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The President Game 
Limited Series 

The Ally: Ep. 3
Student council re-elections approach, betrayals are discovered, and Seulgi offers Irene her help in winning the election. 
 

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irene sighed, looking up at the gray sky that was starting to rain. she was glad she brought an umbrella, knowing it was a possibility. 

more people gathered at the bus stop for shelter when the rain started falling and it grew heavy quickly. irene shuffled closer to the side to take up less space and saw someone wearing the velour academy uniform running through the rain with their backpack held above their head. 

“sorry!” the girl apologized, bumping into her slightly as she tried to fit under the shelter. irene looked up and did a double take because it was seulgi, who she had never seen taking the bus here and had not talked to in a while. “oh! hello pres.” seulgi grinned. 

“hi.” irene muttered, looking away from her and glancing at the street again with hopes that the bus would arrive soon. 

“i didn’t expect you to take the bus.” seulgi said. 

“what did you expect.” irene responded expressionlessly without looking at her. she didn’t harbor any intense dislike for seulgi, but she also wasn’t fond of her because she knew seulgi was up to no good behind that friendly, charming girl façade. although teachers and students all had good things to say about the girl, she knew it was dangerous to get too close. 

“i thought you’d have a driver.” seulgi said with a shrug. “like most of the other kids.” 

irene simply shook her head. “i don’t think it is necessary to bother the driver every day when the bus is a convenient option.”

“so you do have a driver.” seulgi said with an amused smile. 

irene glanced at her, “yes.” she replied after a while. “do you?” 

“nope.” 

“i’ve never seen you take the bus here.” irene stated and just as she said that, the bus arrived. 

“maybe you just never noticed me.” seulgi said, following her as they boarded the bus. 

irene almost fell for it and said that she would’ve noticed her but caught herself in time. “maybe.” she agreed, sitting down beside the window and seulgi naturally sat down next to her which made irene tense up. 

they sat in silence as the bus drove down the street and seulgi was occupied with trying to dry herself by wiping the water from her arms with her hands. irene sighed inwardly before pulling out a small packet of tissues from her bag and holding it out to her. 

“thank you.” seulgi said, looking a little surprised at her considerate offer as she took the tissues. 

irene tried to block out her presence and she took out her notebook to read through her speech and start memorizing it. 

“how are the preparations for the re-elections?” seulgi asked and irene sighed quietly, breaking out of her focus and looking at her. 

“it’s been fine.” she said. 

“are you confident?” seulgi asked. 

irene paused, staring at her paper for a little longer. “yes.” she said. 

“that’s good.” seulgi said with a smile. “thanks for this.” she handed the packet of tissues back. “i’m getting off here.” she said. 

irene looked out of the window, “this is my stop too.” she said, feeling a little weirded out by the coincidence. 

seulgi smiled, getting up and walking to the doors. she hopped off, quickly ducking under the bus station shelter because the rain was still pouring. 

“which way are you going?” irene asked, taking the umbrella out of her bag. 

“that way.” seulgi pointed down the street. 

“me too. we can share the umbrella then.” irene said. “what?” she asked when seulgi didn’t move and raised an eyebrow at her. 

“you’re so nice.” seulgi said and irene got flustered at the random compliment. ”i thought you didn’t like me.” she added. 

irene didn’t know what to say to that so she just opened the umbrella. “are you coming or not?” she asked and seulgi flashed a smile before quickly going to her side and they walked out into the rain. the umbrella wasn’t very big and irene noticed how seulgi was mindful of maintaining a small gap between them, which meant her shoulder was getting wet from the rain. 

“you can come closer.” irene said. 

“it’s okay…” seulgi mumbled and irene suppressed a smile at the unexpected, shy side of seulgi. 

“your shoulder is getting all wet.” irene said, glancing over and seulgi shook her head.

“it’s fine.”

irene sighed at her stubbornness and she moved closer to seulgi so that their shoulders were touching as they walked. “where do you live?” irene asked, looking up at the gray clouds that didn’t look like were going anywhere soon. seulgi told her the street name and irene thought about it for a moment before nodding. 

“then i’ll walk you there first. it’s on the way home for me.” 

“what? no. you don’t have to do that.” seulgi said quickly, shaking her head. 

“well, i’m not letting you walk home in the pouring rain.” irene replied immediately before realizing the possible implication so she quickly added, “what kind of president would i be if i made a student get sick from the rain?” 

“so walking students home is part of the president’s duties now?” seulgi teased, looking at her with a playful smile and irene looked away, clearing . 

“um.” she said. “i just...i would help anyone if they needed my help.” she said, her gaze flicking anywhere but her. 

“i know. i guess that’s why you’re the president.” seulgi said with a shrug. 

irene smiled, glancing back over. “then is it safe to say i have your vote?”

seulgi gasped dramatically, “so that’s why you’re doing this.” she said, hand on her heart feigning hurt.  

“no! that’s not why. i would’ve done this regardless of that.” irene defended quickly, not wanting seulgi to get the wrong idea and think that she had other intentions. 

seulgi laughed, almost moving out of the umbrella’s cover and into the rain but irene quickly moved to keep her under the umbrella. “stop moving around.” she mumbled.

“you’re too cute.” seulgi said. “i was messing with you.” she giggled.

irene sighed, looking to the side so that seulgi couldn’t see her blushing from embarrassment. as much as she knew seulgi was naturally charming with her words and probably spoke like that to everyone, she still couldn’t help but feel shy with how forward her words were. 

“is it this street?” she asked, changing the topic when she noticed their surroundings. 

“yeah.” seulgi directed them to the apartment and they stood at the entrance under cover, safe from the rain. irene shook the water off her umbrella before looking up and was startled when seulgi was closer than she thought and was staring at her intently.

“w-what-” irene uttered just as seulgi reached up to gently push some strands of hair back from her forehead. irene became aware of how fast her heart was pounding at seulgi’s bold action and she should’ve said something or pushed her back, but she couldn’t move. 

seulgi looked like she was in a trance as her eyes trailed down to meet irene’s and she looked lower before she blinked and stepped back. irene still hadn’t dared to move from her spot but she could breathe again when seulgi wasn’t so close. 

“thank you for walking me home.” seulgi said sincerely. “i hope you get home safely.” 

irene just nodded, suddenly feeling awkward. “i will.” she said, gaze lingering on seulgi’s smile for a moment too long. “then...bye.” she said, turning to leave. 

“wait, irene.” seulgi grabbed her wrist, stopping her and irene turned to look at her with wide eyes. seulgi looked a little guilty for scaring her and she quickly let go of her wrist. 

“what is it?” irene asked, heart pounding loudly again.

there was a second of hesitation before she spoke. “you shouldn’t trust your council members.” seulgi said, looking at her with seriousness in her gaze. “be careful of the people close to you.” 

irene gulped because seulgi looked so serious that she couldn’t find the words to retort. “o-okay.” was all she could say before she left. 

seulgi watched her go with hurried steps and she smiled, folding her arms. her plan was working perfectly. 

>>

irene couldn’t stop thinking about her interaction with seulgi the previous day. on her way to school, her mind kept wandering back to how seulgi stared at her and how nice her small laughs sounded as her eyes turned into crescents. irene shook her head, stopping herself from thinking about her again and tried to distract her thoughts with other things like school assignments. 

she passed through the gates and immediately noticed something was wrong because everyone around was looking at her. they weren’t staring maliciously, but irene still felt worried. she walked a little faster until she saw wendy and she quickly ran over.

“wendy!” she called, latching onto her arm. “what’s going on?” she asked. 

wendy looked at her with an indifferent expression and irene paled. “what is it?” she asked. 

“you tell me.” wendy said, putting her phone in irene’s hand and irene looked down. “there’s more, scroll through.” she said. irene’s heart was beating loudly in her chest at the sight of the photos taken of her and seulgi when they walked home yesterday. there were photos of them sharing irene’s umbrella with laughs and smiles on their faces, and as irene scrolled through, there was a picture of them in front of seulgi’s building standing closely together. from the angle the photo was taken, it could be mistaken that they were kissing.

“who took this? where did you get this from?” irene asked, panicking. 

“it was circulating on social media.” wendy said, taking her phone back. 

“it’s not what it looks like.” irene protested, “i was just walking her home because she didn’t have an umbrella.” she said. 

wendy sighed. “i mean, i believe you. but everyone in the school is talking about this now and you know how rumo