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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Reilan Claudia, the chairman of the academy.
She sighed while feeling as if she had aged ten years.
The places Kang So-hyun had directed her to were filled with various villains and monsters lying in wait, and the search party organized to find Cathy was tied up preventing terrorist attacks.
She briefly suspected him, but after hearing from those who recovered first, she realized that the possibility was low. He must have also fallen into a trap.
Information was always fluid.
Even those with future sight couldn’t perfectly avoid the future, and since he said he only heard the information from someone else, it was even more plausible in his case.
“Anyway, you did a good job this time.”
If she hadn’t returned at the right time, and if she hadn’t rescued them on-site, Reilan Academy would have been greatly shaken once again.
No, being shaken was the least of her worries then.
If three boys with such brilliant talents had disappeared? The thought alone was terrifying.
“No, it was something I had to do, so there’s no need for thanks.”
She spoke as if she had simply done what she had to do, but if everyone could do what they had to do, this world would be running without any problems.
The chairman thought highly of the girl before her, but she felt a little disappointed.
Because her motives were closer to utilitarianism than justice.
She acted because it was the right thing to do, but the foundation of her actions wasn’t a sense of justice or hope.
She acted as a hero because, in her opinion, good deeds contributed to the happiness of the majority, because it was rational.
Even so, she couldn’t find fault with her as she produced results and did everything she recognized as necessary without any problems.
Although she felt sorry for the broken girl, there wasn’t much she could do for her.
“So, I heard you successfully handled the mission you were assigned. What are you planning to do next? Are you returning immediately?”
“No.”
Hmm? That was unexpected.
She was in a rather special position where she didn’t have an attendance requirement at the academy, so she always left for another mission as soon as her current mission was over.
Whether it was eliminating villains or subjugating monsters, it didn’t matter to her.
“There’s a cadet I want to meet.”
“A cadet…?”
It was hard to believe those words came from her, who had little interest in the academy itself, let alone the cadets.
“Yes, I’m planning to meet the cadet who dealt with the villain Seo In-young, no, Latis Erbashun.”
“Kang So-hyun?”
“Yes?”
“Ah, my mistake. Are you talking about Cadet Kang So-hyun?”
Her composure momentarily faltered due to surprise, but the Chairman didn’t pry.
As expected of her, who was generally indifferent to others, but that made it even more puzzling.
Why Kang So-hyun?
“Since I have the excuse of rescuing him from this incident, it wouldn’t be strange for me to visit him at the hospital. I have a few things I want to ask him.”
Baek Seol, the student council president of Reilan Academy, said so and bowed to the Chairman.
“Huh…”
Kang So-hyun.
She didn’t think there would be any problems with this, but why did she have a feeling that it was a strangely mismatched combination?
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Have you ever felt like you might die from someone’s gaze?
I have.
When? When else but now?
If gazes had physical force, I would have been pierced to death just now.
It would have been fine if they glared at me or expressed their annoyance…
But I was innocent here.
We weren’t in a relationship or anything, and since we just came from a major incident, Professor Cathy could hug me, right? Right?
People do strange things when their emotions run high.
She was brainwashed and fought me, almost turning me into a donut in the process, so she must have felt both sorry and grateful!
Sniffle.
The problem was that even if I wanted to explain that to the others, the credibility was quite low since Professor Cathy was still clinging to my abdomen.
“Sob…”
Ah, her breath occasionally brushed against my stomach, and it was a bit…
It was hard to put into words, but there was something…
“Well, what can I do? It’s not like… It’s not true. I clearly explained it.”
Whenever I denied that Cathy and I were in that kind of relationship, the pressure on my abdomen seemed to intensify, but what wasn’t true wasn’t true.
“Hey, So-hyun.”
“What?”
“A strong denial is an affirmation…”
“Shut up.”
Lilac tried to lighten the heavy mood with a joke, but his sense of humor was catastrophic.
Ga-eul, who was looking at me with wavering eyes, was on the verge of tears, and even Ha-ni, who would normally tease me excitedly, glared at Lilac, seemingly displeased.
“Everyone hates me…”
Only Yoo-na seemed to see this as an opportunity and patted Lilac’s shoulder consolingly, but perhaps because she still had some conscience left, she couldn’t bring herself to say it was okay.
She really thought of us as friends, huh? If it were like before, she would have chewed us out for picking on Lilac.
Well, it was a small but good change.
It would be great if our depressed professor could also come to her senses.
Ha-ni, seemingly contemplating something, sighed and spoke in a rather blunt tone.
“Hey.”
She said that she realized the situation after the first class ended and chased after us with Yoo-na and Joo-ri.
Of course, they didn’t know our exact location, so they helped subdue the terrorist attack that occurred nearby and ended up seeing us all collapsed and rescued.
“I’ll give Ga-eul a pass. But why did you only take those two? Are Yoo-na and I not your friends too? Or do you think I wouldn’t be helpful?”
So it was okay to leave Ga-eul behind…?
Well, that was true.
Even Ga-eul herself seemed to acknowledge that she was weak, as she nodded tearfully.
Strictly speaking, I didn’t leave them behind.
I was originally planning to go alone, but Lilac and Cheon Yoo-hak tagged along, and honestly, I thought the two of them would be more than enough.
Did I expect that even with two protagonists, the three of us would be beaten up and hospitalized after ganging up on her?
Well, of course, nothing would have changed even if Ha-ni was there.
That red-haired woman wasn’t an opponent the current them could handle.
Well, based on the original story, perhaps future Lilac, who had been rolling around with all sorts of villains for five years after graduating from the academy just before the story was dropped, or future Cheon Yoo-hak, who had half of his body taken over by another being, could have put up a fight, but I still wasn’t sure if they could win.
Was it a bug?
This was a messed-up novel where villains were depicted as much stronger than the heroes, but this was too much.
Now he’s even dragging in characters who weren’t even in this novel?
Perhaps the only one in this world who could properly resist that woman was the final boss of this novel, who only appeared once in the original story?
“…So? The result would have been the same even if I was there?”
Huh?
I was momentarily lost in thought, and Ha-ni, seemingly frustrated by my silence which she interpreted as my agreement, clenched her fists.
Although I wasn’t silent for that reason, it was true, so I couldn’t deny it.
Even Lilac, who would normally comfort Ha-ni, and Cheon Yoo-hak, who would normally show confidence while saying that they could win next time, didn’t say anything.
This must have been the first time our geniuses experienced such an overwhelming defeat.
Lilac would be even more frustrated since he had just vowed to become stronger.
It was a bit absurd, considering I started this mastermind act to prevent them from feeling like this.
But it wasn’t completely hopeless.
Although their faces were filled with complicated emotions, they weren’t giving up or despairing.
Because the two protagonists of this novel were characters who never gave up in the face of crises or trials, always growing stronger.
The two boys would rise up again and find the answer.
They would learn from their defeat, grow, and move forward.
So the only remaining problem was that I didn’t have a way to break this awkward silence.
As the hospital room became awkwardly quiet…
The door opened again with a click.
There shouldn’t be anyone else visiting today. Were my sister or father here? As I looked at the door, a woman with mystical silver hair was standing there.
I immediately recognized her.
I had seen her several times in the text, and she was also one of the few characters with illustrations in my friend’s novel.
Silver hair, almost white, and silver eyes with a hint of blue.
“Hello. I couldn’t greet you properly at the time I rescued you, so I’m here now. This is our first time meeting like this, right?”
A businesslike attitude that seemed polite yet incredibly indifferent.
“Although I rescued the three of you, there’s no need for thanks. There wasn’t much of a fight.”
The student council president of Reilan Academy, and a character who held the highest rank a student could achieve, a B-rank hero.
Her actual skills were considered to be above A-rank, and in the original story, she was the one who helped the protagonists and beat the pervert elf to death.
Baek Seol.
She, whom the few readers called the true protagonist, was standing before me.
And even I thought the expression I was making wasn’t something you would direct at your savior.
I immediately put on a poker face, so no one but her would have seen it, but she definitely saw my face contorting in disgust.
I thought it would be normal for her to get angry immediately, but she smiled gently and approached us.
“You juniors who haven’t even received your hero rankings yet pushed yourselves too hard.”
She sounded concerned, but it was just a learned tone of voice.
She was just imitating it because she learned that this was what a good senior, a reliable hero, should do.
“But you did well.”
I didn’t like it. It annoyed me.
It was a feeling I had because I knew who the model for this character was, and recalling her actions in the original story amplified that feeling.
I felt my carefully constructed poker face crumbling, and my expression turning sour again.
She, the character called Baek Seol, was the character I hated the most in this messed-up novel.
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Baek Seol always preferred rational actions.
Two was better than one, and creating was better than destroying.
She didn’t want to do anything that didn’t benefit her, and she disliked both harming others and being harmed herself.
After arguing with her peers several times due to her originally indifferent personality, she even reprogrammed her personality through learning, judging it to be irrational and unproductive.
Fortunately, as time went on, she became a rational person.
Her innate appearance was beautiful, and she could manage everything else by imitating what others were good at.
No, rather, she could only produce good results.
A perfect human, some said.
A proud child, others said.
A more righteous hero candidate than anyone else, some said.
That was their evaluation of the person called Baek Seol.
After awakening her talent and trait, that evaluation intensified.
Everyone, except those from her childhood, showed affection and gratitude towards her.
She learned the concept of humility and always acted humbly because she knew it often produced rational results.
So this was a first for her.
They were definitely the boys she had saved.
Whether it was because of her beautiful appearance, rumors, or even because they remembered the kindness she showed them, most people looked at her with favor.
There were some who looked at her with jealousy or envy, but it never lasted long.
But the hostility mixed in the gaze of the boy looking directly at her wasn’t so light.
Where had she felt this before?
Ah, at the scene.
Was this the look people who lost their families to villains because the heroes were late gave to the villains, or sometimes, to the late heroes?
It was similar, but a bit different.
It was closer to contempt than resentment, closer to simple disgust than contempt.
Ah, no, it wasn’t so lukewarm.
It was more similar to the emotions villains directed at her.
Realizing that, she smiled gently.
Although she wasn’t used to being disliked, it wasn’t rational or efficient to get angry at them in return.
The boy’s face contorted once again at her smile.
Seeing that, Baek Seol became strangely intrigued.
At first, she just wanted to ask him about how he knew Seo In-young’s, Latis Erbashun’s, identity to prepare for similar incidents, but not anymore.
Her learning should have been perfect.
‘Why do you hate me so much?’
She wanted to ask him that.
If it weren’t for the others around them, she would have asked him right away.
She opened her mouth while feeling strangely disappointed.
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T/N – Yo, another harem candidate? I’m gonna be honest though, I can see why the MC hates her character. Humans are emotional creatures, and while we can be very rational when we want to be, we are not meant to be so robotically rational like this Baek Seol girl. Such characters are not really relatable, hence quite disliked by most people.
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
