HOLY MOTHER OF-

The instant my eyes landed on such beauty, I couldn't help but turn off my phone, close my eyes, and scream internally. Sometimes, I forget just how confident she is, knowing she's admired by many students here at school. She wouldn't hesitate to flaunt her charm when needed.

"Minjeong."

"..."

"Minjeong."

"..."

"Oiii, Minjeongieeee."

"...What?"

"Are you okay?"

"Ryujin!" I exclaimed, opening my eyes and placing my hands on her shoulders, "I've been blessed by my favorite character, and I think I'm dying!"

Blinking at me with confusion, Ryujin burst out laughing. "Pfft! Bwahahaha! What on earth are you talking about?!"

Sighing in delight, I retreated my hands and clasped them together, "Ohh, Ryujin~ Right now, I'm the happiest girl in school~ Ohhh~ To be blessed by Aphrodite~ Ohh~"

Ryujin playfully rolled her eyes and gave me a strong push on the shoulder, which I didn't care about balancing myself, and fell onto the ground where we sat. "Pfft! Whatever, man! I'm going to finish my quota before our coach scolds me."

Watching Ryujin stand up from the ground, take off her track jacket, and start running, made me remember that I was still yet to give Jimin a reply. So, quickly, I sat up, picked up my phone, and turned it on again to type my response.

As soon as our conversation ended, I turned off my phone and smiled at myself... Jimin, this is your fault for sending that photo all of a sudden! Now, I feel even more energetic, ready to run five more laps for you!

"Alright, let's do that!"

I need to release the sudden energy Jimin gave me somewhere anyway.

Before I stood up to prepare myself and run five more laps, I made sure to tighten my phone's security and set the photo Jimin sent me as a home screen wallpaper—you know, for motivation.

"Yo, Minjeong! Are you going to keep up or what?"

Ryujin yelled at me the second she passed by me and I chuckled. Because I didn't want to be late for classes, I stretched for a few minutes first before finally attempting to sprint all through five laps.

૮ ᴖﻌᴖა

"Wow... Minjeong, are you for real?"

"What?"

Ryujin wrapped her arm around my shoulder and we looked at the rankings of our mock exams, which took place a few hours ago. It was to analyze the average academic skills of the students for this school year.

The hallway buzzed with excitement as students discussed their exam results. Some lamented their performance while others celebrated their success. This lively atmosphere, so different from the usual calm, gave me a sense of freedom to act like any other student without worrying about disrupting the storyline.

I'm safe for now!

"What are you doing?"

"The hell you mean? I did great," I shrugged, and Ryujin sighed.

Honestly, I see no absolute problem with what I did!

I ranked second overall in this school's academic standings. The board showcased every student's scores, highlighting the top fifty achievers on a separate fancy-looking board.

Ryujin, who secured the forty-first spot, seemed content with her results but was surprised to learn about my improving academic knowledge. Of course, I'm excelling—I'm not the same Kim Minjeong you knew! Nevertheless, I'll always be your reliable friend!

I only did my best because our coach said he'd give me a three-day off practice if I placed within the top ten!

Well, I understand why Ryujin looked so shocked while looking at my results. I ranked second overall thanks to gaining all perfect scores on my exams, except for history, where I scored zero.

"Hey, you can't blame me." Pretending I didn't do it on purpose, I rolled my eyes, "I hate history. It makes me fall asleep!"

"Or... you just don't really want to overtake someone who's been consistently at the top since eighth grade started?"

Ahh, she got me... I need to lie again.

"Ryujin."

"Yes, my love~?"

"I at history. The end."

I said with playful elegance, ducking to escape from Ryujin's grasp. Since many students had gathered around the area due to the board rankings, I couldn't help but bump into them left and right as I hid my face with my jacket's hood.

Why am I hiding my face?

Well...

That's because ever since the accident with Aeri yesterday, I've felt the need to avoid the main characters as much as possible, at least until that happiness meter that spiked to [20%] goes down.

I didn't even get to talk to her after we both got hurt as she only frantically stood up, bowed at me apologetically a few times, and ran away.

I feel kind of weirded out, you know? Then, the whole class—since I had a clear view of the four main characters—I often noticed Aeri stealing glances at me whenever she could. I couldn't read her face, but there was something about it that made my stomach clench!

Being the smart- she is, Jimin seemed to notice Aeri's strange behavior, stared at me when no one was looking, and squinted her eyes at me as if something suspicious was happening.

It was after we finished the mock exams that I, along with the four main characters, had free time to do as we pleased. While Jimin kept an eye on me whenever she noticed her close friend, Aeri, glancing at me, I tried to ignore them and checked the app on my tablet for any new updates.

And I was correct.

The instant I turned my tablet on, it vibrated like crazy until the screen out and showed me this tremoring notification...

Seeing this caused me to gulp and instinctively glance at the two main characters in front of me. Even though Aeri was acting stranger than usual today, Jimin still caught my eye the most. Not because she's my favorite, but because I noticed her happiness meter decreasing.

[ 5% ]

It decreased by five percent.

At this early stage of figuring out how to find the exit out of this world using the meter, seeing Jimin's happiness meter decrease wasn't too concerning for me. Still, it did make me wonder if I could reduce Aeri's meter without causing actual unhappiness.

Hahhh... I kept thinking about it for the rest of the class until the bell rang and Ryujin dragged me with her to check out the results.

Moreover, the app only alerted me about an error. It didn't mention what kind of error it was! Ughh, because of that, I've been dying of curiosity for the past