So that was… a very faint sound, like ice cracking on frozen water.

I could feel the chill creeping across my cheeks.

Victor McQueen, who was next to me, also fell silent, as if sensing the same chill.

He frowned slightly, as if displeased by something, reacting faster than me.

He looked towards the left side of the mansion.

And at the end of Victor’s gaze, I saw the source of the chill walking towards us.

It was Adrian.

Adrian’s expression wasn’t good either.

Understandably so. Leaving aside Victor McQueen and me being soaking wet, Thompson was now pointing a gun at us both, furious to the core.

“Why don’t you put that down, Thompson.”

Adrian said.

“Who are you to suddenly butt in? Don’t order me around. Or should I shoot you first?!”

The Adrian I knew was a gentle and exemplary school president character. A handsome character with a mild temperament, the kind of perfect character everyone admired.

That’s why I believed Adrian would use his characteristic kind tone to properly reason with Thompson.

However…

“Oh really? Can you even shoot?”

Hey, why are you acting like this?

Adrian, who had been all smiles like a golden retriever in front of me, now stood before Thompson with a cold face.

I couldn’t help but be flustered by his face, which had hardened so much it seemed like a different person.

Adrian seemed thoroughly angered.

And Thompson was just as heated.

“Are you crazy? You think I can’t shoot? Are you looking down on me too, like those guys?!”

“Then shoot.”

“What?”

“Shoot. I’ll dodge it.”

Adrian seems to have a knack for making absurd statements sound plausible.

Is he really telling someone holding a gun to shoot because he’ll dodge it?

Thompson’s face changed to look as bewildered as mine.

However, characters like that tend to act more impulsively the more you provoke them. That’s the rule in Hollywood movies.

Of course, this isn’t Hollywood but a B-grade teen drama!

But as I expected, Thompson gripped the pistol with both hands and aimed it at Adrian.

This isn’t right. The genre shouldn’t change from teen romance to news.

However, before I could intervene, Thompson immediately fired.

Bang!

And Adrian dodged the bullet aimed at his forehead.

Just by tilting his head slightly.

Everyone saw that scene.

Me and Victor beside me, Thompson, all the guards gathered in the garden.

‘So this is S-class. Dodging weapons made by ordinary people just by seeing them with the naked eye…’

The fired bullet missed Adrian and lodged into the mansion building.

Thompson slumped to the ground, realizing that he had actually shot at someone, and furthermore, that Adrian had dodged it.

Victor, who had somehow leaned his arm on my shoulder, whistled.

“To think that this lunatic was our school’s head boy.”

I shoved Victor away as he was using me like an armrest. Then I immediately checked the time.

11:59 PM.

Fortunately, I had met Adrian before midnight struck.

While Thompson was slumped down, Adrian strode over to me.

“Juno, are you okay?”

Well, shouldn’t I be asking you that?

Anyway, I answered glumly.

“Yeah. I’m fine.”

“I’m sorry I’m late. There was a family matter so I arrived later than expected. Are you hurt anywhere? What happened with Thompson?”

Adrian’s face turned pale with worry. It was completely different from his expressionless face when provoking Thompson.

Adrian’s hand touched my forehead.

“You’re cold. And wet. Did you fall into a pool or something?”

“Oh, um. There’s a pool on the rooftop. I accidentally fell in…”

Maybe because everything had been so hectic until now.

I hadn’t noticed that my body had turned cold from the pool water.

I only realized it because Adrian’s hand felt hot. In reality, it wasn’t that Adrian was hot, but that I had turned cold.

No wonder my neck felt stiff and I was shivering. I thought it was because of the gun, but apparently not.

I bit my blue-tinged lips and started counting the seconds.

It was 11:59:52 PM.

’54 seconds, 55 seconds…’

“Juno?”

Adrian called me carefully.

“This won’t do. At least wear this, Juno.”

“Never mind that, we should go to the police station first…”

The voices of Adrian and Victor faded away.

5 seconds passed in an instant. It was now exactly midnight.

I let out a long sigh.

Just as Adrian’s hesitant hand touched my cheek, a new system window flashed brightly before my eyes.

[SYSTEM: Congratulations!] [~High School Drama Awakening Quest Complete~] [S-class skill of the Awakened ‘Adrian Coleman’ is unlocked.] [‘The Possessed’ receives a ‘reward’ for completing the proxy quest.]

‘Alright. Then the reward I get is…’

When I awakened Victor, I received a revolver and bullets, so the next reward must surely be an active skill.

Whether Adrian was worried about me or not, I was thrilled at the thought of receiving a reward.

But my joy was short-lived as I saw Thompson, who had been slumped down, getting up again with a scowl behind Adrian’s shoulder.

Thompson’s face was stained with shame.

Thompson was quite a persistent kid. It would be nice if he used that tenacity elsewhere.

“Adrian, be careful. That guy…”

That guy’s eyes look a bit off, it would be good to subdue him but it might be difficult, I think breaking a bone or two would be self-defense – I was about to say something like that.

Adrian, who had been looking at me with a sad face all this time, seemed to notice the movement and glanced over his shoulder at Thompson.

The guy who had been worriedly rambling just now muttered while looking at Thompson with chilly eyes.

“You really don’t know when to give up, do you, Thompson.”

And in that moment, I saw the status window that appeared in front of him.

[SYSTEM: Active skill activated.]

“Huh?”

[‘State Freezing (S)’ is executed. Freezes everything in the surrounding area.]

‘Wait, what?’

[Activation range: 890,000 square meters.]

“…What’s all this commotion about?”

The next morning, Teacher Gina’s face was not just pale but turning blue, and Adrian and I were called to the staff room.

Thinking it was better to show rather than tell, Teacher Gina fiddled with her phone for a moment before turning on the television in the staff room.

The news was being broadcast.

I didn’t feel much since I had already seen the news while eating breakfast, but unlike me, Adrian seemed unable to watch the news at all and hung his head low.

“I have nothing to say, Teacher. I’m sorry.”

“Of course you don’t, Adrian!”

The news was reporting on Thompson’s mansion.

The peculiar point was that unlike when I had just entered last night, Thompson’s grand three-story mansion was now frozen solid as if trapped in a glacier.

‘Wow, Frozen.’

I marveled.

Anyone would think that only this mansion had been hit by a climate crisis and completely frozen.

In front of Thompson’s mansion turned ice castle, police lines were set up with police officers gathered around, and a broadcasting helicopter was buzzing overhead on the screen.

Adrian, sitting next to me, slightly raised his head to look at the breaking news. His face was still dark.

Teacher Gina lowered her eyebrows and said to Adrian.

“Adrian, why did you use your ability? Although Connecticut hasn’t yet legislated laws regarding the use of awakened abilities, you still shouldn’t harm civilians! This is an issue you should have been more careful about! Freezing someone else’s entire house!”

“I’m sorry, Teacher Gina. I used the skill without realizing it.”

Adrian apologized. Teacher Gina let out a deep sigh.

Last night, as soon as I unlocked Adrian’s S-class skill, he used it like he was going berserk.

Adrian’s ability was ice magic.

And since it was S-class, he very simply froze not only Thompson’s entire mansion but also the surrounding hillsides.

Not only Thompson, who was pointing a gun in the mansion, but also all the kids playing in the rooftop pool were frozen, but fortunately, perhaps because they were frozen by magic, they didn’t get frostbite.

Instead, they had to remain still in that position until the police arrived.

In a way, it could be called a highly advanced crime scene preservation?

The police who responded to the report that the mansion had frozen as if an ice age had come, discovered Thompson and his group who were threatening with guns, and even the strange transaction scene happening inside the mansion.

The school’s football team was at the center of it all, they say.

“I don’t understand what all this fuss is about. I even heard that the F-class and D-class football team kids who were at that party are now in the principal’s office for getting caught beating up their classmates! Of course, we can’t send such kids into the dungeon, they’re suspended!”

Teacher Gina looked at us alternately with a thoroughly confused face.

I hadn’t hoped for such an outcome… but being able to filter out the low-class football team was quite a good harvest.

But unlike me, who was calmly weighing the benefits, Adrian was hanging his head in apparent guilt.

“I’m sorry, Teacher.”

Adrian kept apologizing. I glanced at him surreptitiously.

‘Yes, you were emotional yesterday. Why did you act like that?’

I don’t know why he went so far as to unleash his power, but well, looking at just the results, it wasn’t bad…

“I don’t know why I went that far either, Teacher. Suddenly my skill was unlocked and…”

“Unlocked?”

Teacher Gina tilted her head.

Of course, this was something she didn’t know about. The fact that skills could be locked was confidential information that couldn’t be shared with others.

Adrian’s lips quivered for a moment before he let out a sigh. A handsome guy tends to look handsome even when filled with anguish.

I watched him for a moment before reluctantly opening my mouth.

“It’s partly my fault too, Teacher.”