The rumors came faster after the second fight.
Some said she'd been paid to throw it.Others claimed she was Jaeyul's new poster girl.A few whispered that she wasn't even a real student — just some underground champion planted to boost school prestige.
Aara didn't answer any of it.
She didn't need to.
She let the rumors conflict. Let them build tension.
Let them turn her into a myth before anyone could prove her real.
But that didn't mean she was silent.
It meant she was waiting.
Watching.
Calculating.
Because now?She understood the school for what it was.
A social kingdom.And every kingdom had pressure points.
First target: The Media Club.
They controlled the student feeds — the gossip, the photo leaks, the underground broadcasts of off-campus events.
Aara walked in during a live editing session.
No appointment. No smile. No warning.
Just her presence.
And a single sentence:
"You don't get to use my face without my voice anymore."
The club president blinked up at her — small, sharp, glasses sliding down his nose.
"I don't know what you're talking about—"
She dropped a folder on the table.
Inside: every unauthorized post using her fight name. Screenshots. Times. Engagement numbers.
She'd tracked it all.
"I'm offering you exclusivity," she said calmly. "But only if you stop letting Jaeyul ghost-manage your stories."
"What do you want in return?"
She tilted her head.
"A segment. Bi-weekly. My rules. I pick the questions."
He hesitated.
"You want a platform?"
"No," she said.
"I want a sword."
Second target: The social chair.
Min Heejin.The girl with 150k followers and three sponsorship deals by age 17.
Everyone assumed she'd hate Aara.
But Aara didn't approach her with threats.
She approached her with opportunity.
"You've got clout," Aara said. "But no one takes you seriously."
"Excuse me?"
"They watch you. But they don't listen to you."
"And you're going to fix that?"
"No," Aara said. "We're going to use each other."
By the end of the week, Aara wasn't just the "fight girl."
She was the untouchable one.The girl Jaeyul couldn't fully control.The girl the other elites started aligning with.
And Jaeyul?
He noticed.
Oh, he noticed.
"You're playing a dangerous game," he said when he cornered her outside the old library stairwell.
She didn't step back.
Didn't even blink.
"So are you. But I'm not the one trying to sell a product that bleeds."
"You're rising fast."
"Don't act like it wasn't your idea."
He smiled.
But this time, there was tension behind it.
"You'll need me eventually."
She looked him dead in the eye.
"You need me now. That's why you're here."
That night, Haru returned from a data sweep.
He dropped a new folder on the kitchen table.
She was barefoot, hoodie-clad, holding a mug of black tea.
He said nothing for a moment.
Then:
"I found something."
She didn't speak.
"It's not just Rae Jin backing Jaeyul's fights."
She looked up.
His eyes were unreadable.
"Your mother signed over guardianship two months ago."
Her stomach dropped.
"To who?"
"A holding company under Rae Jin's portfolio."
She stood slowly.
Voice flat.
"She sold me."
Haru didn't argue.
Didn't soften it.
"She sold your legal rights to the same man who tried to turn you into a product."
Aara stared at the wall, throat tight.
Not because she was surprised.
But because somewhere, some small, traitorous part of her had hoped—
No.
Not anymore.
Hope was off the table.
"Then we cut the chain," she said.
"How?"
"I become more valuable unowned than owned."
Haru stepped closer, careful, always reading her.
"You're not going to let this eat you?"
She looked at him.
And for the first time in days — maybe weeks — she smiled.
Not soft.
Not kind.
Just ready.
"No.I'm going to feed it until it chokes."
Later that night, while Haru plotted in the corner with wires and firewalls, Aara opened a new page in her journal.
She didn't title it.
She didn't date it.
She just wrote:
"A queen doesn't ask for power.She takes it,then dares the world to look away."