By Zephyria 
My life is so unfortunate that I can’t correct misunderstandings even when they’re full of them.
I wasn’t really crying. It was from yawning. Even when I tell the truth, they don’t believe me, so there’s nothing I can do. Fatigue suddenly washed over me. Min Si-hu and I didn’t continue the conversation and returned to the room. What I had said about not feeling well was clearly a lie, but now it had become true. This body, like a sunfish.
My stretching and yawning in the kitchen seemed to have been for naught, as my body felt chilly. I didn’t feel well enough to be around a lot of people.
Fortunately, it didn’t take long for Lee Beom and Ban Pyo-ran to return with medicine, and once the others arrived, the situation was resolved with almost absurd speed. Perhaps sensing my condition worsening, the kids left not long after.
“I’m leaving.”
“Hae-jun, get plenty of rest. See you next time!”
“Bye……”
“Get well soon. Let’s hang out together next time.”
While everyone else said goodbye, Min Si-hu remained silent. Just before leaving, he rushed towards me and whispered before departing.
“Strawberry candy. If you need it…”
“……”
“Call Si-hu anytime. I’ll be waiting.”
The round eyes that had looked at me so fondly pulled away, and I immediately returned to my room and lay down. I could hear Seong Hae-min’s worried voice, but I waved my hand dismissively. I just wanted to rest.
Being alone felt like salvation.
Life… whatever happens, happens.
I soon fell asleep.
❖ ❖ ❖
The midterm exams began.
Although the curriculum was very different from when I took my college entrance exams, I had attended classes diligently and studied consistently, so I was confident I would get good grades. Of course, that didn’t mean I wasn’t nervous at all. Mistakes start in moments of complacency. So, I consciously tried to maintain a state of moderate tension.
My years of experience managing my GPA throughout high school wouldn’t go to waste!
“Ah, crap! I’m screwed!”
“Isn’t the difficulty of this exam insane?”
“Seriously. I solved maybe five problems, and the rest were all unknown.”
“My hagwon teacher’s gonna beat me.”
“Me too. I don’t want to go.”
The break after taking the unexpectedly difficult exam was chaotic. Groups of classmates were sharing their thoughts on the test. I quietly organized my notes for the next subject.
Thanks to my firm stance with the Four Heavenly Kings that they shouldn’t interfere with my studies during exams, the usual tormentors were nowhere to be found during breaks. This allowed me to prepare for the exams comfortably.
“Why aren’t the Four Heavenly Kings here?”
“Maybe it’s because Hae-jun is studying so hard.”
The classmates seemed a bit disappointed.
But that wasn’t the important thing. I had only one message for the class.
Hey guys, just study! The Four Heavenly Kings won’t feed you!
Although the difficulty was unexpected, as the students had been murmuring, there wasn’t a single problem I couldn’t solve.
Naturally. I was someone who had already been accepted into Seoul National University! During high school, I lived only for studying, aside from eating and going to the bathroom. If I couldn’t solve a problem, then there was definitely an issue with the exam’s difficulty.
And so, the exams proceeded as I had planned and aimed for. It meant I was fundamentally different from those who were busy playing.
Exams, studying, exams, studying. The three days of the exam period passed in a flash. Because I had been sleeping and waking up early for days to manage my condition, it felt even faster.
“Let’s hit the PC bang!”
“Hey, save my spot too!”
“Anyone wanna go to karaoke?”
The school after the exams was pure pandemonium. Everyone was either out having fun or recruiting people to go out. Some kids were even throwing their textbooks around, having barely finished their midterms. Of course, they got smacked on the back by a teacher and had to pick them up again.
Since I had planned to have a delicious lunch with Seong Hae-min to celebrate the end of the exams, we secretly slipped out of school together. It was good to ditch the rest of the Four Heavenly Kings. Perhaps because the Four Heavenly Kings weren’t all together, while some people recognized Seong Hae-min and murmured, no one rushed him. A life where I felt grateful for such small daily occurrences.
We went to eat pizza. We could have ordered delivery, but I missed this salad bar.
While waiting for our pizza order, I hummed a cheerful tune and filled my plate with various cold foods.
“How were the exams?”
“Hmm, I think they went well.”
“That’s great. I’m glad. It was worth all your hard work.”
“Yeah, I guess. How about you, Hae-min?”
“Me? I did alright.”
“That’s good enough. These aren’t the only exams, after all.”
I never thought I’d be discussing exams with Seong Hae-min. Just then, the pizza arrived, and I picked up a slice with a sense of relief. As I took a bite of the warm pizza, the cheese stretched out like a jump rope.
Peaceful. Happy. Good. I felt like I hadn’t experienced this feeling in a long time.
It was also thanks to Seong Hae-min. He was my family.
“Hae-min, since the exams are over, do you want to hang out this weekend?”
With the exams finished, I suggested we go out to make up for my recent neglect of Seong Hae-min.
I hadn’t thought of specific plans, but I thought it would be fun to play games together at a PC bang. Or maybe a trip to the outskirts by bus would be enjoyable. Movies, amusement parks, concerts – anything was fine.
Naturally, I hadn’t even considered the possibility of Seong Hae-min refusing.
“Ah… right.”
“Why?”
So, I was inwardly surprised when Seong Hae-min didn’t immediately agree.
“I just remembered the kids asked me to hang out. Hae-jun, you can come too.”
“The kids?”
“Yeah. The Four Heavenly Kings.”
“This weekend?”
“Yeah. Pyo-ran and Yi-dam are coming too.”
“Ah……”
“You don’t like it?”
Of course, I didn’t! But living in this novel had made acting contrary to my true feelings a specialty, so I shook my head.
“It’s not that. I just suddenly feel like resting. Haha.”
“You must be tired from studying for exams. Then Hae-jun, you should rest well at home.”
Wait. He’s going, then? In situations like this, can’t the Four Heavenly Kings just be disloyal?
“Hae-min, can’t you not go too?”
“Why? Is Hae-jun sick?”
“No, just… stay with me.”
“Then if Hae-jun is too tired to go out, should we invite the kids over to play?”
“Huh?”
This wasn’t what I intended!
“We can rent DVDs and board games…”
“No, no, no. No! Just go and have fun with them. Don’t worry about me. Uh.”
“Why, the kids would love it too.”
“No, no, no! I want to recuperate alone. Alone.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, yes. Of course.”
Why would I invite more trouble? I shook my head vehemently. Seong Hae-min, still eating pizza, had a gentle, angelic expression. What am I going to do with him?
It couldn’t be helped. I had to give in.
I decided to give up coolly. I’d have a chance to hang out with Seong Hae-min someday. This time, I’d just rent a DVD secretly and watch a movie alone at home. I finished my pizza.
❖ ❖ ❖
“Number 1, number 3.”
“What?”
“Isn’t it number 2?”
“You’re already wrong.”
“That’s something to brag about, you guys! Quiet, quiet! Number 2, number 4. Number 3, number 5…”
“Number 2 is number 3?”
“They said 4.”
“Teacher, please call them out a little slower-!”
“This won’t do, class president! You come out and call them instead.”
“Yes-.”
Amidst the restlessness and chaos, the results of the self-grading for each subject were as expected.
‘I didn’t get anything wrong.’
To be precise, it was impossible for me to get anything wrong. Studying was the only thing I was good at in my life. It was natural.
It felt refreshing. Even with all the ups and downs in the teen romance novel world, I was doing well. Even though I was struggling with science math, which I never expected to take…
However, this was only the first exam, and I couldn’t be satisfied with this. There were many more internal assessments to come. More importantly, just doing well on internal assessments wouldn’t be enough. Depending on the current college admission system, I had to prepare well for other exams, competitions, volunteer work, the CSAT, and interviews.
Yet, these students seemed to be living like mayflies. Just because the exam was over didn’t mean it was the end of their lives, but they were still busy letting loose. The students were so wild that even the teachers couldn’t bring themselves to start new lessons immediately after the exams.
“Teacher! Let’s watch a movie!”
“What movie? We’ve only had midterms! You are the first batch to experience the newly introduced internal grading system, so steel yourselves and do well. You are different from your seniors.”
“Woohoo~!”
“Alright, alright! Open your textbooks! We have the sports festival coming up soon, so we need to get ahead on the curriculum. If we don’t do it now, we’ll have to have make-up classes later!”
Amidst the classmates clamoring to watch movies or chat, I alone read my books whenever I had a moment. It seemed only I and the teacher were thinking about preparing for the upcoming exams and the future. This damn school.
But that wasn’t the end of it. I realized the next day that this school was truly a damn school, as the atmosphere was expected to calm down once the grades came out.
“Hey! The report cards are posted in front of the faculty room-!”
A ranking board!
I thought this was a symbol of barbarism!
‘Is it really that long ago?’
When I recall my high school days, I only received my scores and grades via a slip of paper. Even if they only posted the top 100, this was too much! In my time, this would have caused an uproar over student rights violations.
While finding it absurd and unbelievable, I followed the students rushing forward towards the faculty room.