NOVEL NEXT Chapter 231
After observing him for a day, well… I’m still not sure if he can actually help me with my revenge.
Whether it was what happened at the entrance ceremony, during the exam, or just his usual demeanor, for some reason, it was a lot less impressive than I expected.
Maybe it’s still early days. Or perhaps I’ve set my expectations way too high. Or could it be that something’s going on that I just don’t know about?
Maybe my actions triggered a butterfly effect that influenced him somehow.
So, I might be a little disappointed right now because he doesn’t look like the man of my dreams.
As I kept staring at him, he must’ve felt my gaze was a bit intense because he awkwardly turned his head away.
“Uh, Blanca? Is your home… this way too?”
“Yeah.”
Silence.
“Oh, I see… what a coincidence!”
“Right?”
More silence.
For some reason, the Minho I remembered was way more social than this. Am I remembering it wrong? Hmm, no, that can’t be it. He wasn’t like this, I’m sure of it.
He used to chat up girls without a second thought! What happened to cause this change?
As we walked together, we entered the same apartment complex.
“So, uh, do you live here…?”
“Yeah. What a coincidence.”
“Oh, I see… a few days ago, I wondered who had moved in, but I never thought it would be you.”
“Right? I didn’t expect you to live downstairs either. So, I guess that makes us neighbors?”
Trying to get a little closer, I took a step forward, but he awkwardly stepped back and confirmed it.
It became a game of a step forward, a step back, and soon he was almost pressed against the apartment wall, making it clear he was feeling awkward about me.
Hmm, was it too soon to approach him? I genuinely just wanted to get closer.
Uh, so… when faced with awkwardness, pushing harder usually makes people distance themselves. It seems I need to take a step back for now.
After all, this isn’t something that needs to be rushed. It’s a situation that can be handled at a relaxed pace without urgency.
So, for today, this is it.
Waving at Minho, who rushed toward his home as if escaping my attention, I headed into mine.
Then I casually activated the sound amplifier and wall monitoring screen to see what was happening downstairs.
I learned that the way to judge if someone is trustworthy is to watch them 24/7 for a whole month to see what they do.
– – – –
Blanca is a strange girl. It sounds rude to say that right off the bat, but in this case, it didn’t feel rude at all.
No, it could even be seen as a pretty mild assessment. Just one day—scratch that, not even a full day—after half a day of knowing her, it was clear she wasn’t normal.
Of course, her mental state and physical development weren’t normal either, but the most abnormal part was her very existence.
No character like her existed in the original work.
Not in the first year, or even in the second or third years. A character like that didn’t exist among the villains either. Just, there was no character like her at all.
Actually, considering that, how could someone like her even exist? She approaches me so casually right from the start but then keeps her distance afterward. What is that about?
And then, as the school day ended, she comes back in close again. I just can’t figure out what’s going on in her head.
Plus, moving in just before the academy semester starts, of all places to the apartment upstairs? It has to be intentional, right?
Sure, it could’ve been a coincidence, or maybe the same uniform prompted a friendly reaction. But what about her being labeled as a heroine in the status window?
Even the info tab had [Censored] written there. At this point, it feels like she’s deliberately hiding something from me.
So what is she hiding?
“…I seriously can’t figure it out.”
What on earth is she keeping from me? If she’s an enemy, then it doesn’t seem like it. If she’s an ally, I don’t think that’s the case either. And she’s a heroine? Is she really a heroine?
I just… don’t get it.
“On the outside, she’s… seriously my type.”
She’s about my height. And her figure…
…lets just say it’s spot on.
With her long silver hair and a strangely decadent presence, she could make even a non-smoker feel like lighting up a cigarette.
As for her personality? Honestly, I don’t know much about it yet. But I can’t say she’s particularly sharp around the edges.
Even though we started off on a rocky note, she smoothly handled it. But still, that’s something I need to keep watching to see for sure.
Lost in thought, I couldn’t help but imagine her appearance and a grin crept onto my face. But then it faded quickly.
I started to sense something was off about her intentions.
If she were openly a villain, I could just reject her and move on. If she’s genuinely nice, I can just take it as it comes. But, which side is she on? I have no clue what she really is.
I just can’t seem to guess her true identity.
Could it really be that she’s another reincarnator and recognized me? That seems unlikely. Surely I’ve just stirred up someone’s feelings.
If that someone’s an important figure, it’s probably the Heros Company.
But, there’s no way this organization would go through the trouble of inserting a student into the academy just to monitor one student.
The Heros Company are extreme efficiency advocates. They wouldn’t bother with such trivial matters in such a convoluted way.
They’d probably stick to using surveillance cameras or designating me as a watchlist target. I certainly haven’t done anything important enough for that.
So, the ambiguity around Blanca’s identity just deepens… and she’s labeled a heroine.
What on earth is going on?
After racking my brain, I just couldn’t find any solid evidence to lead me to a conclusion beyond ‘I have no idea.’ So, I decided to stop trying to figure her out for now. Well, she’s at least a heroine.
If I get closer, surely I can eventually get the information I want.
If she’s not a dangerous entity, that’ll be great. If she is dangerous… well, I wonder.
Can I fix that? Still, since she’s a heroine, I think I can steer her toward the good path somehow.
…Hmm, but since a little while ago, it feels like someone’s been watching me.
I looked up at the ceiling, but I saw nothing.
– – – –
Until dinner, I kept sneaking glances at what my downstairs neighbor was up to. That alone felt uneasy, yet it was all I could come up with to do.
I felt the need to do something.
Having some memories from before I crossed over to this world, I knew this was just an obsession. But, doing nothing felt too empty.
So, when the old man’s call came through, I genuinely felt relieved. Of course, he annoyed the hell out of me, yet, a part of me welcomed it.
“Yes… yes. A purge? Understood. How… Ah, it feels like internal conflicts among organizations are clashing. Yes. Yes, understood; I’ll be there shortly. Please prepare the follow-up team.”
Ending the old man’s bothersome call, I hurriedly collected my scattered underwear around the room and put them on.
Wearing just an outer layer felt too revealing considering the situation.
While I could do whatever I wanted at home, that wasn’t the case during a mission.
After securing my work clothes and gathering only the essential tools, I remembered the old man mentioning it was a trivial organization.
If I’m scheduled to purge them so soon, why invest anywhere at all?
Maybe it’s the mentality of wanting to catch new recruits during a scouting phase or something?
Either way, understanding that crafty old man’s true intentions seems like a far-off dream, so I stepped out with a light heart.
Wearing an outfit that wouldn’t raise alarms on CCTV, I chose the dark corners and finally located the hideout of the organization the old man wanted erased.
“Who the hell are you…?”
Before they regained their wits, I charged in determined to finish this quickly, drawing my dagger.
When it comes to these gang wars, usually, blades decide the outcome.
Backed into a corner, the thugs fell like flies, and just like that, it was over. A pretty anticlimactic end.
As always, I planned to report back to the old man when I suddenly realized something had been watching me from a distance.
Even with my night vision, I couldn’t spot whatever was lurking in the dark shadows.
I couldn’t let it slip away, so I kicked off the walls to remove any witnesses, but it vanished almost as if the wind had split apart.
…Hmm, this is becoming a bit problematic. Never thought I’d leave a witness behind.
There shouldn’t be any Abilities Users among the rats of the back alleys, so I was confused about what was trailing behind me.
And even more confused about why it was following me.
With that kind of speed, I wouldn’t even be able to track it down if I tried… For now, I guess I’ll have to sift through the speedster abilities users.
Wiping the blood off my blade, I vowed to identify who it was.