8 | just this once, i'll take his place

2nd Lead Syndrome
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Day three.

As I arrived at class early after track practice, I stumbled upon a revelation about Jimin that left me intrigued. Despite my initial assumption of her indifference toward Junwoo's confession, a fleeting glimpse of her sulky expression at her desk made me reconsider everything.

Since our classmates went to change into their P.E. uniforms, we were the only ones in the classroom. Unlike the others, Jimin confidently showed up to school already in her P.E. uniform. Well, nothing looks bad on her anyway.

I was lucky that I chose to sit behind her. This way, I can watch her interact with the main characters whenever and for as long as I want.

Being an observer is the best!

Oh, speaking of that... I have to mention that these weird floating percentages of numbers suddenly appeared over everyone's heads the instant I woke up. I'm not sure what it was at first but got an idea of what it was all about once the Imaginari app notified me.

I didn't bring the tablet today since I forgot to charge it last night, but the notification alerted me like this...

~ Alert! ~
The Author of this world has fulfilled the requirements to earn a special ability called the "Happiness Meter"! This is a gift from the original owner of this tablet as a good luck at finding your exit to this world!

I've earned a special ability called the "Happiness Meter." The name says it all. Now, when I want to activate it, a percentage of numbers float above everyone's heads, revealing their happiness levels. Because of this sole ability, now, I was really sure that I had to make Jimin happy.

That means... I have to prevent her from falling completely in love with Junwoo to spare her from that heartbreak! And... I must ensure she doesn't get into an accident that would make her miss the most important violin competition in this world.

"That accident..."

I couldn't help but mumble to myself as I blinked back to reality and noticed Jimin, who had lightly slammed her desk and appeared slightly mad. In the story, it was around this time when Aeri and Junwoo finished changing into their uniforms, likely playing around the track field by now. Conveniently, our classroom windows offered a view of that field.

She's good at hiding it and replacing it with other emotions like yesterday, but...

Jealous.

Jimin is jealous.

Sigh.

This scenario was never shown in the original webtoon. So, I guess it would be fine to interact with her right now—her happiness meter is in danger too...

[ 0% ]

I'm still not sure how the happiness meter works since it was only this morning since I got it, but I am certain Jimin is not happy at whatever she was watching beyond that window.

Therefore, after a long moment of thought, I huffed and reluctantly stood up. Taking a deep breath, I looked around to make sure no one was around to avoid attention and approached Jimin.

"Hey."

I called out to her. And when Jimin turned away to look at me, something weird happened.

[ 5% ]

I tried blinking a few times, but her happiness meter went unchanged.

Am I seeing things...?

...

Ahh, whatever! I need her to get out of here if I don't want that meter to stay at 0%.

Looking at me with her usual poker face but with interested eyes, Jimin stared at me and rested a chin on her palm. "Hmm, Kim Minjeong? It's unusual for you to approach me unless you need to talk to me about something."

I snickered at her keen, observant nature, "I saw you slamming on your desk just now. You do know that I'm here, right? You looked kinda upset."

Jimin hums, "I know."

I raised a brow, "You do?"

"Mhm, you don't look like you care or have anything to say about it anyway."

"Ahh, do you do that all the time to people you're acquainted with? I mean, those who are like me?"

"Nope," Jimin stood up and glanced through the window again before turning back to me. "Just you. I don't know why, but I feel like it's fine if it's you. After all, you said you didn't want any attention or to make a fuss, right?"

Ah.

"Well? Do you have anything to say to me?"

"Oh, right." I cleared my throat, "Classes start in the next hour... do you want to get ice cream together? My treat."

[ 10% ]

Huh, it increased again.

Raising a brow and staring at me as if something was suspicious, Jimin analyzed me from top to bottom before cracking into a faint smile—Ugh, so pretty.

I was expecting to get a reply, but she only nodded, gestured for me to come with her, and left the classroom.

Seriously...

 

૮ ・ﻌ・ა

 

Just a few blocks away from the track field, this school has its own convenience store- Wait, no. This school has its own shopping district! Why, Minjeong? Well, I wanted this school to look as prestigious and unique as possible!

The school is divided into three areas, not including SM University which is located not too far from this humongous place.

This school has a tradition and is well-known for welcoming outsiders as long as they present their ID to the guards and can only roam around the shopping district.

Then, there's the second area of the school. It's currently where Jimin and I are located. Here, only the s

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Yooorra
thx to 2LS my art style is improving... so, pls do expect little to severe art changes here as the story goes~ i'm honestly still a baby when it comes to art (꩜ᯅ꩜;) 

Comments

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jimin_jeong_ 0 points #1
Chapter 16: omggg I knew Minjeong would be involved in the fiance thingy. I thought the girl will fall for her instead of Junwoo but this is so much better haha!
jimin_jeong_ 0 points #2
Chapter 13: Jimin slowly falling for Minjeong AND I’M HERE FOR IT
reveluv316 816 streak 0 points #3
Chapter 18: love the drawings 😍
jimin_jeong_ 0 points #4
Chapter 11: ACKKK JIMIN 🫵😩
jimin_jeong_ 0 points #5
Chapter 10: your art is amazing!! I can’t compliment this story enough but I just want to let you know that every chapter is amazing!
jimin_jeong_ 0 points #6
Chapter 8: OMG OMG OMG THE JUNWOO ERASURE jk
Elyk297 0 points #7
Chapter 17: Me too, I'm Blursed!
_multiplayer__troy 0 points #8
Chapter 18: I can't wait for the next update this is really good 😭💖
KkabYulSicaChu
0 points #9
Chapter 18: Chapter 18: LOL MINJEONG 🤣🤣 And the comments too 🤣 I have watched so many dense mc animes, that mj having dense moments is too funny instead of frustrating, especially when she trashes on jungwoo being dense but she be the same HAHAHAHHA like mother like son ig? (since yknow she made him and ok I'll shut up) But i kind of understand mj's reaction, since she's technically the author and thinks that everything will still play out the same in her webtoon (she kind of reminds me of bakarina in "my next life as a villainess with many death flags" LMAO) and the description jimin gave feels like aeri so not gonna blame her on that, but it's still funny af 🤣 she also doesn't see jimin romantically YET(i say yet since IN JMJ I BELIEVE) cuz cmon, how would you feel if the webtoon you made was suddenly your reality? You'd want to watch the 4 mcs interact and play out the orig story that's for sure

Author, this was one of the best reads I've had in months! The art (i love your art style so much! It really looks like from a webtoon!), the story, humor and characters?? They're all so GODTIER. Thank you so much for giving us this masterpiece! 😍🙏
NaoLee
0 points #10
Chapter 18: MINJEONG GET A GRIP she never fails to make fun of jungwoo for being dense when she's exactly the same