Chapter 124

“Did you do well on the test?”

“More or less. How about you?”

When Yoo In-na asked her question, I nonchalantly replied.

Even though I had quite a few problems that gave me pause during today’s exam, I’ve taken many more tests than most of the other students, and I focused my studies primarily on what I anticipated would be included in the test based on past experience. Therefore, I didn’t have a single question where I had to guess because I didn’t know the answer.

When I finished solving all the problems, the time also seemed perfectly aligned, so I didn’t waste too much time worrying unnecessarily.

If I could approach tomorrow’s exams in the same manner, it wouldn’t be too difficult to achieve 100 points in all subjects, as long as no one interferes.

“Since I didn’t get to focus on the test because I was busy pondering what demands to force on you when you ask for them later, do you think you can at least take responsibility?”

Meanwhile, the most potent force among those likely to hinder me was casually taunting me from the side.

“At least it seems like I’ve managed to handle one of them. What about you, In-na?”

“I did pretty well too.”

The other one just diligently studied with me, so handling the troublemakers this morning should ensure my focus during the exams.

Or maybe it would be better to completely ignore whatever they intend to do.

As school ended and on my way home with Yoo In-na and the school’s queen, I sighed, mulling over why they chose to wreak havoc on me during testing days.

Even if the student council president could identify the perpetrators, the problem is that they might’ve been manipulated by someone else, making it difficult to punish them.

On the other hand, leaving them alone completely could lead to continuous interference during the exam period, which would understandably make me nervous.

No matter how much of a genius I am, it’s impossible to maintain my brilliance and focus if they keep disrupting me.

If I ask the student council president to resolve the matter, she might spend her own time to help me out, but my conscience prevents me from delegating everything to her, as her kindness has always been directed toward this body, not me.

“Is it because of what happened this morning?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Seemingly aware that I was still contemplating how to resolve the morning’s events, In-na asked first, and I readily admitted it. There was no need to deny it to her.

“What would you give me if I resolve this for you? Something I couldn’t handle shouldn’t concern you, right?”

“I’ll handle this on my own.”

“Have you trusted the recent acquaintance enough to let go of this? Someone like me would be the better bet, wouldn’t you agree?”

“No, In-na, I’ll be fine. I can handle it alone.”

The former queen tends to demand something in return whenever she offers help, which makes it frightening to ask her for anything. I just couldn’t rely on someone else when the person most interested in me is already enough trouble in themselves.

One of them tends to bother me excessively,

and the other one leans more toward owning me.

Honestly, I have an ominous feeling that I can’t solve this without their help.

But I can’t justify diverting my test preparation time to rounding up someone who would h*rass me.

Moreover, if I were to gather other people’s assistance, especially these two women, during the exam period, they’d undoubtedly charge exorbitant prices for their help, given the ‘premium’ of the high-stakes exam timing.

These women are nothing but shark-like loan sharks.

“So, be honest, did you suspect me or her? Obviously, it’s her, right?”

As she poked my cheek, she was likely directing her question at me, but I didn’t respond to Yoo In-na.

Why would someone choose to say something that would put them in an unfavorable situation? I’m not stupid enough to put myself in such a predicament.

“Isn’t it obvious? Given how well I’ve been behaving lately, you wouldn’t dare suspect me, would you?”

“I’ve been making you food and driving you to school all this time! You wouldn’t compare me to her just because I’ve been behaving, would you?”

The verbal sparring between the school’s former queen and the current one made me want to tell them to go ahead and keep it up on their own, but the problem was that it all happened with me caught in the middle.

Judging by the silent pause where they awaited my response, it appeared we still had at least 10 minutes before we reached home.

Ten minutes. That was an agonizing stretch of time where escape from their questioning was impossible.

“I would never… suspect… you… of doing this.”

Was it because it was the first lie I’d told in a while, or because I instinctively knew how foolish it was to lie to a person with falsehood-related abilities and another who’s been slowly influencing me by feeding me food?

I quickly closed my mouth when I realized how inappropriate my genius remark was, but it was already too late. There was no way they didn’t figure out what I was about to say.

Even though I have the ability to lie like a genius, my overly strong sense of morality may have prevented me from successfully executing the lie.

Why did the heavens bestow such a colossal conscience upon me? Had I lacked it, I could have easily deceived them.

“Of course, I noticed. There’s no way I wouldn’t.”

Since they had already read my intentions, there wasn’t much point in lying anymore; the only option was to tell the truth.

“So who is it? Me? Her?”

Even though the setup suggested my intention to deceitfully avoid the situation, they weren’t interrogating me but were rather looking for a simple answer.

A scenario that some might welcome as a “catfight.”

Everyone wants to be loved, and I’m no different, but this level of female obsession is more like harassment than anything else.

No matter how I think about it, Kim Ha-neul seems to be at fault here. If he had properly fulfilled his role as the protagonist, I wouldn’t have faced this trial…!

Still, I was the one who advised against pursuing Yoo In-na, so from another perspective, this situation could be seen as my karmic retribution.

By definition, the protagonist must endure the wrath of all heroines alone, so as a heroine myself, I do feel justified in reproaching Kim Ha-neul.

…Regardless, while I directed my resentment at Kim Ha-neul, I seriously thought about making excuses that would not resonate with these ladies.

“So who is it?~”

*

The incident this morning didn’t prompt a separate message from the system. What was different this time that the system didn’t provide a message about the event?

To understand this, I decided to ask the Student Council President, who was involved last time. She agreed to converse with me while comfortably laying on a blanket spread on the floor.

The reason why the former queen chose to sleep on the floor instead of the bed was because Yoo In-na strongly refused the idea of me and the former queen sharing a bed.

…Frankly, I don’t really understand why she lays out a blanket on the floor since she always ends up on the bed once I fall asleep.

Is she just trying to avoid being seen by In-na before she sleeps? But why does she climb into bed every morning knowing she’ll get caught by Yoo In-na anyway?

“My power is fundamentally about negation. It denies real-world events and replaces those erased spaces with what I want. You know this, right?”

“Of course. That’s why I thought your power was close to reality manipulation, and I still think so.”

While soothing my tired mind with the comfort of the blanket, I exchanged words with the former queen. Her supernatural ability is extraordinarily powerful, which is why I’ve always been cautious about it.

I’m cautious because her capabilities are on par with something so potent that infiltration into me without notice could occur at any moment, though I realize that guarding against such an influence might be meaningless, but mentally, I persist in the thought that I must remain vigilant.

“So, it wasn’t a tough job to mess up your desk. Just a glance at it and a bit of my power could mess it up naturally. Since I can do this, I might add that your desk incident wasn’t a supernatural ability but rather an intentional act by someone—though not as wise, I can still gather clues from the use versus the non-use of powers.”

“Meaning it wasn’t done by someone under control due to mind manipulation or similar powers but rather on their own volition?”

Since trusting the former queen is a different matter, the information about the act not being supernatural but deliberate seemed reliable, especially because Kang Yu-ri is a formidable supernatural ability user that can’t be easily dismissed.

“So, while it is true that I can be trusted for this, the fact is that the perpetrators acted on their own malicious intent without using supernatural powers. If we can identify them, we can punish them accordingly. Since you seemed so worried, what would you like to do? Investigate and punish them? Or what?”

“I can make one call and find out all the culprits.”

“What?!”

The student council president wasn’t told that I could instantly identify the culprits, so Kang Yu-ri had no idea I could quickly discover the perpetrators.

Was she taken aback by the implication? Her surprised voice was loud enough for Yoo In-na, sleeping downstairs, to hear.

“If those guys didn’t act under control but with intent toward me, I won’t make a fuss unless they continue such disruptions. I don’t really care what they do as long as I’m not significantly hindered in my test-taking.”

“…Hey, most people would be terrified of bullying, but you just ignore it?”

“As long as nothing worse than this happens to me, this is just a little joke.”

The reason I fretted about these people all day was due to the worry that they’d escalate to serious disruptions during the exam, not because I feared consistent minor harassment.

For instance, if they forcibly dragged me away to h*rass me, I’d definitely resist, but they also have the potential to disrupt my test performance.

If they hinder me from achieving a perfect score, causing their grades to end up with a zero as a result, wouldn’t they benefit more?

Naturally, they would have scored close to zero anyway in their tests, so they gain far more by disrupting me.

“Do you know this? The more you just sit there indifferent, pretending not to notice anything, the more they’ll want to keep pushing to see how far they can go.”

“Stop it. It’s burdensome.”

I already have a hard time handling Yoo In-na alone; I don’t need an extra hassle from you.

“Alright, fine. Since you already knew, there’s no need for me to propose a deal. I should get some rest for tomorrow’s exam, so goodnight.”

That’s what I decided. Whether or not she actually said “goodnight” upon finishing her sentence is hard to tell, but after her words registered, sleepiness washed over me, and I just surrendered to it.