But they weren't talking about the video or the humiliation. They were talking about Jhenna’s reaction. She hadn't cried. She hadn't defended herself. She had simply smiled. And that smile was starting to haunt the halls of Haneul High.

It was then that Soo Ji-Hoon finally made his move. He approached Jhenna’s desk, hands buried in his pockets, a sharp smirk playing on his lips. "Scholarship Case... I have to admit, you’ve got nerves of steel."

Jhenna slowly set her book aside. She lifted her head, her gaze sweeping over him with a frost that could stop time. "Who are you?"

The words were a calculated slap. She knew exactly who he was—the heir to Korea’s medical throne. He was on her list of weapons, right at the back. She knew rebels like him only respected one thing: Authority. Ji-Hoon didn't flinch. He chuckled, pulling a chair around to face her. "You won’t survive this place on your own," he said, locking eyes with her.

"And are you offering to help?" Jhenna countered indifferently, her eyes already drifting back to her book. "If not, we have nothing to talk about."

Ji-Hoon leaned in. He liked this. Most people trembled when he sat this close, but Jhenna treated him like a minor distraction. "I’ll help with anything you want," he said, his voice dropping to a low, serious tone. "As long as it’s within my reach."

He stood up and walked away, leaving a heavy silence behind. Jhenna didn't look up, but internally, she checked a box. Another win.

That evening, the school’s online forum was a battlefield.

“Witch! How is she taking all the princes?”

“She’s got Seo-Jun and now Ji-Hoon?”

“Wait until Min-Jae notices her. She’ll be crushed.”

Jhenna sat at her favorite pork belly spot, slurping noodles and sipping soju while she scrolled through the hate. She tapped her screen off and set the phone aside. Let them talk. Gossip was just the wind; she was the storm.

Across the city, Jo-Anna was losing her mind. The "African bumpkin" was stealing her spotlight. She couldn't go to her parents—they would despise her for being weak—so she took matters into her own hands.

"RELEASE THE LEECH," she texted Yura.

Jo-Anna wanted a flood of fake rumors, edits, and lies to bury Jhenna once and for all. But Jo-Anna was rushing. And Jhenna had been waiting for her to get sloppy.

While Jo-Anna’s team flooded the boards with petty lies, a single, anonymous post appeared at the top of the forum. No username. No flair. Just a headline:

[WHERE DOES ELITE MONEY REALLY COME FROM?]

Inside were documents. Precise. Clean. Carefully cropped. They showed offshore accounts and strange transactions linked to a single name: The Baek Family. Jo-Anna’s family.

It wasn't enough to trigger an arrest—not yet—but it was enough to trigger a panic.

“Wait... isn't this Jo-Anna’s father’s company?”

“Why are there hidden accounts?”

Jo-Anna, sitting in her silk pajamas, felt the blood drain from her face. She had tried to throw dirt at Jhenna, only to realize Jhenna was standing over her with a shovel. This wasn't a school girl's prank. This was a calculated strike.

“Find out who did this!” Jo-Anna screamed into her phone, her hands shaking.

On the other side of the city, Jhenna closed her laptop and sighed, the steam from her hot pot fogging her glasses. This was Ji-Hoon’s first "help"—providing the medical group’s internal data on their business partners.

And from his luxury villa, Kang Min-Jae watched it all. He didn't look at the scandals. He looked at the pattern. He saw how Jhenna had baited Jo-Anna into attacking just so she could counter with a lethal blow.

A faint, rare grin crept across the King’s face. "Interesting..." he muttered, tilting his head back.

He realized what the rest of the school hadn't yet discovered. Jhenna wasn't hiding. She was hunting.