novelraw Chapter 42 : Chapter 42
Chapter 42 : Chapter 42
Chapter 42. Ah, It's That Person
"Recently, the number of cadets forming separate groups aside from official clubs is increasing. Some show signs of being connected to external academies."
"I heard an external student came near the dormitory last week and was stopped, right? Management is needed."
"That is correct! If an incident occurs like this, people will say it is the Student Council's responsibility."
Noon at the Student Council room.
Voices echoing around the round table.
Jin Cheongha rested her chin on her hand, slowly swallowing a yawn as if half-listening.
These kinds of troublesome talks were not her taste at all.
While the Student Council members each voiced their opinions and participated eagerly, Jin Cheongha silently kept her seat.
She merely nodded mechanically from time to time while watching the numbers change on the clock.
"……With this, the meeting is adjourned. Everyone, please fulfill your roles faithfully."
As soon as the chairperson's words fell, a sound of chair legs scratching the floor burst out.
CREAAAK-
"Cheongha, are you leaving already?"
"Yeah, patrol!"
"Anyway, you sure are good with words. You are quiet during the meeting but always the first to leave."
"Sitting still isn't really my style. Good work then."
Leaving the light scolding behind, Jin Cheongha pushed open the Student Council room door.
Along with the sound of the door closing, the noise inside the conference room faded away.
A cool breeze brushed over the hallway.
Jin Cheongha walked slowly, fiddling with the handle of the sword at her waist.
The agenda discussed in the meeting had long been erased from her mind.
Instead, there was a face that kept coming to mind lately.
Strangely enough, it was a freshman who had nothing to do with her.
When she first saw him, he was a rookie swinging his sword with a somewhat clumsy posture.
A boy who was training hard at the training ground.
It was a clumsy yet persistent training session that continued from the crack of dawn.
At that time, she had stopped in her tracks without realizing it.
‘I want to give him some advice at least.’
She thought about throwing out a word of advice, but decided to offer it in the form of a spar so as not to hurt his pride unnecessarily.
Fortunately, the opponent accepted immediately.
And soon, a picture completely different from what she expected unfolded.
His stance looked sloppy at first, but before she knew it, he was fluidly deflecting her sword.
And in the moment he aimed for a gap in reverse, a sharpness flashed.
The movement was unexpectedly smooth and dangerous.
At that moment, a playful spirit suddenly kicked in.
A fun thought occurred to her, so she didn't drag the duel out long and lost on purpose.
‘His flustered look was more fun than I thought. Well, setting it as an official match was a mistake though.’
Did she hear that he had a hard time after that because of the title 'Freshman who beat Jin Cheongha'?
She felt a little sorry about that.
Then a few days later, she ran into Instructor Hojin in the hallway.
***
Hojin's bandaged hand caught her eye.
"What happened that you are injured?"
At that question, Instructor Hojin answered briefly.
"It is none of your concern."
She wondered if he was embarrassed to say it.
"By any chance, were you beaten by a cadet?"
She asked lightly as a joke, but Hojin tried to just pass by without any reaction.
‘Hmm? Why is he acting like that?’
It was then.
A single sheet of paper slipped from Hojin's fingertips and fluttered lightly, falling slowly toward the floor.
‘What is this?’
Picking it up, she saw it was a document.
It contained a photo of a boy with black hair and blue eyes, and the name 'Ryu Jinwoo' was written on it.
What was particularly interesting was the sentence written below.
[Awarded Store Points for showing excellent performance in a spar with an instructor.]
‘No way?’ she thought, lifting her head.
Hojin's bandage caught her eye again.
"Instructor Hojin, by any chance, did this cadet-."
It was the moment she was about to ask for confirmation.
Hojin took the paper, held out his palm, and cut her off.
His mobile phone rang, and Hojin, answering the call, hurriedly moved his steps somewhere.
She couldn't ask, but somehow she felt she knew the answer.
***
It was from that time.
That the freshman started to bother her.
While walking along the hallway like that, three figures came into the edge of her vision.
Jin Cheonglim and Yang Giran standing upright facing each other, and the familiar freshman standing next to them.
It was a strange atmosphere.
Jin Cheonglim and Yang Giran were glaring at each other with cold gazes.
The freshman placed between them had a bewildered expression, as if thinking, 'What is this situation right now?'
Jin Cheongha slowed her pace for a moment.
Soon, the corners of her mouth slowly drew an arc, and a thin smile spread across her lips.
***
"Yang Giran! Are you bullying my younger brother again?"
At the clear voice ringing out, Jin Cheonglim and Yang Giran's heads turned simultaneously.
Where their heads turned, Jin Cheongha was looking at them with a wide grin.
"Guiding delinquent students is my duty. Shall I exercise my sense of duty a bit?"
From one side of the hallway, Jin Cheongha moved her steps and approached.
"……Jin Cheongha."
The first to react was Yang Giran.
His brows narrowed as he stared at Jin Cheongha.
"If you want, you can challenge me officially. I really hate it when someone touches my people."
Jin Cheongha approached Jin Cheonglim and put her arm around his shoulders as she continued speaking.
At that moment, Jin Cheonglim's expression darkened rapidly.
The current of air, which had been tense just a moment ago, began to settle quietly.
Looking alternately at Jin Cheonglim and Jin Cheongha, Yang Giran's brows gradually unknitted.
Soon, letting out a light laugh, he spoke.
"Tch, if the Student Council says to stop, I have to stop. I don’t intend to openly defy public authority."
Yang Giran, mumbling as if grumbling, raised both hands and spoke again as if to himself.
"It must be very nice for someone to have such a good older sister? Haha."
At those words, Jin Cheonglim's two eyes flashed white.
Just as the air in front of them became strangely sharp.
Jin Cheongha turned her gaze to the side.
"Then the urgent matter is resolved. The clothing status here is non-compliant too? I need to do some guiding."
Her tone flowed softly as she smiled at Ryu Jinwoo and added.
"Where is your tie, our freshman?"
Her words were soft, but the cold air from just a moment ago hadn't completely disappeared.
Only then did Yang Giran and Jin Cheonglim's gazes simultaneously turn to Ryu Jinwoo.
Ryu Jinwoo also instinctively looked down to check the front of his neck.
Ryu Jinwoo touched around his neck and thought.
‘What? It was definitely there? Where did it go?’
Considering he hadn't been pointed out by the professor in the morning class, there was no way he wasn't wearing a tie.
When he lifted his head to look at Jin Cheongha, she winked one eye playfully.
"Okay, you have to come to the Student Council with me for a uniform violation."
Jin Cheongha held Ryu Jinwoo's arm and raised the corners of her mouth.
At the same time, the expression of Jin Cheonglim, who was glaring at Jin Cheongha, became even darker, and Yang Giran took a step forward as if trying to say something.
Looking at that Yang Giran, Jin Cheongha opened her mouth again.
"Do you still have business left? Do you want to come too, Yang Giran?"
At her words, Yang Giran paused, then shrugged his shoulders and took a step back.
"Forget it. Let's see each other at the sparring arena soon. Ah, and freshman."
He threw a glance toward Ryu Jinwoo and grinned.
"What I said earlier. Think about it carefully. I mean I'll watch your back. It's a good opportunity."
As he turned his body with a triumphant expression after finishing those words.
"Now then, shall we go too?"
Jin Cheongha turned her head sharply and laughed.
That smile was soft, but for some reason, it contained a power that was hard to refuse.
"Yes? Eh?"
Without even a moment to gather his wits, Ryu Jinwoo moved his steps as if pushed by Jin Cheongha's gesture.
In the meantime, he slightly turned his head to look at Jin Cheonglim.
Jin Cheonglim silently tapped his Reporter ID and met Ryu Jinwoo's eyes.
Something short but clear was contained in that gaze.
‘……This is driving me crazy.’
Dragged along by Jin Cheongha, Ryu Jinwoo thought.
That the situation had become severely twisted.
***
‘Where is this. Who am I.’
I looked with a blank expression at the large wooden door situated in front of me.
The wooden body had a soft luster, and the Zero Academy emblem was luxuriously engraved in the center.
The brass-colored handle had a sleek form without superfluity, harmonizing traditional and modern aesthetics.
Clearly, I had received news of passing the Zero Times admission and was planning to visit that department room.
[Student Council]
I crash-landed in a completely random place.
‘I've never heard of or seen this kind of drift before…….’
As I stood frozen in front of the Student Council door for a moment, Jin Cheongha patted my back and said.
"What are you doing? Go in!"
"Yes? Ah, yes."
Certainly, when Jin Cheongha is involved, the future cannot be predicted.
"Here, your tie!"
"When on earth did you take it?"
I was completely unaware.
Taking the tie wasn't exactly a hostile act, so it seems [Evasion Instinct] didn't trigger either.
"You looked troubled so I swiped it to save you. Did I do well?"
"Ah, yes. Well."
Did she do well? I couldn't be sure.
Above all, the expression that appeared on Senior Jin Cheonglim's face when Jin Cheongha appeared was unusual.
‘Tapping the Reporter ID at the end…… must have been a silent warning.’
I roughly know the relationship between Jin Cheongha and Jin Cheonglim.
The strange composition of the main family and the branch family that you would see in a drama.
Furthermore, the Eye of Deception activated at that moment was properly explaining Jin Cheonglim's state.
[Jin Cheonglim]
[Discomfort, Inferiority, Wariness]
‘I don't want to get involved in other people's family affairs.’
But it seems I'm already involved.
"Looks like the kids are all gone. They were meeting until just a while ago. That worked out well."
"Is it okay for me to be here? I should probably just go back-."
"Since it's a rare occasion, have a cup of tea before you go! The Student Council is famous for its tea."
Jin Cheongha headed to a table placed against one wall.
On it, a porcelain teapot with a silver handle and a teacup set with delicate rose patterns were placed side by side.
Fragrant black tea scent lightly wetted the air as steam rose softly over the tray covered with a white lace cover.
"The previous Student Council President liked tea. Thanks to that, we can enjoy things like this every day."
I accepted the tea like that and started drinking it.
It was good, but the gaze was somewhat burdensome.
Jin Cheongha kept looking at me.
"How is it? Isn't the Student Council decent?"
And the main topic came up.
It seems she was still bothered by my rejection last time.
"If you join the Student Council, I'll train you, and well, if you digest the training well, I could even pass down part of our family's sword to you. Of course, not everything, okay?"
The Cheongryu Family's swordsmanship.
They are techniques I covet.
However, if the process required for that reward is training with Jin Cheongha, I will decline.
That wouldn't be technique transmission, but living torture that would smash my stamina and mental state.
‘Do exactly what needs to be done, and have an easy life.’
This is my motto.
Training with Jin Cheongha is out under that condition.
Just as I was about to speak words of refusal.
CREAAAK-
The door opened once more.
"……."
Someone revealed themselves.
Yellow hair, intense like Van Gogh's sun, flowed softly over her shoulders.
Deep blue-green eyes shone calmly, adding a neat atmosphere.
Her height and build were small, but her immaculate uniform and the constant rhythm of her gait gave off an impression of being sufficiently trained.
Entering the Student Council room with an indifferent expression, she looked at Jin Cheongha as if seeking an explanation.
"Ah, Lily is here? Say hi. He's a freshman like you. Ryu Jinwoo."
If it's Lily, I've seen her before at the Rank Test.
Jin Cheongha, who greeted Lily happily, encouraged her to introduce herself to me.
"……."
She still looked at my face with tight lips.
And when Mimic looked at her, an emotion window naturally floated up.
[Lily Evans]
[Surprise, Wariness, Suspicion]
‘……Huh?’
I was bewildered.
This must be the first time she and I are meeting face-to-face this closely.
Why such negative emotions?
‘And what's with the suspicion? What did I do? What is she suspecting?’
It was a moment when a headache started coming on.
Today's luck is seriously bad.
And I started to have a premonition that it was going to get even worse.