Chapter 28

Even so, I should express my gratitude.

After all, it’s true that she has been by my side.

“Hmph. A mere greeting like that, I don’t really feel anything when I hear it?!”

Olivia turns her head and glances at me.

The expected reaction.

It’s not surprising anymore.

I lean against the wall of the hospital room.

“Here, have this!”

Clunk.

She raises the bedside table and places something on it.

I turn my gaze.

There’s an apple carved into the shape of a rabbit.

It’s lumpy and oddly carved, barely recognizable as a rabbit.

Next to it, a toothpick is neatly placed.

“What is it?”

Suddenly, an apple?

“This is the apple that the young lady, who heard that it’s polite to bring an apple carved into a rabbit shape when visiting someone in the hospital in Korea, carved herself.”

The answer came not from Olivia, but from Bella.

When did that become polite in Korea?

And where does she get such useless knowledge?

“W-When did I carve it! Really, Bella. Why do you keep saying such useless things?!”

Sure enough, Olivia’s textbook reaction follows.

I can’t help but laugh at how it’s like a pirate roulette toy where a toy knife triggers the pirate to pop out.

“What? Why are you laughing? Why aren’t you eating it quickly?”

She glares at me, her eyes wide.

Ah, well done.

I thought she might have been 0.1% decent just a moment ago, but I must have been crazy.

Indeed, in this damn world, you can’t form any attachments.

I shake my head and pick up the apple with the toothpick, taking a bite.

I can feel the unique crunch of the apple.

The sweet and sour juice slides down my throat.

It’s surprisingly delicious.

“How is it? I specially prepared this high-quality Fuji apple from Aomori! Hehehe.”

“Good job.”

I don’t know how famous Aomori apples are, but the taste is good compared to its lumpy appearance.

Olivia puffs out her cheeks and places her hands on her hips.

“I don’t want insincere compliments! If anything, I’m the one who deserves gratitude!”

Anyway.

She goes crazy even when I compliment her.

I shake my head.

“What?! That dissatisfied look! Are you daring to show dissatisfaction with what I said?!”

Really.

Listening to Olivia’s noisy reaction, I feel a headache coming on again.

Everything is fine, but can’t you stop that behavior?

Seeing my gesture, Olivia, who was huffing and puffing, stops.

Clunk.

The door to the hospital room opens.

“Oooh!! You’re finally awake! The famous Korean student! Mr. Kim!!”

There stands a girl with round glasses, green hair braided in two pigtails, holding a notebook and a camera around her neck.

My eyebrows furrow.

Ah, who was she again?

The memory is vague.

Maybe it’s because I just woke up?

The green-haired girl approaches with sparkling eyes and says,

“I’m Amano Nodoka, a first-year student reporter for Shuoh Academy’s newspaper club. You can call me Amano! The student causing the biggest buzz in Shuoh Academy right now! I’m here to interview Mr. Kim with burning journalism! Is a short interview okay?”

Amano Nodoka.

Her name rings a bell.

A typical ‘gossip’ character in light novels, who knows all the rumors inside the school.

She’s also a sub-heroine character who secretly likes the protagonist.

Though her role is almost negligible.

The student reporter, fitting her role, hovers around the protagonist, gathering various news to spread his fame through the academy channel, internet articles, and the school newspaper.

She also appears as an informant in some episodes.

‘An interview, huh.’

My expression naturally turns sour.

That kind of thing is enough for the national pride YouTube channel.

Especially since the national pride YouTube channel even pays me money due to a portrait rights complaint.

Why bother with an interview that doesn’t make any money?

I don’t care about the school newspaper or anything.

Just as I was about to refuse,

“You! What is this! Bursting in like this! Don’t you care about the patient’s peace?!”

“Oh, this is the famous Platinum Knight Princess! Is it true that you became Mr. Kim’s personal maid?”

“Q-Quit it!! W-Why should I tell you that!!”

Nodoka’s attack makes Olivia’s face turn red as she shouts.

That’s right.

Well done, Olivia.

Use the power of tsundere to take down the newspaper club scum.

I’ll support you this time.

“A strong denial is a strong affirmation! It seems the rumor is true! Oh ho. Oh ho. This is a scoop. A scoop!”

Nodoka scribbles something in her notebook, and Olivia’s face turns as red as a ripe tomato.

“Kim... Duk-sung... Is this the right room?”

A familiar voice comes from the open door.

Everyone in the room, including me, turns to look.

At the entrance stands a girl with a blue ponytail, her usually expressionless face flushed.

Shinozaki Rin.

She’s finally here to keep her promise.

Seeing her and Nodoka with a camera around her neck,

A good idea flashes through my mind.

Shinozaki Rin.

You’re done for.

Get ready to have your dogeza photo plastered on the national pride YouTube channel thumbnail.

Just as she was about to let it go,

The blue-eyed Shinozaki Rin.

Ah, just looking at her face makes my anger rise again.

Just thinking about when she suddenly initiated a handshake makes me furious.

“Come in. Rin.”

“...I understand.”

Shinozaki Rin enters the room with a trembling hand, her expression stiff.

Even though I called her by her name, she doesn’t seem to have the energy to argue, which shows how shocking her defeat must have been.

Well, it’s not my problem.

“Do you remember the promise?”

“The Black Stone? If it’s that, then the headmaster himself...”

“Not that one. There’s another one, remember?”

I cut her off.

There are two things I need, not just one. Why are you trying to get away with just one?

If it were the original protagonist, he would have said, “Still, the handshake was too much, right? It was just a joke. Don’t take it seriously,” and laughed it off, but I’m a selfish person.

I have to remember even minor grudges and repay them a hundredfold to feel satisfied.

Her face turns pale.

“T-That...”

She bites her lip.

Dogeza is the ultimate form of apology in Japanese culture, and a great humiliation for the person doing it.

Just thinking about doing dogeza to someone she ignored until recently must make her feel dizzy.

No matter how cool she is, dogeza is a different story.

“Oh, the promise! You mean the dogeza? Right? Mr. Kim? Right? It’s a scoop! A scoop!”

Olivia and Nodoka’s reactions mix.

Ah, my head hurts.

While Olivia is tolerable, the hyperactive atmosphere of the newspaper club scum is hard to adapt to.

“Just wait. And you, Amano.”

“Yeah! Did you call me? The famous man, Mr. Kim?”

Ah, really. It’s like a mysterious world where new absurdities are discovered every time.

What’s with the ‘famous man’?

It’s ridiculous to hear such a title in reality.

“Take a photo of both of them doing dogeza at the same time and post it as an article on the Academy Channel. Can you do that?”

“I was planning to do that anyway? Don’t stop me! My journalistic spirit is burning right now!”

Journalism my ass.

Isn’t it missing the ‘yellow’ part?

Anyway, since she’s willing to post the humiliating photos on the internet, there’s no need to refuse.

The rest will be taken care of by our proud Korean YouTube warriors.

“Hehehehehe.”

The newspaper club scum girl strokes her camera and gives a sinister laugh.

It’s like a light novel gag character come to life in an anime, making me feel nauseous.

“What is it with this person... She’s weird.”

Even Olivia, who was standing next to me, looks genuinely disgusted.

“...”

Shinozaki Rin’s face turns as white as a sheet, finally realizing the situation.

Her trembling blue eyes look at me.

It seems like she’s pleading for me to stop.

You should have won if you were annoyed.

“Shinozaki-san. Did you call? But why to the hospital...”

At that moment,

The hospital room door opens, and the blonde tanned delinquent, Ishihara, appears.

It’s clear that he’s excited and blushing, having been called by the person he secretly liked.

The sight of the blonde tanned delinquent blushing is one of the most disgusting scenes in this crazy world.

“I called you. Delinquent.”

Even if he could speak politely after seeing that scene, he would be a Buddha or Jesus.

Ishihara’s gaze turns to me.

“Ooh. Who’s this? The black-haired guy? What’s up with you?”

The delinquent starts talking without thinking, as expected.

He hasn’t fully grasped the situation yet.

Instead of answering, I hold up my phone and play a recording.

[...You’re going to lose to Shinozaki and do dogeza. I’ll be watching, Kim Duk-sung.]

[What if I win? Will you do dogeza too?]

[Of course. I’ll definitely do it. And I’ll even do the handshake. Though that won’t happen, hahaha!!]

The recording of Ishihara’s voice blares from the smartphone at maximum volume.

“Oh! A scoop! A scoop! Ishihara-kun! Promising to do dogeza!!”

The newspaper club scum starts talking.

Ishihara’s expression hardens.

“What do you think? Do you understand the situation now?”

“Hey, this is...”

“Are you going back on your word? Or should I post the recording online?”

“Grrrr...!!!”

Ishihara clenches his teeth and trembles his fists.

No matter what, he only has one choice.

I look back and forth between Ishihara and Shinozaki Rin.

“Both of you, do the dogeza as promised.”

It’s a double dogeza ending.

Both Ishihara Daiki and Shinozaki Rin tremble with humiliation.

“Hurry up and do it.”

“Grrrr...!!”

Shinozaki Rin bites her lip.

Thud.

Her knees hit the ground.

Thump.

Shinozaki Rin’s head hits the floor.

Her blue hair spreads out on the ground.

“Do it too, delinquent.”

“G-Grrrr...!!”

Ishihara Daiki kneels, his trembling hands touching the floor.

Thump.

His blonde head hits the hospital floor.

“Ohhhhh!! This is the real scoop!! Throbbing!!”

Click! Click!

The shutter sounds and the flash goes off.

“Are you going to write an article about it?”

“Of course! If I found such a scoop and didn’t write an article, my inner journalism would cry!”

Is her journalism a black dragon?

Crying inside her body?

“Alright. Go write your article quickly.”

“Got it! Hehehehehe. This will be the best article of my life!”

I don’t know why she likes to talk to herself so much.

The sinisterly smiling student reporter, Nodoka, hugs her camera and leaves the room.

Soon, the double dogeza photo will spread across the internet.

Good. One down.

I turn my gaze.

Ishihara and Shinozaki Rin are still kneeling with their heads down.

I’d like to make them stay like that longer, but unfortunately, there’s a physical limit to how long one can do dogeza.

‘I have my own things to do.’

Since I’ve achieved my goal, I decide to be merciful and let them go.

If this were a web novel, I’d be afraid of future repercussions and would thoroughly deal with them, but this is an overly kind light novel world.

There’s no way they’ll do anything to me, not even a 1% chance.

“Get up.”

As soon as I give permission, Ishihara and Shinozaki Rin stand up.

Their foreheads are red from hitting the floor.

“Finally, both of you, say one word of apology and get out.”