Prologue. “Alas, my love, you do me wrong.”
(Greensleeves, English folk song)
After dinner, as usual, the college bar was lively and loud — filled with students indulging in their after-meal drinks.
Jeffrey Hester absently traced the rim of his glass, letting the chatter around him wash over without meaning.
The gin and tonic inside rippled faintly. Staring at the waves in the glass, he eventually lifted his gaze — fixing his eyes on the girl sitting across the bar.
Did she even realize that the entire college was talking about her?
The Korean girl, pale-faced with black hair, sat surrounded by friends, calmly sipping her ginger ale.
“No way. You’re saying Matthew got totally wrecked? With that build?”
“Apparently she did judo.”
“Oh… well, Asians are good at martial arts.”
“That’s way too much of a stereotype, dude.”
Eve. Or rather, Yuha Seo.
Jeffrey recalled the two names listed on her social media account.
There was a rather filthy story behind how Eve ended up throwing Matthew over her shoulder.
Some of the trashy guys in college had apparently made a bet — to see who could steal a kiss from her first.
Jeffrey lifted his glass and downed the drink.
He couldn’t shake off the conversation he’d had with Eve just an hour ago.
“So… what are you going to do about that bet?”
“Hmm, it’s gotten pretty annoying. I suppose to end it, I’ll just have to kiss someone.”
“You’re actually going to do it? With who?”
She had smirked, lifting one corner of her lips and winking playfully.
“For starters — not you, Hester.”
Jeffrey Hester’s grip on the glass tightened just a little more.
…So, who is it going to be?
Chapter 1. The Game Is Ahead
(The Adventure of the Abbey Grange — Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The main dining hall of Everett College, Dunfield University.
This stately dining hall, which had gained global fame after appearing in a hit TV drama, was just as magnificent as the rumors claimed.
On the wall facing the grand entrance hung portraits of the British monarchs who had funded the college,
and on either side, portraits of distinguished alumni seemed to gaze down upon the students.
Above all, three chandeliers—each made of thousands of crystals—hung high beneath the vaulted ceiling, scattering shards of cold, white light.
“Wow… it’s really beautiful.”
Yuha gazed upward, momentarily dazed by the brilliance. The cool gleam seemed sharper in the chill air, and for the first time she truly felt it—
that she was now studying abroad, far from home in England.
Her mind retraced the journey that had brought her here:
an hour and a half by airport bus from Seoul to Incheon,
fourteen hours by plane,
and another two and a half hours by coach from Heathrow to Dawnfieldshire.
After nearly eighteen exhausting hours of travel—here she was.
“Yve?”
“Hey, Yve, you all right? Feeling tired already?”
Snapping to attention at the sound of her English name, Yuha quickly looked up.
Across the table sat Rashid and Daisy, her college parents—second-years assigned to help freshmen settle into life at Everett.
Seeing their warm smiles, Yuha hurried to answer.
“Oh, no, not tired! I was just admiring the chandeliers—they’re gorgeous.”
“Pretty, aren’t they? Give it a few weeks—you’ll be sick of them.”
“Haha, really?”
“Absolutely. But for now…”
Daisy jerked her chin toward the back of the hall, where a waiter stood holding a bottle of wine.
Unlike the cafeteria-style meals in Korean universities, Dunfield served dinner with full table service—a clear mark of cultural difference.
Murmuring thanks, Yuha held out her glass, and the waiter filled it with crisp white wine.
“Welcome to Everett, Yve!”
“To your successful college life!”
“Thank you—for the warm welcome.”
Clink. The glasses rang pleasantly as they touched. Yuha smiled and took a sip.
As the wine flowed, the atmosphere ripened.
By the time the main course was served, the dining hall had transformed into a social arena.
Second-years left their tables to greet friends and introduce their “college children.”
Yuha too met Rashid’s roommate, a chemistry major. They were exchanging a polite handshake when—
Clatter!
A plate crashed somewhere nearby. All eyes turned toward the commotion at the center of the hall.
A tall, broad-shouldered white student was clearly drunk out of his mind, staggering and shouting incoherently.
“Isn’t that a freshman?”
“…Yeah. Matthew, I think.”
Rashid whispered, and Daisy nodded faintly.
Crash! Bang!
The noises continued—a chair overturning, another plate shattering. Yuha glanced toward the scene.
The drunk was now hurling chairs, sending startled students leaping aside.
“Hey, calm down—”
Someone tried to reason with him, but their voice was too soft, or maybe too frightened.
No wonder—he must have been at least six feet tall, with the kind of muscular build that discouraged intervention.
“Let me—hic—let me explain something real nice to you all.”
His words slurred, but his voice carried.
A few students even raised their phones, recording his outburst.
“They’re recording this? Seriously?”
Same generation or not, Yuha thought, MZ kids are something else.
She had no idea what kind of nonsense would follow next.
“You can tell the difference between girls who’ve done it and those who haven’t.”
…What?
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
Faces paled.
But the drunk went on, oblivious.
“It’s the reaction—totally different! I know, I’ve seen it all!”
Silence.
Thick, suffocating silence.
Yuha exhaled softly and rose from her chair.
Everyone’s attention was glued to the spectacle; no one noticed her move.
“You can spot them just by looking. Let’s see now…”
Crash!
Another chair flew.
The drunk began to prowl between tables, grinning as the crowd shrank back to make way.
“What, am I scary?”
No one answered.
“I said—am I scary, you cowards?”
Of course he was. Yuha clicked her tongue, rolling the empty water glass in her palm.
The drunk stopped abruptly. Then—
“Aha?”
He bent low over a nearby female student.
She flinched violently, trembling, turning her face away.
Her fear only made him laugh harder.
“Ahahaha! Look what we have here—a perfect little sample!”
He snapped his fingers and pointed straight at her.
“Didn’t I say I could tell who’s got experience? Well, this one—”
Clang!
A glass hit the floor with a sharp, ringing sound—
not loud enough to shatter eardrums,
but loud enough to slice clean through his words.
The entire hall froze.
Every gaze swung toward the source of the sound.
Rashid gaped, Daisy stiffened, eyes wide.
What are you doing? their faces screamed silently.
Yuha only shrugged, indifferent, and bent down.
She picked up the glass she had dropped—deliberately.
