Chapter 4
What? School? No way…!
As if possessed, I clicked on the title.
[Author: pureless
TL;DR. I saw it with my own eyes today.]
Comments quickly piled up under the short post.
[Comments]
└ dd0d: Huh??? Tell us more.
└ ym1553: Just ignore it.
└ illi0_0: Got proof? Show us some evidence first.
All I knew were things that had already gone wrong in my past life. Other than that, I had no idea what Cha Wook was up to or where he was.
That meant he could be doing all sorts of dumb stuff in places I didn’t know about.
How stupid of me!
I really thought stopping it once would be enough. But then, I remembered the photo Seo Eun-sol had sent me.
‘If the photo was taken from that angle, they might’ve seen Cha Wook lighting a cigarette.’
Could it be that this person was the one who took the picture?
I anxiously started typing on the keypad.
[Are you sure you saw it right? Where at school did you see him?]
As I tried to post my comment in a hurry, a notification popped up.
[This post has been deleted.]
The original post disappeared, leaving behind no replies and only a trail of unease.
Left with unanswered questions, I stared at the screen, refreshing the page over and over again. I thought maybe the same post would come back, but things stayed quiet.
A few spinoff posts popped up like, “What was that cigarette thing about Cha Wook just now?” or “Why’d the cigarette post suddenly disappear?”, but none gained much attention and quickly vanished.
Just moments ago, my brain was foggy from drowsiness, but now I was wide awake.
I shot up and sat at my desk, pulling my chair closer. Then I grabbed the back of an old test paper and spread it out flat.
When I first transferred to Yegrina High, my only goal was to stop this one major scandal. I had thought helping Never Again, a group that felt completely separate from my world, would only go so far.
But…
‘Now that I think about it, that limitation was something I created.’
It wouldn’t be easy, but I had the ability to deceive people’s eyes—so it wasn’t impossible.
Most importantly…
‘If I succeed, Never Again won’t have to disband in disgrace.’
At first, I only cared about Never Again because of Cha Wook. But then came Do Eun-seok, Anthony, Martin… The more I got to know them, the more I realized every single member of Never Again was lovable.
It didn’t take long for me to fall for the group itself.
Through long days of illness and terrifying nights, it was Never Again that gave me strength. If I could help them soar without crashing…
I decided to do whatever I could.
First, I wrote in big letters: “School Cigarette Incident”, then drew a huge X over it.
What was the next scandal again?
“Oh.”
The fan signing event.
“….”
A legendary event that some fans couldn’t attend even after buying 100 albums and spending thousands.
“…And how am I supposed to get in there?”
The motivation I’d built up vanished like melting snow.
My miraculously reborn motivation returned the next day at lunchtime.
Ding!
Still sulking and skipping lunch, I was lying on my desk when a phone notification made me lift my head.
[Congratulations! You have won a spot at the NEVER EVER AGAIN 5th Mini Album “FRESH AGAIN” In-Person Fan Signing Event.]
“Huh?”
What did I just see?
Was I still half-asleep?
I sat up straight and rubbed my eyes. Then, wide awake, I read the message thoroughly.
[Winner identity verification and ticket distribution starts 30 minutes before the event…]
No matter how I looked at it—upside down, doing cartwheels—this was clearly a confirmation message for the fan signing event!
“Wha—!”
A loud noise burst from me involuntarily. Overcome with emotion, hazy memories from my past life came rushing back.
At this time in my past life, I was hospitalized and had bought tons of albums out of fan love.
I had forgotten that in this life too, I was originally a Never Again fan.
With my meager allowance, I probably only did low-budget fangirling, so it made no sense—but…
Whatever I’d spent, it was in the past. I decided not to dwell on it.
Regardless of the cost, this news was unbelievable.
‘Maybe I used up all my luck in this life for this one thing.’
Filled with excitement over going to the fan signing, I finally noticed the gloomy face of my friend sitting beside me.
“Hey, Seo Eun-sol.”
I wrapped an arm around Eun-sol, whose face looked like she’d just returned from the dead.
Having failed to get picked for the fan signing, she was on the verge of tears. I felt a little guilty realizing I’d forgotten I even applied.
“Take lots of pictures for me instead…”
She sighed deeply and handed me her camera.
“Eun-sol, chin up! We’re besties. Me seeing them is practically the same as you seeing them.”
“Cut the crap…”
“Okay, okay. But we’re soulmates, right?”
“Make sure you take tons of Anthony’s photos. From the front and the right side. Those are his best angles.”
As she showed me photos of Anthony and passionately explained his best angles, I replied with a confident smile.
“Don’t worry. You can count on me.”
This time, too—I’ll stop the scandal.
[Operation: Stop the Fan Signing Scandal]
-
Infiltrate staff-only area (using lip balm)
-
Casually approach the waiting room and identify potential disaster sources
-
Pretend to be a senior staff member
→ (1) Stop Cha Wook from saying something dumb
→ (2) Prevent allergy-related chaos -
Smoothly leave and enjoy the event
→ Complete success!
With my nose buried in my notes, I walked while memorizing the strategy I had stayed up all night creating. I’d rehearsed image training countless times on the way here, so I was sure this would work.
That is—until it happened.
“How did you get in here? This is a restricted area.”
A guy who looked three heads taller than me blocked the door.
Well, of course he did.
That door led to the staff-only backstage area.
Looking into the security guard’s eyes, which clearly said “I’m watching you,” I swallowed hard.
The guy looked like he had kettlebells strapped all over him—absolutely massive. Just the sight of him made the plan I’d memorized fly out of my head.
“Um, I, uh… I have something I need to check inside…”
My voice automatically shrank, knowing full well how flimsy my excuse was. As expected, the guard snorted.
“Yeah, yeah. Everyone’s got their reasons. The entrance to the fan event is that way, kid.”
Basically telling me to scram in the sweetest way possible. If I resisted any longer, I could kiss that sweetness goodbye.
Frantically pulling out my lip balm, I suddenly realized a gaping flaw in my plan.
‘There’s no how!’
I didn’t plan what to actually do once I encountered a security guard!
For a moment, I pictured the face of Eun Soo-mi, the textbook “J-type” personality who always teased me, the “P-type.”
As I stood there fumbling for words, the guard suddenly raised his voice.
“Hey! What are you doing? I said go tha—huh?”
He stopped mid-sentence and widened his eyes. His dazed pupils… looked strangely familiar.
That was the look people got under my charm’s effect.
“Ah!”
Suddenly, the security guard clapped his hands and smiled brightly. I hadn’t even said a word yet!
“You must be the temp staff for today. Please come in.”
Ah, right. I should’ve just said I was staff. I quickly nodded and played along.
“Yes! That’s right. I’m the temp!”
“Sorry about that. You’re not wearing your badge.”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot to bring it…”
“No worries. Here’s a spare. Please wear this.”
After receiving and wearing the name tag, the guard stepped aside.
“NEVER EVER AGAIN just arrived and are getting ready now. Good luck in there.”
