The warm sunlight poured down beneath a flawless early spring noon.
Cuckoo, cuckoo.
Standing beneath a cherry blossom tree that had only just begun to bloom, Yoohee gazed up at the towering clock tower.
As the cuckoo announcing noon folded its fully spread wings and disappeared back inside the tower, her heart began pounding even faster.
‘Today’s finally the day.’
Today was the day she would finally cash in on the childhood-friend stock she’d been diamond-handing all this time. It hadn’t been her intention from the beginning, but one way or another, this was undoubtedly the single most important moment of Yoohee’s life.
‘…The day I finally escape this damn life as a C-rank Guide.’
The memories of her previous life remained as vivid as ever. In that life, she had died an unnoticed death inside a Gate as a C-rank Guide. Then, when she opened her eyes again, she found herself inside some Guideverse novel.
Back then, Yoohee had never imagined she’d end up becoming a C-rank Guide again. After all, awakenings usually happened around the age of eighteen.
She lived through an entirely ordinary childhood and an uneventful school life, but the moment she awakened, there was no avoiding the absurd conclusion awaiting her.
‘A C-rank Guide extra. Dies a meaningless death in a B-rank Gate. Short-lived.’
Her own name perfectly matched that of an extra from a novel she’d never been able to remember until now.
<Im Yoohee, an extra from My Unrequited Love Academi.>
She was nothing more than a background character who died while accompanying the protagonists into a Gate. To make matters worse, her fate resembled the ending of her previous life so closely it was almost tragic.
‘I was C-rank before, and now I’m C-rank again. Ha… C-hell.’
At this point, she felt like hearing the letter C alone was enough to trigger PTSD.
Still, there was exactly one way to survive in this godforsaken world.
Invest in her childhood friend.
‘I’ve practically raised Joohoon all these years.’
Although he never appeared in the original story, Yoohee had an incredibly adorable childhood friend.
Joohoon was timid and painfully shy, so he struggled to get along with other people and always stuck close to Yoohee instead. And somehow, he’d awakened as an A-rank Esper.
To survive in the ruthless world of Gates, she needed a capable Esper. Which made Joohoon Yoohee’s one and only savior.
‘He should be here any minute now.’
The minute hand was already creeping toward the five.
He had never once been late to their appointments. For a fleeting moment, Yoohee wondered if Joohoon’s personality had changed while they were apart, but she quickly shook her head.
‘No. He was exactly the same whenever we messaged each other.’
Four years ago, Joohoon had left for the United States after his father received an overseas assignment.
Originally, he was supposed to return on the day of the Academy’s entrance ceremony, but because of his schedule in America, he was only now returning to Korea a month later.
Throughout that time, he and Yoohee had stayed in touch through messaging apps. The last message Joohoon had sent was an emoji of an adorable little polar bear—just like him—bashfully covering its face.
‘That’s strange…’
Yoohee pulled her phone from her pocket. She found her chat with Joohoon and was about to type when—
First-year Black Panther Class student Kim Joohoon, Kim Joohoon. Report to the faculty office immediately.
The announcement blared from the speaker mounted beside a streetlamp.
At the Academy, every class was given names like Black Panther or White Tiger, in the hope that all Awakeners would grow into brave and powerful individuals. Sometimes it felt more like a kindergarten than an academy, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.
First-year Black Panther Class student Kim Joohoon.
‘That’s our Joohoon, isn’t it?’
Her fingers flew across the screen as she sent him a message.
[Joohoon, what’s going on?]
About three minutes passed without the message being marked as read.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
Suddenly, the sound of heavy marching footsteps echoed through the street.
When she turned toward the noise, she saw dozens of broad-shouldered soldiers striding toward the school building with imposing urgency.
“Looks like someone’s being taken away.”
“I heard there was some kind of commotion near the faculty office earlier. What happened?”
Students wearing the same white Academy uniform as Yoohee whispered among themselves.
Standing beneath the clock tower, Yoohee suddenly felt a cold sweat trickle down her spine.
It wasn’t because of the heat.
The soldiers’ massive frames blocked her view, making it impossible to see who had been apprehended, but an ominous feeling settled in her chest.
What if it was Joohoon?
She immediately ran after the procession.
“Wait!”
Yoohee sprinted after the soldiers and managed to catch up, but they paid no attention to her.
She tried squeezing through the gaps to confirm with her own eyes whether it was really Joohoon, but every attempt was blocked by the soldiers’ sturdy arms.
Then, for the briefest instant, she caught sight of ash-gray hair and a white Academy uniform.
There was no mistaking them.
‘—!’
It was Joohoon.
She desperately grabbed hold of a soldier’s sleeve.
“Wait! Where are you taking our Joohoon?!”
“Let go! Do you have any idea what you’re getting yourself involved in?!”
The soldier roughly shoved Yoohee away before resuming his long, measured strides.
She stumbled backward from the force, but she couldn’t give up.
“I’m asking where you’re taking our Joohoon!”
Perhaps her desperate cry reached him.
Joohoon, who had been walking with his gaze fixed on the ground, slowly lifted his head.
The moment their eyes met—
‘…’
She couldn’t hear the soldiers telling her to stand back.
Her entire world had narrowed to Joohoon, surrounded by that dense wall of marching soldiers.
His skin was still as pale as fresh snow.
His ash-gray hair still rested neatly across his forehead.
But his eyes…
They were nothing like before.
The gentle, timid warmth that had once filled them was gone.
In its place lingered a chilling coldness—one so piercing that meeting his gaze alone was enough to make her breathing stop.
Honestly, Yoohee was so stunned she couldn’t even blink.
Then, as if she’d imagined it all, the look in Joohoon’s eyes changed.
The instant recognition dawned in his gaze—
“Step aside!”
The soldiers escorting Joohoon disappeared into one of the buildings.
Only after they had all vanished did Yoohee finally regain her senses.
The place they’d entered was…
Academy Building F.
The annex known as hell itself.
Once someone entered, they never came back out.
The soldiers had taken Joohoon inside.
She rubbed her eyes and looked again.
Among all the Academy buildings, it was unmistakably Building F—the only one that radiated an eerie atmosphere even in broad daylight.
“What do we do…? He really went in.”
“Whoa. I have to post this on social media.”
Some students looked at Joohoon’s fate with sympathy and pity.
Others watched with nothing more than detached curiosity, as though it had nothing to do with them.
Meanwhile, Yoohee remained frozen where she stood, unable to react at all.
Because, honestly…
She couldn’t believe it.
‘…’
The reason no Esper ever came back out of Building F was simple.
It existed solely to imprison Espers who could no longer be Guided.
Every Esper sent there was eventually put down before they could go berserk.
Only then did Yoohee finally realize why Joohoon had never appeared in the original novel.
‘No… It can’t be…’
Even Yoohee, a mere C-rank Guide, had been mentioned in a few lines.
Yet there hadn’t been a single mention of Joohoon, an A-rank Esper.
It wasn’t because he’d failed to distinguish himself in the Gates.
Nor because he’d been insignificant at the Academy.
Joohoon simply couldn’t appear in the original story.
Because he’d disappeared before the story even began.
***
She had to admit it.
She’d been living in a fantasy all this time.
Even after learning she was destined to die young as an extra, she’d convinced herself that having an A-rank Esper like Joohoon by her side would somehow keep her safe.
It had been foolish to believe everything would work out when she herself had absolutely nothing to offer.
‘…But there’s nothing I can do.’
She wanted to save Joohoon right this instant.
Not just because she needed an A-rank Esper.
He was her precious friend.
But there was no way someone as powerless as her could rescue him.
‘It was the same in my previous life.’
She had lived as an unremarkable C-rank Guide until an unexpected accident swept her away.
If only she’d been stronger…
If only she’d been able to make her Pair more powerful…
Then perhaps…
That person wouldn’t have had to spend the rest of their life drowning in guilt.
As Yoohee sank deeper into despair, a translucent status window resembling a floating holographic screen appeared above her head.
At the same time—
Ding!
An unexpectedly cute sound effect chimed.
[Romance Fantasy Beta Service has begun!]
Romance Fantasy Beta Service?
[Hello, twenty-ninth transmigrator! Oh dear, oh dear. It seems you’ve unfortunately transmigrated into a short-lived extra!]
Sentence after sentence flowed across the mysterious status window.
It even came with voice narration.
But despite the exaggeratedly sympathetic tone, the way it kept raising the ends of its sentences made it sound anything but sincere.
[But don’t worry! We’ve prepared a special Beta Service just for our twenty-ninth transmigrator!]
…Why does that voice sound like an annoying little kid?
[Oh my! Already, three esteemed Constellations have arrived to watch the twenty-ninth transmigrator’s scenario! Even though this is only a beta service, we’re so grateful for your support!]
…Wait. Constellations?
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