Chapter 36- Rule 17. The Leader is Not Misunderstood

 

Park Minhyuk, the secretary of the Ahsung High School Disciplinary Committee, had a secret hobby.

 

On the weekend, Minhyuk entered a figure store with a large bag, wearing a hood and round glasses, a smile spreading across his face as if he had entered paradise.

 

Minhyuk’s steps halted in front of a limited-edition figure. The box shone brilliantly in his eyes: ‘Iron-blooded Girl Marina Silver Armor Second Version…!’

 

Minhyuk quietly breathed in excitement as he purchased the figure.

 

Up until the beginning of this year, Minhyuk wasn’t obsessed with figures. He had focused on romantic feelings toward real women.

 

However, unfortunately, Minhyuk’s romantic feelings always ended in despair.

 

─ ‘Sorry. Honestly… you’re not my type.’
─ ‘Just so you know, there’s a rumor you’re creepy.’
─ ‘Did you really think I was that easy…?’
─ ‘I didn’t think of you that way. I just saw you as a friend…. Can we just stay friends? I’m sorry.’
─ ‘Oh, Minhyuk…. Why would you confess to Nayeon? Who’s going to announce it now?’

 

Minhyuk had an exceptionally good memory. The rejections from his confessions accumulated clearly in his mind, causing his head to hang lower and lower.

 

Often, he would kick his blanket in self-loathing as he lay in bed.

 

He wanted to hide in a hole to escape the memories. Eventually, Minhyuk resorted to hiding in cabinets or trash cans to feel some relief from the world.

 

One day, Minhyuk had a realization: Was there any need to crave love from people who would just avoid him?

 

That’s when he noticed 2D characters.

 

Ideal beings that wouldn’t plunge him into self-loathing. From then on, the anime character he enjoyed watching, Iron-blooded Girl Marina, started to look different to him.

 

It was the beginning of his ‘otaku’ journey.

 

In other words, the start of ‘love.’

 

Minhyuk carried the bag with the figure box clutched to his chest. He left the store, his eyes scanning his surroundings cautiously.

 

There was no one suspicious.

 

‘Never again will I go through what happened last time,’ he thought.

 

Minhyuk repeated to himself like a mantra.

 

The day he was kidnapped by Anomia, he lost his limited-edition figure of Iron-blooded Girl Marina. Naturally, the experience stayed in his mind like a trauma.

 

The sale period was over, and only second-hand figures with other people’s fingerprints appeared on online marketplaces. Minhyuk eventually gave up on that figure.

 

Thus, Minhyuk made a resolution.

 

‘I will never lose Marina-chan, no matter what!’

 

Minhyuk moved forward cautiously, maintaining a state of extreme vigilance and even controlling his breathing.

 

But anxiety soon became reality.

 

Suddenly, a hand reached out from an alley and grabbed Minhyuk.

 

“Huh!”

 

Like a fish caught on a hook, the weak Minhyuk was dragged away. His heart sank.

 

The person pulling him was a mysterious woman wearing sunglasses and a mask.

 

Clearly suspicious.

 

“N-no…!”

 

Minhyuk’s voice trembled.

 

Were the heavens refusing to let him have Iron-blooded Girl Marina?

 

Remembering his previous attack, Minhyuk thought.

 

The woman before him was undoubtedly a villain targeting him.

 

“P-please spare me…!”

 

Minhyuk trembled like a cornered deer.

 

But he had to protect what mattered.

 

Curling up, Minhyuk clutched his bag.

 

“Just kill me if you want…! But please, just let Marina-chan go home!”

 

“Minhyuk, it’s me.”

 

“…?”

 

The woman took off her sunglasses and mask, revealing her face.

 

“The wild Ha Yesong appears!”

 

Ha Yesong, the Disciplinary Committee member in charge of regulating public morals at Ahsung High School, greeted energetically with her usual catchphrase.

 

“…….”

 

Minhyuk’s expression turned icy.

 

As the fear in his chest dissipated, his heart turned frigid in reaction.

 

Yesong grinned and placed her arm around Minhyuk’s shoulder.

 

“Hey, loser Minhyuk, what were you saying about Marina-chan? What’s in that bag, huh? Minhyuk-kun?”

 

“I’ll kill you.”

 

“Haha!”

 

Yesong burst into laughter.

 

“I don’t care about your privacy~. I’m not interested in the slightest, got it?”

 

“To trample on my innocent heart…, unforgivable….”

 

Tears welled up in Minhyuk’s eyes.

 

His fragile heart had already been shredded.

 

“Anyway, is that why you didn’t check your messages?”

 

“Messages?”

 

“There’s a very important issue right now!”

 

“Nothing’s more important than me going home right now.”

 

“Just come with me.”

 

Minhyuk, being weak, had no choice.

 

Yesong sniffed the air and poked her head out of the alley.

 

“This way!”

 

She led Minhyuk somewhere.

 

“Good thing you’re disguised too.”

 

“What are we doing?”

 

“We’re tailing someone.”

 

“Ah, stalking. Do that pathetic stuff on your own, please. It’s beneath me….”

 

“It looks like the Leader and Vice Leader are on a date.”

 

“!”

 

Minhyuk adjusted his posture and seriously followed Yesong.

 

“Where? Track them by scent immediately.”

 

“There they are…. Wait, am I a dog?”

 

Minhyuk didn’t deny it.

 

They spotted a man and woman entering a large burger restaurant. It was Ahn Woo-jin and Oh Baek-seo, the Leader and Vice Leader of the Disciplinary Committee, respectively, both in casual clothes.

 

“Let’s go.”

 

“Okay.”

 

Yesong and Minhyuk moved stealthily like spies.

 

“?”

 

However, to passersby, they just looked like a suspicious stalker and an otaku moving together.

 

The burger restaurant was spacious, providing many blind spots to observe Woo-jin and Baek-seo secretly.

 

Yesong and Minhyuk ordered burger sets and sat at a distance from Woo-jin and Baek-seo, hidden by a corner.

 

“Your double steak burger and teriyaki burger are ready.”

 

Receiving their burger sets, Yesong and Minhyuk ate while sneakily glancing at Woo-jin and Baek-seo, peeking out from the corner.

 

“A burger place, alone together on the weekend…. This smells suspicious?”

 

“It’s our respected Leader’s love life. We need to verify and support it…. If they’re a couple, it’s my duty to protect their relationship….”

 

Yesong and Minhyuk conversed in hushed, collective soliloquy.

 

At that moment, a blonde girl with a ponytail entered the burger place.

 

It was Yoo Doha, the treasurer of the Ahsung High School Disciplinary Committee.

 

She immediately spotted the suspicious duo and approached them.

 

“Hey, Ha Yesong.”

 

“Welcome, Yoo Doha.”

 

“Why did you call me out on a weekend afternoon? What’s this ‘urgent matter’?”

 

“First, cover your face.”

 

“?”