The FANGIRL paused.

"This bitch... ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ."

But then, when the words on the wheel had barely finished glowing when—

"Wait."

Si Hon suddenly pulled himself free!

Not violently, not dramatically, but fast enough that both Seong’s arm around his waist and Aeloria clinging to his arm loosened at the same time. He stepped forward slightly, staring up at the giant wheel with narrowed eyes like his brain had finally caught up to the situation several minutes late.

"Wait!" he repeated louder this time, pointing upward. "What do you mean Attend an Endless Masquerade? That’s not even in the list!"

The arena paused.

Aeloria blinked.

Seong’s eyes shifted upward slowly.

Even the fangirls stopped emotionally dying for a second.

Then Si Hon pointed harder, like accuracy increased through aggression.

"Yes! Exactly! There were only five scenarios listed earlier! There’s nothing called Endless Masquerade there!" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

A beat passed.

And then—

Like dominoes finally tipping over—

The others started realizing it too.

"Wait."

"He’s right."

"There wasn’t a masquerade scenario."

"Hold on, I remember the list."

Team One looked up suspiciously. Team Two, already psychologically damaged, immediately reacted like this was somehow another trap. Team Three looked deeply uncomfortable at the implication the scenario wheel might just be inventing things on its own.

Above them, the bunny announcer smiled brightly.

Too brightly.

Then—

Her eye twitched.

Just once.

Small.

Violent.

Slowly, very slowly, her head turned toward the massive wheel behind her.

Then toward the floating scenario list beside it.

And there it was.

Clear as day.

Protect a village from monsters.

Serve as royal guards in a corrupt kingdom.

Survive as test subjects in a lab.

Run a circus while something is hunting you.

Normal fantasy school life... where someone in your class possesses the power of regression.

No masquerade.

No ballroom. Of course.

No cursed dancers.

No gothic nonsense.

The bunny announcer stared silently.

"...ಠ⁠_⁠ಠ..."

The entire arena waited.

A long, painful silence stretched across the stadium while her smile remained frozen in place like someone had forgotten to animate her properly.

Then—

"Ahemmm."

She clapped once.

Way too loud.

"I mean..."

Snap!

She flicked her fingers instantly, and the massive wheel behind her spun again so aggressively it almost looked panicked. Colors blurred together at terrifying speed while she laughed in the most suspicious way possible.

"Haha! Woah! Look at that! Nothing happened! Hahahaha!"

Nobody believed her.

Not a single soul.

Three seconds later, the wheel slowed again.

Tak.

Tak.

Tak.

And stopped.

This time, the glowing words matched the list perfectly.

"Normal fantasy school life... where someone in your class possesses the power of regression."

The bunny announcer immediately pointed at it with both hands like a magician successfully finishing a trick.

"See?! Perfectly normal! Haha!"

Before she could continue, however—

A voice rose from Team Two.

"Wait."

Everyone turned.

One of the women from Black Team slowly raised her hand, still pale from the laboratory scenario but apparently brave enough to ask the dangerous question.

"There are four teams," she said carefully. "So why are there five scenarios?"

Silence.

The bunny announcer froze.

Then her eye twitched again.

Harder.

"Shut the fu—"

She stopped herself mid-sentence so violently her whole body jerked.

A sharp inhale.

Then an unnaturally sweet smile stretched back across her face.

"I mean," she said through visibly clenched teeth, "please let me explain first, everyone."

The air around her crackled faintly.

Several people instinctively stepped back.

"Because every time you lowly little lifeforms interrupt me..." she continued pleasantly, voice trembling just slightly, "I keep feeling this overwhelming urge to incinerate all of you where you stand."

A pause.

Then she inhaled deeply through her nose.

Exhaled.

And smiled again like nothing happened.

"The extra scenario," she said smoothly, "is planned for later use."

Her gaze locked onto the woman who asked the question.

Sharp.

Bright.

Dangerously calm.

"Understand?"

The woman immediately lowered her head. "Y-Y es."

"Wonderful!"

The pressure vanished instantly.

Then the bunny announcer turned back toward Team Four, her expression settling into something calmer now, though her eyes still carried traces of irritation underneath.

"In this scenario," she began, "you must complete the story perfectly."

The atmosphere shifted slightly.

Not fear exactly.

But attention.

"Unlike the others," she continued, "this one is... complicated."

She raised a finger.

"Because if the regressor dies..."

Another finger.

"You all die too. Maybe. Heh."

A pause.

"And everything resets."

Silence settled over Team Four immediately.

Even the fangirls stopped whispering.

The bunny announcer tilted her head slightly.

"You might repeat months. Years. Entire timelines." Her voice softened strangely. "Unlike the others, whose suffering ends quickly... yours might continue for a very long time."

Her gaze drifted slowly—

And landed directly on Si Hon again.

Not Team Four.

Him.

"You’re so unlucky," she murmured quietly.

Then immediately panicked.

"Wah— woah wait no, I mean all of you! Team Four! Team statement! Collective suffering! Haha!"

Nobody knew how to respond to that.

Then—

Snap.

A portal opened before Team Four.

But unlike the others, it didn’t erupt with horror.

No monsters.

No endless corridors.

No bloodstained village beneath dead skies.

Instead—

Warm sunlight spilled gently across the arena floor, washing away the cold tension left behind by the previous scenarios almost too perfectly. The moment the portal stabilized, the atmosphere changed completely. No metallic screeching. No bloodstained villages. No distant screams echoing through corridors.

Just—

A classroom.

Ordinary desks arranged in neat rows beneath soft afternoon light. Open windows let the breeze drift lazily through pale curtains, carrying the distant sounds of students laughing somewhere outside.

Beyond the glass stretched a peaceful campus painted beneath bright blue skies, tree branches swaying gently over stone pathways while groups of students wandered between buildings with bags over their shoulders like this was simply another normal school day.

It looked harmless.

Painfully harmless.

And the moment Si Hon saw it—

His expression changed.

Not visibly enough for most people to notice.

But inside his mind, something dropped.

Because this place—

Was familiar.

Not vaguely familiar.

Not the kind born from deyjà vu.

No.

He knew this place.

The layout.

The windows.

The angle of sunlight hitting the desks.

Even the tree outside the far hallway window.

And even the Gum stuck in desk two in front.

His eyes narrowed slowly.

(No way.)

The sound of the arena around him dulled slightly as memory surfaced.

The towering library.

Hours ago.

The endless shelves.

The strange book he picked up almost absentmindedly... alright, I mean because of the SAGE GUIDE.

And the title—

(SSSSSSSS Grade Regressor.)