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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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Hmm, it was a rather strange feeling.
“Actually, there’s something I wanted to tell you.”
Next to me was a boy with natural brown hair that shimmered in the sunlight. Someone anyone would consider a handsome, pleasant-looking young man.
Lilac.
The first protagonist of this novel, a character of absolute good, and someone who felt like a slightly clueless friend’s son to me.
“Do you remember what happened on the day of the entrance ceremony?”
“Of course. We almost died because of the terrorist attack.”
Well, I was supposed to die at least.
“Everyone survived thanks to you. I’m also one of the people you saved, so I wanted to thank you.”
He seemed to remember me causing a commotion and drawing attention.
“You were the one who actually stopped it.”
Hmm, it was a bit novel to be thanked by the protagonist.
“No, I couldn’t have stopped it alone. It was because you, Yoo-hak, and the professor were there that no one died. Thank you, really.”
It wasn’t wrong.
He didn’t have the ability to handle a terrorist attack that could cause many casualties on his own yet.
“…You’re welcome.”
But it wasn’t something I deserved to be thanked for. If it weren’t for Lilac, I would have died myself.
“And actually, I was scared, but you gave me courage. Thank you for telling me not to worry because I could stop it. I wanted to thank you for that, but I had to bring you to the infirmary when you collapsed, and I didn’t have a chance to see you again after that.”
“Well, it’s not a big deal… huh?”
This overpowered cheat actually heard that?
“Hey, wasn’t that you, back then?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Of course, I knew.
He suspected that I was the one who enhanced him.
Basically, cadets had no way of knowing each other’s talents unless they were told directly.
Of course, information on each student was recorded in the academy’s secret database, but ordinary students had no access to it.
“…Really? If it was you, I wanted to thank you.”
“You’ve said ‘thank you’ plenty of times already. Just like apologies, being too grateful diminishes its value.”
“Haha, that’s true. But thanks to you, I was able to save my friends, and I feel like I can see a path forward after that day. Anyway, let’s go eat.”
Oh, it seemed like the protagonist had grasped a bit of the enlightenment he had received that day.
Yes, yes, get stronger quickly. Even though overpowered characters were criticized, becoming strong quickly was still the popular trend.
Characters who grew slowly were too annoying to read about.
But was this guy really going to eat with me?
“…With me?”
“Huh? That’s what I said.”
“No, I thought you were going to ask someone else.”
“Hmm? It’s lunchtime, and I don’t have many friends yet.”
Seriously, why were you eating with me when you have a childhood friend?
But I couldn’t just point that out.
It would be weird if I knew whether he had a childhood friend here, considering this was only the second time we met.
“Ah, right, I’m supposed to meet another friend in front of the cafeteria. Do you mind?”
Ah, thankfully, this crazy bastard hasn’t forgotten about his childhood friend.
Then my answer was set.
“Yeah, I mind.”
“R-really?”
He seemed flustered. He probably didn’t expect such a blunt rejection, but I had a good reason.
Lilac, at least on the first day, just eat with your childhood friend.
She would definitely think I was interrupting if you went and ate with me.
Just as I was about to make up an excuse and leave, someone approached us.
“Oh, I was wondering when you’d arrive, you’re here earlier than I thought.”
“Kang Ha… Han-hee?”
Damn it, I almost called her Kang Ha-ni. If I had, that gentle smile would have instantly turned cold, and she would have interrogated me, asking how I knew.
“Why are you stuttering? People will think I’m bullying you. We didn’t decide what time to meet this morning, so I waited for you here.”
For some reason, in Kang Ha-ni’s mind, we were supposed to have lunch together.
“Huh?”
My cross-dressing roommate finally noticed the protagonist next to me and looked at him.
“Oh? Ah! The freshman representative.”
As expected, she immediately recognized Lilac, who was already somewhat of a celebrity.
Well, he wasn’t just a freshman representative, he caught a terrorist and even did an interview, so of course he was famous.
“Ah, you already have company? You should have said something. I’ll ask my friend if it’s okay to eat together!”
No, that’s not it!
I wanted to shout, but it was already too late.
“Lilac~”
The culprit behind my desire to avoid having lunch with Lilac on the first day had already spotted us and was approaching.
She was a beautiful girl with incredibly long, pink hair.
She had a gentle appearance and a smile on her face.
But did you know?
There were only two types of pink-haired characters in web novels.
An incredibly kind saint, or a complete bitch.
And unfortunately, the pink chihuahua approaching us was closer to the latter. A character who was bitchy to everyone except Lilac.
Yoo-na.
Lilac’s childhood friend, a healer, and a victim of “Death Before Heroine Status.”
At least her death in the original story was for Lilac’s awakening, so there was less backlash.
The few readers of the novel had fought fiercely in the comments section because of her death.
She looked like a fluffy cotton candy cloud, but like all pink-haired cleric childhood friends, she was incredibly obsessed with her childhood friend, Lilac.
She didn’t seem to notice anyone but Lilac as she only seemed to recognize us after getting closer, so she asked him,
“Who are they?”
The temperature of her voice seemed to have dropped by about two degrees compared to when she called out “Lilac~” just now.
A two degree temperature drop could potentially be fatal for a human, but our idiot Lilac, as the protagonist of the novel, wasn’t perceptive enough to notice such a change.
“Ah, they’re my new friends. I told you about them before, right?”
Ah, this bastard finally did it.
There was a similar scene in the original story.
The scene where Yoo-na first met Kang Ha-ni, Lilac’s roommate, after persuading the latter to join him and the former for lunch. The pink chihuahua picked a fight with Kang Ha-ni the moment he introduced her as his new friend.
What? Wasn’t a jealous heroine picking a fight with another heroine a cliché?
Think carefully.
Kang Ha-ni was currently disguised as a boy.
It was the same in the original story.
In other words, this girl was so emotionally stunted that she even got jealous and wary of a boy.
She briefly scanned me with cold eyes.
“You were cheering for Lilac that day?”
Huh, she wasn’t picking a fight with me.
“Uh, yeah.”
“Thank you. But I’m Lilac’s best friend.”
Who said otherwise…? I wouldn’t be your best friend even if you asked me.
“Hey, don’t be mean~ I had a hard time bringing him along with me. He was trying to refuse my invitation since he already had company.”
She glanced at me.
What? Was she going to slap me while saying, “How dare you refuse our Lilac’s invitation?”
“You’re a reasonable person.”
Ah, she seemed to have forgiven me because Lilac had to drag me along.
She was infinitely more lenient towards Lilac.
She practically allowed us to join them.
Having lunch with the protagonist and the main supporting characters.
I should give up on the idea of enjoying a peaceful meal.
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The student cafeteria wasn’t as crowded as I thought.
Perhaps it was because of the high prices, or maybe it was due to the slightly staggered class schedules.
“You two are roommates? It’s interesting that you’re roommates when you both entered the dormitory early during the break.”
“Right?”
Lilac was the type to easily become friends with people, asking me and Kang Ha-ni questions. The conversation was mostly led by Lilac and Kang Ha-ni, with Yoo-na occasionally interjecting.
Me?
I, who was born in South Korea, was in deep despair, having lived my life completely unaware that the species called eggplant could be so delicious simply by grilling it.
When I realized the thing I picked up without thinking was grilled eggplant, I despaired while recalling the texture of seasoned eggplant. But I then discovered that eggplant was meant to be grilled and eaten with a special sauce.
Why would you eat such a delicious vegetable in a mushy state when it could simply be grilled?
In short, I was too preoccupied with my eggplant to participate in the conversation.
“Ah.”
Kang Ha-ni suddenly made a strange sound as she looked at her tray.
“What’s wrong?”
“I can’t eat cherry tomatoes. They must have been hidden under the salad.”
Ah, shit.
I forgot about that while contemplating my eggplant.
“Really? Then…”
Lilac said that and picked up his chopsticks.
Oh, this was the scene from the original story where Lilac got criticized by the readers while simultaneously lowering his goodwill with both his childhood friend and his roommate.
Lilac, whose goodwill with Kang Ha-ni, who disliked physical contact, was already low, tried to be considerate by eating the cherry tomatoes with his chopsticks, but this angered not only Kang Ha-ni, but also Yoo-na, who was watching.
“Lilac!”
Startled by the sudden situation, I ended up calling out to him loudly.
Fortunately, Lilac stopped before he could move his chopsticks from his tray and looked at me.
“Huh…? Huh? What?”
“What are you doing after lunch?”
“Huh? I have some time before my next class, so I was going to work out lightly.”
“Really? Then let’s do it together.”
Thankfully, as I distracted Lilac, Kang Ha-ni seemed to understand my intentions and removed the cherry tomatoes herself.
Onto my tray.
Seriously, why were you giving them to me?
“Really? Sounds good!”
Damn it, this would lower Yoo-na’s non-existent goodwill towards me, but it was better than the protagonist losing goodwill with both of them simultaneously.
This small crack would become a big problem later on.
I’m helping you now because you’re like my friend’s son.
Just you wait and see what happens if you mess this up even with all my help.
Lilac looked for the tomatoes again, as if he had just remembered, but they were already gone from Ha-ni’s tray, so he just tilted his head in confusion.
“Heh.”
“Hehehe.”
And the two girls looked at me with strange expressions.
Yoo-na, who hadn’t shown any interest in me during the meal, spoke to me for the first time.
“You’re quick-witted.”
It was a cold tone compared to how she spoke to Lilac, but surprisingly, this was already considered a favorable tone for her.
And Kang Ha-ni was the same.
“Yes, he’s quick-witted~”
Yes, I helped you. But seriously, eat the tomatoes yourself.
I didn’t like them either.
As I glared at Kang Ha-ni, who was chuckling at me, with a hint of defiance, she didn’t seem to have any intention of eating them herself.
Couldn’t I just leave them then?
You couldn’t waste food born from the farmer’s sweat and the earth’s energy.
I wasn’t joking, you really couldn’t leave food uneaten.
There was a character later on, a half-baked hero or villain, I couldn’t remember exactly, who had an ability related to that.
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Kang Ha-ni smiled, amused, as she watched Kang So-hyun eat the cherry tomatoes.
He had been incredibly perceptive since the day they met.
She would have been quite displeased if Lilac had taken the tomatoes from her tray with his own chopsticks.
She wouldn’t have yelled at him or anything, but the atmosphere would have become quite awkward.
She didn’t think that girl would have liked it either.
But the way he noticed what Lilac was about to do even before she did and smoothly prevented it was completely different from his blunt speech and appearance.
But did he also dislike tomatoes?
His expression was dark the whole time he was eating them.
She was strangely happy to have found that they had another thing in common.
She felt a pang of guilt, but then she found his frowning face as he ate the tomatoes strangely cute, and she giggled.
She hadn’t had any friends until now due to her strict upbringing, but perhaps this was what they called a friend?
“You seem to like cherry tomatoes.”
“You’re blind.”
“I’ll leave my tomatoes to you from now on.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if you just didn’t pick them up in the first place?”
“They’re good for you.”
“If they’re so good for you, you eat them then.”
“That’s crossing the line.”
“Which part is crossing the line?”
Yeah, I agreed.
Looking at him spout nonsense about how tomato ketchup couldn’t be turned back into tomatoes made her laugh.
“Stop talking nonsense and let’s go work out.”
Lilac also wasn’t a bad guy despite his lack of personal space, so it seemed like she could make some good friends during her academy life.
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T/N – So Lilac had the dense harem protagonist archetype without an actual harem since the author kept killing all the candidates. There’s another reason why the original story was unpopular. Also, why do I get the feeling that Yoo-na is aware that Ha-ni is actually a girl and that the latter is also aware that the former knows this? Is that what they call woman’s intuition?
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
TL note is cooking
🔥🍳