19. 17, the Age of Peak Cuteness
'No way, did the whole class eat something bad today? They were always glued to their phones until morning assembly.'
Or maybe it was some kind of group vibe? Plenty of them had been chattering away just yesterday, so it didn't make sense for the mood to flip overnight. All that remained were the occasional scratches of pens on paper and the rustle of turning pages.
I dazedly set my bag on my desk and sidled up to Jisu, whispering,
"Jisu... you stayed up playing with me until dawn last night. And everyone else was talking up a storm yesterday too."
I thought I'd kept it quiet, but it must've carried—Jisu, locked in battle with math up front, silently pressed a finger to her lips.
"Shh. You really forgot midterms start next Monday? Even the cram school kids pull all-nighters and keep going in the morning."
"No... but... you were playing too..."
Honestly, I had nothing to say. Sure, I wasn't playing—I was composing—but Jisu basically self-studied at home anyway.
Excluding me and her, the others cramming like mad were just extending their evening study sessions. Wait, thinking about it, didn't Jisu not even need to study? She could probably coast through life without working.
And did I even need college? With the guy's memories, I had everything up to university level locked in—did I really need to bother? Once the 'HALU' channel blows up, I'd make bank there anyway. Why grind studies?
A million thoughts swirled, but in Korea, studying was non-negotiable. Thanks to the guy's memories, especially history—I was confident in acing that. Modern songs aside, historical facts matched perfectly across worlds, so memorizing dates was a total sweep. History was one of the easiest subjects on the CSAT for that reason.
"Aah... so boring I could die."
I boldly flipped open the math textbook. Jisu shot me a look like, Has she finally lost it? But that's why clueless mortals can't hang.
Textbook open, I struck a cool pose and tackled the problems—they were easy. Even application questions built on theory followed the same framework, fueling my confidence.
Average human IQ is 100. With the guy's IQ 100 fused to Lee Haru's 100, that's a combined 200. Perfect scores incoming.
'Time to compensate.'
Twenty minutes left till assembly. Felt bad interrupting the mortals without their 200 IQ edge, so I slipped out of the classroom.
And hey, high school life—there was something I'd always wanted to try. Anime protagonists chilling on the rooftop looked so romantic. Especially with cherry blossoms blooming; the view had to be stunning. Just like those scenes: breeze on the roof, sipping water...
Clank clank.
"What? Why won't it open?"
Roof scene failed. Next up: classic anime school snack bar run...
'Oh right, no snack bar here.'
Ten minutes to assembly, I trudged back to my seat. Prime slacking spot at the back—I fired up the Vocaloid Gallery. Scrolling alone without anyone to chat with felt lonely, but at least before phone confiscation.
'Ahh... the world perfected, where no one gets hurt.'
Of course, the minor issue of me not being in that world, but whatever. No juicy bait in the gallery, so my thigh pic sparked endless 'Girl or boy?' detective threads.
Mods were nuking posts in real-time, but new ones popped up endlessly.
'Sigh... karma for my misdeeds.'
Annoyance spiked, but I let it slide. Attention felt kinda nice, balancing it out.
Slide.
Classroom door opened; homeroom teacher entered. "Phones forward!" Kids shuffled up. I skimmed the last posts, powered off, and submitted mine.
"Lee Haru. Why the creepy grin?"
Jisu poked my side on her way back from the phone box. I nearly yelped, but IQ 200 me doesn't flinch at that.
"Ouch... aren't you the traitor who said we gotta study?"
"Sulking?"
"Hmph."
She shook her head, but whatever.
From tapping guy memories to compose on the Vocaloid program up to today—no one knew me as NewTube's 'HALU' uploader or about the memories surfacing.
Especially now, with exams looming. Everyone cramming entered my view.
Calm before the storm.
Time to prove it to Jisu, who thinks I slack, with my grades.
*
Morning assembly wrapped lightly; first period math began. Exams near, so the board had predicted problems up. Teacher in his signature golf wear gripped chalk, scribbling fast. While he hustled, I lounged smugly, eyeing my betrayer Jisu.
Normal Lee Haru would've zoned out, but IQ 200 fused me? Different story. Propped chin, analyzed board problems for the test. Casually copied to notebook, activated full 200 IQ...
'What the hell is this...'
Numbers were numbers, English was English. Guy's memories had the formulas, but... no solution theory clicked.
J-Pop stuff? Crystal clear—every casual thought, subconscious hum. Non-J-Pop? Pure recall, no process. Forgot that. Remembered solving similar, the result, but not how. Stuck.
'But the memories were perfect?'
Solved college math—why choke here? Similar problem, just swap numbers... uh... lim what? Limwal...? No, rim—sweat beaded on my pen hand.
'Uh... n converges to infinity? f(x) how...? Huh?'
IQ 200 failed. Maxed both memories—nada. Damn... needed IQ 53-level simplicity?
"Alright... this and variants are tough descriptives. Gotta differentiate since group scores are high."
Teacher's words hit less than my self-loathing.
'Pose and all perfected...'
Hours ago, my cringey chuuni lines resurfaced. Mortifying.
'Meeeowwww!'
Head in hands, silent scream escaped. Jisu's gaze screamed What's her deal?
Small mercy: history was flawless. Less pathetic that way. History saved—ask Jisu the ace for math?
"J-Jisu? Math question..."
"Who this? Sulky Lee Haru?"
"N-no, not that... ugh..."
That snowball I lobbed hours ago rolled back huge. Half-teasing, but I did sulk—had to fix it.
"Boo hoo... I only worry about my Haru..."
How to thaw this Jisu? Brainstormed—got it. Surely works.
Snagged from a novel: aegyo. Never tried on Jisu as Haru, worked on Dad—adapt for her?
"Eeeeng~ Forgive meee~ I was wrooong~."
Not quite 1100-year-old Haru, but Korean age 17. Peak cuteness age. Life as Haru honed my growing aegyo skills.