I Don’t Want to be a Villainess

Eventually, Son Ah-reum followed me all the way to our room.

She wanted to show me this notebook, and I couldn’t really refuse.

Honestly, I wasn’t that tempted by the notebook itself. It was indeed a beautifully crafted notebook, and I thought studying with it would be incredibly helpful, but as I’ve mentioned a few times, I had absolutely no enthusiasm for studying.

Since I couldn’t handle my grades with bribery anymore, I had to study, but the more I studied, the more I hated it. If I were just an ordinary high school student living in a regular family, I would’ve had to do it reluctantly, but… now I had enough money to not work at all.

It was hard to refuse Son Ah-reum’s earnest intention to show me the notebook. She looked so satisfied and proud that I thought my refusal would just lead to a guilt trip.

“Every time I see it, it’s such a big house…”

In front of my mansion, Son Ah-reum muttered as she looked up at it.

“It’s true.” Actually, it was overly large for just a few people. Even the security guard’s accommodation at the front gate was more like a small house than a narrow security room.

“It used to be a department store.”

It had been recognized for its historical value and was even registered as a cultural heritage asset. Well, it wasn’t as great as a national treasure or artifact, but still, how many people can say they live in a place labeled ‘registered cultural heritage’?

“…”

Perhaps she was unhappy about following me, but Ha Neul, Sua, and Sohee were still watching Son Ah-reum with a somewhat wary eye. Thankfully, it seemed Son Ah-reum didn’t notice… but I wished they’d wipe those expressions off their faces.

It made me uncomfortable as the one who invited them. If this were to lead to a fight, that would be troublesome.

I didn’t want to label my friends, but in the end, I couldn’t just abandon the three of them. Of course, if I asked, they would cooperate, but just thinking about what I would have to go through during that process made my body shiver.

“…Let’s just go inside.”

“Okay!”

Son Ah-reum seemed incredibly excited in her own way, as her footsteps following mine into the house were very lively.

*

To cut to the chase, Son Ah-reum was immensely helpful.

Of course, this didn’t mean Ha Neul was worse than Son Ah-reum… but there was a stark contrast in their studying styles.

I often wondered how Yoo Ha-neul managed to maintain such high grades, but it turned out it was because she was just fundamentally smart.

In the original story, all stats start from 1, but that was merely a way to illustrate the protagonist Yoo Ha-neul’s growth easily. She couldn’t be a scholarship student with a terrible brain from the very beginning.

Ah, of course, that doesn’t mean Son Ah-reum wasn’t smart. She was smart too. She consistently maintained high grades without any academy or tutoring, just studying a few textbooks and some internet lectures offered by a public broadcasting service.

But, to reiterate, their studying styles were completely different.

Ha Neul was fundamentally smart, so when faced with a slightly complex equation or difficult word, she simply memorized it. She organized important words or phrases neatly, then stuffed that neatly organized notebook right into her head.

Her brain was that wide and deep. If you think about it, in the game, when selecting answers to the teacher’s questions, it was like just clicking an option, so it was literally “memorization.”

On the other hand, Son Ah-reum’s studying method felt like climbing stairs step by step.

Above all, the notes were created not just to summarize and list facts but seemed made for teaching others.
For instance, if you had to memorize several words with a specific order, she’d take the first letters of those words. Then she’d create a story with those letters to ensure they wouldn’t easily be forgotten, jotting all of that down in her notes.

“But that could mean you might forget some in the middle of it, right?”

Ha Neul, seeming unable to comprehend Son Ah-reum’s way of memorization, said so.

“But doing it this way means that even if I forget a few in the middle, I can still remember the beginning or the end. It’s rare to get the whole problem wrong. Even with difficult questions, I can narrow down my options. Plus, while writing the beginning or end, I might suddenly remember something and it makes filling in the blanks easier.”

“So…?”

But Ha Neul still looked like she was struggling to understand.

She had this expression as if to say, “Doesn’t that make memorization even harder?”

Is this why geniuses can’t grasp the minds of regular folks?

…No, I think it’s the opposite? Well, I never felt like Ha Neul was so brilliant that she seemed entirely different from us.

Luckily, among the people in this room, there were far more in the category of regular folks than geniuses.

To give an example,

“Wow, really. Creating it in sentence form seems to stick in my head better. I did study like this back in middle school, but usually, I just used this method for the really difficult stuff. I’ve never seen someone make such thorough notes like this before.”

That was Sohee, genuinely impressed.
If I had to name the two people in this room who studied the least, it would definitely be me and Sohee. Of course, Sohee was quite diligent, contrary to appearances, so she wasn’t at the level of being far behind in grades, but still, if we ranked ourselves, both me and Sohee fell below Sua, who was upper-middle-tier in grades.

“Right, in the past, I did have friends who studied like this.”

At Sua’s words, Son Ah-reum looked a bit surprised.

“Aren’t you taking any academies or tutoring?”

I mean, I’m famous enough for that, and Sua was the only daughter of the chairman of a major conglomerate that nobody in Korea wouldn’t recognize. So, it is a bit surprising that she wasn’t taking any after-school lessons. The lack of good student attitudes among Hwayoung High School students could largely be attributed to excessive pre-study due to private education.

“Yeah. More than that, I preferred studying in groups with friends… so that’s why I feel more comfortable now.”

“I see…”

Son Ah-reum seemed slightly impressed by that.
Maybe Sua’s family was more easy-going than I thought?

Though, considering how she warned me not to hang out with her, it seemed that they paid quite a bit of attention to their reputation.

“…”

However, while everyone was praising Son Ah-reum’s study style, there seemed to be one person who wasn’t too happy about it.

That was Ha Neul, who had been responsible for our studying until Son Ah-reum came along.

Seeing Ha Neul sitting there with her chin resting on her fist and a sulky expression made me feel a bit guilty.

…I thought it might be necessary to soothe her later.

*

Being popular can be exhausting.

I never thought I would say something like this so many times, but here I am, my perspective has changed now that I find myself in this situation.

If I truly remained at just the “popular” level, it probably wouldn’t have been such a huge problem.

So, if I were at the level of someone posting screenshots about receiving countless meal invitations from girls on the internet, I wouldn’t have cared that much. Most likely, they wouldn’t be people I had known for a long time, and simply refusing a meal invitation isn’t something too great.

The problem is that all three who confessed to me were dear friends I couldn’t separate from.

Moreover, these three overcame the barrier of us being the same gender to confess. That meant they made a big decision to confess to me.

With relationships and situations to consider, my lack of dating experience was making me more flustered and prone to mistakes. In my attempts to avoid hurting one person, I end up hurting another.

Just like this time.

On top of that, I was living in the same house with these three. We were sharing a room.

“…”

As I stood under the water pouring over my head, I sank into my thoughts.

I wanted to talk privately with Ha Neul. I held no ill feelings towards the conversation I had with Son Ah-reum earlier today and wanted to express my gratitude for the help I received from her.

But again, we were sharing a room. There was no personal space here.

This was the first time since I started living with three people that I felt a significant discomfort.

“Ugh.”

I took a big step back after letting the water hit my face, taking a deep breath.

“Okay.”

So, there was only one way to handle this.
All three wanted to stick close to me—jealous of one another at the same time.

So, if I conversed with one person, I had to talk to the other two as well. Just like hugging and kissing them every morning.

…Alright, how about we arrange for some personal meetings tonight?

…That should work, right?

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