Yeri was by no means unpopular wherever she went, but she never liked to settle for anything less than best. From the five (rather unethical) beauty pageants she won as a child to the 720K followers on her social media account, the numbers proved that Kim Yerim’s presence was always a guarantee that she would reign as the queen of the ground she stepped on. So when her first semester at SM High turned out to be rather lackluster in terms of the density of the people flocking around her, she knew that change had to happen, and it had to happen immediately.

“Saeron!” Yeri screeched at the top of her lungs. She briefly listened for footsteps and took in a deep breath of air when she was met with silence. “Kim Saeron!”

“What?” The voice came from somewhere downstairs. “Can you just come and talk to me like a normal human being?!”

Saeron was Yeri’s less popular but still extremely sociable best friend since birth. The two girls were attending the private boarding school together, and they fought the school board to be able to room together. While it had brought on some difficulties when they ended up in detention that one time, it was a choice that they didn’t regret, and Yeri found absolutely no reason as to why she should worry about retaliation from a bunch of snobby adults anyway. What were they going to do? Fire the custodian so she could clean the restrooms in their dorms?

“Jesus, I can’t believe you always make me come up the stairs to your room.”

Yeri clucked her tongue at her best friend as Saeron blew the fringe out of her eyes, huffing dramatically while climbing the last few steps to the open area on the second floor. They were currently back home for winter break, and Yeri was spending all her time online, obsessing over the numbers on her accounts. And as it turned out, there was a big problem.

“My followers haven’t increased!”

Stopping at the last step, Saeron blinked at Yeri with a face that said, ‘I’ll slap you, .’ “Is that why you made me come all the way up here?”

“If everyone in our grade with a social media account followed me, I should have at least three hundred new followers. If we count everyone in the school with one, it should be over a thousand!”

“I’m three seconds away from pouring all your makeup down the drain.”

“You wouldn’t.” Yeri narrowed her eyes, phone still in hand. “I’ll key your future car.”

They engaged in an intense eye contact battle before the less stubborn Saeron threw her hands up. “Fine. Talk.”

Yeri grinned at the older girl. “What’s the most foolproof way to rule our campus?”

“Be attractive?”

Yeri huffed. “You say that like I’m not the hottest person you’ll ever meet.”

Her friend eyed her. “I think I’ll pass. Won Bin all the way.”

“Tsk. What else?”

Saeron plopped down on the couch next to Yeri. “Be an athlete?”

“The last time I tried competing in school athletics, I ended up in the hospital with a bruised eye. That’s more up your alley.”

“That’s all I can think of.” Saeron slumped down and hummed before jolting upright. “Oh! No, wait, there’s something else.”

Yeri’s eyes widened as she shook her friend’s shoulders. “Tell me, . I’m going to faint at this rate.”

“Stop, ow, my head.” Saeron glared at Yeri. “For a NARP, you’re so strong.”

“, call me NARP one more time, and I’ll kick your to prove you wrong.”

“Fine, sorry.”

Yeri sat back, arms crossed. “Okay, shoot. Reveal your secrets. Endow me with the wisdom of how I can become campus royalty.”

“Be Kang Seulgi or Bae Irene.”

The shorter girl narrowed her eyes. “Seriously?”

“Seriously.” Saeron slung an arm around Yeri’s shoulders and swept her palm in front of them. “Imagine this. You get plastic surgery. You turn into them. You usurp thei