Mori Aoi subconsciously followed behind Wei Zhi after they separated at the library.
She was still looking around curiously when she bumped into something.
"Hey," she pouted, rubbing her nose.
"Hey yourself. Are you going to follow me even to my task, or do you want us to do yours together?" Wei Zhi turned back and asked her.
Mori Aoi found that she was a little too close—so close that a slight shift in his hair almost revealed his eyes.
She took a step back and looked away.
Then she blushed once she realized there was no one else in the hallway.
"Where do you think you're running off to? You haven't answered my question," Wei Zhi said, taking a step forward.
Seeing him approach, she took two steps back while maintaining eye contact with the floor.
Wei Zhi chased after her, and the back-and-forth continued until she felt the hardness of a wall.
Mori Aoi subconsciously wanted to speak out at this point, but she was choked by Wei Zhi, who was standing right in front of her.
They were almost the same height, with her eyes viewing just below his as she looked straight.
And this height difference was further enhanced as she shrank back.
Wei Zhi didn't say anything but just stood in front of her, waiting for an answer.
Meanwhile, Mori Aoi was developing a red face.
And all the various postures where the male lead slams the female lead into a wall came to mind.
Then the male lead would bend down and whisper seductive words into the pink ears of the female lead.
Or they would be arguing, and driven by intense emotion, the male lead would punch the wall because he didn't want to hurt the female lead.
And how can I forget about the steamy scenes?
Wall kissing after an argument.
Or when the male lead was jealous and kissed the female lead in front of everyone.
Or… or even… bathro—
Mori Aoi muttered and held her cheeks, her face so red that it looked like a tomato.
Then she became delirious, smiling while swaying her head.
Wei Zhi called out to her softly at first, but then increased the volume as he saw the daze in her eyes.
He grabbed both of her shoulders in an attempt to lightly shake her.
But she froze and just looked at him with a dazed expression and pink cheeks.
Her mouth opened a few times as if to ask something, but then she couldn't go through with it.
Then she looked at him hesitantly, her eyes going from his to the floor.
Her feet unconsciously sought to take a step back, but then met the wall, and she knew there was nowhere to run.
Mori Aoi bit her lips and convinced herself that it wasn't so bad.
At least it wasn't Ming Jun, who was an otaku.
Ming Jun, who was minding his business, suddenly felt his ear itch.
Someone's talking bad about me somewhere… probably Shae Harris, was his thought as he scratched his ear.
The true culprit was still biting her lips in anxiety.
"You don't have to hurry, take your time," Wei Zhi said, looking distressed at her bitten lips. His grip on her shoulders tightened.
Mori Aoi interpreted his concern as something else:
I can wait here all day for that kiss, love.
…Okay, he might not have said love, but that was the complete sentence from a book I read.
The grip on my shoulder must mean that he'll take matters into his own hands if I delay for too long.
Mori Aoi felt a mix of excitement, nervousness, and expectation.
Right now, she had replaced herself as the female lead of a romance novel.
And in her head, Wei Zhi was the mafia guy who was tired of stalking her from afar.
With that psychological preparation, the strings in her heart loosened.
Sure, she might not like Wei Zhi that way, but she did like him in another way—
As someone she was comfortable with.
So she closed her eyes and grabbed the edge of her shirt.
Wei Zhi felt the tremors through his hands placed on her shoulders and heard the erratic beating of her heart because of how close he was.
Wait… erratic heartbeat… why would it be beating like that… in this position?
…This position…
Oh… huh… oh… ohhh… oh.
Wei Zhi's brain froze at that point, and his face became as red as hers.
He was about to remove his hands and explain himself when he noticed her expression.
She looked so nervous and scared.
Her shirt was practically crumpled by the force of her tight grip.
Yet even with everything that showed her reluctance and hesitation—
And a body that looked like it was about to run at any time—
She stood there, waiting for him to move.
Ah—
How am I supposed to resist this temptation? Wei Zhi thought.
He stared at her deeply for a minute.
A minute of watching her squirm more and more.
Then he leaned in, his hands still tightly gripping her shoulders.
Mori Aoi gasped quietly and shivered as he came closer.
All the embarrassing things she'd read became clearer in her head.
She already raised both hands, pushing outwards, about to resist.
Wei Zhi's head was now above her shoulder as he put his lips close to her ear so he could whisper these words:
"I prefer the bunny outfit, but I guess we can save that for a more private place—at your recommendation, of course."
Then he chuckled lightly.
His expression was obscured at this moment, and Mori Aoi dazedly thought his voice sounded deeper.
No, it must be the romance novels influencing me again. I actually thought Wei Zhi was seducing me.
Feeling embarrassed, she pushed him away.
Wei Zhi landed on the ground with a soft thump and looked away from her with a blush.
"What… what was that?" Mori Aoi flushed, trembling as she pointed at him in accusation.
"Well, you were in a daze, so I wanted to shake you awake," Wei Zhi stuttered while rubbing his ass.
He still hadn't looked at her yet—clearly embarrassed.
"Then… then what about the sentence you just whispered?" she accused again, biting her lips.
"I wanted to shout in your ear, but I panicked and said something else," Wei Zhi rubbed his nose.
"Then why did you have to say that?" Mori Aoi blushed as she remembered it.
"I suddenly remembered the bunny outfit and meant that you look cute in it—but it's better to wear it outside the game," Wei Zhi rubbed the back of his head.
"But you… you laughed," she said softly.
"It was a nervous cough, and it came out as a laugh because I was embarrassed," Wei Zhi finally looked at her.
"But why… what were you waiting for?" Wei Zhi asked hesitantly.
Mori Aoi blushed and looked away.
I guess it was all my imagination then, she thought.
Then they were both silent.
"I'll go over there for my task," Mori Aoi suddenly said and scurried away from the awkward air.
She didn't look back and walked to another hallway.
Then she squatted on the ground, covering her face with her hands while swaying her head.
Coincidentally, it was also the same hallway where Shae Harris did the exact same thing.
Shae Harris sneezed somewhere, thinking that someone must be copying her.
And the culprit for the second offense had just cleared her jumbled thoughts away.
She peeked around and sighed in relief as no one appeared.
Mori Aoi pouted and muttered, "Stupid Wei Zhi," then left.
She walked along the empty hallways, humming a song and thinking about what to do next.
Finding a female lead would be a piece of cake for her.
She had read almost all the genres.
Contemporary romance where the office worker meets the rich boss and sparks fly.
The medieval romance where the baron's daughter falls for the duke's son.
The small-town romance where a baker girl meets a city boy coming home for the holidays.
Or fantasy romance with dragons and elves and beastmen.
Or the dark romance where he stalks her.
The mafia don who falls for a normal random girl.
Honestly, she had grown tired of the normal ones.
So she began to read some manhwa.
She'd heard some girls talking about it while she was working an evening shift.
So she curiously peeped into the girl's phone from behind her back.
She didn't get too far before being engrossed in it—until the owner noticed her.
And then also noticed her red eyes because she was standing too close.
Which led to her jumping back in fright and running away with her friend.
And if that wasn't enough, her boss fired her immediately after cussing at her for thirty minutes.
Well, jokes on them—that wasn't a bad day.
She was already used to her boss firing her because of her disease, or just randomly cussing at her because they were in a bad mood.
What made it a nice day was that she was able to see the website to read the manhwa.
So that was how she would use her breaks during the night shift at an internet café to read romance manhwa.
Eventually, she also got initiated into reading light novels—especially Josei-tagged light novels.
Those were her favorite.
Reading about how they would rise from the dirt and all the bullying to become a queen—
Or just finding love with the man desired by all, who would make sure to never let her cry again.
I both envy and admire them.
But it just makes my situation feel all the more miserable.
Mori Aoi sighed and wished that the world was a novel.
A novel where she was the protagonist.
A world where she would meet her true love and live happily ever after.
Sadly, it was not.
Reality and fiction are two very separate things.
No matter how much I dream it was different—
That I could be different—
But I'm not. I never am.
I will always be a weak person, never daring to step out.
I wonder if the others even like me, or do they feel sad for me?
Or are they annoyed by how weak I am, my freakish eyes, or the way I always hide at the back?
Mori Aoi remembered all the times she was hiding behind the others and realized that she was never the only one hiding.
There was even a time that Shae Harris slapped Wei Zhi on the back in an attempt to push him out from their hiding place.
Wei Zhi dodged her hand and held the potted plant tightly.
The two of them went back and forth while Ming Jun snuck up behind him and dragged him back by force.
Wei Zhi was so surprised he looked like he was going to pee his pants.
He shivered and curled into a ball on the ground.
Shae Harris looked at him curiously and attempted to roll him away.
But Wei Zhi sprang up and hid behind Noi Karn as she came close.
Shae Harris and Ming Jun teased him for a while until Yi Zheng called them over.
Remembering Wei Zhi's gloating expression as he walked to the car made Mori Aoi laugh.
The bad mood was swept away by the memory of the antics and chaos that occurred daily when they were together.
Feeling better, she seriously began to look for the heroines.
Mori Aoi planned to look through the classrooms because heroines were always diligent students—
Even though they were always really smart and didn't even need to go to school.
But how else would they meet the male lead or illegitimate son hiding his identity?
But after wandering around the school, she realized that it was empty.
There were no teachers or staff anywhere.
But it was class time—so where did everyone go?
Mori Aoi stood in the building, confused.
Then she heard a rush of footsteps, so she immediately looked for a place to hide.
Mori Aoi hid inside a classroom.
She pressed her body to the door she had just shut, her hands over her mouth trying to hide her breathing, and her eyes peeping from the tiny opening.
The first thing she saw was the color.
The combination was too blinding that she forgot she was hiding for a second.
White, red, black, blue, blonde, green, orange.
Then she focused on the owners of these colors.
The youngest male had white hair and red eyes.
The second male had black hair and eyes.
The last male had blonde hair and blue eyes.
These three stood together at the front, obviously leading the team—
The team consisting of beautiful girls and heroic-looking males.
There was a girl with white hair and red eyes.
A blue-haired girl with green eyes.
A short-haired redhead who was giving off a murderous aura.
An older, busty maid with blonde hair and blue eyes.
And a few other girls.
Mori Aoi was startled to lock eyes with one of them—
And then panicked as she locked eyes with the whole group.
The protagonist group, thinking she was part of the evil students because of her bloodshot eyes, rushed over.
Mori Aoi shrank to the ground and nervously brought out her system screen.
She remembered Shae Harris telling her to check the item shop if she was in danger—
Or to use her skills.
Mori Aoi activated her skill without even checking it.
Lucky for her, it was an invincibility skill.
The group barged into the classroom but found no one.
They observed the entire classroom with sharp eyes.
Mori Aoi, trembling on the ground beside the door, was terrified as their eyes got closer to her.
She removed one hand from her mouth and opened the item shop.
She selected the high-grade teleportation scroll.
She used it immediately—just as the blonde-haired boy focused on her hiding place.
Her figure vanished, and a sword struck that spot a second later.
"She escaped," one of the male team members said.
"We still got valuable information," the blonde-haired leader said.
"It seems like they're still hiding in the building," the black-haired boy said, picking up his sword embedded in the ground.
"So all we have to do is find the nest," the youngest said.
The three looked at each other subtly, then left at the same time.
Mori Aoi, traumatized, went to the group chat to speak:
'Can someone pick me up? I don't dare to leave on my own. Crying jpg.'
'So it's only Wei Zhi remaining to cause trouble,' Ming Jun replied.
'Welcome to the club, sister,' Shae Harris typed with a celebrating emoji.
Mori Aoi: ??
'We'll tell you when we get to you,' Ming Jun typed.
'Just stay still, and I'll pick you up in no time,' Shae Harris typed.
Mori Aoi sat on the ground and accepted her task completion in a daze.
Is it really that simple?