I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family
Chapter 133: High School Student Yoo Ha-yeon (3)

History class was the fourth period, so my lessons ended pretty quickly that day.

The final exams were already over, which made the school atmosphere pretty chaotic. And... for the first time in a while, I had lunch at school.

—Clatter.

The sound of cutlery clinking filled the air. The student council members, dragged away from the cafeteria, sat stiffly, nervously fiddling with their forks and knives.

“Ahaha, it’s okay. I’m not going to scold you for not knowing how to use tableware. You can just learn later. Oh, but the secretary who talked back to me earlier—you’d better study hard, alright?”

“Y-Yes, young miss.”

The secretary-sunbae nodded frantically, beads of cold sweat running down his face.

Regardless, I enjoyed my lunch in the VIP dining room.

“Mmh, this is nice. Chef, give me more soup.”

—Clatter.

“No wine? C’mon, don’t be like that. My nanny said absolutely not? Huu..., I guess it can’t be helped.”

Not that I expected anything. French cuisine without wine is meaningless, but my nanny doesn’t understand that. Still, I’m almost an adult, so I guess I should adapt.

Fortunately, the chef specialized in Italian cuisine.

“...Young miss, from now on we’ll just eat in the cafeteria.”

At that moment, the vice president sitting beside Seo Ji-yeon spoke up cautiously. He clearly found all of this overwhelming.

“Why? It’s not tasty?”

“N-No, it’s not that...”

“We’ll be eating together often anyway, won’t we? Or are you planning to go work somewhere else instead of my company?”

I stared him down with a soft smile, and the vice president gulped and lowered his head.

“...I’ll do whatever you wish, young miss.”

“Mm-hmm, that’s how it should be.”

Fortunately for them, I’m not the type to bully anyone at the table, so lunch passed peacefully.

*** _{\n(o)v.e\l.com}

After lunch, I spent time in the student council room chatting with Seo Ji-yeon.

“How’s the school festival coming along?”

“I’m dying from all the tasks you gave me, young miss.”

Seo Ji-yeon grumbled as she sprawled over the desk, arms stretched out.

“It’s nice that our Ji-yeon has a small chest. That kind of position hurts for me.”

Glare.

“...Are you dissatisfied with my small chest? It’s because you kept making me work through my growth spurt.”

“Hmm, no. It’s good to have at least one like you for balance.”

Honestly, Seo Ji-yeon isn’t even that small. It’s just that the women around me are unusually large...

Anyway, her figure suits business suits well, so that’s a plus. Practical, too.

“Ugh, I feel offended... Anyway, I heard the ‘former’ chief secretary is coming too?”

—Nod nod.

“Yeah. Si-hyun’s coming for the first time in a while, so make sure the festival’s done well.”

Technically, she’s not coming to see me—she’s coming for her family. But she said she’d spare at least a day for me.

Even though I’ve been taking good care of her younger siblings, she must still miss them.

I get it, honestly. Even if they’re all grown now, it’s been months since warmhearted Si-hyun last saw her siblings.

—Swoosh.

“We’ve already got the plan set. I didn’t really do much because I was busy helping you, but the vice president and others handled most of it. If there’s anything you want to add, just say the word. I don’t really know what someone twice my age would like, so I have no idea what this Si-hyun person enjoys.”

Seo Ji-yeon said that with a bright smile.

“Oh my, Ji-yeon, are you jealous?”

“Hmph, not at all. I just wanted to remind you that while she may have been your secretary since her twenties, I’ve been working for you since my teens. I’m not incompetent.”

“Sure, sure. If you say so. And actually, there are a lot of things I want to try at the festival. I kind of want to do a maid café..., but that’s probably not happening. Sigh.”

Tragic. If I’d been born just three years later, I could’ve tried to jump on the trend somehow, but at this point there aren’t even any maid cafés in Akihabara.

“...Maid? Do you mean like a housemaid? Or the kind of Western-style servant you hire at your mansion?”

“Mm, the latter.”

Seo Ji-yeon, sitting at the head of the student ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) council table, squinted in confusion. Dressed in a school uniform like that, she looked rather commanding.

“It’s not the first time I don’t get your standards, young miss, but why is something weird like a maid café okay, while you dislike actual dance performances, which are pretty mainstream?”

“Well... how do I put it. It’s kind of embarrassing to move my body in front of people. Teasing someone is different. A stage is open, and a bunch of strangers are watching. I didn’t like that.”

“Ah, so it’s that you hate situations outside your control.”

Is that it? I never really tried to analyze the reason, but hearing it like that, it makes sense. I do absolutely hate when people suddenly touch me.

“And old-fashioned dance styles are just so tacky... Maybe that made the shame even worse.”

“So you’re okay with it now?”

Well, not exactly thrilled, but...

“...I don’t hate it. I mean, I’m a girl too.”

Honestly, it turns me on. Worst case, I’ll just keep the video of Yoo Ha-yeon dancing to myself. No audience necessary.

I shrugged and ruffled Seo Ji-yeon’s hair.

“Our Ji-yeon, your workload’s going to increase once Windows 95 launches. If you really want, I could send you the video too.”

“W-Wait a minute. Pigmalion Soft was supposed to be your project with Myrian... Oh.”

And Myrian went to the States.

“Good luck, Ji-yeon. You studied coding at school, right?”

Seo Ji-yeon (160 cm) flailed her arms in protest. In front of her, student council documents and Daehwa Group files were messily piled together.

“You can’t do this! T-This violates labor law! Do you even realize how much I’m already doing?!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m not asking you to code, just to be able to read it. And you said you hardly do any student council work, right?”

“I’m just helping with the festival for now, but I’m doing so much! I even caught the perverts who were secretly writing smut about you, kept the kids in line, submitted supply requests, revised the curriculum so students could serve you right after graduation...”

“Mmh, our Ji-yeon really is competent. Speaking of which, I’m kind of curious about that smut. Show it to me. If it’s well written, maybe I’ll lighten their punishment.”

“Ah, no! Those bastards need to be expelled—!”

What do you mean, no?

***

That same time, in the Daehwa High School boys’ dormitory.

—Scratch scratch.

[July 25, 1995, clear skies.

Something unusual happened today. The ‘young miss’—who’s almost never seen outside of entrance ceremonies or exams—actually showed up at school.

And then...]

—Clack.

The student writing his diary set down his pen.

“Ugh... Just who is this young miss? Wasn’t Cha Ba-da the ‘young miss’?”

Not long ago, Go Yeon-woo had transferred to Daehwa High School. Now, with his brow deeply furrowed, he recalled the events of the day.

During fourth period economics class, Yoo Ha-yeon suddenly appeared and treated the student council president like a servant. Then she dragged the student council to lunch, flipping the whole school upside down.

It wasn’t so much anger at a chaebol heiress's tyranny—more like watching some celebrity or exotic creature.

—‘Wow, haven’t seen the young miss in ages.’

—‘That’s our young miss. She’s ruthless as ever.’

—‘Damn, I wanna grope those—oh, hey, Seo Ji-yeon? I-I was joking, of course... Aaaagh!’

“...Tch. Something’s off.”

Of course he knew. Daehwa High was a private school built by Daehwa Group, and Yoo Ha-yeon—called the group’s genius youngest daughter—wielded immense influence.

You couldn’t not know when she had her own pool and banquet hall built just for her. And no, it wasn’t part of the cafeteria—she had a separate private dining room. That level of inequality was outrageous, yet at Daehwa High, it was treated as completely normal.

So normal, in fact, that there were periodic reports from students who tried to expose this corruption to the media.

But nothing ever came of it. And Go Yeon-woo didn’t think much of it anyway. He had transferred in knowing all this.

Still... seeing Yoo Ha-yeon in person from afar, she was nothing like the rumors.

Like how she supposedly forced boys and girls into mixed baths, or was obsessed with Japanese games and anime, or seduced boys only to reject them later...

‘Complete bullshit.’

The real Yoo Ha-yeon didn’t mess around pervertedly, nor did she flaunt expensive Japanese culture like a stereotypical rich kid.

She was elegant and poised—so different from your average flashy chaebol brat that you could understand why everyone called her “young miss.”

With a serious expression, Go Yeon-woo pondered deeply.

“...Maybe ‘young miss’ isn’t a person at all? What if it’s a code name for some organization? If Yoo Ha-yeon’s personal guard is called ‘young miss,’ then the weird rumors actually make sense...”

That would explain everything. School organizations always had strange rituals. Mixed bathing wasn’t that unusual as far as bad traditions go.

Yeah, I mean—would a student’s home really have a bath that could fit that many people?

‘...Would it?’

Go Yeon-woo, who had seen plenty of photos of Yoo Ha-yeon’s mansion floating around school, blanked out for a moment before shaking his head.

Something was weird. The fact that everyone accepted it so naturally was the weirdest part.

Was it just because he was new? Whenever he asked Daehwa Middle grads, they’d clam up and refuse to talk.

“Knowing too much’ll get you hurt. You’ve got a pretty face—might get kidnapped by the young miss,” they’d say, joking.

‘...Huh. Not such a bad outcome.’

No one dislikes being called good-looking. Not even Go Yeon-woo, an aspiring writer.

Though lately his dreams had been stymied because the literature club president and several others had been dragged off by the student council for punishment, he was still a bookish soul.

He liked reading and writing and hated oppressive environments, which is why he’d transferred out of Korea’s rigid rote-learning hell into Daehwa High.

Which is exactly why he had no interest in school politics.

That... was his fatal mistake.

—Bang!

“Wh-Who...? The student council president?”

Though the sun had long set, Seo Ji-yeon was still in her school uniform, radiating an aura of grim responsibility. She spoke in a husky, commanding tone.

“Hey. Come work under me. The secretary spot is open.”

Go Yeon-woo tensed and shook his head.

“N-No thanks. I, um, heard someone already filled that secretary role today...”

“Right, they did. If only the young miss hadn’t said what she did... We need more people. More warm bodies... Someone young and energetic... a hardworking pushover. This guy’s secured, but I still need those slackers from the film club. And the econ club too, and...”

Muttering something unintelligible, her eyes gleaming with a strange light, Seo Ji-yeon suddenly grabbed Go Yeon-woo’s arm.

“W-Wait!!”

“Everyone, welcome our new recruit.”

Suddenly, a group of student council members stormed into the dorm. Go Yeon-woo thought he saw the dorm supervisor’s silhouette behind them.

“...Yes, ma’am!”

That day, the student council gained one more member under Seo Ji-yeon.