54) Chapter 9. Do You Want Me to Be a Villain? (6)
“Who are you calling gloomy?”
Soi shot back immediately.
“What?”
“You said she’s gloomy. But who are you to say that?”
The boy frowned, as if he couldn’t understand what she meant. Soi drove her words in like a nail.
“You’re picking a fight because we look easy, aren’t you? You’ve been doing it since yesterday. You think we won’t push back, so you’re just here to blow off steam, right?”
“No, I—”
“Soi, wait.”
“No, let go for a second.”
I grabbed her arm, but she brushed my hand off.
“You’re just going to let this go? Look at his face. Does he look like someone who’ll say ‘thank you for letting it slide’ and reflect on it? He looks gloomy and cowardly. He’ll be like this all year.”
“…”
She didn’t say it outright, but I knew what emotion was behind her eyes.
I… dropped out of middle school. Because I hated being ostracized.
I gave up on transferring because the video spread online. I figured I’d be treated the same anywhere else.
If I wasn’t treated like a plague, that would’ve been lucky. If anyone messed with me, the witch might appear. No one would want to be friends with someone like that.
So I hoped time would fix everything.
…In the original, at least Seo Rua wasn’t the one being ostracized.
Maybe because she chose to be the one doing the ostracizing.
“I…”
I tried to say something. To stop Soi. To redirect everyone’s attention.
Yesterday had already drawn too many eyes.
But my words got stuck.
No one silenced me. No one interrupted.
I just saw Soi’s face.
That expression.
Soi almost never cried in front of me. She always smiled brightly and dragged me around.
Maybe she held back her tears on purpose. There’s no way she never wanted to cry.
Right now, she looked frustrated—but her eyes looked like they’d spill tears if I touched her.
Soi had been so excited for us to attend middle school together. She wanted us to wear matching uniforms, make lots of friends, go out during breaks.
But because I quit school, she had to give all that up.
Even if she made friends on her own, she couldn’t bring them home to hang out with me.
So even if she never said it—
Maybe she was afraid I’d quit school again.
Afraid she’d come home to find me sitting alone in my room again.
When I stayed silent, her expression grew more complicated. Then she turned sharply toward the boy, as if she’d unleash everything on him.
“Hey.”
But before she could shout, Chae‑yi stepped in front of him.
The three of us were about the same height—not short, but not tall either.
The boy, on the other hand, was big. His delinquent‑like outfit suited him a little too well.
Being big didn’t mean he could fight, but this was an academy. He’d said his parents were heroes. He probably trained like we did.
Poke.
Chae‑yi jabbed his chest with her finger. Not playfully—hard enough to make him stumble back.
“What did Rua do to you?”
Poke, poke.
She jabbed him again.
“What?”
He looked startled, then met her eyes and fell silent.
“What did Rua do to you?”
“N‑nothing.”
“If she didn’t do anything, why do you keep trying to mess with her?”
Her voice was calm.
Press.
Her slightly grown nails dug into his shirt.
He stepped back.
I tilted my head without thinking.
Was Chae‑yi… always this strong?
Well, in terms of ability, she was strong. She could cancel other people’s powers. The stronger the opponent’s power, the more dangerous hers became.
But that didn’t mean she had superhuman strength. Canceling someone’s power didn’t give her a physical advantage.
“You—why are you defending her? Don’t tell me you’re also a witch—”
“Hey.”
Chae‑yi cut him off again.
The moment he said “witch,” cold sweat ran down my back. I remembered every moment she came for me.
Grabbing my hair and throwing me to the floor when I refused to go.
Releasing flocks of birds into classrooms without a second thought.
Seeing the world only through her own desires, ignoring everyone else’s feelings.
“So I’m asking. Did Rua hurt you? Did she hit you? Did she threaten you? Did she steal something? No, right? Then why do you keep coming over here to pick a fight?”
“…”
My mouth fell open.
Was Chae‑yi… always like this? In front of me, she was always—
“Exactly.”
Soi stepped forward again.
“W‑wait, guys—”
And suddenly, I was standing behind two girls who were shielding me like bodyguards.
Should I step forward again?
“What did Rua ever do to you? She hasn’t even talked to you once. Yesterday, the only thing she said in class was her introduction. Who are you to get mad and throw a tantrum at her?”
Tantrum?
“You can’t even greet someone properly when you first meet them, and you come here acting like a jerk?”
Jerk?
Wait—did they always talk like this?
Not in front of me…
“…”
The boy, overwhelmed by their intensity, opened and closed his mouth like a fish.
“What? Want to get beaten up? Oh, right. The academy allows duel requests, doesn’t it? Want to try? Want to get hung upside down in front of everyone with your clothes burned off?”
Uh—no, no.
That did happen in the original. Soi threatened to burn the protagonist’s clothes with her power.
But that was when misunderstandings had piled up and his reputation was already ruined—and because he’d been manipulated by Seo Rua.
But I haven’t done anything. It’s only the second day. Why are we already at this stage?
And more importantly—Soi said that so naturally…
“That sounds fun. Good idea—for you.”
Chae‑yi snorted.
For you?
Weren’t they supposed to be bickering but close friends?
My brain was taking hit after hit.
“What are you talking about? My ideas are always good. Yours are always too extreme.”
Too extreme?
“Guys?”
When I murmured, both girls flinched.
They turned to me quickly and waved their hands.
“Kidding, kidding.”
“Just trying to scare him. Yeah. Just scare him.”
“R‑right?”
I had honestly thought they talked like this all the time.
But no—they always told me they were doing fine at school. They showed me pictures. Smiling with friends, arms around each other. Even their graduation photos were like that.
“Anyway.”
They turned back to the boy.
“So? Want a duel? You’re not going to refuse a challenge from girls, right? That’d hurt your pride.”
“…”
He hesitated, then opened his mouth—
“By the way, we’ll both fight you.”
—Soi cut in.
“Because you thought we were easy, right? You picked a fight whether we were here or not. So you must’ve thought you could beat all three of us alone.”
“What?”
He looked shaken.
People in the hallway turned to look.
They weren’t taking it too seriously—supers weren’t judged by gender when it came to strength.
But they were definitely interested.
This wasn’t our classroom. It was the hallway. Lots of students from other classes were here.
So hearing “he picked a fight with those three yesterday” could easily be blown out of proportion.
“I mean—”
“Oh, I get it. You only pick on girls who can’t fight back, right? Rua’s timid, so she won’t argue. And you use something that didn’t even happen as an excuse? Is that what your parents taught you?”
That was the final blow.
His face flushed red and blue.
His fists clenched. He looked like he was about to lunge—
Poke.
But before he could move, Chae‑yi jabbed his chest again.
He froze.
Ah. I see.
She’d been using her ability this whole time.
Some abilities could be turned on and off, like hers and Soi’s. Others were innate—like enhanced durability or hardened skin.
But those were still powers.
If his ability was something like that, then Chae‑yi was his worst possible matchup.
If he relied on that ability for physical training, then losing it would make all that training meaningless.
“…What’s going on?”
The students surrounding us stepped aside.
Hyeonji stood there.
She must’ve noticed something happening behind her and come back.
She saw Soi, Chae‑yi, and the boy facing off, and frowned.
“…You. Doing this again.”
“H‑hey. Baek Hyeonji.”
The boy looked relieved and frustrated at the same time.
“You have something to say too, right? Since yesterday—”
“If I have something to say, shouldn’t I be the one to say it?”
He froze.
“Why do you keep bringing it up?”
“…”
She looked at him with deep disappointment, then turned to me.
I gave her an awkward smile and a small wave.
She sighed softly and turned away.
Um… what?
She had something to say?
I looked at Soi and Chae‑yi, but they were just as confused.
They shrugged, then turned back to the boy.
“So? What’s it going to be?”
Get dragged to the duel arena and beaten until dust flies—
Or sit quietly in the corner of the classroom from now on.
Pick one.
They kept at him for over ten minutes until a passing teacher intervened.
…Um.
This was…
A little scary.
It wasn’t even trauma from this life—my previous life’s trauma almost resurfaced.
*
*
*
Hyeonji returned to the dorm room.
Of the four beds, only two showed signs of use. Her own bed on the bottom bunk—neatly made, but still showing faint traces of sleep.
And the other bottom bunk—Seo Rua’s.
…It wasn’t tidy.
And strangely, even after hours had passed, she could almost imagine warmth still lingering there.
Remembering the three of them squeezing into that tiny bed, she frowned.
Rua herself didn’t seem that bad. At least, not as bad as the rumors.
If anything, the two girls clinging to her—Im Soi and Moon Chae‑yi—looked worse than the rumors.
Rumors said they were delinquents who got dragged around by the troublemaker Seo Rua, bullying their old classmates.
In the rumors, Seo Rua was an absurdly violent school bully.
Were the rumors believable? Or completely unreliable?
Maybe they were exaggerated because of Soi and Chae‑yi.
…Or maybe internet rumors were never trustworthy to begin with.
“…Ha.”
Hyeonji sighed and pulled out her textbooks for the afternoon.
Then her eyes drifted to a box on the shelf.
“….”
She opened it.
Inside were envelopes she had already read many times.
…She hated Seo Rua.
No matter how many letters she read, she couldn’t bring herself to like her.
She didn’t want to forgive her.
She didn’t even know if she had the right to forgive—but her feelings were clear.
“….”
She closed the box and thought:
So Baek Hyeonji, what are you trying to do?
You asked the academy to assign you to the same room. Why?
That alone broke the rules—using personal connections to influence room assignments.
Now that you’re in the same room, what do you want to see?
Do you want to catch her doing something bad? Bullying someone? Planning something?
…So you can feel relieved?
So you can justify hating her?
“Ha…”
Leaning against the shelf, she sighed deeply.
And thought:
So is that what you want?
For Seo Rua… to be a villain?
“…So you can hate her without guilt?”
Was that really it?
*
*
*
A word from the author (A/N):
I’m so sorry… it’s really late ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
Thank you for reading today as well!
=
To eternalyg — thank you so much for your support!
Thank you always for reading my work! I’ll keep working hard so Rua can continue getting thoroughly rubbed and spoiled by Soi and Chae‑yi! The emoticons are currently in production! I think I’ll be able to upload them soon! Being able to commission illustrations and write new stories like this is all thanks to you readers who enjoy my writing! Thank you so much! I’ll continue doing my best to write stories that are worth your time! I look forward to your continued support!