2nd Lead Syndrome

26 | go get em'

"What's going on here?"

Their coach, Insu, walked into the chaotic team room, his brows furrowing at the noise level. His athletes were buzzing about something—or rather, someone—but two girls stood out, completely relaxed amidst the commotion.

"Ryujin? Yujin?"

He shot them a questioning look. The girls exchanged a quick glance, already used to this situation. Yujin gave Ryujin a small nod, letting her take the lead.

"It's Minjeongie, coach," Ryujin said with a nonchalant shrug. "She ran to the nearby theater. Said she wanted to watch the music club."

"What?!"

Yujin chuckled, nodding along. "Something about a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

Insu's eyes widened. "That girl—her event starts in thirty minutes!"

Yujin laughed again. "Coach, it's Kim Minjeong. She'll be back on time."

Ryujin nodded in agreement.

"Why didn't you two stop her?!"

"Coach, we trieeeeeed..." Ryujin drawled dramatically, "but before we could even stop her, she was gone!"

"The last time we saw her was thirty minutes ago," Yujin added with a hum.

Hearing their explanation, Insu almost lost his cool, but after months of dealing with Minjeong's antics, he took a deep breath and calmed himself.

Meanwhile...

Minjeong moved swiftly through the hallways, her mind racing. Thanks to her author knowledge, she navigated the area easily and found the theater. She remembered writing a special chapter where Junwoo got lost here while trying to reach the main stage. It was then that he ran into a new character-

Holy shit.

Wait.

I forgot about her...!

Minjeong mentally facepalmed as she ducked behind a nearby corridor, scanning her surroundings.

Thank god, the hallway she stood in was empty but... this was bad. Really bad.

Having spent way too much time playing otome and bishoujo games, she instantly recognized the setup. She had written a similar scene where the main character unlocked a hidden love interest. In MGIL, she introduced the hidden character later on—beautifully drawn, with enough depth to rival the three main love interests.

While thinking about this, Minjeong looked around once more to make sure the coast was clear before deciding to unhide herself. She was about to turn a corner when a long-haired figure in the distance entered her line of sight.

She quickly hid herself again.

It looked like the figure was coming her way, and the nearest hiding spot was these two vending machines by the window. She hid behind them, peeking through the tiny gap between them.

She expected this figure to continue walking, but they didn't. Instead, they stopped in front of the vending machine to scan through the snacks and rummaged through their bag. That was the time to get a good look at this person's face, so Minjeong took the opportunity.

A height similar to Jimin, with long wavy hair, and a cute and mature face—Minjeong pursed her lips and squinted her eyes at MC dandelion effect filling her vision.

This person was no doubt the hidden character she'd been avoiding. She matches the red P.E. uniform Minjeong drew for that character in Junwoo's special chapter too.