Breaking Up With the Heroine in an Otome Game

8 – Practicum Evaluation Preparation(2)

009.

“What?”

I scowled slightly at Yoo Seolhyun’s sudden offer. There was never a time where she had approached me first in a game before.

“Why, with me?”

Yoo Seolhyun is ranked 7th in the admission ranking.

There must be countless trainees who want to work with her.

She’s as skilled as the male protagonists, having been taught directly by Yoo Gapryeong, who was known as the creative genius.

Since she was young, she had learned expensive martial arts and mental techniques, making her physical abilities far superior to those of regular trainees.

In this place, excluding Yishoun and Gang DaeHan, she is considered to be the most powerful force.

“Don’t you like it?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it.”

As Yoo Seolhyun chuckled and asked again, I hastily shook my head.

“There are so many other better students.”

“True, if we only consider the combat and practicum abilities, there are indeed many better students out there.”

She casually nodded her head along with her relaxed expression.

“But as of now, we don’t know what the topic of the practicum evaluation is, right?”

Even though I know it.

I had already seen enough of that in the game.

“Instructor Hong Da-ye also told us to choose team members considering various situations, so I don’t think it’s a good idea to just focus on combat ability.”

Yoo Seolhyun looked at me with a subtle smile.

“Weren’t you excellent as a tactician in the Monster War simulation and as an operator during your time in middle school?”

“It wasn’t bad.”

“I heard you never missed being the best?”

I knew very well that my talent as a hero was significantly lacking since I was young, so I had studied written and theoretical subjects like a maniac.

I wanted to pass the Union Academy with Jin So-yeon at any cost and become a great hero.

… At least, until I remembered my past life.

“I wanted to have someone tactically outstanding as one of my team members since we don’t know what kind of activities we’d be evaluated on. Oh, and don’t worry. We already have enough combat personnel.”

“Heh.”

Yoo Seolhyun grinned and gently patted the shoulder of the female student standing next to her.

A girl with pigtails stretched tightly on both sides stared at me with a grumpy look on her face.

Her gaze seemed to suggest that she didn’t like me, but was putting up with me for the sake of Yoo Seolhyun.

“Your name is Seonari, right?”

Seonari.

Ranked 17th among freshmen.

Despite her small stature, resembling a middle school student, she was a superhuman martial artist with incredible strength.

She had been active with Yoo Seolhyun since they were young, being one of her close confidants.

She admires(?) the beautiful and haughty Yoo Seolhyun and has the role of repelling bugs that swarm around her.

‘Seonari…’

From Seonari’s point of view, I wouldn’t be particularly likable.

She is a character type that often appears in subculture genres as someone adoring their “older sister.”

“Heh. You know my name?”

“It’s been about a month already.”

With this amount of strength, it’s possible to compete with teams led by Lee Si-woon or Kang Daehan.

Yoo Seolhyun and Seonari have skills that do not fall far behind those male protagonists.

“To be honest, I’m not very confident in your combat skills, but Seonari and I are both close combat dealers and tanks, so we needed a support or ranged dealer in our team composition. You can shoot a bow fairly well, right?”

“Your name is Lee Jinhyuk, right? Consider yourself lucky. To form such a team with your skills?”

I briefly scratched my chin at Yoo Seolhyun and Seonari’s words.

She was going on and on about various things, but I knew full well that it was all just a superficial act.

It wasn’t a convincing reason at all.

From the start, there were many trainees more useful and tactically helpful than me.

Yet, despite this, Yoo Seolhyun approached me, which meant there had to be a hidden agenda.

‘Is it because of Soyeon?’

I Siwoon treated Jins Soyeon and Yoo Seolhyun completely differently, which must have caused a strange annoyance and discomfort.

Given Yoo Seolhyun’s personality, she wouldn’t just stand by and do nothing.

Being outdone by an ordinary (?) girl from a commoner background would hurt her pride in various ways.

‘It was always like that during the game.’

One of the events that occurred when Jins Soyeon and I Siwoon’s meetings reached a certain number was Jins Soyeon’s boyfriend being lured into temptation, though not overtly so, and getting into trouble.

From the beginning, Yoo Seolhyun’s character setup involved causing conflict by seducing the boyfriend of a girl she found irritating or making him mistakenly believe that Yoo Seolhyun liked him and leading him to break up with the girl, among other things.

She had a pretty sinister and petty personality as if no one would doubt she was the villain.

‘I didn’t think Yoo Seolhyun would make a move this soon.’

I stealthily glanced at Jins Soyeon and I Siwoon.

They were having various conversations among the crowd.

‘Is it because I Siwoon is being more active and approaching much sooner compared to in the game?’

In the game, I Siwoon couldn’t act aggressively because Jins Soyeon and I were dating.

Before being consumed by jealousy, he often hesitated.

Hence, the direct confrontation between Yoo Seolhyun and Jins Soyeon happened much later than now.

But now it was different.

‘Well, there’s no harm in it.’

After all, I initially wanted to be on the same team as Yoo Seolhyun.

I had already prepared several convincing stories to persuade her.

“Alright, if you two are fine with it.”

“You made the right choice.”

Yoo Seolhyun smiled discreetly with an odd look in her eyes.

Ah, has it already started, Yoo Seolhyun?

The majority of men would be smitten if a woman of such beauty gives a small flirtatious smile, but knowing Yoo Seolhyun’s character setup, I just find it sour.

“Oh, but there’s one condition.”

“Huh?”

Yoo Seolhyun expressed her doubt directly.

“Conditions?”

“Yeah.”

“Huh, that’s absurd.”

At that moment, Seonari frowned heavily as if she were watching someone trying to steal a bundle from a person they had just helped out of the river.

“Hey, Lee JInhyuk. You’re in no position to be setting conditions right now…”

“Nari.”

“Hmm?”

“Could you be quiet?”

“Oh, uh, okay.”

At Yoo Seolhyun’s request, Seonari’s sudden outburst had wilted like a wet puppy.

Her previously raised eyebrows had drooped weakly, and her twin braids, once swaying lightly, had stretched out like the end of a sentence.

“So, what conditions are you talking about?”

I slowly opened my mouth, facing Yoo Seolhyun who looked at me with a mix of interest and curiosity.

“Within the context of this performance assessment, follow my orders. That’s all.”

“Really?”

Her eyebrows rose gently.

“Well… I’m not particularly keen on doing that.”

From her perspective, it might have seemed absurd.

Helping out of pity once, and then trying to act like a leader.

If it were an ordinary person, they might think, ‘Does this guy even understand the situation?’

But Yoo Seolhyun, you’re not like that, are you?

Right?

“You wouldn’t say something like this without thinking, and you must have prepared a way to persuade me, right?”

“If you follow my orders, our team will get first place in this performance assessment… At least second place is guaranteed.”

Ah, to be honest, we might not get first place if we were really unlucky.

However, I was quite confident.

I was a veteran of this game.

I already knew the strategies.

“Chuckle. What’s with the confidence?”

Yoo Seolhyun laughed as if it was absurd.

In a situation where she couldn’t even know what kind of test it was, it was ridiculous to have said such things.

I would have reacted the same way as her.

“Interesting. The other teams won’t be easy either. Ambition seems like a good thing.”

Yoo Seolhyun quickly glanced at Lee Shiwoon and Kang Daehan.

No matter how talented she was, it seemed like she was not entirely confident in winning against those two.

“Well, it’s fine for now. Let’s go with what you said. But…”

She asks with a sneer.

“…What if the result is not good?”

“…”

“Can you take responsibility if the result is not good? Because it’s the first performance evaluation, I was taking it quite seriously.”

You don’t really think this performance evaluation is that important.

If you had really thought it was important, you wouldn’t have chosen me as your teammate in the first place. You’re just putting on a show.

“How about we make a bet?”

“A bet…”

The conversation so f

The reason was because he was very sensitive about bets.

From a young age, Yu Seol-hyeon had gained and lost various things through bets with Yu Gap-ryeong.

His grandfather never let him off easy, and whatever the bet was, the result had to be accepted without question.

Because of this, betting had become a kind of creed and set of values ​​for Yu Seol-hyeon.

“Are you still okay with it?”

“Okay. Let’s do it that way.”

If he didn’t accept the result of the bet, he might have even used the power of the household. That’s how much Yu Seol-hyeon took betting seriously.

“Ah, right. Is it allowed to intentionally lose in a bet to create advantage?”

“hehehe, that’s a weird question. Prioritizing your school scores over bets is obvious, right?”

No, your personality prioritizes what interests you far more.

Well. At least Yu Seol-hyeon wouldn’t lose on purpose given his character.

She has a strong pride, after all.

“Jin-hyeok-ah, were you here…?”

Jin So-yeon, laughing quietly, came near with her little steps and abruptly stopped.

Yu Seol-hyeon catches Jin So-yeon’s gaze.

The two people’s gazes intertwined.

“Ah, Seol-hyeon-ah, hello.”

“Yeah.”

Even though they spoke to a certain extent for a month, it still seemed a bit uncomfortable.

The first meeting wasn’t very good either.

“That’s quite a unique combination. What were you two doing here?”

“What about me?”

“Ah, Na-ri-ya. Right. That’s true.”

“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t see me because I’m short?”

“Aha, how could that be? Aw, our Na-ri is so cute~.”

“That’s enough? Hey, hey! Don’t touch my cheek! Are you crazy?!”

When Jin So-yeon tried to caress Seo Na-ri’s cheek like a niece, Seo Na-ri stepped back quickly.

Looking quite displeased, Jin So-yeon soon coughed and cleared her throat.

Then she looked at me.

“Anyway, Jin-hyeok-ah, have you found a team?”

“Team?”

“I thought if you didn’t have one, you could join mine.”

Jin Soyeon put her hand on her waist and straightened her chest.

“Who else would take care of you if not me? hehehe. You really should be thankful for me.”

“Aren’t you in the same team as Lee Siwon?”

“Yeah, but you know. Siwon and I discussed who the other person could be, and we thought you’d be fine with it.”

“Ah, really?”

“As expected, the top student is different. Right? It shows that it doesn’t matter if our Jinhyuk is in the same team as the last ranked student.”

“…It seems like you’re just forcing it because of yourself.”

Why don’t they have any sense?

Is it because they’re the protagonist of a reverse harem?

“Anyway, if you don’t have a team, join me.”

“No, I’m fine.”

“Hey, hey, there’s no need to be so defensive. Siwon is okay with it too…”

“I have a team.”

“…Huh?”

Jin Soyeon blinked her eyes as I interrupted her.

“Uh? Huh? You’ve already got a team?”

“It turned out that way.”

“No, with whom? Who are you teamed up with?”

“It’s me.”

With a smirk.

“This time, I decided to be on the same team with Jinhyuk.”

Yu Seolhyun answered with a smile.