📌 Note from the Author:
If you're just starting this story, make sure to read the Prologue – Read This First chapter! It explains the scandal behind Baekhyun Academy and why everything is suddenly changing for Hae-won. Trust me—you don't want to miss it.
Chapter one: Scandal at Baekhyun; from Fishcakes to Fame
The scandal broke on a Monday.
By Tuesday, it was already too late to pretend nothing had happened.
Baekhyun International Academy—famous, expensive, untouchable—was suddenly everywhere. News headlines. Morning shows. YouTube explainers with red arrows and dramatic music. A voice recording had leaked. Money had changed hands. A top board member was fired. And then, everything exploded.
Parents stormed the gates. Reporters filled the sidewalks.
A group of students started crying in front of the library.
One mother threatened to sue.
A protester threw a pack of instant noodles at the school statue.
It was all anyone could talk about.
Baekhyun had always been a school for the rich and powerful.
Now, it was just a mess.
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The government got involved fast.
By the end of the week, eight students were kicked out. A new list was made.
No donations. No recommendations. Just grades and test scores.
The school said it was about fairness.
Everyone else knew it was about saving face.
For the first time in Baekhyun's perfect, polished history, students were chosen without money or connections.
The news called it a second chance.
Some parents called it cheating---They have to spend money and some merit list kids won't?!
Baekhyun called it a fresh start.
But most people knew the truth.
It wasn't a change. It was a cover-up.
A carefully staged apology with five new names.
Whatever it was, it shook the country.
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The new list wasn't posted online. It wasn't sent in the mail. They printed it on thick school paper and pinned it up on bulletin boards across the country—one in every district. One chance for everyone to see who made it.
No warning. No ceremony. Just a name on a board.
Five new names.
No one saw them coming.
One of those names, printed near the bottom in plain black letters:
Song Hae-won
Age: 17
District 21
Gyeonggi Province
She didn't go to see it.
She didn't take the picture that went viral.
Someone else did.
She was still asleep—dreaming about eating instant noodles while floating down a lazy river made of fish cake soup.
Outside, the country was on fire.
Inside, her mouth was chewing imaginary rice cakes.