Still, I have to express my gratitude.
After all, it’s true she stayed by my side.
“Hmph! I don’t really feel anything hearing a regular thank you?!”
Olivia glances over, turning her head.
As expected, her reaction is predictable.
It’s no longer surprising.
I lean back against the hospital room wall.
“Here, eat this!”
Clunk.
She sets down a makeshift table on the hospital bed and places something on it.
I turn my gaze.
There’s an apple cut into the shape of a rabbit.
It’s bumpy and oddly shaped, barely resembling a rabbit at all.
Next to it, a toothpick is neatly placed.
“What’s this?”
Suddenly, an apple?
“It’s an apple that the lady heard is customary to cut into a rabbit shape for hospital visits in Korea, and she made it herself.”
The one answering my question isn’t Olivia, but Bella.
Since when is that considered proper etiquette in Korea?
And where the heck did she get such useless knowledge?
“I-I never cut anything! Really, Bella. Are you going to keep talking nonsense?!”
Right on cue, Olivia’s textbook reaction pops out.
It’s like a pirate roulette where a toy knife pops out from a barrel—can’t help but chuckle.
“What’s so funny? Why aren’t you eating it?!”
She glares at me, her eyes widening.
Oh, she was doing well until now.
I was crazy to think there was a 0.1% chance things might be okay.
This damn world makes it impossible to get attached.
Shaking my head, I stab the apple with a toothpick and take a bite.
The crisp texture of the apple hits me.
The sweet and tangy juice slides down my throat.
It’s tastier than I expected.
“How is it? I specially prepared a high-grade Fuji apple from Aomori! Heehee!”
“Good job.”
I don’t know how famous Aomori apples are, but against that bumpy appearance, the taste is decent.
Olivia puffs out her cheeks, hands on her hips.
“Useless compliments are not needed! The one who should be thanked is rather me!”
Seriously.
Even when I compliment her, she makes a fuss.
I shake my head.
“What’s with that displeased expression?! Are you daring to show dissatisfaction with what I just said?!”
Oh man.
Listening to Olivia’s noisy reactions is making a headache I didn’t have start to return.
Everything’s fine, but can she please stop that nonsense?
Just then, Olivia, who was huffing, notices my gesture.
Clunk.
The hospital room door swings open.
“Oooooooh!! Finally awake! The hot topic Korean student! Kim Deok-Sung!!”
There’s a beautiful girl wearing round glasses, with green hair braided into pigtails, flipping her hair to the front, holding a notebook, and a camera hanging around her neck.
My brows narrow.
Ah, who was she again?
I have a vague memory, teetering on the edge of recognition.
I can barely remember, it’s all so hazy.
Maybe it’s just because I just woke up?
A green-haired beautiful girl approaches with a shining gaze, holding a notebook.
“I’m Amano Nodoka, a first-year reporter from the Shuo Hero Academy’s newspaper club. Feel free to just call me Amano! I’m the hottest topic around Shuo Academy lately! I’ve come to cover you, Kim! Is it alright to do a quick interview?”
Amano Nodoka.
Hearing her name jogs my memory.
She’s the so-called “social butterfly” character who knows all the rumors swirling around campus – a typical storyline in light novels.
Like most female characters, she secretly has a crush on the protagonist, the sub-heroine type.
Her role is negligible, like air.
True to her role as a student reporter, she hovers around the protagonist, digging up gossip and spreading his fame across the academy’s channels, wall newspaper, and school newspaper.
In some episodes, she appears as an information source.
‘An interview, huh?’
My expression twists involuntarily.
I get all the national pride I need from YouTube.
That stupid YouTube channel even makes me money thanks to copyright claims.
Why should I be bothered with a useless interview?
Not that I care about the school newspaper.
Just as I’m about to decline, suddenly.
“Y-you! What do you think you’re doing barging in here? Don’t you think about the patient’s stability?!”
“Oh, is this the famous platinum knight princess! Is it true that you’ve become Kim’s personal maid?”
“S-shut up! Wh-why should I tell you that?!”
Olivia screams, her face turning as red as a tomato thanks to Nodoka’s assault.
That’s right.
Well done, Olivia.
Use that tsundere strength to crush the newspaper club reporter!
I’ll cheer you on for once.
“Strong denial equals strong affirmation! Sounds like the rumors are true, huh? Oh ho. Oh ho. Exclusive scoop!”
Nodoka scribbles something in her notebook, and just then, Olivia’s face turns as red as a well-cooked tomato.
“Kim… Deok-Sung… hospital room, is this the right… place?”
A familiar voice echoes through the open door.
All eyes in the hospital room, mine included, turn to the entrance.
There stands a poker-faced girl with a flushed face and a dark blue ponytail.
Shinozaki Rin has arrived to keep her promise.
The moment I see her and Nodoka with the camera around her neck, a brilliant idea strikes me like lightning.
Shinozaki Rin.
You’re in trouble.
Get ready to be featured in a thumbnail for some national pride YouTube video.
Why are you hesitating, Shinozaki Rin?
Just looking at her face makes my anger flare up again.
Thinking back to when I got blindsided like that still pisses me off.
“Yeah, this is my hospital room, so come in, Rin.”
“…I get it.”
Rin enters the room with a stiff expression, her hands trembling slightly.
The fact she can’t even argue after I called her by her name shows just how shocking her defeat must be.
Well, that’s not my problem.
“Do you remember our promise?”
“The black stone, right? If it’s that, then the Lord will handle it directly…”
“Not that! There’s something else!”
I cut her off.
There are two things I need from her, so there’s no way I’m letting it slide.
If it were the original protagonist, he’d probably laugh it off saying, “Still, mentioning that is a bit much, right? It was just a joke, don’t worry about it,” like a clueless nice guy. But I’m not that selfish doormat.
I hold grudges and pay back a hundredfold.
Her face goes pale.
“Th-that…”
She bites her lip.
The dogeza is the ultimate expression of apology in Japanese culture and is a profound humiliation for the person involved.
Thinking of doing a dogeza to someone she had been ignoring until recently seems to make her dizzy.
No matter how cool of a tsundere she is, there’s no getting around a dogeza.
“Oh, the promise! That promise is about the dogeza, right? Right, Kim? Huh? Right? This is a scoop! A scoop!”
From the side, the journalism club’s reporter, Nodoka, says excitedly, her glasses gleaming.
Personally, I’m not a fan of this loud type, but today it’s a little more tolerable.
If you do a dogeza without anyone watching, it’s meaningless.
I must share the joyous news of our victory in the Japan-Korea match on the home ground of our distant yet close neighbor, Japan, with my beloved motherland, right?
So, I decided to endure just for today.
“Contact Ishihara now. Tell him to come here. I need to get a dogeza from that jerk too.”
“What do you mean…?”
Shinozaki Rin’s eyes waver.
It seems like she’s hearing this for the first time.
“Just do it quickly. What are you waiting for? Unless… do you have something else to say to me?”
“……”
Shinozaki Rin clamps her mouth shut.
She’s someone who values victory more than anyone else.
She has no excuses for the loss in this match.
Plus, her stepfather, Ichiro, probably gave her a good scolding, so she must be mentally strained as well.
So, if I just push a little…
“Got it.”
She’ll definitely do as she’s told.
With an expression of defeat, Shinozaki Rin taps on her phone.
Looks like she’s contacting Ishihara as instructed.
“Wait, did you promise to get a dogeza from that low-life guy too?”
“Ooooh! This is new information! A fresh scoop discovered!!”
Olivia and Nodoka’s reactions overlap.
Ah, my head hurts.
Putting Olivia aside, I can’t adapt to the frantic vibe typical of a journalism club reporter.
“So just wait. And you, Amano.”
“Yes! Did you call for the hot topic, Kim?”
Ugh, it’s like a mysterious world where new annoyances keep appearing.
What’s with this ‘hot topic’ nonsense?
Hearing such a title in reality is absurd.
“You both need to do a dogeza at the same time, and make sure it’s all captured in a photo for the academy channel article. Is that doable?”
“I was already planning to do that without being told! Don’t stop me! My journalistic spirit is on fire right now!”
Journalism, my foot.
Isn’t that an example of yellow journalism?
Anyway, if she willingly shares this humiliating moment on the internet, I don’t see a need to object.
The rest will be handled by our proud YouTube warriors of Korea.
“Hehehe.”
The journalism club girl fiddles with the camera, letting out a sinister laugh.
It’s like something from a light novel gag character coming to life, making me want to cringe.
“What’s with this person… She’s weird.”
Even Olivia, who was next to her, looks genuinely disgusted.
“……”
Shinozaki Rin finally seems to realize the situation, her face turning as pale as a sheet.
Her trembling navy eyes look at me.
It seems to say, “Please, just don’t!”
If she wanted it that badly, she should have won.
“Shinozaki! Did you call? But why to the hospital…?”
Just then, the hospital room door opens, and in walks the tanned, blonde jerk, Ishihara.
He clearly comes in flushed, excited from being called out by the one he has a crush on.
Wow, this is one of the most disgusting scenes in this crazy world!
“I called for it. You jerk.”
If you can still speak nicely after witnessing that puke-worthy scene, then you truly are a Buddha or Jesus.
Suddenly, Ishihara’s gaze turns toward me, as if he just got hit by a curse.
“Ahh, who’s that? Isn’t that the black-haired guy? What’s up with you?”
Like a clueless punk, Ishihara just has to act up first.
Looks like he still hasn’t grasped the situation.
Instead of answering, I pull out my phone and play the recording.
[…I’ll definitely see you, getting on your knees after losing to Shinozaki, Kim Deok-Sung.]
[What are you going to do if I win? Will you get on your knees too?]
[Of course. You better do that. Plus, your little minions too. But that won’t happen, right? Hahahahahaha!!]
Ishihara’s voice echoes loudly from the phone, cranked up to maximum volume.
“Ohhh! Exclusive scoop! Ishihara-kun promises to get on his knees!!”
The newspaper club reporter starts acting up.
Ishihara’s expression hardens.
“How’s that? Getting a grasp of the situation yet?”
“Hey, this is…”
“Are you going to say two different things with one mouth? Or should I just upload the recording online?”
“Ugh…!!!”
Ishihara grits his teeth, shaking his fist in anger.
In the end, he only has one option anyway.
I glance back and forth between Ishihara and Shinozaki Rin.
“Both of you, get your heads down.”
Double kneeling ending secured.
Ishihara Daiki and Shinozaki Rin. Both of them are trembling with humiliation.
“Are you going to do it or not?”
“Ugh…!!”
Shinozaki Rin bites her lip.
Thud.
Her knees hit the floor.
Bam.
Shinozaki Rin buries her head in the ground.
Her flowing navy-blue hair scatters across the floor.
“You too, get your head down, jerk.”
“Eeek!!”
Ishihara Daiki kneels, trembling hands pushing against the ground.
Bam.
His blonde hair falls to the hospital room floor.
“Ohhh!! This is the true scoop!! Heart-pounding!!”
Click! Click!
The sound of a shutter goes off with a flash.
“You’re going to write an article on this, right?”
“Of course! If I find this kind of exclusive and don’t write an article, then the journalist inside me will cry!”
Is journalism a black dragon?
Gonna make it cry inside?
“Yeah. Hurry up and write that article.”
“Got it! Hehehehe. This will be the best article of my life!”
I don’t get why he talks to himself so much.
The gloomy-smiling newspaper club reporter, Nodoka, hugs her precious camera and steps out of the hospital room.
Soon, double kneeling pictures will spread all over the internet.
Alright, I’ve dealt with one.
I shift my gaze.
Ishihara and Shinozaki Rin are still with their heads down.
As much as I want to keep telling them to keep it down, unfortunately, there’s a limit to how long they can physically stay like that.
‘I have my own things to do.’
Having achieved my goal, I decided to graciously let them go.
In a web novel, there might be comments about not worrying about future repercussions and just handling things properly, but this is an overly kind light novel world.
The chance of these guys messing with me is less than 1%.
“Get up.”
As soon as I give the go-ahead, Ishihara and Shinozaki Rin shoot up from their spots.
Their foreheads must be red from kneeling, and the sight is quite striking.
“Lastly, both of you should apologize and then scram.”
