Chapter 1

“Harensys, won’t you be my partner for swordsmanship training?”  

She gripped her trembling heart and asked without hesitation, hoping today she could train with Harensys.  

“No, I already have someone to train with.”  

Harensys’s cold face grew even icier. His pupils trembled slightly. Since she saw that face often, she didn’t think it was particularly scary.  

“Ah. I see.”  

It was the answer she expected, but she awkwardly twirled her hair and gave a sheepish smile. Harensys left his seat without any lingering attachment. She gazed wistfully at his departing figure.  

How many times was this now?  

She felt like she’d been rejected by Harensys more than fifty times already.  

Since entering the academy and becoming a second-year, she had been in love with Harensys.  

‘Back in first year, I never thought I’d end up liking Harensys. No, I never imagined I’d fall for a guy like Harensys.’

Back in first year, her ideal type was someone kind, athletic, top of the class, humorous, and even wealthy.  

And because of her sociability and wit, her ideal type became so widely known that every academy student knew about it. 

—I fit your ideal type, so why don’t we go out sometime?  

Because of that, whenever people were about to forget, some guy would ask her out. She turned them all down, though.  

‘I can’t stand guys who are cheesy.’  

Even if someone matched her ideal type, if he was too smooth, a playboy, had too many girlfriends, or even just one minor flaw, she wasn’t interested.  

‘Am I really going to graduate without ever dating? I hate that.’

She wanted so desperately to date that she wrote it ten times on her pre-graduation bucket list!  

Not being able to do that was unbearable.  

‘Maybe I should just go out with anyone who confesses?’  

She wanted to fill her bucket list, so she considered dating someone even if they weren’t quite her type. She agonized about it all day.  

She wandered near the swordsmanship training hall, deep in thought.

“Watch out!”  

From far away, someone shouted urgently. As she turned toward the voice, a dark shadow appeared.  

“Hey, be careful.”  

A young man held a sword in his hand. Not a wooden one, but a sharp real sword. Blood ran down his hand.  

That real sword had been flying toward her. The young man had gotten hurt trying to protect her.  

Thump!  

Suddenly, her heart pounded wildly. The young man turned toward her.  

“Are you okay?”  

“Yeah, what about you? Are you alright?”  

She was mesmerized by his jet-black hair, darker than the universe, and his dazzling golden eyes, and answered without thinking.  

‘Wow, he’s really handsome.’  

She gaped in awe.  

“This is nothing. Well, I’ll be going.”  

“Oh, uh… thank you.”  

She waved at Harensys’s retreating back, dazed.  

‘My heart’s still pounding.’  

She placed a hand on her thumping chest, feeling the embarrassing sound of her heartbeat racing.  

It was the sound announcing the start of love.  

‘Could it be… I’ve fallen in love?’  

Ever since seeing Harensys, she couldn’t stop thinking about his face, and her heart raced and her cheeks flushed even when she saw him from afar.  

‘If this isn’t love, what is?’  

She admitted she had fallen in love. Her ideal type, unchanged for 14 years, had shifted after meeting Harensys.

As soon as she realized her feelings, she made it obvious with every action.  

It became so well-known among the academy students that everyone knew she liked Harensys.  

—Want to eat together?

—If you haven’t picked a partner yet, want to team up with me?  

—Do you like this candy? I do too.  

She sought him out daily, ran to him even from afar, offered him food when they met, suggested spending time together, and tried to find things they had in common—no wonder it was obvious.

“I like Harensys, but does Harensys hate me?”  

Still, he always answered, even if briefly, and never ran away when he saw her, so she figured he didn’t hate her.  

‘That means there’s a chance! Don’t think negatively, keep trying! Make him like you!’  

With her positive personality, she didn’t give up and kept approaching Harensys.

One day, she saw Harensys heading into the gym storage from afar and hurried after him, smiling brightly and waving.  

“Hi, Harensys.”  

“Yeah.”  

“Why are you here? I followed you.”  

She walked quickly beside Harensys and asked. He looked around the storage, searching for something.  

“The teacher said he needed something.”  

“What is it? I’ll help you look.”  

If they searched together, she’d get to talk to him and see his face, and maybe he’d grow to like her.  

“Do what you want. I’m looking for a desk.”  

“Okay!”  

Honestly, she was worried he’d refuse, so she was relieved he accepted. Smiling, she searched for the desk with him. Deep inside, desks were piled high.

“That’s really tall. Can I reach it?”  

She looked up at the towering height. Stacking desks that high must’ve been tough—how did they even do it?  

Thinking the person who stacked them was impressive, she stretched as far as she could, but couldn’t reach the desk leg at the very top.  

“Harensys, can you help me?”  

No answer. She kept her arm stretched out and looked around. It wasn’t just that he wasn’t answering—he was gone. She couldn’t sense anyone nearby.  

“What’s going on?”  

‘Did he leave? That couldn’t be.’

She found it odd and kept looking around, standing on tiptoe. Then, she lost her balance and bumped into the desks. The precariously stacked desks crashed down on her.  

“Ah!”  

She couldn’t dodge and hit her head against the desk, collapsing from the impact.  

“Ugh…”  

She felt blood pouring from her head. Her head and body hurt so much, she thought she’d break. Judging by her pain, she’d die if she stayed like this.  

“Harensys…”  

She called out desperately, thinking Harensys was nearby. But he didn’t come, and her vision grew dim.  

‘I’m going to die like this…’  

As her eyes closed and she resigned herself to death, she heard footsteps.

“Harensys, what are you doing?”  

“Ah, there was a weird kid. He was bothering me, so I beat that weird kid up to death.”  

“Hey, even for you, that’s harsh.”  

Thump thump. Her heart dropped. Did she mishear? No, she couldn’t have.  

‘So Harensys tried to kill me. On purpose…?’  

No matter how much he disliked her, the thought that he intended to kill her sent chills down her spine. The fact that she was really dying was horrifying and made her feel betrayed.  

‘I won’t like him anymore.’  

If she survived, she’d get revenge!  

The betrayal of dying at the hands of someone she liked erased her feelings and filled her with a burning desire for revenge.  

‘I swear! I’ll get revenge!’  

And so, she closed her eyes, dreaming of revenge.

***  

Blink, blink. Her eyes opened.  

People say you go to the afterlife when you die, so maybe it was true. Otherwise, why would she open her eyes after dying?  

‘Too bad. I wanted revenge.’  

She regretted not getting her revenge. It seemed the gods didn’t grant wishes after all.  

‘But it feels real.’  

The atmosphere was exactly like her dorm room. Even the softness of her bed was the same. Just like reality.  

She looked around her room, still lying in bed, amazed. At that moment, the door burst open. Had the Grim Reaper come to patrol?  

“Prezia! What are you doing right now?”  

“Huh?”  

But it wasn’t the Grim Reaper—it was her roommate, Lea. Lea frowned and strode over, grabbing her wrist.  

“Huh, what do you mean ‘huh’! Class is about to start, what are you doing?”  

“Class?”  

She blinked and asked again. Was there class in the afterlife? That was strange.  

Not only that, but she felt a slight pain from Lea’s grip. Dead people shouldn’t feel pain in the afterlife, so it was odd.  

‘Could this really be reality?’  

It shouldn’t be, but the thought kept creeping in.  

She pondered deeply, following Lea down the stairs, running to the main building, then up the stairs again.  

Panting. If this was the afterlife, she wouldn’t be out of breath. She’d run so much, her legs were shaking.  

Lea finally stopped, and she barely managed to halt and catch her breath, inhaling desperately. As she did, Lea gently patted her back.  

“Ah.”  

It didn’t hurt much, but she felt a faint pain. Was this really the afterlife?  

She rubbed her aching head and stood up, but then she froze at the sight of someone.  

“There’s Harensys, the one you like. Go say hi, you’ve got time.”  

Harensys, still with that cold face, stood before her. The very Harensys who had purposely made her search for a desk and killed her.  

Not only Lea and Harensys—every academy student was the same as before…  

‘Is this really reality? Is it actually real?’  

She couldn’t believe it, but with Lea and Harensys both here, and feeling pain and shortness of breath, she had no choice but to accept it.  

That this was reality, not the afterlife.  

‘Just like in a romance novel, I’ve regressed!’  

It was as if the gods had granted her wish—she had a chance to get revenge on Harensys, and even got a new life.  

This kind of thing actually happens.

Stunned, amazed, and a bit bitter, she just stood there, and Lea nudged her in the side with her elbow.  

“What are you doing? Go talk to him.”  

She always used to talk to him, so it was as if Lea wanted her to hurry and get it over with. But now, she shook off Lea’s hand and headed for the classroom.  

“I’m not going to. Let’s just go in.”  

Why would she talk to him now? Revenge and talking to him were completely different things.  

She would avoid contact as much as possible and only do things he hated.  

Luckily, she knew very well what Harensys disliked.