Chapter 24: The Counselor
An Han had already gone through three counselors.
On average, one per school year.
The one standing in front of him now was the newest, recently assigned at the start of their third year. He was young, probably just over thirty. Since the semester had started less than a month ago, An Han had only seen him from afar and hadn’t really talked to him yet.
Who could’ve guessed their first real meeting would be this awkward?
He hadn’t even finished putting on his jacket yet, and though his chest wasn’t big, the slight curves were still obvious on his usually flat body.
Instinctively, he hunched his shoulders and quickly pulled the jacket on. His face was burning red, but he still tried his best to act calm.
“Weren’t you supposed to be sick?” the counselor asked, looking him up and down.
The clean white short-sleeved shirt and his pale, fair skin made the boy in front of him look gentle and delicate. The counselor never expected one of his male students to look so refined and almost pretty.
The moment he saw An Han, he felt a strange fondness, and his suspicious tone softened into a normal question.
“Yeah, I was just about to come find you to ask for leave.”
“Long Xing said you were too sick to get out of bed. Said you had a fever over forty degrees.”
“......”
An Han’s face turned green, though he finally managed to get his jacket on, at least now he didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing his chest.
Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!
Long Xing actually said he had a forty-degree fever! How was he supposed to explain that now?
In the past, he would’ve completely panicked and lost control. But after everything the system had put him through, he’d learned to stay calm and think fast.
He decided to keep pretending to be sick.
So he acted like he didn’t notice the counselor’s doubt and continued to speak weakly, even forcing a tired smile. “Counselor, I really am sick. It’s not as bad as Classmate Long said, but I definitely can’t go to class today.”
The counselor still didn’t look convinced.
Inside, An Han grumbled, why did the system give him advanced singing skills instead of acting skills when it did that skill lottery?
“Come in and sit,” the counselor said, turning around and switching the air conditioner back on.
He walked into the dorm without hesitation, glancing around as he spoke. “If you’re fine, you should get back to class.”
The dorm looked just like any other boys’ dorm. Trash on the floor, random stuff everywhere, clothes tossed around. The desks, at least, were fairly neat. The air, however, carried a faint scent.
At first, the counselor thought it was foot odor. But when he sniffed again, it was actually… a light milky scent.
That was strange. In a boy’s dorm, you might expect lemon or floral air fresheners at most, but milk fragrance? That was unheard of.
“I really am sick,” An Han said as he poured himself a glass of water and sat down. He turned to the counselor with a helpless smile. “Fever and diarrhea.”
His throat was so dry that he swallowed hard and quickly took a couple of sips.
The counselor shifted his gaze back to An Han’s face. His cheeks were indeed flushed, a clear sign of fever.
But remembering how he’d just kicked open the door full of energy a moment ago… that didn’t really match the image.
“Your name is An Han, right?”
“Yeah.”
An Han sat up straight, his back perfectly upright, both hands resting on his thighs, looking like a well-behaved, honest student.
Now that he thought about it… what was this counselor’s name again?
Maybe noticing his confusion, the counselor sat down at Wang Sheng’s desk and introduced himself.
“It’s our first time meeting, right? My name is Ren Chi.”
“Mm.”
Ren Chi casually picked up the cup on the desk. An Han suddenly realized that was the cup he had just drunk from. He was about to say something, but before he could, Ren Chi had already finished the water in one gulp.
“Why’s there so little water in this?”
“......”
“I brought a thermometer. Let’s see how high your fever is.”
“Uh…”
You’re being way too thoughtful, aren’t you?
He could fake being sick on the outside, but how was he supposed to fake body temperature?
An Han hadn’t expected that asking for a leave would be this troublesome. His last two counselors only asked a few questions and gave him the leave right away. None of them were this difficult and certainly wouldn’t come all the way to the dorm.
Maybe Long Xing’s claim about his “over 40°C fever” had scared Ren Chi. After all, that level of fever could be life-threatening.
His eyelids twitched as he took the thermometer, tucked it tightly under his armpit, and even moved his arm back and forth slightly, trying to raise the temperature through friction.
“Where else do you feel unwell?”
“Just diarrhea… and chills all over.”
At times like this, shouldn’t the system show up to help him out?
Give me some mission choices, then I can see which one is easy and which one is hard, and figure out what to do next!
An Han lowered his head, afraid his lie would be exposed. But when he finally pulled out the thermometer, there was no way to keep pretending.
“I took medicine earlier,” he said quickly, trying to change the topic.
“Oh,” Ren Chi nodded. “You can take it out now.”
An Han pressed his lips together, pulled out the thermometer, and nervously lifted it to the light to check.
Just a bit over thirty-six degrees.
Not even close to having a fever.
“How high is it?”
What should he do now?
[Option 1: Keep pretending to be sick and convince Ren Chi.
Reward: Stock market trends for the next ten days]
[Option 2: Play cute and muddle through.
Reward: Cute body posture trait]
[Option 3: Fail the course.
Reward: Random attribute point]
This time the task description was so short that it made An Han grit his teeth in anger.
He’d be in his senior year next year and had to start his internship. if he failed this course, he’d have to stay at school for make-up exams or even retake it. What a hassle.
Sure, failing was the easiest choice, but An Han refused to give up.
After all, this whole skipping-class problem was the system’s fault! If his body attributes were normal, he wouldn’t have been too scared to attend class in the first place.
“Um… Brother Ren~”
He looked up, blinking his big eyes cutely. “How about we just drop it, okay?”
After all, the punishment for failing the mission was failing the class anyway, might as well give it one more try.
An Han chose to ‘play cute and muddle through.’
“Your eyes hurt?”
“They’re just a bit dry…” An Han said nervously as he handed over the thermometer.
Ren Chi couldn’t help but find it funny. He hadn’t been a counselor for long, and already he’d run into such a strange student.
He looked at the thermometer’s result, then turned silently to An Han, waiting for his excuse.
“I took medicine earlier, so maybe it brought the fever down?”
“But my stomach still hurts.” An Han quickly held his belly and staggered toward the balcony. “Ow~ it’s starting again~ must be because I didn’t cover myself last night!”
“Get your butt to class!” Ren Chi kicked him lightly. “I’ll excuse you for the first class, but you must go to the second one!”
“Got it!”