Cassius didn't consider himself to be someone righteous, but r*pe was definitely one of the few things that could tip him over the edge.

Yet, it wouldn't be until later that night, when he received dozens of nudes and suggestive comments, that he realized what was actually happening with the girl number situation…

The longer Cassius walked, the more attention he garnered from pedestrians, envious men, and swooning women. Yet, as if oblivious to it all, he focused on better balancing his body under the stress of so much weight. Even though his stats had improved considerably and the weight of each piece of Newbie Equipment hadn't changed much, it was still difficult to control his body the same way as before.

However, during his ten-minute walk to work, Cassius felt like he had become more attuned to the conditions imposed on him by his Newbie 1 Equipment set. Incidentally, the veins all over his body bulged and multiplied, which attracted even more female gazes, but at least he felt more comfortable living this way from now on.

A few minutes later.

By the time Cassius ultimately made it to his job, the whole town had started spreading rumors about the handsome, rogue-like actor. None of them had ever seen him on TV before, but it was certainly possible that he was a rising talent about to make his debut.

However, many people became confused upon seeing this refined man stop in front of a two-story bookstore. Sure, the place was quite nice and had a classical, historian feel to it, but why would someone like that go to a bookstore?

“Maybe he is a fan of literary works?”

“That could very well be possible… But I had assumed that all rich, luxurious people lived lives having not ever known the feel of a book…”

“Same… But now that I know this, I can't help but find him even more… attractive…”

“Geez, woman! Can you stop being so damn thirsty!? It isn't even 7, and yet you’re already slobbering at just the mere sight of him!”

“Well, what would you know, you toad!? That man is a hundred thousand times better than you are!”

“Hwa!?”

Ignoring the pointless argument of a man and woman on the nearby street, Cassius walked through the front wooden glass doors of the ‘Bookworm’s Paradise’ Library. A bell above the door rang, and the eloquent voice of a pretty black-haired girl drifted into his ears right after:

“Welcome to Bookworm’s Paradise! Feel free to peruse at your own leisure— Wait, you look familiar…”

The girl turned around a corner. As her neatly combed ponytail swung behind her, she closely scrutinized the extraordinarily handsome man before her.

Suddenly widening her eyes, she blurted out, “Cassius!? Is that actually you!?? What happened… Did you get some of that expensive plastic surgery or something??? You shouldn't have done something like that…”

‘Bella…’ Cassius’s lips raised awkwardly as he replied, “It’s nothing like that, Bella. I just had another one of those late bloomer growth spurts…”

Bella further narrowed her twinkling twilight eyes in suspicion. She had been hearing the same excuse for the past couple of weeks, but it just didn't make any sense! How could someone possibly change so drastically naturally?

Though, in the end, she coldly sniffed. “I know you’re keeping something from me, but if you don't want to tell me what that something is, then so be it. See if I care, humph!” She cutely pouted with her arms hugging the under area of her alluring breasts. “Just make sure not to lie your way through questions with other women, lest you end up single for your entire life!”

Cutting short her pouting, Bella glanced past him and looked through the shop’s windows. “Those people crowded outside…”

Cassius looked behind him before refocusing on the black-haired beauty frustratingly tapping her perfectly carved feet. “I think they want protection services from me…”

“Protection services? What does that mean—” That was when Bella saw his pumped muscles, completely missing the intimidating wooden katana hanging in his veiny hands. “Have you been working out…?”

“...You could say that,” replied Cassius as he averted his eyes from that suspicious glare of hers. “I just happened to find out that I have a knack for gaining muscle…”

“And this realization came before or after your repeated ‘growth spurts’?” Bella further narrowed her eyes, not believing a single thing coming out of his mouth. Yet all she received in response was an awkward chuckle and the sight of her coworker and classmate scratching his neck.

Bella huffed, displeased.

She stormed away in a puff of smoke and made her way toward the second floor, where she got back to organizing the library’s books from atop a tall wooden step ladder.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Cassius, on the other hand, was left standing right beside the bookstore’s front desk, with dozens of people staring at him from outside.

He heard things like, “So the handsome actor is actually an employee here?? How can that be???” Yet he remained oblivious to the underlying context of the situation. Instead, he put his focus on the cart of used books that were bundled off to the side of the front desk.

While returning those returned books to their rightful spots in the bookstore, Cassius’s mind traced back to the stunning black-haired beauty who worked with him. He occasionally glanced at her industrious figure, wondering how exactly he wound up working directly alongside one of the five ravishing beauties of Hoshito High.

‘Ahh, that’s right,’ he thought as a light bulb flashed inside his mind. ‘When I first started this part-time job three’ish weeks ago, Bella had started working here for the summer as well. Yet, when she first saw me, rather than avert her eyes like most people, she appraised me with her resplendent black globes and said, “You have honest eyes,” then went to treat me like a decent human being.’

‘I still have no idea what exactly Bella meant with that comment, but she was the first person to not appear visibly repulsed at being in my presence. She even made an effort to speak to me when we were on the same shifts…’

Cassius had a very fond view of the beautiful girl idolized by all in their school. And though they had never previously interacted with each other, he was sure that she would treat him just the same if given the chance.

As the seconds turned into minutes, then hours, Bella ultimately descended from the top floor, appearing more like a graceful fairy than a human being.

As a C-Ranked Awakener, it was only natural for her movements to appear otherworldly. In fact, it was because of the way she moved—and a little bit of digging around—that scouts from major Hoshito guilds like the Black Sparrow Guild became incredibly interested in her prospects. Many times, she had been offered a direct high-ranking position in C-Rank guilds, yet she firmly denied all of them, adamantly refusing to become embroiled with Hunters and Gates at this point in time.

Cassius had been a little curious as to why Bella seemed to steer away from all things Hunter-related, especially given her talents, but he decided not to pry. She appreciated this, which was likely one of the leading reasons she remained so friendly with him. And now, even after seeing that his appearance had changed so much, she treated him no differently than before, not caring one bit about superficial things like looks.

From what Cassius had heard before summer break began, Bella was also this way around other students. This sometimes annoyed the generally attractive people who approached her in hopes of using their appearances to get closer to her.

Even excluding Bella’s immense beauty, she was still a C-Rank Awakener and the daughter of the chairman of a large Hoshito conglomerate. Her family’s and business’s influence extended far beyond the small town of Hoshito, yet she still deigned to work part-time at a humble bookstore.

“She is truly something special,” Cassius murmured fondly, his eyes respectfully tracing the immaculate curves of the black-haired fairy.

Bella’s small ears twitched cutely as she eyed the devilishly handsome man holding a wooden sword. She was going to ask if he had said something just now but quickly changed her mind when she noticed the sword in his hand.

“What are you doing with a sword at work? Do you believe yourself to be a samurai or something?”

Watching such a short, pretty girl berate him made Cassius overlay her image with that of an angry squirrel. “She is surprisingly cute,” he accidentally blurted out. And for the first time since they’d known each other, he was able to see a charming blush grace her small features.

“Y-You’re getting ahead of yourself as of late, humph!” Bella coldly sniffed before turning her head to the side.

No longer wishing to see that stupid face of his, she turned on her heel and walked off.

“There are an excessive amount of customers in here because of you, so you’d better do your job properly!” she shouted softly, yet added, “B-But don’t push yourself too much…” before briskly taking her mock steps of fury back to the wide second floor.

A spark of confusion passed through Cassius’s striking blue eyes as he wondered what had gotten into her all of a sudden, utterly unaware of what he had let slip out of his loose-lipped mouth.

‘Maybe Bella doesn’t like so many customers in the shop?’ he thought keenly. ‘But she already has quite the fan base in this town because of her slightly cold yet caring personality, which only further increases the appeal garnered from her riveting appearance.’

‘I highly doubt that the… girls coming in here for bodyguard consultations outweigh the sheer quantity of people that swarm here on a daily basis to catch a glimpse of Bella…’

Cassius’s eyes were suddenly pulled away from the sight of dozens of fawning men surrounding the focused beauty, instead falling on the dozen or so women huddled around the book aisle he was working on. They whispered and giggled among themselves, making sure to savor their quaint bookstore eye candy for the rest of the day.

“I had no clue such a cute boy was working here! We should definitely come back again!”

“Hehe~! If you think just looking at him is enough, wait until you hear that he gave me his phone number when he passionately locked eyes with me two blocks away!”

“You did what!? He actually gave you his number!? I’m so jealous!”

Envious stares.

“H-Hey, come on now! Don’t look at me like that! I really won’t give it to you!”

“Don’t be like that! Just hand it over, Vicky!”

As several women quietly tangled with each other in a game of grab and flee, Cassius finished up his aisle. Yet, when he went to work on organizing the next aisle, a dainty painted hand suddenly met his. He jerked back instinctively, with the same thing happening to the hand that touched his.

Yet, when he saw the owner of that delicate hand, his brows raised slightly. “Grace? What are you doing here?”

Upon seeing a face that had only become more handsome since she last saw it, Grace’s eyes lit up in effulgent joy.

She snatched his hand back to hers and beamed. “I never would have thought I’d be fortunate enough to meet you again so soon! And just as I was fidgeting while wondering if I should take out my phone and call you!”

However, when she realized how forward she was being, she reluctantly let go of his hand and recoiled a few steps. “I-I didn’t mean to do that… I-It’s just that I was excited to see you… I even came to this bookstore because you said you were an avid book reader…”

She murmured the last part, but Cassius could clearly hear it with his Perception stat.

He held his hand to his face and chortled a little, then laid a warm hand just between the imaginary bunny ears sticking up from her head. “I have been thinking about you as well, but I just wasn’t sure that you wanted to talk to me so soon after we last met up—”