The next morning.

“Oh my gosh, did you hear? The World Rank 0 has returned to Korea!”

The excited short-haired girl chattered to the others as usual.

“Apparently, she taught those punks a lesson?”

“Really?”

“That’s so cool!”

How can rumors spread so quickly at this school?

It was just last night that Seol Yu Hwa revealed her true self, but by this morning, the entire school knew.

No, wait. Yesterday was the first time I saw her, so she might have been hunting down the delinquents for a while now.

One student tilted their head.

“But didn’t they say she was originally staying abroad?”

“Why did she come to Korea?”

“Something about family matters?”

“I heard she’s even attending school!”

“There are rumors that it’s our school!”

Moreover, the rumors are highly accurate.

At this point, it’s safe to assume everyone knows but is pretending not to.

‘Lady Yu Hwa, I think you have a loose-lipped subordinate, so you must get rid of them…’

As Seol Yu Hwa’s new subordinate, I offered her sincere advice.

After encountering Seol Yu Hwa like that yesterday, I became her subordinate. She even got my home address and phone number. Now I’m on 5-minute standby, ready to rush over whenever Seol Yu Hwa calls.

‘I guess being the heroine’s subordinate is better than being a villainous extra.’

Can this be considered a promotion in status? At least it seems like I’ve taken a step away from my bad ending.

The students were still excitedly talking about the ‘World Rank 0’.

‘Well, even so…’

I peeked outside through the window.

‘It seems like no one has noticed ‘that’ yet.’

Today, Seol Yu Hwa was being bullied by the other students as usual.

〈I got it, so don’t interfere for now.〉

That’s what Seol Yu Hwa said at the time.

It meant not to disrupt her own ostracized life.

Her tone was so serious that it was almost solemn. Seol Yu Hwa is enduring this for the sake of her younger sister Seol Yu Bin, so it must be because she loves her sister that much.

So Yu Bin, please come back now. Your elder sister is this kind of person…

‘But is it really okay to just watch?’

Knowing and staying still, the guilt is no joke.

Of course, it’s not like Seol Yu Hwa is just taking it, she retaliates on her own. But still, I feel a bit sorry just watching.

In the original work, Ji Seung Hyun and others around Seol Yu Hwa were frustrated but sympathetic to see her choose to be ostracized, and I kind of understand that feeling now.

‘Who would be happy to see someone close to them being bullied?’

Unless they’re a pervert.

More like a psycho than a pervert. Anyway, neither applies to me. Well, if you ask if I’ve been writing observation logs just fine all this time, I have nothing to say.

‘But do they have the heart to bully her after seeing those eyes?’

As I always say, Seol Yu Hwa’s eyes are really fierce.

Seol Yu Bin and Seol Yu Hwa are identical twins with the exact same appearance, but their eyes are clearly different.

‘Even if she’s wearing glasses, you can see it.’

Can only I see those eyes?

I guess this worldview is the type where people can’t recognize the same person just by wearing glasses or a mole. I decided to give up trying to understand it.

“Hey, Lee Ju Eun!”

Just then, someone smacked my back excitedly.

“Ah!”

For being small, their hand is really stingy. I stopped looking out the window and slowly rubbed my back as I turned around.

Yoo Hee Na was smiling brightly at me. For reference, Yoo Hee Na was discharged from the hospital yesterday and started coming back to school today.

“What?”

“You’re coming to the infirmary later, right?”

The infirmary…? I rolled my eyes, not knowing why, then remembered the reason.

Ah, right.

The discharge party.

I found out for the first time this time, but apparently Yoo Hee Na throws a discharge party every time she’s discharged from the hospital. The ability to come up with such diverse excuses to play around is a talent in itself.

“Uh… I’ll go.”

Then Yoo Hee Na said with a bright smile.

“Great, I’ll go ahead then! You have to come!”

With that, she left the classroom entirely.

Yoo Hee Na doesn’t attend class well either. She has no interest in studying, and she’s really sick to the point of collapsing, so the teachers don’t force her to attend classes.

‘But not me.’

An extra who has never been hospitalized, let alone bedridden at home, cannot receive such ‘consideration’.

For that reason, I plan to attend all my classes and leisurely go to the infirmary.

Anyway. Thanks to that, I gained Yoo Hee Na’s trust.

I’m enjoying a comfortable school life as part of the Four Heavenly Kings.

But if there’s a problem…

‘Those two are glaring at me again.’

…It’s my villainous sunbae followers.

After I became Yoo Hee Na’s friend, aka her follower, Yoo Hee Na started spending more time with me.

In other words, the time she spends with Kim Ji Eun and Lee Da Hee has decreased.

Perhaps because of that, the way the two look at me these days is not very nice.

How should I put it… Is this some kind of rivalry for favor?

‘I’d gladly give her to you… but I need power too.’

Sorry, girls.

I’ll use Yoo Hee Na and return her quickly.

‘It’s hard being one of the Four Heavenly Kings.’

I sighed.

While I was thinking about this and that, class started. The first period was math. I pretended to listen to the lecture, then quietly took out my diary and opened it.

‘Hmm, it’s been a while for this too.’

Since Seol Yu Hwa appeared and unexpected things kept happening, I only listed my thoughts about the plan without seriously organizing them. I did diligently write observation logs in my diary though.

‘When was the last time I wrote?’

Looking at the diary, it seemed the most recent thing I wrote was about looking into Haesung High School. Right, at that time, I was talking about finding out more about Ryu Tae Geon and met Mr. Kim Deok Pal.

Although it drew quite a bit of aggro, thanks to that, I was able to obtain important information. I wrote a name in my diary.

Jin Hae Yul

That guy from the Four Heavenly Kings ^_^

‘Where the heck is he now?’

Since they said he was injured… He couldn’t possibly be hospitalized somewhere in a coma, right? And then wake up later at the end.

It seemed like too much of a cliché, but this was the world of an internet novel. Originally, clichés like comas and memory loss were popular during this period.

Furthermore, there were also many popular sub-characters who donated organs to the terminally ill protagonist and passed away… Ah, this isn’t the time to think about that. Let’s go back to the original topic.

Anyway, considering the system’s ‘characters’, it’s almost certain that Jin Hae Yul will appear before me, but I have no idea when that will be. Since he never even appeared in the original work.

‘Is he really the mastermind like I guessed?’

For example, the reason the relationship between our school and Haesung High School is bad is actually because of Jin Hae Yul… This is too much of a stretch.

‘There are too few clues to make any guesses.’

I’ll have to wait for more information to be revealed about Jin Hae Yul. So I’ll put this on hold for now.

The next thing to think about is…

Seol Yu Bin

Yesterday, I made a promise to Seol Yu Hwa. That I would help find Seol Yu Bin.

‘What did the original work say about Seol Yu Bin?’

I don’t remember well, but I think it said she was staying in some seaside village.

I originally thought I could somehow help since I know the original work, so I told Seol Yu Hwa I would assist, but now that I think about it, there wasn’t much helpful information in the original.

In the first place, how much detail would an internet novel provide about the whereabouts of the mastermind?

‘Besides, there’s no guarantee she went to the same place this time.’

Unlike in the original, Seol Yu Bin didn’t say she was going to die in reality. So even if the result of leaving is the same, there’s no rule that the destination has to be the same.

‘The only clue I have is… this, I guess.’

I took out a neatly folded piece of paper from my pocket. It was the letter Seol Yu Bin had sent me. I unfolded the letter and read it again from the beginning.

‘There’s nothing particularly helpful in this either.’

No matter how hard I think, as always, I gained nothing.

‘…This feels quite futile.’

The two masterminds who will likely play the most important role in my happy ending plan, Jin Hae Yul and Seol Yu Bin, still had too few clues. So it seemed best not to act hastily.

‘For now, regarding Seol Yu Bin, I’ll stick close to Seol Yu Hwa and try to find out more, and about Jin Hae Yul, I should dig into the Three Great Boys some more.’

I came to that conclusion and closed my diary.

Just then, I received a text message on my cell phone.

「World Rank 0: Come to the gym storage room during break」

During the break.

I headed to the gym storage room as Seol Yu Hwa had called me.

‘Why the gym storage room of all places?’

It’s a place with bad memories, so I was reluctant to go. The place where all my dark history is gathered. I wonder why she chose this place when she doesn’t even know. If it’s to gain the upper hand, it’s quite an exquisite choice of location.

‘I should make sure the door doesn’t lock today.’

Since I have my cell phone, I can call someone else if needed… but based on the lesson I learned at the hospital last time, I decided not to rely on others’ help as much as possible. It’s an era of every person for themselves. Let’s survive on our own.

Knock knock. I knocked before entering the gym storage room.

“I’m coming in.”

The door opened with a creak.

Seol Yu Hwa was already inside the dusty gym storage room. Seol Yu Hwa said expressionlessly.

“Why are you knocking?”

Ah, can’t a person knock? She’s nagging so much.

But since I’m the cowardly Lee Ju Eun who uses the ‘strong-weak-weak-strong’ strategy, instead of arguing back, I gave a pathetic smile.

“Just… in case you were inside.”

“Hmph.”

Seol Yu Hwa sneered at me. Yeah, I must look pathetic. But it’s better than becoming bed-ridden for 8 weeks by offending the World Rank 0’s mood. I wedged a brick between the door so it wouldn’t close and timidly opened my mouth.

“But why did you call me?”

Then Seol Yu Hwa reached out her hand towards me.

“Give it to me.”