Chapter 9

She picked up a piece of seasoned chicken with a plastic fork and put it in her mouth.

I watched the scene and poured myself a glass of cola.

"Not bad, I guess."

She wiped her lips with a napkin and said, "It's pretty good."

It meant she liked it.

It didn't take long for the container of seasoned chicken that Olivia bought to be finished.

After finishing the chicken, I dove into serious studying with Olivia.

"So, that's not it. Let me explain it again from the beginning. I'm the most considerate person, after all!"

Studying was really not easy.

It took another half a day before I could somehow understand the lesson content.

"That's it for today's portion, okay."

"Ugh..."

As the Spartan study session ended, a groan escaped my lips.

Outside the window, the sunset was already setting.

Is it already this time?

I put the textbooks and handouts in my bag and tidied up the study room, saying,

"You're surprisingly good at teaching. You're unexpectedly useful."

I meant it.

Olivia has a surprising talent for teaching others.

I think I made the right choice in making her my long-term partner.

"That's such an obvious thing to say, and it's not really that helpful!"

Olivia scratched her cheek and said.

But from the way her lips twitched, she seemed excited by my compliment.

I chuckled at her unnecessary adherence to her character.

"What? Why are you suddenly laughing?"

"It's nothing. Let's go."

I ignored her urging and left the study room.

Olivia followed, shouting, "I'm coming with you!"

"You, leaving a lady behind and going first, that's just bad manners!"

Now a familiar, cringe-worthy line.

I ignored her reaction, looked her straight in the eye, and said,

"I'd like you to help me review every weekend from now on."

To avoid failing, I have no choice but to study.

If I fail, I'll face various disadvantages at the academy, and of course, immense pressure from my home country.

There's no need to walk that thorny path voluntarily.

Ah, where's the status window?

"J-Just what... What are you saying all of a sudden!"

Olivia's eyes widened.

"You have this bad habit of suddenly speaking so bluntly without realizing it..."

She covered her mouth with her hand and glanced at me.

Her brows furrowed.

Once I say something nice, I wish she would just understand and be done with it.

"Will you do it or not?"

"Y-You're doing it again all of a sudden!"

"What's your answer?"

"Since I'm your exclusive maid now... If you give an order, I have no choice but to follow. Fine...!"

Olivia rambled on, making excuses, and then nodded as if making a big decision.

"Alright. I look forward to working with you."

"Of course, I have no choice. But to be clear, I'm not saying I don't want to!"

Whoever said what.

Olivia's lips twitched as she pretended to be grumpy, and I quickened my pace toward the dormitory.

*

Right after parting ways with Olivia.

On the way to the dormitory.

As I walked between the cherry trees, I met her.

"Those black hair... Are you Kim Deok-sung?"

A tall, slender beauty with a cold demeanor, blue-black ponytail, and blue-black eyes.

Shinazaki Rin.

She stood in the middle of the avenue, giving me a cold stare.

"Everyone I meet says I have black hair."

I grimaced and muttered in Korean.

Shinazaki, who didn't understand Korean, twitched her blue-black eyebrows.

"What did you say?"

"I am Kim Deok-sung."

She pursed her lips.

It didn't seem like she believed me, but it didn't matter.

I took a step forward.

I approached Shinazaki Rin.

"So, what's the reason the second-place student and the great lady of the Shinazaki family is looking for me?"

Of course, as a former avid reader of *The Weakest Hero*, I have a pretty good idea of the reason.

But there's a difference between guessing and hearing the reason directly from the other party.

The former is a guess, but the latter is a certainty.

There's no chance Shinazaki Rin would lie.

In this kind world, there's no need to worry about such things.

"I heard from Kurosawa."

Indeed.

It's exactly as I suspected.

"Did you tell him not to hide your strength?"

"...Yes."

Shinazaki flinched slightly.

She didn't expect me to be so quick.

It was a situation I had already anticipated that Yooji would tell Shinazaki about our conversation.

It's not something to be surprised about.

"Of course, that's not the only reason. The top student, the Platinum Knight Princess, was defeated by Kim Deok-sung. I heard it was you."

It was also within my expectations that she would bring up Olivia, given her character driven by inferiority and competitiveness.

A slight tremor was in Shinazaki's voice as she mentioned the Platinum Knight Princess.

"So?"

"I need to test your sword."

Shinazaki placed her hand on the hilt of the katana at her waist.

Her blue-black eyes turned cold.

I shook my head.

"Why? Is it because you can't accept that I beat Olivia in a duel, or that you know about the situation between you and Kurosawa?"

I replied with a hint of sarcasm.

Shinazaki's eyes shook as if an earthquake had hit.

If Olivia is a bundle of pride, narcissism, and tsundere, then Shinazaki Rin is a cool-deare on the surface but filled with intense self-loathing, recognition-seeking, inferiority, and competitiveness.

The only thing they have in common is their obsession with the position of the top hero candidate, the Crown Prince, chosen through the Great Game.

"How...?"

"Do you know my heart? Is that so important?"

I crossed my arms.

"You are just a tool for your family... very..."

"Your mouth... Shut it."

Shinazaki's eyes turned sharp.

A faint blue-black magical aura emanated from her body.

A tool for the family.

A word that accurately describes her situation, the key to saving Shinazaki Rin, and the source of all her negative emotions.

Shinazaki Rin is not a blood relative of the Shinazaki family and is not the current head's biological child.

She was adopted from an orphanage after being tested for compatibility with a superweapon.

An outsider in the family, a foreigner in the clan.

A tool to uphold the prestige of the Shinazaki family, replacing the inferior and unruly biological children.

"Sure. If you want. But, you know, is it a good idea to come and start trouble like this? It's tiring."

Well, that's her problem.

It's not a good reason to come to me and start a fight out of the blue.

"That's... "

Shinazaki's words were cut off.

She also has a personality that makes it impossible to ignore rudeness when it's pointed out directly.

That's why Shinazaki Rin is now speechless.

I drew a smile on my lips.

"Olivia put up the Five Crowns' relic, the superweapon Durandal, and... her position as my exclusive maid in exchange for a sparring match with me."

I lightly tapped the hilt of Durandal at my waist with my right hand.

Her gaze shifted to my waist.

"What will you put up? Shinazaki Rin."

Shinazaki's eyebrows twitched.

"Are you proposing a deal for a test?"

"If you don't want to, forget it."

I waved my hand and turned to leave, pretending to be indifferent.

Considering Shinazaki's personality, she would inevitably stop me.

One step, two steps. I moved my feet.

"...What do you want? Kim Deok-sung."

Her voice came from behind.

Good.

The other party took the bait.

I stopped.

"If I pass your 'test,' I want one of the items in your family's vault... "

"I will refuse if it's an unreasonable request."

"It won't be, because... I want the Black Stone."

Shinazaki's eyes widened.

A look of disbelief.

Of course, it's natural.

The Black Stone is currently treated as a worthless antique, a useless item.

I smiled at her.

The identity of the Black Stone, which was excavated from the 'Great Gate' 30 years ago and is stored in the Shinazaki family's vault, as an 'incomplete philosopher's stone,' is known only to me.

'Get it before the New World League guys do.'

I looked at Shinazaki.

She replied with a slightly surprised voice.

"I don't know why you want such a useless item, but fine. I'll put it up as the prize for passing the test."

It's a big catch.

Well done.

"The deal is on."

I couldn't help but laugh.

Shinazaki's eyes turned cold.

"Is this enough? Now draw your sword."

She said in a low voice.

I slowly shook my head, looking at Shinazaki.

"Fight right now? I don't want to."

"What do you mean?"

Shinazaki's eyebrows twitched.

A look of incomprehension.

"A week."

I cut her off.

"I'll pick you for the sparring match in a week. Let's fight then."

"...Alright."

Shinazaki nodded.

The oppressive aura that had been pressing down on me disappeared.

She had retracted her magic.

"I'll see you then."

Shinazaki turned and left resolutely.

I took a deep breath as I watched her go.

'This is a pretty good start.'

The bath scene got a bit tangled, but it's going smoothly.

'Once I get the Black Stone... '

The Black Stone.

The final boss of the original work and the leader of the New World League, Messiah.

The item he covets.

In the original, Messiah coveted the philosopher's stone as the key catalyst for the New World Plan and stole the Black Stone from the Shinazaki main house in volume 16, turning it into a mess.

It's a historic moment where the protagonist and the final boss meet for the first time, but as a light novel, the final boss was only a mirage, and the real body had already stolen the Black Stone and disappeared.

'Thinking about it makes me feel suffocated.'

Thinking about the later developments makes my head hurt.

The genre of this world is a typical热血 (hot-blooded) school battle story dominated by the spirit of shonen manga.

Of course, it's not a genre where a munchkin protagonist does everything alone like a web novel.

It's a world where values like effort, friendship, victory, bonds, dreams, and youth are important.

A damn world where you can't do everything alone.

So the final boss must be taken down through a group effort, or rather, cooperation.

In other words, it means I need to pay attention to the other supporting characters as well.

I shook my head.

Even if the original work has lost its meaning, it's still a distant future.

There's no need to worry about it now.

Focus on the Black Stone.

"A week."

My brows furrowed.

I muttered in Korean.

7 days.

Not too long, not too short.

I need to prepare a way to beat Shinazaki Rin and study within that time.

I resumed my steps.

*

The next morning.

Before the official classes started, during the HR time.

In front of the sliding door of the 1st-year A class.

A pink-haired teacher, Mayuzumi May, wearing a two-piece suit, holding an attendance book and a pointer, looked at me and said,

"Kim, have you thought about your self-introduction?"

"Yeah, sure."

A self-introduction at this age.

"Great! I believe in you, Kim!"

A half-hearted response.

But she seemed to like it, as she smiled widely.

I sighed inwardly.

"Let's go in!"

The sliding door opened.

The students' murmurs quickly died down as the homeroom teacher appeared.

Clack, clack.

Mayuzumi walked to the front of the class in her heels.

"Today is the day Kim, who has been absent due to health issues, finally returns to school!"

As she spoke, the students' gazes focused on me.

"Kim? Is that him?"

"Where is Korea?"

"It's right next to us. How stupid."

"He looks intimidating."

I could hear the students' murmurs.

Every word.

Thud.

Mayuzumi slammed the attendance book on the desk.

The classroom fell silent as if doused with cold water.

"Kim, please introduce yourself."

I stepped forward and looked around the classroom.

Kurosawa Yooji, Olivia, Shinazaki Rin, and...