World Rank 0, Please Stop! - Chapter 73

I returned to our neighborhood in a taxi with Seol Yu Hwa.

Before getting out of the taxi, Seol Yu Hwa said,

“You had a tough time.”

Yeah, I did have a bit of a tough time. I’m glad you acknowledged it.

While Seol Yu Hwa was paying the taxi fare, I prepared a farewell in my mind to say to her. Something like “Bye, take care. See you on Monday.” should be safe…

“Alright, now let’s go to your house.”

Huh?

Seol Yu Hwa nonchalantly walked towards my house, not hers.

“Wait a minute!”

I hurriedly stopped Seol Yu Hwa.

“Why, why are you going to my house…?”

Then Seol Yu Hwa spoke with a very matter-of-fact expression.

“That boy is at my house, is he not?”

So you should go to your house.

Something should spark between you two.

I swallowed the words I wanted to say and opened my mouth.

“That, that kid might get sicker at night, so shouldn’t you take care of him?”

But Seol Yu Hwa frowned.

“Should I spend the night with an unrelated man?”

You’re the one who decided to let that unrelated man into your house…

Besides, when you say spending the night, it sounds indecent. When you two aren’t going to do anything anyway!

I couldn’t let Seol Yu Hwa into our house like this. I spoke urgently.

“I really want to invite you, but our house is too small and shabby for someone like you to stay!”

Above all, it’s a studio. If you come, one of us will definitely have to sleep on the floor.

And it was one hundred percent clear that it would be me. I opened my mouth to fabricate ninety-nine reasons why Seol Yu Hwa shouldn’t come into our house.

But unfortunately, Seol Yu Hwa was faster.

“It’s fine.”

“Huh?”

“I said it’s fine.”

I felt silent pressure from Seol Yu Hwa’s eyes as she said that. Overwhelmed by that fierce force, I quietly lowered my eyes.

“Yes…”

Seol Yu Hwa arrogantly gestured with her chin for me to lead the way.

I politely put my hands together and pointed to my house.

“Let’s go…”

And so I entered the house with Seol Yu Hwa. It was a miserable night.

[This is the timeline separator]

The next morning. After waking up Seol Yu Hwa and sending her home, I was finally alone.

“I’m gonna die…”

I went into the bathroom to wash up and let out a sigh.

In the mirror was me with a haggard face.

Last night, I let Seol Yu Hwa into my house like that, and as I expected, Seol Yu Hwa slept on the bed while I slept on the floor. No, to be precise, I just lay on the floor.

‘How could I sleep with Seol Yu Hwa in my house…’

On the other hand, Seol Yu Hwa slept very well.

Only I spent the night awake, deep in thought, and had a hard time.

Thinking about last night made me feel tortured again. I shook my head vigorously.

[Kyaa, good morning Ju Eun! 〉ㅁ〈]

This guy shows up brightly today too. While I’m suffering like this. I glared at the system, finding it annoying for no reason.

[−_−+]

…It’s copying me.

After washing up, I drank coffee. Still, maybe because I stayed up all night, I was sleepy.

‘I want to sleep…’

I sat on the bed and spaced out.

[Ju Eun, you’re wasting your youth again today!]

And you’re talking rudely to me again today.

I was about to ignore it and space out some more, but suddenly I thought of something to say and opened my mouth.

“I’m curious about something.”

The system twinkled once as if perking up its ears.

“What if Sung Ji Chan and Seol Yu Hwa don’t date?”

Originally, I firmly believed they would get together. But after seeing the two of them together yesterday, I started to worry.

‘That tension… It can’t come from a relationship with romantic interest.’

If I had to say, it was more like they were rivals… The feeling of meeting your match? That’s what it was.

‘And Seol Yu Hwa was much weirder than I thought.’

Seol Yu Hwa did a lot of things that I couldn’t understand with my common sense. Because of that, no matter how hard I tried, I didn’t think she would follow the existing romance formula.

[They won’t date!]

The system was indignant.

[That can’t happen!]

…I think it could happen.

Frankly, just based on feeling, getting Sung Ji Chan back together with Han Ye Won seemed more likely than getting him and Seol Yu Hwa to date. At least those two were aware of each other as the opposite sex!

[No! How could the female lead and male lead not get together! ㅠ0ㅠ]

“But just in case that happens, shouldn’t we make a new grading criteria? So that even if they don’t get together, I can return to my original world.”

It’s about time to prepare to see the ending, now that the female lead Seol Yu Hwa has appeared.

“And in this day and age, a solo ending is meaningful too.”

[It’s not that kind of era here yet!]

That’s true…

The temporal setting of this romance novel world is much earlier than the 2020s where I was from.

“Anyway, think carefully about that possibility too. We don’t know what will happen in the future.”

[It’s your job to get those two together properly!]

“The quest I got was just a happy ending.”

By the way, my values are that a solo ending can be happy too.

[Ju Eun!]

Ah, I’m so sleepy I could die.

I’m just gonna sleep.

Ignoring the system, I flopped down on the bed.

The system twinkled as if protesting, but I didn’t even register it, maybe because the tension had left me. I closed my eyes and gradually fell into slumber.

It was a very deep sleep.

[This is the timeline separator]

Meanwhile, at that time in an abandoned building.

As the day dawned, rough-looking men gathered in one place. They were all executive members of Haseong High School’s delinquents.

They all had serious expressions.

The reason for the gathering was the ambush incident last night. They were already on edge due to the recent continuing ‘gangster hunting’, and yesterday’s incident made them explode completely.

One of the executives spoke up.

“This is unacceptable.”

He spewed out his words as if outraged.

“To dare do this to our Haseong High!”

Another executive said,

“We need to get revenge quickly! We have to show them!”

That’s right. That’s right. Some of the executives nodded. But not all of them were like that.

“Isn’t it because you guys were weak that you got beaten by that woman?”

The atmosphere instantly turned hostile.

“What?”

The sneering executive said,

“That’s right. Does it make sense to get beaten by just one woman?”

“Hey, you jerk!”

Once the floodgates opened, it couldn’t be stopped.

“What did you say? What did you just say! Say it again!”

“I said it’s your fault, what are you gonna do!”

“Hey, come at me!”

An argument broke out among the executives.

It was utter chaos.

Soon, the man at the center who had been listening to all of this spoke.

“Enough.”

With that quiet word, the crowd instantly fell silent.

The man looked at the executives one by one with a sharp gaze.

The man’s identity was none other than Ryu Tae Geon, the focus of Haseong High School.

Ryu Tae Geon pointed to a man with his chin. The man flinched and stood up from his seat. Ryu Tae Geon said to him,

“You explain. From beginning to end, all of it.”

“Yes, yes! I understand!”

The man began to explain.

This is what had happened to the Haseong High delinquents over the past month:

Some crazy woman had been going around beating up Haseong High delinquents every night.

There were rumors that the woman attended Jeil High and was ranked 0th in the world.

The truth of the rumors was unknown, but her fighting skills were so outstanding that the delinquents could only be beaten helplessly.

Some of the Haseong High delinquents who believed the rumors held a grudge against Jeil High.

So they kept picking fights with Sung Ji Chan, the boss of Jeil High.

And finally yesterday, when Sung Ji Chan was left alone without his friends, Haseong High ambushed him.

But Sung Ji Chan ran away like a slippery loach, and in the end, Haseong High ended up empty-handed.

They thought everything was over like that.

But last night, some crazy woman appeared and beat the delinquents here half to death.

Leaving a message not to mess with Jeil High.

There was talk among the Haseong High delinquents that the woman must be the same one who had been hunting delinquents every night.

And eventually today, an emergency countermeasure meeting was held.

After hearing the full explanation, Ryu Tae Geon frowned as if something bothered him.

“So is the conclusion that it’s that woman or not?”

No one could answer. Because no one knew the correct answer.

Ryu Tae Geon shook his head with an expression that said he had a headache.

“Well, whatever. That’s not what’s important.”

Ryu Tae Geon pointed to another executive and said,

“So what do you guys want?”

The executive who was suddenly singled out hiccuped.

“We, we want revenge!”

“Revenge? On who? That woman? I thought you said you don’t know who she is.”

The executive hastily spoke up.

“We don’t know her identity but it’s clear. That woman is related to Jeil High! And she’s trying to protect Sung Ji Chan!”

“So?”

The executive clenched his fist tightly and shouted,

“So if we beat up that Sung Ji Chan bastard, we can get revenge and find out that woman’s identity!”

In the end, he was saying they wanted to fight Jeil High.

Ryu Tae Geon didn’t answer right away.

Taking that opportunity, one executive stood up and bowed his head deeply.

“Focus! Just give the order! I will go and completely crush that Sung Ji Chan bastard!”

A few other executives followed suit and bowed their heads.

The executives’ opinion seemed to have been decided as one. Overthrow Jeil High. This was the same opinion whether they were executives who had been beaten by the unknown woman or not.

Ryu Tae Geon tapped his knee with his fingers, lost in thought for a moment. Then he soon spoke to the man behind him.

“Choi Yu Han, what do you think?”

Choi Yu Han, the action leader of Haseong High, grinned.