Juno had been a child with low self-esteem from an early age.

Unlike Timothy, the protagonist of season 1 of the drama, she was neither outgoing nor exceptionally attractive.

Rather, because Timothy was so popular and had many friends, Juno became increasingly introverted as she was implicitly compared to him outside.

Well, it might not matter much since she’s just an extra anyway.

Anyway, as I entered Juno’s body, I could read the memories of the life she had lived.

Juno had a single childhood friend named Allen.

Due to his delicate features that shone from a young age and his mysterious eye color, Allen was popular with everyone.

However, unlike Timothy who enjoyed chatting and hanging out with other kids, Allen always kept his place by Juno’s side.

Then circumstances arose that made him move to England.

Juno was saddened to lose her only close friend. Before the car full of moving boxes departed, Allen, now a blurry memory, said:

“I’ll come back to see you again, Juno.”

The boy who was cold to other kids and only gave short answers gently patted Juno’s head and got in the car to leave for England.

They exchanged a few emails afterwards to keep in touch, but never saw each other face to face. In the past year since I took over Juno’s body, I hadn’t contacted him at all.

I stared at Allen’s photo posted on social media.

The pretty boy from childhood had grown into a handsome man with sharper features as he neared adulthood. Still with that cold aura.

But since I’m not the real Juno, I didn’t feel excited or nostalgic about Allen’s return.

I was only worried.

‘Will I have to meet him?’

New York and Connecticut aren’t that far apart. It’s a distance that can be traveled anytime if one wants to.

I don’t know when Allen returned to New York from England, but somehow I have an ominous feeling.

A feeling that I might reunite with Allen.

For about a week, I’ve been preoccupied with thoughts about the high school team in New York and Allen.

Aside from Allen being Juno’s childhood playmate, I wonder what grade Awakened Allen would be?

According to rumors on social media, Allen is the highest grade at Tieson Boarding School but shrouded in mystery.

Since the soldiers working with him respect and look up to him, he must be at least A-grade.

‘Surely he’s not S-grade, is he?’

S-grade is only possible by clearing quests difficult for humans to achieve, or through skill awakening quests that I have to do as a proxy.

If Allen is S-grade, does that mean he cleared those strange quests on his own?

Besides Allen, there was something else I needed to pay attention to.

The D-grade gate that would soon open in Connecticut.

I deliberately didn’t leak information about the dungeon to the school team I train with.

If I had hinted that I knew when the gate would open, it would cause more than one or two troublesome issues.

At the very least, Victor might pester me about skill awakening like he’s been doing, or Mr. Benjamin might start keeping an eye on me.

‘If they found out I was a special case, and a very useful one for dungeon suppression, they might recommend conscription or military enlistment or tell me to become a soldier for the country.’

I know all three mean the same thing. It means that if I catch Mr. Benjamin’s eye, forget about freshman life at Harvard, I’ll be enlisted for the country.

And I didn’t want my life to turn into a military story.

It’s enough as it is now, no more!

Anyway, I focused on after-school training and memorizing dungeon data without revealing the fact that a dungeon would open soon.

But it seems I overdid it without realizing.

“Hey, Squirrel! Blood!”

I quickly raised my head at Victor’s shout.

Then I felt something warm and tangy flowing down my philtrum.

“This much is fine…”

Before I could put my hand to my philtrum, someone gently cupped my cheek and wiped my lips with a handkerchief.

“You seem to be pushing yourself too hard lately. Why don’t you take a break?”

Adrian said as he lightly held my chin and wiped my nosebleed.

By the way, he was definitely freezing the training ground far away earlier, when did he come?

‘S-grade agility… or something like that. What a waste of ability anyway.’

While I kept my mouth shut, Adrian lightly stopped my nosebleed and examined my face. His usually smiling face hardened a bit.

“I like resting more than anyone, you know? But I can’t rest.”

“What are you talking about? Is someone chasing you? It’s just one day off. All the gates open in New York anyway.”

Victor, who was looking at Adrian and me with disapproval, grumbled. Then Mr. Benjamin walked towards us from behind. He must have seen my nosebleed too.

“You can rest for a day, Miss Juno. Why don’t we end today’s training here?”

They say this because they don’t know that a gate will soon open in the skies of Connecticut.

Before the three men’s concern for me grew even more, I forced a smile and said:

“No, why would I rest? I should serve. …Serve the country! I should train hard every day. How can I play around? Haha, go go, I’m a great American serving the country!”

As I pretended to be a patriotic girl, even forcing an eye smile, Mr. Benjamin looked genuinely moved, while Victor looked at me with a sour expression as if thinking ‘What’s wrong with her?’ He must have sensed that I was speaking through gritted teeth.

Adrian, who had been standing still with an unreadable expression, said after a moment of contemplation:

“Alright then. Should we go ask Teacher Gina to check your condition at least?”

“There’s no need for that… I’m really fine.”

I rubbed the tip of my nose.

My title would activate anyway if I accumulated fatigue beyond a certain point, so why are they acting like this?

As I was wondering how to escape this strange triangle of overprotection.

A siren rang out long in the special training ground.

Weeeeeeee―.

“What’s that?”

The special training ground made from dungeon byproducts vibrated slightly.

Was it an earthquake?

But only the three of us were surprised, and behind Mr. Benjamin, I could see the Awakened soldiers who had been training until just now all running off somewhere.

Oh, could this be…

Mr. Benjamin’s face hardened a little before he turned to us.

“It seems a gate has opened in the skies of Connecticut.”

We headed to our destination in the jeep we used to travel to and from the training ground.

The gate was discovered at the University of Connecticut, just as the status window had told me in advance.

The gate was discovered through reports from college students, and we set out immediately for initial suppression.

“All the people in the university have been evacuated. We will suppress the dungeon as soon as we arrive at the state university. The military units that arrived earlier have measured the dungeon grade.”

“What grade is it?”

“It’s D-grade.”

The location is Central Connecticut State University. The grade is D. This is also the same as what the status window told me.

Pretending to know nothing, I buried myself in the seat and quickly read through the D-grade dungeon data.

On the other hand, Teacher Gina sitting across from me looked very pale.

“Ki, ki, kids, Benjamin and I will protect you. So don’t worry too much. The teachers and adults will do their best! Sh, should we hold hands and pray?”

“Teacher, you’re shaking too much to be saying that.”

We could all clearly see her fingertips trembling. Victor sighed deeply with a distrustful look.

“Just stay behind me. I’ll protect you.”

“No, I can’t be a burden!”

“Gina, you’ll do well.”

Mr. Benjamin smiled and reassured her.

As we moved in the jeep, Mr. Benjamin briefly briefed us on the operation.

“Victor will be at the front, and in the rear will be myself and Teacher Gina as the healer to support the Awakened ones, and Juno as the sniper. Adrian, since you’re a long-range attacker, move between the front and rear and attack at appropriate times.”

“Yes.”

In case the vanguard is breached, Teacher Gina and Mr. Benjamin separately packed magic guns made in collaboration with military suppliers.

I took out a magic bullet revolver from my inventory.

The jeep soon parked at the university’s main gate.

Vast plains and sparsely planted street trees. The reddish-brown brick exterior of the university buildings came into view. Among them, the gate had opened right above the Elihu Burritt Library.

Soldiers who had already arrived were evacuating people and controlling access to the area.

“It hasn’t been an hour since the gate opened. No monsters have come out yet, but we can’t be too careful.”

“We should go in and close it quickly then.”

“That’s right.”

As we approached the soldiers positioned around the library, they saluted. I glanced at Mr. Benjamin returning the salute and then quickly raised my eyes to the sky.

A black gate floating above the roof of the Elihu Burritt Library. It was opening its pitch-black maw against the backdrop of the setting sun.

‘Come to think of it, this is the first time I’m seeing it this close.’

When the gate first appeared in Connecticut, I only saw it as a tiny black dot floating in the distance or on the news.

As I looked up at the sky with my arms crossed, Victor approached.

“What, nervous?”

“Why would I be?”

“It’s your first time entering a gate. It’s okay to say you’re scared. I’ll protect you like I’m doing for Teacher Gina.”

He naturally put his arm around my shoulder, fully prepared to tease me.

But why would this be scary?

I turned to Victor, who was acting all high and mighty towards me, with a small laugh.

The sunset dyed Victor’s and my faces red.

“Why would I worry when I have you two?”

“…What?”

There are two S-grade Awakened ones here, among only a handful that exist on this vast land. So why would I fear a D-grade dungeon?

I gave a relaxed smile to Victor, who was making a dumbfounded face.

“Stop talking nonsense and let’s go up, Queen.”

After shrugging off Victor’s arm on my shoulder, I approached the library building.

Victor stayed in place for a moment before flushing with displeasure.

“What do you mean by that just now, Four-eyes!”

“What do I mean? Exactly what I said!”

We bickered like that for a while as we headed towards the library.