Chapter 179
Afterword: The Protagonist and Heroines in an Otome Game (End)
***
After Jin Soyeon proudly spread the news of her relationship with Lee Jinhyuk, the Academy was set ablaze with excitement.
It was no surprise. After all, the hottest two people in Union had become an official couple.
The two people known as the strongest in the Academy.
On top of that, they were both incredibly handsome and beautiful.
And childhood friends, to boot.
There were tons of attributes that made them the perfect couple.
However, Jin Soyeon couldn’t just fully enjoy this news like a heroine in a romance story.
She had thought that revealing their relationship would calm down the girls who had their eyes on Lee Jinhyuk, but instead, it had the opposite effect.
It only made them bolder and ignited the hidden feelings in their hearts even more.
These girls were just hesitant because he wasn’t dating anyone at the time.
The sudden news that he now had a girlfriend only fanned the flames in their hearts.
As a result, some of the girls became more obvious and started getting even closer to him.
Like this.
“Hey! Yoo Seolhyun! Step away from him right now!”
“Oh my, why are you acting like this?”
In the living room of Lee Jinhyuk’s house, Jin Soyeon and Yoo Seolhyun were bickering.
Jin Soyeon, who had been watching the subtle distance between Lee Jinhyuk and Yoo Seolhyun, couldn’t help but step in, her lips twisted in frustration as she pulled the two apart.
Yoo Seolhyun, why are you sticking so close to Jinhyuk?!
This is a provocation, right? Isn’t it?
She glared hard at Yoo Seolhyun, but all the other girl did was smile calmly.
“I was just brushing some dust off his shoulder. That’s all.”
“Don’t make me laugh.”
There’s a limit to how shameless someone can be.
Jin Soyeon was starting to get fed up with how Yoo Seolhyun always found some excuse to subtly seduce Lee Jinhyuk.
‘Ugh. Yoo Seolhyun, that girl.’
She thought that the other girl would have given up by now!
But instead, she was clinging even more annoyingly.
Back when there used to be some distance between them all, things weren’t this bad. Now, Yoo Seolhyun brazenly tries to charm Jinhyuk whenever she has a chance.
It’s even more annoying because she does it so subtly.
Lee Jinhyuk—the clueless fool—seems completely oblivious, though.
And to make things worse, the two of them meet frequently due to business matters. What if Jinhyuk ends up cheating?
Could Jinhyuk seriously… cheat with Yoo Seolhyun?
Just the thought of it made her boil with anger.
There’s no way she could ever let something like that happen!
“Haa… Jin Soyeon is at it again… Why does she live like that? So exhausting…”
“Could you maybe fix the way you’re dressed, Baek Yoorin!”
“What? What’s wrong with it?”
Probably because it was hot, Baek Yoorin was dressed in something quite revealing, casually draped across the sofa. Jin Soyeon snapped at her, but Baek Yoorin didn’t seem to care at all.
To Jin Soyeon, every girl around Lee Jinhyuk was a potential threat.
Especially Baek Yoorin.
They say the quiet ones are often the most dangerous. Isn’t she secretly aiming for Jinhyuk?
She always has an expressionless face, making it impossible to read her thoughts.
If only she weren’t so beautiful, Jin Soyeon might’ve been less worried, but Baek Yoorin’s beauty was breathtaking, even in the eyes of other girls. Jin Soyeon couldn’t fully shake off her anxiety.
You know what they say.
A man is always drawn to a new beauty.
Although Jin Soyeon was confident in her own looks, men, as beings, often lose their minds over beautiful women.
“…You dress like that at home too.”
“Well, that’s because… I’m Jinhyuk’s girlfriend.”
“…You dressed like that even before you were his girlfriend.”
“Th-That’s…”
She was at a loss for words.
“Besides… don’t worry. I’m not interested in Lee Jinhyuk. He probably doesn’t care about me either… A boring girl like me wouldn’t appeal to him anyway…”
Baek Yoorin responded lazily, waving her hand dismissively while yawning.
But would Baek Yoorin realize?
That about a year from now, as Lee Jinhyuk starts to understand and empathize with the emotional wounds and traumas she carried since childhood, she’ll begin to fall for him.
And she, too, would awaken to unfamiliar feelings she’s never known before.
Though now she just yawns, bored with everything, she’s really just a naive girl who doesn’t know what love is yet.
And the man who would teach her the warmth of being human and what it means to sincerely love someone was right there beside her.
“Soyeon, I don’t really care about Lee Jinhyuk. Do you think I’d lower my pride by chasing after someone who’s already taken?”
Yoo Seolhyun softly chuckled and sipped her coffee, but her plans to go after Lee Jinhyuk were far from over.
In fact, the fact that he was taken only made him all the more enticing to her. Why did people desire what they couldn’t have?
The thought of “stealing” Lee Jinhyuk from Jin Soyeon simply ignited a fire in her.
Stealing the heroine’s lover?
It certainly had a nice ring to it, didn’t it, Soyeon?
And so, Yoo Seolhyun was slowly, very slowly, preparing her move.
Tactics and rules didn’t matter to someone like Yoo Seolhyun, the “villainess.”
All that mattered were results.
She didn’t care how she achieved her goal, as long as she got what she wanted in the end.
‘Haha. I guess I’ll be a little busy getting everything ready.’
A few months later, Lee Jinhyuk and his group would go on a winter vacation.
That day, Yoo Seolhyun would make full use of what she had prepared and cause an accident(?), though no one would know about it now.
“Touch Jinhyuk, and I swear I won’t let you get away with it.”
“Ooh, scary, scary~.”
“Hey!”
“Ah, um, you two? Maybe you should calm down a bit…”
Roxanne, as usual, was stepping in between Jin Soyeon and Yoo Seolhyun’s staring contest, trying to mediate.
With a bitter smile, she was busy trying to keep the two of them from tearing each other apart.
Yet, at that moment, Roxanne had no idea.
She didn’t know that she would soon find herself caught in this love and war as well.
An accident(?) with Yoo Seolhyun months later would lead to Lee Jinhyuk being caught in a compromising situation, at which point Roxanne would accidentally discover it all.
And that would cause the emotions that Roxanne had tightly suppressed to finally explode.
“Haha. Jinhyuk… you sure are popular, huh? As expected of you.”
“I’d rather not have this kind of popularity…”
Even Ha Yua would eventually realize that her feelings for him weren’t merely those of a fan. But for now, she didn’t need to know that.
“Ugh. Honestly, had I known this is how things would turn out, I wouldn’t have invited them over for the housewarming party.”
He had invited his friends to celebrate moving into a new, nice house, but all they did was sit around and bicker.
Especially Jin Soyeon and Yoo Seolhyun.
Those two could argue about just anything.
Truly, it seemed impossible for the heroine and the villainess to ever get along.
“It’s loud in here.”
“And all of this is your fault!”
“What did I do?”
Sunari snorted, giving Lee Jinhyuk a sharp look, but he just shrugged.
Sunari knew very well that Yoo Seolhyun hadn’t given up on Lee Jinhyuk.
She could instinctively sense that Yoo Seolhyun was preparing something, though she didn’t bother to warn Jinhyuk.
After all, Sunari was always on Yoo Seolhyun’s side.
She did feel a little bad for Jin Soyeon, sure, but Yoo Seolhyun came first.
“Anyway.”
Lee Jinhyuk watched the noisy group of girls and chuckled before muttering to himself.
“Everything’s peaceful as usual~.”
He was grateful for these trivial arguments, pranks, and playful fights.
Having defeated Yoo Dahee, the worst villain in history, and successfully taking down the Rebellion, Lee Jinhyuk was now enjoying a peaceful life at the Academy.
At first, the thought of facing Yoo Dahee and the Rebellion seemed impossible, but in the end, no one had been sacrificed, and there was a happy ending for all.
Of course, that didn’t mean everything was completely over.
As long as he lived as a hero, his life would always be at risk from monsters and villains.
A villain like Yoo Dahee might even reappear someday to cause trouble again.
But that didn’t matter.
Because he had his strong, childhood friend and lover, Jin Soyeon, by his side.
And also…
“Oh my? Soyeon, being overly possessive is unattractive, you know? What if Lee Jinhyuk gets fed up with you?”
“Hey! It’s your fault! If you didn’t keep pretending not to flirt, I wouldn’t have to!”
“When did I do that?”
He had trusted friends to keep him company as well.
“Gah! I can’t hold it in anymore! Let’s settle this right now!”
“Are you seriously resorting to violence? You’re more like a villain than a hero.”
“S-Soyeon? Please, calm down.”
“I just don’t get why they fight so much… Ugh, they’re so noisy I can’t sleep…”
The relationships were a bit rocky, sure, but in his heart, Lee Jinhyuk wished for this peace to last forever.
But unfortunately, his peace wouldn’t last long.
The many upcoming trials and tribulations, particularly the “romantic disasters” set to unfold in a few months, would make Lee Jinhyuk struggle for quite some time.
But what could he do?
After all, this was the result of the seeds he had sown.
“…All of them seem like they’re after Jinhyuk. I guess there’s no choice now but to lock him up.”
“Uh, Soyeon? I can hear you, you know?”
“…Hehe. If I lock him up, I’ll have Jinhyuk all to myself. Hm? Having Jinhyuk all to myself… doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Why don’t you complete the yandere act and chain up his arms and legs while you’re at it?”
“…Huh? Chain him up? He’d be uncomfortable if I did that. But still, he might try to escape, so maybe… Hmm.”
“That… that was a joke, Soyeon. Please don’t get any ideas.”
“…”
“Uh, Soyeon?”
So, Lee Jinhyuk, hang in there a bit longer.
“Yoorin, if push comes to shove, I’m counting on you! You’ve got to earn your bodyguard pay, right?”
“Mm…? Well, okay… I am his bodyguard after all…”
“Heh~? Yoorin, calling her by her name now?”
“Not like I’d be able to handle her, though…”
Even after the epilogue, life goes on.
Lee Jinhyuk’s life in an otome game, and the sweet and thrilling love stories with the heroines, would continue into the future.
After all, as the hero of the romance genre at Union Academy, Lee Jinhyuk, along with Jin Soyeon and the other heroines, had a bright future ahead.
(End)
End of Chapter