Chapter 34

Chapter 34

The male student dormitory, Seo Hyun-woo's room.

The moment the school day ended, Seo Hyun-woo returned straight to the dormitory and collapsed onto his bed.

His muscles felt as though they had been twisted, and the mana within his body had been nearly drained.

The fatigue weighing down his entire body seemed to be telling him to just go to sleep.

'As I thought, Baek Jeong-woon came to Miterich because of Baek Seo-yeon. Otherwise, he wouldn't have smiled and said he owed me an apology.'

Seo Hyun-woo slowly sat up and climbed off the bed.

He stripped off his clothes and headed for the bathroom.

His head was a tangled mess from the earlier spar, and he wanted to snap back to his senses.

'Baek Jeong-woon was clearly satisfied with how I handled things. Since I stood in front of Baek Seo-yeon in that situation, he must have thought I was trying to protect her.'

Seo Hyun-woo turned on the hot water and let it run over his head.

It was a spar that didn't exist in the original story, and it had brought about unexpected results.

But through an appropriate response, hadn't he earned at least some trust from Baek Jeong-woon?

'But he came on way too strong from the start. Even accounting for the Barrier System, it was a bit much. And at the end, he was about to completely ignore the Barrier System. Was he taking his frustration out on me?'

Seo Hyun-woo scowled and washed his face repeatedly.

Baek Jeong-woon was somewhat blunt, but he wasn't inflexible.

It was probably less about venting and more about trying to intimidate him a little or size him up.

'At least I got Baek Jeong-woon's phone number. Han Yu-jeong knows I went through a lot. As for Baek Seo-yeon.........'

Seo Hyun-woo couldn't reach a conclusion right away and tilted his head.

What did Baek Seo-yeon think of his actions?

She was probably agonizing over it, trying to figure out his intentions.

'......She'll probably see it favorably. Or she might think I've lost my mind.'

Seo Hyun-woo wore a faint smile and lowered his gaze.

It was an action that was bound to be misunderstood, but he hoped she could cut him some slack.

His opponent had been Baek Jeong-woon, and at the end, the man had been about to use a considerably powerful technique.

'Still, she'll be more drawn to Kang Jin-ha than to me. There's no particular reason. It's always been that way.'

***

Miterich's personal training room.

Baek Seo-yeon stood before a training dummy, simply staring at it.

Normally, she would have been conducting training at her limits, gradually increasing the intensity of her electrical current.

But today, she had absolutely no desire to train.

'The President blocked the glass window. More precisely, he stood in front of me. Why? Why did he do that?'

Baek Seo-yeon sank to the ground with a grave expression.

She couldn't make sense of the action Seo Hyun-woo had shown during the spar.

She wanted to dismiss it as a misunderstanding, but the image from that moment kept flickering before her eyes.

'My uncle doesn't create problems without thinking. The fight just went on too long, and he lost control of his power just slightly. But the President wouldn't have known that. So then.........'

Baek Seo-yeon buried her head in thought.

The reason Seo Hyun-woo had acted that way was all too clear.

He must have stood in front of her because he thought she might get hurt.

'Did I look that weak to him? Or was it that he didn't trust my uncle? Or maybe he.........'

Baek Seo-yeon felt her mind go blank for an instant and sprang to her feet.

She activated Archangel Descent and produced silver wings and a crown.

If she trained until her body and mind were exhausted, all stray thoughts would surely vanish.

CRACKLE—! HISS.......

But her body wouldn't cooperate.

Without realizing it, she was releasing mana with everything she had.

As a result, the current's intensity surged, and the training dummy was reduced to nothing but ash.

'I must be mistaken. There's no way the President would show his true feelings in front of other people.'

Baek Seo-yeon belatedly came to her senses and disposed of the ashen training dummy.

She brought out a new one and set it up in the center of the training room.

Baek Seo-yeon slowly backed away and steadied her breathing.

'What the President thinks is none of my business. I just have to act the same as always.'

Baek Seo-yeon loosened up and fixed her gaze on the training dummy.

At the same time, she flicked her hand and fired a silver current.

CRACKLE—! FLASH—!

'......This isn't working. I should stop for today. This isn't helping.'

Baek Seo-yeon deactivated Archangel Descent and picked up the training dummy.

The current's intensity had decreased, but it didn't matter.

One of the current's strands had surged violently and cleaved the training dummy clean in half.

'Should I send the President a message or something? I did apologize already, but my uncle might have upset him.'

Baek Seo-yeon retrieved the smartphone sitting on the chair and turned on the screen.

At the top of the screen, notification messages from ChocolateTalk were piled up in abundance.

Min Ha-young or Lee Da-jeong had probably been filling the chat with pointless messages.

'Must be nice, living without a care in the world. Doing useless things like this, ignoring announcements, never thinking about anything.........'

Baek Seo-yeon continued to think of words she could never bring herself to say aloud and opened the ChocolateTalk group chat.

As expected, the chat was packed with pointless messages.

And as if that weren't enough, the conversation had been going on and on about her.

[Scarlet Lord (19:02) : (Video)]

[Scarlet Lord (19:02) : Anyone seen this?]

[Irev Kanashuel (19:03) : What is it?]

[Scarlet Lord (19:03) : The promotional video the President and Vice President filmed together.]

[Irev Kanashuel (19:04) : Oh, so this is the one.]

'What a wonderful find. The Transformation Department Head is always ruining the mood in the group chat like this. Does she want attention that badly?'

Baek Seo-yeon scrolled down without watching the video.

She had already seen the promotional video through the chairman.

She couldn't bear to watch it to the end, which was why she had done nothing but regret becoming a promotional model.

[Aeturnus Stella (19:12) : Not bad? The CG work turned out well.]

[Scarlet Lord (19:12) : Isn't it kind of cheesy? Why'd they go with a concept like that?]

[Irev Kanashuel (19:13) : I think it's pretty in its own way, isn't it? It really looks like angels coming down to bring hope.]

[Scarlet Lord (19:13) : Why is she so sentimental? You need to look at the practical side. If it were me, I'd be too embarrassed to do it.]

'......Keep it together. Getting worked up here will only hurt me. They'll just say I'm getting upset over nothing and get under my skin.'

Baek Seo-yeon barely steadied her faintly twitching fingers and continued scrolling.

Frankly, there weren't many Department Heads she could have a real conversation with.

If she had to pick the decent ones, wouldn't it be Choi Jae-yeon and Yoo Si-eun?

[Seo Hyun-woo (19:15) : I think the chairman would be a little hurt if she saw this conversation.]

[Scarlet Lord (19:15) : Why bring that up all of a sudden? We should be able to say at least this much, shouldn't we?]

[Seo Hyun-woo (19:15) : That only applies when the Vice President and I aren't in this chat. Is that really something you say in front of the people who filmed the promotional video?]

[Choi Jae-yeon (19:16) : The President's right on this one. If you're not going to compliment, it's better to stay quiet.]

'......As expected, the President didn't stay quiet. The Enhancement Department Head is backing him up, too.'

Baek Seo-yeon showed a faint smile before quickly returning to her usual expression.

Seo Hyun-woo always had composure to spare and knew precisely when to step in and when not to.

On top of that, he had charisma and overwhelming skill, so no one could easily talk back.

[Scarlet Lord (19:17) : The President is oppressing an innocent student. I said the promotional video was a little off, not that I was disrespecting the President and Vice President.]

[Aeturnus Stella (19:17) : You should probably stop now.]

[Jin Se-hee (19:18) : Don't do something you'll regret. The President isn't wrong.]

'Even the Attribute Department Head is chiming in. She's close with the Transformation Department Head, so she probably wants to rein her in somehow.'

Baek Seo-yeon recalled the way Seo Hyun-woo had handled things at the morning meeting and nodded slightly.

He let trivial matters slide, but the moment a line was crossed, he reprimanded sternly.

They had all experienced it once already, so they were probably trying to exercise caution in advance.

[Irev Kanashuel (19:19) : The mood's getting bad. Want to hear a song I recorded?]

[Irev Kanashuel (19:19) : (Music)]

Baek Seo-yeon hesitated for a moment before playing the audio.

She hadn't liked the behavior Irev had shown before, but that was already in the past.

Right now, as fellow Student Council officers, she had to treat Irev the same as the other Department Heads.

'......She sings well. I suppose a beautiful voice means good singing, too.'

From the smartphone, a sorrowful, heavy melody played alongside a beautiful voice.

It seemed to be a ballad, a typical love song.

Even so, the contrast between the melody and the voice lent it a peculiar charm.

[Seo Hyun-woo (19:25) : Not bad at all. It's rare to find someone who sings ballads well.]

[Irev Kanashuel (19:25) : Ballad songs don't come out much these days. So whenever I have time, I look for different ones and try singing them.]

[Choi Jae-yeon (19:26) : That's a pretty high level for a hobby.]

[Irev Kanashuel (19:16) : Thank you for the compliment. I'll keep working hard at it.]

After that, the chat went completely silent.

The only ones who had shown interest in Irev's singing were Seo Hyun-woo and Choi Jae-yeon.

Perhaps the other Department Heads simply had no interest, or perhaps they were secretly impressed by the unexpectedly good voice and pretending otherwise.

'She must have shared it at that timing on purpose. She wants attention from the President, after all.'

Baek Seo-yeon still had not forgotten what Irev had said.

Hadn't she challenged her to a Rank Battle, claiming she wanted to see the Student Council President up close?

It had been a statement ripe for controversy, but depending on how you interpreted the answer, the controversy could easily be avoided.

'What a sly girl. She openly appeals to the President while checking other people's reactions at the same time? The singing is self-explanatory. Acting innocent while trying to win the President's heart?'

***

Inside the Student Council President's office.

Seo Hyun-woo was staring at the calendar displayed on his monitor, lost in thought.

Today was June 12th, and tomorrow would be his birthday.

In other words, that incident was bound to occur, and according to the story's flow, there would inevitably be casualties.

'......Today, every student working in the Student Council's dedicated secretarial office will die at Kim Sung-tae's hands. Kim Sung-tae will try to flee and get caught. Should I let the students die? Or should I save them, if only for Baek Seo-yeon's sake?'