Chapter 7

‘I don’t know who it is.’

Top student Olivia.

Judging from how she treats the prideful French knight princess without any regard, she’s not an ordinary person.

New World League?

No, they wouldn’t approach so clumsily.

Then, who could it be...

Yoo Ji shook his head, dispelling the string of questions.

Now is not the time to worry about it.

‘I’ll just remember it for now.’

Yoo Ji etched Kim Deok-sung’s face into his mind and headed to the sparring ground where his childhood friend was waiting.

*

Walking out of the dormitory building.

A cool spring breeze brushed against his cheeks. Cherry blossoms scattered across the campus.

‘They really love cherry blossoms.’

As if to prove they’re not Japanese, they’re absolutely crazy about cherry blossoms.

Well, cherry blossoms in the first semester are a staple in Japanese works, like a dash of pepper in a dish.

“Do you have something to say?”

Olivia, who had approached him without him noticing, spoke.

Her blue eyes were calm and collected.

He continued walking without a word.

In the distance, the sea sparkled.

The sun had set, and the night sky was filled with the moon and stars.

They reached a seaside park on campus with a clear view of Tokyo Bay.

A vending machine with the lights on was visible next to a bench.

True to Japan’s reputation as the land of vending machines, the variety of drinks was unnecessarily vast.

“Do you want anything?”

“Not really... No.”

“I was just asking.”

He dug into his pocket and pulled out a coin purse.

In a country where cards and mobile payments don’t work properly, it’s frustrating that you have to use cash even at vending machines.

He inserted three 100-yen coins.

The buttons on the vending machine lit up.

He pressed the buttons for the canned oden and red bean paste drink.

He had always wanted to try them. What would they taste like?

Clunk.

Two cans dropped.

The warm red bean paste drink and oden can.

He tossed the red bean paste drink can to Olivia.

“Are you giving this to me?”

“If you don’t want it, don’t eat it.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want it!”

Olivia, sitting on the bench, pouted and opened the red bean paste drink can.

He sat next to her and opened the oden can.

He could see the solid pieces in the oden broth and the konjac skewer.

He put the konjac skewer in his mouth and chewed.

“It doesn’t taste that great.”

He muttered in Korean.

What could you expect from a vending machine, but it was about the level of oden soup at a university MT.

Next to him, Olivia was sipping the red bean paste drink.

“It’s not bad, actually.”

She seemed to like it.

He fished out the oden and chewed it without a word.

The more he ate, the better it seemed to taste.

“Hey.”

Olivia’s voice reached him.

He finished the solid pieces and drank the oden broth.

A chilly sea breeze enveloped him.

He threw the empty can into the trash can.

A perfect shot.

“Hey!”

“I can hear you without you shouting.”

“...What do you want to say?”

Olivia, fidgeting with the red bean paste drink can in her hand, asked.

“Is that maid promise still valid?”

“Huh?”

Olivia responded.

He pressed his temples.

“Don’t make me repeat myself.”

I never thought I’d have to bring up that damn story again.

My limbs felt like they were turning into squid.

“O-of course! On the honor of the Bonaparte royal family, this Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte will not break her promise!”

Olivia placed her hand on her chest.

There she goes with that pose again.

It doesn’t have the same effect anymore.

“Then fulfill it.”

Olivia’s ears turned red.

“O-okay! Leave it to me!”

She stammered.

She must be having some ridiculous fantasies, like a light novel heroine.

A sigh escaped him.

Why did he end up in this crazy world?

If it were a more realistic and relatable web novel world, it would be better.

Or maybe one of those isekai cheat stories that are popular these days.

Why did it have to be a hot-blooded, mainstream academy battle story?

The author is the problem.

“Hey...”

Olivia called him in a small voice.

Her flushed cheeks, hit by the cold sea breeze, were striking.

As the main heroine, she was unnecessarily pretty, fitting her ‘public beauty’ setting.

“Why did you change your mind?”

She asked.

The reason for changing his mind was simple.

The reason and justification for keeping his distance were gone.

With the original story already broken, he needed power to deal with any situation.

And the French princess in front of him was an excellent pawn for him.

She had good grades, skills, and he had the justification to use her.

Of course, he didn’t need to explain this to her.

“Just.”

“What, what is it?! That insincere answer! I, I’m not saying no, though.”

Wow.

Now she’s even preempting me before I can say I don’t want it.

Quite the progress.

“You don’t want to tell me, huh.”

“I know.”

“Yeah. Whatever. I get it. Fine.”

Olivia placed her hand on her chest.

“I’ll do my best from now on, Kim Deok-sung.”

She bowed gracefully.

“Alright.”

With Olivia in his grasp, all that was left was to exploit her to the fullest.

He took out his phone.

It was about time for the sparring results to come out.

He accessed the academy channel.

[Shock, today’s hot topic. F-rank freshman knocks out the second-in-command!]

[Isn’t there too much drama today? ww]

[More shocking than the news about the C-rank Korean earlier! ∑(O_O;)]

[Who is that guy? (・◇・)？]

[Kurosewa Yooji? The disgrace of the Kurosewa family?]

[No way, he’s been hiding his true strength all along?]

The community reactions made him laugh.

Good. This is it.

Everything is going smoothly.

Even though it got a bit complicated, the protagonist has revealed his hidden power.

So the story will move to the next stage.

This is the first thing that’s gone well in this crazy world.

“Is something good happening to you?”

“No, don’t worry about it.”

He put his phone away and stood up.

Olivia pouted.

She seemed upset that he didn’t give a proper answer.

He didn’t need to smooth things over.

“Is there anything else you want to say? Like, a command...”

Olivia spoke cautiously.

“Go take a shower and go to bed. You didn’t shower earlier, right?”

“Ugh! You pervert! You shameless person!”

With a card to use in emergencies, the next step was to secure the Black Stone.

Ignoring her voice echoing in the seaside park, he returned to the hospital room.

*

The next day.

I was discharged from the hospital.

I’m now dragging my luggage to find the dorm room I’ve been assigned to.

“202, 202...”

My assigned dorm room is 202.

Unfortunately, I’m not an A-rank like Olivia, so I’ve been assigned a regular room, not a special one.

That means it’s a two-person room, not a single.

‘Roommate, huh.’

I don’t know who I’ll be rooming with, but it’s probably an extra.

I hope it’s a nice extra.

I arrived at room 202.

Beep.

The dorm room door opened when I swiped my student ID.

The room was spacious for a two-person room, with beds on both sides and a window at the front.

And.

“Huh, huh?”

The protagonist, Kurosewa Yooji, looked at me in surprise.

“You, you?”

The protagonist is my roommate?

Damn it.

In the original story, I remember he transferred in a day after the opening ceremony and used the two-person room alone.

But, given the mess, what good is the original story?

“Nice to see you again, Kurosewa.”

I greeted him calmly and closed the door.

I sat on the bed.

“Thanks for following my advice yesterday.”

I meant it.

If he had messed up again, it would have been a big problem.

“You... What are you really?”

The protagonist asked.

Looking at Yooji’s trembling black eyes, I sighed.

It seems a peaceful school life is out of the question.

Did that answer your curiosity?

I shook the name tag on my uniform in response to the protagonist’s question.

“Kim... Deok-sung?”

He slowly read my name, written in katakana on the name tag.

“That’s who I am.”

“Kim Deok-sung, so you’re Korean?”

Yooji’s expression hardened strangely.

I nodded.

“So you’re the Korean student with black hair who defeated the knight princess?”

“Since I’m the only Korean with black hair in this academy, it must be me, right?”

“Owner of Durandal?”

“That’s right. I’m quite famous, huh?”

I laughed and responded.

It seems I’ve become quite famous in two days.

After all, I defeated the famous Platinum Knight Princess Olivia.

If I weren’t famous, that would be a problem.

“Is your curiosity satisfied now?”

“Not at all.”

Yooji shook his head.

His eyes focused on me.

“How did you know about my situation?”

His voice was incredibly serious.

But unfortunately, it was a question I had anticipated.

In the original story, the protagonist is usually ‘kind’ but reacts sensitively to questions about his identity and purpose.

Even without the original story, if someone suddenly appeared and knew more about my situation than I did, I would be wary too.

Since it’s a common question, I naturally prepared a model answer.

“I had the National Intelligence Service do a background check on you. Our country may be small, but it has a decent intelligence network.”

“National Intelligence Service? What’s that?”

Yooji’s eyebrows twitched.

“It’s the intelligence agency of our country.”

“Why did you go to such lengths to investigate me?”

“I was curious. Why the son of the Sword Saint received an F-rank in the aptitude test.”

I lied smoothly and naturally.

The protagonist has no way to verify the truth of my words.

Even if he did, the National Intelligence Service would support the only hero candidate, me.

So, even if my words are lies, they become the truth.

Especially when it comes to matters related to Korea.

I’m proud. Republic of Korea!

“Thanks to that, I learned about you, your background, and what happened that day. But I didn’t know you were the owner of the colorless mana crystal.”

Yooji’s cheeks trembled.

He clenched his fists.

In this world, all mana users have hair color that matches their mana color.

I have black hair because my mana color is black.

But the only exception to this absolute rule is the colorless mana crystal.

It has a transparent mana color, like a transparent dragon.

The colorless mana crystal is a munchkin, a cheat setting in Japanese web novels.

“...”

The protagonist fell silent.

“What do you want to say?”

Yooji’s gaze was filled with hostility.

Ah, I haven’t finished explaining yet.

The owner of the colorless mana crystal has the highest level of all mana-related talents, including mana control, mana sensitivity, and weapon compatibility, and even has the gift of mana amplification.

In a world where attributes are determined by innate mana color, the colorless mana color is a cheat talent.

It’s not really scary.

Despite that, the protagonist, like all light novel protagonists, has a kind and timid personality.