I Killed the Player of the Academy-Side Story 5 ༺ Side Story – The Agony of a Playboy (1) ༻

→ Side Story – The Agony of a Playboy (1) ←

There was something wrong with Korin these days.

That was the conclusion Marie had come to upon observing Korin for a while since his return after a voluntary aid mission.

He postponed answering their questions and suddenly left, only to zone out regularly after coming back.

‘Maybe… I was pressuring him too much.’

Urging him to make a decision might have been too much of a pressure for him, but even then, Marie wanted to hear his reply.

Despite being aware of a potential and fearsome future where she wasn’t chosen by him, there was a strong desire in her to be chosen by him over anyone else.

“Now, that’s it for today’s lesson. Well done everyone.”

At the end of the combined lesson of 3rd and 4th year students, Marie approached Korin.

“Korin…”

It’s not like she wanted him to give her a response right at this moment. Korin didn’t seem to be in a good mood these days, so she simply wanted to have a chat with him.

But the moment she tapped him on his shoulder, Korin reacted in a fright.

“Hugek…!”

“K, Korin?”

He seemed repulsed as if he came in contact with something that shouldn’t be touched, which came as a great shock to Marie.

Korin… shrugged me off?

It was the first time that this had happened.

“Ah, s, sorry. I was thinking about something else.”

“U, uun… N, no problem!”

Marie forced herself to maintain the bright look in her eyes and attempted to dismiss it like it wasn’t a big deal.

“What… is it?” he asked.

“Uh, uhh… You know…”

She hinted at something with her eyes.

It was a tacit promise the two of them had. Although he was awkward about it at first, Marie knew how Korin wasn’t against their bodies being in a very close proximity whenever she was sucking his blood.

She knew that both Korin and herself were vaguely looking forward to it every time but…

“Sorry sunbae. Not today. Maybe next time…”

“Haht?!”

It was the first time in the past 3 years that she had been rejected like this. Marie was so shocked that she forgot to even breathe and froze stiff.

“Let’s do it next time, okay… I have to go, bye!”

All she could do was watch him leave in a rush.

“I, it’s been more than ten days though…”

A great joy that blood packs couldn’t give her went further and further away.

****

Human habits were hard to change.

Although he had defeated Tates Valtazar and was the strongest person in the entire planet who didn’t require any more training, Korin frequented the training rooms regardless.

Many people looked for him whenever he was outside to lay their eyes on the Sun, the hero, or the one behind the prophecy and such, but the training rooms of the Academy were mostly quiet as the youthful teenagers preferred other ways of spending their time.

And that was why Alicia was able to monopolize Korin for herself in the training room.

“Korin-ssi. You seem a little… different today.”

“Hmm…”

Taking a break after a duel, the two of them were wiping off sweat with their towels. It was only a 10 minute break but that didn’t stop the two from having a discussion about martial arts.

“You don’t seem as sharp today. If you weren’t planning on going for a full-on attack with a stab, I think it would have been better for you to snap my sword away instead.”

Since there were only a few that could fight on their level, Alicia and Korin tended to give feedback to one another to make up for anything they lacked. It was mostly Korin giving feedback to Alicia, but today was a little bit different.

“Korin-ssi?”

“…”

Noticing that Korin had been silent this whole time, Alicia wondered if was devising a new spearmanship or something, but soon realized that his serious eyes had been on her.

“K, kuhum…! It’s a bit embarrassing if you keep staring like that.”

“Alicia…”

“W, what is it?”

Alicia gulped as her cheeks turned red. It couldn’t be helped as she could feel the strong, blazing passion in his eyes as Korin stood up and began walking towards her.

What was he going to say?

Until the war against Valtazar, Alicia often attempted to have more physical contact with Korin. Although he seemed slightly troubled by it at times, he didn’t appear to hate it altogether.

She was currently drenched in sweat but… that too could be a positive when seducing guys, right? After all, she still remembered how Korin was stealing glances at the bead of sweat traveling down her neck.

“Alicia,” he said.

“K, kuhum… Yes?”

“You should be wearing proper clothes.”

“…Sorry?”

His words were so out of the blue that it caught her completely off guard.

“It is not a good sight for a lady of a marriageable age to be so open.”

W, was he saying that after all this time?

Indeed, it was true that Alicia wore clothes that were a bit more revealing than normal. The El Rath Kingdom was quite open about skin exposure in the first place, and it was even more the case for the Arden Household as they were located at a humid environment to the east.

As such, it was normal for everything from her casual clothes to party dresses to reveal either her cleavage or the side of her chest, and she tended to have little coverage over her thighs as well.

Such things were normal in the east where she grew up, so Alicia didn’t think much about it but…

“You ought to wear clothes with less exposure than this. It’s a bit uncomfortable.”

“U, uhh…”

“And let’s avoid being just the two of us like this from now on. We need to be mindful of other people’s eyes.”

“K, Korin-ssi?!”

You are saying that after all this time? A bit late isn’t it?!

Alicia was puzzled by Korin, who had suddenly turned into a conservative male.

You’ve been glancing every time though!

For the past 3 years!

****

It was around 11 pm after a coloring session with Ren and Ron, that Hua Ran was climbing up the stairs.

[Is it your turn today?]

“…Un.”

The place she was headed was not her room but Korin’s.

It had been 2 years since the first time she slept on the same bed as Korin. It started as something to alleviate her boredom but these days, it was an important part of their routine as Hua and Ran took turns sleeping with Korin.

[It’s been so long though… Can I sleep with him today~?]

“No. You lost the coin toss already.”

[Hing~]

Actually, it had been a while since both of them had slept with Korin. After finding out the truth behind how babies were made back in the North, Hua Ran had been keeping her distance from Korin.

– Knock knock!

And since Korin left for a long-term voluntary mission immediately after that, it had been a very long time for the two of them.

– Come in.

Entering the room, she saw Korin sitting on the bed reading a book. Seeing Korin in his pajamas for the first time in a long time, Hua felt her heart starting to race.

‘I should have worn… different pajamas.’

[Why? It’s cute.]

‘But instead of cute… something that’s, that’s…’

[???]

Even to her sister, Hua couldn’t reveal that she was thinking about lingeries, or revealing clothes that Marie, Alicia or Estelle would wear.

“…”

“Why don’t you come in?” Korin invited her in, seeing Hua stay silent for a long time near the door.

Walking up, Hua took a seat on the enormous bed right next to Korin.

“What are you reading?”

“…A book about philosophy.”

“Philosophy?”

“Like a philosophical debate on… interpersonal relationships…”

Hua stole a glance at the title on the front cover of the book he was reading, but couldn’t understand what it meant.

“Is it fun?” she asked instead.

“It’s very intriguing. Makes me wonder how a book like this could exist.”

“Really?”

Hua leaned her head on his shoulder and read the book with him, but it was so full of difficult words that she couldn’t understand much of what it was saying. She wondered if Ran knew.

[Why do you need philosophy on marriage? I wonder why he’s reading case studies from overseas.]

She didn’t seem to understand it either.

Although it was hard to read, the warmth being conveyed through her cheeks was so addictive that she continued reading the incomprehensible array of letters.

“I’m sleepy.”

“…Alright.”

Seeing Hua dozing off, Korin closed his book. He then noticed that there was only one pillow on the bed.

The two of them had been sleeping on the same bed for a long time, but Hua often didn’t bring her own pillow. On her part, it was because she learned over time that Korin would provide his arm to be used instead of a pillow if she didn’t have one, but there was no way for Korin to know that.

“You can use my arm then…”

Korin paused in the middle, right as he was about to habitually lend her his arm.

“???”

[Oppa?]

“…”

For a decent period of time, Korin stayed thinking like that before suddenly giving a shocking announcement to the two of them.

“You two… Let’s stop sleeping on the same bed from now on.”

“…!!”

[Huhh?]

What was this about all of a sudden? Hua Ran blankly stood there blinking her eyes but Korin didn’t give her the time to process it.

“There is a Confucian saying that you shouldn’t even let boys and girls sit together past the age of 7. It wasn’t right in the first place to have a lady of a marriageable age to be sleeping on the same bed as a male.”

“But…”

It’s been two years though?

It had already been two years since they had warmed up each other’s bedside at night, so what was he saying after all this time? 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

“My sleeping habits aren’t that good either, right? I accidentally touched you during my sleep and you hit me as well.”

“T, that much is fine…”

Hua was so shocked that she stuttered but Korin remained firm.

“No. Looking back, I’ve been way too inattentive. I should have done this much earlier.”

“Wait…”

“So you two. Let’s sleep separately from today.”

[!!!!!!]

They were chased out of the room.

Hua Ran blankly stood there looking at the door closed shut before their eyes.

****

After coming back, I started putting distance between myself and the girls.

Thinking logically, this was the right decision and after rationally looking back at my own actions, I realized just how inattentive I had been this whole time.

Having a tight hug while letting Marie suck my blood; stealing glances when Alicia, drenched in sweat, would defenselessly wipe her armpits; and I would sleep at night with Hua Ran by my side.

I had been enjoying such things as if it was a privilege just given to me.

It was wrong! We weren’t even dating and I had crossed the line too much!

And most importantly, there was a reason why I was being careful not to be tied down into a relationship with one specific girl.

“Fuu… It would be a nightmare if the Precepts got activated again…”

This past week, I had been locked up in Park Sihu’s alternate dimension acting like a husband.

To this day I still couldn’t understand.

Park Sihu… or Park Sirin, was it? The one that hypnotized me and said she loved me was most certainly the 99th Park Sihu from the last iteration.

I had definitely killed Park Sihu; I dealt with him ahead of time right as he was about to kill Alicia and saved her, but the 99th Park Sihu appeared in front of me in her real body as Park Sirin.

Then who was the Park Sihu I had killed? Was it a simple copy mimicking the same moves? Or a different version; the 100th Park Sihu?

Regardless of whether it was Park Sihu or Park Sirin, or 99th or 100th, what was important was that Park Sihu, who should have died in any case, had safely returned back to earth.

Was that the system all along? Were you sending people back to earth when they died? What a freaking nice-ass system?! Isn’t it usually ‘The End’ when you die?

I felt like I had been disadvantaged this whole time, thinking that my life would be over the moment I died.

Well… that wasn’t the important part.

Whatever the case, it meant that Park Sirin had somehow returned to this world through the dimensions… and in that process, I unintentionally experienced the backlash I would receive from the Precept.

〚I will not disregard the misfortune of the good.〛

[Fulfil your Precept]

An extra quest.

Duty and the 1st Precept, that I would not disregard the misfortune of the good. It showed off its horrible side-effects even in love relationships.

[You are not fulfilling your Precept. 50% penalty has been applied.]

“Fuck…”

What I had felt was merely 50% of the entire penalty. Well, considering I was getting the backlash from seven S-ranked quests at once, I was fortunate to not be dead already.

“But like, technically, am I not the Danann of the Sun? Like a God of the Sun?”

Was I going to die just from not following Precepts?

“………”

Whatever. Complaining would get me nowhere.

What was certain was that if I didn’t beat all the extra quests, I would face the repercussions from the remaining six failed quests.

That would probably kill me.

That seemed… unavoidable.

“So I die if I choose one huh? What kind of stupid quest is this!?”

“……Woof!”

I couldn’t consult this with most people, and eventually I found Doggo, my biological son. I coincidentally crossed paths with him, while he was strolling the streets in the form of a large dog having dirty relationships with female dogs around the town.

[Doggo?]

[Woof?]

He was walking out of a clothing shop in the city, wearing the most expensive branded clothes from that store when I found him.

[Sir Doggo our VIP! This is the newest beret! Please take it with you! Aigo~ it looks amazing on you just like everything else~]

[……]

[……]

It felt a bit weird, and made me wonder if this would be how a parent would feel seeing their son walking out of an expensive shop.

This guy… He was using the whole 5th floor of the Guardians Office as his dressroom wasn’t he…?

What kind of dog-human likes branded clothes so much? He never ate dog feed for food either; he only ate MB9+ meat.

His mother definitely got him into a wrong habit, but even a son as terrible as that… could help me with one thing.

[Doggo. Should we have some food together?]

I took Doggo to a nearby high-class restaurant and asked for advice.

“So… that’s how everything is right now.”

“Woof?”

“It’s a bit… complicated for daddy. I know what you’re saying, but this whole relationship is very complex. I have my ‘Duty’ involved, and I can’t make any of them unhappy.”

“Woof woof!”

“Do you think I wanted this situation for myself?! And aren’t you siding with your mother way too much? I’m your father, you know? ‘Father’! Excuse me?! How dare you say that to your biological father? What? Put that finger down would you!?”

Doggo wasn’t the nicest counsellor, but while gulping down on the 36 ounces of medium rare steak, he continued listening to my story.

“Fuu… so the problem boils down to this. How do I untie this complex knot of a relationship without making any of them unhappy?”

“Woof. Woof wooooof!”

– What a trashy thing to be worried about, papa.

I know! I know I’m trash! But let me hear some advice from my son, who has so much relationship experience that he’s leading a debaucherous life!

“Woo. Woooof!”

– It’s simple. You just have to satisfy all the bitches.

“How is that possible though? If I choose one, the rest would be unhappy…”

“Woof?”

– Why do you have to choose only one?

“Huh?”

“Woof woof.”

– You can eat them all. What’s the concern?

“Oi you…!”

What’s with your words! I know you’re a dog, but come on! What do you mean ‘eat’?

However, I couldn’t manage to correct him on his word choice. Although there was a problem with his choice of words…

“You… have a point!”

Doggo’s advice provided a simple solution to the questions I had been asking myself while pushing the girls away.

How did I not think about this before?

If choosing one would make the rest unfortunate, why not just choose all of them?

I know, I know! It sounds like something a piece of trash would say.

But there’s no other option, right?

Because all of them loved me so much; so much so that they would become so unhappy to the point that the Precept considered them to be misfortunate, I had no choice but to choose all of them to make everyone happy!

“That’s it! Harem! Harem was the solution all along!”

‘Truth will set you free’

I have found the truth!

“Woof woof! Krrrhh…!”

– You wanna die? Mama is the only one you should be choosing.

You said it yourself though!