The Heroine Stole My Regression-Chapter 95

A few days had passed since the guild presentations ended.

Today was the day the official announcements for Gaon's experience program were being released.

Even though class was in session, none of the students were really paying attention.

And then—

All the students’ watches vibrated at once.

Beep.

Beep.

“It’s up.”

The moment someone muttered that quietly, dozens of students in the lecture hall raised their wrists at the same time.

Of course, the professor didn’t try to stop them.

It was as if they’d known this would happen from the start—they simply leaned on the desk in silence, watching the students’ reactions.

On each of their watch screens, a list of participating guilds for the upcoming experience program had appeared, neatly sorted.

I quietly scanned the list.

The names were orderly and precise:

[Maengho]

[Lotus]

[Blooms]

[Arcadia]

[Cheongpungdae]

And many other organizations beyond that.

Naturally, the first thing to catch my eye was the very first name at the top—

Maengho, a guild under the Glory Corporation, and the top-ranked guild overall.

In the silent lecture hall, the students’ reactions began to break out one by one.

“Shall we take a short break?”

The professor closed their book with a kind smile.

The moment those words dropped, the classroom immediately erupted into chatter.

“Hey, where are you applying?”

“I’m thinking Lotus for now.”

“I heard Lotus is brutal though...”

“Exactly why I’m skipping this round. Maengho’s not gonna take me anyway, and I’d rather not get hurt.”

Participation in the program was completely voluntary.

Sure, most students would probably join, but that didn’t mean everyone would.

Most of the activities were scheduled for weekends.

And there were no real consequences for choosing not to participate.

At Gaon, making your own decisions and owning the outcome was a core principle.

Amid the murmuring crowd, I turned my attention back to my watch.

Those cleanly arranged names.

Then, beside me, I heard a familiar sound.

Swipe, swipe, swipe.

A fingertip rapidly scrolling through a watch screen.

“They’re not here...”

“What’s not?”

It was Yoon Chaeha.

Her expression slightly stiffened as she muttered while scanning the list.

“Vanquisher... isn’t here...”

“Really?”

So that’s how it turned out.

I had been a little curious.

This was the very first timeline where Vanquisher still existed.

So whether or not they would recruit students for the experience program was unknown.

I had been wondering if they’d feel the need for additional members...

Apparently, the old man didn’t see a reason to recruit.

With Sion already there—and technically, me as well—it made sense.

In the end, they didn’t post any listings.

“Ughhh...”

Yoon Chaeha tilted her head back in disappointment, her voice faintly sulky.

[Magic Tower]

But surprisingly, unlike Vanquisher, the Magic Tower was on the list.

Normally, the Magic Tower didn’t bother submitting to Gaon’s programs.

They had few mage-type students here anyway, and they typically scouted talent through their own methods.

[Openings: 2]

But now, with this listing, and just two openings—it was clear what they intended.

Yoon Chaeha. Ju Seojun.

So I asked,

“You thinking about applying to the Magic Tower?”

“No...”

“Then what’ll you do?”

“Dunno. Just gonna rest this time...”

Once the guild she was interested in disappeared, Yoon Chaeha immediately deflated like a lazy cat.

She slumped onto the desk, her eyes already heavy with sleep.

Quietly, I grabbed the cardigan draped over the back of her chair, rolled it up, and placed it under her head.

Like she’d found a small cushion, she nuzzled into it with a satisfied expression.

“Hehe... thanks...”

And just like that, she really fell asleep.

A character with clear lines, that one.

Thinking that, I turned my head to the left.

There, Cheon Yeoul was resting her chin on her hand, silently glaring at Yoon Chaeha.

Not quite the warm gaze you’d expect from a saint.

“Anyone got a cat vendor around...”

She murmured under her breath.

“Yeoul.”

“Yeah?”

“You going with the Order?”

“Hmm...”

Cheon Yeoul lowered the hand supporting her chin, raised a finger, and lightly pressed it to her lips.

“Probably, yeah...”

[Arcadia]

[Gender Requirement: Female]

This time, Arcadia seemed to be recruiting female priests rather than paladins.

You could learn a lot about what each group currently wanted just by reading the program requirements.

That’s why upperclassmen paid close attention to these details when deciding.

I slowly scrolled down my watch screen again.

As for where I’d go—

That decision had already been made, in a sense.

If Vanquisher had posted a recruitment notice, I might still be torn.

But since they hadn’t, there was only one place left for me to go.

[Maengho]

It felt like it was time to fulfill the promise I made back on Baekdu.

Besides—

[Experience Objective: Cultivate leadership abilities necessary for team leaders]

[Preferred: Practical experience, top-tier rank]

The program’s objective matched me perfectly.

I had to become a leader—there was no avoiding it.

It was an appealing choice.

Even the preferred qualifications—practical experience and top-tier performance—made it clear.

They weren’t just looking at rankings.

If anything, it felt like the notice had been written specifically for me.

Then—

Tap tap.

Someone lightly tapped my shoulder.

I turned my head.

There stood Kang Arin, wearing a confident expression.

“Jeong Haein.”

Kang Arin.

It was probably the first time she had spoken to me first in front of so many students.

As she approached, I could feel the subtle shift in the room—every gaze in the lecture hall turning, one by one.

That alone spoke to how much influence she carried.

Now I understood why she hadn’t spoken to me directly at school, even after everything that happened on Baekdu.

Kang Arin smiled faintly and leaned in close to my ear.

“I believe we have a little contract, don’t we?”

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

Her soft, teasing voice made me let out a quiet laugh without even meaning to.

My watch screen was still open. My finger hovered over the select button—but hadn’t pressed it yet.

She gently reached over my shoulder and overlapped her fingers with mine.

Then, slowly, she pressed it down.

[Maengho]

[Application Complete]

I was going to press it anyway, but... doing it this way was more fun.

She whispered again.

“Didn’t I say it?”

Her lips curled slightly, that same playful smile from before.

“You’re mine.”

And with those words, she turned around and walked away, as if nothing had happened, her steps light and unbothered.

I sat {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} there, staring blankly at her back.

It’d been a while since Baekdu. Her tempo was still something I could never match.

I always ended up getting swept along.

“...Tch.”

“......”

Cheon Yeoul clicked her tongue beside me.

Yoon Chaeha, who had been asleep moments ago, was now sitting up, glaring disapprovingly at Kang Arin’s retreating figure.

“What was that just now...?”

“Why is Kang Arin...?”

The lecture hall quickly filled with hushed murmurs and whispers.

Then—

Clap.

The professor clapped their hands to bring the room back to focus.

“Everyone finished checking? Let’s wrap up class quickly now!”

At the professor’s words, the students nodded in forced composure, pretending like nothing had happened.

They closed their watch screens, turned pages, and tried to act like they were focusing again.

Nice one, professor.

I thought silently and brought my attention back to the lesson.

***

Late at night.

But the lights in the Lotus building were still on.

Beyond the tall windows on the upper floors, the glowing nightscape of Seoul reflected the warm lighting inside the office.

In a modest yet tidy workspace, Yu Serin sat quietly, watching the clock.

It ticked in sync with Gaon Academy’s official server time.

The second hand moved gradually... until it struck twelve.

“Hmmm...”

With that, the application window for the experience program officially closed.

“Wonder how it went~”

She hummed as she stretched, raising her arms all the way up to her fingertips.

Then she murmured,

Knock knock.

“Yes~ Come in~”

Even after midnight, the lights at Lotus headquarters were still burning.

The one knocking was Yu Serin’s secretary.

She pulled a freshly printed document from inside her coat.

“Here’s the final list of applicants for the experience program.”

It was exactly what Yu Serin had been waiting for.

Snap!

She took it and immediately flipped through the pages.

Fast—very fast.

Names, ages, ranks, motivations for applying.

Her eyes skimmed lightly, but her speed was sharp and precise.

“We received a record number of applicants this time... Some believe your speech left a strong impression on the students.”

The thickness of the packet confirmed it.

But before long, she had reached the final page.

After scanning it all, Yu Serin tilted her head slightly.

“He’s not in here?”

“Pardon? Who, um...?”

The secretary blinked wide-eyed.

“Hmm...”

Yu Serin had only been aiming for one person from the start.

She said it plainly.

“Could you hand me that one over there too?”

“Oh—yes.”

The secretary passed over a second folder. It was Maengho’s applicant list.

A group like Lotus had enough intel sources to access Gaon’s database without much trouble.

Yu Serin took the file and flipped through it slowly.

[Jeong Haein]

And there it was—clear as day.

The student she had been looking for.

“Aha...”

Her lips curled downward, just slightly.

“That’s a little... disappointing.”

But that was it.

Rather than true disappointment, her expression shifted into one of mixed amusement.

It wouldn’t be easy to sway him in just one move, after all.

It was going to be a long race.

Smiling, she stood up from her seat.

Time to head home.

“Shall we call it a night...?”

She was mid-sentence to her secretary when—

Another folder caught her eye.

One last packet left by her hand.

A Lotus file. A Maengho file.

There shouldn’t have been anything else.

“What’s this one?”

“Oh—that’s just a reference document. I thought I might’ve been overreacting, but...”

“It’s fine. What’s it about?”

The secretary cautiously handed it over, a little unsure whether she was overstepping.

But she had been handpicked by Yu Serin herself.

One of the few people in the company she could completely trust.

No detail she provided could be dismissed.

“As of April, there have been early personnel rotations between Strategic Planning, External Relations, and the Legal Department. Officially it’s being called restructuring and rotational assignment, but... something about it feels off.”

Yu Serin quietly nodded as she listened.

“I might be reading too much into it, but... if you have time, please just take a look—”

“It’s okay. Leave it with me. I’ll take a good look. You did well today~ Since it’s the weekend now, make sure to rest... or, well, it’s already today, huh.”

“Yes. Then I’ll be heading out.”

The secretary bowed and left.

The sound of the door closing. Silence again.

Yu Serin sat back down and opened the file.

The smile she’d worn slowly faded from her face.

The cover was ordinary:

[Personnel Restructuring / Internal and External Relations Flow Summary – April]

The report was cleanly laid out.

It read like a standard report: smooth transitions, valid justifications for each move.

Normally, she wouldn’t have thought twice about it.

But something about it—

Felt wrong.

Something caught.

A faint, unpleasant tension between logic and intuition.

Her instincts sent up a warning.

“Be careful who you trust.”

A random student’s random advice from days ago suddenly resurfaced in her mind.

The words stuck like a thorn in her thoughts.

Why did they keep coming back?

Why...?

Yu Serin was the kind to trust her instincts.

She focused back on the report and quietly turned the pages, one by one.

Individually, nothing stood out. Each change was justified.

But when viewed as a whole...

A strange pattern emerged. A flow.

It was as if factions within the organization were subtly maneuvering—encircling a particular center from all directions.

On the surface, the moves looked scattered.

But in truth, it was a quiet, strategic encirclement.

And at the center of it all—was Yu Serin.

“......”

All these changes, all these reassignments—had been approved by Lee Dogyeom.

The guild master of Lotus.

It was wrapped up in proper procedures. Legal. Reasonable. Above reproach.

Invisible unless you looked directly at it.

It could just be a coincidence.

Yu Serin stared down at the paper.

Then slowly, silently, she crushed it in her hand.

“...I’ll have to meet him.”

She didn’t know why.

But she wanted to see that student again.

Jeong Haein.