Chapter 34
When I came to my senses, I found myself lying in Seo Jin-hyung’s arms.
‘Damn it…’
I just wanted to sleep a little; I never intended to cuddle like this.
“Hurry and sleep, we only have thirty minutes.”
Before I could protest, Seo Jin-hyung wrapped his arms around my waist from behind and started patting my stomach with his palm.
Startled, I struggled wildly.
“Are you… crazy?! Take your hands off!!”
My heart pounded uncomfortably at the strange sensation.
Even my mom doesn’t do this to me!
“Why? I’m just letting you sleep.”
“If I say don’t, then don’t!”
I tried with all my strength to pull away, holding onto his hard arms, but unlike earlier when he’d dragged me to the bed, he wasn’t going to let go so easily.
“I’ll stop once you fall asleep.”
…Then what’s the point of that?
After wrestling with Seo Jin-hyung’s left arm for what felt like forever, I finally gave up from exhaustion.
I’d lost again. Not surprising at all.
“Damn… aren’t you tired? Seriously.”
“It’s no different than usual, so why would I be?”
“What? You study like this every day? Even when it’s not exam season?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?!”
“There’s nothing else to do.”
My jaw dropped.
Nothing else to do, yet studying more than twelve hours a day? Every single day like this? Crazy!
Of course, I knew he studied hard, but I didn’t realize it was nonstop like this.
‘Wow… no wonder he might go down a bad path.’
Even I, if I studied all day like this, would probably feel like killing someone eventually.
While I was internally horrified, a good idea for a little “treatment” popped into my head.
“Let’s go hang out after the exams. There’s nothing else to do.”
“Are you going to hang out with me?”
“Yeah, you poor thing.”
Seo Jin-hyung let out a small laugh.
I sometimes wondered—what exactly does his laugh mean?
Exam day.
I arrived at school earlier than usual.
Since we had exams, I sat far from Yeon Jae-hyun today.
But because my goal was to get closer to the protagonist, I couldn’t resist lingering nearby.
“Hey, good luck on the exam.”
“Mm… you too, Se-yeon.”
Then I handed him a note I had prepared at home.
[Seong Tae-woo said to send the photo. Afterward, go to the music room.]
Jae-hyun read it and nodded.
As I was about to return to my seat, someone called from the back door of the classroom.
“Is Kim Se-yeon here?! Hey! Kim Se-yeon!!”
A loud, piercing voice that seemed to ignore everyone’s stares.
Frowning, I approached, and there stood Ra Yura.
“What?”
“Here.”
Ra Yura held out a familiar hoodie zip-up.
‘Oh, right…’
I had completely forgotten. It looked like she had just finished washing it. I took the clothes reluctantly.
“Took two weeks to wash this? Don’t you have a washing machine at home?”
“Shut up! I was about to throw it away but I did it for you!”
She yelled sharply and quickly left. She didn’t even think of waiting for me to respond.
“Some people…”
I muttered under my breath as I watched her walk away. Then, a familiar voice called me again.
“Hey, Kim Se-yeon!”
I turned to the other side and saw Jeong Su-min and Myeong Ah-jin climbing the stairs together.
Myeong Ah-jin ran over as soon as she saw me.
“Huff… Se-yeon! Huff… da! Huff…!”
“Don’t run if you’re tired.”
“Nice to see you, haa… what do I do!”
Behind panting Ah-jin, Su-min walked up calmly.
“Ding-ah, your stamina is insane. We need to make you exercise.”
I agreed. Making a fuss just climbing the fifth floor like they’d conquered Everest.
“Huh… wait? Se-yeon, is that your hoodie!”
Ah-jin’s eyes widened as she noticed the hoodie hanging over my arms.
“Looks like you got it back? That’s a relief!”
“Ah, yeah. Ra Yura just gave it to me.”
Su-min, who had been quietly listening, asked,
“What’s that about?”
“When she spilled the chocolate milk on me that one time, Se-yeon’s clothes got dirty, so Seol-ah asked Ra Yura to wash them and return them.”
Ah-jin happily jumped up and down.
Had she forgotten about being tired just moments ago?
‘I wonder if having good stamina is a blessing or a curse…’
Unlike excited Ah-jin, Su-min’s expression hardened.
“And now she’s returning it? That happened almost two weeks ago.”
“It’s fine. At least it’s returned. Both of you, come in already.”
Right now, getting a few extra letters in before the exam was more important than Ra Yura. I shrugged it off, put on the hoodie, and returned to my seat.
Hwa-hyeon High School, 1st Year, Class 5, Nam Young-seok.
He was a diligent student.
He always spent at least three hours daily on review and preparation, and never skipped school or academy classes.
So even when it was decided he’d go to Hwa-hyeon High, where maintaining grades was tough, he felt confident.
But on the first day of exams, after submitting his last answer sheet…
‘Ah, I’m doomed. Can I transfer?’
He was in despair.
Heard that middle school and high school levels are worlds apart? That was true.
Young-seok tore at his hair in frustration.
He couldn’t solve five questions at the end and had to guess the answers… How could this happen on the first day!
As he stared regretfully at the unsolved questions, he heard a soft murmur from the front.
“Wow, Seo Jin-hyung is f***ed…”
A short sentence mixed with raw curse words.
Looking up, a girl from his class he had barely spoken to was glancing at her exam paper with a similar tone.
‘Did Kim Se-yeon mess up too?’
But the words seemed unrelated to the exam, so he tilted his head in confusion.
Seo Jin-hyung.
A regional-level “perfect son” so famous that even someone as socially unaware as him knew.
A monster intellect who had ranked first nationally in mock exams, someone Young-seok had secretly admired as a role model. Seeing him in person, his face alone was strikingly handsome, perhaps more impressive than his intellect.
‘And he’s super rich…’
Life felt unfair.
But why did Se-yeon say he was “f***ed”?
Using his brain that scored 97% N on the MBTI test, Young-seok speculated.
‘Do they not get along?’
Jin-hyung’s father and Se-yeon’s mother had a… certain relationship, so it was well-known that they lived under the same roof.
Given Se-yeon’s bold personality, it seemed likely their relationship wasn’t that great.
‘Se-yeon probably acts super sassy toward a new family member.’
Was she cursing him out of annoyance?
Young-seok continued his train of impolite thoughts internally.
‘Hmm. But would Se-yeon really do that in front of Jin-hyung?’
There seemed no reason for her to curse a man who was the human embodiment of perfection.
‘No way… admission scandal?!’
His imagination ran wild, like a soap opera.
‘It could happen! Jin-hyung’s dad is the CEO of a huge company and donates tons to this school. Leaking exam questions is common! It even happens in dramas…!’
Alone in the passenger seat, Young-seok’s mind spiraled into the wrong scenario.
‘Right! Jin-hyung must have told Se-yeon the exam questions in advance, and she, without realizing it, just exclaimed in admiration!’
Perfect. In his head, Young-seok had created an entire entrance exam drama and trembled with excitement.
Meanwhile, Se-yeon was thinking:
‘Wow, Seo Jin-hyung teaches so well. He’s good at everything. I want to kill him.’
Just then, Ah-jin called Se-yeon from the doorway.
“Se-yeon! Come here for a second!”
“Yeah.”
Scritch.
“!”
Unaware of the mundane truth, Young-seok shivered as Se-yeon got up.
At that moment, thud.
Something fell from Se-yeon’s hoodie pocket.
Instead of Se-yeon noticing, Young-seok quickly picked up the piece of paper from the floor.
“Kim Se-yeon! You dr-dropped… it…”
Click.
As he tried to hand it over, he froze.
The moment he saw the densely written small letters on the paper, his whole body began to tremble.
“C-c-c-c-cheat sheet?!!”
