Exam Season
Hwaryeong High School was a popular school.
Diverse club activities, excellent facilities — there was plenty for the students attending it to love. But from the perspective of parents sending their children there, the most important thing was something else entirely.
College admissions.
In that sense, Hwaryeong High School was also a favorite among parents. The school's high standards translated directly into positive outcomes for the entire student body's university prospects.
For Yeoncheong, who had simply been looking for a girls' school rather than a co-ed one, this was something she only learned later.
A few days after the late-night school exploration — an experience she never wanted to repeat — Yeoncheong woke up earlier than usual and stepped into the classroom.
The air feels... different somehow.
Yeoncheong sensed the changed morning with her whole body. A taut tension hung over the classroom that was usually full of laughter and chatter.
As if Teacher Jisu's words a few days earlier had been the starting signal, students had begun studying one by one, and before anyone noticed, the entire class had shifted into study mode.
Sitting down as quietly as she could, Yeoncheong glanced to her side. She thought about greeting Seoha at the neighboring desk, but quickly changed her mind.
She didn't want to break Seoha's concentration — the girl hadn't even seemed to notice Yeoncheong had arrived.
With everyone studying in silence, Yeoncheong opened a book as well and let herself be swept along by the current.
After all regular classes ended, it was the time of day when club activities at Hwaryeong High School came alive.
The Annex, now a building shared by numerous clubs. From the clubroom of the Free Inquiry Club, whose membership totaled exactly two, came a groan of despair.
"Uuuugh..."
Yeoncheong's head tipped backward over a desk littered with textbooks and study guides for several subjects. Suyeon, who had been studying beside her, gave her a once-over.
At the corner of Yeoncheong's desk sat a math quiz she'd seen before.
"Yeoncheong, so you're actually bad at studying, huh?"
Suyeon snickered as she watched the downpour of red ink landing on the test paper. Yeoncheong hastily piled other books on top of it.
Whatever the results, the two of them had just wrapped up one major club activity. Afterwards, they agreed to use the clubroom as a study hall until the midterm exams.
Yeoncheong's opinion had been strongly reflected in that decision.
The brutally difficult coursework. The studies she'd neglected while telling herself she'd adapt eventually.
The fire had landed right on Yeoncheong's feet.
Provoked by Suyeon's teasing remark, Yeoncheong bristled.
"I still make above average, you know."
"Really? What school did you go to before?"
At the question about her old school, Yeoncheong clamped her mouth shut. Whenever anyone asked about her past, she always sealed her lips tight.
The atmosphere turned awkward in an instant. Suyeon smoothly defused the tangled air.
"See? You can't even answer. If you're not careful, you'll be stuck doing remedial classes during club time."
"Remedial... classes?"
Yeoncheong righted her tipped-back head, wearing an expression that demanded an explanation.
"If your grades are too low at our school, you have to take remedial classes. Didn't you know?"
"I've heard of remedials over vacation after finals, but they make you take them after midterms too?"
"They just do them after school."
Unable to argue, Yeoncheong's expression darkened rapidly.
It wasn't that she was bad at studying — but that was always measured against her old school's standards.
Considering the level of Hwaryeong High School's curriculum and the classroom atmosphere that could, at a glance, seem outright cutthroat, this was a situation more than deserving of an alarm.
Suyeon shoved her chair back and sprang to her feet. She strode over to Yeoncheong's desk, dragged a chair over, and sat down beside her. When she rapped her knuckles on the desk a couple of times,
"What?"
Yeoncheong tilted only her head to look at her.
"I shall personally teach you."
Despite Suyeon's triumphant bearing, Yeoncheong remained somewhat unconvinced. The reason was as follows.
"Suyeon, are you actually good at studying?"
"...What?"
Yeoncheong's question was full of earnestness. In contrast, Suyeon's smiling eyebrows twitched.
"I may not be on Seoha's level, but I'm top-tier?"
Yeoncheong's eyes were still brimming with doubt. Anyone could claim to be good at studying.
"You don't believe me, do you?"
Proof was needed. Scanning the books and study guides, Suyeon pointed at one of the math problems Yeoncheong had worked through.
"That one's wrong."
"How would you know just by looking?"
At Suyeon's remark, Yeoncheong jolted upright and examined the problem sheet.
"Check it for yourself."
When Yeoncheong confirmed the answer key, her blue eyes wavered slightly. Suyeon went on to point out flaws in problem after problem that Yeoncheong had solved or struggled with.
With every additional correction, the way Yeoncheong looked at Suyeon changed.
Before long, Suyeon puffed out her shoulders proudly and let out an exaggerated cough.
"Ahem. Feeling a little more willing to accept my teachings now?"
"...A little?"
It was the last shred of Yeoncheong's pride, stopping her from nodding along despite herself.
The teacher-student relationship between the two did not last long.
"How do you not get this?"
Suyeon tilted her head, glancing between the math problem and Yeoncheong. Yeoncheong thought to herself:
When your explanation looks like THAT, how am I supposed to understand it?
Suyeon was a natural genius.
One look and she saw the answer. Only this approach would work here. Most of her explanations were hopelessly vague.
Naturally, Yeoncheong couldn't follow a word of it. At first she tried hard out of consideration for Suyeon's efforts to help, but at some point she simply gave up on keeping up.
"Suyeon... I'm sorry, I can't do this."
"So my explanations really are that bad?"
"You knew?"
Suyeon scratched her cheek and bobbed her head sheepishly.
"Hasol and the others told me. That I have zero talent for explaining things."
"It's beyond 'zero talent.'"
Yeoncheong winced as if she'd heard a language from another world, her blue eyes a mixture of grievance and faint resentment.
"And here I thought you'd gotten better..."
Suyeon sulked. Fidgeting with her fingers, she avoided Yeoncheong's gaze.
Yeoncheong withdrew the resentment from her eyes. It felt wrong to glare at a friend who had made time to help her, after all.
"It's fine. Don't beat yourself up. It wasn't completely useless."
"Really?"
Hands still fidgeting, Suyeon lifted her head slightly to study Yeoncheong's face. Yeoncheong nodded with exaggerated vigor.
Only after the same question and answer had been exchanged several times did Suyeon's guilt begin to fade. And with that, the two of them buried themselves in their respective studies until the club period ended.
"See you tomorrow."
"Yeoncheong."
At the solemn call of her name, Yeoncheong's hands stopped mid-packing.
"Hm?"
"I'll work hard to get better at teaching you. I promise."
"Huh? Wait—"
"Bye!"
Suyeon said her piece and bolted out of the clubroom in an instant.
"She's gone. She really didn't have to..."
A friend's pure, well-meaning kindness was about to set off a butterfly effect.
On the way out of school toward the front gate.
Yeoncheong was busy worrying what to do about Suyeong's blazing enthusiasm, which was why she failed to notice the approaching footsteps behind her.
"Ha Yeoncheong!"
Yeoncheong froze in place at the shock, and a moment later the owner of the voice lunged at her from behind.
"Seoyun-sunbae?"
Her attacker, patting her head as she pounced, was Senior Seoyun — now the former student council president.
"Heading home already, and it's exam season?"
"I'll study at home. And you're the third-year, sunbae. Shouldn't you be studying too?"
Seoyun deflected at the jab.
"A person can't just study all the time. You've got to unwind now and then."
The very person being called out paid Yeoncheong no mind whatsoever. Seoyun, seemingly offended, tightened her already-locked arms around her.
"Ugh..."
Yeoncheong strained hard to wriggle free of the grip, but it was no easy feat. Overpowering Seoyun, honed by years of tennis club, through sheer strength was out of the question.
"Ooh, you've got some strength. I really should've recruited you for our club."
"Too bad. Even if I joined in the second semester, you wouldn't be there, sunbae."
"Say the word and you're in, and I'll personally teach you everything."
An offer with an odd sense of déjà vu. Understandable, considering it was the second time she'd heard it.
Having given up on escaping, Yeoncheong muttered,
"First Suyeon, now this. Why does everyone want to teach me the second they see me?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Yeoncheong told Seoyun about what had happened that day. At some point Seoyun had let her go, and she spoke.
"Then just ask another friend to help you."
Senior Seoyun's answer was crystal clear. Yeoncheong faltered.
"Wouldn't that be asking a lot?"
"Hey, it's not like you're asking them to teach you the entire curriculum. Who on earth would call that a big favor?"
Seoyun burst into a dismissive laugh.
"And honestly, aren't you spending way too much time with just Suyeon?"
Yeoncheong flinched. With how much time they spent together, it was understandable from one angle — but neglecting her other friends was another matter entirely.
"Suyeon's not your only friend. Try to spread yourself around a little."
Before she knew it, Yeoncheong was nodding along.
"And if asking your friends feels awkward, I could teach you myself?"
Seoyun flashed a smile as sweet as a drawing. But Yeoncheong's reaction was ice cold.
"Your intentions are impure."
"Wanting to get closer to my adorable junior while I'm at it — that's impure?"
At Seoyun's sly answer, Yeoncheong stammered.
"Ado—adorable? Me?"
"That's right. How could a junior who hand-wraps a White Day gift for me not be adorable?"
She bit her tongue slightly and her pronunciation slipped, but that wasn't the point. Upon hearing Seoyun's answer, Yeoncheong's brain worked faster than it ever had.
Yeoncheong had figured that, unlike with boys, this level of thing between girls was fine. But judging by Seoyun's reaction... apparently not.
Oh... no. So THAT'S why...
Only now did Yeoncheong understand the smiles on her classmates who had received her gifts.
Her blue eyes, unable to stay still, spun round and round, and a flood of belated emotions washed her face crimson.
"Wow, you had no idea at all, did you? Careful around guys. They might get the wrong idea."
To Seoyun, Yeoncheong's reaction was simply delightful. Her already-overloaded brain had no space left to process another word.
The broken Yeoncheong's response was underwhelming. It had been just one word — adorable — but Senior Seoyun had no idea just how devastating that single word was to her.
Tap. Tap.
Two light smacks on the rear, and Yeoncheong instinctively jumped back, snapping to her senses.
"Wh-what was that for!"
Seoyun, thoroughly satisfied, was already waving.
"I'm off. Ask if anything's giving you trouble."
Leaving Senior Seoyun's rapidly retreating figure behind, Yeoncheong ran for home as well — face still burning, eyes fixed on the ground.
The next day, classes ended, and club time arrived in a blink.
"Suyeon, is there anyone in our class who's good at studying?"
Having just reconfirmed her own total lack of teaching talent, Suyeon looked up.
"Why do you ask?"
"I'm going to ask them to tutor me."
Suyeon's eyes went round. She clearly hadn't expected Yeoncheong to take the initiative with her other classmates.
"You're reaching out to other friends first? What on earth got into you?"
Suyeon stretched her neck forward and brought her face close, narrow eyes carefully scanning every inch of Yeoncheong's expression.
"Let's just say a certain sunbae gave me some advice."
Suyeon instantly figured out it was Senior Seoyun. The people Yeoncheong could genuinely call friends amounted to Suyeon, Seoha, Nayun, and Hasol — that was all.
Given Yeoncheong's narrow social circle, it was a simple deduction.