.  * * *

  Sent by: Ham Donnie

  Yeah, I’m also concerned…


  Reading the text that seemed out of strength, Yi Ruda revealed a smile on her lips. She then raised herself. Her body slightly ached as she slept on the rail of three desks attached; however, it wasn’t a big problem.

  Where she fell asleep and awoke was, none other than, in the library. During the semester, the school was her shelter against the men in black, but once the break began, it wasn’t anymore. She, eventually, became a fugitive switching places among various public institutions, including banks and libraries. Taking sanctuary in this place, where Ham Donnie and the Four Heavenly Kings came almost every day, was a coincidence to the last degree.

  “Maybe the coincidence can turn into an opportunity.”


  Murmuring those words, she grabbed the can that she had kept beside her for the whole time during her sleep. She wasn’t trying to drink that. Her sharp glance was thrown at the side of the can. It just looked like a regular canned coffee; however, Yi Ruda, exposed to all kinds of dangers since young and went through several training courses to protect the targeted clients, could easily distinguish its difference from regular canned beverages. When Ham Donnie went outside the library alone, Yi Ruda walked after her as she felt bored and wanted to chitchat with Donnie. And it all started from there.

  She was thinking to say, ‘Hey! What a coincidence. Are you studying in the library on such lovely day? That’s really something…’ Of course, she wouldn’t miss a bright smile to fake how a good person she was too. Hmmm, when having these thoughts in mind, Yi Ruda often wondered what she really wanted to do with Ham Donnie.

  ‘Am I in need of a real friend?’ she thought. That also belonged to the case when she helped to snatch the phone of Choi Yuri’s bodyguard while following Woo Jooin’s suggestion. Yi Ruda could’ve refused to do such a dangerous thing and just risked herself to give a slightly bad impression to Ham Donnie… However, she eventually jumped into the thing, and as a result, became easily traceable in the men in black’s radar. Thus, the happening in the library took place when the joy of accompanying Ham Donnie had disappeared and only confusions followed every step she made throughout the little journey.

  As soon as she turned around the corner, there stood a stranger blocking Ham Donnie and giving a canned coffee to her. Yi Ruda’s agile eyes caught the fact that she never saw that guy inside the reference room during her days of stay in the library. For the whole time inside the space, the guy just wandered around only in the hallway as if he was waiting for someone. Besides, what bothered her the most was the can. Yi Ruda tried to take some action immediately, but as she felt an indication of people behind her, she just left the spot. It was when Ham Donnie and the Four Heavenly Kings left that she finally took herself out from the secluded space in the library and began to move around. The canned coffee was found in the garbage bin. Clicking her tongue, she turned the can around.

  In the middle of the printed red can, there was a small silver dot, a common trace usually left when spilling a substance into an enclosed can by other means. ‘If it were me, I could’ve done it more perfectly and spotlessly,’ Yi Ruda thought, furrowing her brows, ‘It’s from an amateur, but I can’t bypass how malicious it is. If I run a few tests at home, the substance inside will come out into the open…’ Moving her eyeballs to look at Ham Donnie’s texts, she touched her lips with the other hand.

  What matters here is that someone is targeting Ham Donnie.

  ‘Why is she, who believes herself as just a run-of-the-mill girl, always exposed to these dangers?’ Yi Ruda heaved a deep sigh.

  Article 19. Hope You Play Cinderella with the Female Protagonist

  Eun Jiho came to pick me up on the same day in the afternoon.

  In front of our apartment entrance, I adjusted my outfit, a random selection taken out from the wardrobe, and glanced around. As I expected, at least, one of the teenagers walking pass by me was wearing the same outfit as I did. You know, a pair of white t-shirt and jeans…


  Tidying my crinkled t-shirt sleeves, I fetched a sigh.

  ‘Is it really okay to go there like this?’


  I didn’t go to a lot of parties, but I was, at least, aware that unless I weren’t a tourist staying at the hotel, I would get strange looks from others.

  As I took my phone out of the pocket, I dropped my gaze at it then pouted my lips. No matter how many times I asked him, the answers that Eun Jiho brought out were something like this.

  [Sent by: Eun Ji-goddamn-ho

  If you really have nothing to wear, just put a spacesuit on]

  What a joke.

  I heaved a sigh. The breath I let out touched my cheeks immediately that I felt the increase of the overall temperature around me. That was when I stopped adjusting my sleeves, hand-fanned myself, and suddenly said hello to a lady who lived on the same floor.

  A black car that turned around the far corner skidded in front of me and pulled over without a sound. The lady paused herself greeting me to stare at the long black vehicle with her eyes open round.

  I heaved a sigh to myself, thinking, ‘I seemed to be playing with a full deck in this world of web novel, but right now, I don’t think so.’


  A Korean high school student who got used to getting a ride with a long limo… that doesn’t make sense at all.

  Having that thought in mind, I lowered my waist toward the darkly tinted window. Although I was very accustomed to the ride, I attempted to check who was inside there; however, as soon as I took that action, someone inside tapped the window fractiously. I frowned the tip of my nose.

  Anyway, you do have one hot temper.

  Opening the door, I pushed myself inside and spoke to him.

  “At least you should give me some time to check who’s inside? What if I take a ride with any long vehicle and suddenly get kidnapped?”


  Soon, a sneering voice came after.

  “What the heck, getting kidnapped?”


  “Dude, I’m being serious right now?”


  I replied, bending my waist forward to take a bottle of water from the fridge on the door. Then I pouted my lips.

  Of course, I know that abductions rarely happen. Particularly, the kidnappers will use refrigerated trucks or vans, those that have enough storage spaces and take less center stage. No one will ever use this high-profile vehicle for such a crime. Still, there is something called ‘by any possibility…’


  Rambling those thoughts, I took out a glass and poured the water. A response returned from across in the meantime.

  “Aren’t you watching too many TV shows?”


  I, at last, couldn’t control my wage welling up from the depths of me.

  “What? Why are you scowling at me? Did I say something wrong?”


  Nope.

  Being unable to drop that word, I just glared at Eun Jiho’s platinum blond hair and chiseled face shining radiantly inside the dim car light.

  Yeah, there was nothing logically wrong about what he just said. The problem was, however, that the frontrunner of senselessness was shooting his mouth off in front of me, ‘Oh, you watched too many TV shows, duh–’ something like that!

  I threw a mixed glance at Eun Jiho. Looking at me for the whole time, Eun Jiho asked, frowning his brows.

  “What? What’s wrong?

  Instead of a response, I just lifted the glass of water and gulped it all the way.

  In the meanwhile, the car started up without any sway or noise as if cleaving through the water. It was now running smoothly in the middle of the road.

  Eun Jiho diverted his eyes onto me when I put the glass down. Slightly lifting my t-shirt, I flung the question.

  “Eun Jiho, is this outfit really okay?”


  “Of course, not.”


  “…”


  After a short pause, I asked back.

  “You said I can wear anything.”


  “Uh-huh.”


  “So, I don’t need to be dressed up…”


  “Things matter, of course. It’s a party.”


  Eun Jiho replied shamelessly. I cast a blank stare at his audacious face. That was when I fetched a sigh a moment after and tried to cry out to the driver to pull over.

  I had no idea how he read my mind, but Eun Jiho’s hand was now pressing down my hand so firmly before I even knew. As soon as I turned my head in surprise, I met his eyes that got closer to me.