had exceptional talent, and these eyes... yes, innate. They grant immense power, but inseparable. I was treated like a divine incarnation."
"Ah..."
Ban Yu-won still hadn't grasped the concept of Dokgo Yeon's eyes.
He'd first thought they were demonic eyes, but never saw any special abilities from them last semester, so maybe just a physical trait or martial arts side effect... Apparently, they were a divine power after all.
"In the dimension I was born, some pinned excessive hopes on me, others saw me as a thorn... but no one treated me like an ordinary girl."
Recalling the past? Her pale, beautiful fingers slowly traced the air.
Then, abruptly, she gripped and tore at something invisible.
"So I discarded it. I lied to the beasts. It wasn't by choice. It held no meaning, so I had no choice but to discard it. Humans don't quibble over a monster's gender before killing it, right? Nor a god's when worshiping. That's why."
"Dokgo Yeon..."
"Demanding what was never there just confuses me now. Understand that all my foolish actions here stemmed from that, and I'll be grateful."
Confusing? It must've been terrifying too.
The unknown always coexists with fear.
Pointing it out bluntly had been tactless of him.
"But it's fine now. Thanks to you, I've got a sense of it. That ability of yours is most effective for seducing women, as expected."
"No matter what I say, you..."
She'd struck right at his core—breathing was hard!
She turned to him with a smirk.
Because of that, he couldn't properly press her on the meaning behind her words.
"Still, let's both forget what happened today."
"Huh?"
"Right now, with Light and Prominence and everything else to resolve, no time for distractions."
"Yeah, true."
Ban Yu-won thought this was so very Dokgo Yeon—coolly stepping back, thinking not just of now but the future.
Even after baring some cards, unlike Lucelle exploding instinctively at crucial moments or Mira impulsively cursing like a fairy, she reined it in.
"Really, no one else dares treat me so fearlessly. Even the academy's full professors avoid meeting my eyes directly."
"Well, at our level, we're friends among—"
"They told me to bring you over winter break."
"Huh?"
Ban Yu-won blinked dumbly at her sudden words.
"Who?"
"The Lord."
Who?
He wanted to ask again, but he'd heard it crystal clear—no room for doubt.
"Uh... the big boss of that religious group wants me over winter break?"
"Yes. My dad does. He wants to see your face."
Her saying "my dad" was shocking enough, but now wasn't the time for trivial surprises!
No, your speech pattern's gone weird! Are you still off?!
"Hey, Dokgo Yeon, that... maybe your father—no, the Lord has some misunderstanding..."
"You're so formal."
Unlike the tense Ban Yu-won, Dokgo Yeon was relaxed now, even smiling.
It was so cute it annoyed him.
"How long do you plan to keep calling me that annoyingly? Use my name from now on."
"Huh? Name? Yeon?"
"Ah, um, hmm. ...Not bad. I'll head in first then. See you tomorrow."
Her casual agreement made the leisure vanish from Dokgo Yeon's face.
She fiddled with her student ID and vanished on the spot after hurriedly finishing.
Left alone, Ban Yu-won stood frozen there for a good ten minutes after.