4. School

"Okay, I'm in."

Paige thought she would have to persuade him, but the magic of the female lead apparently worked just fine.

"What was that about your wound not bleeding?" 

"Ah, that, yes. This isn't my body..." Instead of continuing to suppress it, she allowed herself to tremble in front of him. It would happen often in the future, and she didn't mind. It was easier this way for her, too. 

"When possessing the character, not all bodily functions come online at once. In my case, apparently the blood circulation doesn't work..." She found herself staring at her wound in wonder; the Band-Aid was already down, and the wound started to close slowly.

He abruptly met her gaze. "Then who are you?" 

"Paige, 34 years old. A shut-in." She gritted her teeth as her body shuddered involuntarily again—sharing information about herself was especially difficult. The system liked her to pay a price a little higher than what was visible at that moment, but she was resolved to be absolutely honest with the male lead.

"34? Wow... so you will go to school again?" He commented, feeling unaccustomed to looking at a clear teenager while meeting the eyes of a grown woman. 

She replied resignedly, "And act out so much drama with you and the female lead..." 

"And a hikikomori nonetheless. Why did the system choose you?" He raised an eyebrow, feeling light anticipation for the upcoming drama she had mentioned.

"I don't know." She felt her body temperature rising; soon she would get a fever. 

In the system space, she was warned about each punishment step, and disclosing personal information was nearly the highest punishment possible. 

Paige knew it was time to let the system wreak havoc in her body, so she sped up the conversation.

"In your wallet is a credit card; use it to buy everything you need." The system didn't just arrange her financial situation; the original body was rich too. So she had more than enough.

"Of course, you can come and go without needing to tell me anything. However, I would like to ask you to be here on the evening before school starts, in about a month. I want to discuss the first few scenes with you. Is that okay with you?"

He slowly nodded, observing her increasingly red face. Again with this strange politeness. She didn't seem to be asking for a favor, nor did she look like she felt superior; just a dry, polite exchange between colleagues.

She propped herself up with difficulty, tossing the yogurt cup into the trash can while dragging her body upstairs. Not really present anymore due to the fever, she said in the same way she had in the afternoon,

"Don't worry, everything will be fine. You are already registered at the school, and it's just a bit of acting." 

Lance thought she made the whole thing sound like it required little effort, even though she was the one who had been tormented by the system all day. 

"Good night," she mumbled, disappearing from his view once again. 

He felt somewhat overwhelmed by the information he had received. 

Everything here was a story, with conscious and unconscious actors performing a play? Hard to believe. But if this really was the case, it wasn't clear to him why he was chosen to be born as the male protagonist. 

If this was all real, he felt a bit grateful for having a rich, non-whiny team member by his side. Though this team member was somewhat older than he had thought and was nearly passing out from the invisible force manipulating her. 

He wasn't the least bit interested in some romantic story, apparently neither much in his rich parents nor in that prestigious school. What he truly wanted was enough to eat. 

Then, when he had enough to eat, he really wanted to find the men who had kidnapped him when he was a child and have a little fun with them. 

Now, by this girl's side, it seemed like he could reach each of his goals just by remaining here, so why not? 

He had long let go of unrealistic dreams, but now it appeared that he could at least relax a bit.