Chapter 16: Alice’s Traces

“Hold this gauze to your nose and tilt your head down.”

A woman in a white coat with thin-rimmed glasses handed me gauze.

I obediently took it and held it to my nose.

“It’s just a blood vessel that burst due to the impact. It will stop bleeding on its own with time.”

“Thank you.”

She pushed up her glasses and looked at the female student next to me, who was biting her lip.

There were bruises here and there on her face, and red welts on her arms.

“The one who’s actually in bad shape is the female student…”

The doctor shook her head at Kim Noeul’s miserable appearance.

At first, she thought a male student had brought in a female student.

But she heard from the nurse that the girl had carried the boy in.

‘How much does she care for the boy.’

It’s evident from how Kim Noeul is staring intently at the male student who is tilting his head down, rather than caring about her own condition.

The doctor shuddered, reading a somewhat ominous sign in Kim Noeul’s dazed eyes.

‘Is she the obsessive type?’

“Are you really okay, miss? Shouldn’t you get a prescription and some medicine?”

“…I’m fine.”

She refused so adamantly that the doctor threw up her hands.

“It looks like you’ve been in a fistfight, but be careful until the bruises subside. Even in Hakdo, if you cross the line, adults will intervene.”

After being lectured for a long time, we barely managed to leave the hospital.

The sun was already setting.

It would soon be night.

An awkward atmosphere flowed between Kim Noeul and me.

I had assured Kim Noeul that I wouldn’t get hurt as much as possible, but I ended up bleeding.

Kim Noeul’s profile, staring blankly ahead without saying anything, was scary.

“Um… Kim Noeul? I’ll be going now?”

“I’ll walk you.”

“No, it’s really a 5-minute walk.”

“I said I’ll walk you.”

“Yes.”

In the end, she really followed me to the front of my dorm.

I entered the entrance, pressed the elevator button, and looked at Kim Noeul.

“I don’t know what to say. I keep worrying you with the same thing.”

“…….”

“…But the result was good again, right?”

“I know. Just as you compromised, I guess I have to compromise too.”

“You know it well.”

I don’t usually stutter, but I’m stumbling over my words.

That’s how much Kim Noeul’s current face makes my knees weak.

With the darkened outside as a backdrop, Kim Noeul pushed me against the wall and looked up at me, and I felt a sense of madness in her expression.

She slowly raised her hand and touched my nose.

It seemed like she was checking the injured area.

But the touch was overly sticky and uncomfortable.

Even while touching my nose, she was staring at my face, so I didn’t know where to look.

If I looked straight ahead, I would see her scary face, and if I looked down, I would see her prominent chest.

[It’s the first floor.]

The elevator arrived.

I quickly got on the elevator.

“Well, get in safely! Since you worked hard today, I’ll buy you a meal later!”

I deliberately acted friendly to induce a change in Kim Noeul’s expression.

But even as the elevator doors closed, Kim Noeul stared at me with an expressionless face, making it hard to read her emotions.

Even after arriving at the dorm and before falling asleep, that image of Kim Noeul was vivid in my mind, and I couldn’t sleep well.

As a result, I went to school the next day in a state of sleep deprivation.

My condition was bad, so I often dozed off during class.

Just then, the math teacher, our advisor, Ms. Chae Yubin, sighed.

“Kim Maru, wake up.”

The teacher drew my attention and made me come out to solve a problem.

Even with a headache, my hands mechanically solved the math problem.

“You solved it well. Don’t doze off.”

“Yes.”

As I returned to my seat, I glanced at Kim Noeul.

She was solving problems in her notebook.

From the outside, there was nothing strange.

After math class, Ms. Chae Yubin approached.

She had a worried expression.

“Maru, you weren’t concentrating in class, which isn’t like you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you don’t have to apologize… And what happened with the counseling club?”

“It was resolved well. The existing counseling club will be abolished.”

“It really happened as you said… It was a dangerous plan, but I’m glad you weren’t seriously hurt.”

After the conversation, she left the classroom.

During lunchtime, Kim Noeul was her usual class president self.

“Kim Noeul! Basketball, go!”

“We’re playing there as usual, right?”

Kim Noeul, who answered with a bright smile, left the classroom with the basketball group.

Only after Kim Noeul disappeared from the classroom did my heavy heart become lighter.

‘I can’t figure out Kim Noeul’s psychological state at all.’

It’s a side she didn’t show in the webtoon, so I, who uses the knowledge of the webtoon, was anxious.

I looked at Kim Noeul’s profile message, and there was a meaningful phrase.

-Never again.

What does it mean?

Never again?

It was already homeroom time.

The homeroom teacher recited the school’s internal and external events in a monotonous voice.

“The midterm exams are coming soon, so study hard. And soon, the Hakdo-sponsored science competition will be held, and the application form is on Haneul High School’s Everytime.”

After a short homeroom, the homeroom teacher left, and the students busily prepared to go home.

I also stuffed my textbooks into my bag and stood up from my seat.

‘Let’s focus on studying from today.’

I haven’t been able to focus on my studies lately because of the establishment of the counseling club, but now it’s time to focus on studying again.

My mock exam scores are consistently maintained, but if I slack off during the exam period, I can never recover my grades.

‘Jin Heeyoung and Ahn Hyojin were also hit hard, so they won’t be able to bother us.’

Now there’s no need to go home with Kim Noeul.

I walked alone through the hallway and went down to the first floor, where I saw Kim Noeul talking with some friends.

“PC room today, go?”

“Are you crazy, abandoning your grades?”

“I already f*cked up 1st grade, so I’m just going to focus on the college entrance exam.”

Hearing such mind-boggling conversations, I naturally sighed.

Kim Noeul just listened to her friends with a smile.

When I quietly passed by, Kim Noeul called out to me.

“Maru, where are you going?”

“Where am I going? I’m going home.”

“Come with me.”

The female students who were with Kim Noeul blinked at her sudden declaration.

One of them pointed at Kim Noeul.

“Hey! We were going to the PC room…!”

The speaking female student was silenced by another female student’s hand covering her mouth.

The female student who covered her mouth winked and saw the two of us off.

“Yeah, you two go first. We’ll play by ourselves.”

“Mmph!”

Judging by the winking, she probably misunderstood the relationship between the two of us.

But Kim Noeul didn’t dispel the misunderstanding and took my wrist and led me.

“Let’s go.”

“…Okay.”

Until we left the campus, Kim Noeul didn’t say anything and just held my wrist tightly.

The gazes of the surrounding students were stinging.

“Kim Noeul, let go of my hand.”

“Will you run away?”

“Why would I run away?”

“You look like you would.”

Cold sweat ran down my back.

It was revealed that I had an inexplicable sense of caution towards Kim Noeul.

“What are you talking about, why would I run away? And from today, we don’t need to go home together. The counseling club matter is settled, right?”

“…Food.”

“Huh?”

“You said you’d buy me food. Let’s eat together today.”

“It’s not dinner time yet?”

“Then let’s study at a nearby library or cafe. The exams are coming soon. After that, we can eat and part ways, how about that?”

I was dumbfounded by her skill in making appointments so smoothly.

It was hard to refuse because she was smiling and talking in a comfortable tone.

Is this the skill of the alpha female that Kim Noeul’s friends were talking about?

“Sure. But I wasn’t avoiding you because I didn’t want to buy you food.”

“Then why?”

“…I just felt a bit sorry. I said I wouldn’t get involved as much as possible, but I ended up getting hurt.”

I scratched the back of my head awkwardly.

Kim Noeul, who was quietly looking at me like that, chuckled.

“I guess I was a bit stiff yesterday. I’m sorry if I scared you.”

Saying that, she gently stroked my head.

‘What did she just do?’

When I looked at her in bewilderment, Kim Noeul withdrew her stroking hand and was flustered.

“Ah, do you not like having your head patted…?”

“It’s not that I don’t like it…”

It felt strange to have my head patted by a girl who was smaller than me.

In my previous life, it wasn’t strange for a man to pat a woman’s head, but since this world is reversed, I wonder if that’s also reversed.

“I’ll refrain from doing it in the future.”

“…I don’t mind. As long as you don’t do it all the time.”

Before we knew it, we arrived at a nearby cafe and went inside.

“What do you want to drink?”

“Just iced tea.”

I answered calmly when Kim Noeul asked.

Kim Noeul told me to go sit down first.

I accepted her kindness and sat at a window seat.

It was a four-person table, so there was plenty of space.

Looking around the cafe, there were many students, as expected.

Adults who seemed to be teachers or employees of Hakdo companies were few.

I took out my English textbook from my bag and started silently reading the text of the exam range.

I underlined the phrases that would be good for essay questions.

When I was almost done reading, Kim Noeul approached with two cups of iced tea on the table.

She sat across from me and put a straw in the iced tea and handed it to me.

“Thank you. How much is the iced tea?”

“I’m buying.”

“Don’t be silly, give me your account number.”

“I won’t accept it. You’re buying the meal anyway.”

I had nothing to say, so I crossed my arms again and lowered my gaze to the text.

Kim Noeul also took out her math textbook from her bag and solved the application problems.

Since both of us are model students, we didn’t talk much while studying.

Both Kim Noeul and I had excellent academic achievements, so we didn’t need to ask anyone for help.

This made me suddenly curious.

‘Who will be first place in this midterm exam?’

In the original, Kim Noeul never missed first place in grades and mock exams.

But in this March mock exam, I took first place in the whole school.

It would be good if my existence becomes a stimulus for Kim Noeul.

Studying also requires a rival to ignite the desire for improvement and increase skills.

Ojakgyo is not an organization established solely on fists.

It boasts the top of all kinds of academic grades and extracurricular activities in Hakdo.

In particular, one of Alice’s executives is a girl called the greatest prodigy since the establishment of Hakdo.

She must not be pushed back by that girl in academics or schemes.

In the original, Kim Noeul had to produce results in both fields of force and academics, so the burden was great.

So I planned to take on the ‘academic’ field instead.

‘I’ll deal with that prodigy. So that Kim Noeul can fully concentrate on Alice.’

Whether she knows my thoughts or not, Kim Noeul was twirling her pen and staring intently at the math problem.

“If you can’t solve something, tell me.”

Kim Noeul looked dumbfounded at my words.

“This is a textbook?”

“Are you looking down on the textbook? Sometimes there are tricky problems.”

“That’s true, but… it’s not to the point where I need to ask someone.”

A strange sense of competition arose at Kim Noeul’s confident remarks.

I decided to provoke her to increase Kim Noeul’s academic achievement.

“You must be good? Were you first place in this 3rd mock exam?”

“…….”

“I guess not.”

“Are you asking on purpose because you’re first place?”

“I was curious because you seemed confident.”

“…Except for a mistake on a 3-point question, I got everything right.”

Kim Noeul, after all, is a teenager, so she couldn’t handle the provocation and had an unpleasant expression.

I nodded vaguely with a meaningful smile.

“Yeah, 97 points is good.”

“You were this kind of character. Okay, noted.”

She cracked her knuckles and suggested to me.

“Shall we bet on the sum of the raw scores for this midterm exam?”

“What’s the bet?”

“Simply granting one wish.”

“…What are you going to make me do, you pervert.”

When I asked with narrowed eyes, Kim Noeul, who was drinking tea, coughed.

“I won’t make you do anything weird. Don’t you have weird imaginations. You said something about my bra last time too.”

“That’s… never mind.”

“I’m going to concentrate from now on, so don’t talk to me.”

I had the illusion that fire was sparking from Kim Noeul’s pupils.

She buried her head and started concentrating on studying.

Perhaps because we were both focused on studying, we didn’t have much conversation after that.

When I looked outside, the sun had already set.

We decided to get up.

“Let’s go now.”

After clearing the cups and leaving the cafe, I waited for Kim Noeul, who went to the bathroom, and took in the scenery of Hakdo’s rotary.

I entered Hakdo with great momentum, but there are still many goals I have to achieve.

Now is the stage of steadily building the foundation to achieve that goal.

There’s no need to rush.

‘Don’t worry about speed, but go in the right direction.’

As I was organizing my thoughts, I heard a familiar name.

“Alice. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”

It was a refreshing voice.

A well-proportioned female student with long legs stretched out and passed by me.

A girl with long, light brown hair and a half-untied tie over her shirt was talking on the phone.

“I’ll manage my area myself. Didn’t Ojakgyo give me autonomous rights? It’s not like I can’t manage it.”

I was unknowingly following her, eavesdropping on the conversation.

“The modeling work is also going smoothly. Who in Hakdo could surpass me as a partner when you recommended me? I’ll solidify my image like this, and Ojakgyo will monopolize the uniform company.”

Through the conversation, I could tell who the girl on the phone now was.

There is only one student who is a Hakdo uniform model and can talk to Alice.

Je Galyeonhwa, Je Galwhalin’s twin older sister and one of Ojakgyo’s five executives.

“Anyway, there’s nothing for you to worry about. I’m controlling my sister well, so don’t interfere.”

Je Galyeonhwa, who grumbled for a while, stopped talking for a moment and stopped in her tracks.

And she looked back.

There was no one behind.

Je Galyeonhwa tilted her head and started walking again.

“No, I thought someone was following me. Maybe it was just a fan.”

I hid in a nearby store and stared at Je Galyeonhwa, who was walking away.

I couldn’t hear the other person’s voice, but I clearly heard the name.

‘Alice.’

Although it was over the phone, my heart was racing at the fact that I was so close to her.

I don’t know why my heart is racing.

Is it joy? Longing?

Regret? Love-hate?

It’s a complex emotion, so I can’t pinpoint it to one.

Vibration.

My phone vibrated.

[Kim Noeul: Where are you?]

[Me: Waiting at the cafe entrance I’ll be right there]

After replying, I returned to the cafe.