## Chapter 32 – The Next Target
* * *
Another huge commotion erupted within the Lee Su Women’s University Jeong Se-in Family.
The cause was, needless to say, Jeong Se-in’s ‘selection.’
Previously, Jeong Se-in had met with Kwak Jo-young separately and formed a ‘sisterhood’ bond.
And that was kept secret from the other members. Even the core members classified as the Four Heavenly Kings didn’t know, so the repercussions were even greater.
Until then, Kwak Jo-young had been a senior member, but she was 1% short of being a core member.
She had many enemies and few allies. The lower-ranking members were constantly looking for opportunities to bring Kwak Jo-young down. That’s how easy she was to target.
On top of that, Kwak Jo-young even got slapped by Jeong Se-in, so everyone thought she was falling into the abyss.
But Kwak Jo-young made a spectacular comeback. She even formed a sisterhood bond with Jeong Se-in.
It was shocking. Kwak Jo-young was the first to set foot in the territory that even the Four Heavenly Kings, who thought they were much closer to Jeong Se-in, couldn’t enter.
Kwak Jo-young didn’t just become sisters in name only. In reality, Kwak Jo-young took the seat next to Jeong Se-in as her permanent spot from that day on. The members called the Four Heavenly Kings ended up walking a step behind the two of them.
Great confusion arose within the Family. Rumors spread endlessly, from the lower-ranking members to the senior members.
Those with sense tried to quell the senseless rumors, but it wasn’t easy to shut the light mouths of women.
Then came the second shock.
This time, junior Yoon Ji-yoon was selected as a sister candidate.
“Why Yoon Ji-yoon?”
Such complaints were inevitable among the other core members.
Everyone was thinking it, even if they didn’t say it out loud. Why Yoon Ji-yoon of all people?
Yoon Ji-yoon was a year younger. There were already many people who didn’t like the fact that she was a junior who hung around Jeong Se-in. Especially among those in the same year as Jeong Se-in.
“Before that, there’s Kwak Jo-young too.”
“Right. What’s the criteria?”
Everyone who knew knew.
That Jeong Se-in had saved Kwak Jo-young from being bullied and they had become close.
As a result, their relationship was more like a benefactor and her beneficiary than friends. There was a clear hierarchical relationship between the two.
But Kwak Jo-young was the first to be selected, so complaints were inevitable.
“Maybe… there’s another criterion?”
The complaints soon turned into questions.
No matter how they thought about it, there was no reason for Kwak Jo-young or Yoon Ji-yoon to be prioritized.
“Another criterion?”
“Like, um, maybe if they have some bad habits lately?”
That was something someone said half-jokingly.
But it somehow sounded plausible.
There had been a lot of talk about Kwak Jo-young behind her back recently. That she had become stiff-necked.
When she was suffering from being bullied, she was miserable, but now that she had Jeong Se-in’s power behind her, she had become the bully, or so they said.
That was until Kwak Jo-young became ‘sisters’ with Jeong Se-in this time, and her personality changed. You could say she was reformed?
“After that, her habits were fixed, right? Kwak Jo-young.”
“Yeah. She became a completely different person.”
First of all, her appearance changed. Her makeup became softer and her fashion became less flashy.
Even though she was now favored by Jeong Se-in, she didn’t act out like before. She was even humble towards members with lower standing in the Family.
“Then, could it be that Yoon Ji-yoon is also…?”
And Yoon Ji-yoon was a similar case to Kwak Jo-young before she changed.
As a junior, she clung to Jeong Se-in, a senior, and tried to get her attention persistently. After doing that for a year, she eventually secured a spot as one of the Four Heavenly Kings.
Such Yoon Ji-yoon was a mythical figure among the juniors. Conversely, she was a thorn in the side of the seniors.
The more seniors looked at her negatively, the more brazen Yoon Ji-yoon became. Just like Kwak Jo-young before her reformation, Yoon Ji-yoon had been making a lot of enemies recently.
“Maybe Se-in has something else in mind.”
Gulp. Tension ran high among the upper-level members.
Jeong Se-in is a special person. There were more than one or two times when she far surpassed the dimensions they were thinking of.
That’s why they had a feeling that Jeong Se-in might not be making selections for simple ‘friendship’ purposes. No, it was almost certain that she had another purpose.
“It might not be something to simply envy…”
Someone muttered.
There was no one who didn’t feel a little envious that someone they thought was lower priority than them had been selected by Jeong Se-in.
But if Jeong Se-in had another purpose.
Maybe being selected wasn’t as good as they thought.
And the truth might be revealed today.
Because they would be able to see Yoon Ji-yoon after she returned from being selected.
“Ah. She’s here.”
At someone’s words, the members all stood up from their seats.
Those who always appeared a beat late to the designated meeting place.
Jeong Se-in and Kwak Jo-young, and even junior Yoon Ji-yoon.
They were the ones who had spent the night at Jeong Se-in’s house.
“Seniors~ I can’t walk~.”
Yoon Ji-yoon, who was complaining like that, was walking unsteadily with pigeon toes.
The other members who saw that figure felt a sense of déjà vu.
Because Kwak Jo-young and Jeong Se-in had also staggered in like that not long ago.
They roughly knew what had happened all night in their heads.
“Stop exaggerating. I was running around the next day even though it was my first time, you know?”
Jeong Se-in, who was saying that, also didn’t seem comfortable.
And that was the same for Kwak Jo-young next to her.
“Liar! I saw you crawling around, Senior!”
“This girl? How dare you to your heavenly senior.”
Slap!
Jeong Se-in slapped Yoon Ji-yoon’s butt with her palm.
“Kyaa!”
Yoon Ji-yoon jumped in surprise after being hit on the butt.
Jeong Se-in laughed as she watched that figure.
“Waaah… it really hurts~!”
“Okay, okay, our Ji-yoon. Did it hurt a lot? Aww, poor thing.”
“Eeeing~.”
Yoon Ji-yoon was on the verge of tears, as if it really hurt.
But the other members who saw that scene had complicated feelings.
Because no matter how they looked at it, Jeong Se-in’s attitude towards Yoon Ji-yoon had become much more friendly than before.
“Hi everyone!”
“Se-in, welcome.”
Jeong Se-in joined them, barely exchanging greetings with the other members.
“Hello.”
“Hello, seniors!”
And Kwak Jo-young and Yoon Ji-yoon took their places to her left and right like bodyguards.
“Ji-yoon, did you have fun too?”
“Yes! Senior! Listen to me, listen to how much I suffered~.”
“Uh-huh. I told you ‘that’ was a secret, right?”
“Ah. Right, you did. Hehe. Sorry, Senior.”
Yoon Ji-yoon was warned by Jeong Se-in and shut her mouth.
It was a playful remark, but it only sounded meaningful to those who heard it.
“But it was fun! Please call me next time too!”
Yoon Ji-yoon said with a bright smile.
However, those who knew Yoon Ji-yoon well recognized it at a glance.
That she wasn’t saying that sincerely at all.
That she was saying it with her usual social skills, but if they really called her, she would make some excuse to get out of it.
Everyone who knew Yoon Ji-yoon recognized it.
“Hmm, but who should I do it with next?”
Those words that flowed out of Jeong Se-in’s mouth as if passing by.
The group’s nerves were on edge.
“My mom scolded me for being noisy again this time. So I can’t go with too many people.”
Yoon Ji-yoon quickly jumped in at Jeong Se-in’s words of concern.
“Senior! I recommend Senior Se-hwa!”
“Huh? Se-hwa?”
Tension filled the air at the unexpected story.
Lee Se-hwa was in the same year as Jeong Se-in, and she had a particularly bad relationship with Yoon Ji-yoon, who was her junior.
That Ji-yoon was recommending such Se-hwa could only be seen as a trap no matter how they thought about it.
“You little rascal. Are you trying to play another nasty prank?”
However, that recommendation was cut off by Jeong Se-in.
Jeong Se-in grabbed Yoon Ji-yoon’s cheeks and tormented her.
“Ah! No! I recommended her sincerely! Ungh!”
Lee Se-hwa, the person in question, approached them.
Lee Se-hwa was taller than Jeong Se-in, who was already tall for a woman, by a head.
Thanks to her tall height, she was a promising volleyball player in high school, but she quit due to a knee injury. She is currently studying in the Department of Sports Science at Lee Su Women’s University.
“I don’t mind.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. I’d be grateful if you called me.”
At that time, there was someone who dared to cut in between the two people who were talking.
“Um, um, Senior! Senior Jeong Se-in!”
“Huh?”
The atmosphere around Jeong Se-in suddenly turned grim.
It was a huge taboo within the Family for a junior to speak directly to Jeong Se-in without an appointment.
Maybe this junior would be dragged to the dark back of the building after the story was over.
“Um, who was it again?”
“I’m Han Soo-ji, a freshman in the Department of Dance!”
Jeong Se-in looked up and down at the junior named Han Soo-ji.
Hmm. A little weak.
She tilts her head in that sense.
“Sorry. She’s a junior I know. I brought her because she said she had something to say to Se-in.”
“Ah, is that so?”
It seems to be a friend of Se-hwa.
Dance and sports departments. Could there be some connection between similar departments?
“S-Senior, um, could you please meet our professor just once?”
“Professor?”
Jeong Se-in frowned at the word professor.
Whether they sincerely believed the rumors circulating in the school, there were more than one or two professors who were trying to contact the political world through Jeong Se-in.
Of course, Jeong Se-in herself was displeased with such stories.
So, when a professor was involved, she would usually cut them off before even hearing the story.
“Ah~ I don’t see professors separately.”
Jeong Se-in tried to shake it off this time as well.
If she showed her dislike appropriately, the people around her would take care of it.
“Um! It’s Professor Julia Lee! The ballet professor! She said she really wants to talk to Senior Jeong Se-in!”
“Julia Lee? Ah~.”
Just before the freshman was dragged away by the other members.
Jeong Se-in reacted to the last words of the freshman who shouted desperately.
Ballet professor Julia Lee.
Jeong Se-in knew who she was because she was quite a famous person even at school.
And she was also the perfect person for the image that Jeong Se-in was thinking of right now.
“Where should we meet?”
Jeong Se-in said with a smile.
