NOVEL WEB Chapter 47
So yeah, I definitely enjoyed about half of it.
It’s true that I got swept up in the flow for about half, but still, I genuinely enjoyed it too.
Being good kids, they’re definitely going to be shocked when they see all that. It’s a terrible guilty pleasure, but hey, how can you not enjoy playing with emotions?
Plus, this will definitely make my presence more pronounced to the kids, especially Jinhyeon.
Which also means that when that guy gets betrayed, there’s a good chance he’ll become a total wreck.
…Though one problem is that I didn’t think at all about what would happen afterward and just acted on impulse.
If someone were to ask if it was effective, oh my God, there’s no way it could have been more effective than this.
It was so good that it felt almost overwhelming.
“Miss Blanca, would you like to try this too? I heard it’s a new item from A Market lunchboxes…”
After that day, from the following Monday to Friday, Ageha bought me something from the store every single day.
If you ask if I disliked it, I actually liked it.
Up until now, I’d just had some mediocre cup noodles for dinner, but for the last five days, I’ve been able to enjoy luxurious—by my standards—dinners every day, so why would I complain?
However, it felt a bit burdensome.
No matter how shameless I am, just accept, accept, accept would make me feel a bit awkward.
Of course, Ageha was probably genuinely giving out of kindness.
Out of pity, or something like that.
I didn’t feel particularly bad about being pitied.
No matter the intent, if it helps fill my stomach, isn’t that good in the end?
But still, with her pouring it out so endlessly, I felt like I was getting into debt, which made it a bit of a burden.
Given Ageha’s personality, she wouldn’t ask for repayment. But still, I felt psychologically indebted, which was why I felt that way.
…And pity is ultimately just interest, so there was also the burden of that.
I didn’t like others sending me their attention. To be clear, I didn’t want them to get too close beyond a certain line.
It felt contradictory to act like friends while inviting them over and then be like this, but what can I say; I’ve been full of contradictions since birth.
“Thanks, I’ll gratefully accept. But… if it’s because of the state of my household, I’d prefer if you didn’t. Really, it’s okay.”
Ageha stared at me for a second, then shot back, looking a bit angry.
“Ugh, just take it as it is! I’m not pitying you or looking down on you! It’s just that… I can’t stand the thought of my rival eating such terrible food!”
She really was an honest kid.
Even now, it was pretty obvious she felt sorry for me.
“Alright, alright. It doesn’t seem like you’re going to stop even if I tell you to. How about you just buy me stuff on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays? Is that okay?”
“That’s… umm. Well, if that’s what Miss Blanca wants…”
“Thanks. Oh, and the thing you bought me yesterday was delicious.”
As I smiled slightly, Ageha looked almost regretful, but soon seemed to realize that wasn’t polite and returned to her usual haughty expression.
I found that side of Ageha cute.
She really felt like a kid her age.
“Oh, Ageha. Did you buy something for Blanca today too…?”
“Yes. Miss Blanca liked it, didn’t she?”
“I-I have to buy something too, so I won’t lose… thinking about home…!”
“Lapiz, now you’re going a bit too far.”
“Eek?!”
I gently brushed my tail under Lapiz’s, bringing her back to reality.
She blushed and seemed anxious about getting left behind by Ageha.
“Don’t worry about that, Lapiz. I value all of you equally.”
“Ugh… Blanca…!”
I wondered why she was crying over something like that, but I couldn’t entirely understand either.
…Well, I could never have understood that in my old body.
Once the mood lightened, the kids started sharing their stories.
Most of them were about exams.
With exams next week, they were all complaining that not a single formula had gotten through their heads, or they had no knowledge about hero-related laws.
She seems to think I live in that rundown little room because I’m really out of money, but that couldn’t be further from the truth.
I actually had money to spare. If I pulled together everything from my ghost accounts and paper companies, I could cover a nice house with the latest furniture no problem.
But still, if I’m living in a place like that, it’s for one reason only.
To preserve myself.
To keep a record of my past life that was spent barely scraping by in that place. I needed to remember what made me volunteer to infiltrate the Academy.
If I got too comfortable, I worried my heart might turn into that of a high school girl.
That was scary. I didn’t want to lose myself. I picked a place where I could remind myself of who I was every day.
It’s a weird thing, isn’t it? I’ve never cursed my birth throughout my entire life, yet when presented with the chance to become someone completely different, I get scared and refuse to change.
“Blanca. You don’t look so good…”
Lost in thought, Yeonhwa cautiously called my name.
“Ah, well… to be honest, I’m not sure how to deal with the Korean subject either. I’m worried.”
Since I couldn’t say that outright, I made it sound like I was worried about studying for exams just like them, while shifting the topic back to studying.
“What? You’re struggling with Korean? How’s that possible?”
“How am I supposed to know what the intent was behind the writing, or the historical context? And why do I even need to memorize those things? Urgh.”
“Miss Blanca must not be familiar with the liberal arts, huh? Hehe, maybe it’s just as well given your abilities.”
“Maybe so. But don’t jump to conclusions and stereotype me too quickly. By that standard, Minho should be familiar with physics, but he’s not, right?”
After a moment of silence, Minho looked a bit aggrieved and retorted.
But when I asked him to calculate the speed of a three-hundred-gram apple falling from ten meters up just before it hits the ground at two meters, he let out a scream and crashed.
“That’s true… But the personality categorization by discipline is somewhat recognized, so isn’t that okay?”
“For sure. Blanca’s personality really does fit the stereotype of the special category. A personality that doesn’t want to be categorized… Hm, so how about we match personalities?”
The kids laughed and started chatting about that damn ‘personality categorization by discipline’ like it was the most exciting topic ever.
…I should probably keep my mouth shut.
– * * * * * –
Until the day of the midterm arrived, nothing of note happened. Well, one thing did happen.
Blanca’s relationship material Level 2 was unlocked.
However, unlike Level 1, it didn’t contain any shocking information.
[Blanca]
[Relationship Material Level 1] ◀
[Relationship Material Level 2] ▼
[She does not realize it herself, but the moment she spent as an experiment subject still remains an unhealed wound in her heart.
Because of this, she hates being defined by others. The very notion of being tagged and categorized is her nightmare.
Especially bringing stereotypes of ethnic groups to her is an absolute no-no.
If you want to make a good impression on her, it’s recommended to approach her as purely as possible, without any prejudice.
If you don’t properly convey that you have no intention of harming a wounded animal, you’ll be bitten in the blink of an eye.]
I had already guessed some of that.
It was definitely not unhelpful.
Still, compared to the materials from other heroines, it felt like it had relatively less nutritional value.
Though it’s hard to assert that since Seolhwa is the only one whose relationship material has reached Level 2 so far.
But hey, was that why she hated being categorized so much? It felt like I was gaining a little understanding of Blanca’s motivations.
Well, in a lab, categorizing experiment subjects would have been a necessity, after all.
But from that alone, I couldn’t guess where she came from.
Whether it was Evil Society or Heros Company, they surely categorized experiment subjects and toyed with them like playthings.
It’s tough. This material seems to be hiding Blanca’s identity and it’s driving me nuts.
But at least I’m glad it won’t explode my head from extra knowledge.
“Why are you staring off into space? Something up?”
Blanca pointed at me and asked, so I straightforwardly admitted I was just dazed because of flunking the exam.
“Ah, well, hang in there.”
Blanca looked a little taken aback by that response and offered me comfort.
But was that comfort really genuine?
That was a bit questionable.
– * * * * * –
I worried if I could wrap up all my tasks in time, but somehow, I managed to get it all done.
Thanks also to today’s fortune, but really, it was mostly because my subordinates worked hard.
“Wei. Wake up. We’ve arrived at the airport.”
“Already…? Yawn…”
“You can sleep on the plane enough, so now, pull yourself together. Hanchō, you too.”
“Ah… Uhh. Did we arrive? Yay. Any objections, boss?”
“I told you not to call me that…”
“Well, that cat calls you that, so there’s no reason I can’t.”
“That’s… true, but still, don’t call me that in front of Blanca.”
“Oh, I know. I don’t want to get more scars on my face either.”
Blanca. It felt like it had been years even though it had only been a few months.
I was a bit excited to see her again.
She’s like a daughter to me.