Breaking Up With the Heroine in an Otome Game - Breaking Up With the Heroine in an Otome Game chapter 109

109 – Summer Vacation (4)

109.

“Wow, what’s this? Jinhak, are you buying all this hanwoo?”

After successfully conquering the spider’s nest.

Jinhak took Soyeon to a high-end hanwoo restaurant he had reserved in advance.

There was an important thing to discuss about the future, and it was also to congratulate Soyeon for successfully clearing the first dungeon.

Since she had been traveling all over the country for the past few weeks because of me, I wanted to treat her a bit to show my gratitude.

If the dungeon conquest had been delayed, I might have had to cancel the reservation, so I was fortunate that it ended earlier than expected.

“Look over there, that girl. She’s really not that pretty, is she?”

“Wow, seriously. Gorgeous.”

“Did you manage to get their number at least?”

“Come on. With that face of yours?”

“Well, what’s wrong with it?”

Scoffing.

As we entered the barbecue restaurant, the chatter of the guys from Namjeong at a nearby table pounded in our ears.

Two young men were exclaiming in admiration over Soyeon.

They kept murmuring about her beauty, her looks like a celebrity, and so on.

“Oh, I couldn’t even dream of eating hanwoo (Korean beef) because it’s so expensive, but thanks to you, I look so good, hehehe.”

But Soyeon seemed to be unfazed by the guys’ admiration, as she was too excited about the thought of eating hanwoo.

Is this kind of admiration too familiar?

Well, I must have heard it so much since I was young that I don’t really need to react to each and every one of them now.

‘Beautiful…….’

For a moment, I scratched my temple and secretly stole a glance at Soyeon’s face.

Her lovely beauty was captivating.

She looked truly beautiful.

‘Lately…… she started putting on makeup in earnest, and she definitely looks so pretty.’

I thought I had gotten quite used to her face since I had seen it since childhood, but I still get surprised by Soyeon’s beauty from time to time.

Even when she hardly wore makeup before, there were moments of admiration, but now, with full-fledged makeup, her beauty was not just admirable, but breathtaking.

“Huh? What’s wrong? Did something get on my face?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I shook my head and made my way to the small room I had reserved.

Unlike the bustling outside, the room was quite quiet.

I sat at the table, skimmed through the menu, and eventually ordered a premium assorted set, sirloin, tenderloin, and so on.

After a while, a staff member came and grilled the meat for us.

We started our meal with some trivial conversation.

“Soyeon.”

“Yeah?”

“Why do you always seem to get into fights with Yooseolhyun, even though you get along well with everyone else?”

“What’s up with you, Jinhuk? You know exactly why.”

Soyeon chewed on the perfectly sliced tenderloin and then pouted as if she had heard something boring, with an annoyed expression on her face.

“You keep bothering me when I’m trying to be quiet. Ugh… annoying.”

If it were the Yooseolhyun I knew, she wouldn’t be needlessly hostile towards someone as outstanding as Soyeon, but she seemed to be picking unnecessary fights for some strange reason.

It seemed like their early disagreements hadn’t been resolved.

Anyway, Yooseolhyun was not someone to be taken lightly.

“Yooseolhyun, she seems to be interested in you, which is why she’s bothering me…”

“Hmm? I don’t know about that.”

Soyeon glanced at me slyly, and I shrugged with a nonchalant expression.

Well, maybe Yooseolhyun does have an interest in me…

Well, she might have an interest in general, but it probably isn’t the kind of interest Soyeon is thinking about.

From the start, Yooseolhyun kept saying that my face wasn’t her type or something like that.

I also remember it vaguely.

“Wow~ Must be great to be so popular, huh?”

So-yeon took a big gulp of her cola, then set her glass down a bit forcefully and stretched out the end of her sentence.

Then, she suddenly turned to look at me.

“Lately, Yuseolhyun, Noh Roksan, Baek Yurin… their popularity is skyrocketing, right? Has spring finally come for our Jinhyuk?”

She seemed to be joking as she chuckled, but I noticed that her eyes weren’t laughing at all.

It seemed like she was subtly bothered by the presence of another woman near me.

Well, So-yeon was the one who confessed her feelings to me first, after all.

“You’re pretending not to care, but Jinhyuk, you’re really popular, aren’t you? The heartthrob, Jinhyuk.”

“Popular? If your popularity with guys is compared to a new leaf, mine is like sweat on a new shoe.”

“….”

When I grumbled about guys, So-yeon’s shoulders flinched and trembled.

Then, she lowered her eyebrows and bit her lip.

Since she had some history with men, it was natural for her to feel awkward about this kind of conversation.

I chuckled as I looked at So-yeon, shaking my cola playfully.

“Don’t be too jealous, So-yeon. I don’t plan on dating for a while.”

“Je, jealousy? I’m not jealous, you know?”

“Really? Huh, just a few months ago, you confessed that you liked me, and now you’ve already changed your mind? So, are you going for Lee Siwoon now?”

“….Ugh, why do you keep doing this?”

So-yeon blushed and glared at me resentfully.

From Noble mtl dot com

My pranks seem to have become quite mischievous. Back in the day, I used to pull off these kinds of pranks quite a lot, it seems.

If it were in the past, I would have responded with, ‘Jealousy? Me, over you? Pfft, Jinhak, you’ve got quite an imagination~.’

Now that I’m aware that she likes me, I can’t even respond properly.

“What about me?”

“Oh, seriously….”

Soyeon let out a deep sigh.

Then, she slyly glanced at me.

With cheeks slightly reddened and lips pursed, she suddenly blurted out a word.

“…Yeah, jealousy, jealousy, right, why?”

“Oh? Admitting it for once?”

“Well, is it not a bit strange for you to be embarrassed about this when you confessed all at once anyway? Hmph.”

It’s not convincing to say it with a slightly blushing face.

She looks quite embarrassed.

“You’ve become quite smooth. I don’t think you were like this in the past.”

Soyeon, who glanced at me with a piercing gaze, shook her head with a shiver.

“Leaving that aside, Jinhak, about you.”

“Huh.”

“By any chance… am I bothering you with all this? Is it awkward for you since you’ve already rejected me, but I keep sticking around…?”

So-yeon cautiously pursed her lips, glancing at me.

“It feels burdensome when the person who used to be just a tea companion keeps acting like this… It’s like they’re causing trouble, and because we were childhood friends, it’s hard to firmly push them away…”

Honestly, I wish she could meet a good guy other than someone like me and live well, but changing her heart wouldn’t be easy.

So-yeon, whether for good or bad reasons, was extremely stubborn.

“If it was burdensome from the beginning, you wouldn’t have taken me around here and there all summer vacation.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

The only thing I felt burdened about while being with you was Isi-woon’s watchful eyes.

But lately, Isi-woon seemed quite calm even when we were together, and he looked busy with his training with Geomja, so I didn’t need to worry much.

“Since it’s come to this, there’s something I wanted to say… Jinhuk mentioned a girl he likes.”

“Oh, right. He did.”

“Is it one of Yu Seol-hyun, Seo Na-ri, Rock Sannu, or Baek Yoo-rin?”

“Um. For now, it’s a se…”

“Again, trying to say it’s a secret?”

She nodded silently. So-yeon stared at me for a while and then twisted her hair into a loose bun.

“Okay, well, it can be a secret… Do you have any intention of dating someone?”

“Someday. But right now, I don’t feel like it.”

“Why?”

“Well, there’s something I need to do.”

“Something to do?”

Looking at So-yeon, who was slightly tilting her head, I slowly opened my lips.

“In fact, there’s something I need to tell you related to the conversation we had today… Soyeon, could you set up a soundproof barrier so that our discussion doesn’t carry outside?”

“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”

“It’s because it’s an important matter.”

“Uh-huh. Well, okay.”

Soyeon unexpectedly generated magic, forming an opaque soundproof barrier.

A transparent wall enveloped us and expanded.

“All set.”

“Thank you.”

“So… What’s this important thing you wanted to talk about?”

“Um.”

I pondered my words for a moment.

After deciding, I began to speak cautiously.

“Do you know that our parents passed away in an accident?”

“Oh, yeah….”

As I brought up the sudden topic of our deceased parents, Soyeon nodded with a sorrowful expression.

Being from a single-parent household, Soyeon’s family had received a lot of support from our parents. That’s why she followed them as well as I did.

“I found out who the culprit behind that incident is.”

“Huh? Really? How did you find out?”

“Future foresight ability.”

Why bother explaining it’s a lie when you say it’s future foresight? It’s just too convenient. Simply put, it’s all-powerful.

“Do you remember the white-haired girl who attacked during the midterm exam?”

“……Yeah. How could I forget the aura she emitted?”

All the trainees who had encountered Yudahee at that time must have been shocked.

Geniuses, talented individuals, and prodigies praised as Union trainees were overwhelmed by one white-haired girl, unable to do anything.

“It seems that the organization she belongs to is somehow connected to the accident our parents had.”

It’s not a complete lie.

There was some truth to the connection.

“So, we’re going after them. All of them.”

“Jinhyuk…”

Mentioning revenge directly like this was to establish both the plausibility of chasing Rebellion members and to create empathy with Soyeon.

Our parents’ deaths were a sorrowful event for Soyeon as well.

At the time our parents passed away, Soyeon was just as sad and angry as I was.

If someone asks for help in capturing the evildoer related to our parents’ death, Soyeon would surely nod her head willingly.

For the future, I needed active reasons for Soyeon to chase Rebellion members.

In the original, Soyeon, enraged by my death, struggled alongside the male protagonists to capture Rebellion members. But now, isn’t it different?

“It’s not just for personal revenge. I saw it through future foresight once; if we don’t stop them, Korea will be in ruins because of them.”

This is a fact.

If we don’t stop Rebellion in time, Korea will be in chaos.

“Ten days from now, a large-scale auction will take place in Busan.”

“……”

“It seems highly likely that those guys will show up.”

“……”

The largest legitimate auction house in South Korea, Life and Auction, held annually.

Numerous items will fill the auction, including rare items, relics, treasures, and various others.

Of course, many are counterfeit, but occasionally, genuine items appear.

And at this summer’s auction, one precious item is scheduled to be auctioned off.

An artifact called the ‘Blessing of the Stars’.

A miraculous artifact that resurrects the user once upon death.

I am determined to obtain the Blessing of the Stars at this summer’s auction by any means necessary.

…Well, according to my past life’s memories, the villain Alex Kim would appear and sweep the auction items, but I know the original story inside out. I know exactly how Alex will seize the auction items.

“I think it’s going to be too much for me to handle alone. That’s why I’m saying this….”

I look directly at Soyeon and speak in a calm voice.

“……Soyeon, could you help me catch those guys?”