Chapter 70: It's Not Only Riders Who Transform (7)
10 minutes after the ‘treasure hunt’ began.
“Hey there. Ms. Yumir. Do you know who I am?”
“No?”
In front of Yumir, who was smiling brightly, was the sharp-featured blonde-haired girl, Ermina Sternfert, who frowned while gesturing.
“You don’t know me?”
“I came to Korea for the first time this year. You don’t seem like a freshman, though….”
“Of course! I’ve been living in Korea for three years now! I came to King Sejong Island when I was 15.”
“So?”
“So? Didn’t you hear me? Even after hearing the name Sternfert?”
“I thought your name was Ermina?”
“No!”
Ermina puffed her chest toward Yumir, who was tilting his head with an innocent look on her face.
“You, what are you doing? You don’t know me, who’s famous in A-grade?”
“Well, I am a college prep, a college student, and not a German.”
“But you should know who I am!”
“Um….”
Yumir scratched her cheek and laughed at Ermina, who was now becoming agitated.
“Maybe you’re a bit too self-conscious.”
“What did you say? Despite being an E-grade…!”
“Even though I’m an E-grade, I’m older than you, and right now, we are in the same group. Geez, why did the academy arrange for high school students to be in the same group as college students for this event.”
“Usually, the groups for treasure hunting are organized regardless of all that?”
“Really? I see.”
“No, seriously…!”
Ermina clenched and unclenched her fist in frustration, but Yumir just laughed brightly with a friendly smile.
“This is why I say no to newbies! I came 7th in last year’s Sejong Academy’ Competition’!”
“Wow, that’s impressive. Congratulations. You’re amazing.”
“…Are you mocking me right now?”
“Oh dear, why would you think that?”
“This is real!”
Ermina suddenly grabbed Yumir by the collar.
“Do you find me funny? Huh?”
Because she was wearing a uniform, her shirt almost ripped in an instant, but Yumir did not lose her smile.
“Listen carefully. You just have to follow me. If you’re E-grade, you should obediently follow the instructions of an A-grade. Got it?”
“Why should I?”
“Why…? Ha, of course! When you go out into society later, you E-graders naturally receive orders from A-graders, who are like field commanders!”
“Is that so? But…”
Yumir didn’t seem flustered, even though an A-grade grabbed her by the collar.
“Right now, we are in the same group for treasure hunting, aren’t we? Do you want to do everything by yourself? I don’t mind, but you know that if the group members are more than 200m apart, we’ll be disqualified, right?”
Yumir pointed at her Taeguk Watch.
The words’ Gangwon-121 Group’ were inscribed on both of their Taeguk Watches.
“Isn’t your grabbing my collar recorded as data at the academy’s operation observation post right now? Are you okay with that? If you grab an E-grader by the collar like this, your popularity may drop, you know?”
“Crazy. You really can’t see anything, can you?”
“I just can’t understand why you’re so sharp to me.”
“You don’t know? Let me tell you.”
After releasing Yumir’s collar, Ermina poked the middle of her chest with her index finger.
“I don’t like it when incompetent E-grades like you walk around bragging about being ability users. Got it?”
“The Taeguk Watch is probably recording this live.”
“Ha. So what? Are you going to threaten me with that?”
“You’re quite reckless. Is it because you’re still young? Do you know that each of your words could become a big shackle for you later?”
“What are you talking about? You better take care of your own business. Or is it that you can’t because only this part of you is unnecessarily big?”
Ermina blatantly made fun of Yumir.
“You have absolutely no presence, just an extra.”
“…….”
“If this world were a novel, I would be the protagonist and E-grades like you would be just a device to highlight me. Got it? You’re a human device to highlight a woman like me!”
“That’s quite an extreme statement. It’s a good thing there are no other people around… No, is that why you’re spewing such abusive language? Really….”
“Humph. Do you think I would be hindered by the likes of an E-grade?”
After stepping back from Yumir, Ermina mockingly grabbed her wrist where her Taeguk Watch was.
“Ermina Sternfert verbally abused me. I will file a complaint, boo hoo hoo.”
“……!”
Yumir scowled.
“What? Surprised?”
The reason for the surprise was not because of what Ermina said but because the voice that flowed from Ermina’s mouth was unmistakably Yumir’s.
“Do you plan to weep in front of people later, trying to expose me with the recording, crying, ‘Ugh, that girl Ermina is total trash’? Don’t delude yourself. This conversation will not end up on the server. Even if it did, there would be no evidence that I verbally abused you.”
Ermina tapped her Taegeuk Watch.
“Scum like you need to be shown firsthand to get it.”
She quickly adjusted a few apps and pressed the record button.
“If you’re an E-rank waste, stay locked up in your room and suck on maple syrup.”
“… You’re recording yourself. What are you trying to do?”
“Idiot.”
Beep.
Ermina played back her recorded insult.
Zzzing.
[… You’re recording yourself. What are you trying to do?]
“…!!”
“My voice cannot be captured by electronic devices, dummy. I always use my abilities when I speak.”
“…….”
“So, follow me obediently. If you don’t want to be dragged around with a leash on by me. If you stray more than 200m from me on your own, then you will really die.”
Ermina issued a warning and turned away. Yumir, who had been watching her, only moved her hand to her mouth after she had gone about 100 meters ahead.
“……Pff.”
What she had been holding back, was it tears?
Or was it laughter?
One thing was certain, underneath the hand covering her mouth, the corner of Yumir’s mouth was twitching.
Whether she was trying to stop crying or hold back laughter, Yumir picked up the bag that had fallen to the ground.
The competition bag issued to Ermina was just as empty as her own.
Empty, with nothing inside.
“To belittle people just because you don’t want to carry this. That won’t do.”
Yumir carefully picked up the bag, fiddled with the Taegeuk Watch, and all she could do was laugh.
“It’s usually those kinds of people who are good at belittling people who are more competent than them. Hehe, it would be quite a sight if she fell for a man who is stronger and more handsome than her later… Ah.”
Yumir brought her hands together and grinned widely.
“Thankfully, the teacher is a non-ability user.”
I saw it.
I saw Ermina losing her temper at Yumir, trying to make her carry her bag, making a fuss at her, then walking away, strutting her stuff, clutching her collar.
‘A woman who pretends to be a lady in front of men but is a shrew in front of women.’
Why, there were such people, weren’t there?
People who were endlessly rude and possessed a hardened personality when with the same gender but showed an angelic side when dealing with the opposite sex.
Ermina was the same type. She was quite rough with Yumir.
‘I’ll have to listen to Yumir vent later.’
Having such a personality and being the title heroine?
Authors would sometimes make big mistakes.
They thought the character they had created was the best and forced the readers to accept her, but while the author thought that she was great, the readers were thinking, ‘How can this be the heroine?’
Ermina was one of them.
She was rude to the protagonist, presented as a na?ve lady, and even showed signs of discrimination based on ability, so her initial likability hit rock bottom.
There were people who enjoyed seeing such a woman start falling head over heels for the protagonist, but there were also many who felt uncomfortable with that.
I felt that way too.
If there were scenes that contained insults like that, I thought it should be paid back equivalently or more.
My comment about killing her off before she became the heroine wasn’t made lightly. She wasn’t a folding screen heroine.
In most cases like this, she would have been assumed to be a villain that had ‘drifted’ into the heroine role.
I didn’t know whether the author intended to push Ermina as the main heroine or if they couldn’t manage the length of the first volume while serializing and ended up cutting it off when Ermina started showing feelings for the protagonist and just made her the title heroine.
From the start, my concern wasn’t whether Ermina was the heroine or not.
Though I was pursuing Ermina, she was not my objective.
Because what I had targeted was the ‘man’ who would become Ermina’s partner.
‘Why is Yumir Ermina’s partner when she’s not even the protagonist?’
Why?
Why?
‘Why did Yumir become the subject of that crazy story that ‘Ermina happened to find mana powder, and tried to make the protagonist a mana powder user by sprinkling it on their food before she was caught by the tournament organizers’?’
I couldn’t understand it.
Ermina’s actions could be understood from the ‘villain’s’ perspective.
Because she just acted like the trash she was and then became a heroine.
But the person who should have suffered from that was not Yumir but a man.
‘What’s going on? What’s wrong?’
I, for now, followed them in an ethereal state, just in case a problem arose and I needed to take care of the ‘villain Ermina’ immediately.
But…
‘She’s handling it herself.’
Swish.
Yumir picked up a pinecone that had fallen on the ground with her finger and flicked it.
“Aack…?!”
Ermina, who was hit on the forehead by the pinecone, looked around in surprise, but all she saw were trees.
“Sheesh….”
Ermina scowled upwards, but she could only stare at the innocent branch.
Thump!
Ermina kicked the pine tree and moved on while Yumir secretly picked up another pinecone and flicked it into the sky.
Splat.
“Aack!!”
‘There’s no way she’s the protagonist.’
The protagonist would’ve embraced even a woman like that as a heroine. There was no way Yumir, who was tormenting her from behind, could be the protagonist.
‘The same went for her.’
Just like…
‘How can a title heroine be a junkie?’
Ermina was not the heroine.
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