61) Chapter 11. I Should Have Said Something (1)
And then we had to run. Really, really run.
Because our duel had taken place during lunch break.
And of course, the Academy’s lunch break was only one hour long. By the time we finished the duel and the instructors finished lecturing us, we had maybe five minutes left.
The kids who came to watch the fight sprinted too.
Upper‑class students seemed used to running back—they’d already slipped away while I was talking to the instructor. By the time I started running, the crowd had thinned a lot.
They could’ve warned me.
Well… interrupting an instructor mid‑lecture probably felt impossible.
We barely made it to the classroom, and ten seconds later the bell rang.
I bent over, panting, then lifted my head—
Hyeonji was in the exact same posture, gasping for breath.
She wiped the sweat from her forehead, then glanced at me. When our eyes met, she quickly looked away.
Still… that was better than how she looked at me yesterday.
There wasn’t time for conversation. We scrambled to our seats, and the teacher walked in soon after.
“What’s this? Why is everyone drenched in sweat?”
He opened his book on the podium, but the smirk tugging at his lips made it obvious he already knew.
Of course he knew. The duel had been announced over the school network. No way the staff missed it.
Naturally, class continued whether we were dying or not.
For the first ten minutes, my sweat refused to dry. It was awful.
Alright. Never again.
No duels during lunch break.
…Now I understood why the dueling hall had been empty.
*
I thought about wandering around campus again like yesterday, but I felt mentally tired.
The duel ended quickly, but the sprint afterward left lingering exhaustion.
“L‑Let’s just go back to the dorm today.”
“Yeah, I want to shower. I got sweaty earlier.”
“Me too.”
As I stood up, my eyes met Hyeonji’s.
How long had she been looking this way?
But she immediately looked away and hurriedly packed her things before leaving the classroom.
…Maybe she wanted to shower first? With four people sharing one bathroom, you had to move fast if you wanted to go first.
I scratched my cheek and turned—
“U‑Um.”
A very timid voice called out to me.
Jinwoo.
His face was still cute, and his build was normal—slightly taller than me—but somehow he looked small.
Probably because he was hugging his bag, shoulders curled inward, head lowered.
“Y‑Yeah?”
He startled me so much that I stuttered too.
“T‑Thanks… for earlier.”
“Oh. Yeah.”
I thought for a moment.
“…I didn’t like him either.”
That was all I said.
Honestly, I’d briefly considered befriending him—like Ji‑hye or Mirae from middle school, who were easy to get along with.
…but Soi and Chae‑yi’s stares were burning holes in my back. I couldn’t say anything more.
Why?
Were they overprotective? Worried I’d get tricked and hurt?
……
Well. “Tricked” might not be the right word.
But he was dangerous.
In the original story, Jinwoo didn’t just pull Seo Rua into his harem—he pulled in Im Soi and Moon Chae‑yi too.
Not intentionally, of course. The girls just flocked to him. He’d probably be horrified if he heard me say that.
Still, I didn’t want Soi or Chae‑yi anywhere near him.
“S‑So you don’t need to thank me.”
“O‑Okay.”
He nodded awkwardly.
“Let’s go.”
Soi tugged my arm.
Chae‑yi grabbed the other.
I was practically escorted out of the classroom.
…If they did this in front of everyone, wouldn’t people get the wrong idea?
Even as I was dragged out, I felt countless eyes on my back. It was embarrassing.
*
When we returned to the dorm—
Hyeonji was already there.
She hadn’t showered yet. She was still in her uniform.
She just sat at her desk, staring at an open book.
Her eyes were on the page, but she wasn’t reading.
It looked like she was waiting for something—but didn’t want to sit there doing nothing, so she pretended to read.
When we opened the door, she flinched.
I awkwardly avoided her gaze and sat on my bed. Soi and Chae‑yi immediately sat on either side of me.
“……”
If I didn’t speak, neither of them spoke.
We already knew each other too well. We didn’t need to talk about what happened today.
It was like those long‑term couples who go on dates and just stare at their phones. They’ve already shared everything; there’s nothing left to say.
“Hmm…”
When it was just the three of us, we could lie down and scroll on our phones. But with all four of us here, that felt awkward.
“D‑Do you want to shower first?”
“Oh my, Rua, asking someone to shower first? How indecent.”
“……”
“Huh? Indecent? Why is showering indecent?”
At Chae‑yi’s comment, Hyeonji’s shoulders twitched. Soi tilted her head.
I looked at Hyeonji.
She giggled at my expression, then stood up.
“Then I’ll shower first.”
Chae‑yi obediently got up.
She went into the bathroom. Silence returned.
Only the sound of running water broke the quiet.
Eventually, Hyeonji stood.
I thought she was leaving the room again—but she walked toward me instead.
Not toward her bed.
Toward me.
Was this her disciplinary‑officer‑to‑be mode? Telling us not to do anything indecent in the dorm? To behave properly?
But that was a misunderstanding. Soi and Chae‑yi didn’t have those kinds of feelings for me. They were just treating me like a younger sibling they couldn’t leave alone.
I scrambled to think of how to explain—
“You went to help that Jinwoo kid, right?”
“Ah—that, um, it’s like… sisterly affection?”
“Rua, that’s definitely not what she meant.”
“Oh.”
My face burned.
Hyeonji rubbed her forehead.
Her expression said, I have so much to say about that, but I’ll ignore it for now.
“So, you wanted to help him?”
“…Yeah.”
I lowered my head.
I couldn’t say it that honestly in front of Jinwoo.
It wasn’t that I felt especially comfortable with Hyeonji. It was more like… lying to her felt like it would cause even worse misunderstandings.
“And that’s why you challenged him to a duel?”
I shook my head.
“No, that wasn’t it. That was because he talked about Auntie Yujin—Soi’s mom.”
“…You three live together, right.”
“We’re not just living together. We’re sisters.”
Her expression said she had many thoughts about that, but she let it go again.
“Can I ask something?”
“Y‑Yeah.”
“Did you want to come to this Academy?”
I paused.
Did I?
…Yes.
But not to meet the protagonist, or enjoy the events of this world. Those fantasies died back in middle school.
I just… wanted to go to school with Soi and Chae‑yi.
It had to be better than middle school.
As long as I didn’t get involved with the protagonist, it would be fine.
Everyone here was new. I could start over.
“Yeah.”
So yes—I wanted to come.
“…Is there something you want here? Something you want to do?”
Her voice was softer. Not like yesterday. Just genuine curiosity.
“Me? I…”
I tapped my fingertips together.
“I… um.”
There was one thing.
But saying it felt embarrassing.
Because what I wanted was… to be popular.
A normal high school dream.
I didn’t get to enjoy that in my past life. Now I had a second chance.
I wanted to enjoy it—brightly, happily.
But Soi was staring at me intensely, and Hyeonji was standing right in front of me.
Saying “I want to be popular” felt mortifying.
So instead—
“F‑Friends.”
“Friends?”
“I want to make frieeends…”
My face burned as I bowed my head.
“…or something like that.”
I tacked on the first ending that came to mind.
And immediately regretted it.
Ah. I should’ve just gone to shower first.
Not that it would’ve changed anything. She would’ve asked eventually.
In the long silence that followed, I kept my head down, sweating nervously.