Why Did I Have to Enroll - Chapter 30
Lesson 7. It's Definitely Not Because I Like You - 5
Ban Yu-won's declaration, which shocked everyone in Class 11, was finally calmed down after a commotion that lasted a full 10 minutes.
The way Dokgo Yeon and Light looked at that trash was truly impressive.
Moreover, it was still a mystery why he was told to come back and be prepared, even though he had explained the reasons sufficiently.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes, yes!"
Meanwhile, Luciel had been completely stiff since hearing the word "date," only nodding her head without giving a proper response.
When Ban Yu-won asked if she was okay, she finally panicked and ran off to the dormitory to change clothes, which was quite adorable.
"But..."
"Yes?"
The outfit Luciel changed into and came back wearing was none other than her school uniform.
Well, it was much better than the gym clothes she had been wearing in the training room, but...
After considering various possibilities, Ban Yu-won realized that asking about it directly might be rude, so he just suggested this:
"Let's go look for clothes that suit you first."
"But I don't have any money..."
"I'll buy them for you. Let's go."
"Eek."
Ban Yu-won grabbed Luciel's hand and activated his student ID.
Originally, reciting the spell the principal had taught would transport them to a nearby dungeon outside, but thanks to his research on the student ID, he was now able to adjust the teleportation location somewhat.
As a result.
"Kyaa...!"
"This way."
It was now possible to move directly into the city without going through a dungeon.
They were teleported to a relatively quiet alley, and Ban Yu-won immediately pulled Luciel out and plunged into the crowd on the street.
"I-I'm dizzy."
"Well, there are a lot of people and buildings."
"Ugh..."
Luciel, who had been stiff when Ban Yu-won first held her hand, now clung tightly to him and refused to let go when they arrived in the crowded area.
The way she trembled and clung to him like a puppy made him smile involuntarily.
"Achieving the goal will be easy."
"Can this really... help control my ability? Not that I dislike it...!"
"I think it's entirely possible. Now, I believe there was a department store over there."
The free city of Ronica, located directly below the floating island where Union Academy is situated, is undoubtedly the greatest metropolis in the Union.
The city itself is incredibly vast, with several clearly defined residential and commercial districts, and of course, there were even different types of department stores.
Ban Yu-won had been exploring the city steadily since Monday to familiarize himself with the geography, so he guided Luciel without any hitches.
Then.
"Ah...!"
"Hm? Want to eat?"
"Well, yes, but..."
"Then let's go."
Luciel's gaze was fixed on a fried food stall tucked away in a corner of the street.
If I had to describe it, it might be close to a croquette?
The main items were made by mixing dough made from potatoes (strictly speaking, probably something different) with meat like pork or shrimp (or something similar), coating it in batter, and frying it.
"Welcome!"
"What do you want to eat?"
"Um..."
Luciel, who had momentarily frozen at the sight of the diverse menu, soon chose a fried food with the mysterious name 'Elrone'.
He wondered if she felt bad about getting treated, but it seemed that wasn't the case since what she chose was the most expensive item.
"Then one Elrone and... one shrimp."
"That'll be 90 ronia, sir."
The shrimp was 20 ronia and the Elrone was 70 ronia.
He wondered why there was such a price difference for similar-sized fried foods, but it turned out to be monster meat.
"It's monster meat, are you okay with that?"
"I like that."
Soon, the Elrone was placed in Luciel's arms as she nodded enthusiastically.
Ban Yu-won indirectly warned the merchant who was blatantly eyeing Luciel's ample chest by emphasizing the flower brooch on his own chest, then left with her.
They could have eaten inside, but isn't the charm of street food in eating while walking down the street, holding one in each hand?
"Ah, it's delicious."
Luciel took a bite of the fried food and reached out with her free hand to hold Ban Yu-won's hand, wearing a happy expression.
Then, realizing what she had done, she was startled and her eyes widened.
And then...
"B-Ban. Thank you so much. But..."
A cautious voice.
Ban Yu-won succeeded in reading the concept of worry (憂) that suddenly welled up in her body.
That 'woo' as in worry.
"Will us becoming close really... help in controlling my ability?"
Ban Yu-won thought that if someone who didn't know heard this, wouldn't it sound like he was making up an excuse to try and seduce an innocent girl?
But it was the truth. It was sincere.
Ban Yu-won was thinking that the condition for interfering with someone else's internal code might be 'how well you know that person'.
After all, it was so easy to impart concepts to his family members, including his sister, but with Luciel, it was impossible to impart even a simple concept just a little bit.
Of course, the same was true for Dokgo Yeon and Light.
Given this, injecting negative concepts directly into an enemy's body to defeat them would be an extremely difficult task.
'Maybe it's simply that I can't use it on someone stronger than me...'
But he didn't think his ability was that simple.
In fact, until recently, he couldn't properly read the concepts of his Class 11 classmates, including Luciel.
But how about now? The more time he spent with them, the more deeply he exchanged emotions, the more clearly he could observe the concepts within them.
With Luciel, he could even read the momentarily changing emotional concepts, couldn't he?
...Though it was a change achieved by buying her just one snack.
'Even if the condition for wielding my power isn't becoming close to the person but observing them for a long time, there's no better method than what I've chosen now.'
Above all, his instinct as the owner of the power was telling him so.
If you want to directly change a person's internal code, the best strategy is to thoroughly understand that person and deepen your relationship with them.
"Of course, it might not be."
"Ah..."
But Ban Yu-won didn't bother to voice his thoughts.
He thought this approach would allow him to become friends with her more naturally.
"Still, I think it's a win for me if I can become friends with you. Ah, if you don't like it, say so now."
"No!"
Surprised by Ban Yu-won's unexpected words, Luciel's hair stood on end (it really did stand up) and she shook her head vigorously.
"I don't dislike it, absolutely not."
"That's a relief then."
"It's just that I'm not a very interesting person. I'm not as friendly as Dokgo Yeon or... Light."
Light aside, Dokgo Yeon is friendly?
Is her head okay?
As Ban Yu-won gave her a genuinely puzzled look, Luciel smiled bitterly and said,
"Relatively speaking. To me, she's just a scary person... but she really likes Ban."
"That's not liking, that's wanting to possess. Like wanting to have a sharp knife or a shield."
"...Heh, hehe."
The moment Ban Yu-won said that with sincere conviction, somehow the tension in Luciel's shoulders seemed to ease a bit.
It wasn't an illusion. Her expression, which had been slightly tense until now, also relaxed, showing a fairly comfortable demeanor.
"Why are you laughing?"
"I feel a bit relieved."
"About what?"
Ban Yu-won tilted his head, unable to understand why such a conversation would come up at this timing.
He had always known that a woman's heart was the most difficult thing in the world to understand, but this was top-tier even among those.
"I thought you were someone who knew everything... but it seems that's not the case. You seem similar to me..."
"Hey, wait a minute. I feel like I just got insulted in a very roundabout way."
"I'll try my best."
What becomes of me if you say you'll try here!
What do I become!
"I want to... become friends with Ban too. Like those two."
"I'm starting to feel uneasy after hearing that."
While he sincerely wanted to become friends with Luciel, he'd rather pass on being like those two.
But Luciel, who seemed to have already sorted things out in her mind, wore a determined expression and pulled his hand.
"Let's go. I want to see those clothes."
"Damn... Alright, let's go."
Although the direction had changed a bit from what he initially thought, it was definitely not a bad atmosphere.
Ban Yu-won held hands with her amicably and headed towards the department store.
And then he encountered a problem he hadn't even imagined.
"No, it's not like I'm seeing people as perverts or anything."
"It's just that, the clothes that suit me... are only those kinds."
About two hours had passed since they entered the clothing section of the department store.
The shop assistants, who were taken aback when they saw Luciel, tried hard to manage their expressions and put in a lot of effort to choose clothes that suited her, but most of them were either too tight under the chest, overly emphasizing her bust, or had excessive exposure.
"How about just a normal dress or something like that?"
"If I wear that kind of one-piece, it makes me look very fat."
"I'm sorry."
To think that even Luciel, who had a figure that would likely be the envy of all women in the world, had such difficulties.
If she dresses normally, she looks fat, and if she tries to accentuate her figure, it inevitably emphasizes her chest.
For most people, there would be ways to muddle through, but she was far from ordinary.
Ban Yu-won realized why she caught people's attention even when just wearing a school uniform.
"It's okay. I like all the clothes."
As Ban Yu-won seriously began to worry if he might be branded a pervert just for buying her one piece of clothing, Luciel said,
"I'm used to those kinds of looks anyway... And Ban can feel at ease too."
"When I hear that, it makes me feel like I'm being treated as an idiot in its own way... Alright, let's go with these then."
Ban Yu-won selected five or six outfits that Luciel liked, excluding the ones with excessive exposure, and paid for them.
The total came to 50,000 Ronia.
That's when Luciel started to panic.
"It's expensive!"
"No, it's not expensive! So don't try to take them off!"
She was wearing the blouse and skirt she liked best among the clothes bought today, and she was actually considering taking them off right there and then.
"But that's enough money to buy 714 Elrone fried snacks!"
"It's okay, this much is a gift I can easily give to a friend. ...You're surprisingly quick at calculations?"
"But this is too much... Do you want something more from me?"
Luciel made a puzzled expression, thinking that Ban wouldn't do such a thing.
Ban Yu-won winked at her as he took the bag full of pretty clothes from the clerk and put it straight into his inventory.
"If it really bothers you, think of it as an advance on your channel revenue share."
"...What?"
Ban Yu-won informed her that the video channel he was operating would soon generate revenue, and that he planned to distribute it in appropriate proportions.
Of course, since Ban Yu-won was handling everything from filming to editing, uploading, and channel management, his share would be about half, but given how the channel was doing now, even splitting the remaining half among the three of them would amount to a considerable sum.
"You can earn money from that kind of thing?"
"Of course you can. Traffic is money. Just by putting one ad on a video, countless people watching that ad increase the value of the video."
"Ban was an alchemist...! Creating gold out of nothing!"
Although she didn't seem to fully understand, Luciel was nonetheless extremely impressed with Ban Yu-won!
For some reason, after hearing that, she seemed even happier than when she received the clothes as a gift, and Ban Yu-won, shaking his head thinking that a woman's heart is truly unfathomable, took her hand.
"Now then, let's go eat."
"Yes!"
That's when it happened.
Ban Yu-won noticed emotional concepts overflowing from within her body, spilling out bit by bit.
Golden strings of characters inscribed with emotions meaning pleasure and joy.
As he tentatively reached out his hand, they were drawn into it.
It felt like lightning striking above his head.
"Ban...?"
"Yeah, ah. It's nothing."
Evading Luciel's puzzled look, he quickly transferred them to his code core lest they disappear.
The concepts stored in the code core didn't vanish.
Ban Yu-won felt like he had finally found his way.
*
It was truly an enjoyable date.
Luciel, already beautiful and now properly dressed up, caught people's attention wherever they went. However, seeing Ban Yu-won, who had become quite a celebrity in the city over the past few days, next to her, most people seemed to avert their gaze on their own.
After eating, they went to look at clothes for Ban Yu-won, and thanks to Luciel's considerably good sense and eye, Ban Yu-won was also able to find a few casual outfits he liked.
In the meantime, actually running into a few subscribers from the external channel and being asked for autographs was a pretty good feeling too.
Of course, Luciel was puzzled here as well.
"How do these people know us?"
"The number of subscribers on the external channel has grown quite a bit. Although, considering the size of this world, we've met an unusually high number of them, so right now... uh..."
Ban Yu-won, suddenly turning on his mirror and checking the channel, was at a loss for words.
It was certainly less than 50,000 when he uploaded the video yesterday, but now it was approaching 1 million.
"What's this?"
"What's wrong? Did something not work out? It's okay, Ban is still growing, so you can have failures too..."
"...It's a huge hit."
Moreover, when he refreshed the channel, it had clearly surpassed 1 million.
Furthermore, the 'First Exploration' episode that was causing a sensation was already approaching 5 million views.
Thanks to that, interest had spilled over to the other videos he had uploaded so far, with view counts ranging from at least hundreds of thousands to millions.
"Looks like we've already earned more than enough to cover the cost of your clothes."
"Wow...!"
Luciel's eyes sparkled as she looked at Ban Yu-won.
It was as if her eyes were filled with little hearts.
Such an honest reaction to capitalism was almost embarrassing for him.
"A male overflowing with ability...!"
Ban Yu-won doubted his ears for a moment.
"What did you just say?"
"Oh, I thought you were a very capable man!"
That must be it.
I must have misheard, right?
Ban Yu-won laughed and exchanged smiles with her.
He thought the desire (慾) overflowing from Luciel was just something he had misperceived.
...Though he had picked up all of it anyway.
Fantasy,