LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 4
“Finally, I made it into the Academy!”
Listening to the principal’s boring speech, I couldn’t help but feel nostalgic.
I twisted and turned my body just to get a seat here, and looking back, it makes me shudder.
Back then, I really thought I was going to die. But here I am, having survived against all odds.
However, getting lost in the past was only temporary. I had to focus on the quest at hand.
A quick glance at my status window revealed a glaring quest prompt written in bold letters, as if to say, “Don’t ignore me!”
It read, “At the entrance ceremony, attract the attention of the heroine. 0/6.” Pretty vague, huh?
The rewards were connection points with the heroine and stat points.
Attract their attention.
They probably didn’t mean to go all out and make a fool of yourself; it was more about overcoming obstacles and leaving a lasting impression.
What obstacles, you might ask? Well, apparently, monsters were set to appear at the entrance ceremony.
But it wasn’t a serious incident. The monsters had been weakened to the point where they couldn’t harm humans.
Monsters causing trouble at the entrance ceremony was basically a kind of tradition at Heros Academy.
Of course, this information was tightly controlled.
The Heros Company, practically a government itself, kept all academy-related info under wraps.
It was a surprise test; if everyone knew, it would defeat the purpose.
If I didn’t have knowledge from the original story, I might not have known either.
Standing out here could potentially alter class assignments.
It might sound like a crazy quiz show with a thousand points on the line, but… that’s just the setup.
They probably wanted to shake the sand and see if they missed any hidden gems.
Of course, most of those who were caught in the sift were from Class A in either the Hunter or Hero course, so it was basically a setup for the main characters.
Having prepped to elevate my abilities, I was ready to jump into action at any moment. When it came to speed, I was confident I wouldn’t fall behind anyone.
Just as the principal left to applause, the monsters were supposed to…
…show up right about now.
Something feels off. At this very moment, the monsters should have been dropping from above, tearing the principal’s clone to shreds.
But nothing happened.
In the original story, this was the moment trouble occurred. But for some reason, nothing was happening even now.
What gives? Are they starting late? The girl sitting next to me looked equally puzzled.
She, like me, had also been ramping up her magic power in preparation.
She might have sensed some impending disaster through intuition or prior research, so it wasn’t surprising.
She probably belonged to that category.
With her silver bobbed hair, confused cat ears twitching, and heterochromatic eyes, she certainly stood out.
Her appearance was so striking that I wondered if she was the heroine. If she looked like that, she surely wouldn’t have been left out of the original story.
Yet, there was no character that matched that description.
Sure, there was a one-horned heroine, but she didn’t have cat ears.
With features like that, she should have made at least one appearance in the original story; it felt odd. But I didn’t dwell on it too long.
Just because she didn’t appear in the original didn’t mean she shouldn’t exist.
She might just be someone who hadn’t received attention and wasn’t close to the protagonist.
As I contemplated that, wondering why nothing was happening, the quest window suddenly sparked with static.
What now? This had never happened with the status window before, so I couldn’t help but feel flustered.
Knowing it was a glitch, I wondered if tapping on it would fix things. So I gave it a few taps, and just like that, it stopped glitching and displayed normal text again.
‘Fate has twisted.’
‘Emergency Quest: Correct the unfolding events!’
‘Attract attention from the heroines before the day’s end. (1/7) ▶ View List’
‘Reward: Connection Points with the Heroine, Stat Points.’
…What in the world is going on? I was completely lost. Fate twisted? Correct the unfolding events?
I couldn’t make heads or tails of it.
To make matters even weirder, the number of heroines had increased from 6 to 7.
Plus, one of them had already garnered interest.
What on earth was happening? I couldn’t understand anything.
Yet, trembling fingers clicked on the list of the heroine who had successfully gained interest.
Blanca. It was a name I’d never seen before. And the profile picture was-
-the very girl sitting next to me.
—
According to the original plot, the entrance ceremony should have been chaotic with Minho heroically resolving the situation.
And through that heroic endeavor, Minho should have been assigned to Class A. But somehow, everything was off course.
Minho and I wore similar expressions. We were both thinking, “What the heck is going on?”
Had my phone not buzzed, I would have been lost in thought.
Shocking moments are, well, shocking, but I had to verify my class. It was Class A, obviously.
Next to me, Yeonhwa squealed about how she was in Class A.
Jinhyeon seemed to be saying something about how he managed to end up in the same class too. But Minho wasn’t smiling at all.
As much as I wanted to eavesdrop, I held myself back because that seemed a bit too creepy.
Suddenly, he stood up and headed towards the staff room at the back of the auditorium, not the exit.
Was he about to contest his grades? That wouldn’t go well.
But really, I didn’t want him and I to be in different classes. That wouldn’t bode well for either of us.
He had to go through a completely different narrative than the one I understood, and I wouldn’t get to be near my favorite character.
If only I could broker a good deal on this! I internally prayed as I eavesdropped on Minho’s conversation with the principal.
But it wasn’t the flow I expected.
First of all, Minho wasn’t challenging his grades.
He was questioning why nothing had happened at the entrance ceremony.
For a moment, I thought, “Was he always this audacious?” But then I quickly realized from the principal’s reaction.
Minho was acting right now.
He was embodying the most admirable character at Heros Academy, the one striving to improve despite already being exceptional.
And the principal’s answer was simple: Safety concerns.
He continued, saying it was due to one specific student.
“You’re in Class A too, so you’ll meet her soon. The abilities she displayed during the entrance exam… they were extraordinary. If that student had tried to resolve the accident, all students and faculty could have been caught up in it. Please understand.”
Unprecedented abilities. Caught up. Entrance exam.
…That was my story.
Due to the performance I put on during the entrance exam, the academy likely assessed there could be a real incident at the entrance ceremony.
As a result, the chaos that was supposed to happen during the entrance exam never took place.
In trying to not disrupt the story, it ended up like this.
I couldn’t help but facepalm at the fact that the snowball effect rolled out so perfectly.
But since he was still in Class A, that was a stroke of luck.
“Ambition is nice, but you’d do well to exercise caution from now on. I welcome such students, but among the teachers, there are many who dislike rudeness.”
“Ah… I’ll keep that in mind.”
Having cooled down, Minho seemed to regain his composure. Yeah, that’s the protagonist I knew.
So it turned out alright in the end, but he might need to be a bit more careful moving forward.
My small actions could twist the development more than I anticipated.
If I could even hinder the protagonist’s growth… Ugh, that would be horrifying.
Even though I had my fan instincts, it wasn’t something I could just brush off easily.
I had to prevent that from happening.
As I pondered this, a sudden thought hit me.
Wait, what if I develop a friendship with him now?
Since I was supposed to get closer to him anyway for my plans, and I personally wanted to build some rapport.
Moreover, now that no groups had formed among the students, this was a golden opportunity.
He was sure to stir up a storm soon.
Once he started getting caught up in all kinds of events and people, the chances of me getting involved would drastically diminish.
If there was a time to act, it was now.
But… what on earth should I say? How could I approach him without creating misunderstandings or hostility?
I racked my brain thinking about how to start a conversation with Minho. There were a lot of worries, but nothing that stuck out as a good opener.
Receiving someone’s attention was daunting, but showing interest in someone else was just as intimidating.
Then I remembered that it was still the beginning of the semester.
Right. It’s the start of the semester. No need to dive into anything overly elaborate yet.
Exchanging names and phone numbers would be sufficient. Trying anything beyond that might just raise suspicions.
With my determination set, a surge of misplaced courage bubbled up.
Half lost in my fanboy dreams, my brain convinced me that this plan was just fine and didn’t apply the brakes at all.
Alright. Here goes.
“Uh, hey! Um. Hi?”
But as soon as I saw his expression, it felt like I splashed cold water all over myself, snapping me back to reality.
Oh no, this is bad. He looked at me like, “What’s this weirdo doing?”
I could’ve said something way better; why am I struggling to get it out…!
Yet, I couldn’t back down now. If I quit now, I’d end up with the worst ending in the neither-here-nor-there zone.
I set my face with determination, forcing out words even I thought sounded embarrassing, but what choice did I have?
“…What were you doing going inside?”
Please, just answer! I worked up the courage to do something I’ve never done before. My lips trembled with shame.
I wanted to run away.
I wanted to hide in a mouse hole.
I wanted to act as if this was all nothing and walk away casually.
But I had come too far for that.
“I just had to ask something. By the way, do we know each other?”
Thankfully, instead of treating me like a crazy person and walking away, Minho looked at me with a scrunched-up face but answered back.
…Oh thank the heavens. Though I didn’t believe in that, I thanked whatever might be out there right then.