BJ Villainess

* * *

Ozworld quickly became the object of admiration. It was such an obvious outcome that it felt almost pointless to mention it. However, there was a specific reason why I paid attention to this point.

“Shall we go now, Jiwoo?”

Since the first time we walked home together, it had become natural for Ozworld to ask me to go home with him.

Apart from being a little good at studying, there was nothing particularly special about me… No, to be more blunt, I was the kind of gloomy person anyone would want to be friends with. Meanwhile, Ozworld, who seemed to live under the spotlight of the world, didn’t seem like someone who would match with me at all.  But Ozworld kept brushing off the kids who wanted to befriend him and continued talking to me.

“I rode my bike today.”

Ozworld, being the rich kid that he was, usually went to and from school in a luxury sedan. On the other hand, I could only ride a car when Umi, my step-sister, didn’t need it, and even then, she preferred that I walk to school whenever possible.

Ozworld nonchalantly said, “You can just put the bike in the car, right?”

At that point, it became harder to refuse.

As I went to the bike rack to get my bike, I was shocked. “What?”

In the place where I parked my bike, all that remained was a broken lock. My stepfather had bought me a really nice bike, but I didn’t expect it to get stolen after just one day.

“

.” I already felt a headache coming on, imagining my mom scolding me nonstop for losing the bike.

Ozworld, who had been quietly watching me, asked, “Did your bike get stolen?”

I nodded with a troubled expression. “I have to look for my bike, so you should go home alone.”

Ozworld patted me on the shoulder as if to cheer me up and kindly said, “I’ll help you look. Let’s start by going to the security office.” He pointed to the security camera above us. “It should’ve been caught on camera.”

“No, it’s fine…”

“What if a man stole it? It’d be safer if I were with you, don’t you think?”

Now that I thought about it, even though I had the memories of an adult, I was still a small, skinny girl in this body. If someone taller and stronger like Ozworld was with me, even a boy three years older wouldn’t try anything.

“Thanks. If we find my bike, I’ll treat you to ice cream. Actually, I’ll get you ice cream even if we don’t find it!”

Ozworld laughed brightly at my words. “Ice cream? Sure, I’m looking forward to it.”

What kind of reaction is that? Don’t all kids love ice cream?

Ozworld calmly explained the situation to the security guard, saying that the bike had been stolen and he wanted to catch the culprit. The guard willingly showed us the CCTV footage. As we reviewed the footage, we saw a boy, who seemed to be an upperclassman, cutting the lock and taking off with the bike just about 10 minutes earlier.

Ozworld, watching the direction the boy had gone, said, “Upperclassmen should still have class, so he wouldn’t have left the school yet. He probably hid it somewhere where the owner wouldn’t find it.”

It was a reasonable assumption.

“I think you’re right.”

“Let’s go find it.”

We wandered around the school looking for the bike, but the shiny silver frame was nowhere to be seen. That’s when it happened. Just as I was about to give up after an hour of searching, someone zipped past me on my bike.

“There! That’s my bike!”

The bike thief turned his head with a surprised look when I shouted. He saw me chasing after him and started pedaling faster.

“Hey! Stop, you thief!”

But no matter how hard I ran, I couldn’t catch up to someone on a bike. If things kept going like this, I’d lose him.

“Stop!”

At that moment, the bike thief turned the corner at the school gate and fell off.

I was about to run up to him when someone grabbed my shoulder. I turned around to see Ozworld talking on the phone.

“Could you please hold that boy for us? He stole my friend’s bike. Yes, it’s that boy.”

I followed Ozworld’s gaze and saw a man in a black suit holding the bike thief by the gate, talking on the phone. He was probably the driver who usually took Ozworld to and from school.

Ozworld finished his call and pointed toward the gate. “Let’s go get your bike.”

I followed him hesitantly.

We got the bike back, and the thief was handed over to a passing teacher. Thanks to Ozworld stepping in and helping as if it were his own problem, everything was resolved smoothly.

I had assumed he was kind but indifferent to others.

“Thanks for your help.”

Ozworld smiled modestly. “Don’t mention it.” His mature attitude, not bragging about what he had done, made him seem really grown-up.

I was about to hitch a ride with Ozworld again when I noticed an ice cream shop and pointed toward it. “Want to get some ice cream before we go?”

The bell on the shop’s door chimed as we walked inside. We checked out the display case.

“I’ll have vanilla, please.”

While I carefully picked my flavor and placed my order, Ozworld just stood there, looking a bit out of place. It was as if he’d never been to a shop like this before.

 He was a rich kid after all.

I asked quizzically. “Are you not going to choose?”

Ozworld glanced at the ice cream and said, “You can pick for me. Get what you like.”

What? Has he seriously never been here before?

Like those third-generation conglomerate kids in dramas who’ve never even eaten cup noodles.

I figured I should introduce him to the delights of the real world.

Suddenly, a mischievous idea popped into my head.

I quickly ordered a mint chocolate ice cream and handed it to him. “This is my second favorite flavor.”

“Really? Thanks.” Ozworld smiled and took a bite of the mint chocolate ice cream, then paused. “…This is one of your favorites?”

“Yep. Why? Don’t you like it?”

“No, it’s good.” His answer sounded hollow.

I chuckled softly and swapped my untouched vanilla ice cream with him. “I’m just kidding. I’ll eat the mint chocolate; you can have this.”

Ozworld stared at the ice cream I was holding for a moment and then quietly took it. He had definitely lied about liking the mint chocolate.

After making sure he was eating the vanilla, I teased him. “Is that one good?”

Ozworld shrugged. “At least it tastes like something I expected.”

I couldn’t help but find his words amusing.

Strangely, I had a lot of bad prejudices against him. I instinctively thought he seemed kind and gentle but was secretly dangerous and violent, even though I had no real reason to believe that. But now that I’d spent some time talking with him, I realized he was just an ordinary boy.

In fact, despite my memories from the past, which made me reluctant to interact with kids my age, I found myself easily getting along with him.  Unexpectedly, Ozworld was someone I could really talk to. He was so calm and gentle that even with my rigid personality, the conversation flowed smoothly.

“Your name’s too long. It’s hard to say.”

“You can call me Ozwin as a nickname.”

“That’s long too. How about I just call you Oz?”

“If that’s what you want, sure.”

Looking back, part of my discomfort with him came from my awareness of his ‘likeability.’

Out of curiosity, I opened my phone and checked his affection level again.

“…!”

The likeability and the reference information had changed.

[Ozworld Holton]

[Likeability: ❤️🤍🤍🤍🤍]

※

Upon reaching five red hearts, a ‘Proposal; event will be triggered.

That was definitely related to a quest.

[Dungeon Quest: Zero Base Seoul]

Most of your memories are currently locked. It’s okay. In ‘Seoul,’ you will surely be rewarded for your efforts. But remember, at the moment of choice, picking one means losing the other forever.

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: Live as ‘

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‘.

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: Live as ‘

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‘.

※

The hidden parts will be revealed once the ‘Proposal’ event is triggered.

I could’ve realized it much sooner. He was the only one who had a likeability level towards me. With his looks and all his qualities that made him stand out like the protagonist of this world, it made sense that he was part of the quest.

Suddenly, Ozworld, who had just been a kind friend to me, made me feel uncomfortable to be around.

“

Your ice cream’s melting, Jiwoo.”

“

?

.” I quickly shoved my phone back into my pocket and started eating my ice cream.

Now that I knew Ozworld was part of the quest target, I felt guilty and couldn’t meet his eyes.