How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

The person who traumatized Min Jae-yoon… Choi Bo-rim is the type who would do anything for her own advancement.

She sees people solely as tools, so I never liked her character in the original novel. Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be saying that.

Anyway, the general story from the novel goes like this:

Choi Bo-rim is a government-supported awakened one. To overcome her disadvantaged position, she sought out students from the awakened society that she could manipulate and discovered the insecure Min Jae-yoon.

She immediately attached herself to Min Jae-yoon and shamelessly exploited his dependence and guilt.

However, as soon as Choi Bo-rim found another student from the awakened society that she could exploit, she abandoned Min Jae-yoon.

It’s no surprise that such actions triggered Min Jae-yoon’s unstable mental state.

Later, Choi Bo-rim got caught trying to sabotage a rival for the boy she was following.

She falsely claimed that everything was Min Jae-yoon’s doing.

“Jae-yoon made me do it…! He threatened to kill me if I didn’t give him a cursed item!”

“Bo-rim…?”

“I’m scared! Don’t talk to me!”

With the pressure of the false accusations piling on top of his already troubled state, Min Jae-yoon completely lost control over his dark-element magic and ended up under the concentrated surveillance of the monitoring team… that’s roughly the story.

After that, Choi Bo-rim climbed up to Class B with the backing of the group she had attached herself to, and now she was aiming to join the prominent Class A group, which included Na Yu-han.

“Whatever happens, let’s first try to talk things out step by step. We need to minimize the damage.”

By now, Choi Bo-rim should be in Class B. I hoped she wouldn’t be involved in this mess as I stepped into Class B.

It was around lunchtime, so most students were gathered in groups inside the classroom, chatting away.

As we entered, the students suddenly turned their attention to us, the unfamiliar newcomers.

“What’s that?”

“Aren’t they the ones who cleared the gate this time?”

“I heard they’re the direct disciples of Igdrasil? So envious.”

We stood awkwardly, looking at Kang Yu.

Kang Yu scanned the classroom and soon fixed his gaze on someone.

It was a girl whose eyes sparkled excessively as she looked in our direction.

Kang Yu rushed over to her, beaming with a smile as he spoke.

“Hey, noona! Do you remember me? I gave you a lucky letter before! At the walking path.”

“Of course! What’s up?!”

She beamed back at Kang Yu and then greeted us.

“Hello, I’m Choi Bo-rim!”

“…What?”

“Choi Bo-rim…?”

“Oh, right. I see.”

This is just great…

To have the person involved show up so quickly.

She was staring at us intensely for some reason.

In this situation, breaking the sunny character concept would be foolish. I smiled brightly and shook her hand.

“So, what’s going on?”

“You said your name was Choi Bo-rim? That means…”

Na Yu-han started explaining about the lucky letter.

She was staring at Na Yu-han with sparkling eyes, hardly paying attention to the explanation. Feeling a sense of foreboding, I thought that Choi Bo-rim would try to use this opportunity to join our party…

As soon as the explanation wrapped up and we mentioned the need for cooperation, Choi Bo-rim nodded her head and said,

“Alright. But there’s a condition!”

“A condition?”

“It’s nothing special! I just want us to get closer! You’re the strongest freshmen in the rumor mill…! That’s awesome! I really want to be friends!”

She shyly smiled and twirled her fingers.

Looking at us with excitement, her smile truly made her seem like she was just admiring us.

Choi Bo-rim continued the conversation in a friendly manner, smiling innocently. Before long, our group naturally started chatting with her.

“Wow! A Meister weapon? That’s amazing! Is it because you come from an awakened family? I wish I was born into an awakened family too!”

“Well… government-supported awakened ones have a lot of disadvantages…”

“No, that’s not what I meant! If I was born into an awakened family, I could have gotten close to you guys sooner! Oh, but looking at Na Hyun’s case, maybe not? Even if you’re a government-supported awakened one… is it okay to be friends with someone like me?”

“It doesn’t matter where you come from.”

Especially with her sticking to Na Yu-ri and Shin Ba-ran, it looked like she was instant best friends with them.

“They don’t care about that kind of thing. So—”

“Yeah! So I think it’s awesome that you’re friends with Na Hyun!”

Cutting me off strangely while praising the two scions of prestigious families, she really seemed like… what should I say…

In my eyes, she looked like a skilled sycophant.

She must have been acting as she always does. Up until now, it must have worked well.

In front of the elite awakened ones, she was simultaneously belittling the government-supported awakened one she had previously been with while appealing to us with a friendlier demeanor. For those who want subordinates to treat comfortably, this approach probably worked well.

But Na Yu-ri and Shin Ba-ran are different. They are my real friends. They are not maintaining a friendship with me just to use me like a maid.

Of course, those two are not oblivious either, so they must feel a little uncomfortable with what Choi Bo-rim is doing right now.

“Nya haha~ What an annoying type!”

Choi Soo-jung seemed to have caught onto the situation, as she came closer to me and affectionately linked her arm with mine.

Her soft tail slid around my arm.

Choi Soo-jung whispered,

“I don’t like types like that; they have a lot of enemies~ I don’t think Jae-yoon likes her either!”

“……”

“Jae-yoon, are you okay?”

“Ah, I’m fine, um, senior…”

I glanced at Min Jae-yoon.

Her gentle face had turned pale.

Lee Ha-na took out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat off Min Jae-yoon’s forehead.

Choi Bo-rim didn’t even glance at Min Jae-yoon, treating her like a nonentity, and instead casually chatted with Na Yu-ri and Shin Ba-ran.

Watching this farce unfold, my brow furrowed involuntarily.

This was getting annoying. Really.

In the meantime, Kang Yu seemed to sense something too, as he shielded Park Si-woo and Na Yu-han to keep them from talking to Choi Bo-rim.

Our kid is smart.

But Choi Bo-rim was really strong.

Even though she must have noticed that we wanted to leave, she didn’t care and persistently spoke to Na Yu-han.

Her determination to join this party was evident.

“Yu-han! Can I join you for training?!”

“I think you need Igdrasil’s permission for that.”

“Come on. I’m helping you guys out! Just let me join for this! I passed a lucky letter to a senior in the same club today. If you let me join, I’ll introduce you to that senior!”

“…I’ll see if I can get in touch.”

Of course, Igdrasil wouldn’t be of help in situations like this.

Igdrasil: “Hm? You want to attend my class directly! How passionate! New students are always welcome!”

Because of this type…!

I’m losing it.

I held my throbbing head as I listened to the melody announcing the end of the lively lunchtime.

Kang Yu looked at me with concern.

“Noona, does your head hurt?”

“No, I’m fine.”

There’s still a long way to go.

***

After school and up until now, we had identified all the first-year students who had lucky letters or were linked to them.

Fortunately, it seemed the letters were mostly circulating among the first-year students.

“Should we be thankful that it revolves around the first years?”

“Let’s think of it as a blessing!”

As Na Yu-han organized the list of kids related to the lucky letters on his device, Choi Bo-rim cheerfully handed him a coffee. I silently watched the scene.

She grabbed the drinks I had bought, claiming she would carry them, and was distributing them as if she had brought them herself.

“Sorry. I can’t drink canned coffee.”

“…Really? Then do you want juice?”

“Oh, just when I was thirsty. Thank you.”

Look at this. I just laughed heartily.

She’s really trying hard to blend in…

In the meantime, perhaps feeling a bit guilty, she didn’t speak directly to Min Jae-yoon and handed me two drinks.

“Give one to Jae-yoon!”

“Okay!”

I handed the milk tea-flavored drink to Min Jae-yoon. It was her favorite flavor.

Throughout the day, she had kept a dark expression while with Choi Bo-rim, and unlike her more vibrant self lately, she seemed withdrawn like before.

“….”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m sorry… It’s a bit of an uncomfortable situation… but I’ll hold it in. I don’t want to burden the others…”

“…Tell me what you don’t like. If you’re uncomfortable, we’ll endure whatever it takes.”

As I said this, I patted Min Jae-yoon on the back, but even though she squeezed the can hard enough to make the drink burst out, she kept her mouth shut.

Min Jae-yoon had clung to Choi Bo-rim but was ultimately discarded.

That memory of being abandoned must have left her traumatized.

The reason she was acting like this now was probably due to her fear that we might abandon her too because we liked Choi Bo-rim more.

But I would never do something like that. It was just frustrating that I didn’t know how to convey this feeling to her.

While silently wiping Min Jae-yoon’s damp hand, it seemed we received information about the other second-year students who had received lucky letters.

One was, of course, Si-on, and the other was…

“I gave it to a senior from the same club! Since they mentioned they were researching, they should still have it!”

It was someone who had received a letter from Choi Bo-rim.

Before we headed to the problem clubroom, we sought permission from Igdrasil and followed Choi Bo-rim.

The place marked ‘Item Research Club’ seemed quite large.

As expected, Choi Bo-rim wouldn’t choose a powerless small club.

When she confidently opened the door, several people were seen coming and going while conducting research.

And amidst them, I caught a glimpse of very familiar orange fox ears and a fox tail.

“…a fox?”

As soon as I muttered this while looking at the back, Choi Bo-rim ran over to him.

“Senior!”

“What’s going on? Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything while I’m working? It’s annoying.”

As soon as Choi Bo-rim put her hand on his shoulder, he answered in an annoyed tone and turned around.

His emerald-like eyes met mine through his glasses.

His eyes widened and then curved into a smile as he looked at me.

“…No. This time, I will forgive you.”

It was the fox.

He stepped closer to me, smiling.

“Hello, Noona!”