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

16 – 3# What happened during his first year? (3)

At first, he must have had high ideals in his heart.

However, those lofty ideals were completely shattered by the cold reality.

In the name of survival of the fittest, many things in Cheongwol were twisted.

In that twisted place, maintaining one’s ideals was never an easy task.

Nevertheless, Yoo-shin steadfastly maintained his ideals.

Doing what is right and not tolerating injustice. That was Yoo-shin’s ideal.

Naturally, his childhood friend Ha-young believed in Yoo-shin’s ideals.

She believed that Yoo-shin could surely change this twisted world. She believed so.

[I don’t think so.]

[What do you mean?]

[To uphold ideals, strength is necessary. But Yoo-shin… unfortunately, he lacks strength. Isn’t that right?]

[…….]

It was probably around that time. When I first met Hyunwoo and became close friends.

Hyunwoo shook Hayoung’s faith. At first, Hayoung denied Hyunwoo’s words.

But faced with the harsh reality, Hayoung slowly began to lean towards Hyunwoo.

[Hey, Yushin. Shouldn’t we start doing things like everyone else?]

[What are you talking about? We need to correct what’s wrong!]

[Well, that’s true, but…]

Yushin chose to resist. Against the student council, and the academy itself.

It was originally possible. Because Baek Yushin is the protagonist.

In his first year, he met numerous opportunities and connections, growing and overcoming trials.

That was the original story. However, due to someone’s intervention.

The original story was distorted. In the end, Yushin couldn’t grow.

He was defeated by the approaching trials, and the aftermath naturally spread to those around him.

[Why, why is this happening?!]

[You hang out with Baek Yushin, don’t you?]

[Do you know how annoying he is?]

Baek Yushin was defeated. Not by the student council or the disciplinary committee, but by Class C.

And the victor can do whatever they want with the loser. That’s the academy’s teaching.

Of course, crime is not allowed. But how they are treated in the classroom was their freedom.

In a world of survival of the fittest, being at the bottom was like living in hell.

[What are you doing right now?]

[Hyunwoo…!!]

In the continuing days of hell, it was none other than Hyunwoo who saved Hayoung and Yushin.

Hyunwoo, who was in Class B at the time, single-handedly destroyed Class C, who were bullying them.

Thanks to that, we were no longer bullied from that point on. We could live peacefully.

It was probably from that time.

When all of Hayoung’s emotions and thoughts shifted from Yushin to Hyunwoo.

Thinking about it now, it was strange. After that day, it was hard to meet Hyunwoo.

For some reason, I always thought of Hyunwoo. I defended everything Hyunwoo did.

Like a fanatic. Of course, I am still grateful to Hyunwoo for saving us.

But still, no matter what.

Monitoring Yushin’s every move and reporting it to Hyunwoo.

That’s absolutely not normal, is it?

Why didn’t I realize it back then? Hayoung blamed her own foolishness.

But even so, she couldn’t completely ignore Hyunwoo.

No matter what, it was Hyunwoo who saved her and Yushin from hell.

So Hayoung received Hyunwoo’s call and met him again at the place he mentioned.

At the time when the sun was setting beyond the horizon, Hayoung faced Hyunwoo.

“Have I done something wrong recently?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”

“Your attitude has changed drastically!”

“……”

Was it because things weren’t going as planned? Hyunwoo even shouted in his anxiety.

Thanks to that, Hayoung flinched for a moment, and seeing that, Hyunwoo scratched his head.

“S-sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“Changed attitude? We’re just friends, aren’t we?”

“That, weren’t we in a relationship that’s more than friends but less than lovers?”

“……? What are you talking about?”

For the first time in her life, Hayoung didn’t hide her contempt in front of someone.

No, if you’re friends, you’re friends. If you’re lovers, you’re lovers.

What on earth is a relationship that’s less than lovers?

Kang Hyunwoo was always like this. He always sought Hayoung only when he needed her.

If she made even a small mistake, he would first scold her and then apologize late.

Looking back, that was never an equal friendship.

It was already evident in his attitude. Why was she so blind?

No matter how grateful she was, wrong is wrong. Hayoung sighed and said.

“Hyunwoo, I’m grateful that you saved us.”

“R-right? I saved you guys when we were freshmen.”

“But… that doesn’t mean I have to be your slave, right?”

“……”

“Let’s cool our heads for a moment.”

Hayeong left Hyunwoo with those words. There was nothing more she wanted to say.

Left alone, Hyunwoo didn’t say a word and opened the favorability window.

Soon, a translucent screen appeared before his eyes, showing Hayeong’s favorability.

[Yu Hayeong]

[Favorability: 0]

[No feelings for you at all!]

“Why on earth is the favorability dropping!!”

The favorability system is surprisingly powerful.

It can make you feel emotions towards a stranger that you would only feel for a long-time lover.

It can make you blindly focus on just one person. Such things are possible.

However, the favorability system is not perfect.

To be precise, it was certainly perfect in the past.

But now, you could say its perfection has been broken.

Hyunwoo used the favorability system to easily take many things.

Thanks to that, Yushin, who was supposed to grow through trials, was deprived of all opportunities and connections by Hyunwoo, and eventually fell behind.

If things continue like this, it won’t be long before he can take the protagonist’s place.

That’s what Hyunwoo thought. Until Hayeong’s favorability dropped to 0.

“……It can’t be helped.”

Left alone, Hyunwoo touched his forehead and muttered to himself in a trembling voice.

He didn’t want to use this method.

Hyunwoo immediately took out his phone and called someone.

“Hey, it’s me.”

[So, should we proceed right away?]

“Yes.”

[But if this goes wrong……]

“I’ll cover everything. Don’t you want to get revenge on Yushin?”

At Hyunwoo’s words, there was a brief silence on the other end of the phone.

But only for a moment.

Soon, the familiar sound of a girl’s scream echoed. At that, Hyunwoo laughed loudly.

* * *

Now, Yushin was very displeased.

He had just finished school and returned home, hoping to relax for the first time in a while.

But suddenly, uninvited guests came and disturbed his sweet rest.

It wasn’t just one or two people. More than ten uninvited guests had come.

Moreover, the atmosphere was unusual. Yushin sighed and said,

“Who are you?”

“Don’t you even know the faces of your classmates?”

“I’ve never considered you my friends.”

Yushin only remembers the faces of people worth remembering.

In other words, the students of Class C were not worth remembering to Yushin.

Some of the students in Class C, understanding the meaning, were about to step forward in anger.

But the cheap blonde girl at the front, Minyoung, raised her hand to stop them.

“Hey.”

“Hey? That’s short.”

“If you keep acting up, it won’t be good for you.”

“???”

Have these guys finally lost their minds and gone on a picnic?

Seeing their determined attitude, Yushin was so dumbfounded that he couldn’t even get angry.

What are they relying on to act like this? Do they have some backing again?

However, Yushin soon found out the reason. Minyoung took out her phone.

She showed Yushin a photo. Seeing the photo, Yushin clicked his tongue.

“Are you acting up because of this?”

The photo on the phone showed Hayoung tied up with ropes.

Yushin was speechless. Now they were really going all out.

But Minyoung was just smiling, as if she didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation.

Whoosh!!

At that moment, Minyoung raised her hand to slap Yushin hard on the cheek.

Although Yushin dodged Minyoung’s hand, causing the slap to miss.

Minyoung glared at Yushin, tilting his head, and gave a sinister smile.

“You still don’t seem to understand the situation.”

“What?”

“Your childhood friend could fall into hell with just one word from me. Got it?”

“Hey.”

However, to gain the upper hand, Minyoung directly threatened Yushin.

But that act only stirred the sleeping lion.

Yushin’s previously calm demeanor turned ferocious again. Minyoung was horrified.

The pressure she felt was on a different level from anything she had experienced before.

“Ugh…!!!”

She couldn’t even breathe properly. It felt like a heavy rock was crushing her chest.

Threatening Yushin with his precious childhood friend had finally made him angry.

If anyone around, even strangers, witnessed this situation now,

They would probably think that way. But unfortunately, that’s not the case.

The only reason Yushin was angry now was one thing.

“How dare you.”

Threaten me?