All the snacks ended up in my stomach anyway.

But maybe it was just my imagination. During class, I kept feeling his gaze land on me every now and then, soft and light like a butterfly touching down on a flower.

A few days later…

One night, half-asleep, I vaguely heard screaming and something that sounded like growling outside. I wanted to get up, but my eyelids grew heavier and heavier until I slipped right back into sleep.

The next morning, two of the six new girls had withdrawn from school.

That day, our homeroom teacher entered the classroom carrying a thick stack of test papers. She wore a strange smile. “We’re having an exam today. Only students who pass may stay and continue studying. Those who fail will be punished.”

What?

I have to take exams in a dating-sim otome game?

What kind of broken game is this?

I completely missed the second half of what she said.

I did notice, though, that Lily and the others looked even paler than before. They clearly wanted nothing to do with exams. Honestly, same. I graduated high school ages ago. Everything I learned back then has already gone back to the teachers long, long ago.

When the test landed on my desk, I glanced at the questions and nearly spit blood.

What even was this?

Calculus?

Linear algebra?

Since when do high school seniors learn this stuff?!

My head dropped onto the table as I groaned. “I’m done. Absolutely done.”

Aaron shot me a sideways look.

I grabbed onto that look like a drowning person spotting a life preserver. I put on my most pitiful expression. “Save me! Please, great master, help this poor child.”

Aaron answered calmly, “I don’t know how to do it either.”

Right. Right. Great. We’re both academic disasters.

Two hours later, the exam ended.

Aaron was sprawled over his desk asleep. His test was completely blank.

Mine was full of random scribbles. My old teacher always said, “If you don’t know it, at least write something. You might get a point for showing your work.” So I did exactly that.

Once the test was over, I felt much lighter. No matter how miserably I failed, it wouldn’t affect my mission to romance the male lead.

But Lily and the others looked absolutely terrified. Their faces were ghost-white, their eyes full of despair, like they were about to be marched to execution.

That evening.

I was heading back to the dorm when I saw three tall guys blocking Aaron’s path. Their expressions were hostile, and their presence screamed trouble.

Instantly, I remembered the male lead’s backstory. He suffered constant bullying. He was supposed to be fragile and pitiful.

These three must be the school bullies.

I couldn’t just stand by. This was my chance to “shine.”

I rushed to Aaron’s side and yanked him behind me.

All three guys stared at me in shock.

I glared at them. “Stop bullying him. I’m warning you. Back off, or I won’t be polite. I learned martial arts.”

I completely missed how strange Aaron’s expression became.

His eyes were deep and quiet, almost unfathomable, like he could swallow me whole. His mouth curved slightly as he gave the three boys a small nod.

One of them, a buzz-cut guy, sneered. “And what if we… don’t?”

I responded with action.

A few minutes later, all three were on the ground, groaning.

I hated bullies more than anything.

Once I had taken care of them, I turned to Aaron with a big, toothy grin.

“Don’t worry. As long as I’m here, they won’t lay a finger on you again.”

I even patted his shoulder reassuringly. “I’ll protect you.”

Aaron’s eyes darkened with a strange, shifting emotion. “You want… to protect me?”

“Of course,” I said. “I’ll protect you.”

What I didn’t notice at all was that the three guys lying on the ground looked absolutely miserable. But since they’d already committed to playing dead, they had no choice but to keep pretending.

Aaron looked at me for a long moment, as if he could see straight through me.

The next second, his lips curled into a smile.

I froze. My heart immediately spun out of control.

His face already resembled my idol Wayne, but I’d always admired him the way one admires a pretty face.

This feeling was different.

My heartbeat jumped like a startled fawn and even the tip of my tongue tasted sweet. I had never felt this way before, not even the day I lined up for eight hours just to see Wayne at a fan signing.

Aaron had smiled before, but never like this. Never this bright.

“Alright,” he said softly.

Night fell deeper and deeper…

---

Faculty Office

The homeroom teacher handed a stack of exam papers to Aaron, all respectful and deferential.

Aaron took a red pen and pulled out one sheet titled Ivy Fisher.

Three minutes later, he gave a quiet laugh, a warmth flickering in his eyes that even he didn’t seem aware of.

He murmured, “How can someone be this hopeless… Not a single question right.”

---

The Next Day

The teacher entered the classroom with the score sheet.

“Lily, sixty-one.”

Lily sagged in relief.

“Summer, sixty-five.”

Summer smiled faintly.

“Wendy, fifty-six.”

“Jennifer, fifty-eight.”

Both girls turned ashen.

“Ivy…” The teacher’s expression shifted, and she glanced at me.

I ducked my head, already mourning my dignity.

“Seventy.”

I nearly slammed my hands on the desk from excitement.

Seventy!

I scribbled nonsense and still managed a seventy!

Turns out I didn’t completely forget the math I learned in freshman and sophomore year. My college professors would be so proud.

Lily stared at me as if I had committed a crime against the natural order.

Then the teacher approached, pulled a blue key from her pocket, and placed it on my desk.

“This is your reward.”

I picked it up, grinning.

This had to be worth money too.

Aaron sipped the milk I brought him, his eyes warm and gentle.

My heart melted. This was the first time he ever drank something I gave him—though only because his water bottle broke and he couldn’t get water from the dispenser. Technicality, whatever. It still counted.

---

When I got back to the dorm building and was about to enter 206, Lily stepped in front of me.

She demanded the blue key.

I laughed. “Why would I give it to you?”

“If you don’t hand it over,” she snapped, “you won’t be leaving this place alive!”

I gave her the ‘are you out of your mind’ look and said, “Does this game run on whatever rules you make up?”

I turned and walked off. I didn’t even bother arguing with her.

---

Early the Next Morning

When I woke up, my neck felt strangely sore, but I brushed it off.

When I entered the classroom, I was stunned. Only Lily and Summer were there. All the other girls were missing.

I told Aaron about it.

Aaron bit into a snow cake cookie and said flatly, “They all withdrew from school.”

“What? Why?”

“If you don’t pass the exam, you leave.”

My eyes went wide.

What kind of school was this?!

“If we have another exam, I don’t even know if I’ll pass. What if I fail next time? Will I have to leave too?”

There was the faintest hint of amusement in Aaron’s eyes. It flashed too fast for me to be sure.

“You won’t,” he said.

---

One Week Later

That day, Aaron didn’t come to class.

After school, I went to the convenience store to buy snacks.

Recently, he finally stopped refusing them.

I’d also discovered his favorite snack was snow cake cookies, so I started buying them for him every day.

Since he wasn’t in class today, I decided I’d just bring the snacks straight to his apartment.

I arrived at the door of his white apartment.

Suddenly, the bathroom door swung open.

I froze.

Aaron stepped out wearing nothing but a bathrobe. His hair was dripping wet. Water slid from his forehead down to his collarbone before disappearing into the folds of his robe.

For a moment, our eyes locked.

His lips looked even redder than usual, and something unreadable flickered in his gaze. “What are you doing here?”

My heart hammered as I stared at his pale, half-exposed chest.

“I… I came to bring you snacks.”

“Mm.”

He sat down on the sofa, completely unbothered, his bathrobe falling open as he ate the snacks I brought.

I did not dare look at his chest again. If I looked too long, I might do something unforgivable.

My mouth was dry. I grabbed the cup on the coffee table and drained it in one gulp.

Aaron’s expression changed. He reached out to stop me, but it was too late.

A soft peach flavor lingered on my tongue. Sweet and pleasant.

“That was alcohol,” he said quietly.

“That was alcohol?” I stared at the empty cup. “But it tasted good. Do you have more?”

“No.”

“Fine. I was just asking.”

A few minutes later, my vision began to blur.

“I’ll take you home,” he said.

My gaze drifted to his lips.

This time I didn’t look away. I didn’t hide.

I had been chasing him for weeks and still had no progress. The system was still offline, and I had no way to check his affection level.

What if his affection was still at zero?

I had to speed this up. The dating-sim had a two-month time limit, and my two months were almost over. If I failed the route, I would lose the entire ten-million prize.

Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it was the fact that he was too pretty for his own good. Either way, courage surged through me.

I staggered to my feet. When I nearly slipped, I twisted my body and fell straight into his arms, pushing him down onto the sofa.

My eyes locked onto his red lips. I leaned in and kissed him.

I needed to increase his affection. Now.

His ears turned scarlet. His body went rigid, cold and hard like marble.

Worried he might push me away, I grabbed his tie and used it to bind his wrists.

His eyes narrowed. “What are you trying to do?”

My voice was thick with drunken bravado. “I am… taking control.”

I tugged at the belt of his bathrobe. It was just about to loosen when a mechanical voice suddenly rang in my ear.

“Hello, your romance system has arrived.”

My romance system was finally online.

But the very next second, it continued:

“Emergency alert. Due to a processing error, you were transmitted into the wrong game. This is not a dating-sim otome game.

This is a horror game.

Special note: the person you are currently attempting to overpower is the final boss of the horror game.”

My scalp went numb. Electricity ran down my spine. Even my fingers trembled.

What?

I was in the wrong game?

This was a horror game, not an otome romance?

In just a few seconds, every strange detail suddenly made sense.