My Childhood Friend’s Stock Will Never Fail Chapter 35

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“The types of Gates are classified by difficulty from F-rank to S-rank, and by size from small to colossal. Occasionally, an R-rank Gate of unknown difficulty will also appear—”

 

Inside the classroom, where the lecture was in full swing.

 

With the drowsiness that settled in after lunch combined with the teacher’s monotonous voice, the room felt unbearably sleepy.

 

Using the students nodding off around her as cover, Yoohee idly twirled her mechanical pencil while sinking deep into thought.

 

‘The thirtieth transmigrator…’

 

The notification had gone off in the second-year hallway. She couldn’t be certain, but it seemed highly likely that the thirtieth transmigrator was one of the second-year students.

 

‘The thirtieth transmigrator will receive scenarios from the Constellations too, right?’

 

Like her, the thirtieth transmigrator would have to follow the Constellations’ scenarios in order to reach an ending.

 

‘But what if… the thirtieth transmigrator fails a scenario…?’

 

The thought suddenly crossed her mind.

 

If failing even a single scenario meant that person would inevitably meet an ending where their life was cut short…

 

‘…’

 

Her heart began pounding strangely.

 

To calm her anxiety, she forced herself to believe that couldn’t be the case.

 

‘There’s no way… the penalty for failing the very first scenario would already be that severe.’

 

If she didn’t convince herself of that, she felt like she wouldn’t be able to survive in this insane scenario.

 

Ding-dong.

 

As the students rose from their seats one by one, Yoohee and Joohoon also packed their bags and headed to their next class.

 

Since they still had some time before it started, the two decided to sit on a bench outside the building and enjoy the breeze for a while.

 

Birds chirped cheerfully, and the sky was flawlessly clear.

 

As Yoohee crossed her legs while taking in the peaceful scenery, Joohoon suddenly held out his large hand in front of her.

 

“Yoohee, give me your hand.”

 

“Hm?”

 

Still puzzled, Yoohee placed her right hand in his.

 

Holding it gently between both of his, Joohoon began kneading it.

 

He pressed firmly with his fingertips into the space between her thumb and index finger, carefully massaging it.

 

“I heard massaging here helps. Has your stomach been okay lately?”

 

“Ah, yeah. Thanks.”

 

When they were little, Yoohee had generally been healthy, but she’d often gotten indigestion after eating.

 

Whenever that happened, Joohoon would massage her hand like this.

 

She wasn’t suffering from indigestion now, but the gentle touch of his hands felt so comforting that she didn’t pull away.

 

“It really feels like we’ve gone back to the old days. Taking classes together, and you even massaging my hand like this.”

 

Yoohee smiled brightly, and Joohoon lowered his gaze to their hands, his face turning red.

 

“Your hands are still so small, Yoohee.”

 

“You’re just huge. Look at your fingers too—they’re so long.”

 

“…Yeah. I guess they’ve changed a little since then.”

 

Sitting beside Joohoon beneath the warm sunlight filled Yoohee with a sense of comfort.

 

She quietly let him continue holding her hand, but after a while, the fingers that had been steadily pressing against her palm gradually slowed.

 

“Hey, Yoohee.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“Do you keep in touch with that senior guy from earlier?”

 

When she looked up, the smile had completely disappeared from Joohoon’s face.

 

“N-No?”

 

She found herself stammering without realizing it.

 

She’d never noticed it when they were children, but Joohoon’s expressionless face now carried a coldness that made him seem strangely untouchable.

 

“I just… happened to end up with his contact information, that’s all.”

 

“Really? You two looked pretty close.”

 

“Did we…? W-We aren’t that close or anything.”

 

Why does this feel like I’m making excuses?

 

It felt exactly like being caught by your boyfriend in a compromising situation and desperately trying to explain yourself.

 

But with her hand on her heart, she’d never done anything inappropriate with Seohyunho.

 

Besides, Joohoon was her childhood friend of ten years, so calling him her boyfriend was still…

 

“I wasn’t interrogating you. I was just curious. I wanted to know what happened while I was gone.”

 

As Yoohee’s eyes darted around, Joohoon finally relaxed the corners of his mouth.

 

Seeing that, Yoohee also let out a quiet sigh of relief before answering softly.

 

“Nothing much happened. I was always busy studying.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. Well… I did run into him a few times by chance.”

 

“Ah… I’m feeling a little dizzy.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Joohoon suddenly pressed a hand against his forehead.

 

Startled, Yoohee hurried over to support him.

 

“What? Are you feeling sick?”

 

“Yeah. I think I overused my mana during practice earlier.”

 

“…Really?”

 

It struck her as a little odd.

 

Usually, the symptoms of mana exhaustion appeared immediately after excessive mana use.

 

Practice had ended before lunch, meaning more than two hours had already passed.

 

“Give me your hand. I’ll guide you.”

 

But stabilizing Joohoon came first.

 

Yoohee held out her hand toward him.

 

However, Joohoon hesitated and couldn’t quite bring himself to reach out.

 

“…You only collapsed not that long ago. It feels like I’d be pushing you too hard.”

 

“No. I’m perfectly healthy. I’m totally fine now.”

 

“Even so.”

 

Kind-hearted Joohoon shook his head, his face full of guilt.

 

Perhaps the sight tugged at the Constellations’ heartstrings, because the Constellations on Team Joohoon began speaking up one after another with genuine sincerity.

 

[Constellation, ‘Hopeless Romance Fantasy Addict,’ tells you to please take good care of our Joohoon.]

 

[Constellation, ‘SSS-Rank Free-to-Play Gamer,’ tells you that there isn’t another man like Joohoon.]

 

[Constellation, ‘Galaxy YOLO Tribe,’ waves a stack of bills and shouts at you to guide him.]

 

‘Come to think of it, how many Constellations were connected last time?’

 

Before she fainted yesterday, she’d vaguely seen the status window say that more Constellations had entered the channel, but the exact number was a blur.

 

‘…I’ll find out later.’

 

The more active the channel became, the more sponsorships it would receive, so it was a good sign regardless.

 

“I’ll be fine after getting a little fresh air.”

 

Joohoon spoke softly, and at the same time a sub-scenario window appeared before Yoohee’s eyes.

 

—Fifth Sub-Scenario ~Somewhere Between Friends and Lovers~

 

Difficulty: D

 

Objective: Guide Kim Joohoon.

 

Time Limit: Within 40 seconds.

 

Success Reward: White Day Candy (An extremely rare candy left over after the White Day event. If a male lead candidate eats it, his affection will increase by at least +1.)

 

Failure Penalty: Plain-Looking Hallucination Effect (For 3 weeks, raising the affection of male lead candidates becomes extremely difficult. Depending on the male lead candidate, even affection already accumulated may easily decrease.)

 

Hosted by: Constellation ‘Galaxy YOLO Tribe’ provides the reward, while Constellation ‘Soda Addict’ oversees the penalty.

 

‘What?’

 

She was struck speechless once by the time limit measured in seconds, and then her mind went blank again after reading the failure penalty.

 

Not only would raising affection become harder, but even the affection she’d already built up could easily fall.

 

It was practically telling her to throw away the Fourth Main Scenario, where she had to protect Joohoon and Seohyunho from the thirtieth transmigrator.

 

Damn it, she didn’t have time to hesitate.

 

“Joohoon! I’m really okay! Let’s do the guiding.”

 

“Really…? I didn’t think it’d come to this so soon….”

 

Her heart pounded loudly like the countdown timer itself, making it hard to hear Joohoon’s quiet reply.

 

“Hm? Hurry.”

 

She grabbed his arm and urged him on.

 

Looking thoroughly flustered, Joohoon gently removed Yoohee’s hand and cautiously made a suggestion.

 

“Th-Then… how about increasing the contact area this time?”

 

“Increasing the contact area?”

 

“Yeah. It’ll make it easier to transfer your wavelengths. It’s more efficient too.”

 

Yoohee’s mind raced at Joohoon’s suggestion.

 

Guiding could generally be divided into two methods.

 

Guiding through physical contact, and guiding through saliva.

 

The latter was the most effective, but unless the two were lovers—or it was an emergency—it wasn’t something people could realistically do, so the former was the standard method.

 

Even with physical-contact guiding, the larger the area of contact, the better the effect.

 

For example, a hug could transfer wavelengths much faster and in greater quantities than simply holding hands.

 

“…Will you hug me?”

 

As Joohoon quietly spoke beside her ear, he opened both arms.

 

At the same time, a shower of cherry blossoms drifted down from the white cherry tree behind the bench.

 

Thump. Thump. Thump.

 

The sound of her heartbeat rang clearly.

 

Even now, time was steadily ticking away.

 

“O-Okay.”

 

“Come here, Yoohee.”

 

“Then… excuse me for a moment.”

 

Carefully, Yoohee stepped into Joohoon’s embrace.

 

Gulp.

 

The Adam’s apple visible before her eyes bobbed noticeably.

 

“You’re so small, Yoohee. I could hold you with one arm.”

 

Joohoon’s body was firmer than she’d expected.

 

But she had no time to think about that now.

 

‘Stay calm. There’s no time. I can’t afford to mess this up.’

 

Resting her head against his chest through the thin fabric of his shirt, she focused her mind.

 

Closing her eyes, she sensed the flow of mana and wavelengths.

 

Thankfully, it was much easier than before to synchronize her wavelengths with Joohoon’s mana.

 

‘…’

 

Like a meticulous craftsman, she carefully fed in the wavelengths bit by bit.

 

At last, the voice of the status window rang out.