I’d never seen him eat cafeteria food even once.

“You’ve had cup noodles before?”

“Yes. I have.”

He answered with that gentle expression of his. But for some reason, I just couldn’t believe it. This was the same guy who wouldn’t even eat chicken nuggets—no way he’d eaten cup noodles.

“Let’s just order delivery.”

I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to recommend delivery food to a yandere, but it had to be better than cup noodles.

“Delivery’s allowed?”

“Yeah. You just order it and pick it up at the front gate.”

This place was a military academy, so outside access was strictly controlled. To receive deliveries, we had to go out to the front gate.

“What do you want? How about sushi?”

Of all the options, sushi was probably the only delivery food he’d eat.

“What do you usually eat, sunbae?”

“Me? I usually get chicken.”

“You like chicken?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I’ll have chicken too.”

His eyes softened. He looked genuinely pleased. Ever since Friday, there’d been a chill between us—but this was a small relief.

...Though now I had a new dilemma.

Chicken, with Joo Seunghyuk... How should I even order it?

If I were eating alone, one order would’ve been plenty. I usually saved the leftovers for the next day too.

But if I was sharing with Seunghyuk, should I get three orders? No—he didn’t have a huge appetite. Two would probably be enough.

Then what about the flavor? Should I stick with something basic? Or try one of the new menu items?

That “Bling Bling Shining Chicken” was calling to me out of curiosity, but it didn’t seem like the kind of thing I could eat with Seunghyuk.

He’d probably prefer something plain, like fried.

“Seunghyuk-ah, what kind do you want?”

I showed him the menu on my phone. Without hesitation, he answered,

“Fried.”

Of course he did.

“Got it.”

Then should I order fried for Seunghyuk and the Bling Bling Shining Chicken for myself?

It had «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» this pink strawberry-flavored seasoning with special flakes that popped in your mouth as you chewed.

I was curious what it tasted like... but yeah, there was no way I could try something so experimental around him.

So I just ordered fried and yangnyeom. I couldn’t even imagine Seunghyuk wearing plastic gloves and gnawing on a drumstick, so I went with boneless.

“They said it’ll be here in 30 minutes.”

It was a little past dinnertime, so the delivery estimate was faster than I expected.

“When should we go out?”

“They’ll call when they leave the store. We can head to the gate then.”

“Okay.” 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Seunghyuk wrapped his arms around me again. Looked like he really was planning to stay stuck to me all evening.

“But hyung...”

“Yeah?”

“Aren’t you going to use the card I gave you?”

“Huh?”

“When will you use it?”

“......”

“Really, when?”

Ever since he gave me that card, Seunghyuk hadn’t said much about it. Even though I hadn’t spent any of his money, he didn’t comment on it. But lately, he’d been bringing it up more and more.

Did he know I was running low on money?

When I stayed silent, he leaned in and whispered in my ear.

“Do I need to give you a reason to use it?”

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

“Haha. I-I’ll use it later.”

I laughed awkwardly. Seunghyuk didn’t seem too satisfied with that answer, but he didn’t press further.

An uncomfortable silence fell between us. I pretended to study again, but I couldn’t focus.

That’s when my phone rang—the chicken shop was calling.

“Ah, yes. Thank you. I’ll head out now.”

I quickly answered and turned to Seunghyuk.

“They just left the store. I’ll go pick it up.”

“I’ll come with you.”

“It’s fine. It’s just chicken—how heavy could it be? I can manage.”

“Then go ahead.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

***

When I got to the front gate, several students were already there. Looked like everyone was waiting for delivery. So many people ordered food this late, huh.

Finally free from Seunghyuk’s grip, I started thinking about what Park Geonwoo said again.

He told me Seunghyuk was hiding something from me. And Seunghyuk hadn’t denied it. He’d even attacked Geonwoo with mana to shut him up.

That probably meant Seunghyuk knew what Geonwoo was about to say.

What could it be? Maybe the letter?

No... if it were the letter, I don’t think Seunghyuk would’ve gone to such lengths to stop him. Besides, Geonwoo seemed completely unaware that Seunghyuk had intercepted our letters...

Should I ask Geonwoo directly?

I glanced down at my phone. Right—I didn’t even have his number. And even if I did, I was too scared to call with Seunghyuk around.

If I tried and got caught... I wasn’t sure I could smooth things over.

There was no answer, no matter how hard I thought about it. I sighed and checked the time.

They’re really late...

It had been 20 minutes since the call, and the food still hadn’t arrived.

Just as I was considering calling the restaurant, I spotted a delivery scooter.

“Sorry I’m so late. There was an accident up ahead, so I had to take a different route.”

“Oh, it’s fine. No problem. An accident?”

“Yeah. A car hit a person. It was a huge mess.”

What kind of driving hits a pedestrian? Was it drunk driving?

I looked in the direction the delivery guy pointed. But I couldn’t see anything from here.

***

“Sorry I took so long. There was an accident up front, so the delivery guy had to take a detour.”

“It’s okay.”

Seunghyuk gave me a gentle smile. Thankfully, he didn’t seem angry.

“You must be hungry. Let’s eat.”

I placed the chicken boxes and soda on the folding table, then grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and some paper cups.

The fried and yangnyeom chicken looked incredible, as always. And Seunghyuk seemed okay with it too.

Good thing I went with this. If I’d gotten the Bling Bling Shining Chicken, he might’ve wrinkled that smooth forehead of his.

“How is it? Tastes good?”

“Yes.”

He nodded after taking a bite of the fried chicken. Looked like it suited his palate.

“You eat too, hyung.”

“Yeah.”

I picked up a piece of yangnyeom and popped it into my mouth.

“Sounds like the accident was pretty bad.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. A car hit someone. I hope they’re not seriously hurt.”

“Hyung.”

He suddenly looked straight at me.

“What?”

“Is that tasty?”

“Yeah. It’s good. You should try it.”

“Feed me.”

His lips curled into an odd little smile. He clearly had no interest in the traffic accident.

“...Alright.”

I held out a piece of yangnyeom chicken for him. Seunghyuk smiled sweetly as he took it.

At moments like this, he looked like a completely normal twenty-year-old guy. But I knew he was hiding something from me.

What could it be?

The question wouldn’t leave my mind.

***

When I entered the lecture hall, the atmosphere was strange.

This was one of the hardest sophomore-level classes, so I expected everyone to be studying like crazy before the exam.

But instead, students were chatting in little groups, all distracted.

What was going on?

“Hey, Lee Yeonsu! Did you hear?”

Jung Sangcheol called out the moment he saw me, his voice booming. I never knew what kind of nonsense he’d say next, so I usually dreaded it—but right now, I was grateful.

He was the only person here who’d tell an outcast like me what was going on.

“Hear what?”

“Geonwoo-hyung got in an accident.”

“What?”

“You didn’t know? It was a whole mess yesterday.”

“I was studying...”

Plus, Seunghyuk had been glued to my side, so I didn’t exactly have time to check the news.

If I looked like I was slacking even a little, he’d cling to me immediately.

“Such a nerd. Why are you even worried about grades when you’re S-rank? Even if we finish dead last, people are still fighting to recruit us.”

“......”

Forget what I said about being grateful. Nothing good ever comes from talking to this guy.

I ignored his rambling and asked about Geonwoo.

“What kind of accident?”

“Yesterday, right in front of the gate. He was crossing the street, and a car just hit him.”

So the person injured in yesterday’s accident... was Park Geonwoo?

“They say the driver was basically license-revocation level. Ran a red light drunk. But honestly, I don’t buy it. What are the odds a drunk driver just happens to hit an S-rank Esper? And not just any Esper—Savannah’s hero, fresh off the plane? No way that was random. Someone had to be behind it.”

Jung Sangcheol went off into one of his conspiracy rants. Normally, I’d ignore him—but this time, I couldn’t.

I thought back on everything that happened yesterday.

Joo Seunghyuk had attacked Park Geonwoo. If Geonwoo hadn’t been an S-rank Esper, he would’ve died on the spot from that mana blast. The intent to kill had been clear.

And later that night, when I brought the chicken back late, Seunghyuk hadn’t reacted at all. When I mentioned the accident, he seemed oddly disinterested. He even changed the subject, asking me to feed him.

...No way. It couldn’t be, right?

***

My head was so full of thoughts about Seunghyuk and Geonwoo that I didn’t even know how I got through the exam.

In the original timeline, Joo Seunghyuk had eliminated everyone who got in the way of keeping Kim Jun captive.

So the idea that he might’ve ordered someone to take care of Park Geonwoo... wasn’t out of the question.

And if that theory was true, then it meant Seunghyuk had already begun preparations to confine me.

Someone suddenly grabbed my shoulder.

“Ah! Jeez!”

I jumped and let out a startled yelp.

“Hyung, why are you so jumpy?”

Joo Seunghyuk looked at me with a sheepish smile.

“Ah... sorry. I was just thinking about something.”

“How was your test?”

“Eh... By the way, I heard Geonwoo-sunbae got into an accident last night. Everyone was talking about it in the lecture hall.”

“I see. So, what do you want for lunch?”

He changed the subject so blatantly.

He clearly didn’t want to talk about Park Geonwoo.