Correcting the Villainess of the Academy - Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Dream’s Boundary (6)

“A… talk…? Wh-what…”

Yeon Minha asked in a trembling voice. Her eyes were still filled with tears.

Could she understand the dilemma I wrestled with all night? Given our history, her reaction seemed natural. In truth, it was partly what I had intended.

“L-let’s just, g-go out… This is so in-inappropriate…”
T hi s w a s co p i e d f r o m ki n g m tl . or g

“Do you remember what happened yesterday?”

“Y-yesterday…? What on earth…”

Her thoughts connected instantly. Yeon Minha’s pupils dilated, her face filled with fear.

She had lunged at me like a deranged person. Before that, she had curled up in a corner of the empty dormitory, trembling. I didn’t know exactly what had happened before, but it was clear she’d had a terrifying experience.

“Hick… hik…”

Yeon Minha clutched her chest, breathing heavily. She looked around frantically.

Yesterday, she seemed utterly mad, so I wondered if she might not remember.

But now, her reaction suggested she was fully aware of her actions and experiences.

“You… it’s you, isn’t it…”

Finally, her gaze turned to me.

“What are you talking about?”

“Don’t pretend! How else would my nightmares return the moment you came back…!”

Her voice was both fierce and desperate.

Seeing focus in her eyes, it seemed she was mentally sound this time.

But she still suspected me, confirming her strong conviction in her hunch.

“…”

Her eyes flickered like candle flames.

I had spent a sleepless night contemplating this scenario.

Just like the first day I used the barrier, I considered flatly denying it.

As long as I feigned ignorance, Yeon Minha could do nothing. She’d throw vague questions at me, just as she was doing now.

But last night taught me something.
T hi s w a s c o pi ed fr o m k i n g m tl . o r g

There was no need for such tedious blind man’s bluff.

“What if it’s true?”

“…!”

Yeon Minha’s face showed shock, not expecting such a confident response.

“Seems like you’re having severe nightmares. It was tough even for me next door. So, I tried something.”

“How… how did you…”

“I’m not obliged to tell you that.”

T h i s w a s c o p i ed fr om ki n g m t l .o r g
“T-that’s impossible… how…”

“You asked, and now you’re denying it? Then I have nothing more to say.”

I made a motion to get up. Finishing my speech, I pretended to walk firmly toward the door.

Perhaps the mask made me bolder than usual.

“I’ll take my leave. It might be a restless night for you tonight. Then…”

“W-wait… wait…!”

-Thud!

Her desperate voice, followed by something thudding and rolling on the floor.
T h i s w a s c o pie d fr o m k i n g m t l . o r g

“…Hick… wait…”

Her reaction forced me to turn around.
Th i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i ng m t l.o r g

Yeon Minha was sitting on the floor by the bedside, looking abject.

The sight made me sigh inwardly.

On one hand, I felt relieved she reacted as expected.

On the other, her intense reaction evoked pity and sympathy.

“…”

I still didn’t entirely understand this power. I used it discreetly when needed, but its true nature eluded me.

I only thought it might be connected to how I, a complete non-responder, could use magic in such an unconventional way.

The captain seemed to know more, but he closed his mouth, saying he’d reveal it only after I graduated from the Cradle.

He had also sternly warned me to keep the power a secret.

Initially, I planned to deny everything.

But after witnessing Yeon Minha’s desperation last night, I had an idea.

Leaving aside personal sympathy or pity for her, I had to honor the captain’s instructions to graduate from the Cradle with the best possible results.

The best way to do that was to earnestly fulfill the principal’s request, helping restore Yeon Minha’s fallen status and equilibrium.

But trust was nonexistent between us, and a wall of differences in upbringing and position stood tall.

Though I had managed to get close enough to test the power’s efficacy, there was still a risk of her reacting unpredictably.

Sympathy for Yeon Minha.

And the task I must accomplish.

To satisfy both, the solution was… to add another shackle.

“…”

Yeon Minha still sat trembling on the floor. Her eyes were filled with fear and moisture.

That fear was also the tool I intended to use.

Ignoring the pangs of conscience, I walked back to Yeon Minha.

“H-hik… don’t come any closer…”

She had tried to stop me from leaving and ended up in that state. Now she begged me not to come closer.

“Hic.”

As I approached, she couldn’t even look up and started hiccuping.

I squatted in front of her and met her gaze level.

“Are you ready to have a conversation now?”

***

Hope and despair were the conflicting emotions Yeon Minha felt.

Hope was that the alleviation of her mental contamination wasn’t a temporary miracle. Despair was that the key to this resolution lay with the perverted masked man who was now threatening her.
T h i s w as c op i e d fro m k i n g mtl . or g

There was no way it was a coincidence that he intruded right after she had such an experience.

He had approached her by naming himself her mentor, hid his skills to win the duel, then used that to occupy her dorm, wielded an unknown power to give her a taste of heaven, only to snatch it away and plunge her back into torment.

The sequence of events had surely gone according to his plan from the start.

The mental contamination among the direct descendants of Jeokhwa Yeon had been a long-standing side effect. Despite efforts to keep it secret, it had spread beyond the family, leading to rumors of a curse among spirit summoners.

She was not exempt from this curse. If anything, her exceptional talent made the mental contamination even more horrific. She had been plagued by nightmares and hallucinations since childhood.

But the past two nights had been a new level of hell for Yeon Minha, who had endured years of such suffering.

The shadows and illusions bore down on her more fiercely than ever. Yesterday, she had faced the worst hallucinations and scenes from the depths of hell.

If she had suffered through another night like that, she might have truly lost her mind.

In the frenzy of these nightmares, she had shown a madness akin to lunacy to him.

“Ah…”

Yeon Minha felt her vision go dark. Up until now, she could have brushed it off as just nightmares, but seeing him directly was an entirely different matter.

His assertive threats stemmed from that judgment.

Worse, despite understanding his intentions, she was powerless to do anything.

“Do you want to have happy dreams again, Senior?”
T h i s wa s co p i ed from k i n g m t l . o rg

“…Hick.”

The white, eerie mask pressed her again. Yeon Minha could only nod slightly with her trembling head.

“Seeing a respected senior suffering, I feel quite uneasy myself.”

He spouted insincere platitudes.

“I have a proposal. If you accept a few simple conditions, I will help you maintain your mental and physical stability.”

“Ah…”

Yeon Minha’s vision blurred. The simple conditions he spoke of were like a leash around her neck.

Yet, she could only nod helplessly.

“First, I, Yu Jinhyun, will do my best to help Yeon Minha regain her mental and physical peace.”

T his w a s c op i ed f rom ki n g mtl. or g
He repeated his earlier statement, underpinning his proposal.

“Second, Yeon Minha must keep the fact that Yu Jinhyun possesses such means a secret from everyone.”

“…”

From his perspective, it was a perfectly reasonable condition. Despite the immense wealth gained from the exclusive mining of Starlite and nearly a century of effort, the mental contamination problem had never been solved.

Even after just three days of experiencing his power, she was dying of curiosity. If this fact leaked, he would face not just annoyance but actual threats to his safety.

“Third, in return for this help, Yeon Minha will always obey any command issued by Yu Jinhyun.”

But as he stated the third condition, Yeon Minha’s mind drifted far from reason.

“What…?”

She muttered involuntarily, her hands trembling as if frostbitten.

“And she will formalize these conditions into a written contract.”

Ignoring her protest, he pulled out a piece of paper. She recognized it easily—a special sheet used for contracts between mages, made with fibers mixed with Starlite-responsive powder.

It was densely written, and his words had only highlighted key points.

“You… you…”

Her eyes welled up with tears, and her trembling hands clutched her shoulders.

Feeling uneasy? What a lie. All he wanted was to leash her as his plaything.

Blurry with tears, she tried to glare at him through the mask.

This was her last shred of pride.

Absolute obedience was not something easily demanded of the heir of Jeokhwa Yeon. It involved the family’s prestige, not just personal circumstances. His offer was enticing, but if it shamed her family, she’d rather die.

“Haa…”

The masked man sighed heavily, seeing her state. His small action made her flinch.

Then he said something unexpected that shattered her last bit of pride.

“And one more thing. I, Yu Jinhyun, will not inflict any direct or indirect mental or physical harm on Yeon Minha, and will protect her from any danger.”

“What…?”

“Is that satisfactory?”

Ignoring her confusion, he added a line to the contract with a pen. This time, he pulled out a seal.

“This is something the heir of Heukryeon Sashi entrusted to me. Actions performed with this seal are guaranteed by the Heukryeon Sashi family and carry legal weight. Both Senior and I are bound by this contract.”

With that, he pressed the seal onto the paper. The smell of burning filled the air as a faint light emerged from where the seal touched the paper.

After a while, he lifted the seal, but the intricate, irreversible mark remained.

“I understand you have already gained the qualifications of an heir. Please stamp it.”

“Why, why are you doing this to me…”

Her voice was weak with bewilderment, but his reply was flat and emotionless.

“Didn’t I tell you? To help you.”

“But why…”

“Because you are valuable. To me and my backer.”

“What does that…”

“Enough. Stamp it. Quickly.”

“…Hick.”

The sharp command made her lower her gaze reflexively.

She no longer had the energy or will to refuse.

Her last bit of pride crumbled with his final condition.

With trembling hands, she found her seal, brought it to the contract, and infused it with particles.

The smell of burning and light emerged again, marking the contract with another seal.

She handed the contract back to him with trembling hands. He flicked his fingers, separating the thin, duplicate contracts, and handed one back to her.

“It seems we’re done. My apologies for the intrusion this morning. I look forward to working with you, Senior.”

Bowing politely, he left her room.

As tension left her, two questions surfaced in her mind.

Why her lower abdomen still ached and how she had woken up in her bedroom when she had been in the living room.

“…Hick.”

The only answer her hazy memory provided was the last thing she saw before passing out—a punch to her stomach.

Th i s w a s c o pi e d f r o m k i n g m t l . o r g
Her face flushed with shame, and tears fell to the floor. The shawl over her shoulders was now useless.
T h is w a s c o p i e d f r o m k ingm tl . o r g

She looked at the door he had exited through, then dropped her head.

She was already a bug caught in a web, a helpless prey.

End of Chapter