Chapter 1: The Girl

Like a cheerful child, there is a group of men chasing after a student in the corridor of the Lecture Room building.

“Who arrives the last, he has to spend one group for lunch!” A boy in the foreground screamed at his long-lost friends.

He was too boastful to mock his members at the back and kept running without seeing what was in front of him. Unable to turn forward, he finally slammed something in front of him and caused a small riot to take place in front of the 301st Lecture Room. Everyone who saw the incident was speechless. Even the group was stopped by surprise by the occasion but still continued to approach their man.

“Hey Zek, are you okay?” Ask one of the men in a state of anxiety.

Zek rubbed his painful head like something he had broken. Without saying anything, he just nodded to answer that question. The fallen man heard the voice of another person who also groaned in pain. He immediately turned to the sound and saw a girl lying on the door of the lecture room. Zek became restless and woke up to the woman.

“Are you okay? Anything injured?” Before his hand could touch the woman's shoulder, his hand was brushed away.

Zek was a bit surprised by the reaction. He tried to be nice to the girl but instead, he had a cold response.

“I'm fine. Thank you.” The girl tried to kneel down and straighten her clothes before picking up all her messy books.

Zek, naturally, also helped the woman to collect books near her. At that moment, he reached for a book that caught his attention.

“White Tiger...” He turned the book over but the girl's hand was quicker to reach the book again.

“Thank you.” The woman ran away leaving the disturbed Zek kneeling there.

“Guys, who is that?” He looked up at his friends but found that they had far away leaving Zek alone.

"Did they just leave me here?" He got up and took a deep breath.

He turned his head again to the girl who was entering the emergency exit and quickly descending the stairs.

Why do I want to know so much about her?

The bell rings indicating the class will start in 5 minutes. Thanks to the bell for waking up Zek from his reverie. He rushed to his class and found that the lecturer had not yet arrived.

Fuh. Lucky me.

His eyes searched for his friends. They waved at Zek and had already cleared a seat in their midst for their alpha.

"You guys are useless. All of you just leave me alone there." They all laughed.

"We still have to get here early, boss." A boy with a reddish brown quiff answered.

"For the first time, you're the last, Zek." One of the group laughed at the sentence of one of them with glasses and curly hair.

Zek also joined them in laughing together as if it was just a joke they were used to making.

"Who cares, I'm rich after all," Zek said with a gesture. They were also excited to hear the words from Zek.

Their leader looked at the entrance to his classroom, wondering when his lecturer would enter the door. At the same time, a man tripped over his foot in the middle of the stairs. Zek, who saw the incident, began to remember the cold face of the girl in his mind. He turned to face the others. Those who had already taken out their study materials and tools also turned to the alpha.

"That girl just now, who is she? Why do I not know her?"

"Oh, the girl. Matt, you tell him me. You seem to know the full story from us." Said one of them to the undercut blond boy.

Matt pointed to himself in a confused state. Everyone nodded quickly because they clearly didn't want to talk about the girl.

“Damn, you guys are truly useless”

Zek looked at Matt expecting the story to begin. Seeing the man's hopeful look, he gave in.

"Fine, I'll tell you." Their excitement beat Zek’s who had just heard the story for the first time.

"That girl, you really don't know her, Zek. She’s just an ordinary citizen. Her name is Adah Roman. Before you came in here, she was like the other people. Sociable, active."

"Sociable? Are you sure?" Zek cut the story.

“Just now? She just changed.”

“Why?” His curiosity went to its peak.

"Because something happened to her 2 semesters ago. She went to the forest, she said she was doing research on her study. So, she went into the forest to look for material. I don't know if it was intentional or not, she ended up crossing the border of supernatural beings." Zek's expression changed to worry.

"What happens after that?" Zek's heart was pounding waiting for the end of the story.

"We don't really know what actually happened. You know, she disappeared for 3 days. But, when one of the Hunters found her, she had passed out with 2  dead wolves next to her."

“Wolves?” Zek asked. Matt nodded.

"When she woke up, people asked her how she could survive. She just answered, 'White Tiger'. Who wants to believe that." They laughed at Mat's sarcasm.

On the other hand, Zek just kept silent. He leaned back against the chair. His mind was reminded of the book he had touched while helping Adah just now.

White Tiger, huh?

Zek seemed to want to know what happened to the rest. Therefore, he asked Mat again about the rest of the story.

"That’s the end. Who wants to believe what she says? I mean, white tiger? That's a legendary story, Zek."

"Then, how does the case close?" Zek asked again.

"People think she's hallucinating or caught in the trap of the witch lady's magic. After all, she was in the forest for 3 days. The deads were like a long time ago. So, people don't believe it. Because of her 'White Tiger' story, most people started to stay away from her because they thought she was not sane anymore. Since then, she began to isolate herself from the public."

Zek just nodded. This story is important because it involves the supernatural and the real world. He thought that was weird that he never knew about the story at all.

"Guys, class is canceled." Shouted a student who had just entered from the front door.

Everyone in the class was stunned and turned to each other. Like not believing the statement announced.

"You are not joking, right? How do you know?” Jamal shouted from behind.

"Just got that information earlier. Prof has something urgent to attend. So, he will give assignments through our learning portal later. That's all." The student carried the bag and left the class.

Everyone saw him leave the class excitedly. Since the student was the class representative who always met the lecturers, no one could object. Therefore, everyone agreed. After all, who doesn't like to have their class canceled? There are many other things they can do. One of them is shopping and food.

"Boss, don't forget you have a debt, boss," Razak whispered from Jamal's side.

They patted his shoulder, giving a 'thump-up' gesture as a sign of agreement with his reminder. Razak, the only human to call Zek boss, blushed at the praise. Zek sighed heavily. Actually, his mind and heart had other ideas for that free time. But, the group is faster to give suggestions.

"Yeah whatever, you drive. I'm too lazy to drive my car." They clapped happily.

They carried their bags and left the classroom. After leaving the classroom, Zek turned towards the door of Lecture Room 301. His memory flashed back in his mind.

‘Alas, I just wanted to find that girl back.’

He scratched his non-itchy head and stepped heavily past the area.

~

Today should be a quiet day for her. But, the incident changed everything. She knew her day was now going to be out of her comfort zone. How does she know? Instinct.

She was in the library, sitting in the chair that was her place every time she went there. That is, the most inward place and adjacent to the window. At least, the view outside the window full of trees and the thick forest calmed her down after her crazy day. The corner was also blocked by two full shelves causing her not to be seen by the crowd that was there. The two shelves were filled only with books of fairy tales and legends. Because her world took the two things for granted, the section became bland immediately. But, her instincts were right this time.

She heard a voice coming from behind the shelf approaching her. Today was the most unexpected day for other humans to approach the place. Especially, after the accident happened. What makes her stressed even more is, the voice stopped right in front of her. Only the bookshelf is the only barrier between them. Adah put on her headphones to prevent herself from hearing their conversation. Gossip is one of the things she dislikes the most. Before the song started playing, she heard something unexpected. Adah's fingers stopped pressing the song in her phone application.

“Is that the girl?”

She continued her work and acted as if she didn't hear anything. Her fingers were busy pressing the keys of her laptop, occasionally reaching for her notebook as if she were busy working.

"Yes. First thing, she talks nonsense about things that don't exist. After that, she rejected and pushed Zek." They whispered but loud enough for her to hear every word.

What the…. First of all, who the fuk is Zek? Plus, do they really don’t have anything to do other than gossip?*

She took a deep breath. Too tired to deal with every human burden around her. Since she woke up from her unconsciousness that day, one story after another about herself was created. Even funnier, none of the stories about her are true. They don’t even know her well to talk back about her.

"I heard he slept with the lecturer because he wanted to get high marks in class."

I scored even a long time ago and no one said anything about that thing. So, why suddenly does this sht even exist?*

"Seriously? That is why she always scores! What is life like that? It's disgusting."

You are disgusting. Talk about people behind their backs? 

"What if she's not human?"

What the heck? Where did she get this story? Are they really this desperate to talk about people?

"I heard he was a witch. Not really human"

If it's true, seriously, I’ll just spell the magic on you a long time ago.

Adah shook her head and threw all the thoughts away from her mind. She clicked on one of the songs in the YouTube app to distract herself. She turned up the volume of the song until both two girls' voices drowned out. Now, she is more focused on her work.

Unbeknownst to Adah, there was a pair of eyes watching the situation from afar. Not long after, she approached two students who were busy gossiping.

“Hey.” Immediately their heads turned.

What they saw made their eyes widen.

"You guys seem busy. May I join you guys?" Her voice was slow but the aura she gave off was very frightening.

Her shoulders were against the bookshelf and looked at the two of them with a cold gaze.

"Rosie!" The reaction of one of the girls was half screaming.

Rosie didn't say anything. She just tilted her head as a sign for them to leave. The two of them frantically ran to leave the section while blaming each other.

"It's you. I told you not to."

"Why me? You're the one who wants to know who she is, damn you."

Rosie just kept quiet and let them continue arguing. What they did was the thing she didn't want to know the most. As their voices disappeared, Rosie looked at Adah from between the books. She sighed heavily. Her face clearly radiated a thousand feelings, but none of them could be expressed. She stepped to the empty table in behind Adah. Like the two female students earlier, only the shelf separated them. This time, they both only care about each other's work.

~

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***