As soon as Kang Minjae enters, the entire café falls silent.

What was once a buzzing, lively space turns cold in an instant. The air fills with a sense of quiet respect and admiration. But the moment he takes a seat across from me, the warmth returns, like the room finally exhales.

It’s a strange feeling, one that could never really be captured in a few words.

The same goes for Minjae’s looks. 

And let me tell you — he’s jaw-droppingly stunning.
Dark hair, a sculpted jawline, a build that’s effortlessly strong without being overdone. He’s the kind of man you don’t run into in real life. Not in my world, anyway. People like him only exist behind glass screens—not across the table from you in a café.

“Ms. Yoo?” he says, his voice smooth and velvety, just like the author had described. No matter how many times I’d read it in the book, it couldn’t compare to hearing it in person. It was like reading about a song and finally hearing it for the first time.

“Are you..alright?” He doesn’t sound concerned, exactly. More like the confused, should-I-be-worried kind of concerned.

“Huh?” I blink, caught off guard.

Nice going, Ahn Eun-seo. What an amazing first impression you made. I take a sip of the barley tea I ordered and try to pull myself together.

Something flickers across his face—an expression I can’t quite read—but I don’t dwell on it. I sit up a little straighter and smile, keeping my tone light.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I think I might be coming down with something.”

Kang Minjae Fever, maybe. I almost choke on my tea at the thought. 

Suddenly, the door jingles again, and the café falls silent once more—but with a different kind of quiet. Before, it was respect that filled the air. Now, it’s something closer to disdain, as if a homeless person had walked in. Both Minjae and I turn our heads toward the sound of the door.

There, with her arm casually looped through her boyfriend’s, stands Yoo Yuri—Sera’s half-sister.

She was the original female lead of Unwritten Rules, the one who’d quietly drawn Kang Minjae’s attention without even trying.

And looking at him now, I can already tell—the plot has been set in motion.

When he turns back to me—just like in the story—he stands from his seat, dusting off his pants, and looks down at me.

“If you’ll excuse me, I need to use the washroom." He says. I nod, but he's already walking away.

I sit there for a moment, silent.

He’s just as cold as the author described, but experiencing it firsthand stings more than I expected.
I can kind of understand Sera, actually—resenting everyone and everything because the man she'd tried so hard to make hers never even looked her way.

But who am I to interfere in their love story?

In the original webnovel, Sera had done everything in her power to tear them apart—she’d lied, schemed, and in the end, she'd even tried to kill Yuri.

But now that I’m Sera, I can stop that from ever happening by just staying out of it. Let them be happy together.

After all, I don’t have any actual romantic feelings for Kang Minjae, unlike the original owner of this body. And now that I’m the daughter of a rich CEO, maybe I can finally do what I never could in my past life—sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

And maybe, just maybe, I’ll get my own fairytale kind of love along the way.

A sweet, honey-like voice to my right snaps me out of my thoughts.

“Unnie, how are you?” Yuri asks, sliding into the spot Minjae had occupied just a few moments ago. “Now that I think about it, we haven’t really talked properly in weeks, have we?”

“Uh-huh,” I mumble, still distracted. If I’m remembering right, this never happened in the book. Why was it going off-script? Did I do something wrong? 

“You seem distracted. Was this a bad time?” she asks, tilting her head, eyes wide and innocent. “I just saw you sitting alone and thought it might be a good chance to talk.”

“Oh! No, it’s fine,” I say, forcing a smile. “I was just a little lost in thought.” 

I skim my memory again. I read the first episode a little over a year ago… Could I really have missed this?