Chapter 14: What happened in his first year? (1)

News of Yu-shin’s victory over Selena in the duel spread rapidly.

Thanks to that, Class C, to which Yu-shin belonged, underwent significant changes.

The biggest change was that they no longer ignored or looked down on Yu-shin.

Yu-shin didn’t know it, but the big guy and the skinny guy he had faced before were actually the 1st and 2nd ranked in Class C respectively.

And even Selena, who belonged to Class A, had ultimately lost to Yu-shin.

In the end, the students in Class C had no choice but to live carefully, watching Yu-shin’s reactions.

The students in Class C didn’t want to admit that their positions had been reversed overnight.

But what could they do?

Survival of the fittest.

That was the academy’s teaching.

Therefore, to survive against the strong.
They ultimately had to behave well on their own.

“We can’t just keep taking this.”

“Let’s band together!”

“If Class C unites, Baek Yu-shin won’t be able to do anything to us!”

And so, an alliance of Class C students, excluding Yu-shin and Ha-young, was born.

However, Yu-shin himself didn’t pay much attention to the small fry in Class C.

‘What fun would there be in tormenting such riff-raff?’

At least the Sword Saint Squad he had faced before had the guts to at least try to attack him.

These guys were busy muttering from behind, and couldn’t even bare their fangs when faced directly.

Based on experience, Yu-shin knew that dealing with such people would only lead to a disadvantage for himself.

Yu-shin simply sat in his seat, yawning and relieving his boredom.

“You look very bored today.”

“There’s nothing particularly interesting happening.”

“Oh, I see.”

Ha-young, his seatmate, smiled awkwardly and echoed Yu-shin’s words.

They used to laugh and talk a lot together in the past.

Why had it become like this now?

When they were just the two of them like this, Ha-young became awkward and couldn’t say anything.

[Hey, are you okay?]

[Huh?]

[Nice to meet you, my name is Kang Hyunwoo.]

“…!!”

At that moment, the memory of the day she first met Hyunwoo flashed across Ha-young’s mind.

Thinking about it, something was strange.
A stranger had suddenly greeted her with a smile.

Rather than confusion or surprise, she felt an inexplicable attraction.

Thanks to that, Ha-young naturally exchanged phone numbers with Hyunwoo on the day they first met.

‘What was that…?
That memory just now…?’

“Baek Yu-shin!!”

“Why are you f*cking causing trouble again first thing in the morning?”

“I told you not to send such insincere replies, didn’t I?!”

However, Ha-young couldn’t focus.
An uninvited guest had arrived right next to them.

It was a girl with golden hair and blue eyes shining like sapphires.

She was someone even Ha-young knew well.
Selena Grevis, she had come.

Selena held her phone in her hand and thrust it towards Yu-shin’s face.

“What on earth is ‘ㅇ’ as a reply?!”

“It’s an answer meaning ‘okay’.”

“And what about you completely ignoring my messages, even when I told you not to send replies like that?!”

“I got tired of sending messages and fell asleep.”

“Hey!!!”

It certainly wasn’t like that at first.
When did those two become so close?

Even she, his childhood friend, couldn’t properly contact Yu-shin…

‘Annoying.’

‘I want to separate that annoying woman from Yu-shin.’

Ha-young felt dark emotions slowly creeping up from deep within her heart.

“Uhm… I wish you wouldn’t tell Yu-shin what to do so much.”

“Yes?”

“W-well, that’s how it is.
Yu-shin doesn’t like being ordered around by others.”

Even as she mumbled timidly, Ha-young did her best to take Yu-shin’s side.

However, Yu-shin was not on Ha-young’s side.
Yu-shin tilted his head and said.

“Friends can play like this, you know.”

Even for Yu-shin, it wasn’t enough to get angry during a normal conversation between friends.

Perhaps thinking she was misunderstood.
Selena explained with an aggrieved expression.

“That’s right!
Besides, I’m not the kind of person who orders others around!”

“Are you sure?
You’re from a noble family, aren’t you?”

“Being arrogant just because you’re a noble is all prejudice!”

“…”

At the sight of Yu-shin and her seeming to be in a close relationship, Ha-young bit her lip hard.

‘That was originally my spot.
Why are you, a complete stranger, there?’

‘No, in the first place.’

‘You called Yu-shin a ruffian, didn’t you?’

‘But why can you cling to him so brazenly?’

‘Does she have no conscience?
Ah, I see.
You have no conscience.’

It was at that very moment that Ha-young was staring at Selena with completely dead eyes.

Ha-young’s phone in her pocket rang.
Ha-young immediately took out her phone.

[Hyunwoo]

‘Why is this guy calling now of all times?’

Normally, she would have happily answered the phone, but now Ha-young was irritated.

As Ha-young wasn’t answering her phone, Yu-shin, noticing her, spoke to Ha-young.

“Aren’t you going to answer the phone?”

From Yu-shin’s perspective, it could actually be said that he was showing some consideration for Ha-young.

However.

Ha-young interpreted Yu-shin’s completely changed reaction differently.

[It’s that guy again?]

[Uh, yeah.
That’s how it is.]

[…Really?
Then it can’t be helped.]

‘He used to make it so obvious that he disliked it in the past.’

‘Now, he doesn’t care at all.’

‘Now he has no interest in me whatsoever.’

“…Sorry.”

With a sorrowful voice, saying sorry.
Ha-young answered Hyunwoo’s call.

The reason Hyunwoo called Ha-young was simple.
It was to gain her cooperation.

No matter how hard he tried, Baek Yu-ri wasn’t opening her heart to Hyunwoo at all.

It was natural, if anything.
Baek Yu-ri had investigated this matter in her own way.

Thanks to that, she found out everything, even that Hyunwoo utterly disregarded Yu-shin and saw him as a pushover.

[I have absolutely no desire to befriend someone as disgusting as you.]

‘Damn it, I used 100 affinity items and it was useless.’

Thanks to that, Hyunwoo suffered a huge loss.
He had used 100 items.

Heroines like Ha-young saw their affinity rise immediately even if he only used 3 items on their first meeting.

Strangely, Baek Yu-ri had used over 100 items, but there was no change at all.

No, on the contrary.
Wasn’t her affinity plummeting towards negative numbers?

‘This won’t do; I need to approach Baek Yu-ri in a completely different way.’

Hyunwoo, judging that he couldn’t capture her like this, chose a completely different method.

That was to go with the direct approach.
In other words, not using items.

But by frequently meeting Baek Yu-ri in person, he would raise her affinity.

Of course, for that, he first needed an opportunity, which is why he contacted Ha-young.

‘The lunch break event was originally for my sister, but I can’t help it today.’

“Ha-young! Over here! Over here!”

“Why are you suddenly calling and making a fuss?”

“…Huh?”

Hyunwoo, who clicked his tongue inwardly but outwardly called Ha-young brightly.

Received a completely unexpected reaction.
Like a cold winter wind.

Ha-young was staring at Hyunwoo with a completely serious expression.
What?
Why is she acting like that again?

Sensing the incongruity, Hyunwoo quickly opened his affinity window.
And then he was horrified.

[Yu Ha-young]
[Affinity : 12]

‘W-what?!
When did her affinity drop that much?!’

The affinity that he had painstakingly filled using items plummeted instantly.

What on earth happened?
Of course, he had neglected it a little recently.

Even so, he surely hadn’t done anything that would cause affinity to drop by more than 80, had he?

‘Damn it, I don’t have many items, but I can’t lose Ha-young.’

The condition God had set for him was to take all of the protagonist’s heroines.

And Yu Ha-young, as Baek Yu-shin’s childhood friend.
Was a very important heroine.

To the extent that some story arcs even revolved around Yu Ha-young.

Thanks to that, Hyunwoo swallowed his tears of regret and used an item directly.

[You have used a Small Gem Box!]

[Yu Ha-young’s Affinity increased by 0!]

“W-what?!”

However, contrary to Hyunwoo’s thoughts.
Ha-young’s affinity did not increase.

Thanks to that, Hyunwoo had only wasted precious affinity items.

Ha-young finally frowned when he called her over but said nothing.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’ll leave.”

“W-wait a minute!”

However, Hyunwoo’s voice was already not reaching Ha-young at all.

Because she already had a more important place that she couldn’t lose.

Was it that he couldn’t believe he was being ignored by that easygoing Ha-young?

Hyunwoo hurriedly followed behind Ha-young.
Thanks to that, he saw.

“Didn’t you have something you wanted to talk about?”

“It was resolved quickly.
Shall we have lunch together?”

“Excellent!
Let’s strengthen our bond this time!”

“You, go back to your class now.”

The sight of Ha-young, her cheeks flushed, clinging to Yu-shin’s side once more.

And, before he knew it.
Even the sight of Selena, who had completely sided with Yu-shin.

Hyunwoo, who had been silently watching the scene from behind, bit his lip and thought.

‘How dare he steal my heroines…!!’

“I will never forgive him.”