Correcting the Villainess of the Academy - Chapter 170

Chapter 170

***

“Don’t hit her too hard… Okay…?”

Yeon Minha showed no particular reaction even after hearing who my opponent for the ranking match was. She simply left it at that.

Of course, that didn’t mean I was particularly disappointed or anything. I could clearly feel the trust embedded in her voice as well.

Perhaps Yeon Minha was already taking my victory for granted. Or maybe she was more concerned about my reputation.

It had been a few months since I entered the Cradle.

I think the suspicious gazes I felt when I first appeared have almost disappeared by now. After all, I had firmly maintained the top spot in the first year until now, and I had experienced many things along the way.

Except for the third-years who hadn’t seen me in person, and some students who were so full of jealousy that they couldn’t make rational judgments.

However, when it came to aspects other than my skills, there were still some unfounded rumors circulating from time to time.

Rumors that I had a cruel and violent personality, that I forcibly dragged several female students and treated them like slaves, and so on.

Although some students who had become close to me actively defended and explained on my behalf, such malicious rumors could not be completely eliminated. And it wasn’t too difficult to find the cause.

There were many in this academy who needed me and Yeon Minha to be the axis of evil. To such people, the truth probably wasn’t very important.

Of course, my own personality flaws also played a part in those rumors. So, unless someone was directly picking a fight with me in front of me, I didn’t really care much about reputation in the first place.

However, considering my current position, which had changed since I first entered, Yeon Minha’s concerns were valid to some extent. It would affect not only me but also the main family of Heukryeon and Yeon Minha.

But now.

I was worried about something other than my reputation.

***

The Cradle’s library, lined with hundreds of magnificent bookshelves reaching the ceiling. The usual corner seat.

Next to me, a female student wearing a hood pulled low and glasses was engrossed in her explanation.

“Look closely. This is the Walter curve, which represents the upper limit of particle quantity for each life cycle of a mage. Here, each of these variables means…”

A few strands of golden hair peeked out from under her bangs, fluttering. Behind the glasses, eyes resembling emeralds were visible.

“…Do you understand?”

“…”

“Hey.”

Suddenly hearing her voice, I snapped out of it, and Jin Yeseo, who had been tracing the curve with various formulas drawn on it, glared at me.

“You were thinking about something else. I was explaining so hard, and you weren’t even concentrating…”

“No, I wasn’t. I was listening.”

Feeling a pang of guilt, I immediately denied it, but Jin Yeseo didn’t seem to believe me much.

“Really? Then try to calculate using the formula I just taught you.”

Jin Yeseo said, sliding a paper with a problem written on it towards me. After about five minutes of contemplation, I managed to write down an answer.

“…2512R?”

“…That’s correct. You’re good at this.”

Jin Yeseo nodded, though her expression remained unsatisfied.

“Still, it took you too long. What’s your current particle operation technique grade?”

“Knight, Grade B.”

“You said your goal is to reach Engineer, Grade C. Then, memorization aside, you need to shorten your calculation time much more. Somehow, you need to solve one problem within a minute…”

This strange situation was the result of the contract we made. I sparred with Jin Yeseo, and in return, she helped me with my studies.

And Jin Yeseo was a much better teacher than I had thought. When I listened to her explanations, the problems I had been struggling with on my own became understandable. For me, who had always been troubled by academic underachievement, it was truly a welcome relief.

Well, that would have been the case if there were no external factors like now.

“So, to continue the explanation…”

“Hey.”

“…Are you not going to focus? Why?”

Jin Yeseo, interrupted in her explanation, glared at me again like an angry cat.

But I couldn’t help but ask.

“Are you okay?”

After the recent request period ended. There was a change in the first-year rankings. I still maintained the first place, and Jin Yeseo had once again climbed into the top ten.

She said she only got a few performance points by putting her name on her friend’s external request.

However, her friend… Moon Yeowool, along with a few other students, failed their designated requests and lost a lot of points, which indirectly benefited her.

Since I hadn’t even thought about this at all, I was quite flustered when Jin Yeseo picked my name during the ranking match drawing ceremony.

That lingering feeling was still bothering me.

“What?”

“The ranking match is in two days.”

“What? I was wondering what you were thinking about…”

But Jin Yeseo still responded with a nonchalant expression. Not much different from when she had picked my name herself.

“It’s already the third ranking match. You should be used to it by now.”

“You know that’s not what I meant. If you lose this time…”

I knew the situation Jin Yeseo was in. Because of the promise she made with her mother, the head of the family, she was destined to be forcibly bound to someone if she lost even once.

I had heard about it from her friend Haewon a while ago, and after we became close, I often heard her self-deprecating jokes about being sold off like a broodmare.

Of course, when Jin Yeseo was hell-bent on killing me, she was really annoying. I’m neither kind nor generous. Considering my personality, which is narrower than a well and explodes like a lit bomb, I’m actually closer to being petty.

So, at that time, I honestly wouldn’t have cared. In fact, I didn’t.

I would have just thought it served her right. She was nothing more than a stone constantly blocking Yeon Minha’s and my path.

But things were different now. We had emerged from the swamp of death together, and we were friends who had saved each other’s lives. In front of that, factions had long since become a trivial matter.

The fact that her fate was in my hands… it didn’t sit well with me.

Especially since Jin Yeseo hated her family’s policy with all her might, unless she wanted it herself…

“I won’t lose.”

“What?”

“I said I won’t lose.”

But Jin Yeseo answered casually. Even when I asked her again, it was the same.

She was just calm, like a person without any worries about the future.

“Huh? Hey. What’s with that attitude? Why are you being so cocky?”

Jin Yeseo shot back at me with her usual arrogant and blunt tone, reminiscent of her old self.

“But…”

“Anyone would think you’ve already won. Huh?”

She then said with a smirk, as if mocking me.

Even so, I didn’t feel any particular resentment now…

“You barely won by a hair’s breadth today. At this rate of growth, it seems like I’ll surpass you on the day of the ranking match?”

It wasn’t entirely wrong. I was well aware of her abnormal growth rate.

In terms of innate talent, she probably couldn’t even be compared to me. Didn’t the commander often say that? That he’d never seen anyone as terribly untalented as me. That I should just grind like a dog and make up for it with my body…

Of course, that didn’t mean I agreed with her words. We still had a gap of two years and countless real combat experiences.

But even if she would catch up someday, for now…

“Ah. Just in case, you’re not thinking of going easy on me, are you?”

Jin Yeseo’s gaze, as she stared at me, burned even more fiercely. As if warning me.

“I’ll know right away if you’re going easy on me or not. If I sense anything like that, I’ll forfeit immediately. And I’ll cut ties with you. Forever.”

“…”

Damn it. I can’t do this or that.

But cutting ties. Isn’t that something only possible between friends?

So she thought of me as a friend too.

“…I told you. It doesn’t matter who my opponent is. I’ll win no matter what. Even if my opponent is you… that resolve won’t change.”

Jin Yeseo, her expression softening, spoke in a slightly gentler tone.

“If you… care about me even a little…”

And the last words she whispered echoed in my ears all day.

“Please do your best… and fight me.”

***

The last ranking match of the first quarter was particularly crowded.

Considering that the third-years had temporarily returned, increasing the number of people, and that it was the last chance to show off their skills before entering the social season, it wasn’t anything strange.

The names on the electronic display board rose and fell according to the scores. The loud voice of the announcer amplified through the speakers, spreading in all directions.

Among them, there was a duel arena particularly packed with spectators.

“This is really a bad match-up…”

“I know, right…”

Even though the participants hadn’t shown up yet, the duel arena was heated with intense discussion.

A rivalry comparable to, or even greater than, Baek Seoyeon and Yeon Minha from last year.

Truly a relationship of enemies.

Compared to Baek Seoyeon and Yeon Minha, who had cleverly avoided each other in the ranking matches, these two had clashed unusually often.

However, today’s atmosphere was a bit one-sided.

The fact that Baek Seoyeon, the idol of everyone in the second year of the Cradle, cared a lot about Jin Yeseo.

And because some people who knew what Jin Yeseo would face if she lost were stirring up sympathy.

“Tsk, tsk… How did she end up in such a situation…”

In the audience. A greasy-looking third-year male student with a name tag that read ‘Chun Suho’ clicked his tongue.

“A forced engagement… Should this body step in and save her? Well, if she asks, it’s not like I can’t…”

His arm still had someone’s handprint lingering on it, throbbing.

“I know, right. And of all people, her opponent is that guy…”

A slick-looking new student. Guk Jaeryong grumbled. His tone was full of displeasure towards someone.

It was common for a seasoned third-year to find a newbie cute, but this combination wasn’t exactly desirable.

“What a rude brat…”

Chun Suho’s face filled with dark anger as he recalled the new student who had greatly humiliated him in front of the junior he was interested in.

“I’ll pay back this humiliation a thousand times over during the social season tournament. How dare he disrespect a senior like me… Ah, is it starting?”

The preliminary bell signaling ten minutes before the start rang in the duel arena, and everyone’s attention was focused. Soon, the protagonists of the day appeared from the doors at both ends.

On one side, a tall male student wearing a bizarre mask. On the other, a female student with the exotic beauty of shining blonde hair and green eyes.

The cheers and support grew even more intense. But the two narrowed the distance, glaring at each other as if they wanted to kill each other, not caring at all.

Just by looking at their gazes, as if they were looking at their enemy, one could easily guess their relationship.

However, the spectators soon noticed something different from usual, and a strange murmur began to spread among them.

“Huh…?”

“Wait… that’s…”

Their gazes were all directed at Jin Yeseo’s waist.

And there, visible was a sharp blade that didn’t seem like a weapon used by an expulsion-type mage at all.

End of Chapter