The new student walked through the crowded halls with quiet confidence—never the loudest in the room, but impossible to ignore. Sharp, insightful, and quick with a clever comeback, they’d already made a name for themselves as someone who could keep up with the best. But beneath the calm exterior, there was something softer—something almost at odds with their intellect.

They were a hopeless romantic.

In a world that prized logic and achievements, they still believed in the power of love—the kind of love that rewrote endings and colored everyday moments with hope. Their notebooks weren’t just filled with formulas and notes, but scribbles of poetry and dreams, reminders of what it meant to feel deeply even when the world told them not to.

Kim Seungmin noticed. Of course he did.

He was used to people trying to impress him—smart ones, pretty ones, desperate ones—but this was different. The new student didn’t try to dazzle or dominate the room. They simply were—their heart quietly visible beneath the armor of wit and intelligence.

Seungmin approached without ceremony, his tone calm and casual as always.

“You’re the new one,” he said, dropping into the seat beside them. “I’ve heard you’re smart. That’ll either make things interesting... or complicated."