Midterm Week, Second Semester
The sun, passing from summer into early autumn, poked its head out more lazily than usual.
Even for modern people armed with alarms and clocks, it's hard to ignore the sun, which has served as nature's timekeeper since time immemorial.
So it would be only natural for more people to start waking up late.
When a piercing alarm screamed like a siren, a single slender arm reached out from beneath the blanket.
The hand snatched the smartphone on the nightstand and vanished back under the covers, and the deafening alarm finally fell silent.
And then.
Yeoncheong bolted upright, kicking off the blanket that had gone so quiet one might think she'd fallen back asleep.
'Phew. That was close. Almost went back to sleep.'
Today was the first day of midterms.
The alarm was set earlier than usual, and she'd nearly drifted back off to dreamland, but she managed to wake up after remembering what day it was.
"Hnyaahm..."
Yawning, Yeoncheong glanced around for no particular reason.
'It really is too early.'
She'd gotten up before dawn after hearing somewhere that it takes the brain about two hours to fully shake off sleep and start firing on all cylinders.
Having risen earlier than usual, there was no need to rush.
Yeoncheong crawled slowly out of bed.
'I should get to school around eight, right?'
Preparing for an exam while factoring in her physical condition, not just focusing on studying—this was a first for Yeoncheong in her entire life.
***
When Yeoncheong walked into the classroom at eight sharp, the classmates who had come early to study all looked up at the clocks they'd set out in front of them in unison.
Yeoncheong frowned at their reaction.
"Um... guys? I know I'm usually late, but that kind of response actually hurts my feelings?"
The classroom was emptier than full.
Her classmates gave awkward smiles and returned to their studies.
It wasn't as if Yeoncheong had come early to chat and goof around, after all.
She headed for her own seat—the window seat in the very back row, where the last student number sat.
She pulled a book from her bag and quietly began studying for first period, while her classmates stole curious glances at their class president.
Before long, the hallway grew noisy.
The students who commuted by public transportation had apparently arrived.
"Hey, everyone! Morning!"
Suyeon swung the door open energetically, scanned the classroom, and spotted Yeoncheong sitting by the window.
She set her bag on a desk and made a beeline for her friend.
"Did the sun rise in the west today or what?"
Her friend gazed out the window at the sun for no good reason, then perched herself on Yeoncheong's desk.
"Why are you here so early?"
"It's midterms, remember?"
Yeoncheong gave a curt reply and bent her head back over her book.
Suyeon gently ruffled Yeoncheong's hair.
"Wooow~ look at you. Impressive. Very impressive."
"Don't. Go study yourself."
"Don't worry about me, I've got it covered."
Yeoncheong fixed Suyeon with narrowed eyes.
She didn't say a word, but her gaze practically said you're insufferable.
"Fine, fine. I'll go study, okay?"
Puffing out one cheek, Suyeon left with a word of encouragement anyway, leaving behind a handful of alphabet chocolates.
Then Seoha, who came to school by car, walked in alongside Nayun and Hasol, who apparently rode nearly the same bus.
Everyone settled into their seats and began to study.
Soon.
In the quiet atmosphere, laced with a faint undercurrent of tension—
"Alright, I'm handing out the test papers, so put your books away."
With the proctor arriving clutching a thick envelope, the second-semester midterms at Hwaryeong High School began.
***
The first day of midterms was over in a flash.
Yeoncheong and her friends gathered in the club room to study for the next day's subjects.
With even Seoha there—taking a brief break from festival preparations—it was a scene that could finally be called the full squad, complete at last.
"Yeoncheong, you were here crazy early today. How'd the exam go?"
Hasol had spent the breaks glued to her seat studying for the next subject, so she was only now getting around to asking what she'd been curious about.
"Today was pretty relaxed."
"Ohh~"
As Suyeon and Hasol let out a gasp of admiration in unison, Seoha's gaze shifted to Nayun.
"What about you, Nayun? You holding up okay?"
Yeoncheong looked at her with a triumphant grin, while Hasol and Suyeon's eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Nayeon's voice rose a notch, for no reason she could have explained.
"I-it doesn't matter who got here early to study! The bet is whoever has fewer remedial classes wins, remember?"
The way she changed the subject made it crystal clear that today's exam had not been easy on Nayun.
"Sounds like Nayun was on thin ice today."
"So the bet could be over in a single day?"
"Ahh, if that happens it'll be way too anticlimactic. What do we even do."
Stung by her friends' teasing, Nayun shouted.
"If you have time to— to yap, then study!"
As Nayun buried her head in her book, Suyeon snickered around her.
"Wow... never thought I'd live to see the day someone told Nayun to study."
"I second that," Hasol chimed in, as if she had a bone to pick herself. "When I asked her for study help, all she did was whine about being bored every five minutes, so I ended up nagging her to hit the books."
"Shuddup an' study."
At the murderous edge in Nayun's gritted-teeth voice, the two friends gave up on teasing her.
Watching them with laughter, Yeoncheong and Seoha went back to their books in the now pleasantly refreshed atmosphere.
***
After the second day of midterms ended, everyone gathered once more in the club room, determined to seal the deal to the very last.
Yeoncheong had become one with her desk, groaning softly.
Seoha, back from a quick bathroom trip, pointed at her friend, who looked like she might melt and slide right off her chair at any moment.
"What's wrong with Yeoncheong?"
"Ah, she got up way too early and she's exhausted, she says."
At Suyeon's explanation from beside her, Seoha nodded and took the empty seat across from them.
She hadn't gotten up before dawn in over half a month, and she was burning energy studying late into the night every day and sitting exams through the afternoon.
On top of that, studying still didn't come naturally to her, so the drain doubled.
Yeoncheong was learning firsthand that studying was, above all, a battle of stamina.
"Should've built up your endurance when you had the chance."
Meanwhile, though her situation couldn't have been much different—
Nayun, conditioned by basketball club and regular exercise, was still going strong.
Yeoncheong lifted only her head off the desk and grumbled.
"Back when I was a guy, you know. I was the class rep for the relay race, and hey, we even took second place in the class basketball tournament."
"Yes, yes~. We heard you loud and clear, Ms. Ha Yeoncheong, current-day high school girl."
"Oh, come on..."
Propping herself up on the desk, Yeoncheong muttered under her breath.
'I'm seriously exercising this winter break...'
Though she had no intention of starting any time soon.
***
On the long-awaited final day of midterms, with the last subject ahead of them.
While her classmates gradually came back to life as the final exam wound down—
Yeoncheong lay face-down on her desk.
'So tired...'
As if her brain were staging a protest, complaining it had done more than enough...
Even though she'd gone to bed earlier than usual, the fatigue wouldn't lift.
'...One subject left...'
It was obvious to anyone that if she took this exam with her head in this state, things wouldn't go well.
What she needed right now was sugar.
In other words, sweet chocolate.
Yeoncheong remembered that Suyeon had given her alphabet chocolates on the first day, and got up from her seat.
Having made it to her friend's side by sheer willpower, she blurted out.
"Hm? What is it?"
"Got any chocolate?"
At her friend's sudden chocolate demand, Suyeon rummaged through her bag, telling her to wait a moment.
"Found it. Close your eyes and open wide."
Yeoncheong, her judgment fogged by plummeting blood sugar, complied without a second thought.
Something entered her mouth and she closed it immediately, but—
Ptooey! "Ugh... Baek Suyeon, seriously!"
It was not chocolate.
Giggling, Suyeon held up her index finger, glistening slightly with spit.
"Wasn't it sweet?"
"...It was salty."
Yeoncheong, who had chomped down on the finger like a crocodile snapping at its prey, glared at her mischievous friend.
"Now give me real chocolate."
"Sorry. I gave it all away, there's none left."
Suyeon shrugged as if to say she would have handed it over in a heartbeat if she could.
"Tch... Fine, then."
Clicking her tongue, Yeoncheong trudged back toward her seat, planning to quietly conserve what energy she had left.
"I've got some chocolate. Want it?"
—had it not been for Seoha, poking her head out from behind and holding up a gold-wrapped chocolate.
"You'd really give it to me?"
At the sight of chocolate, life returned to Yeoncheong's eyes, and she was already standing next to Seoha.
She wordlessly held out her empty hand.
When Seoha asked what she was doing, Yeoncheong wouldn't tell; she simply waved her upturned palm.
As if to say, if you want it, figure it out yourself.
Completely bewitched by the chocolate before her, Yeoncheong had no wits left to protest the game.
Her blue eyes darted about busily, hunting for even the smallest clue.
Before long, she noticed that Seoha's red eyes were fixed on her hand.
'Could it be?'
Half doubting, half believing, she glanced around once, then placed her own hand on Seoha's palm.
Only then did Seoha show a smile of satisfaction.
Treating her like a beloved pet, Seoha rocked their stacked hands up and down, gave Yeoncheong's head a light pat, and peeled open the chocolate wrapper.
Convinced she'd gotten the answer right, Yeoncheong smiled brightly and opened her mouth wide.
As if to declare she wouldn't fall for any pranks this time, her eyes wide open—
Seoha carefully rolled the unwrapped gold-foil chocolate onto Yeoncheong's tongue.
"Mmm~ Seoha, thank you."
Savoring the sweetness melting across her tongue, Yeoncheong returned to her seat.
As Yeoncheong walked away, Seoha's and Suyeon's eyes met.
Suyeon's eyes went round—she'd had no idea Seoha was holding such a trump card in reserve.
Where the other friends couldn't see—visible only to Suyeon, the one meeting her gaze—
Seoha poked out just her index and middle fingers above the desk and drew a V.
With a perfectly innocent expression, as if nothing had happened at all.
***
With the familiar rhythmic chime of the bell—
"Whoohoo! It's over!"
The class erupted in cheers.
"Hands up. I have to collect the answer sheets, so bear with me a little longer."
The proctor tapped the lectern lightly and only nodded once she'd confirmed all the answer sheets were in.
"You all worked hard on your exams."
"Goodbye, ma'am!"
A little while after the proctor left, homeroom teacher Jisu didn't come in—she just poked her head into the classroom.
"Sorry, guys. I was proctoring another class."
Having confirmed with her own eyes that no seats were empty, Ms. Jisu continued.
"Anyone need to talk to me? No?"
"..."
"Great work on the midterms, everyone. Take today and go have fun. Ah—don't stay out too late, though!"
For someone so busy, the homeroom teacher rattled off the closing announcements like a machine gun and vanished.
After a moment of collective bewilderment, the class broke into their usual friend groups and filed out of the room one by one.
'Agh... I'm wiped. I need to go home and sleep...'
Yeoncheong, having poured out every last ounce of strength, intended to head straight home, but—
"Yeoncheong! Come out with us!"
"I'm tired though... can't I just rest at home today?"
Suyeon, resting a hand on Yeoncheong's bag, shook her head with a smile.
"Yeoncheong, did I ask you a question?"
Yeoncheong replayed the conversation just now.
"Um... no."
"See? You know it. So just come along."
Suyeon snatched up Yeoncheong's bag and darted out of the classroom.
"Everyone! Got her bag. Let's move!"
Blinking at the sudden theft of her bag, Yeoncheong got to her feet.
Apparently...
"Baek Suyeon! Get back here!"
She was not, in fact, just going to quietly go home.