Like a rat whose tail was on fire, Ariel ran towards the bedroom.
There was a laptop sitting over the table and a USB laid by its side. She didn't care for her messy hair or unbrushed teeth or the fact that she had been thrust into an entirely different world. She opened up the laptop and plugged in the USB. Sifting through the files, she checked the date in this world.
20th November.
She clicked on the file titled 20th.
"Alright..." The sheer quantity of the content made her heart drop. She was a medical student. This wasn't her field of expertise. But if something the frequent exams in medical college had taught her, that was squeezing out good quality results in impossibly small periods.
She started reading without wasting a breath.
She looked at the clock.
"System said twenty-four hours. If I do four pages in each hour, it's doable." She swiftly calculated and got to work.
The clock ticked in the background. She was unaware of how much time had passed, but a knock broke her out of her focus.
"Ms. Grey?"
"Yes, come in."
A girl walked in and paused in her steps, surprised to find Ariana in an untidy appearance. "Mr. David requested your presence in the common room."
"Mr David?" She frowned, and a look of confusion surfaced over her face. It was at that time in front of her eyes, like a virtual screen, a text of information appeared with an image of a face with light brown hair.
'David Steverson: Childhood friend and the right-hand man of the President. Everything that happens in the company passes through him. He has the president's utmost trust and respect. President Luiss owes his life to him. Relationship status with the host is in the negative.'
'That's not good,' Ariel thought to herself.
Of course, after listening to her new name 'Ariana Grey' and 'President Luiss, she had gotten to know that she had transmigrated into the same novel she had binge-read over the weekend. And into the same character at whose demise, she had expressed her vehement satisfaction.
A myriad of thoughts swirled in her head. But she pushed them all at the back of her head.
Of course, she wouldn't surrender herself to the fate of the body's original owner.
'Why' and 'How' were all lost to her. She was focused on what she needed to do at the moment, the task at hand, and performing well in the presentation demanded her immediate attention.
"Got it. Please inform David that I'm not feeling well and won't be attending the meeting."
"Ms. Grey..." The girl hesitated. Ariana and David's strained relationship wasn't hidden from anyone. They were like rivals. Both had the President's admiration and enjoyed almost equal status when it came to their importance in the corporation.
So if there were ever a dereliction of duty from any of them, the other wouldn't miss the opportunity to bite. And right now, missing the meeting would be such a thing.
"You have heard me. Convey my message." Ariel said sternly.
"As you wish, Ms. Grey. Get well soon." The girl gave a departing gesture of greeting.
Ariel didn't fail to notice a look of dislike flash across her face. Just as she left, her shoulders slumped back. She took a deep breath and broke into a sweat.
"What the fuck! This is so hard!" She remembered the Ariana character. She was a stern, arrogant woman whose each word and action oozed confidence. Everyone lowkey hated her because of her strict nature assuming she was too arrogant because of President's favour.
But who was Ariel? A soft-hearted, plump nerd who would scream if she saw a lizard.
But she couldn't behave like her real self in front of anyone.
As her gaze shifted back to the sheer quantity of content she had to memorize, she felt herself on the verge of tears. "This won't do... I have no background knowledge. With cramming I can present but I can't present admirably."
Just as she stumbled across this impossible situation, she heard a 'Ting'.
'Side Task: Staying in original body character.
Task executed to perfection. 100%
Reward: Professional level knowledge of business and Accounting.'
"What?" Before Ariel could make sense of it, a stream of knowledge entered her brain. She grabbed her head. Her eyes rolled back and she fainted on the couch.