Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Late in the evening, most students had already left the campus. I stood idly in the empty hallway, looking up at the sign that read “Disciplinary Committee Room.”
[What are you doing just standing there? At this rate, the night will be over.]
“Alright, alright, stop nagging.”
Ignoring Yomi’s grumbling, I placed my hand on the doorknob.
I know, too. I had been loitering around the entrance for ten minutes without going inside.
‘It feels like I’m being dragged to the principal’s office, making me uneasy.’
Having previously been summoned to the Disciplinary Committee room for breaking the second-year restroom, it wasn’t easy for me to turn this doorknob.
You might think it’s no big deal since I only need to get my business done and leave. But that’s something only people who don’t know Seo Geum-bi would say.
‘Even knowing she’s just a game character, she was terrifying.’
Seo Geum-bi is endlessly strict when it comes to breaking school rules. Her quiet fury, which was limited to a few lines of text in the game, became nearly demonic in the real world.
Yet, she received overwhelming support from students, thanks to her exceptional prowess and the reputation she had built steadily since her first year.
Creak
“Excuse me.”
Despite being in her final year, she was the kind of person who’d stay alone in the Disciplinary Committee room this late.
“What is it?”
As I had guessed, Seo Geum-bi was alone in the room. Even while busily moving her pen over the piles of paperwork on her desk, she looked directly at the entrance.
“Nothing good comes from frequenting the Disciplinary Committee room from the start of the term… You’re not here because of another incident like last time, right?”
Seo Geum-bi smiled wryly, and her long, dark green hair gently swayed. When Seo Geum-bi wasn’t angry, she had a gentle and approachable demeanor.
“I came today because I have something to ask you.”
“Then you’re a guest today. Shall we take a seat first?”
The pen in her hand stopped moving, and Seo Geum-bi rose from her chair.
She walked over to a cupboard, took out a tin of cookies and teacups, and placed them on the table.
“So, what brings you here? Don’t tell me you want to join the Disciplinary Committee?”
“That’s certainly appealing, but I’ve already joined a club.”
“Is that so? That’s a shame.”
As she poured tea into the cups, steam rose gently.
“In fact, I wanted to ask you about Shin Seo-ha.”
“…I have a lot to say, but let me ask this first. Why me? Why not just ask the person directly?”
Her hand stopped pouring, and Seo Geum-bi frowned.
“If possible, you should hear such things directly from the person. Hearing it from others turns it into mere gossip.”
The atmosphere instantly grew cold.
This is Seo Geum-bi. If she believes something deviates from the principles, she can become very cold.
“I overheard what people say about Shin Seo-ha. While I may not know her well, I don’t think she deserves such comments.”
“You can just ignore such things. If it crosses the line, that’s when our Disciplinary Committee will step in.”
“Isn’t it too late to intervene after things have already escalated?”
“That’s interesting.”
Seo Geum-bi crossed her legs.
Though her lips curved into a slight smile, the eyes that glared at me were cold and sharp as ever.
“The Disciplinary Committee’s role is to ensure the school rules are upheld, not to act as counselors. Or perhaps, Seol Ha-baek, do you see yourself as a knight in shining armor?”
Her words were refined and polite.
Thus, they were also sharp and hard to refute.
“I’m not a knight in shining armor. I’m just her friend.”
“A friend… If you were really a friend, you wouldn’t be prying for information from others like this.”
Seo Geum-bi stood up and put the cookie tin back in the cupboard.
“If you have no further business, please leave. I still have a lot of work to handle.”
Cold as ice.
Of course, I knew my current image wasn’t appealing. I was trying to extract information through Seo Geum-bi. Unless I provided a convincing reason, it was clear I would only leave a bad impression.
‘Giving a half-baked excuse will only backfire.’
A clumsy lie is easy to see through. So, it’s simple. I need to tell a perfect lie.
And a perfect lie always contains a bit of truth. Just enough to make it undetectable.
“Seo-jun would never blame his sister.”
I daringly mentioned that person’s name.
“……”
Seo Geum-bi froze for a moment at my words, then glared at me with a cold gaze.
“You say his name as if you were close.”
“I can’t go into details, but I know a lot about Seo-jun.”
It wasn’t a lie. The misunderstanding was on her part.
“Given that you were close to them in middle school, you must know well how good their relationship was.”
I stood up and met Seo Geum-bi’s eyes.
“How close they were back in middle school.”
“……”
Seo Geum-bi brought her hand to her lips, seemingly pondering something.
“Seol Ha-baek, you were certainly an external student. So, you must have heard about them from someone who attended middle school with them—”
“Do you really not know what the middle school graduates have been saying about Shin Seo-ha?”
“That…”
“You know better than anyone that those rumors are false.”
“……”
Seo Geum-bi fell silent again. Instead, her previously unwavering gaze wavered slightly.
“Despite knowing the rumors, you still wanted to believe in Shin Seo-ha, didn’t you?”
The rumor that Shin Seo-ha drove her twin brother, Shin Seo-jun, to his death and that her delinquent appearance reflected her true vile nature was totally baseless.
Seo Geum-bi bit her lip at my follow-up question.
“…I believe in Seo-ha.”
After a long moment of contemplation, Seo Geum-bi finally spoke.
“If it’s about breaking rules, it’s natural for others to intervene. But I don’t have the authority to control rumors.”
“That’s what you think as the Head of the Disciplinary Committee. But what do you personally think?”
Seo Geum-bi’s gaze dropped. Her spirit, trembling with anxiety, indicated that she, someone who usually maintained a strict separation between public and private matters, was now conflicted.
“This is Seo-ha’s battle. When others interfere, it can often become a poison. Seo-ha is someone who can solve her problems on her own.”
“We’ll see.”
I thought of Shin Seo-ha’s appearance. So far, I had spoken based on the content from the original storyline, but now things were different.
The real Seo-ha I saw was more precarious than how she was depicted in the game. To borrow Yomi’s words, she was “barely hanging onto life.”
“Sometimes, waiting can also be a poison.”
Therefore, Seo Geum-bi’s belief needed to be adjusted.
“Right now, Seo-ha is carrying an excessive amount of guilt over her brother’s death. As you said, she’s not someone who would be swayed by rumors.”
Indeed, Seo-ha was tall and strong, like a towering spire she built herself. However, the higher it is, the harder it collapses when it falls.
“The problem is, she doesn’t consider them rumors.”
Yes, as I spoke, I realized this myself.
The person who easily threw a punch at a gang of bullies because they annoyed her couldn’t even open her mouth to the students gossiping about her during the welcome party.
No, to be precise, she didn’t open her mouth. That’s perhaps because she perceived all the rumors about her as truths she must accept.
Therefore, leaving Seo-ha alone is dangerous. She would absorb the surrounding rumors like a sponge.
In the original storyline, she continued attending school until she was saved by Han Yu-seong’s intervention. But that was with Han Yu-seong’s involvement.
There’s no guarantee that an uncontrolled Han Yu-seong will save Shin Seo-ha as per the scenario.
“Shin Seo-ha needs someone who truly believes in her right now.”
I met Seo Geum-bi’s eyes firmly.
Seo Geum-bi wasn’t wrong. She was actually quite accurate. Shin Seo-ha was indeed strong and capable of overcoming her own problems, but right now, she was an exception.
I could only hope Seo Geum-bi would understand this exceptional case.
“…First, I must apologize.”
Seo Geum-bi’s words signified that my prayer had been answered.
“I was rude to assume you were like the other students.”
“No, I am the one who should apologize.”
I hurriedly stopped Seo Geum-bi as she began to bow slightly.
“I tried to believe in Seo-ha until the end. But perhaps, as you said, that was just me turning a blind eye.”
“You must have had the hardest time in all this, being so close.”
Even in the original storyline, Seo Geum-bi was troubled. Yet, she always hovered around, keeping an eye on Shin Seo-ha from the shadows.
‘At the welcome party back then…’
I know.
The direction Seo Geum-bi was looking that day was towards the second-year building beyond the window. Closer still, standing alone, was Shin Seo-ha.
‘I don’t blame you.’
There’s a difference between neglecting and believing.
In the end, it’s just that the timing for believing was wrong.
“Anything is fine. I just want to know about those two.”
“You’re starting with a big question.”
Seo Geum-bi pondered where to start before opening her mouth.
“Indeed, their relationship was much better than most siblings.”
Seo Geum-bi sat down first.
Her collapsing onto the sofa looked quite different from her usual neat demeanor. She must have been emotionally exhausted.
“Probably because of the expectations placed on them by their family. Both of them were shouldering those expectations side by side.”
I also sat on the sofa opposite her. Seo Geum-bi sipped from her cold teacup and then nodded towards me.
“You know well. Their grades were excellent. Moreover, they complemented each other well. A stubborn and tenacious older sister and an emotional and sentimental younger brother. They didn’t look like twins at all…”
Seo Geum-bi closed her eyes and fell into quiet contemplation. After a moment, she spoke again,
“Come to think of it, there was something strange.”
“Something strange?”
I frowned reflexively. Seo Geum-bi continued, understanding my reaction.
“The day Seo-ha and Seo-jun had their accident… The incident was downplayed at the middle school, but there were many oddities about it.”
“For example?”
“For example…”
Seo Geum-bi tilted her head as something occurred to her.
“Usually, monsters leave some kind of trace, but the monsters that attacked the streets that day left no traces at all.”
Adding to that, Seo Geum-bi continued,
“However, the hunter team that arrived later reported that they found purple bloodstains, which are presumed to be from the monsters…”
[Purple?]
Yomi on my shoulder growled.
‘Wait. That means the monsters that attacked Shin Seo-ha and Shin Seo-jun that day could have been…’
It felt like my eyes were suddenly opened. I quickly stood up and bowed deeply in gratitude.
“Thank you, senior.”
“Huh? I haven’t said much, though.”
“That’s more than enough. I’m really sorry for taking your time amid your busy schedule.”
More information than I expected. It was enough. The darkness entrenched in this world seemed to have influenced the characters of this world more than I had thought.
“Well, if you are satisfied, then it’s fine.”
Initially confused, Seo Geum-bi soon chuckled as if it didn’t matter.
“You may not realize this, but convincing the Head of the Disciplinary Committee is a significant achievement.”
I smiled back at Seo Geum-bi, who was smiling at me.
“I know very well.”