Chapter 125: Now pick up the mess you made

An egg smashed directly against Ivy’s shoulder.

The liquid instantly stained her outfit.

For a brief second, complete silence followed.

Ivy stood frozen in shock.

Meanwhile, the girls immediately started yelling over each other.

"How dare you get close to Kevin!"

"You’re not good enough for him!"

"She’s definitely using him for fame!"

"Stay away from Kevin!"

Lola’s expression changed instantly.

"Are you all insane?!" she shouted furiously before immediately stepping in front of Ivy protectively.

Sal’s face darkened dangerously.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" he snapped.

But the girls only became louder.

One of them raised her phone while glaring at Ivy.

"You think you can become famous just because you did one shoot with him?"

Another girl scoffed hatefully.

"She probably planned this entire thing to get attention."

Meanwhile, Ivy remained completely still.

The cold egg slowly dripped down her sleeve while the hateful voices around her echoed loudly.

For the first time since entering the modeling industry...

She was finally experiencing just how cruel people could become over someone they didn’t even know.

"I’m going to take legal action against all of you!" Lola snapped furiously as she shielded Ivy with her body and tried pushing her toward the car.

But when Ivy didn’t move even an inch, Lola’s eyes widened.

"Girl, what are you doing?" she whispered urgently. "We need to leave right now."

Her heart was already pounding from panic.

Lola felt guilty for not warning Ivy properly about Kevin’s fans waiting outside the studio. She had originally planned for them to leave quietly through another exit to avoid attention altogether.

But clearly, things had gone wrong.

"Ivy," Sal quickly added, stepping closer, "Lola’s right. Let’s get out of here before this gets worse."

The girls surrounding them were clearly irrational.

And Sal could already tell they weren’t going to stop with just insults.

Ivy silently looked at the screaming crowd before finally seeming ready to leave.

But suddenly—

Splaat!

Another egg flew toward them.

This time, it hit Lola directly in the hair.

"Damn it!"

Lola groaned in frustration as egg yolk slowly dripped down the side of her face.

Meanwhile, the girls burst into laughter.

Their mocking voices instantly filled the area.

"You think you can just leave?"

"We’re not done yet!"

"We’ll show you your place!"

One of the girls aggressively stepped forward while pulling out two more eggs from her bag.

Her eyes locked directly on Ivy.

She raised her hand, preparing to throw them again—

But before she could—

Thwack!

Something suddenly hit her wrist.

"Ah!"

The girl cried out in pain as the eggs slipped from her hand and shattered onto the ground instead.

Everyone froze.

Even the girls standing beside her stared in shock.

On the ground nearby lay a sandal.

Ivy’s sandal.

Slowly, all eyes turned toward her.

Ivy stood there calmly with one shoe missing, her expression unreadable.

But the coldness in her eyes instantly made the laughter around her die down.

The atmosphere shifted completely.

"You know what I hate the most?" Ivy asked quietly.

Her calm tone somehow sounded more frightening than yelling.

The girl who got hit instinctively stepped backward.

But Ivy slowly walked toward her anyway.

Each step made the girl visibly more nervous.

"You..." the girl stammered weakly.

Ivy stopped directly in front of her.

Then suddenly, she grabbed the girl’s shoulder firmly.

The girl immediately winced.

"Kids," Ivy said softly, "who don’t do what they’re supposed to do."

The sharpness hidden beneath her calm voice instantly made the surrounding girls gulp nervously.

The girl under Ivy’s grip visibly shrank back.

"D-Don’t touch me!" she snapped, though her voice lacked confidence now.

Ivy ignored her completely.

"Do your parents know you skipped school just to harass strangers outside a studio?"

The question instantly silenced everyone.

Behind her, both Sal and Lola blinked in realization.

Only now did they properly notice it.

The girls surrounding them were all wearing school uniforms.

Even James, who had just arrived outside moments ago, froze in disbelief after seeing them clearly.

Ivy’s grip tightened slightly on the girl’s shoulder.

"You’re young enough to throw eggs at people," she continued calmly, "but not mature enough to understand consequences?"

The girl’s face slowly paled.

Meanwhile, the other girls who had been yelling confidently earlier now looked visibly uncomfortable.

Some even lowered their phones.

Ivy’s gaze slowly swept across all of them.

"You all talk about protecting someone you admire," she said, "but what exactly are you protecting him from?"

Nobody answered.

"You don’t know me."

Her voice remained steady.

"You’ve never spoken to me. Never met me. Yet you decided I deserved humiliation just because I worked with someone you like."

Several girls awkwardly avoided eye contact.

Meanwhile, Lola and Sal quietly stared at Ivy in shock.

Neither of them expected her to handle the situation this way.

And honestly?

The terrifying part was how calm she remained throughout all of it.

Then Ivy suddenly let go of the girl’s shoulder.

The girl immediately stumbled backward.

"Now pick up the mess you made," Ivy said coldly while looking at the broken eggs on the ground.

The group of girls froze again.

"And after that," Ivy added sharply, "go back home before I actually decide to call your school."

The moment those words left her mouth, panic visibly spread across several of their faces.

The girls instantly panicked.

"N-No way—"

"You can’t do that!"

One of them immediately tried to grab her friend and pull her back, but Ivy’s cold stare alone was enough to stop them from speaking further.

Meanwhile, the girl whose shoulder Ivy had grabbed earlier looked close to tears now.

The confidence she had while throwing eggs had completely disappeared.

"I-It was just a joke..." she muttered weakly.

"A joke?"

Ivy repeated calmly.

Her eyes slowly moved toward Lola, whose hair was still covered in egg yolk.

Then toward the stains on her own clothes.

"You call publicly humiliating someone a joke?"

The girl instantly lowered her head.

The girls who had arrived feeling powerful suddenly looked terrified. One of them quickly whispered to another,

"What if she actually calls the school?"

"My parents will kill me..."

Sal crossed his arms while staring at them coldly.

"Interesting," he said dryly. "You people weren’t scared while attacking someone, but suddenly you understand consequences now?"

The girls remained silent.

Meanwhile, Lola finally recovered from her shock and stepped forward.

"Do you girls even realize this counts as harassment?" she snapped angrily. "You threw things at us in public!"

The girl who had originally yelled at Ivy suddenly looked defensive again.

"But she’s getting close to Kevin oppa!"

Lola almost lost her patience.

"She worked with him!" she corrected sharply. "That’s literally her job!"

"But the pictures looked intimate—"

"It was a photoshoot!" Sal interrupted in disbelief. "What exactly did you expect? Them standing five feet apart?"

A few nearby staff members who had stepped outside after hearing the noise were now openly watching the scene unfold.

"This is exactly why celebrities need therapy," he muttered under his breath.

Meanwhile, Ivy remained unusually calm.

Too calm.

And somehow, that calmness made the girls even more nervous.

One of them quietly bent down and started picking up the broken eggs from the ground.

The others slowly followed. Not because they wanted to.

Because Ivy genuinely looked like someone who would call both their school and parents without hesitation.

As they cleaned up awkwardly, Lola leaned closer toward Ivy and whispered,

"Girl... remind me never to fight with you."

Sal immediately nodded.

"Seriously. That was terrifying."

Ivy calmly slipped her sandal back onto her foot.

The girls hurriedly cleaned up the mess and were just about to leave when Ivy suddenly spoke again.

"Wait."

All of them froze instantly.

Slowly, they turned back toward her with nervous expressions.

Ivy calmly crossed her arms.

"Hand me your phones."

The girls gaped at her in disbelief.

"What?"

"Why?"

"You can’t just take our phones—"

The protests quickly died down the moment Ivy looked at them properly.

Her expression remained calm, but the sharpness in her eyes alone was enough to make the girls lose confidence immediately.

One by one, they reluctantly walked forward and handed over their phones.

Even Lola blinked in surprise.

Meanwhile, Sal looked dangerously entertained now.

Ivy took the phones before turning toward him.

"Delete every picture they took today," she said calmly.

Sal instantly grinned.

"Gladly."

The girls immediately panicked, but failed to voice their words out.

Meanwhile, Sal efficiently began deleting every picture and video related to Ivy from their galleries.

"Wow," he muttered sarcastically while scrolling. "You girls really took over a hundred pictures just to throw eggs afterward? That’s dedication."

One of the girls looked embarrassed enough to cry again.

Meanwhile, Lola silently watched Ivy with growing admiration.

A few minutes later, Sal finally handed the phones back.

"There," he said casually. "Clean."

Once Ivy confirmed everything was deleted, she stepped aside slightly.

"You can leave now."

The girls wasted no time. Almost immediately, they hurried away from the studio entrance in complete embarrassment.

Only after they disappeared did the tension around the area finally ease. Without another word, the three of them finally headed toward the car.

None of them noticed the black vehicle parked a short distance away.

Inside it, Kevin and James sat in complete silence.

"You know," he said carefully, "I was genuinely worried about her for a second."

Kevin still didn’t answer immediately. His eyes remained fixed on the car driving away from the studio. Then finally, the corner of his lips slowly lifted.

"...She’s stronger than I thought."