After that, things took a turn for ....not the very best.
As soon as Yuna walked out of her dorm building, Austin was waiting quietly. It somehow reminded her of the time when he would wait for her so they could go to school together and then go home together afterward.
Though this time, there was a slight, subtle difference.
As soon as he saw her, Austin smiled, walked toward her, and took her hand, clasping it firmly.
"Good morning, Yuna. How was your sleep?"
Austin asked sweetly.
"Austin, it's uncomfortable."
"Every night before I go to sleep, I think of you, so I sleep very well,"
Austin continued as if he didn't hear Yuna at all.
"…Austin, it's uncomfortable," Yuna stated once again, persistent.
"I used to hold your hand."
This time he didn't ignore her but answered back.
Yuna's brows twitched. "Can before and after be the same?"
"Why not?" Austin tilted his head, wearing a puzzled expression. Yuna didn't know whether he was truly puzzled or acting. "Is it because I told you I like you? Even before I said it out loud, I always liked you, so what's the difference?"
Yuna had never known Austin was this good at twisting words.
She wasn't the type to hem and haw or maintain ambiguousness.
"I don't ever want to be in a relationship, and I don't like you. I think it's better to not meet each other for a while, Austin."
Austin remained quiet.
Yuna's brow twitched even more.
Her mood, already complicated, now turned downright foul.
This was it—his stubbornness.
Yuna didn't understand what had gone wrong. Austin was supposed to be cool and level-headed, not this chummy, insistent, annoying lunatic right now.
Well, she hadn't actually read that novel too well, but even then, he was not supposed to be like this.
In the end, as long as he didn't cross her bottom line, Yuna decided to ignore him altogether. She had already said her piece. She wasn't going to wrong herself for him liking her. Why should she be the one uncomfortable?
Yuna thought so and then walked ahead with Austin in tow, still holding her hand tightly. They received quite a few stares when they reached the academy grounds, but she was always good at ignoring such attention, so Yuna headed straight to her classroom.
"I'll come find you at lunch, Yuna," he said and gave her a quick hug before leaving.
He left with Yuna's hands clenching in frustration.
As long as she didn't pay attention to him, everything would turn out alright again—or so she thought as she entered the classroom.
…But Yuna was wrong.
Things were getting worse.
Austin. He…
He became… almost unbearable.
It was because he spouted nonsense nonstop.
Scilla and her two brothers came in.
It was Scilla's brother's time to get his dose of Elezar medicine.
"What is it about them that gets your attention, Yuna? Some random mutt always seems to get your attention. It makes me jealous,"
He spoke lightly, as if he were talking about the weather.
It came out more intense than he wanted, which might scare Yuna. But Austin had no reason to retract it. After all, he—Choi Min—had never been a good person in the first place.
"What can I do for you to only look at me?"
His gaze lingered heavily on her. Never leaving her. Following her and sticking close to her like gum.
Yuna forcefully ignored the lunatic words coming from his mouth—words she never thought she would hear in her life.
It was lunch break.
"Our Yuna doesn't seem to like you near her very much."
The Heart Class, out of nowhere, closed in on Austin as he sat firmly beside her, preparing and cutting her meal like a servant. He held her hand and tried to hand-feed her. Yuna, who thought she was very patient, almost erupted, jumped up and banged the table, but the Heart Class spoke first so she didn't erupt yet.
It's really hard to ignore at this point.
Austin replied coldly, "As Yuna's obedient dogs, I will ignore your quibble once. But bark again, and I won't show mercy."
He looked at the Heart Class surrounding him and Yuna, standing beside and behind each other like a wall.
'What the hell is this? And what the hell is Austin saying?'
'So.....so cringe.....and absurb! Urghhh'
No—he'd been saying strange things even before this, but Yuna had forcefully deluded herself, refusing to think too deeply about it, running away from the situation.
"As her obedient dog, we will bark at anyone she doesn't like,"
Came the natural reply of one of the Heart Class. As if calling themselves her obedient dogs was the most natural title in the world.
'No, what obedient dog? Why is the Heart Class even starting to become this unhinged?'
Yuna thought, her reaction delayed at the absurd situation.
She always wonder how those main characters can act so nonchalant when those around them act like a lap dog, spouting absurb words.
She couldn't.
"Then I should train the dogs who shouldn't bark at those they shouldn't,"
Austin said, slowly removing his sword.
"Tch."
"I knew he had strange thoughts about Yuna."
"Our class rep should really filter the people she hangs out with. We are enough."
"It's okay, we can bite those people who stretch their claws when they can't restrain themselves."
'Huuuu'
The chatter sounded far away to Yuna, echoing long and slow, and by the time she snapped back to her senses, her Heart Class and Austin were about to start fighting.
Yuna looked at everything happening around her and finally forced herself awake from her daydream that everything was normal.
Nothing was normal.
Nothing they did was normal.
Nothing they said was normal.
Not one bit!
Yuna stood up and slammed her hand on the table.
It drew everyone's attention.
Her hand ached and her palm stung. She wanted to process the pain, but her nervous system didn't seem to be working properly anymore.
"Sit down, don't make trouble, and finish your food—otherwise, I will be angry."
The Heart Class obediently fell silent and shuffled to seats, quickly starting to eat.
Austin sheathed his sword and sat beside her again. He tried to feed her, and this time Yuna obediently opened her mouth, though her expression was extra cold.
Throughout the day, Yuna maintained a cold expression, and when she finally returned to her dorm, she plopped heavily onto her bed.
Then she started punching the mattress.
And ....she cried.
It was now that she was rudely awakened from her daydream.
All the mysterious and uneventful things that happened to her hadn't affected her because she firmly held on to the belief that things around her were normal.
But today, that belief was ruthlessly shattered.
…Austin… had that …that yandere thing going on. Of all the dere, Yan was the worst!
She might swoon over yanderes in novels, but in real life? Yeah, no. They were dangerous. Yuna didn't have overwhelming charm to tame or wrap them around her finger. They scared her. Those psychopaths.
And her Heart Class…
What was with their lunatic, fervent reactions? Like zealot followers or something, extreme fanatics from a cult or something. Ugh…
She knew they were skewed somewhere, but Yuna had done well ignoring all that by forcefully living in her own world. But they decided to pull her out—rudely, at that—today.
Well, it all started with Austin confessing, cracking her imaginary world, and things escalated to this point.
Why did that paper character decide to confess to her in the first place? If it were any other person not from the novel, she would have treated it as nothing out of the ordinary. After all, who don't get confessed to or confess to someone?
But as a reader, she always regarded characters specially, whether she liked them or not—and Yuna was aware of that trait.
She was a reader. A reader, a reader!
She was a normal person!
How could she handle these fervent follower bullshits? Her obedient dogs… Ugh… Bleugh…
Shit.
What did she do?? She was so normal! She was so ordinary!
The world… it wronged her!
Yuna banged her head lightly on the wall.
Yuna sniffled.
If it were her previous life, she might've even had thoughts of wanting to take her own life, but now, in this life, she did not.
Slowly, her expression crumbled into pure nonchalance.
Fine.
She would treat them as characters in a novel and not as real beings. They forced her hand. Only then would she dare to continue living in her bubble of normalcy.
A slice of life genre.
A girl reincarnating in a fantasy world where she lived a carefree life.
That was Yuna's dream, hope, and the life she strove for.