I casually told my parents that I would be coming home late due to studying for upcoming exams.

Perhaps it was because I had been singing “Harvard, Harvard” since 10th grade?

Seeing me become somewhat overzealous and studious, or in other words, more Korean-like, my parents simply said, “Is this the influence of YouTube?”

Well, Juno’s brother, who was the main character in season 1 of the drama, did get into Harvard, so they probably thought it was natural.

Of course, Juno’s brother didn’t study at all and got in thanks to his main character buff. That annoying Timothy Huntington…

“My mouth tastes bitter. Unlike Timothy, I have to go through this hellish struggle.”

This must be the price of being possessed by an extra.

I let out a long sigh and checked my watch while looking around.

After walking for a while along the majestic ivory-colored walls, a large gate reminiscent of iron bars appeared.

It was the main entrance to the mansion.

“Wow, I knew they were well-off, but how can a house be this big?”

Glancing through the bars, I saw a vast garden with a fountain, cypress trees, and a three-story cream-colored mansion standing tall in the center.

From inside, fluorescent lights from projectors like at a concert, bustling noise, and music were flowing out.

It meant the party was already in full swing.

In fact, I had shared the invitation after agreeing to meet Adrian inside the mansion at 9 o’clock.

The reason I came an hour early was to find student awakeners who hadn’t gathered at the gym yet.

‘I was planning to thoroughly hide the fact that I had awakened until the talk about college admission points. There must be some kids who deliberately didn’t come to the gym, just like me.’

So it would be better to attend the party early and scan the kids before Adrian arrives. Once Adrian comes, I’ll probably be too preoccupied anyway.

I carefully opened the gate and entered, then crossed the long garden and went into the mansion.

Fortunately, the invitation seemed to be just a formality, as no one asked to see it or tried to stop me.

As soon as I set foot in the mansion, the ground shook with loud music, and in the distance, students were shaking their bodies.

With the intense beat and deafening cheers, even though it had just turned 8 o’clock, the kids were out of their minds, intoxicated by the party’s excitement.

I pretended to sip cherry coke from a red disposable cup while making my way through the crowd.

Among the partygoers, there were some familiar faces from the gym.

It was the American football team members, including Simon and Nick.

Well, the football team does like to crash all sorts of parties.

I remembered them bullying Adrian. Based on various experiences, it’s better not to associate with men of such fiery temperament early on.

There are two types of characters I’d rather avoid if possible, and male athletes are one of them.

As I was trying to discreetly pass by them, the voices of the football team members boomed over the music.

“By the way, why hasn’t that bastard Vic shown up yet?”

“How should I know? He might be out there finding a new girlfriend again.”

The team members said with giggles.

‘Vic? That name sounds familiar.’

But I couldn’t eavesdrop on their conversation any longer. There were too many people on the first floor, and I was naturally pushed away from the football team as I was jostled here and there.

Time flew by quickly.

Exhausted from having my energy drained by extroverts dancing in their dress shoes, engaging in public displays of affection, and crudely trashing someone else’s house, I went up to the third floor.

Even in the midst of this, I didn’t forget my duty of occasionally opening the character information windows of unfamiliar faces.

However, contrary to my expectations, most were non-awakened.

Even if there were awakened individuals who didn’t come to the gym, it was only one or two, and they were all F-rank.

I had hoped there would be some reward for coming all this way, but there was no significant gain.

‘Does this mean that high-rank awakeners are really just me and Adrian?’

After diligently opening everyone’s status windows, I sat down on the quiet and dark stair railing to catch my breath.

Checking my wristwatch, the time had passed 11 o’clock.

The appointed time had passed, but Adrian hadn’t arrived.

Instead, there was a message that came before 9 o’clock.

It was when I had just entered Thompson’s mansion and was wandering around.

[Juno, I’m sorry, but the talk with my parents is taking longer than expected, so I don’t think I’ll be able to make it to the party on time. I’m sorry for the inconvenience, but shall we hang out together at the next party? :(]

As soon as I saw that message, I replied within 5 seconds.

[Adrian, I’m already at Thompson’s party having fun. It’s so so fun and so so thrilling that I really want to hang out with you too, so even if you’re late, please come by 12 o’clock. Please!! XD!!]

Despite the cute emoticon, I sent the message with a dark face while crunching on candy.

‘It’ll be hard to solve your quest if not now, Adrian. And introverts like me need to get everything done at once when we’re out of the house. So please cooperate.’

As a result of my insistence, I managed to get a firm confirmation from Adrian that he would definitely attend the party by midnight.

As a bonus, I took the opportunity to more leisurely open the status windows of the party attendees.

But maybe I had stayed at the party too long with my scrawny nerd physique. My whole body felt drained of strength and my legs were wobbling.

I hid in the third-floor corridor to catch my breath, away from the hustle and bustle. It was darker compared to the first floor, but that much quieter.

But I kept hearing the sound of footsteps from above.

“…Don’t tell me there’s even a rooftop?”

I looked up at the ceiling in disbelief.

I had searched the entire third floor of this vast mansion and examined all the people, but there were more people on the rooftop?

However, the deliberation didn’t last long.

Having come to this energy-draining party, I had made up my mind to scan all the school personnel.

“Adrian will be here soon, so let’s quickly check this out.”

I barely stood up on my wobbling legs.

There was a door in a corner of the third floor that looked like an emergency exit, and I entered through it and went up to the rooftop via a narrow staircase.

And when I opened the rooftop door, I gasped.

The rooftop was truly another world.

A large snowman-shaped swimming pool. Girls lying on sun loungers in tiny swimsuits no bigger than a palm. On the other side, guys showing off their bulging bodies while swimming, and beam projectors and fireworks shooting here and there towards the night sky.

In one corner of the rooftop, a group in swimsuits was filming a video of ridiculous dancing.

…What is this? It feels more like a secret adult party than a high school house party.

By the way, how rich must a family be to be able to build a swimming pool on the rooftop? Someone might mistake this for a luxury hotel.

As I was snooping around the pool area examining people’s faces, someone approached me briskly.

“Who are you?”

I was startled and looked at the person. It was Thompson, the owner of this house.

I wondered why he hadn’t been seen in the mansion all this time, but he was having fun on the rooftop.

“It’s a face I haven’t seen before. Are you from our school? Did I send you an invitation too?”

As Thompson spoke to me, the attention of people in the pool turned to me.

After a moment’s hesitation, I lifted my chin and said,

“I’m Juno Huntington from 11th grade.”

“Juno? Never heard of it. Huntington sounds familiar though.”

Well, of course, since I’m the sister of Timothy Huntington who graduated from this school last year.

However, I kept my mouth shut as that topic wasn’t particularly pleasant.

The blonde beauties who were swimming behind came out of the pool, dripping water, and approached elegantly. Their faces were full of curiosity.

“Oh my, Huntington? Could she be Tim’s sister? Timothy Huntington, I mean!”

“Tim? Ah, I see. That’s why the surname sounded familiar.”

“Right. But I don’t think I’ve seen her face before? Maybe because she doesn’t look much like her brother?”

People around exaggeratedly held their stomachs and laughed, even though it wasn’t a funny topic at all.

And I belatedly realized.

The separate world on the rooftop, unlike the party inside the mansion, was a secret gathering of Thompson’s specially selected friends.

In other words, it was a place where the so-called popular kids from school gathered.

The dazzling interior and swimming pool that ordinary middle-class families couldn’t even dream of seeing. Handsome boys and beautiful girls with good bodies and features too striking for extras.

Moreover, all the clothes they were wearing were luxury brands.

These were the type of people often appearing in teen dramas – rich, generally beautiful, and fond of bullying and oppressing their classmates.

‘These are characters that frequently appear in profound and dark teen dramas.’

While there are light teen dramas where everything flows haphazardly like a flower garden, there are also occasional serious teen dramas featuring high school students from upper-class families, right?

Of course, is a childish and lively genre, but it’s not entirely devoid of such characters.

‘It’s just that the intensity is lower, making it cute.’

And these were the type of people I wanted to avoid getting involved with, second only to the male athletes in teen dramas.

No wonder the atmosphere was quite different from the kids gathered on the first floor.

They were having fun among themselves here to avoid disrupting the atmosphere of !

For a moment I felt dumbfounded, but I barely managed to come to my senses by biting the inside of my cheek.

That’s when Thompson asked,

“Juno from 11th grade, you say. I don’t remember sending you an invitation. Who on earth brought you to my party?”

“Adrian Coleman.”

“Pfft.”

In response to my reflexive answer, laughter erupted from those around. Thompson was no exception.

“What are you talking about? Adrian brought you? To my party?”

“If you don’t believe me, contact him directly and ask. Adrian will be arriving at the party soon. I only came because he asked me to come to the party with him.”

“Really? I find that hard to believe.”

Thompson said, looking me up and down unpleasantly.

As I shrugged my shoulders, indifferent to his gaze, Thompson snorted.

“Are you saying you’re Adrian’s girlfriend or something?”