SWNOVELXO Chapter 108
While the girls were having a blast among themselves, the guys were left awkwardly wandering around the restaurant and electronics aisles, acting like they were doing something important.
Of course, they weren’t actually planning to buy anything or eat.
With nothing specific to do but too restless to just sit still, they were just trying to appear busy.
Heck, I even spent over ten minutes just staring at a cat on display in the pet shop.
And it wasn’t because we got bored and left; it was because the shop attendant politely asked us to leave if we weren’t going to buy.
In the end, we just ended up sitting silently on a bench in the corner of the elevator, staring at our phones.
In a word, it was painfully awkward. Even though I hung around Jinhyeon a lot, that didn’t mean we were particularly close.
At the start of the semester, I tried to get to know him better, but he seemed utterly uninterested in making friends, so that fell flat.
Eventually, I felt like I was living my life half-forgetting about him.
Honestly, it made sense. Jinhyeon didn’t attract chaos and trouble like Blanca.
In fact, you had to remind yourself he existed every now and then because he was quite the wallflower.
Given his abilities, he really wasn’t doing much—this was my assessment.
That was good for me. I didn’t want any more unpredictable variables on my plate.
To be honest, just thinking about everything that had gone down so far left me feeling lost about what to do next.
What’s happening with the Evil Society? What are the suicides scheming while holding themselves quiet? There were two more potential villains due to two extra individuals failing finals…
Above all, Blanca. She was the real problem.
The more I thought about her past, present, and future, the more I wished I could just go with the flow.
The fact that she merged with the Suit was just a whole different level of trouble compared to everything else.
If Blanca wanted to, it was like she had the means to seriously damage Heros Company anytime she liked.
For now, she didn’t seem to have plans to do anything to Heros Company, but what if she eventually changed her mind and decided to expose what happened to her…
I couldn’t even begin to imagine the chaos that would ensue in society.
What happened in the lab might not leave a trace that Heros Company couldn’t cover up, but once the Suit matter was out in the open, society would tear itself apart.
And that kind of societal chaos was absolutely not ideal for my future or the road ahead.
So, I needed to find a way to charm Blanca or something to get her firmly on my side… But I had no idea how to go about it.
I was trying to send friendly vibes her way, but they didn’t seem to connect at all. Plus, with the whole material thing, getting closer to her honestly freaked me out.
I knew she wouldn’t harm me or anything.
But still, something like “I might just kill someone to possess someone else” could very well be in her playbook.
If I considered her upbringing, there was definitely one or two screws loose in her mental state.
“Sigh…”
“You seem to be deep in thought.”
Letting out a sigh, Jinhyeon spoke up out of the blue.
This felt like one of the first times we were actually talking face to face, which was awkward.
But since we’d be seeing each other a lot, I couldn’t be awkward forever, so I responded kindly.
“Yeah, just a bit of trouble on my mind. Though you seem pretty troubled yourself.”
“How’d you know?”
When I said it was written all over his face and hair color, Jinhyeon jokingly wondered if it was that obvious.
“It’s about Blanca. I’ve been thinking a lot because of her.”
In the midst of our conversation, Jinhyeon unexpectedly brought up Blanca’s name.
“Because of Blanca…?”
“Yeah. Blanca gave me some advice, and it pointed out something I never considered. And even aside from that, it’s just been on my mind.”
“On your mind?”
It was surprising that I was talking to him for the first time and even more surprising he had an interest in Blanca.
“It’s not that I dislike her, but I can’t really say I like her either. I’m not quite sure myself.”
…This seemed like some classic ‘you like her but don’t realize it’ situation.
Considering how Blanca treated Jinhyeon, it looked unlikely for any romance to blossom on his side.
Was it lucky or unlucky for Jinhyeon that he didn’t catch on to this? Who knew.
Whatever the case, it wasn’t like I should stick my nose into it; I just hoped he’d figure things out on his own. I wanted to avoid any romantic rivals!
Preferably, I hoped he stayed oblivious to any crush he might have on Blanca to not hinder my pursuit of her.
“Oh, looks like shopping is finally wrapping up.”
Before I could delve deeper into the conversation, I got a message saying to finish up and head to the restaurant since Talaria had ended.
With no further reason to linger, I headed straight to the restaurant to greet the girls.
“Did you girls have fun shopping? But wait, Blanca. Why do you look like you just crawled out of a grave?”
Blanca, who should’ve been the center of attention, looked utterly exhausted, like someone who hadn’t slept in three days.
“You don’t need to know…”
Blanca cryptically replied that it was something I didn’t need to know. Curious about what it was, I noticed she was holding shopping bags in both hands.
“Why did you buy so much…?”
“It’s nothing much, Minho. Just some summer essentials, clothes for summer, and a few things for a trip.”
Oh, now I understood why she looked like that. She wasn’t a shopping enthusiast but forced herself to shop.
Since I’ve once had a girlfriend, I sympathized with her and signaled her to take a rest with my mouth.
Still, it was strange. I thought all girls loved shopping, but not Blanca?
“For part two, let’s eat first. Feel free to order whatever you want, everyone! It’s a day when we got permission from our parents!”
She said that while pulling out a credit card.
Is that a black card? Nah, it can’t be. If it was, we would’ve been the only ones here in the department store. I mumbled to myself that it must just be black in color.
“If I had known this would happen, I should have listened to Seolhwa and not come…”
“…Well, for part two, let’s include the guys! It’d be weird to leave you two to wander alone.”
“Really, Ageha?”
“Of course! I mean, we’re not here to buy swimsuits or anything.”
Normally, in this scenario, guys would end up being the ones carrying all the shopping bags.
But, well, I guess it’s still better than just hanging out with two girls I wasn’t super close with.
—————-
The second part Ageha mentioned wasn’t nearly as long as the first part I had gone through. Also, it didn’t drive my mental state into the ground.
Despite Ageha’s promise, somehow I ended up buying a swimsuit too, but it wasn’t for me, so it didn’t really matter.
But it took an absurdly long time.
I don’t get it. Normally, you just glance around the department store, grab what you like, pay, and leave, right?
There’s no reason to go back and forth to the same store five times on just one floor.
But that’s exactly what they did. Therefore, it was already midday when we entered, but we only managed to get out when the sun was almost setting.
At this point, my mind was in a haze. I remembered back to a time I had to fight five times in a row, and right now felt just like that.
I couldn’t quite tell if I was awake or not, but I was somehow able to register everything happening around me.
Of course, if I put my mind to it, I could surely wake up quickly, but I was so tired it didn’t even occur to me.
“Man, it’s been so long since I actually had fun…”
“I, somehow found it entertaining… What about you, Blanca?”
Maybe it was because Lapiz was a dragon, or perhaps it was just that she was a pureblood girl. It seemed like she enjoyed this kind of thing. Or maybe it was just an all-female thing.
“I’m dying…”
“You’re not used to it yet, Blanca. But once you get the hang of it, I guarantee you’ll find it enjoyable!”
Ageha chirped, suggesting we should come back to the department store often in the future.
In the future…? Who knows about that.
“Do you think so?”
I swallowed my bittersweet feelings and said I wasn’t so sure. I doubt I would ever grow to enjoy this kind of thing.
Still, I didn’t want to hurt her feelings by saying that outright.
“I think we have a bit more time left, but… Hmmm, how about we hit a karaoke place? What do you think, Blanca?”
Wait, she still had some energy left? I almost showed my shock but managed to hold it together, trying to voice how tired I truly was.
“And… I don’t know any songs to sing…”
That caused the others to pause before they erupted into chatter.
“Is that so? Haha, that’s understandable! Can’t expect someone to be good at everything! Hehe, I might know one song…”
“Oh…”
“The Three Bears…?”
“Aww, cute. I didn’t know Blanca could make such sounds.”
“That voice of hers… not knowing a song…? What a waste… Yup, such a waste…”
“I don’t know either. But since Blanca looks totally drained, how about we call it a day?”
The majority of responses were positive and cute.
…Ah, maybe I should’ve just kept my mouth shut. Now I feel embarrassed, for real.
Even while thinking that, I unconsciously concluded that I didn’t hate it.