This World is too Cruel to Men – Chapter 113

Was that duel I participated in the beginning of something?

From that day onward, Yoonseo started coming to our School, offering various excuses.

It’s an obvious statement, but Yoonseo’s actions all happened after school hours, during the afternoon training sessions… The Senior, who was quite serious about her training, certainly didn’t appreciate Yoonseo’s behavior.

From the Senior’s perspective, Yoonseo’s actions likely seemed to disrupt her training, so it was only natural for her to feel that way.

As a result, the Senior’s initial polite demeanor towards Yoonseo gradually became sharper, and Yoonseo, with a tough exterior as prickly as a 500-won coin, didn’t back down but instead raised her game… leading to another clash between the two.

In a rather physical sense, of course.

After all, they say the first time is the hardest, but after that, it’s like a piece of cake.

Since that second clash, they started fighting—no, dueling—on almost a daily basis… I wanted to intervene, but I simply couldn’t.

After all, since their duel had an agreed-upon rationale, it was clear both of them were desperately trying to control their strength. Regardless of the circumstances, the effectiveness of their dueling was indisputably outstanding.

The results of their repeated duels were so remarkable that, exaggerating a bit, it felt as though their skills were visibly improving in real-time.

With things unfolding the way they were, how could I stop them?

For now, all I could do was watch.

Anyway… aside from the fact that they were constantly clashing, I thought they were getting along relatively well… but that thought would soon prove to be wishful thinking.

Little did I know that Yoonseo was hiding such schemes.

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Too-diddly-doo—too-diddly-doo—

Suddenly, an irritating alarm started ringing in my ear.

In the past?

As soon as I heard the alarm, I would have gotten up with a disgruntled expression, turned it off, and then slid right back into bed.

And I would have stayed there until Dad or Dogun came to wake me up.

But today, I wasn’t in the mood for that at all.

I had things to do today.

Maybe that’s why. It’s quite strange how my body usually felt sluggish in the mornings, making me feel bad, almost like a sponge filled with water, but today I felt nothing like that.

Rather than feeling bad, it was more… thrilling, like the morning of a school trip.

Even though I had gotten up much earlier than usual.

‘Not yet…’

They’re probably still sleeping, right…?

But just in case, it felt better to hurry.

After all, Dogun was pretty diligent.

That’s why I rushed out of bed.

I didn’t want to dawdle and risk Dogun waking up in that time, rendering my early rise pointless.

I jumped out from the warm blankets, tidied up my bed, and headed straight to the bathroom.

Maybe it was because I had mentally rehearsed a few times before bed.

I was feeling a bit… odd at the thought of seeing Dogun right after my shower, but my body moved efficiently as if on autopilot.

‘Looks like I’ve packed everything…’

I had been in my school uniform for a while, so all that was left was to strap on my bag and head over to Dogun’s house… That was when something on my vanity caught my eye.

It was the perfume Dogun had gifted me on my birthday last year.

I had refrained from using it much since I felt guilty about the bottle getting emptier every time I sprayed it unless it was a really important day… But today felt special.

For some reason, I kept glancing at it this morning.

‘…Should I spray just a little?’

Since it was morning, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to spray a bit, but I had no intention of overdoing it.

And besides, out of all the perfumes, he specifically chose that one… I thought it must’ve been his favorite scent.

‘…Heh.’

Just thinking about applying it made my face flush like it did when I showered, and my heart started pounding in my chest… but my hand was already reaching for the bottle.

‘Just, a little…’

It’s just a spray.

After all, Dogun did gift it to me to wear.

So there was nothing weird about this.

Actually, it felt odd that I had treated it like a precious heirloom, just sitting on my vanity until now.

Yeah, that’s right.

So—

gulp…!

I quietly swallowed, then carefully twisted the cap off and applied a bit to my wrist.

With a delightful pshh, a sweet scent like peaches rose from my wrist.

When I smelled it before, I only thought it was nice… but today, it felt strangely seductive.

…Does Dogun like this kind of scent?

‘By the way…’

Did I spray too little?

It felt like the scent was too faint.

Maybe it was just my imagination, but I brought my wrist close to my nose to check, and indeed, it seemed too weak.

So I decided to spray a bit more.

‘They say it’s good to spray on the collarbone, right…?’

Though it was quite a hassle to unbutton my blouse, it definitely seemed effective.

Every breath brought the sweet scent teasing my nose.

Of course, someone as oblivious as Dogun likely wouldn’t notice something so subtle as wearing perfume to the training, even if I did go to such lengths.

But he had selected and gifted it for me, so I thought he’d at least notice… which turned out to be quite a surprise until now.

So, it probably wouldn’t be much different this time either.

Thinking that?

I started feeling a bit embarrassed for acting like this, so I put the perfume bottle back on the vanity and hurriedly left the room.

As I quietly tried to sneak out of the house—

“Hmm? Yoonseo? Where are you off to this early?”

Just as I was about to step out the front door, Dad caught me.

Did he hear me coming down the stairs?

Honestly, I couldn’t help but flinch.

My initial plan was to sneak out without anyone noticing.

After that, I would text saying I had early training in the morning, but I never expected to get caught right at this moment.

What should I do? I hesitated for a moment before quickly speaking.

“Uh, I have training this morning…”

I felt bad for lying to Dad, who had given me advice, but I couldn’t bring myself to say the truth.

It was just too embarrassing.

Plus, it didn’t seem like Dad would overlook it if he knew.

That’s why I said that—

“Hmm, is that so? At this hour?”

“Y-Yeah… The Regular Tournament is coming up soon after all.”

“Right. I see. But… Yoonseo?”

“Yes?”

“Why’re you wearing perfume if you’re going for training?”

I must not have done a good job hiding my surprise in my voice and expression; he probably could discern my anxiety.

I had thought I sprayed just a little, but how did he smell it?

“Well, that is… um…”

“You’re not going to train; you’re going to see Dogun, right?”

“…Yeah.”

“Hmm, well… have fun.”

“Uh…?”

Is he really letting me go?

I thought for sure he’d stop me, asking what I was doing out this early…

“Why? Did you think I’d try to stop you?”

“…”

“Ah, I suspected you were telling an obvious lie, I guess…”

Dad said he had no intention of stopping me from the start.

Apparently, he thought it was cute how I flinched like a child caught doing something bad every time he spoke… leaving me blushing even harder.

“Anyway, have fun.”

“Y-Yeah.”

“If you think you might get too carried away—”

“D-Dad—!”

What kind of nonsense is that?

“Well… if our daughter had the courage to act like that, she would have confessed her feelings to Dogun and they’d be dating by now.”

“…”

“Sigh… My daughter is so timid; I really wonder what to do with her.”

“…I’m leaving now!”

With that absurd send-off from Dad, I exited the house and headed straight to Dogun’s place.

Finally standing in front of Dogun’s house—

‘…Wow.’

It felt like my heart was racing like never before, way more than before.