Chapter 2

In my previous life, when everyone else treated me like a lunatic, only Lindsey showed signs of pondering after hearing me out.

She had said, "Human stamina has limits. Fletcher's condition really doesn't line up with the norm."

Although she never helped me in the end, that tiny bit of suspicion became my only hope.

Early the next morning, I dragged my still-exhausted body to the training field and found Lindsey supervising drills. "Ms. Quinn, I have an important situation to report!"

She turned around. The moment she saw me, her brows furrowed a little. "You again? Have you recovered already?"

"Ma'am, I'm not here to ask for medical leave."

I took a deep breath and looked into her sharp eyes. "I'm here to report an extremely abnormal situation involving Fletcher Stone."

This time, I changed my approach and carefully explained the strange changes in my physical condition, along with Fletcher's completely inhuman endurance during the orientation.

"Ma'am, you're a professional soldier. You should know better than anyone that an ordinary college freshman with no formal training background shouldn't, by any logic, be able to complete a 30-mile run under load without even panting once.

"It's simply, scientifically impossible."

Lindsey listened in silence, her eyes filled with scrutiny.

"I suspect something's fishy going on," I continued, "but everyone thinks I'm just jealous of him. I need to verify a theory. As such, I'd like to request special approval through the faculty for a temporary one-week leave of absence."

She stared at me for a full minute, as if weighing every word to see whether I was lying.

Finally, she replied in a low voice, "Sounds ridiculous, but your condition does look genuinely bad. It doesn't seem fake. I can speak to the faculty for you, but you only get three days.

"If your theory turns out to be nonsense, you'll report back and resume the orientation immediately."

"Thank you, ma'am!"

Relief surged through me. This was the first step to a successful plan.

That same afternoon, I finished all the paperwork, dragged my suitcase off campus, and headed straight home. I wanted to see whether my condition would improve if I physically distanced myself from Fletcher.

The moment I got home, I practically collapsed onto my bed.

Mom and Dad were terrified when they saw how pale I looked. They immediately started making soup and getting me to eat more to replenish my energy.

I could feel that familiar exhaustion tearing through my body. My heart sank deeper. It didn't work.

Even after I left campus and stayed away from Fletcher, that all-consuming fatigue still clung to me like a parasite burrowed into my bones. As it turned out, distance wasn't the answer.

That night, I tossed and turned in bed, unable to sleep, when my phone suddenly buzzed nonstop. It was my high school alumni group chat. A few people there had ended up attending the same college as me.

"Dude. You guys have no idea how insane our campus heartthrob, Fletcher Stone, is. We've only been in freshman orientation for a week, and everybody's already tanned beyond recognition.

"His skin, on the other hand, remains perfect—not even a shade darker. It's surreal!"

"That's not all. His stamina's the real monster. This afternoon, he ran a full 30-mile armed cross-country course for our entire class. When he finished, he looked like he had just come back from a casual walk.

"Wasn't he just an ordinary guy back in high school?"

Another classmate replied, "Right? I remember him being skinny with bad skin, totally average in high school—super forgettable. How did one summer break turn him into a completely different person?"

"Speaking of that, do you guys remember Simon Holt? The guy who used to be the king of the school in Fletcher's class? I saw him at the mall a couple of days ago.

"Holy crap, I'm telling you, he's fat and shabby now. His skin's so terrible that I barely recognized him. Honestly? He's nothing like his high-school self."

The moment I read that, I shot upright in bed. Still, the feeling of my body falling apart slammed into me again, forcing me back onto the mattress. A mouthful of blood spilled from my lips.

No. I had to figure out a way to break this as soon as possible.

Fletcher and Simon… A terrifying thought sprouted in my mind.

Fletcher used to be average in high school, but now, he had become the campus heartthrob. Meanwhile, Simon, the former king of the school, had turned overweight and haggard.

There was no way that many coincidences could exist in the world.