“You… it was you?”

The classroom was bathed in the red glow of the evening sunset.

Two pairs of eyes met and tangled in midair.

“…What are you talking about?”

The girl averted her gaze, pretending to be calm.

At that moment, the boy clenched his teeth.

“Gwangmyeong Reminis, was it you?”

“…It wasn’t.”

But the girl’s voice, Lee Seoran, trembled faintly.

As if realizing it herself, she bite her lips hard.

Having gained certainty, the boy took a step toward Seoran.

“…….”

She stepped back the same distance.

Kim Dohyeon’s thick eyebrows twitched.

“Why are you avoiding me?”

“You’re acting… kind of weird right now.”

“Yeah. I am weird.”

Kim Dohyeon took another step forward.

“If you really are Gwangmyeong, how could I stay calm?”

He let out a hollow laugh, closing the gap between them.

In the end, Lee Seoran tightly shut her eyes.

‘Where did it all go wrong?’

As the scroll reached the bottom of the screen, I smacked my bed with frustration.

“What do you mean, wrong?! This is going better than ever!”

Overcome with emotions, I rolled around on my bed before grabbing my smartphone again.

Tapping the screen, the comment section popped up.

I quickly typed out my thoughts.

[Watching these two is so frustrating. Please, don’t let them just brush this off again…!]

It seemed others felt the same, as recommendations started to climb one by one.

At this rate, even the author would take notice.

Nodding in satisfaction, I closed the comments.

Then, I scrolled back up to the first sentence.

The first read-through was just a taste. To really absorb it, I had to chew on it again.

Once, twice, three times…

The scroll bar moved up and down endlessly.

‘Another peaceful day at Hero Academy.’

This was the web novel I was obsessed with lately.

As the title suggested, it was an academy genre novel.

It was popular enough to frequently appear in the platform rankings.

The premise and content were nothing special, but the author’s writing made it shine.

I had been following it since its free serialization, writing reviews, and leaving comments on every chapter.

Then one day, an email arrived— from the author’s pen name.

At that moment, I felt like my soul was soaring.

How could I have known back then?

That it wouldn’t just change my life—it would tear it apart.

The instant I hastily sent a reply, eager to participate…

By the time I came to my senses, I was inside the novel.

“That f*cking author… After all the glowing reviews I wrote, this is how you repay me?”

A girl in a school uniform scowled.

She probably thought she looked fierce, but her youthful face and natural cuteness made her anything but intimidating.

“…Ugh.”

The girl, who had been glaring at me with her large eyes, let out a deep sigh.

“Guess I should get to school.”

As she shook her head, her golden hair swayed like sunlight.

I turned away from the mirror and stepped out of the room.

In the living room, another girl in a school uniform was leaning against the wall.

“All done?”

Her eyes curved into crescent moons when she saw me.

As I walked closer, she reached out and gently ruffled my hair.

Then, leaning down, she studied my face closely.

“You used a toner pack?”

“Yeah.”

“And sunscreen too… As expected of my little sister.”

“…Heh.”

All thoughts of that infuriating author vanished from my mind.

Yeah, maybe being thrown into this world wasn’t entirely bad.

“Let’s go, Iran.”

“Hey, un…ni.”

That title still didn’t roll off my tongue naturally.

Standing on my tiptoes, I whispered into my sister’s ear.

“I heard Gwangmyeong took down a villain at Hero Academy yesterday… You didn’t get hurt, did you?”

She let out a small chuckle before ruffling my hair again—this time, making a mess of it.

Only after a moment of realization did she carefully smooth it back down.

“Villains are no match for your big sister, so don’t worry.”

“I’m not worried! I was just… asking, just in case.”

“And Iran, that topic… outside…”

“I know. Gwangmyeong’s identity is a secret, right?”

My biological sister, Lee Seoran, scratched her cheek awkwardly.

Then, gripping my hand tightly, she pulled open the front door.

There was one undeniably good thing about falling into this world— My absolute favorite character, the original novel’s protagonist, was my real older sister.

Humming a tune, I trailed after Lee Seoran like a baby duckling.

That author was still frustrating and annoying, but…

Well, since I’m already here— I might as well enjoy it to the fullest.

Chapter 1: Path

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