How to get on the protagonist’s flower path

A calm daily life continued for a while.

Meta points had accumulated, and now I had 700 points.

When I arrived at school in the morning, the classroom was quite noisy. My classmates were excitedly chatting about which club they wanted to join, and I absentmindedly gazed out the window.

Finally, one of the anticipated episodes, the club selection time, was approaching.

This event was particularly significant because one of the main heroines appeared in this episode.

The plot of the club episode was simple.

A con artist creates a new club to gather their followers. The new heroine, lured by the bait, joins that club.

To entice her, the con artist takes her to the Hidden Piece dungeon under the guise of club activities. Wow, they found a treasure! The end.

Anyway, my freedom to choose a club was completely shattered.

“Are you really going to create a new club?”

“Yeah. It’s called the Treasure Hunting Club. We’ll go inside the gate and search for useful treasures. What do you think?”

“That sounds fun! Can I join too?”

“Of course.”

That smug smile on his face was annoying, as if he expected it.

By the way, the minimum number of members required to establish a club is five.

Once we reach the minimum, we can register as a provisional club, and then we need to achieve certain results to be recognized as an official club. However, the deadline for achieving results is quite lenient, so what matters now is the number of members.

But due to the con artist’s reputation, not many people were willing to join the club.

So in the story, the con artist resorts to, to put it nicely, marketing, and to put it unkindly, trickery to gather club members. He promoted that just by joining the club, you’d receive rewards.

However, I surprisingly found our third club member quite easily.

“Club?”

“Yeah! Yuhan is planning to join the new club he’s creating!”

By the way, in the original story, Nayuri joined the Reading Discussion Club. I heard it was a club where people gather to exchange opinions about books.

Thinking back, maybe she joined to make friends.

“Hem, hem.”

Nayuri cleared her throat for no reason, and while blushing slightly, she said,

“Well then, I guess I have to join too. I have to keep an eye on Nayuhan, after all!”

“Is that really your only reason? Seems like you have ulterior motives.”

“Shut up.”

The con artist was teasing her and got punched. His stats for getting hit without dodging are impressive. But these days, it seems he’s been getting hit less often.

What can I say? I suppose we’ve gotten a bit closer while bickering like this, just as the con artist intended.

Looking at Nayuri’s icy glare, it seems she still wants to kill the con artist… but I have a feeling she wouldn’t actually go through with it.

Although she did beat him up for dragging me along, clearing the gate and consistently participating in training might have changed her perspective a bit.

“Anyway, I’m in too.”

“I’m not giving you any member benefits, you know?”

“Do you want to die?”

All this bickering aside, it’s best if we avoid fighting. This is a good outcome.

As we talk, I can naturally feel our interactions growing.

Dumdum will join the Swordsmanship Club, and maybe I should suggest it to Choi Sujeong? That way, we’d have the perfect number of members.

“But is there anyone else who can join? We need to meet the minimum member count.”

I decided to kindly play the NPC role to advance the story today as well.

“Everyone has their own plans.”

The con artist replied with a confident smile.

I want to punch him every time I see that smile.

***

After school, the con artist and I set up a stall outside the school building in a busy area where many students pass by.

The reason we specifically set up here is probably because the “she” he targets for club members walks by this area every day.

Oh, and I’ve been carefully growing my hair in case I need to cut it and sell it someday.

“Yuhan?”

“What is she doing?”

“I don’t know, probably plotting something again.”

Yep, that’s right. I’m concocting a wicked plan to lure in one person.

I silently applauded a student who exhibited keen insight.

The con artist started laying out the ice attribute items he had prepared on the stall without paying any attention to the whispers around us.

So transparent, so obvious.

While internally clicking my tongue, I arranged the items to display them nicely.

Looking at a stall filled with ice attribute items, “she” would surely have a hard time not glancing over.

I sent my condolences in advance to her, who would likely fall for the con artist’s tricks.

As we displayed the items, students passing by began to show interest, looking puzzled.

“What’s going on? Are they selling something?”

“If they’re selling, I definitely want to buy that…”

The con artist cleared his throat and picked up a megaphone. He truly resembled a wicked merchant.

“Join the Treasure Hunting Club, and you can easily get all these items!”

What an enticing phrase; the expressions of the gathered students turned peculiar.

“Treasure Hunting Club? What’s that?”

“We’re opening a new club! It’s a club that directly explores the gates!”

“If you join, you’ll get items for free. You can take these expensive items without paying a dime!”

“Wowww!”

I did my best to cheer along in the silence of the crowd.

Life is truly hard… I silently lamented.

Amid the silent crowd, we spotted the familiar white-silver hair we had been waiting for.

The con artist seemed to have noticed the silver-haired girl as he raised his voice even more.

“Valuable ice attribute items! Join the Treasure Hunting Club and get them for free!”

Hey, you really do look like a con artist.

“Join right now! There isn’t much time left!”

People hesitated but slowly began to line up, tempted by the items.

The silver-haired girl was at the front of the line.

…Are you really that easy to catch?

I calmly watched as she looked around at the items. Well, considering the item list, it was understandable.

“Oh, by the way, our Treasure Hunting Club aims for a small, elite group. If too many people apply, we’ll hold interviews!”

That’s probably to weed out the undesirables in the con artist’s eyes.

Despite the conditions the con artist imposed, the line of eager students slowly grew longer. Poor, greedy victims. They wouldn’t even get a chance to touch those items anyway.

Satisfied after getting the application form from our target, the con artist brought the pile of application forms to the club room (tentatively).

The Guardian Academy is annoyingly spacious, so thankfully, there are plenty of empty rooms. Since we’re still a provisional club, we wouldn’t be treated differently, and we wouldn’t have to clean a dusty old room.

“Whew…”

Is it that great for you, you jerk?

I had to struggle to hide my icy glare.

***

A few days later, the club interview day arrived.

It seemed that the advertisement for the items had worked, as many people had gathered. Most of the applicants seemed to be present.

None of them looked particularly serious; they seemed more like they were here for the items, whatever happens.

Still, it was impressive to see so many people lining up.

“Rejected!”

“What? You didn’t even say a word!”

“Your impression sucks!”

The con artist’s parade of rejections began.

“You insulted me before, right? Rejected!”

Truly…

“I can sense ulterior motives toward Nayuri! Rejected!”

“Wait a minute…!”

“Please leave.”

All his reasons were filled with personal grudges,

“Greed is evident in your eyes! Rejected!”

So unfair,

“Just rejected!”

An unreasonable and arbitrary rejection interview.

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Are you just too lazy to come up with a reason now?

Just as the con artist’s insane rejection parade was about to end, an unexpected person suddenly appeared.

“Yay! Annyeong~.”

“Senior?”

“Why are you here? Originally….”

Choi Sujeong appeared unexpectedly.

In the original story, she was never a member of any club, right?

“I’m obviously going to pass, you know~.”

She boldly walked up to the desk where the interviewee (the con artist) was and stamped her application form with an approval stamp.

The con artist, who was always busy building connections, surely wouldn’t refuse such a golden opportunity, but still… her confidence in claiming the position as if it was already hers was impressive.

“What…?”

The con artist was left speechless.

Come on, get it together. Others are waiting.

After our members increased to four and the pile of applications noticeably thinned, the silver-haired girl entered the club room.

With her pale complexion, dazzling silver hair, cold blue eyes, and calm demeanor.

“…Lee Hana.”

Finally, the person we had been waiting for had appeared.

“Approved!”

And the con artist shouted “approved” at lightning speed.

It was a ridiculous speed of acceptance that would make the rejected cry. It didn’t even take three seconds.

He didn’t even bother to hide his joy at getting what he wanted, grinning widely.

Even after seeing the con artist’s behavior, Lee Hana nodded expressionlessly as she received the approval.

“What’s this club about?”

She tilted her head as she watched the con artist explain about the club.

***

I didn’t expect this situation to unfold.

But I suppose it was a matter of course.

In the end, they did manage to get five club members and we can officially register as a club.