The World After the Bad Ending - Chapter 78

Since that day, Seron returned to her usual self.
“Lightning sweet potato, give me some pudding.”
“Finish your own first, then we’ll talk.”

Her appetite had also returned to normal, to the point where she tried to steal my pudding during lunch.
Seron, who was always a bit lacking and did foolish things, was back.
This was just like the Seron I knew.

“My pendant is gone.”
Right on cue, Seron glanced at my clothes and said that.
As she said, I no longer carried the pendant when I was in Hanon’s form.
It was to avoid any unnecessary misunderstandings on her part.

“I lost it.”
“Oh.”
Seron didn’t press further and continued eating her pudding.
But I wasn’t oblivious to the faint trace of longing that occasionally surfaced in her eyes.
Because of that, I felt like Seron had grown slightly more mature than before.

‘Is this heartbreak?’
I inadvertently gave her a rejection—though not a direct one.
Whether it was right for me, not the Vikarmern she remembered, to reject her on his behalf, I wasn’t sure.
But for now, I am Vikarmern.

‘The real Vikarmern…’
I had no way of knowing where he was.
Whether he had simply ceased to exist.
Or if, conversely, he had returned to my original body.
With no answers to these questions,
I had no choice but to live as Vikarmern.
That’s why I couldn’t give Seron any response.

Around the time Seron’s situation seemed resolved, the scale of the boycott group had grown significantly.
At this point, it seemed like it was time.

“Vikarmern, someone’s come forward offering to sponsor our boycott activities.”
I thought it was time to take the bait.
I turned to Rozamin, the head of the boycott group.

“Who’s the sponsor?”
“It’s a secret from the others.”
Rozamin seemed to have been sworn to secrecy.

“It’s the Third Princess.”
The Third Princess, Iris Hyserion.
Rozamin, who mentioned her name, cautiously gauged my reaction.

He remembered why I had expressed my anger to him before.
I had told him about Nikita’s death and my determination to overthrow the student council.
That’s why he was watching me carefully.

“Vikarmern, I feel sorry for you. It’s thanks to you that our boycott grew this much.”

But the sponsorship Iris offered must have been too large for Rozamin to pass up.
He desperately wanted to boycott the student council.
Although he spoke of greater ideals, Rozamin had personal reasons as well.

‘Revenge.’

Rozamin was originally a noble.
However, one of the Four Great Dukes, Drapen, abolished his family for some reason.
In the end, Rozamin lost his family and his home.
This fueled his desire for revenge against Drapen, and that vengeance extended to the student council president, Sylvester Drapen.

Just as his family had fallen,
Rozamin wanted to bring down the student council president with his own hands.

It was a very dark desire, but he kept it hidden and looked at me.

“So, I decided to reject it.”

What?

“What in the world are you saying right now?”
“…Rejecting it? Why?”
“I told you. The biggest reason our boycott activities have grown so much is because of you.”

Rozamin turned to me, his expression resolute, as if filled with unshakable determination.
“Vikarmern, to be honest, I originally started the boycott driven by a personal grudge against the Drapen family.”
He confessed what I had suspected before.

“And you’re also fueled by vengeance for Nikita, aren’t you? Seeing you, I started to think…”
Rozamin clenched his fists tightly.
“We need to make this boycott succeed on our own strength.”

To him, the boycott would only have value if it succeeded through the efforts of its members, not with outside help.
“That’s why, even though I might have gladly accepted the Third Princess’s offer if I were alone, I won’t take it now that we’re all in this together. And more importantly, I’m no longer acting out of revenge alone.”

He looked up at the night sky, his eyes sparkling like a dreaming boy’s.
“The current student council is wrong. I’m going to set things right.”

Rozamin turned to face me again, his gaze brighter than ever.
“Vikarmern, if it’s with you, I’m sure we can do it.”

At that moment, I felt dizzy.
While meticulously preparing for the boycott as part of the scenario, Rozamin had suddenly undergone some sort of awakening.

I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of disbelief as I watched him.
Why is he having an awakening now, of all times?

“Rozamin.”
I had no choice.
“I understand what you mean.”

I began to persuade Rozamin in the opposite direction.
“But if you rejected the Third Princess’s offer out of consideration for me, you don’t need to do that.”
“But Vikarmern, the Third Princess—”
“Yes, she’s connected to Nikita’s death. But I also know the truth behind it. That wasn’t the Third Princess’s will—it was the will of her faction.”

My determination to avenge Nikita shone clearly in my eyes.
“The student council is just the first step. Like you said, I must make the boycott a success to avenge Nikita. Even if I have to sell my soul to the devil, I’ll see Nikita’s vengeance through.”

If it means that, I’ll gladly work with the Third Princess.
Seeing my firm resolve, Rozamin clenched his fists and swallowed his tears.

“…Vikarmern, you bastard!”
Rozamin wore an expression straight out of a youth drama protagonist.
“Fine. If that’s how you feel, then I’ll go along with it.”

I quietly sighed in relief.
It was fortunate that Rozamin was so straightforward.

“That’s good. Coincidentally, I’m supposed to meet one of the Third Princess’s confidants today.”
Rozamin brought it up, suggesting I join him.
I had originally intended to send him alone, but after witnessing his mindset today, I felt uneasy.

“Alright, let’s go together.”
I decided to accompany Rozamin.
I’d need to keep an eye on him to make sure he didn’t cause trouble.

* * *

The place Rozamin led me to was a park behind an abandoned building.
Zeryon Academy had many natural landscapes, so it boasted numerous parks.
The one we arrived at was dimly lit, giving off an eerie vibe, especially at night.

It was what people commonly referred to as a ‘haunted spot’.

“Ugh, it’s a bit chilly.”
Rozamin shivered, affected by the eerie atmosphere.

As we waited, I began to sense a presence in the distance.
Step—
The sound of footsteps pressing against the grassy ground echoed.

Soon, a girl with peach-colored hair appeared.
Hania Rapididia.
She had come in Iris’s stead.

‘So, it’s Hania who showed up.’
Hania had likely volunteered to take Iris’s place, intending to shoulder any fallout if things went wrong.

Her gaze moved from Rozamin to me, and she tilted her head slightly.
“And you are?”
“Oh, this is Vikarmern Niflheim.”

Rozamin introduced me in my stead.

Hania was not unfamiliar with my name.
Her confusion was understandable—she couldn’t grasp why I was here.
After all, I had been cast out for meddling with Iris’s faction.

At that moment, the wind blew toward Hania.
As the breeze swept past her, she wrinkled her nose and slowly widened her eyes.
Her sharp, piercing gaze settled on me.

“Rozamin.”
A strange killing intent emanated from her, carried by the night breeze.
Rozamin instinctively flinched at the palpable tension.

“Could you step aside for a moment?”
Rozamin looked at me, seeking reassurance.
He seemed to think of me as a genuine friend.

When I gave him a slight nod, signaling I was fine, Rozamin quietly backed away.
“Uh, okay, sure. You two can talk.”
Although he sensed something unusual, he trusted me and willingly left us alone.

As Rozamin exited the park, his figure grew smaller in the distance.
Soon, only Hania and I were left in the eerie park.

I had a rough idea why she wanted to be alone with me.
Vikarmern had been exiled by Iris, and there was the recent incident involving Nikita.
With her sharp mind, she would quickly piece together why Vikarmern was here.
Naturally, she’d deduce that I was an enemy of Iris.

“Hanon, what are you doing here?”

…What?

I blinked in surprise, caught off guard by the name.
I hadn’t expected her to call me that, and my face momentarily froze in shock.

“…Hanon? What are you talking about?”
I feigned ignorance.

Hania sighed, wrinkling her nose again.
“Hanon’s scent is the same as Lady Iris’s. For it to be this strong, it’s impossible unless you’ve shared a bed with her.”

Startled, I belatedly sniffed my wrist.
But my own nose couldn’t detect anything.

‘Wait a minute—I showered thoroughly after morning training!’
Besides, it wasn’t even today that I had shared a bed with Iris; it was yesterday.
And I was wearing different clothes.

‘Could the scent really linger for this long?’
What kind of structure does her nose even have?
Hania’s obsession with Iris was starting to feel downright terrifying.

“And you also have a tool that lets you transform into any appearance, don’t you?”
I had once shown up in Hania’s appearance.
Because of that, Hania could immediately tell who I was, even in Vikarmern’s form.
There’s no one else who would carry Iris’s scent this strongly except for me.

‘This… I didn’t see this coming.’
To tell the truth, Vikarmern is my real appearance, and Hanon is the false one.
But humans act based on the information they’ve already ingrained in their minds, so it seemed she hadn’t figured that part out.

“And?”
Hania crossed her arms, a trace of annoyance visible on her face.
“What were you even thinking, showing up here looking like that?”

From my earlier exchange of glances with Rozamin, Hania had already deduced that I’d been involved with the boycott for quite some time.
That only made her more suspicious.
Her expression clearly said she couldn’t understand why I’d involve myself with the boycott group.

“…Don’t tell me.”
Hania’s eyes narrowed slightly as if something had just occurred to her.
“Hanon, did Lady Iris tell you something?”

I had slept by Iris’s side to help her through her nightmares.
During that time, Hania had stayed in the men’s dorm in my place, so she had no idea what conversations had taken place between Iris and me.
Iris wasn’t the type to share her personal matters with others easily.
But since I, as Hanon, was her cousin and we’d grown particularly close recently, it wasn’t impossible that she’d confided in me about her orders from Duke Robliaju.

“No, I didn’t hear anything.”
I denied it for now.
It would only get complicated later if the story didn’t align.

However, my denial didn’t seem convincing to Hania.

“…Hah, if you’re going to pretend, at least try harder. This is clearly about helping Lady Iris, isn’t it?”

I had once saved Iris from the assassination incident involving Nikita.
And my actions were often in Iris’s interest, which inadvertently led Hania to draw her own conclusions.
She misunderstood that I had joined the boycott group for Iris’s sake.

Technically speaking, there was some truth to that, so I couldn’t exactly refute her.

Hania stared at me for a while before crossing her arms again.
The motion emphasized her chest, but I kept my gaze elsewhere.

“Fine. Vikarmern, tell me what your plan is. I’ll cooperate based on that.”
Hania was someone who would do anything for Iris.
Now I had an impressive ally by my side—a dependable ‘girlfriend’ of sorts.