Episode 4
It was very easy to find Del.
There was one person shining alone in the garden in front of the dorm.
The boy, standing with a serious expression, brushed back his golden hair that was glowing under the morning sun. As soon as he saw Arpina, he rushed over.
Then, the moment he saw her face, he stopped quickly.
“…Did you cry?”
He looked devastated.
His purple eyes were filled with tears, like he might cry any second. The sight stabbed painfully into Del’s heart.
“Are you mad because of me?”
“……”
Arpina didn’t say anything.
She wasn’t really angry. She just didn’t believe Del’s confession. But if she had to say what made her feel like crying, the reason was Del.
Still, the real cause was her own timid nature and past wounds.
Arpina had no desire to explain, and no confidence to open up. So she just kept her mouth shut.
Del, watching her quietly, looked even more discouraged.
“I was just so happy yesterday that I acted without thinking. I’m truly sorry.”
Hearing such a polite apology, Arpina almost replied by reflex. That it wasn’t something he needed to apologize for so much.
But Sonia, standing beside her, quickly grabbed her hand and shook her head, signaling not to say anything.
“I shouldn’t have confessed in front of everyone like that. And you don’t even remember me, Sunbaenim…”
Del, who casually called her “sunbae” yesterday, was now using the more respectful “sunbaenim.”
“I’m sorry for making you feel embarrassed because of me.”
Del apologized again, while carefully watching Arpina’s expression.
“But still, what I said about liking you — I meant it.”
“…Why?”
Arpina tilted her head without realizing it.
She just couldn’t understand.
“Why do you like me?”
What part of me?
Is there anything likable?
Instead of asking where they had met before, Arpina asked what he saw in her that made him fall for her.
“Huh?”
Now Del tilted his head in return.
“How can I point to just one thing? I can’t.”
Del answered seriously, and Arpina was even more confused.
“From the top of your head to your toes, there’s nothing that isn’t beautiful. How could I not like you? Is that even possible?”
“Th-the top of my head?”
Arpina instinctively covered her fluffy hair with both hands.
But Del stayed completely serious.
“Sunbaenim is just like a small animal. A puppy, a bunny, a baby lamb, a chick…”
As he calmly listed cute animals that reminded him of her, Del suddenly burst out emotionally.
“Sunbaenim doesn’t know how anxious and insecure my childhood was!”
The fifteen-year-old boy spoke with fierce energy.
If his loving parents had heard that, they’d have been completely stunned.
But right now, what mattered to Del was making sure Noona (Arpina) understood his sincere feelings without misunderstanding.
“I prayed every day! That Sunbaenim would never get another boyfriend besides me! That she’d be old-fashioned and believe love should only lead to marriage so she’d never date casually!”
…Okay, he’s definitely crazy.
Sonia immediately diagnosed Del’s mental state.
“But still…”
Del suddenly looked gloomy.
“…I also prayed that, if Sunbaenim did get a boyfriend, he’d at least be someone I could compete with. No — I actually just hoped Sunbaenim would never get confessed to by anyone but me!”
That’s not a prayer. That’s a curse.
At this point, Sonia seriously considered whether she should swing the monkey wrench in the name of justice.
‘He looks normal but…’
Why is he acting this insane?
Isn’t it normal to wish for the happiness of the person you like?
This boy, who had been cursing romance since childhood just so Arpina wouldn’t date anyone — definitely a crazy person.
Sonia suddenly became curious about the boy’s parents. What kind of parenting produces someone like this? Did they focus on making him handsome and forget about raising his character?
Sonia glanced sideways at Arpina.
Sure enough—
“……”
Arpina’s face was blank, clearly stunned by Del’s over-the-top confession. Sonia quietly felt relieved that she had taken away the monkey wrench earlier.
“…Have we…”
Suddenly, Arpina, who had stayed silent until now, opened her mouth.
“Have we met before?”
“…!”
Del’s eyes widened, and a joyful smile spread across his face.
“Yes.”
Then, with an annoyingly sly smile, he said:
“Sunbaenim, we’ve met before.”
“Where?”
“Hmm…”
Del paused to think, then shook his head.
“I want you to remember. I’m a little upset right now. Just a tiny bit. Like, a speck of dust under a fingernail diluted in water.”
Arpina grew even more confused.
Why does this boy look at her like that? Like she’s the most precious person in the world?
Why is he doing this?
But now, unlike yesterday, Arpina didn’t feel sad or suspicious.
By now, even if she didn’t want to, she knew.
Del’s confession wasn’t a lie.
The boy in front of her truly liked her. And it was a kind of affection Arpina had never received before.
“So please, Sunbaenim, just stay right there.”
Del said.
“Now it’s my turn to make the effort.”
“W-what do you mean, effort?”
“I’ll keep showing you my feelings until they reach you. Until you trust and believe in me completely, I’ll keep telling you how much I like you!”
Del declared boldly for everyone to hear, then grinned brightly.
“I like you, Sunbaenim!”
It was his second confession.
“…No.”
But Arpina rejected him again.
“I don’t date. I won’t get married.”
I’m going to live and die alone.
This time, she was even more firm than when he first confessed.
The rumor that a very handsome, pretty, commoner first-year had publicly confessed to a third-year from the Technology Department spread fast across the academy.
“Blond hair and blue eyes? That’s him, right?”
“The one who enrolled with the Duke’s son?”
“Who’s better looking between the two?”
“But seriously, can you even compare a noble and a commoner…”
“But who’s the third-year from Tech that got confessed to?”
Everyone already had a rough idea who the first-year was — he had become famous for his looks on the first day.
“Are you that first-year?”
“Bold of you. I like your guts.”
“Did you come here to study or to find love?”
“But I heard you got rejected? That’s all over the school now.”
A few rude seniors came up and started teasing Del just because he was a commoner.
“……”
Already upset from getting rejected twice, Del suddenly stood up and glared at the seniors.
“Young Master!”
Then he quickly ran to the Duke’s son in his class.
“Those guys are picking on me!”
He tattled without shame.
The Duke’s son gave the seniors a death glare.
The teasing upperclassmen smiled awkwardly and ran away.
Meanwhile—
“Who’s that third-year girl?”
“Is she pretty?”
“Remember that bloodbath two years ago? In the west garden?”
“They say she’s the one who caused it.”
“Gasp! That crazy girl?”
“…But is she pretty?”
Every time Arpina changed classrooms, she felt people glancing at her and whispering. Her shoulders shrank.
“Oh no…”
The moment she got back to the dorm, Arpina grabbed the monkey wrench she had hidden under her bed.
“Hey hey hey!”
“She’s holding the monkey wrench again!”
“Oh no, Arpina!”
The Tech Department students rushed to calm Arpina down as she held the wrench tightly.
Eventually, the Tech students realized something had to be done and called an emergency meeting.
Even the fifth-years, who were busy with their graduation projects, made time to attend.
The meeting was held in the dorm’s dining hall.
“We can’t let the ‘Bloodbath of the West Garden’ happen again.”
A fifth-year senior, looking exhausted from all-nighters, stood up to speak.
“You all remember it, right?”
Everyone’s faces turned pale.
How could they forget?
The Bloodbath of the West Garden.
The incident that almost got the academy shut down, and made Arpina the number one “dangerous person” in the Tech Department.
It all started when a visitor went wild at the academy.
A nobleman, who had come to see his child, secretly brought alcohol and drank until he couldn’t stand. Then he started wandering the academy, completely drunk.
He harassed every student he saw.
Eventually, he arrived at the west garden — where the Tech students’ workshop was located.
At that moment, Arpina, a freshman then, was organizing her tools next to the workshop.
“What are you doing out here all alone? Come keep me company—”
“W-why are you doing this…”
“I’m not a bad guy. Do you know who I am? I’m the famous—”
“Eek!”
The man reached toward her during his unwanted introduction—
“Aaargh! Aaaaaah!”
Arpina, crying, swung her monkey wrench and injured him badly — he was hospitalized for seven weeks.
Remembering that terrible day made the Tech students shiver.
“…We can’t let that happen again.”
A man covered in blood, collapsed.
A girl, swinging a wrench, also covered in blood.
The nobleman’s family filed a complaint with the academy.
They demanded Arpina be expelled immediately, and that they receive a huge compensation payment.
“Never again, never ever…”
But what the Tech students truly feared wasn’t another violent incident.
“…We can’t let the Lady Duke find out about this!”
A bleeding noble?
A powerful noble family’s threats?
None of that scared them.
After all, the one who caused trouble was the drunk noble. He had harassed over a dozen students.
But for some reason, the incident stirred major arguments at the academy.
Some professors even tried to punish Arpina.
In response, other professors quickly contacted her guardian.
But the one who arrived wasn’t her parent or any relative.
“I thought I’d seen it all at my age…”
“But every year, new lunatics prove me wrong.”
When the Lady Duke stormed into the academy, yelling loud enough to shake the buildings, the noble family immediately shut their mouths.
“L-Lady Duke…?”
