Eve woke up with the kind of terror that only broke students and doomed job-hunters could understand.
The sunlight was already too bright.
Her phone was too quiet.
And her brain was screaming one thing.
"I'm late."
"No, no, no, no!" she yelped, scrambling out of bed like the mattress had turned into lava. She shoved one foot into a sandal, missed, tried again, and nearly faceplanted. Her hair looked like it had survived a typhoon. Her shirt was inside-out. She didn't even have time to care.
Breakfast? Luxury.
She grabbed the nearest thing in her tiny apartment, a can of orange juice, and gulped it down like it was a life-saving potion.
Then she burst out the door.
And immediately slammed straight into Ms. Carmen from next door.
"Aaah!" Ms. Carmen nearly dropped her basket. "Girl! Are you trying to murder me? These eggs cost money!"
Eve froze for half a second, eyes wide. "Sorry! Ms. Carmen! I swear I didn't mean it!"
Ms. Carmen squinted at her. "Why are you running like you're escaping the police?"
"Because I'm about to die!" Eve cried. "I have a seminar today!"
Ms. Carmen's lips tightened. "Did your alarm not ring?"
Eve swallowed. "I… forgot to set it."
Ms. Carmen stared at her like she'd just confessed to eating soup with a fork.
"You're hopeless," Ms. Carmen said bitterly. "One day someone will trick you and you won't even realize."
Eve bowed quickly, already backing away. "Yes, yes, you're right! Please scold me later! I'll come back alive first!"
She turned and sprinted down the corridor, leaving Ms. Carmen behind.
Ms. Carmen sighed and watched her disappear. "This child… she can't even take care of herself."
*
By the time Eve reached the university gate, she looked like she had run from one end of the world to the other.
She clutched her chest, bent over, and wheezed like an old engine. "Hah… hah… I made it… I actually made it…"
Her fingers trembled as she checked the time.
Five minutes.
Only five minutes before the seminar started.
Her soul left her body, returned, then left again. "Five minutes?!" she whispered, horrified. "Is my life a tragedy novel?!"
She dashed forward again, holding her presentation file like it were the last treasure of her bloodline.
Today wasn't just any seminar.
It was the seminar.
The one that could decide whether she'd finally land a good internship, whether she'd stop living on instant noodles, and whether her sleepless nights would mean something.
She had stayed up until dawn last night, rewriting her thesis slides, fixing her citations, checking page numbers.
And now, she was about to lose everything because she couldn't remember to set an alarm.
Eve tightened her grip and ran even faster.
That was when she crashed into someone.
Hard.
Her file flew from her hands.
The papers exploded into the air, scattering like white birds escaping a cage.
For a second, everything went silent.
Eve stared at the raining sheets in slow motion.
One hundred pages.
Two hundred pages.
Her life's work drifted down onto the dirty floor.
Her knees buckled.
"I'm finished," she whispered.
She dropped down, frozen, watching her future scatter into chaos.
Around her, students slowed down, some giggling, some pointing.
"Look at her again."
"She's always like that."
"Isn't she the one presenting first?"
"She's done for."
Their laughter wasn't loud, but it was sharp.
It stabbed straight through her pride.
Eve's eyes burned. Her throat tightened.
She wanted to scream at them to help, but her voice wouldn't come out.
Instead, she forced herself to move.
"Get up," she muttered, slapping her own cheeks. "Get up, Eve. Cry later."
She scrambled to pick up the pages, but it was hopeless.
They were everywhere.
Some upside down.
Some mixed together.
Some stepped on.
The numbers blurred before her eyes.
The more she grabbed, the more she panicked.
And the more she panicked, the clumsier her hands became.
Her breathing turned uneven.
Her heart thudded painfully.
My job… my presentation…
She was about to break.
Then someone reached down.
A hand, pale and steady, took the papers from her trembling fingers.
Eve jerked her head up, instantly furious. "Hey! Those are mine! Don't—"
Her words died in her throat.
Because the person in front of her wasn't a student.
He was tall, dressed in dark clothes that looked too expensive to belong on a campus, with an aura so cold it made the air feel thinner.
And his face…
It was unreal.
Not "handsome" in the way boys tried to be.
Not "cute" in the way celebrities looked on posters.
This was the kind of face that looked carved rather than born.
Sharp eyes. Perfect features. Calm expression.
Like he didn't belong in the noisy human world.
Eve forgot how to breathe.
Who… is this?
Her heart began to slam against her ribs.
Badump. Badump. Badump.
The man lowered himself onto one knee, expression blank, and gathered the scattered sheets without a single trace of panic.
He didn't rush.
He didn't frown.
He didn't even look annoyed.
He simply picked up the papers as if he had done it a thousand times.
Then he glanced at the pages.
Just once.
And something unbelievable happened.
His fingers moved.
Fast.
Effortless.
Like a magician shuffling cards.
Page after page slid into place, perfectly aligned, perfectly ordered, like the chaos had never existed.
Eve stared with her mouth slightly open, stunned into silence.
In less than a minute, the scattered disaster became a neat stack.
Not a single page missing.
Not a single sheet out of order.
The man stood up smoothly and held the file out to her.
Eve accepted it with shaking hands.
Her eyes widened as she flipped through it.
The pages were perfectly arranged.
Even the numbering was correct.
Every section.
Every appendix.
Every chart.
Her throat trembled.
"This…" she whispered. "This is… impossible."
She looked up at him, eyes sparkling like she'd just witnessed a divine miracle.
"How did you do that?! Teach me! Please teach me!"
The man didn't answer.
He only stared at her with eyes so deep and unreadable that Eve felt like she was being examined.
Judged.
Measured.
Her happiness didn't fade, though. She grabbed his hands and shook them hard.
"Thank you! Thank you so much! You saved me! You saved my whole life!"
Still, no response.
Eve blinked.
Then she suddenly realized something.
He hadn't spoken a single word.
Not even a sigh.
Her expression softened, and pity flashed across her face. "Oh."
She slowly patted his shoulder like she was comforting a wounded puppy.
"It's okay," she said gently. "Even if you can't speak, it's fine. The heavens are fair. They gave you a face so handsome it's illegal."
The man's expression didn't change.
But the air around him seemed to grow… stranger.
He kept staring at her as if she had just said something ridiculous.
Eve, completely unaware of the danger she was in, bowed deeply.
"I really have to go now! But if we ever meet again, I'll treat you to a meal! Or if you need anything, anything at all, just ask me!"
Then she turned and sprinted away.
Her figure vanished into the crowd, chasing her seminar, chasing her future, chasing her survival.
Behind her, the man remained still.
He had stood in countless blood-soaked rooms.
He had watched men beg and die without blinking.
He had never once cared enough to look back.
But now…
For the first time in his life…
He turned his head and watched her run.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
As if he had just found something unexpectedly interesting.
Something troublesome.
Something worth remembering.
And somewhere in the city, far beyond the innocent walls of the university…
The underworld's king quietly smiled for the first time in years.
Chapter 2 – The Mafia Overlord Is Not Mute At All
The moment Eve slipped into the seminar hall, Clarissa's hand shot up like a flare.
"Eve! Over here! Gosh, you're alive!"
Eve stumbled into the seat beside her, chest rising and falling like she'd just outrun fate itself. Her hair was messy, her cheeks were red, and her orange juice can was still in her hand like a tragic trophy.
Clarissa smacked her head without mercy. "Seriously. You always arrive like you're escaping a disaster."
But Eve didn't even react.
She was staring into space with the dreamy expression of a girl who had lost her brain somewhere outside the university gate.
Her eyes glittered.
Her lips curved.
She looked… possessed.
Clarissa narrowed her eyes. "Hello? Earth to Eve?"
Eve blinked slowly. "Aaah… Yes..."
"I'm talking to you, dummy."
Eve inhaled like she was about to announce a life-changing secret. "I think… I'm in love."
Clarissa froze. "What?"
Eve pressed a hand against her chest as if her heart had turned into a wild animal. "I can still hear it. My heartbeat. It's so loud."
Clarissa stared at her for three seconds. Then she reached over and pinched her cheeks hard.
"OW! OW! Clarissa! Are you insane?!"
"It should hurt," Clarissa hissed. "You're about to present your thesis in front of executives, and you're talking about love?"
Eve grabbed her own cheeks, eyes watering. "But you don't understand! I met a man!"
Clarissa's face went stiff. "A man?"
"A godly handsome guy!" Eve whispered dramatically. "He saved my thesis. He saved my future. The moment I saw him, it was like… like my soul got kidnapped."
Clarissa slowly leaned back as if Eve had turned into a dangerous creature.
"Who are you?" she asked, voice trembling. "Who took over my friend's body?"
"It's still me," Eve insisted. "Eve. I swear."
Clarissa looked like she wanted to cry. "You're doomed."
Before Eve could defend her honor, the door opened.
The professor walked in.
Instantly, the hall fell silent.
His sharp eyes swept across the students like a knife. The kind of gaze that could turn even confident people into obedient statues.
Eve swallowed.
Clarissa whispered, "You can tell me your romance story later. Just don't embarrass me today."
Eve nodded seriously. "I won't."
Then she added, very softly, "That man saved my job. I can't waste his miracle."
Clarissa's mouth twitched. "You're really gone."