NOVEL NEXT Chapter 89
Aris interrupts me.
What I pointed to was the gourmet pork cutlet rice bowl.
It’s practically the only affordable dish served at this hotel.
Naturally, being a country girl, Aris prefers hearty foods like gyudon, pork cutlet rice bowls, and ramen over fancy cuisine.
You secretly love affordable food, don’t you?
No need to pretend to be posh.
“No, I······.”
Flustered, Aris waves her hands.
Looks like she doesn’t want her lady facade to be toppled.
“I just want to order this, so let’s go with it.”
“If that’s the case······. Very well. I shall respect Mr. Kim Deok-Sung’s wishes.”
Finally, Aris concedes, and I don’t miss her pouting lips.
I call room service using the phone on the table.
“Room service has arrived.”
Not long after, the doorbell rings, and room service shows up.
Two bowls of pork cutlet rice sit on the table.
And for some reason, there are two champagne glasses with it.
Pork cutlet rice with champagne.
What a bizarre combo.
I scoop a little of the rice and cutlet into my mouth.
‘Delicious.’
It must be quite tasty since it’s made by a five-star hotel chef.
I glance around.
Clink, clink.
I see her rapidly digging into the pork cutlet rice with her spoon.
Aris acts like a rich girl, but she’s really missing out on her favorite comfort food.
In volume 7 of the original story, she displayed this same behavior at the ramen shop I took her to.
The oblivious protagonist didn’t even catch on to her little act.
I know her character well since she’s my absolute favorite.
Our eyes meet.
“!!”
Aris’s silver eyes flicker.
Clink.
She puts down her spoon.
Covering her mouth with her hand, she coughs and says, “Ahem. This affordable food is surprisingly tasty.”
Her voice acting is so awkward.
I saw her scarfing it down just a moment ago.
“Burp!”
Aris, noticing my gaze, hiccups.
Her face turns beet red.
Seems like she’s getting flustered while maintaining her perfect lady act, hidden under the guise of a country girl.
At this rate, she might choke.
Actually, I’m the one who’s more concerned.
This won’t do.
“I’ll be right back, just need to hit the restroom.”
I decide to duck out under the pretense of using the bathroom until she finishes her food.
I put down my spoon and head to the restroom.
I wash my hands and face at the sink and look in the mirror.
In the mirror stood a slightly familiar, sly-looking black-haired punk.
“Is it because of the bathroom mirror buff, or is this actually not too bad?”
Or maybe not?
I killed some time with pointless thoughts and then opened the bathroom door.
“I’m back.”
The moment I unconsciously spouted those words.
“Oh, you’re back! Kim Deok-Sung!”
A rich Kansai dialect filled my ears.
Wait, Kansai dialect?
I raised my head.
There was an empty champagne bottle and a toppled wine glass.
And there was Aris, her face flushed red—either from drunkenness or something else.
“Did you drink?”
This is the same person who officially can’t handle alcohol, claiming that even one alcohol chocolate would get her drunk?
Drinking a 10-degree champagne?
Did she really drink that while I was away?
“Drink? This is just a soft drink, isn’t it? It tastes sweet, kind of like grape juice! Just had, like, one little sip!”
Hehehehe.
Aris shook the champagne bottle and chuckled like a silly person.
This was the same drunken mode she showed only once in the original when she accidentally ate an alcohol chocolate.
Her slurred Kansai dialect flowed from her beautiful lips.
She looked all messed up.
Despite her typical cold persona, her red face and tousled silver hair made her look endearingly cute, but—
That’s beside the point.
When I was still nursing a headache—
“Ma! Kim Deok-Sung! What the heck are you doing? I really don’t know what kind of person you are!”
Suddenly, Aris dove into my arms and hugged me tightly.
What’s happening here?
This is awkward.
Uh, how am I supposed to handle this?
In the same bed (Illustration included).
Calm down.
I recalled the original content.
In Volume 7, after the New World League’s plot to attack the academy during the cultural festival was thwarted, there was an episode where Aris got drunk after eating alcohol chocolates at the festival afterparty.
When she’s drunk, she acts like a toddler, completely opposite to her perfect student council president persona.
It’s a reaction to the stress and pressure of her perfect lady act and being the head of a household.
“Aris is a typical strong exterior, soft interior character.”
She acts strong and graceful on the outside but harbors a strong desire to be spoiled.
Her ideal type is a reliable, fatherly figure.
In light novels, this ‘gap moe’ trope is commonly found in strict, picky, and rigid heroines, which is also Aris’s charm point in the original.
Experiencing this firsthand is driving me nuts.
“I know all the details about Aris’s character.”
She’s my favorite.
I once plastered my entire room with Aris merchandise like posters, goods, dakimakura, figures, cushions, acrylic stands, and mouse pads.
“Back at the afterparty in Volume 7, she was all over the protagonist too.”
The beautifully animated scene from the anime became a classic reference among Aris fans.
The difference here is that while other heroines were jealous and tried to separate the protagonist and Aris back then, now there’s no one to pull her away from me.
The fact that Aris, who gets drunk easily with just alcohol chocolates, drank almost half a bottle of 10-degree champagne.
And that Aris’s identity as a country girl shouldn’t be revealed yet.
“My head hurts.”
“That hurts.”
Aris’s large chest is squished softly against my chest.
She puffs up her cheeks.
“What on earth are you doing? What kind of punk are you that the president praises you so much it’s like she’s dying of thirst? Hmph, ppu ppu.”
Tap tap.
Aris is tapping my chest.
This is really troublesome.
“Could you please back off a bit?”
I try to push her away as she keeps burrowing in.
Please.
You’re not supposed to be this kind of character.
Should I even buy some ConXion?
“······Uuuh······.”
Aris pouts her cheeks, rejecting my touch.
She uses unnecessary strength to burrow deeper into my embrace.
“Where do you think you’re going? You’re going to push away this super cute A-chan? Really?”
“No, I mean······”
“A-chan thinks this is nice and soft and warm.”
Hehehe.
Aris keeps giggling, not letting go of me.
“A-chan” is the nickname given to Aris back in her hometown, who knew I’d hear it here.
“I need to go to bed. President.”
“Ppu ppu. You’re going to leave cute A-chan behind and go where?”
Is she tipsy? Her cheeks are puffed up as she rambles on.
It definitely smells like alcohol.
Just then, when I was about to firmly push her away—
Ding dong.
The doorbell rings.
The intercom screen lights up with a familiar voice.
[President? Are you in there? It’s Nagamine. I apologize for the rudeness of coming at this hour, but I have something to report.]
Nagamine?
What on earth is he doing here now?
“NAGAMINEEEEEE······!”
Hearing that familiar name, Aris drunkenly slurs her words.
“Oh, stop it.”
I pull her close and cover her mouth with my hand.
There are still a few months left until the cultural festival, which is Aris’s main event.
Aris’s identity cannot be revealed right now.
Nagamine is a fanatic of Aris so he might not spill the beans, but there’s no guarantee it’s just him outside.
What if someone else passing by hears Aris’s dialect?
I don’t even want to think about it.
“Mmph! Mmmph mmph mmph!!”
I have no choice.
Here, it’s up to me to send Nagamine away.
I bump the intercom button with my chin instead of Aris and respond.
“The president is currently sleeping.”
[You, what?! Kim Deok-Sung?]
Nagamine’s expression hardens the moment he hears my voice.
[What the hell are you doing alone with the president in the middle of the night? You didn’t touch the president, did you? Black Beast······! Are you now turning your claws towards the president after all those beautiful girls in our class?]
“Mmph! Mmmph mmph mmph mmph!”
Aris is gearing up to unleash her dialect.
Nagamine keeps spouting nonsense about Black Beast.
My patience is wearing thin.
“I’m here for a preliminary visit to the Meijin Academy today. And don’t you think it’s rude to say something like ‘Black Beast’ right in front of the person involved? Nagamine-senpai? What on earth are you imagining? You’re the real beast here.”
[That is······.]
Nagamine stumbles over his words, caught off guard by my strong stance.
You’re just a flea jumping around.
“Anyway, the president is tired and sleeping, so let’s talk later.”
Click.
I hang up the intercom, freeing Aris’s mouth from my hand.
“Phew! Hah······ Hahhhh······.”
Aris takes a deep breath, wobbling as she points at me with her finger.
“Kim Deok-Sung you······ were terrible earlier······. Hic! How can you treat such a cute A-chan so carelessly? I could never have imagined that back in Wakayama······. Hic! Hehehe······.”
“Day… hic! How can you treat a cute A-chan like this so carelessly? This is something I could never imagine happening in Wakayama… hic! Heeheehee…”
There’s no sign of the alcohol wearing off at all.
I can’t just run out and buy a hangover remedy now.
I can’t let a drunken Aris make a mess by leaving the suite room.
“I’ve had enough. Let’s call it a night, Senior President.”
I need to put her to bed and leave quickly.
Upon hearing my words, Aris shakes her head vigorously.
“A-chan isn’t drunk… hic! I don’t want to sleep… hic! I can’t sleep without Kuma-chan…”
Kuma-chan must be the giant teddy bear that Aris hugs every night.
I remember it has appeared a few times in the original story.
“Will you behave if I find it?”
“Pfft…”
Instead of answering, Aris pouts.
She really is like a child.
Sighing, I rummage through the hotel room.
There has to be a teddy bear somewhere around here.
‘Where the heck did I put it?’
When I was slowly getting irritated over the missing teddy bear after searching high and low.
“Kuma-chan!”
I hear Aris’s cheerful voice from behind me.
Oh? Did she find it?
When I turned my head, I saw her.
“I found it!”
Suddenly, Aris, now dressed in a thin and breezy nightgown, hugs me tightly.
The smell of alcohol hits me right in the face.
“Please, just…”
“Kuma-chan. Let’s sleep together, okay…?”
What?
With whom, doing what?
What the heck is happening right now…?
Aris uses her strength to pull me to the bed.
Now I’m lying in bed with her against my will.
Aris turns off the light.
The room goes dark.
The night view of Kyoto lights twinkle before my eyes through the window.
“Can you let go of me…”
“Mom… where are you going…?”
Tightly.
Aris pulls my head to her chest.
It’s touching.
I can feel the soft texture against my face.
“You can’t go anywhere… A-chan will listen to mommy from now on… and be a good girl…”
Drunkenly calling for her mom, Aris makes me think reflexively about the original setting.
‘She said her mother was sick.’
Aris’s mother is currently in a long-term care hospital, in a vegetative state.
Her strong obsession with perfection is likely because she’s the head of a poor family single-handedly.
‘…Just like me.’
I recall my parents’ faces.
The image of my mom lying in the hospital, and my dad, whose face is always shadowed.
For the sake of my family, I have to go back.
Like Aris, I’m the only one who can support my parents in our family.
“Nowhere… I’m going…”
Aris trails off and then falls asleep.
Soft snores fill the silence.
I can see Aris’s pretty face while she’s asleep.
‘In a similar situation to mine.’
That’s why I used to like Aris the most in my original world.
I might not know what it’s like now that the setting has come to life.
But at least I understand well the pressure she’s carrying.
Moreover, the Aris in front of me is no longer just a block of text, but a living person.
‘A living favorite character.’
I let out a hollow laugh.