My High School Nerd Rival - Chapter 57

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 57
The upload notification Ivy had provided became the key to resolving the case. Not a plausible theory that Tiffany’s file “existed”—but concrete evidence.
Whitmore reluctantly narrowed down the timeline based on that record.
Not the download list, but the upload log.
There, on Saturday night, in a screen cut down to the minute, Tiffany Vance’s name appeared.
The air in the Staff Office shifted.
The definitive evidence came from Tiffany’s laptop.
When they recovered a residual application form file that hadn’t been completely erased, they found something inside it that wasn’t an “application form” at all.
A device that triggered a re-login prompt the moment the file was opened, exploiting that instant.
Tiffany protested her innocence to the very end.
She’d only uploaded what she was told to upload. She didn’t know what that file was. How could she possibly perform hacking?
Against the evidence, such words held no power.
The conclusion was unmistakable.
Everything had begun as a trap set through Tiffany’s account.
But there was one thing—a single puzzle piece missing.
Whether the person who actually attempted to access the Teacher Cloud was really Tiffany.
At the moment Ivy opened the file and entered the account credentials, Tiffany was filming with other students.
Moreover, the remaining records showed that the access attempt had come from outside the school.
Combined with Tiffany’s testimony, it meant that someone from outside had exploited Tiffany to reach toward the Teacher Cloud.
Among the students who heard this explanation, hardly any believed it.
What idle person would bother to access Royal High School’s Teacher Cloud—and for something as trivial as exam papers, no less?
And while going to the trouble of managing the notoriously difficult Tiffany Vance’s moods.
Most students chose a different story instead.
That Tiffany, loathing Ivy with an intensity that was almost nauseating, had dragged in her followers to orchestrate the whole incident.
It sounded far more plausible.
The next day, in the dormitory hall.
The three members of Angel surrounded Tiffany as she returned from questioning.
“Tiffany, for God’s sake. You really went that far—committing crimes now?”
“We thought we’d get dragged into it because of you. Ugh, it’s disgusting.”
Tiffany’s face hardened. These were the same girls who, just yesterday morning, had been smiling and hanging on her every word.
“What are you doing right now?”
“What do you think? Telling an insane person to come to their senses.”
“How could you even think of stealing exam papers? It doesn’t make sense.”
“I didn’t do anything, I’m telling you!”
When Tiffany protested her innocence, the Angel members only seemed more delighted.
“Look at that. The ‘I’m so innocent’ expression.”
“You’ve really improved your acting, Tiffany.”
Tiffany drew a sharp breath toward the loudest of the three.
“…Mia.”
“What? You knew my name?”
“I’m a little grateful for that. Though it won’t change anything.”
“You guys really…!”
Tiffany opened her mouth to argue back. But before she could, something heavy flew at her.
Thunk.
A bag. The solid leather struck Tiffany’s shoulder squarely and fell to the floor. Metal ornaments chimed.
“Ah…!”
Tiffany lost her balance and collapsed.
“You thought we wouldn’t notice how you mixed the real with the fake?”
“The ugly ones were real, the pretty ones were fake, right? It’s ridiculous.”
“Who’s fake!”
Tiffany cried out. Her voice cracked.
“Who…!”
Then one of the other Angel members raised her mobile phone. The lens was fixed at a downward angle toward Tiffany.
“Wow, this is crazy. Look at that expression.”
Tiffany lifted her gaze.
The sight of them giggling as they peered at the phone screen was…
Perhaps exactly what Tiffany herself had been in the past hour.
“…Stop.”
She barely managed to ask, but Tiffany knew better than anyone that such a plea would never land. Those words always rolled downhill toward ridicule.
That was when it happened.
“Stop.”
A low, steady voice cut through. It was Ivy Underwood.
Mia pouted her lip.
“Why? It’s fun.”
Ivy’s eyes narrowed.
“Is it? Then keep filming. You’ll be investigated right alongside Tiffany later.”
Their laughter finally stopped.
The hand holding the mobile phone wavered, then slowly dropped.
Ivy grasped Tiffany’s wrist and pulled her up from the floor. Tiffany rose weakly in her wake.
Ivy didn’t release her arm as she turned toward the interior of the dormitory.
“Come on.”
In the grip of her hand, Tiffany’s arm trembled faintly.
Ivy led Tiffany to a quiet corner of the hallway before finally letting go.
Standing face to face, neither spoke for a long moment. Tiffany couldn’t lift her head.
Ivy thought it wasn’t so much genuine remorse as it was the weight of her situation finally sinking in.
<Underwood, if you wish, you can formally pursue this matter.>
Tiffany had uploaded the problematic file, and because of it, Ivy had suffered emotional trauma and had her reputation damaged.
Apart from the school’s disciplinary action, Ivy had more than enough reason to file a formal complaint against Tiffany.
“I’m not going to pursue it.”
Tiffany’s shoulders trembled slightly.
“Don’t misunderstand. I haven’t forgiven you.”
It was simply that Ivy’s position wasn’t suitable for formally prosecuting someone.
Though that wasn’t the only reason.
“…Why.”
Tiffany finally lifted her head. Her eyes were red and swollen with tears.
“Because I believe your story.”
Ivy pulled a mass of tissue from her bag and thrust it at her brusquely.
“That someone approached you and told you to upload the file.”
Tiffany’s pupils trembled.
It was probably a story no one had believed. But now that Ivy answered so readily, she must have been shocked.
“Y-yes! Besides, how could I possibly create a file like that?”
“Exactly.”
Ivy lowered her voice and stepped a little closer.
“Now tell me everything.”
* * *
When Ivy opened the door to the Gymnasium Broadcast Room, the first thing that came into view was Cyrus.
He was already looking her way. His face wore an expression far too stern to be called welcoming.
“If you keep coming and going like this, I’m charging admission.”
He expressed his displeasure at having his private space disturbed without reservation.
“Go ahead.”
Ivy countered calmly, extending a sheet of paper. It was the experimental chemistry grade sheet for this semester.
The scores assigned to the three exams and reports taken together were neatly organized in order.
“I came to give you this. Check it over and sign below. You’ll be the one taking it to Mr. Chen.”
Cyrus glanced through the paper, then signed his name beside Ivy’s.
“I just need to take it to Mr. Chen, right?”
“Yes.”
He picked up a worn bag he’d tossed carelessly beneath the desk and stood. The old chair creaked softly.
“Quinton.”
When Cyrus grasped the door handle, Ivy called him back to a stop.
The grade sheet had really just been an excuse. The real question was something else entirely.
“Why.”
Cyrus turned only his head to ask.
“Whatever happened to the student you framed in middle school?”
He probably hadn’t stolen the exam papers. There was no evidence whatsoever, but Ivy had always believed that.
Even when Cyrus said it was he who had done it.
“Who knows.”
He paused for a moment.
The hand gripping the door handle visibly loosened. Probably to answer.
But then that hand tightened again.
“Underwood?”
Instead of answering, he held up a finger.
‘Wait.’ That single gesture alone closed Ivy’s mouth.
Now she heard it.
A sound drifting through the partially open door.
Someone was climbing the stairs.
Footsteps on rubber flooring drew steadily closer, one step, then another.
If they were discovered, it was over.
Simply being in the Gymnasium Broadcast Room without permission was already problematic.
But being caught meeting like this, avoiding other people’s eyes, would become fuel for yet another rumor.
The Anonymous Bulletin Board would burn all night long.
Cyrus’s reflexes were sharp.
Coming around in front of Ivy, he seized her wrist and pulled her under the desk where broadcast equipment crowded the surface.
It was cramped.
Her back collided with Cyrus’s chest. Ivy quickly drew her knees to her chest and curled her body forward, but in such a narrow space beneath the desk, there was no way to create distance from him. His breath was felt immediately behind her.
His hand pressed her down a little more firmly.
Stay still.
Ivy answered with a nod.
Soon the broadcast room door swung open.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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