Chapter 4

Every morning, I woke up early to study and held the top rank in our year, yet the female leads saw Blake as an academic genius.

Every day, I worked part-time jobs and maintained my image as a scrappy, hardworking underdog, yet the female leads saw Blake as some lovable angel.

I ate slowly and carried myself with polished manners, yet the female leads saw Blake's crudeness as 'keeping it real'.

Every bit of effort I put in, every good quality I radiated, all of it got drained by the system like a vampire and turned into Blake's golden halo.

The whole time, I had never been competing with Blake. I had been feeding his bloated, revolting collection of admirers with my own flesh and blood.

As long as I kept being perfect and kept pursuing women, the system would keep running nonstop. Blake would stay on his throne as the guy everyone worshipped, and I would be stuck forever as the villain everyone despised.

I slowly walked out of my corner and looked at Blake's face, dotted with acne scars from years of staying up too late. Without all that borrowed affection, he would be nothing.

I let out a cold laugh and headed back to the dorm.

It all made sense now. If he survived by siphoning off my charm to maintain his halo… If he needed my perfect image to put a filter over his face… Then I was done playing along.

The moment I got back to the dorm, I swept every last bottle of expensive skincare and grooming products off my desk and into the trash. I pulled the curtains shut and smashed the alarm clock to pieces.

Starting today, I was done trying.

…

The next morning, I did not get up at 6:00 am to claim a seat at the library like I always did. I slept until noon. I did not drag myself out of bed until my stomach was growling loud enough to echo off the walls.

I did not wash my face. I did not comb my hair. I walked around with tousled hair while wearing a pajama shirt stained with grease spots and ordered a bucket of extra-spicy fried chicken for delivery.

Over the next week, I let myself go completely. I stopped going to class, stopped picking up work shifts, and stopped showing up at Helena's lab to fetch her coffee. I stayed holed up in the dorm every night gaming until dawn, swearing at the screen the entire time.

When I was hungry, I ate instant noodles, fried chicken, and takeout barbecue. When I was thirsty, I chugged ice-cold soda straight from the bottle.

In just one week, a cluster of angry red breakouts erupted across the clear, pale skin I used to be so proud of. Dark circles hung heavy under my eyes, my hair was so greasy it clumped together in strings, and the smell coming off me was a stale, sour funk.

My image as a clean-cut, disciplined, tough-it-out gentleman had completely fallen apart.

Friday afternoon was Helena's lecture. I shuffled into the classroom right as the bell rang in my flip-flops, yawning wide. Yet every pair of eyes in the room locked on Blake instead, filled with shock and disgust.

"Oh my God, isn't that Blake Ramsey? The most popular guy in the department? What happened to him?"

"He reeks. Has he not showered in a week?"

"That's revolting. I actually used to have a crush on him. I must've been blind."

[It's over! Mack is tanking his own image on purpose. The female leads' affection for the male lead is definitely going to drop!]

[System Alert: Warning! Warning! Primary charm source is deteriorating rapidly! System unable to extract viable charm values! Transfer channel approaching blockage!]

The smug expression Blake always wore crumbled in an instant.

Helena stood at the front of the lecture hall. The soft look she usually saved for Blake flickered into confusion. A second later, she slammed her lecture notes onto the podium, her voice cold enough to freeze the room.

"Blake Ramsey! Look at yourself! What is this? Your clothes are a mess, and you look half-dead. What do you think this is, a university classroom or a landfill?"

I lazily lifted my head, dug some crud out of the corner of my eye, and flicked it onto the floor.

Helena recoiled with visible disgust. "Blake Ramsey! Are you ignoring me now?"

Blake went white and stammered, "P-Professor... I didn't... I'm not...

"It's him! It's Mack!" He grabbed my arm, panic written all over his face. "Mack! What are you doing? Why didn't you shave today? Why didn't you wash your hair? Why do you look like this?"