She froze staring at him as though she’d forgotten how to speak.
Who am I?
His expression turned colder.
“What are you doing here, young girl?” he asked, his presence making the room feel like it had suddenly dropped to zero.
But he didn’t get a response.
Kang Ji-won was still standing frozen in her trance.
The scene before her was more than she had ever expected.
A few dead bodies and an arrogant young man?
This novel is really bizarre.
“Ah… um. What’s going on here?” she asked, eyeing the clearly dangerous man suspiciously.
Then, all of a sudden…
{ System activated.
}
She blinked twice, clearly struggling to process what she’d just heard.
System?
She looked up, and her gaze met the familiar screen.
Wait, the system can actually activate by itself?
{ Welcome back, Kang Ji-won.
}
She bit down on her lip.
She desperately wanted to reply and ask tons of questions, but the man was still standing there.
And moreover, she couldn’t just start talking to the system and ignore the dangerous situation her impulsiveness had placed her in.
What the fuck am I going to do?
{ You don’t need to waste your brain juice thinking.
We can communicate both orally and telepathically.
That is, through words or through the mind.
}
Her mouth fell open.
We can actually do that?
{ Yes, we can.
}
Hearing that, she smirked.
That’s wonderful.
{ I know it would be.
}
{ That is for you.
}
Her face fell.
Hmph…
Lee Jun-ho’s brows drew together as he watched the strange girl standing before him.
She looked like she was having a weird life-or-death situation while standing in front of him.
Is she a trap or sign?
Or maybe she’s an escaped lunatic?
A normal human wouldn’t be laughing and looking sad at the same time.
But…
The situation he was in was serious.
He couldn’t let her go scot-free without getting her to make an authorized pledge never to disclose what she’d seen.
Even if she really was a lunatic.
Kang took a deep breath.
You can activate by yourself?
Why did you activate?
You never told me you could before.
{ New character detected.
}
Her eyes narrowed, then slowly widened as her gaze fell on Lee Jun-ho.
He’s a new character?
{ Yes.
But why didn’t you tell me?
{ Listen here.
First of all, you only asked me for information about the main characters at school.
Secondly, I did tell you.
}
New Male Lead.
That was the first answer that came to her mind.
He’s the new male lead?
{ Correct.
}
{ Hehehe.
Seems you’re getting quite smart.
}
Kang Ji-won rolled her eyes.
Oh really?…
Ding!
{ New notification.
}
{ Since you’ve gotten more familiar with this whole setting, your first mission has been sent.
}
Kang Ji-won’s heart raced in panic.
How could I have forgotten that!?
{ Your first mission is: Survive the next 60 seconds.
Bye.
}
The screen disappeared, and Kang Ji-won’s face twisted in surprise.
Survive what….
Just before she could complete her sentence, a sheet of paper was planted right in front of her face.
“Sign this.”
Kang Ji-won wanted to curse, but as her eyes met the indifferent, cold attitude of her opponent, she rejected the idea.
“Err… What’s in this?” she asked, collecting the paper with shaky hands.
He noticed.
With an indifferent grunt, he pulled out a pen from his back pocket.
“Sign here that you never saw anything happen at FengCheng Warehouse. And if any single, tiny bit of information gets leaked, you’ll take responsibility.”
Her mouth fell open.
“What nonsense!?” she yelled, throwing the paper back at him.
“I can’t sign that. What if I get arrested for covering up for a murderer?”
The word murderer quickly reminded her that she was still in the middle of something serious.
She looked back at the bodies on the ground.
Are they really dead?
He killed them?
Subconsciously, she took a few steps backward.
“I need to get the hell out of here before the police arrive.”
And before Lee Jun-ho could spell Bingo, Kang Ji-won had disappeared.
Ji-won ran all the way home without looking back.
She barely remembered the streets she passed or how she managed to get through the front door.
Her mind was still stuck on the warehouse—the bodies on the floor, the strange young man, and the terrifying possibility that she had just met the new male lead.
With a heavy bang, she shut the door and locked it.
“Oh my…”
Her back rested against the door as she gasped lightly for breath.
Slowly, she slid downward.
“Wait… Don’t tell me the novel’s new male lead is a criminal?”
A criminal as a male lead?
Never heard of it in my entire damn life.
Standing back up, she headed straight for the book and picked it up.
“You’re still here?”
She immediately realized how strange the question sounded.
But where else could the book have gone except where I left it?
With a slight chuckle at her own stupidity, she decided to read the book.
It already contained the past scenes and chapters that had occurred, as well as the present events that were unfolding.
Then something clicked in her memory.
The last page of the novel hadn’t disappeared like the others.
After giving it some thought, she decided to check whether it had changed.
She flipped open the book and, at last, reached the final page.
The past information was still inside.
Her eyebrows furrowed.
“Why is that?”
She flipped through the previous pages again, checking carefully.
Her arrival in this world.
Her meeting with Lin Li.
Her encounter with Han Yufan.
Even the parts involving the system.
Were all recorded into the novel.
But the last page was different.
It hadn’t changed.
It was still the same page she’d seen before.
The page that had once shown her the original Kang Ji-won’s ending.
Ji-won’s fingers tightened around the book.
“Wait…”
She quickly read through the words again.
Her expression slowly changed.
Something was wrong.
The book had been updating whenever something new happened.
So why hadn’t the last page changed?
She stared at it for several seconds.
Then a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
What if…
Her heart skipped.
What if the ending hasn’t changed yet?
Ji-won swallowed.
“No way.”
She immediately shook her head.
“That’s impossible.”
But deep down, she knew better.
The system had already told her something important.
Her story had changed.
A new male lead had appeared.
The original storyline was already being rewritten.
So why was her ending still the same?
She slowly closed the book.
For the first time since receiving her second chance, Ji-won didn’t feel amused.
She felt uneasy.
“Maybe I should check the last page again tomorrow.”
She placed the book back on the cabinet.
But just as she turned around, her eyes suddenly narrowed.
Wait…
She slowly looked back at the book.
If the story has already changed…
Her expression became serious.
Then why is the ending still the same?
Hmm…
Another mystery added to the novel.