Perfect Crown in Royal Academy of Korea - Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty: Background Support

Heejoo's spring, having become a 10th grader, was not easy. The extracurricular activities she had applied for for the sake of early graduation had their approvals rejected continuously, and her classmates expressed resentment more overtly than before. Whether it was because they were displeased that she, who took the top spot every year, was planning to even do an early graduation, or because Min Jungwoo and Han Dayoung were not present, she could not know. 

Well, she didn't wish to know the reason. Because anyway, all the checks and hindrances until now had not been carried out because there was a clear reason either.

Heejoo knew what she must do at times like this. Performing well even amidst dirty and petty hindrances. Eating well. Laughing well. To think that with merely that much she could make her enemies unhappy, it was a paltrily easy matter.

Therefore, Heejoo sought out the Royal University. It was because she heard a rumor saying the reason she couldn't enter the extracurricular activity groups was due to the seniors. If they blocked her path ahead for the mere reason of being a senior, she could just use that senior's senior, and that would be the end of it. 

"Where is the building where the Department of Political Science and International Relations is located?"

Heejoo, who gave up on looking at the map, called and stopped a passing student.

"If it's Political Science and International Relations, since it's the College of Social Sciences...."

The student, who looked around, pointed at a piercingly rising steeple.

"If you look at that steeple and go straight along, there is the Central Library. If you turn left from there, the first one present is the College of Social Sciences."

"Thank you."
 
Heejoo, who gave a bow of greeting, stared at the steeple standing far away. They said the steeple of the Royal University, which was called the 'Tower of the Unfinished', contained the meaning to advance without stopping. Recalling herself who would be studying beneath that steeple someday, Heejoo moved her steps.
 
"Today's class ends here."
 
As soon as the professor's words fell, Jungwoo rose from his seat. It was Jungwoo who had been wearing his bag from 10 minutes before the class ended.
 
It was Heejoo whom he was meeting for the first time since the start of the semester. Whether she was so busy, even if he sent a message, he had to wait half a day to receive a reply.
 
Jungwoo, who escaped the building, discovered Heejoo at one stroke. Heejoo, who was wearing her school uniform alone among the university students who put on styles, was sitting on a bench reading something.
 
"Sung Heejoo!"
 
At the calling voice, Heejoo, who raised her head, rose from her seat while smiling. Asking what she was reading that much, it was the vocabulary book that she had not been letting go from her hand every time.
 
"Memorize all day long, all day long."
 
As Jungwoo, for whom a laugh came out at her appearance that was the same as usual, gave a playful pinprick, Heejoo shrugged her shoulders.
 
"I should memorize at times like this. Setting a frame and memorizing is a waste of time."
 
"Did you not lose your way?"
 
"I asked a passing person, so I arrived well."
 
"First, do you want to eat something? There is a place where pizza is delicious nearby."
 
Incongruous with Jungwoo's effort of exerting himself to seek out a delicious place nearby since yesterday, Heejoo shook her head with a firm face.
 
"There is no time to eat rice. I have to go right away."
 
"Right away? Where?"
 
"School. It's the midterm exam soon. I have to study."
 
"Rest a bit today. Since you came all the way here."
 
Jungwoo, who could not hide his sorry trace, wore a sullen face.
 
"You told me to do an early graduation, Brother, do you not know that if I ruin the exam even a single time, it's the end?"
 
"Then why did you come."
 
"Because there is something you must do for me, Brother."
 
Heejoo, who answered with a shrewd face, took out an extracurricular activity application from her bag. Jungwoo, who read through the application with an inquiring face, recognized his role only after looking at the <Approval Rejected> stamp pressed at the bottom section.
 
"Ah, this is that thing, right? Elevator season 2."
 
"Something like that."
 
While lifting the tip of her chin pretending to be brazen, a laugh came out to Jungwoo at her face that was inwardly checking his countenance.
 
"What is the program you wish to do the most."
 
"The one on the very front page. I gathered them in order."
 
Why was her face that answered nimbly that cute again.
 
Jungwoo, who ended up letting out a soft laugh, took out his phone. The Royal School was of the side that actively encouraged extracurricular activities from the 10th grade which corresponded to the high school section, but due to the characteristic of carrying out activities forming a group, there was no reason to reject a student whose grades were good trying to enter.
 
It must be an unfeasible exclusion again.
 
The time Jungwoo, who clicked his tongue, spent to resolve the absurd situation was about 1 minute. By calling someone and saying a few words—
 
"A communication will go to you tomorrow."
 
The situation was concluded.
 
"It works right away like this?"
 
Heejoo, who became deflated while her inside felt refreshed, pouted her lips. While she was thankful and felt reassured by Jungwoo who resolved anything, at the same time, she was irritated that she could not resolve by herself a matter that would be resolved with barely this degree.
 
"It must be nice for you, Brother. Because you are Min Jungwoo."
 
"Do you dislike eating rice with that kind of Min Jungwoo?"
 
"Ugh, you became extremely greasy after going to college, Brother."
 
Heejoo, who snatched the application held in Jungwoo's hand, turned back without lingering regret. While that appearance was felt as heartless, Jungwoo was a bit proud. It was good that a child whose pride was that strong sought him when she needed help. Together with a mind wishing she would seek him when it was difficult, continuously in the future as well.
 
The area below the eyes of Wan, who was coming out after listening to the Introduction to Aesthetics class, was dark. To sleep, there were too many things to think about.
 
'You must become my background support.'
 
He did not fail to know what his older brother's words signified. If his older brother became deposed as Crown Prince, the royal family would need an alternative material, and the person who could perform that role was only himself. That was a fact that could not be denied even if Royal Father disapproved of him that much.
 
The problem was, that he himself was not inclined either. When he was young, he had been spitting out sounds saying he wished to become a king, but now he didn't particularly hold much thought. Because in the first place, the reason he said he wished to become a king was also because there were too many things they told him not to do.
 
From after he grew up to be quite mature, he rather did a very different thought. What was the reason the royal family, where existing was the entirety of what one could do, must be maintained, such as that.
 
Knowing it was too disrespectful a thought, he had never brought it out of his mouth. Just very occasionally, when the situation surrounding himself was stifling, it was to the degree of becoming absorbed alone. Because creating a catharsis arose by merely imagining something impossible.
 
At the moment he raised his head thinking today was that kind of day too—
 
"What is it."
 
Wan knitted his brows.
 
"Why is that girl here...."
 
Beneath the steeple standing far away, Sung Heejoo, who stood receiving the sunlight, was visible. It was that bright red girl, who made the impossible possible.
 
The moment he was trying to call her name, Sung Heejoo turned her body. Wan, who widened his stride without knowing it, stared anxiously at her back view that was moving away.
 
Suppressing his mind that wished to run was not easy either that he was dying, but Sung Heejoo began to run.
 
"No, why is she running again."
 
The mind of Wan, who was blocked by the dignity issue, became even more anxious. It wasn't that he wished to catch her and do something. Because they were not of a relationship to share a quiet conversation, nor was she a Sung Heejoo who would be welcoming of him. But he just wished to catch her.
 
Because if he looked at those burning eyes again, the things he had been agonizing over might all become ash.
 
The problem was Sung Heejoo's athletic nerves. Whether she didn't miss the top spot even in PE class, her running speed was no joke.
 
"......"
 
Wan, who made the judgment that he wouldn't be able to catch her, stopped his steps. He could not take his gaze off her back view that was moving away.
 
Heejoo, who ran with all her strength, exhaled a rough breath only after she arrived at the school main gate. She could not know why she began to run. Just...
 
"What is it."
 
Seeing Grand Prince Leean was the entirety. Him, whose presence was distinct even from afar.
 
It wasn't that her eyes met with his. It wasn't that he waved a hand, and it wasn't that he called her name or acted like he knew her either. Just, her legs moved by themselves.
 
'Who will Grand Prince Leean marry?'
 
Suddenly, the story she had heard in the classroom this morning occurred to her mind. Whether because it was a time point when the wedding of the Crown Prince and Yoon Irang approached right under the nose, people held much interest regarding Grand Prince Leean's match too.
 
'His eyes will likely be high.'
 
'Why?'
 
'His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is marrying Irang senior too. They are brothers, so their looking eyes would be similar.'
 
'Should I aim for that place once?'
 
'What crime did Grand Prince Your Highness commit.'
 
Why that unentertaining conversation occurred to her mind of all times right now, Heejoo could not know.
 
"He will likely do it with an equally unlucky woman, what."
 
It was a consistent evaluation.