I Escaped the Exile Story Only To Find It Was a Regret Trope

14 – 3# What happened during his first year? (1)

The news that Yushin had won the duel with Selena spread quickly.

Thanks to this, significant changes came to Class C, to which Yushin belonged.

The biggest change was that they no longer ignored or looked down on Yushin.

Yushin didn’t know, but the big guy and the weakling he had faced before were the first and second in Class C, respectively.

Even Selena, who belonged to Class A, had eventually lost to Yushin.

As a result, the students in Class C had no choice but to be wary of Yushin.

The students of Class C didn’t want to admit the fact that their positions had been reversed overnight, but what could they do?

Survival of the fittest, survival of the strongest.

That is the teaching of the academy.

In that case, to survive against the strong, one had to behave wisely.

“I can’t just sit back and take this.”

“Let’s stick together!”

“If Class C unites, even Baek Yushin won’t be able to do anything to us!”

Thus, the alliance of Class C students, excluding Yushin and Hayoung, was born.

However, Yushin didn’t pay much attention to the minnows of Class C.

‘What’s the fun in bullying those kinds of people?’

At least the guys from the Swordsmanship Department had the guts to challenge me.

These ones are busy muttering behind my back and can’t even bare their teeth in front of me.

From experience, I knew that dealing with such people would only be a loss for me.

Yushin just sat there, yawning, trying to alleviate his boredom.

“You seem really bored today.”

“There’s nothing particularly interesting going on.”

“I-I see.”

Hayoung, who sat next to him, awkwardly smiled and agreed with Yushin’s words.

They used to talk a lot and laugh together.

Why had things become like this now?

When they were alone like this, Hayoung found it awkward and couldn’t find anything to say.

[Hey, do you have a moment?]

[Huh?]

[Nice to meet you, I’m Kang Hyunwoo.]

“……!!”

At that moment, the memory of the day she first met Hyunwoo flashed through Hayoung’s mind.

Thinking back, it was strange. A stranger suddenly greeted her with a smile.

Instead of feeling confused or surprised, she felt an inexplicable attraction.

Thanks to that, Hayoung naturally exchanged phone numbers with Hyunwoo on the day they first met.

‘What was that…? That memory just now…?’

“Baek Yushin!!”

“Why the hell are you acting up again this morning?”

“I told you not to send such half-hearted replies!”

However, Hayoung couldn’t concentrate. An uninvited guest had arrived right next to her.

A girl with golden hair and sapphire-like sparkling blue eyes.

She was someone even Hayoung knew well. Selena Grevis, she had come.

Selena was holding her phone up to Yushin’s face.

“What on earth does ‘ㅇ’ mean as a reply?!”

“It means I got it.”

“I told you not to send it like that, how do you explain completely ignoring my messages?!”

“I got tired and fell asleep while sending it.”

“Hey!!!”

At first, it wasn’t like this. When did those two become so close?

Even as his childhood friend, she couldn’t properly contact Yushin…

It bothers me.

I want to separate that bothersome girl from Yushin.

Hayoung felt a black emotion slowly rising from the depths of her heart.

“Um… I wish you wouldn’t boss Yushin around so much.”

“What?”

“Well, you know. Yushin doesn’t like taking orders from others.”

Muttering timidly, Hayoung did her best to side with Yushin.

But Yushin wasn’t on Hayoung’s side. Yushin tilted his head and said,

“Friends can joke around like this.”

Even Yushin wouldn’t get angry over a normal conversation between friends.

Thinking she was misunderstood, Selena explained with an aggrieved expression.

“That’s right! Besides, I’m not the kind of person who orders others around!”

“Are you sure? You’re from a noble family.”

“Being noble doesn’t mean being arrogant!”

“……”

Seeing Yushin and her looking so close, Hayoung bit her lip hard.

Originally, that was my seat. Why is a complete stranger like you sitting there?

No, to begin with.

You called Yushin a scoundrel.

So how can you stick to him so nonchalantly?

Do you have no conscience? Ah, I see. You have no conscience.

It was at that very moment when Hayoung, with completely dead eyes, was staring at Selena.

Hayoung’s phone, which was in her pocket, rang. Hayoung immediately took out her phone.

[Hyunwoo]

‘Why is this guy calling at this time?’

Normally, she would have happily answered the call, but now Hayoung was annoyed.

Seeing that Hayoung wasn’t answering the call, Yushin said to her.

“Aren’t you going to answer?”

From Yushin’s perspective, it could be said that he was somewhat concerned about Hayoung.

However.

Hayoung interpreted Yushin’s completely changed reaction in a different way.

[Is it that guy again?]

[Yeah, it is.]

[…I see. Then it can’t be helped.]

In the past, he used to show how much he disliked it.

Now, he doesn’t care at all.

He has no interest in me anymore.

“…Sorry.”

With a sad voice, Hayoung answered apologetically and took Hyunwoo’s call.

* * *

The reason Hyunwoo called Hayoung was simple. It was to gain cooperation.

No matter how hard he tried, Baek Yuri was not opening her heart to Hyunwoo at all.

It was understandable. Baek Yuri had done her own investigation into this matter.

Thanks to that, she found out everything, including how Hyunwoo ignored Yushin and saw him as a tool.

[I have no desire to get close to someone as disgusting as you.]

‘Damn, even after using 100 favorability items, it’s useless.’

Thanks to this, Hyunwoo suffered a tremendous loss. He used up 100 items.

For heroines like Hayoung, even using just three items on the first meeting would immediately raise her affection level.

Strangely, even after using more than 100 items on Baek Yuri, there was no change at all.

No, rather, her affection level seemed to be plummeting towards the negative.

‘This won’t do, I need to approach Baek Yuri with a completely different method.’

Judging that he couldn’t win her over with the current approach, Hyunwoo decided to try something else entirely.

That was to go with the straightforward method. In other words, instead of using items,

he would raise her affection level by meeting Baek Yuri frequently in person.

Of course, for that, he needed an opportunity, so he contacted Hayoung.

‘I originally planned to use the lunchtime event for my sister, but today there’s no other choice.’

“Hayoung! Over here! Here!”

“Why are you calling me all of a sudden?”

“……Huh?”

Although he clicked his tongue inwardly, Hyunwoo called out to Hayoung brightly on the outside.

But the reaction he got was completely unexpected. It was like a cold wind in the middle of winter.

Hayoung was staring at Hyunwoo with a completely serious expression. What? What’s with her?

Sensing something was off, Hyunwoo quickly opened the affection level window. And then he was shocked.

[Yoo Hayoung]

[Affection Level: 12]

‘What, what?! When did her affection level drop this much?!’

The affection level that he had filled up tightly using items had plummeted in an instant.

What on earth happened? Of course, he had been a bit neglectful recently, but still.

No matter how much, there was no way her affection level would drop by more than 80, right?

‘Damn it, I don’t have many items left, but I can’t afford to lose Hayoung.’

The condition set by the god was to steal all the heroines from the protagonist.

And Yoo Hayoung was Baek Yushin’s childhood friend. She was a very important heroine.

There were even parts of the story that revolved around Yoo Hayoung.

So, swallowing his tears of regret, Hyunwoo used an item directly.

[You have used a Small Jewel Box!]

[Yoo Hayoung’s affection level has increased by 0!]

“What, what is this?!”

However, contrary to Hyunwoo’s thoughts, Hayoung’s affection did not increase.

As a result, Hyunwoo ended up wasting a precious affection item.

When he called her over but said nothing, Hayoung frowned.

“If you have nothing more to say, I’m leaving.”

“W-wait a minute!”

However, Hyunwoo’s voice no longer reached Hayoung.

She had a more important place she couldn’t afford to lose.

Was it unbelievable that the easy-going Hayoung ignored him?

Hyunwoo hurriedly followed behind Hayoung. Thanks to that, he saw it.

“Didn’t you have something to do?”

“It was resolved quickly. Shall we have lunch together?”

“Sounds good! Let’s strengthen our friendship!”

“Now, go back to your class.”

With her cheeks blushing, Hayoung clung to Yushin like glue.

And before he knew it, even Selena had completely fallen for Yushin.

Watching silently from behind, Hyunwoo bit his lip and thought.

‘How dare you steal my heroines…!!’

I will never forgive you.