For a week, Timothy returned to Connecticut and settled down due to repair work on Harvard College buildings.

During that time, Timothy woke up early on weekdays to make breakfast for the three of us, watered the plants, did a thorough cleaning alone, and even fixed the broken air conditioner.

This was why I found Timothy moderately annoying, but couldn’t hate him.

On top of that, he kept insisting on taking me to school in the sports car he bought with dungeon byproducts.

“No thanks. I have a friend coming to pick me up.”

I reluctantly tried to make an excuse, but Timothy was adamant, saying it was his wish to drive his younger sister to school, and insisted I get in Bucephalus—the damn sports car’s name.

In the end, I texted Victor to go alone and went to school in Timothy’s sports car.

On the weekend, Timothy called me out to the hill behind the house, saying he had something to show me.

It was a low hill right behind the house, a place I often climbed with Timothy in my childhood.

“What on earth did you bring me here to show?”

If it’s nothing special, I’m going right back down.

I, who don’t enjoy mountain climbing, was forced up the hill and looked like death, while Timothy was full of smiles, excited about something.

“This should be far enough, right?”

Thick trees spread out in all directions.

In the quiet mountain. The afternoon sun pierced through the leaves.

Amidst that silent scenery, I was startled when Timothy pulled out two pistols from his inventory.

“What are you going to do with those guns!”

“I’ll show you something cool, Juno. Kick the base of that big tree over there!”

Timothy gripped two long-barreled magic bullet pistols, one in each hand.

I looked at him with an uneasy face, then slowly moved next to the thickest old tree trunk.

Even then, as I hesitated, Timothy stamped his feet, saying he’d show me something cool. Finally, I had no choice but to kick the tree trunk hard.

Thud—.

The thick tree vibrated slightly, and leaves fell in a shower.

At that moment, Timothy’s gray eyes flashed purple for an instant.

[System: Active skill activated.] [‘Rapid Fire (S)’ is executed. Attacks all enemies within range.] [Average accuracy, 99.99%.]

“……?”

I could clearly see the skill activation status window appear in front of Timothy.

However, the forest remained silent.

There was no sound of bullets being fired, nor any sight of something being hit and pierced.

The green leaves that were gently floating down soon just piled up on the ground with a rustle.

“Nothing happened. What did you do?”

It was strange that while a skill had clearly activated, no one seemed to have been hit. Then my gaze turned to the fallen leaves on the ground.

That’s when I realized.

The leaves I deliberately knocked down by kicking were at most a few dozen.

And right in the middle of the fresh green leaves that had just fallen, there were holes pierced through them all at once.

They were bullet holes.

“…Is this rapid fire?”

I asked, unable to contain my astonishment. Timothy nodded with a satisfied look.

I could hit moving objects too, but I didn’t have the ability to hit leaves falling flutteringly from branches, let alone multiple at once.

Unlike me who could only shoot visually confirmed objects, the ‘Rapid Fire (S)’ skill seemed to be a kind of guided missile ability that simultaneously pierced through multiple targets identified as enemies within range.

Timothy often used ‘invisible magic bullets’ obtained as dungeon rewards, and demonstrated the rapid fire skill that was utterly impossible to follow with human eyes.

It suddenly hit home that Timothy was an S-class awakened.

No wonder he could go into B-class dungeons alone and come out victorious.

If Timothy, who’s also S-class, is this good, I thought that Adrian and Victor might be able to grow this much too if they just develop some precision and composure.

“Why don’t you just engrave the name of the next president on leaves while you’re at it.”

Though my words were gruff, it was an impressive skill.

Absorbed in admiring that skill, I was examining the leaves with holes in the center when I suddenly looked up.

“By the way, what time is it now?”

“Now?”

Instead of answering, Timothy showed me his phone screen.

The background showed a selfie of the crown parrots Marina and Jessica. The current time floated above it.

3:37 PM.

“Huh?”

A chill suddenly ran down my spine.

“I was supposed to watch a movie with Adrian at 4, wasn’t I?”

* * *

In teen dramas, there’s always that kind of episode.

People who make plans but then get so caught up having fun elsewhere that they completely forget about the person they’re supposed to meet.

Whenever I watched those dramas, I wondered why on earth they’d make plans only to stand someone up, but I never thought I’d become that person myself.

I immediately dragged Timothy down the hill.

“Step on the gas right now!”

After forcibly stuffing Timothy into the driver’s seat, we headed for downtown.

I thought we’d arrive in 20 minutes since it was by car, but…

To make matters worse, there was a traffic accident right in front of downtown, causing a traffic jam. And it would take an hour just to clear the accident scene.

“This is driving me crazy. I’m not even the female lead, why is this happening to me!”

I tried calling Adrian, but his phone was turned off.

“Why did he turn his phone off?”

Honestly, it seems like I’ll only be a few minutes late thanks to rushing out right away, but my heart is racing unnecessarily because Adrian isn’t answering the phone.

“This won’t do. I’m going ahead. Elder brother, you go straight home.”

“What? Juno!”

In the end, I flung open the passenger door and ran off.

The basic physical training of running for 3 hours every day at the training ground paid off here. I swiftly ran along the sidewalk crowded with people.

I didn’t want to be inconsiderate like a teen drama heroine and make someone wait for hours.

I cursed that part every time I watched dramas, so I couldn’t do the same thing myself, could I?

Fortunately, using the car and my swift legs, it was only 4:07 PM.

I was 7 minutes late, but the kind Adrian would forgive this much. Probably.

I ran like an arrow towards the theater in the center of downtown. Far away among the bustling crowd, I could see a handsome boy a head taller than others.

“……Adrian!”

Adrian, who was leaning against the theater wall looking somewhere, turned his head towards me.

I ran over, panting.

“7, 7 minutes, only 7 minutes late…… Ah, now it’s 8 minutes! Huff!”

Ah, right. He’d probably forgive being 8 minutes late, humanly speaking. Teen drama girls completely forget about appointments and make the other person wait for hours. I’m not that bad…

I just hoped Adrian hadn’t come out dozens of minutes early to wait for me.

Adrian straightened up, seemingly surprised at my panting figure running over.

“Adri,”

Just as I was rejoicing at having nipped the teen cliché in the bud, my legs suddenly gave out, probably from running too hard.

That’s when Adrian rushed over and caught me in his arms as I was about to fall onto the asphalt.

“Huh.”

I gasped.

As I fell into Adrian’s arms, a slight chill and the scent of undergrowth washed over me.

Nice catch…… I guess.

“Juno, are you okay?”

After I had been leaning in his arms for a moment, Adrian straightened me up with a surprised look. I looked up at Adrian with a dazed expression.

“Uh, thanks. You saved me.”

“There was no need to come so hurriedly, why did you run like that? It’s dangerous.”

Adrian busily checked if I was hurt anywhere, even though he had safely caught me.

I finally came to my senses and replied.

“I’m 8 minutes late. Adrian, how long have you been waiting?”

“Why do you ask?”

“I’m worried I might have kept you waiting too long.”

Indeed, the upright Adrian seemed like the type to come out much earlier than the appointed time and wait for the other person.

As I caught my breath and looked up at him, Adrian hesitated for a moment.

“I came 5 minutes ago.”

“Really?”

“Um… maybe 15 minutes ago.”

“Are you sure?”

“……30 minutes?”

Why does the time keep increasing?

As I stared intently at him with a suspicious look, Adrian’s lips quivered before he finally gave up and confessed.

“I came at 3:20.”

“What?! Why so early!”

Then I had made him wait for 48 minutes.

As my face turned ashen, Adrian quickly made excuses.

“I just miscalculated the time and came early.”

“What about the movie tickets?”

“Not yet. I wanted to choose the seats together……”

Fortunately, the movie starts at 4:15 PM. There was enough time to buy tickets. I lifted my chin with a grave face.

“Let’s go in. I’ll buy the movie tickets, popcorn in 4 flavors, nachos, hot dogs, cola, pretzels, pizza, muffins, chicken, and grilled butter squid.”

“……That much?”

The debit card with a small amount of magic stone money deposited on weekdays glowed radiantly in my hand.

I deliberately put strength in my voice.

“I’m rich.”

***

After buying movie tickets and cleaning out all the food at the snack counter, it didn’t even come to 100,000 won in Korean currency.

But somehow it felt lacking. He was one of the four benefactors who allowed me to earn 20 million won, yet this was all I could do for him.

Benjamin, Teacher Gina, Victor, and Adrian – these four people each helped me earn 5 million won.

There were two popular movies currently showing in the theater.

A romance and an action blockbuster. Of course, we went with the blockbuster.

“Adrian, is there anything you want? Something to eat maybe? Should we have dinner? Restaurant? Korean? Japanese? Chinese? I prefer Korean though.”

I asked after we came out from watching the 2-hour movie. Adrian stared at me for a moment as if wondering if I was serious.

“I’m already full from the snacks at the theater…… There’s probably no room for dinner.”

“What? Just from that? You eat less than I thought.”

I furrowed my brows in disappointment.

It’s common sense that one should have separate stomachs for meals and snacks…

With a regretful face, I thoroughly sorted the theater snacks we had demolished over two hours for recycling. After recycling, we came out to the long corridor outside the screening room where an arcade appeared.

Neon lights flickered in the dimly lit arcade with minimal lighting.

Suddenly, the booths in the corner of the arcade caught my eye. Some booths even had prizes hanging.

I immediately turned my head and asked Adrian.

“Adrian, then how about something other than food.”

“Like what?”

“Like a fountain pen.”

At the sudden mention of a fountain pen, Adrian’s eyes widened as he was brushing back his hair.

“How about a fountain pen. Do you use fountain pens?”

“I do use them…… but……”

Adrian’s words slowed down as if sensing an ominous feeling.

Seeing this, I narrowed my eyes and smiled.

“I’ll get you one.”

[System: Active skill activated.] [‘Mental Focus (A)’ is executed. Increases accuracy by focusing the mind.] [Average accuracy, 99.99%.]

Bang, bang, bang!

The plastic bullets fired from the toy rifle made a loud noise as they stuck right in the center of the shooting range target.

The red dot in the center of the target, indicating 10 points, became tattered.

The part-time worker at the shooting range booth frowned as he looked at the target with its center blown out, then turned to me.

“Didn’t you say this was your first time shooting?”