Chapter 5: When the Truth Turned on Her

"No way… that's impossible! The system must have glitched or something!"

On the results page, my status clearly showed "Pass".

"No, this can't be! This isn't right! Dakota couldn't possibly have passed!" Holly's eyes widened, disbelief written all over her face.

She refreshed the page over and over again, but the result didn't change.

After having my fill watching her completely fall apart, I curled my lips into a faint smirk as I drawled, "Holly, what's with all the doubts? I earned my score fair and square."

The room instantly erupted into whispers.

"Dakota actually passed?"

"But Holly was so confident she'd beat her."

"Maybe the results were entered incorrectly?"

Holly's face became even paler.

"There has to be a mistake!" she insisted. "Dakota barely studied this month. Everyone saw her wasting her time!"

Our mentor frowned. "The results are generated by the certification system. We should not accuse anyone without evidence."

"But Professor…"

Holly suddenly stopped.

She had realized that arguing too much would only make her look suspicious.

Instead, she forced herself to calm down and gave me a wounded look.

"Dakota, I'm just surprised. I thought you weren't prepared."

I smiled. "So did I."

She stared at me, unable to understand what had happened.

That was exactly what I wanted.

In my previous life, I had been the one staring at that screen in disbelief while Holly stood beside me, pretending to comfort me.

This time, our positions had been reversed.

But the real show had not even begun.

Our mentor opened the detailed score report and began checking the individual sections.

His expression slowly changed.

"That's strange."

Everyone immediately fell silent.

"What's wrong, Professor?" someone asked.

He pointed at the report.

"Dakota's answers match the official answer key almost perfectly. Her written section is especially strong."

Holly's fingers curled tightly around the edge of her sleeve.

I watched her carefully.

She was trying to hide her panic.

Then she suddenly stepped forward.

"Professor, could we check my results too?"

The report for Holly appeared on the screen.

For a moment, she looked relieved.

Then her expression froze.

Her score was nowhere near what she expected.

She had passed, but her marks were ordinary.

The girl who had spent the entire month bragging about her natural talent had failed to come anywhere close to the top.

Her followers went quiet.

"This… this can't be right," Holly whispered.

I tilted my head. "What's wrong? Didn't you say talent was enough?"

Her eyes flashed with anger.

"You did something!"

The accusation came so suddenly that the entire room went silent.

Holly pointed at me with a trembling finger.

"You must have gotten access to the answer key! That's the only explanation!"

I almost laughed.

She was already trying to recreate the story from my previous life.

Back then, she had accused me of cheating after stealing everything I had learned.

This time, she had no stolen knowledge to hide behind.

I calmly looked at our mentor.

"Professor, if she believes there was misconduct, we can request a formal review."

My answer made Holly hesitate.

She clearly hadn't expected me to agree so easily.

"Yes," I continued. "Let's review everything. My exam paper, the system records, and the answer history."

Holly's expression changed.

For the first time, genuine fear appeared in her eyes.

Because she knew there was something the review might uncover.

Something neither she nor I had mentioned.

The Achievement Transfer System.

And this time, I wasn't going to let it remain hidden.

I looked straight at Holly and smiled.

"After all, Holly, if everything is clean, you have nothing to worry about."