Teren Hark, a seventeen years old student at Mershen High.

When the sun rose up, his alarm clock rang.

"Haa..."

Monday morning. Normally, students hate this day and time. However, not Teren Hark a diligent student.

While another alarm clock was ringing loudly in his little sister's room, he went to take a bath, cooked breakfast for his younger sister and alcoholic mother, and...

"I'm out for school!"

"Yeah...! Goodluck!" his mother casually waved goodbye while sitting on a couch, watching television.

"What!? Did Big Bro leave me again!?"

Along with the quick footsteps, the little sister ran out of her room.

"It's because you're still asleep. Turn off your alarm, it's annoying."

"Then don't drink at night if you don't want a hangover!"

"What can I do!? Your father is cheating on me!" the mother suddenly cried.

"He didn't do such a thing! He's working abroad, you just want a reason to drink!"

"Hmph! Just get ready for school, you're going get late on your first day." the crocodile tears immediately dried as the mother said that.

"Oh no! I'm blaming you as an excuse for my tardiness!"

...

Teren Hark enjoyed his walk to the school. But as soon as he met other students on his path, his face turned neutral. The smile on his face vanished.

Mershen High, a Senior High School at Heren City. It's just your average private school, nothing to note about.

Students, teachers, air conditioners, clubs, a field, and hopefully, clean toilets, you can find it there.

It is situated far from downtown so students have to pass through many streets first, after the main road, depending on where they came from.

It's Teren's first day as a Senior High Student. He had a high hope that things will change in this school.

'I hope after the long summer vacation, some of my bullies back then forgot about me.'

But just as he said so, a tall man with messy hair wrapped his arm around Teren.

Teren's spirit drooped.

"Hello, Teren, I hope we can be classmates."

Teren only sighed in response which ticked the tall guy.

"You don't change, do you? Whatever, prepare your lunch money, I can still get it even if we're not classmates. Since Mark, the one who extorts you last year is gone, it's now mine, right?"

"..." Teren responded with silence.

"Mark and I aren't friends so I had no idea if he just quits school or went to another. But whatever, he has no friends anyway."

"It's not like you have one too." Teren left a sharp remark.

"Why you...!" the tall guy glared as he removed his arm, "You big talk for a loner. Prepare your lunch money or prepare your body for a beating when I caught you."

The tall guy then left.

'I guess I have to make this one quick.' Teren thought.

But soon, the down-spirited him spotted a girl that everyone was looking at.

'That's Iesa Hun... I thought she's going to a more prestigious school.' Teren blushed as he looked at the graceful girl walking in the middle of the crowd's attention.

'Not only is she beautiful but she's also the smartest in school. I'm not going to lie, I really like her but she's too far for me to reach.'

He shook his head with a smile.

After searching for his class, Teren Hark found himself in Class 1 Section 2, a classmate of Iesa Hun. He saw the names on the paper and felt -

'Lucky...' he inconspicuously grinned. He then entered the class and a chair at the edge of the class, next to the window.

Meren High is split into two, Junior High and Senior High. Junior High has four years while the latter has two.

So the students from Meren Junior High would likely go to its senior counterpart. This is why a large percentage of students know each other.

On the first day of school, groups have already formed.

'After four years, I still have no friends...' Teren wanted to cry as he looked at all the groups happy to see each other again.

'My only chance is the transfer students.' he looked around and found a problem.

'I forgot who are my classmates before so... I may mistake them for transferees. Man, that would be embarrassing.'

At that moment, the tall guy from earlier sat on his desk.

'... unlucky...' Teren sighed.

"Hello, shit. We're classmates, huh..."

"..."

"Hello? Did you forget my name? It's me, Nick, the one who will spend your lunch money late-"

Nick froze when a girl sat beside Teren.

Seeing who this girl is, Teren's eyes widened.

'Lucky!'

It was Iesa Hun.

'Why would Iesa sat beside this dork...?' Nick looked around and saw that groups of friends have already sat beside each other.

'Oh, it's just because there's no more available seat. That almost worried me that this dork mysteriously charmed Iesa.'

"What are you doing sitting on someone's desk?"

Suddenly, Iesa spoke as she looked at Nick in the eyes.

"The teacher is about to arrive." she continued.

"Ah... right..." Nick sweated and blushed a little before looking around to find that the seat in front of Teren is the only one empty.

Class begun.

'Dreamy... I guess school wouldn't be so bad.' Teren cheerfully smiled.

When the teacher came in, he immediately announced.

"Okay, stand up, let's fix your seating arrangement first." which attracted a lot of groans.

'I already hate our teacher...' Teren thought.

But in the end, the teacher didn't change the seats that much. He just alternated boys and girls.

"I hope you won't be noisy with that arrangement."

Teren sighed in relief. Furthermore, the person in front of him is a girl. That girl then turned around and sweetly smiled.

"Hello, Teren, I hope we have a good school year together again."

'That cute twin tails and kind smile... a-hah! She's the class president!'

"To you too, class president." he replied.

"Hahaha, I'm not the class president anymore, Teren."

"Now, let's appoint class officials. Is there anyone you want to nominate as a class president." the teacher said which attracted a lot of hand raises.

The teacher randomly picked which girl stood up and announced.

"I nominate Lina as the class president."

"I vote for Lina!"

"I vote for Lina too!"

The teacher laughed, "It seemed this Lina is popular. Lina, you're the class president now."

The girl who was just talking to Teren, Lina's smile froze.

'**** me in the ***.' she thought.

Teren's seatmate suddenly twitched. He looked and saw Iesa having a shocked expression.

'Hm?'

Iesa Hun, a seventeen years old student at Mershen High.

'What did she just say?'

When Lina internally reacted, she almost jumped out of her seat due to pure shock.

But how could she hear it if Lina didn't even say it out loud?

That's because Iesa had a secret.

Do you believe in the supernatural? In the modern world, many would laugh at it. However, it is common to hope that it is true.

Superhuman strength? Ability to fly? Ghosts? Demons? These unscientific things have already been denied over and over again.

Only a few percentages of people determinedly believe in them. Iesa is one of them.

Why? Because it is the reason why is considered as the smartest in school.

Iesa Hun has the ability to hear people's inner thoughts!

In other words, she's a psychic!

Currently, she just heard Lina's remark.

'For someone with a sweet smile like her, I didn't know she could swear like that.' Iesa thought with a slight frown.

After she jerked like that, she composed herself until she noticed Teren's stare.

"What?"

"N-nothing."

'Strange, usually, people would think every second. Must be a lazy thinker.'

Iesa ignored Teren and observed Lina again.

"Who is Lina, can you raise your hand?" the teacher pointed his chalk to the class.

"Here, teacher!" Lina brightly raised her hand.

"Since you're the class president now, can you lead the class officials' nominations?" the teacher smiled.

'**** you, asshole.'

Iesa blinked a few times while speechless.

"Okay, teacher." Lina walked up to the front and without any sign of stage fright, she picked up what the teacher left, "Is there anybody any of you want to nominate as the vice-president."

This time, no one raised their hand. There were whispers, of course.

"Why don't you be the class president?"

"Hahaha, idiot, that's a lot of work."

...

"Want me to nominate you?"

"Shut up, if you nominate me, I'll nominate you."

...

'Just pick anyone, fuckers.' Lina's eyebrow twitched.

Iesa was dumbfounded once more.

'I guess having a potty mind is better than a potty mouth.'

"Anyone? Ah-! Yes?" Lina then pointed at the one who raised a hand.

"I nominate Teren!"

Teren's face twitched when he heard Nick, seating in front of Iesa, nominate him before laughing.

However, the whole class was silent after that nomination.

"Teren, okay." Lina smiled and proceeded to write Teren's name on the board.

Although Lina seemed undisturbed by it, Iesa knows clearly what's happening.

'Seriously? Way to ruin the mood.'

'Who the heck is Teren? Is he a transferee?'

'Is he joking? He's the only one laughing.'

These were the thoughts from her random classmates. However, Iesa could spot Lina's thoughts from all of this noisiness.

'Wow, good job making the class awkward. You just made it harder for me. Congrats! What do you want? You want me to grow a cock for you to suck on, just to shut you up?'

"Pft-..." Iesa almost laughed at that one.

Laughing while the atmosphere got heavy is something one should avoid. She is aware of it or she will be deemed as weird.

Teren heard this but just glanced at her before praying that someone would nominate somebody.

'I'll get technically chosen if I'm the only one nominated. Nick, after this, you're dead to me!'

"Anyone wants to nominate someone? If there's no one, Teren will-" Lina was speaking when a girl raised her hand.

'Oh, it's the smart slut who nominated me.'

"I nominate Mike, class president."

"Oh! Good one! I vote for Mike!"

"Guys... I don't want to be vice-president." the guy with a buzz-cut laughed.

Mike, once an ace of the basketball club last year, charismatic and easy to talk to. In other words, he's the popular guy in the class.

Not just girls but even his friends voted for him.

"I guess that's the majority. Vice president, can you please help me here?" Lina asked.

When Mike stood up, he was playfully pushed by his friends.

"Ahahaha, don't blame me if I mess up being a vice-president."

'Can you shut the **** up and do that job I'm asking for.' Lina laughed and gave him the chalk, "It's fine, being a vice president is easy."

"I hope so." Mike accepted the chalk and wrote his name on the board.

Teren sighed in relief.

'But why do I feel a sense of defeat?'

After that, the smart slu-... Catherine, the one who nominated both Lina and Mike, was chosen as the secretary.

The class went on until break time.

Iesa sighed in relief.

'Good thing I wasn't chosen for anything.' she stood up and went out.

Mike and Catherine's group was about to exit as well. But seeing Iesa walk by, they subconsciously stopped to let her pass through.

"Whew, that was an exhausting one, huh, Teren?" Lina sat in front of Teren.

"Yeah..."

'Teren, you're the only one who is quiet and doesn't give me headaches. What a good dog.'

Even though Iesa was already out of the room, she still heard this thought and was startled again.

'A closet sadist...' Iesa internally commented before continuing her way to the canteen.

"Are you going to the canteen? Want to come with me?" Lina offered.

"Umm... I think your friends are waiting for you." Teren pointed at the two girls outside, peeking at Lina.

"Ah, ahahaha, but you can still come anyway." Lina pursued.

"Thanks, but I'll pass."

"Hm... okay." Lina nodded before running to her friends, 'Bad dog.' she left a thought.

After Lina is gone, Teren stood up and was about to go to the canteen himself when an arm wrapped around his shoulders again.

"I'm hungry, let's go grab something to eat, your treat." Nick laughed.

Having no choice, Teren led Nick to the canteen.

"Wait here, I'll buy us something."

"Ahahaha good, good!" Nick laughed.

Teren waited in line, bought snacks for himself, and went back to the class without the tall guy noticing. While on his way, he didn't spot any sign of his crush and wondered where Iesa Hun eats.

When break time was over, Nick came back with a furious expression.

"Later, at the back of the school. This time, I'll drag you!"

Meanwhile, earlier when break time began, Iesa Hun went out to buy snacks at the canteen.

'I heard it's here.'

She snuck out to the stairs at the side of the first building.

'Even though it's the first day and students are exploring the school, no one is here. The teachers are right! This is a secret spot.'

Opening the door to the emergency stairs, Iesa sat at the first step.

"Finally, some alone time." she swayed happily as she opened her snacks and bit into the sandwich.

"Hmm~~"

Largely different from how she acts in front of others, Iesa looks like the most cheerful girl out there.

"As long as I don't hear thoughts, there are no people near me. This is basically my private area!"

"But I wonder why the emergency exits are a bit far. Maybe once the teachers explained what to do once there's an emergency, this place will be crowded."

She sighed.

"I hope not. I don't want to eat in the toilet again and it's too hot on the rooftop. This place is a bit warm but being in that cold classroom, this is like a sanctuary!"

"Furthermore, I can't hear any stupid, perverted, or creepy thoughts."

She then laughed weirdly as if she was drunk. But then she realized that she had already eaten all of what she bought.

"This is a problem. I don't know if phones are forbidden or not here. Let's wait for the basic instruction. So I'll just stare into nothingness. Still better than hearing all those idiots."

"..."

"Actually, the class president is funny! After all the thoughts that I heard, she's the dirtiest. But it's a lot better than the creepy thoughts of strangers, or the envious remarks of the girls in my room. The mind is the most private of all and people are sometimes, the most honest inside their thoughts."

Iesa Hun talked to herself until break time is over.

Coming back to the classroom, she saw that the person in front of her seemed pissed off.

'It's the... pfft- cocksucker according to the prez.'

Iesa Hun became curious and focused on his thoughts.

'This dork! I stayed there for thirty minutes, waiting for him! And when I came back here, he's just sighing as if tired to see me! Later, I'm going to beat him up and take all of his allowances!'

Nick's thoughts came across Iesa. This made her uncomfortable.

'So there's still bullies here, huh... I thought the school was strict about it. The last year's top bullies and delinquents were kicked out of school... Well, maybe they were kicked out. I don't know, they just suddenly disappeared and I didn't care about it back then.'

After that, their teacher returned and so is the continuation of class. He presented a PowerPoint presentation.

"So here are the rules..."

"I think it is obvious that it is forbidden to bring any weapon..."

"Girls, your skirt must be this long..."

"In times of emergency, this is the route out to safety. Remember it well. However, you will only use this part in times of emergency, do you understand? Since there's no CCTV inside, there have been some couples doing some things I will not further explain."

'Yes, tell them to get out of there! If there's no one there, no one is going to see me there!' Iesa cheerfully thought.

Along with her internal reactions, there are a lot of thoughts she picked up.

'Lucky them, I want a girlfriend.'

'Some things... I wonder what things it is?'

'Tse, we were planning to try that place. Looks like we have to cancel it.'

Iesa just observed the different sides of the class. But there were some unique thoughts like:

'What? Couples are doing that!? We're just seventeen!'

'Maybe I'll beat Teren there!'

Iesa found the first thought unique because it came from Lina, the one she thought had the dirtiest mind.

'Seemed like she just has dirty language but is actually innocent.' Iesa commented with a smirk.

As for the second thought, Iesa's worry increased.

'Teren? From what I observed earlier, it must be this lazy thinker. He's so quiet, even in his thoughts, that I forgot that he's existing.'

'She's looking at me again.' Teren blushed, restraining himself to look at her and make eye contact. That would've been very awkward.

Iesa was about to let it slide when she kept hearing Nick's thoughts.

Nick: 'Hmph! I'm going to practice my boxing skills with this idiot! My goal is to traumatize him!'

Iesa: 'Those are just thoughts, right!? You're not actually going to do it!'

Nick: 'But if he redeemed himself at lunch and treat me. I'll forgive him.'

Iesa: 'Thank goodness! But what if this Teren didn't treat him? Wait, that's normal. Why would you treat your bully? That's just extortion! If he did treat this guy, it's bullying. But he didn't, Teren's fate could be worse!'

This lasted until the first half of school just ended and it's lunch break time.

Iesa took a detour before following Teren as he was brought by Nick.

"I'll forgive you if you treat me with that deluxe meal. I'm getting hungry since you left me here earlier." Nick said with intimidation.

However, Teren remained unflinching.

"Sure"

"I'll keep my eyes on you!" Nick then sat on one chair at an empty table.

'Whew, seemed like Teren will not get beaten up. Ugh! Why do I care about this? Guess, I'll buy my own lunch first.'

Iesa stood behind the line.

'Oh my gosh, it's Iesa.'

'She's still so pretty.'

'I heard that she got first in the entrance exam.'

Thoughts were popping into her ears but she tried to ignore them. While waiting in line, Iesa found that it was Teren's turn at the window.

"One of this, please. That's all."

'That's all? Teren, do you want to get beaten up!?' Iesa thought and was baffled, 'But canteen at lunch break has less crown. I doubt he can't escape Nick's eyes.'

Just as she thought of that, she saw Teren had a serious expression. He swooshed and ran away that only she and the people behind Teren noticed.

'Did that guy just sprint?'

'Weird guy must be hungry as hell.'

'Hm? Where is Teren?'

The last thought was from Nick.

Iesa: 'The bully didn't notice!!!'

Thus, the same thing happened again. Nick came back more pissed and hungrier than ever.

'I'm going to kill him after school!'

Iesa's face darkened.