Became a Swordsman Genius in a Pretty Girl Game

372. The Possessor (4)

“Uwaaah······. Th-this, uh, it’s so embarrassing. Really, more than I thought······.”

Shin Sehee, who quickly pulled away, was rambling, her face flushed red.

Without even realizing it, my face grew hot as well. The warmth of her lips still lingered vividly.

“Y-you, you, j-just now······.”

A first kiss.

Seeing me touching my lips and stammering, Shin Sehee frantically waved her hands, her face crimson.

“Ah, no! Th-that just now! I mean······. It just, well, not just, but definitely on purpose, I did······!”

Her usual calm and elegant demeanor had vanished completely. She covered her cheeks with both hands and shook her head frantically.

“Ugh······. I’m so embarrassed, I could die······. Th-this is the first time for something like this.”

The sunset light shining through the restaurant window illuminated her flushed face even more vividly.

“Ah, that’s······. Me too······.”

I tried to continue the sentence somehow, but my mind had gone completely blank, and I couldn’t form a proper sentence.

Silence stretched out. Just the quiet jazz playing, and both of us unable to meet each other’s eyes, just blushing faces.

“Th-th-that food must be getting cold! Let’s eat! Let’s eat first!”

“Y-yes, yes. R-right.”

We scrambled back to our spots. Like we should say something, but the awkwardness choked the words.

*Clink-clink—*

Only the scrape of utensils against plates, a quiet grating, filled the still space.

“J-Jinyuha-ssi.”

“S-Shin Sehee.”

Our words overlapped.

“Ahem, Sh-Shin Sehee, you go first.”

“W-well, um. So, that is… What were we talking about? Ah, right! About the world Jinyuha-ssi came from! I want to hear more about it!”

We blurted out our words, trying to erase the awkwardness, our faces still burning. I talked about what my past was like. And how I had lived in that place.

Of course, we’d roughly touched on it before. But I couldn’t explain the whole possession thing.

Today’s story was more detailed, more real.

“Ah… so you lived through such hard times in the past.”

“Yeah, well. It was a bit rough. Here, I have mana, so I got into the Velvet Academy and turned my life around, but back there, there wasn’t really anything like that.”

“So, there… there weren’t any hunters? Or monsters? Or fiends?”

“Nope, it’s a world without mana. The level of civilization is pretty similar, though.”

“It must have been a peaceful world.”

“Well, I don’t know… I wouldn’t say it’s *not* like that? Money rules the world instead of mana, and wars break out frequently because countries’ interests are intertwined… It’s a bit much to call it a peaceful world, you know…”

“…Huh?! A world where the concepts of men and women are reversed?”

“Yeah, in that world, men have stronger physical abilities than women, so men go to the military, men are more assertive, women are more adept at homemaking. And, like, almost all the perverted comments in online comment sections are from men, too.”

“Whoa… I finally understand the distance and hesitations you had, Jin Yuha… I get it now…”

“Huh? My distance? Hesitations? Was there something wrong?”

“…Jin Yuha-ssi. Did you happen to have a girlfriend back then?”

“No, I didn’t. I did get some contact from a few women, not even close friends, but they always said weird things.”

“Weird things?”

I frowned, recalling those women whose names I couldn’t even remember.

“Yeah. Like, ‘my light bulb is broken, can you come fix it,’ or ‘my cat is cute, can you come see it,’ or ‘wanna do something more fun than games?’ And there was this one person who kept trying to come over because I said I was good at cooking, insisting on teaching me and getting all up in my space. Looking back, they were all just weirdos.”

That’s right. They were all weirdos.

If a light bulb is broken, you call a repairman. Why call me? I’m not exactly an electrician or anything.

What if I got electrocuted? Would they take responsibility then?

And sure, I like looking at cats, but I prefer looking at them online rather than in person, just your average preference.

To be honest, the “wanna do something more fun than games” bit was tempting,

but I knew she was the type who liked clubs and that whole social scene.

As a natural-born outsider, I didn’t particularly like those places, so I refused.

And cooking, ha. Just thinking about it makes me mad?

Who’s going to teach who?

As I explained each of those incidents, Shin Sehee’s eyes suddenly went dark.

“…No, it wasn’t a matter of distance, it was just something you were born with.”

“?”

Like that, we still couldn’t make eye contact,

awkwardly continuing our conversation and meal. But strangely, this awkward moment wasn’t entirely unpleasant.

*

“Ah, did your Level Up happen then?”

“Yes, the moment I learned and accepted Jin Yoo-ha’s secret, light suddenly poured down.”

“Really? Hmm, well…. Should we tell the others too?”

Shin Se-hee’s reaction today had given me a little courage. Of course, this was something that needed even more courage.

As I was pondering it seriously, Shin Se-hee shook her head.

“No. I think I’m the only one who can achieve that Level Up through this. And the party members, well, I’ll adjust the timing. You weren’t planning to hide it completely, were you?”

I nodded at her words.

“Yeah…. If I hadn’t heard this story from you today, maybe. But since I have heard it…. But wouldn’t the others have heard too? I rambled on and on back then.”

“I sent a reverse frequency through the gate camera, blocking Jin Yoo-ha’s voice. Both the people and party members couldn’t hear.”

“…Ah, really?”

“Yes, and because you were wearing the mask, they couldn’t read your lips either. Well, it was to hide your face… It turned out to be helpful like this.”

I gaped, dumbfounded.

Certainly, Shin Se-hee was extraordinary.

Even in a situation that she herself was struggling to accept, she immediately took action and blocked things like that in advance.

Shin Se-hee definitely would have had a place in my previous world as well.

‘Hmm, if she’d failed the college entrance exam and not gotten into art school, things could’ve gotten pretty dicey…’

A story of the most famous person who’d failed art school and committed suicide in their past life suddenly flashed in my mind, but whatever. Shin Se-hee wouldn’t be someone like *that*.

“So, please leave that part to me.”

“Yeah, okay. I trust you.”

* * *

In Utopia, there’s someone who’s obsessively fixated on Jin Yu-ha.

Of course, almost everyone leans in that direction, but.

If I had to pick the person with the most extreme case, I’d instantly think of one person.

A mixed-race model with a slender figure.

Golden blonde hair.

A founding member of Jin Yu-ha’s fan cafe, “The Flower on the Cliff.”

The lucky fan who got kidnapped during a mid-term evaluation, and then entered Utopia.

Sophia.

She was sprawled on a wide hotel bed in Hawaii,

Staring at a hologram screen, wearing a loose grin she couldn’t show Jin Yu-ha.

“Hehe······.”

I have no idea how many times she’s replayed it.

“Aah, it’s not nearly as good as when I saw it in person······.”

The scene where Jin Yu-ha, wearing a mask, defeated the spider queen.

At that moment, Jin Yu-ha was truly beyond comparison; a being from beyond the heavens.

Then, suddenly, Sophia’s brow furrowed.

– 1-star trash, body—

*Static— Static—*

Suddenly, Jin Yuha’s voice broke, as if it hadn’t been there at all.

“What does that mean? Hmm—was it because the Spider Queen released some weird mana back then? No, that doesn’t make sense, I can hear all the other sounds, it’s just Jin Yuha-nim’s voice I can’t hear.”

After that, it got even worse, making it hard to hear even a single word.

“Well, I know Jin Yuha-nim rambles when he’s in a trance….”

But still, I want to know.

That’s what stanning is all about.

Breathing, acting. Unconscious thoughts.

The desire to know everything about the person you like.

“If only he wasn’t wearing a mask… I could at least read his lips…”

Hmm.

Then, it suddenly occurred to her that if she could remove the interference blocking the voice, she might be able to hear Jin Yuha’s voice.

“Ah! Like removing the MR from singers’ tracks!”

And her eyes lit up.

“Heheh, shall we give it a try?”

Sophia rubbed her hands together, got out of bed, and pulled a laptop from her subspace tattoo.

And her efforts paid off.

…In a slightly unintended direction.

“Except for a few words… I can’t understand any of it…”

She tilted her head, looking at the words she’d barely salvaged from the noise.

[ Trash ] [ Reset ] [ Pretty girl ] [ Male ] [ Neon Sign ] [ Ordinary ] [ World ] [ Screen ] [ Resentment ] [ Annoyance ] [ Advantage ] [ Free ] [ Face ]

“……?”

These words alone didn’t give her the slightest clue about what it could mean.

She wanted to know.

She really, desperately wanted to know.

‘There has to be, there has to be a way…’

For some reason, she didn’t want to share this with the other party members.

But figuring it out alone was impossible.

Sophia hesitated for a moment, then her mouth opened slightly. “Ah, this… Could we maybe try using the power of collective intelligence?”

It was a sudden thought, but not a bad one.

“If we work together with the café members, maybe we can figure out what Jinyuha-nim was unconsciously saying!!!”

Sophia immediately went to the café,《Flower on the Cliff》.