"Hehehe… no need to act shy and naive, Soren. I didn't know you were like this."
Sylvia teased, her blue eyes filled with mischief.
"Now I understand why you acted completely out of character. You wanted to gain her attention like this, right?"
She asked, to which Soren numbly nodded, as he himself didn't know what she was getting at.
But Sylvia continued analyzing without his help.
"Now I understand everything. You fell in love with her the first time you saw her and didn't know how to interact. Anxious to get to know her quickly, you finally tripped her with your foot."
"Although now she might hate you, as long as you are sincere, she will definitely forgive you. And this way, she will have an indelible impression of you in her mind."
Sylvia began murmuring to herself, making Soren daze.
"A perfect encounter. Genius! Like someone said, first impressions are very important. Although it might look bad in your case, as someone said…"
"...it will only take a second to turn hatred to love, isn't it?"
Sylvia asked, looking at Soren with a smug expression, as if waiting for him to praise her impeccable analysis.
Her blue eyes shimmering with anticipation.
"..."
"..."
"Ha… haha… Sylvia… you are a genius. You so easily recognized what I was trying to do."
Seeing her look, Soren forced a laugh while agreeing with a smile. Inwardly, though, he was already totally speechless.
'This is indeed the world of dating sims.'
Only this could explain the absurdity of the current situation. But as long as she took it positively, who was he to complain?
"Hehe… thank you. But… I think you went a bit too far. You shouldn't have done that to her in front of the whole crowd."
Sylvia seemed convinced already and even began giving advice.
"Girls are sensitive about their image, you know. You should be careful dealing with them."
She genuinely suggested it, making Soren feel awkward.
"Then… I will ask for your help next time?"
Soren proposed, intending to end the topic. He had already received notice from the system that he was safe. He didn't want to dwell on the issue any longer.
"Okay… ask me first then. Don't worry, as a friend I will definitely help you."
Sylvia readily agreed with a smile and glanced at her watch before speaking.
"Class is about to start. Let's go immediately. We can't be late on our first day."
After saying that, she left, Soren following hurriedly, leaving the empty corridor and the silence behind.
…
"Creak!"
The silence broke as the restroom door slowly opened.
With her skirt brushing against her thighs and long red hair cascading down her back, a tall girl finally stepped out of the restroom.
"Crush?"
But her expression seemed a little off.
"He did that because he had a crush on me?"
Aurelia murmured, unsure how to react to the new information she had just received.
Having been trained all her life under her mother, this kind of thing was entirely new to her. She had never had a boy like this before.
But now, hearing that someone had a crush on her with her own ears made her somewhat shy.
Of course, that didn't mean she liked him too. That would be absurd.
It was just… girls liked attention, after all.
'Tch… you were completely smitten by me and accidentally tripped me, huh?'
Sure enough, after relishing the attention, Aurelia returned to her previous self and flicked her long hair behind her shoulder, her confidence returning stronger than ever.
'How clumsy… did you think I don't know what you're thinking?'
'Leaving an indelible impression? Perfect encounter?'
'You wish…'
Aurelia thought smugly, as if she had already seen through Soren's plan, a beautiful smile appearing on her lips. She didn't even realize she was taking Sylvia's words at face value; Soren didn't say those things.
'It will only take a second to turn hatred to love, huh? How romantic? As if you're even worthy of dreaming of being with me.'
'Hehehe…'
Aurelia giggled, imagining Soren's face wallowing in despair when he realized her true identity.
When he would recognize that she was from a different world and should be grateful just to look at her.
Feeling satisfied with her imagination, Aurelia's mood rapidly improved, and she completely forgot about the incident at the cafeteria.
Poor girl, she even forgot about the recording she saved to accuse Soren.
How vain!
***
—
Ding!
[An incredible Luck Applies.]
[Congratulations! You have successfully dodged a misfortune.]
[A new stat related to Luck has been activated.]
[GAP: 1 (Invariable Stat)]
[Note: Each misfortune you avoid will grant 1 point to the Gap stat.]
—
Soren, who already returned to the large classroom and was sitting at his desk, suddenly received a prompt that surprised him.
'What is this? Misfortune?'
He didn't know what happened, but he suddenly gained an additional stat out of nowhere.
'It seems it is referring to Sylvia's distrust from before. Anyway, what is the use of this stat?'
Soren thought as he had no idea what "Gap" meant.
He never saw this stat in Lover's Labyrinth before. Unfortunately, the system also didn't explain much.
'Hmm?'
Just as he was wondering about it, he felt someone's gaze land on him from afar. As an archer, he was extremely sensitive to being watched.
He immediately turned his head and looked forward, only to see Aurelia standing at the classroom door and looking straight at him.
'Oh… crap…'
He hurriedly lowered his head, trying to hide from her gaze, afraid she might attack him outright.
With her extraordinary background, she didn't need to care about the rules of the Elite Hunter Academy as much as he did.
Not to mention, he was the one who bullied her earlier.
'Pfftt… look at him hiding like a rat. If you are so afraid, where did you get the guts to do that just to leave a first impression on me?'
Unfortunately, Aurelia already noticed him. But instead of getting angry, she seemed amused and tried hard to suppress her laughter.
Maintaining her composure, she finally walked in and sat down at the front, completely ignoring Soren.
'Phew… it seems she isn't that angry anymore. I should probably apologize before she complains.'
Soren sighed in relief after seeing her sit down at her desk, his head throbbing painfully.
One quest from the system already dragged him into such deep trouble. He didn't know what would happen when the next one appeared.
This wasn't a world of pornhwa where such perverted quests could be completed so easily.
His head hurt.
"Hehe… Soren… don't hide. Go for it."
Sylvia's enthusiastic cheering from the side only made things worse.
"What? What is he hiding from?"
The only clueless person here was Evan, the protagonist. He truly lived a carefree life unaware of intricacies around.
Soren felt jealous.