I Became the Academy’s Heroine Stalker – Chapter 3

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Chaos
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‘I hope we don’t make eye contact.’

I quickly turned on my phone and opened a search app I never used, and buried my head in it.

I knew better than anyone what the relationship between Hanna and Tae-jin was like in the original story.

To her, Han Tae-jin was a loser who wasn’t quite a friend, not quite a stranger, but definitely an irritating and smelly presence.

[Ugh, would you mind washing up? Should I buy you some body wash?]

And among the main heroines, she had the most prickly personality..

Because of this, she received quite a bit of hate, but after being reformed by the protagonist in the latter half of the story, Hanna’s character flourished, becoming the *true* heroine.

When her illustration was released, depicting her beautiful appearance with long, rose-colored hair reaching her waist and contrasting blue eyes, public opinion shifted in her favor.

[Ah, I can understand now.]

[With a face like that, I should be grateful even if she curses me out.]

[Heeung, Noona, scold me too.] [T/N: Noona = Sister]

[Hanna, do whatever you want.]

Comments like that.

Even in the original novel, Hanna’s beauty was said to outshine the other three, so there was no need for further explanation.

Even now, that was the case.

The cadets sitting behind Hanna, who was relatively close to the front, were blatantly ogling her.

Besides her personality, another distinctive trait was that she was the only daughter of the famous S-rank tanker, Han Baek-ho, and came from a chaebol family with wealth rivaling tycoons.
[T/N: Chaebol = Conglomerate]

Wasn’t that quite distinctive?

The only daughter of a chaebol family, who should be riding in a private limousine, was taking a bumpy, unpaved bus to school, a ride that felt rougher than any off-road adventure.

*Thump thump.*

The bus went over a speed bump without slowing down, causing my butt to bounce significantly.

‘Is it the driver’s problem, or the bus’s?’

I didn’t know.

It wasn’t particularly important.

Anyway, there was something even more distinctive about Hanna.

The reason behind her taking the bus wasn’t some grand conflict with her father, but simply because she was an attention seeker.

As the only daughter of one of Korea’s few S-rank hunters, Hanna had grown up surrounded by attention and interest from birth.

She enjoyed it, unashamedly, as if she had a face of steel. She was still keeping up this persona.

[Hmph. How pathetic. I may be a celestial dragon, but I’m magnanimous enough to enjoy the lives of you lower-class commoners.]

Something like that.

Because of this, Hanna was quite famous at the academy.

《The Chaebol Heiress Who Rides the Public Bus》

Just the title alone hinted at a deep story and was quite intriguing.

However, to me, the sight of her looking out the window with a melancholic gaze while wearing earphones was just a performance.

‘If this were the old Han Tae-jin, he’d be frantically snapping pictures right now.’

Of course, he would have taken them silently with his phone.

I looked up at the window again.

It was best to avoid getting involved with Hanna.

Only the outstanding ‘protagonist’ could handle a main heroine who was both an attention seeker and rude.

Moreover, her skills were exceptional, with an average of A- in both theory and practical evaluations, making her one of the top students in the academy.

If I caught Hanna’s attention, I would undoubtedly be crushed.

Unless, of course, I blackmailed her with nude photos of her showering, like Han Tae-jin did in the latter half of the story.

‘Forget it, I should get some sleep.’

After finishing my mental briefing on Hanna, I crossed my arms and closed my eyes.

I hadn’t slept well last night, so my eyelids felt heavy.

Why did I always get so sleepy on the bus?

Was the driver deliberately hitting the accelerator and brakes to recreate the comforting rocking motion of a mother’s womb?

As if hypnotized, my eyelids grew heavier, and the sounds around me became muffled.

‘Hmm… there’s still 30 minutes left…’

Since the National Hunter Academy was the stop before the last one, someone would wake me up even if I fell into a deep sleep.

More than 90% of the bus passengers were academy cadets.

‘Okay… *yawn*…’

Just like that, I gradually drifted off into a hazy slumber.

Even if I reached the last stop, I only had to run one stop back, so I wouldn’t be late for my first day of school after reincarnation.

‘Uh… but… the Frail trait… if I run… I might faint…’

Whatever.

Let’s just sleep.

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—Hey! Han Tae-jin!

‘What…’

—Hey!

‘Ah, someone’s calling…’

—Hey! You loser!

‘Loser? That’s not me… they have the wrong…’

*Slap*—!!

“Ugh?!”

“You idiot, wake up!”

“Ah, ah!”

It felt like I’d been slapped, but before I could protest, someone grabbed me by the collar and dragged me off the bus.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I was thrown off.

Despite that, my mind was still in a daze.

Perhaps due to the Frail trait, my foggy mind wasn’t clearing up quickly.

My startled heart pounded like crazy, and I had to support myself on my knees, panting like a dog in summer.

Grasping the situation would come later.

-Ding !!!

Wait a minute.

Penalty?

There was a penalty?

Seriously.

My heart strained just because I was startled awake?

“Ugh.”

A sudden wave of dizziness washed over me, and I stumbled.

The ground felt like a skateboard.

I quickly spread my legs and regained my balance.

“…What are you doing?”

“Ah, no. Just a moment. I was startled.”

As instructed by the system, I took deep breaths to lower my heart rate.

At the same time, I assessed the situation.

Someone who knew Han Tae-jin must have gotten on the bus while I was asleep, and when I didn’t wake up at the academy, they kindly grabbed me by the collar and pulled me off.

In that case, I should say…

“Th-thank you.”

“For what?”

“I almost went all the way to the last stop.”

“Whatever. You were sleeping soundly with your head tilted back.”

The spinning sensation gradually subsided.

After about a minute, the blurry world came into focus, and the spinning stopped.

My shaky legs, which had felt like they were on a skateboard, also relaxed.

Damn it, I wanted to kill the Frail trait.

“Ha… that’s better.”

Feeling pathetic for being at the mercy of a mere trait, I sighed and straightened up.

My rapid breathing returned to normal, and my vision cleared.

Then, my eyes widened.

It was Hanna.

Standing before me, arms crossed, with a look of disdain, was Hanna.

Wait.

So, Hanna was the one who helped me on the bus?

She wasn’t the type to do that, was she?

‘What… is going on?’

I had read the original story twenty times and knew the personal details of the main characters recorded in the setting book.

She definitely wasn’t the type to help Han Tae-jin.

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It took about 10 minutes to walk uphill from the bus stop to the academy. It wasn’t quite halfway up the mountain, but it was located near the entrance, which was why I was sweating profusely now.

Although my stamina was high, the lack of endurance, which should have complemented it, made me breathless.

The Frail trait activated after only two minutes of walking uphill.

I struggled to support my trembling legs as I climbed, my mind in a state of confusion.

Right now, Hanna was walking beside me.

It hadn’t even been a day since I vowed to avoid the main heroines.

One might argue that classmates could walk together, but Hanna fundamentally disliked Tae-jin.

A smelly loser.

An object of disgust.

A four-dimensional otaku.

That was how she saw him.

It was definitely alarming that she, who didn’t even like being near him, was walking at *his* pace.

If she had walked alone, she would have already arrived at the classroom by now.

‘Why is she doing this… it’s unsettling…’

Then, Hanna suddenly called out to me.

I hiccuped in surprise.

“Hey.”

“Hic! Wh-what?”

“…What did you do over the weekend?”

“Huh? Hic.”

What was this?

Asking about weekend activities was something you’d do with close friends. I tried to understand the meaning behind her question, but I couldn’t figure it out.

“I, uh, just hic. Went to the hair salon and worked out at home.”

“Speaking of which, you got a haircut. Did you get a girlfriend?”

“Huh?”

My steps faltered.

I wanted to rest, but I also couldn’t believe my ears.

“What are you doing? Hurry up. We’ll be late.”

“Hic, uh, okay.”

At Hanna’s urging, I forced my heavy legs to move and continued up the hill.

I decided to keep my mouth shut.

She must have asked without any particular meaning.

It was probably just meaningless small talk to pass the time on the boring commute.

But Hanna persistently asked again, with a hint of annoyance in her voice.

“So, did you get a girlfriend? I asked you a question.”

“…Huh? No, why are you curious?”

If I didn’t have one, I could just say so.

But on my first day of school, Hanna’s behavior deviated so much from the character I knew that a blunt response slipped out.

What was wrong with her?

Hanna looked at me in surprise, but I deliberately avoided her gaze.

The fact that I was a little intimidated was my little secret.

“…No, I-it’s not that I’m cu-curious, it’s just that you suddenly changed, so…”

“What do you mean I changed?”

“No… Ha! Forget it!”

*Snap!*

Hanna suddenly lost her temper and strode ahead.

Panting, I stopped and watched her walk away.

The way her wavy red hair swayed from side to side made her look like a sulking girl.

Yes, that was the Hanna I knew.

By the way, why did she ask what I did over the weekend?

It would be a stretch to interpret it as, “What were you doing instead of stalking me, The Goddess Hanna?”

In the original story, none of the four heroines had any clue until Han Tae-jin blackmailed them with the photos.

‘Hmm…’

Well, maybe she was just curious because I neatly cut the hair I usually kept shaggy.

Change in a person always sparks curiosity.

Thinking that, I started walking again.

“Huff… huff…”

I arrived at the front door of the classroom one minute before the first bell.

Normally, Han Tae-jin’s style would be to quietly enter through the back door and take his seat.

But my legs were trembling like a newborn foal, making it impossible to consider a detour, so I decided to just go through the front door.

And immediately, I was met with harsh criticism.

“Whoa, Han Tae-jin got a haircut?”

“What kind of wind blew through here? Has he finally lost it?”

“Pfft, weird, it looks so awkward.”

“Yeah. Why would he do that? It doesn’t suit him.”

“Ugh, it gives me goosebumps.”

“His eyes are red. Creepy.”

…Guys, I can hear you.

I haven’t stuffed my ears with shit, you know.

On my first day of school after reincarnation, I regretted entering through the front door, bombarded with attention and negative comments.

I should have crawled through the back door if I had to.

It seemed the world wasn’t ready to accept the transformation of a gloomy villain lackey, not a protagonist.

‘Han Tae-jin… his image is worse than I thought.’

I honestly didn’t expect it to be this bad.

I thought he was just the slightly gloomy otaku you find in every class.

-Ding !!!

Oh, fuck it.

I had to deal with the Frail trait today, no matter what.

Even if he was a loner otaku character, it was ridiculous for a grown man to have a trait activated just because he received some attention.

‘Ha… let’s just keep my mouth shut for 5 minutes.’

No one would talk to me anyway.

However, 30 seconds later, when Professor Ella, one of the main heroines, entered the classroom and called roll, I realized how naive I had been.

“Han Tae-jin.”

“Y-yes! Yes!”

My difficult first day back at school was unfolding just like that.

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