Snow Falls on the Silent Lonely Mountain

This is my fifth attempt to save Johnny, the tragic supporting male lead.

When the System’s cold, mechanical voice echoed in my mind—

**[World Reset Complete. Task: Save Supporting Male Lead Johnny. Host Leah, please begin your fifth attempt.]**

—I lay still, feeling the renewed vitality of this seventeen-year-old body, my heart a barren wasteland.

Four times.

Four whole times, I poured all my passion, love, and life into Johnny.

Now this was the fifth.

I was tired. Truly tired.

Save Johnny?

No. This time, I just wanted to save myself.

……

“Leah! What are you zoning out for? Go help Johnny!”

My deskmate’s urgent shove pulled me from my memories.

Outside the window, in the alley behind the school, a group of slack-jawed bullies in baggy uniforms had surrounded a slender boy.

That boy was Johnny. He wore a faded uniform, his back ramrod straight. Even as they shoved him, his face showed no fear—only numb endurance.

This was where the story always began.

According to the script from my four previous runs, I should have charged down like a heroine, shielding him with my own thin frame, then scaring off those bullies with righteous fury.

Johnny would notice me because of it. Our story would start there.

But this time, I just glanced faintly toward the alley, then looked away, laying my head back down on the desk.

My deskmate froze. “Leah? What’s wrong? That’s Johnny!”

I closed my eyes, exhaustion seeping into my voice. “What’s it got to do with me?”

Yeah. What did it have to do with me?

I’d taken a knife for him. Lost a child for him. Mourned him as a widow. Gone mad for him.

And in the end, the light he yearned for was never me.

**[Warning! Host behavior deviating from main task! Proceed to rescue immediately!]**

The System’s alarm blared sharply in my mind.

I acted as though I hadn’t heard. I even rolled over, covering my ears with my arm.

Let someone else save him. I wasn’t doing it anymore.

Maybe my uncharacteristic coldness worked. Both my deskmate and the System fell silent.

I don’t know how much time passed before the class bell rang.

The bullies scattered, cursing. Johnny stood alone at the mouth of the alley. He looked up, his gaze landing precisely on our classroom window.

I could feel it. He was looking at me.

His eyes held a trace of confusion, so slight it was almost imperceptible, as if he couldn’t understand why I hadn’t shown up this time.

I didn’t meet his gaze. Instead, I pulled out my textbook and pretended to study.

A few minutes later, Johnny returned to the classroom.

His steps hesitated for a fraction of a second as he passed my seat.

I caught the faint scent of grass on him, mixed with dust.

He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he just walked silently back to his own seat.

All day, I deliberately avoided Johnny’s line of sight.

The breakfast he brought me, I handed straight to the athlete sitting behind me.

The class notes he offered, I refused with a polite smile.

After school, I didn’t wait for him like I usually did. Instead, I was the first one out of the classroom.

I needed a reason—ironclad proof that would convince even the System—to give up for good.

I knew where to find it.

Drawing on memories from four cycles, I easily found the old building where Johnny lived. A piece of wire was all it took to jimmy the lock on his bedroom window.

His room was small, yet unnervingly tidy.

On the desk lay a locked diary.

This was a boundary I’d never crossed in my previous runs. I’d always believed in respecting his privacy.

Now, I just found it laughable.

I picked up a small hammer and smashed the flimsy lock without hesitation.

Opening the diary, I was met with the boy’s neat handwriting.

The entry was dated today.

**[They came for me again. I wish she could see. If only she’d run down from upstairs like last time, stand in front of me… that would be so good…]**

**[Kathleen wore a white dress today. So pretty. Like a fairy.]**

**[Why didn’t she come? Leah came again. She’s always like this. An annoying pest that won’t go away.]**

…

The “she” in the diary was Kathleen.

From beginning to end, it was always Kathleen.

Every single time I threw myself at him without hesitation, the hero he was hoping for was the female lead—who didn’t even know he was being bullied.

And me, Leah, was just an “annoying pest that won’t go away.”

I laughed. I laughed until tears streamed down my face.

So my four lifetimes of persistence, four lifetimes of devotion, were nothing but a joke in his eyes.

**[System, see?]** I asked softly in my mind. **[This is the person I’m supposed to save. He doesn’t need me. He needs his female lead.]**

The System stayed silent.

I placed the diary back exactly as it was, climbed out the window, and took one last look at that gray, crumbling old building.

Goodbye, Johnny.

This life, I’m letting you go. And I’m letting myself go, too.