—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
And so, the day of the trip arrived.
I was in a terrible mood because Lilac, who was worried that I might run away, dragged me to the academy early in the morning.
“Hey, we all saw each other at the orientation, but I’ll briefly introduce myself. I’m Seo Dae-han, the head of the travel club ‘Geumgangsan*.’ I’m a third-year, and my major is swordsmanship.”
After a short wait, a senior with a fairly solid build stepped forward and began his introduction.
“Some freshmen might be worried about the trip being right before midterms, but actually, written exams aren’t that important in the academy, so just think of it as a day without homework. Feel free to relax and have fun!”
He seemed used to these kinds of situations, cracking jokes and lightening the mood.
“Our travel club’s motto is relaxation. Not everyone here will walk the path of a hero, but I think most of you will. The hero profession itself comes with a lot of responsibilities, and since it’s a job directly linked to people’s lives, it’s easy to lose your peace of mind.”
He captivated the crowd with his powerful voice, making them nod and smile.
“That’s precisely why relaxation is important, I think. If you’re always too tense, you’ll eventually snap. The purpose of our club, its reason for existence, is to remind us that before saving others, before being superhumans, we are also human beings.”
Oh, that sounded pretty good.
In the original story, he was trembling in a terrifying atmosphere and couldn’t even mention relaxation. So this was what the club was originally like.
“Well, that’s the founding principle. New members, don’t worry about that and just have fun! Play, laugh, and make some noise, and it’ll all become our precious memories!”
I thought we would travel by bus since it was a travel club, but it seemed like we were using a portal for transportation.
“We usually take a plane when we go overseas, but we’ll be staying in the country this time. And we can take a bus at any time, right?”
He seemed like a romantic, but he was also strangely practical.
“Our destination for this trip is the nearby Rose Festival. We’re not just going to play around though, we’re helping with the patrols in exchange for preferential treatment with seats and such. You all read the notice beforehand, right?”
Hmm, thankfully the first destination hadn’t changed.
I didn’t read the notice since Lilac had probably memorized it, but how hard could it be?
“Ah, and before we enter. As its name suggests, flowers are the main attraction of the Rose Festival. It’s very popular with couples, so if any of you are in a ‘vague’ relationship, I hope you’ll develop into lovers! I confessed here last year! Yoo-jeong, I love you…!”
“Hey! You crazy bastard!”
It seemed like the person who just shouted was Yoo-jeong.
Haha, what a lovesick fool. I hope they break up.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
The festival grounds were crowded with people.
Thinking that none of these people knew that this Rose Festival would soon be connected to another world’s legacy and become a dungeon, I wanted to tell them to evacuate, but it wasn’t an easy thing to do.
Who would believe that other than Lilac?
Well, I could stop it if I wanted to, but I had to go in because of the reward room.
“Well, we’ll take care of the complicated stuff, so you new members can look around the festival.”
“Oh, no. We’ll help.”
“Hey, it’s our club’s tradition not to haze new members~ We’ll take care of the luggage and patrols, so you guys go have fun first.”
Lilac looked at him with deeply moved eyes, but I, who had read the original story and had some experience in society, knew better.
I knew that there weren’t many decent people among those who coaxed you with sweet words.
They didn’t have bad intentions, but they weren’t telling us to go have fun first purely for our sake.
This Rose Festival was famous for being more beautiful and having more to see at night.
And since they had to prepare the travel club’s traditional surprise hidden camera event, it would be more convenient for us to be far away sightseeing.
If I was really into roses, this would be a different story, but unfortunately, I wasn’t that interested in seeing night roses, so I decided to fall for the seniors’ cute trick.
“Hey, Lilac, since the seniors said so, let’s go on our own first.”
“What? How can we do that? Let’s at least help them with their luggage, at least.”
The senior’s face momentarily stiffened.
Their luggage was probably full of hidden camera equipment, so they didn’t want it to be discovered.
“Hey, it’s not good to ignore the seniors’ goodwill.”
“I-is that so?”
“Yes, Lilac. The seniors gave us time because they were thinking of us, so it’s rude to refuse. Let’s go see the flowers.”
“Hmm, since it’s a festival, should we buy some snacks and walk around?”
Yoo-na, who was relatively perceptive, persuaded Lilac, and Ha-ni also seemed to have caught on and agreed to go sightseeing.
“Well, if everyone else is going… Then we’ll leave it to you, seniors.”
“Yeah, don’t worry and have fun! We’ll just finish up here for a bit and join you, so don’t worry!”
Senior, with that playful smile, who wouldn’t know that you were up to something?
“Hmm, the seniors are really nice. I should definitely offer to grill them meat later.”
Ah, there was one oblivious person here.
He wasn’t slow-witted, but he was strangely clueless about these kinds of things.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Kim Ga-eul.
She had been looking forward to this day.
The travel club’s first trip! And it was to the Rose Festival, an event that was perfect for a picnic!
From the day she heard about the destination, she had been rigorously training in the cooking club to make lunch boxes.
She spread out the picnic blanket and arranged the lunch boxes so they could all eat together.
Colorful rice balls, cutely shaped Vienna sausages, a salad made with colorful fruits and vegetables, and the star of the picnic, fried food.
Even she thought that their quality wasn’t bad.
With this, capturing Kang So-hyun’s stomach wouldn’t be difficult.
Although the taste wasn’t great last time, this time she even had Yoo-na from the same club to taste-test it, so it was perfect.
‘When everyone else is buying food, I’m the only one who brought homemade food. They’ll see me in a new light, right?’
They might even praise her for how delicious it was.
‘…I also want us to feed each other and take pictures to upload.’
It was a bit risky to suggest that normally, but this was a club trip.
Even if she got a little excited and did things she wouldn’t normally do, it wouldn’t be noticeable, and even if she happened to have a lot of pictures with just So-hyun, no one would suspect anything. This was a golden opportunity.
“Los—!”
“Hey! So-hyun, look over there! It’s a giant rose infused with mana! A wish! Let’s make a wish!”
“Oh, it’s really big.”
Han-hee suddenly cut in line, but she didn’t give up.
They were taking pictures in front of the giant rose, which was almost the size of a building, but that was just a sign of affection as a same-sex friend.
“Los—!”
“So-hyun~ Yoo-na said that she wants to go for a walk!”
“Lilac. I don’t think she meant ‘all of us’ when she said that.”
“Huh? No, Yoo-na clearly said she wanted to go for a walk together.”
“Well, I can’t tell you why, but you should know that you really need to treat Yoo-na better.”
“Hey, there aren’t many friends who treat Yoo-na as well as I do.”
“…Yeah, you’re so great.”
They enjoyed a walk together, and then there was another break.
“Haha, the kids are really excited. Look over there…”
The moment she finally had a chance to call Kang So-hyun again, Han-hee appeared from somewhere with rose-colored cotton candy in her hand.
“Rose cotton candy! Rose cotton candy! It’s really sweet!”
“…Isn’t it just cotton candy with food coloring?”
“Hey, don’t be such a downer~ It’s always like that when they sell it at places like this. Everyone buys it for the atmosphere. Do you think it’s actually made of roses?”
“That’s true~”
She felt like giving up after the repeated failures.
If Kang Han-hee wasn’t there, Lilac would drag So-hyun around, and if Lilac wasn’t there, Kang Han-hee would be.
At least with Lilac, there were some openings because Yoo-na would try to drag him away, but Kang Han-hee was really clingy.
Anyone would think they were a couple. Two good-looking boys sticking together, even sharing a room.
“…No way, right?”
An unsettling thought flashed through her mind, but it probably wasn’t true.
Thirty minutes passed like a storm, and surprisingly, she still hadn’t taken a single picture with Kang So-hyun.
“…This is rigged.”
When she said she was tired and wanted to rest on a bench, the others expressed concern, but she told them she was fine and sent them off.
“…A girl who still calls him a loser has no right to ask for a picture with him.”
Actually, she knew.
If she had been a little more assertive and tried to take a picture, there would have been plenty of opportunities.
She was the one who hesitated, and she was the one who couldn’t seize the opportunity even when it came.
It wasn’t as if Lilac or Kang Han-hee had stopped her.
“I’m the loser. Why do I keep calling him a loser? I even got on his sister’s bad side because of that. Ugh.”
She just wanted to be friends with him. She just wanted to fulfill her small desire to set a picture of the two of them as her phone background and giggle at it at night…!
Even though she knew he wouldn’t refuse, she couldn’t muster up the courage.
Would she have had a chance if she called him by his name instead of “loser”?
Could they have become closer if their first meeting had been a bit more positive?
Meaningless delusions kept surfacing in her mind.
“…So-hyun.”
She could call him by his name so naturally when no one was around.
“Oh, hey. How did you know? And what’s with calling me by my name?”
“…Huh?”
“What? You called me, so why are you surprised?”
He was standing there while holding a drink in each hand.
“It’s really tiring with the kids running around. You want a drink too, right?”
“Rose soda?”
“I don’t know, they were out of everything else. How can a vending machine run out during a festival?”
With a psst, the scent of roses drifted from the can.
“…Rose soda, who in the world thought of this?”
…Was this a miracle?
Did this miracle happen as a reward for calling him by his name honestly?
“Los—!”
She swallowed the word “loser” that was about to escape her mouth with superhuman patience.
She had a feeling that if she called him a loser now, Kang Han-hee would appear and snatch him away.
“So-hyun.”
“Oh, yeah. Ga-eul, what’s up? You wanna ask me something since you’re calling me by my name?”
“Let’s take a commemorative photo together.”
“Huh? Ah, I took one with everyone else, but I haven’t taken one with you yet, right?”
“Y-yeah! We have to take one! You said you took one with everyone else!”
“Why are you so excited? Okay, let’s take one. Do you want to go to the giant rose?”
“No, I like it here. Let’s take it on the bench, come closer.”
“It’ll look prettier if we take it somewhere flashy.”
“Well, there are too many people there.”
“…Aren’t festivals supposed to be crowded?”
“That’s not it. Anyway, I like it better here. Do you not like it here?”
“No, well, it’s not that. This place is pretty too.”
She calmed her pounding heart and opened the camera app.
Yes, this was the kind of picture she wanted. No matter how hard she tried, she wouldn’t be able to take a quiet picture of just the two of them in front of that giant rose.
Although it was a simple picture with a somewhat plain rose bush and a bench in the background, the fact that it was just the two of them made her happy.
“Are you that happy? Are the others bullying you? To the point where they won’t even take a picture with you?”
“No way~ Seeing as you don’t understand this, you really are a loser.”
“Hey. I thought you were going to call me by my name from now on, but you’re calling me a loser again.”
“I’ll try.”
“Huh? Try what?”
“To call you by your name. I’m not ready yet. But I’ll try to greet you normally and call you by your name someday.”
“Why are you being so serious? Does calling someone by their name require that much effort?”
“Yes.”
She smiled brightly.
“You, as a loser, might not understand it, but it’s important to me.”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Excuse me. You still like Cheon Yoo-hak, don’t you?
It was really hard to pretend otherwise.
I don’t think this is a one-sided love, is it?
Who would take a selfie closely huddled together with just a friend on a bench, and giggle at it?
“Heehee, loser. Are you hungry? Let’s go call the others.”
“Ah, yeah, okay.”
Whether she was oblivious or just pretending not to notice, she smiled and walked towards the others.
“Guys! Let’s eat lunch!”
“Oh, okay!”
“Actually, I packed lunch! It’s not a lot, so let’s buy some other food and eat together!”
Kim Ga-eul took out a fairly decent-looking lunchbox from her backpack.
“Oh, Ga-eul is well-prepared.”
The moment Lilac complimented her.
“Oh my, what a coincidence.”
“Huh?”
“I packed one too. A lunchbox.”
Yoo-na’s eyes sparkled as she took out a pink lunchbox.
“Wow~ Yoo-na and Ga-eul, we’re on the same wavelength.”
Ha-ni also took out the lunchbox she had prepared.
“…I don’t think we need to buy anything else.”
“You’re right.”
And so, their unintended lunchbox competition began.
Ga-eul.
Good luck.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
T/N – F*ck! This was so sweet, I think I have diabetes. I need to read my apocalypse novel with the scumbag MC to balance out this sweetness.
Also, no! I need to stay strong. Ha-ni is still the best girl! Even though Ga-eul was really cute in this chapter.
I’m also glad that the MC is not that dense, but he’s too convinced of his own narrative to believe what he is seeing. 😅
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
*Another name for Mount Kumgang, or The Diamond Mountain, located in Kangwon-do, North Korea. There’s also a really famous painting of it called Geumgang jeondo, or The General View of Mt. Geumgangsan.
No one is beating Ha-ni as best girl, but my personal favorite has to be Professor Cathy.