My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 14

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 14
Regardless of Ibee’s shock at his peculiar response, he calmly rummaged through the Transparent File and handed her several sheets of paper he’d extracted from within.
They were Printed Materials filled densely with children’s solutions—so densely the text seemed to swim. Fresh papers to grade had arrived.
Ibee crossed her arms and tilted her head upward at him skeptically.
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t ask me to do this?”
“That’s right. I’m not asking you.”
Saying so, he tapped a section of the Printed Materials with one long finger.
A phrase written in small letters in the margin.
[Ibee, hello. I’d really like it if you did this for me again.]
Ibee read the charming note several times over, then smiled softly to herself.
It was a strange feeling.
She had always believed that being needed by someone she hardly knew would surely be annoying.
Moreover, she’d decided it would be meaningless. Ibee Underwood was nothing more than a fictional character who didn’t truly exist.
Yet the moment she encountered that short sentence from some girl seeking her out, she felt not only pride but gratitude as well.
Ibee lifted her head again.
“Right, it’s definitely not ‘you’ who’s asking.”
It was a cute ten-year-old girl asking Ibee to grade papers, not this bespectacled boy with nothing to recommend him.
So she wanted to grant that girl’s request if she could. It wasn’t difficult, after all.
“Look.”
Ibee forced her gaze away from the child’s round handwriting.
“I don’t think I can do it this time. Will you tell her I’m sorry?”
Frankly, Ibee had expected Quinton to say something brief like “Understood” and leave.
“Why?”
But an unexpected question came back instead.
“Ah.”
And before Ibee could even answer, he made a sound as if he’d figured it out himself.
“You’ve made a decision.”
He seemed to remember the conversation they’d had in the Library.
“Yes.”
Ibee answered curtly, feeling oddly uncomfortable.
“So we’re done now?”
And she quickly turned away from Cyrus.
In any case, Ibee leaving school meant she would inevitably become entangled with that boy for life.
The fact was so dreadful, so suffocating, so repellent that she wanted to flee this place at once.
“Wait a moment.”
But his brief call stopped her in her tracks. Ibee hesitated and turned back to face him.
“What?”
He seemed to wrestle with something before shaking his head as if dismissing the thought.
“In any case, this is something you can continue even if you go to a different school, so if you’re interested in this sort of work, Underwood…”
He took out a pen and wrote something on Memo Paper, then handed it to her. An email address was written on it.
For a moment, her fingertips trembled. But she quickly collected herself and clasped both hands behind her back.
What was she supposed to do with that? Ibee Underwood would cease to exist.
“… I’m not interested.”
His dark eyes began to study her quietly for a moment. It was a searching look.
Perhaps he had noticed the lie. But there was nothing she could do about it.
He lowered his hand.
“I’m sorry.”
Without knowing why, Ibee answered thus and then spun around, hurrying down the corridor with quick steps.
What had she been apologizing for just now? Even she found it difficult to pinpoint exactly.
As she left the Dormitory, Ibee removed the thick Glasses she always wore and stuffed them in her pocket, then called Owen.
— Yes, Your Highness.
“Where are you right now?”
As she asked, a loud noise accompanied by a strong wind swept overhead. A Helicopter was heading toward the Educational University Helipad.
Ibee stood in place for a moment, watching it, then ended the call.
* * *
Ibee found herself reminded, after a long while, of how capable a secretary Owen was. He had directly coordinated with the school to handle every detail she needed to wrap up her time there quietly.
In the meantime, Ibee was enjoying tea in the counseling chair in the Principal’s Office, following Owen’s suggestion.
It wasn’t something she’d wanted to do—it had been Owen’s request.

He’d made a tremendous fuss as if her exposure to vegetable shortening and hydrogenated oils was some kind of catastrophe.
In fact, Ibee loved margarine so much she would have been inclined to knight it, so she found Owen’s theatrics utterly distasteful.
But unwilling to cause unnecessary friction at school, she obediently followed his suggestion and drank Hibiscus Tea, which was excellent for detoxification.
In the meantime, Owen had organized into a single document all the agreements necessary to erase the existence of Ibee Underwood.
This document, nestled in a Black Leather File stamped with the lily that symbolized the Royal Family, was now placed before her.
Ibee opened the file and examined it, then habitually pulled out her Pencil Case from her large Backpack.
As she was rummaging through the dusty, dirty Pencil Case from the classroom, Owen immediately produced an elegant Fountain Pen and offered it to her.
An elegant Fountain Pen with gold trim. And the ordinary Ballpoint Pen she hadn’t let go of for several months.
Ibee looked back and forth between the two. She didn’t know which one to sign with.
In truth, it wouldn’t change the outcome no matter which she chose.
“Your Highness.”
At the quiet call from across the desk, Ibee lifted her head.
“Do you know what the frightening monster that torments so many people in modern society is?”
What on earth was he talking about?
Ibee shook her head.
“It is a signed document. Even the greatest army of lawyers defending the Royal Family would find it difficult to contest. That is the power it holds.”
“I see.”
“And if it should be signed by you, Your Highness, then it carries all the more persuasive force and responsibility.”
“Principal, this is not class time.”
Owen cut off his discourse.
“On the contrary, it is class time.”
The Principal objected.
“At least until Your Highness has signed.”
Owen had no further reply and simply set the Fountain Pen down before Ibee. The message was clear: sign your name and let’s get out of here.
But Ibee decided to audit the Principal’s final lesson a little longer.
“I… I thought you wanted me to leave, Principal.”
“What I want is for you to choose for yourself, Your Highness. Of course, I wish the same for all my other students.”
Ibee fell silent for a moment, studying the Principal’s face, before barely managing to answer.
“I’ve made my decision.”
“And yet you’re hesitating.”
“No, surely not.”
Ibee denied it reflexively, but quickly corrected herself.
“Actually, I am.”
Mercifully, the Principal didn’t ask what caused that hesitation.
She couldn’t have answered properly anyway. Certain moments simply lodged themselves like thorns in her heart, troubling her breathing.

She knew what this feeling was. These are the things that always become regret in the fullness of time.
‘But.’
The reason Ibee had to leave was already clear.
While her relationship with Joy had improved somewhat, the opinion of the 3rd Dormitory toward Ibee as Class President was hardly favorable.
If she stayed in her position, no one would be pleased, Ibee believed.
Since it would be harmful to Ibee as well, Owen was cooperating so actively with this arrangement.
Ibee took the familiar pen from her Pencil Case and gripped it. She had decided to sign after all. That she herself consented to erasing the existence of Ibee Underwood.
The tip of the pen touched the white paper, and black ink began to spread slowly, one dot at a time.
That was when it happened.
“This cannot be allowed!”
As a staff member’s cry echoed from beyond the closed door, the door to the Principal’s Office burst open.
Startled, Ibee turned to see Joy standing there. Breathing heavily, Joy glanced around the interior before approaching the Principal without hesitation.
“Miss Carter, it seems you’ve forgotten that lovely custom of knocking.”
“I’m sorry, Principal. As you know, I’m a troublemaker even at home.”
Joy advanced toward the Principal’s desk with confident bearing.
“I’ve come to withdraw and reclaim the Petition I submitted last week.”
“Miss Carter, I made clear when you submitted that Petition that it cannot be reversed.”
“I know! But that was… a mistake on my part.”
“Are you saying the contents were false?”
“No, Ibee Underwood has no interest in the dormitory whatsoever, and she ignores anyone asking for help. On top of that, she suddenly started imposing rules saying she needed to improve her grades. She’s the absolute worst Class President!”
Owen turned to Ibee with an astonished expression, as if asking, ‘Good heavens, Your Highness, were you really that terrible?’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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