A Belated Realization and a Futile Interference
"You should go bother her or whatever. Aren't you underestimating Suyeon a little too much?"
To think she'd worry about Suyeon instead of Seoha...
As Yeoncheong's head tilted sharply to one side, another sigh escaped Siyeon's lips. She steadied her breathing, composed herself, and parted her lips once more.
"I don't care about anything else, but do you know what annoys me most about Baek Suyeon?"
As if she'd have any way of knowing. Yeoncheong shrugged to say exactly that.
She'd always assumed it was just twin rivalry, the competitive streak cranked up a notch. But it seemed there was something more to it.
Just thinking about it seemed to raise her temperature—Siyeon let out her third sigh in the span of that short exchange.
"Having the ability and choosing not to use it. She's smart enough, but she only studies just hard enough, and watching her dabble in everything under the sun genuinely pisses me off. And then her grades end up about the same as mine anyway."
"Suyeon's that good at studying?"
She knew Suyeon was capable. But good enough to warrant talk like this?
Still, surely not on Seoha's level...
"Seoha, if I told you she's not the type to rank first in the whole school like clockwork, but she's done it a few times in the past—does that give you an idea?"
"Wha—!?"
Yeoncheong's startled voice rose without her meaning it to.
"Shh, quiet."
When the stares of other students studying nearby and the librarian swung their way, Seobin raised a finger to her lips, reminding them this was still a library.
The difference between someone who'd ranked first and someone who hadn't was enormous—even if you argued that rank wasn't purely a matter of ability.
But not once—she'd done it several times?
This was very bad news for Yeoncheong.
She bowed her head repeatedly, apologizing to those around her, then lowered her voice again.
"I had no idea she was that good."
"That's what I've been telling you. This is no time to be sitting here studying in comfort. I don't know what's riding on your bet, but with just those two, a perfect score is more than possible."
So that explained it. The way she'd asked for everyone else's opinions while acting like the whole thing barely concerned her... She'd spoken with confidence because she had it.
Gathering up the books she'd only just taken out, Yeoncheong bit her lip.
"I... I'm going back."
Whether to renegotiate or to interfere.
Just as Siyeon said, this was no time to sit quietly studying in the library.
Her friends were studying in the club room as if nothing had happened.
Though the club had only three members, Suyeon was at least the president in name, and she tilted her head at Yeoncheong when she returned.
"Did you forget something?"
Another unmistakable declaration flew her way: if you've got no business here, leave.
Figures... Judging by the atmosphere, and after turning all sorts of ideas over on the way back, renegotiation was clearly off the table.
Which left exactly one option: sabotage.
Determined to stay in the club room, Yeoncheong pulled out the one move that was guaranteed to work.
Clearing her throat as much as she could, she delivered the line she'd rehearsed in her head in what she believed was her cutest voice.
"I-I just want to study with the two people I like, that's all~ What other reason could there be?"
Hasol and Nayun, who had been studying quietly, flinched visibly.
Even now, such direct words apparently embarrassed them—Yeoncheong's own face flushed crimson as well.
She thought it every time: Seoha really was shameless in this department.
"Pfft~ Oh yeah? Seoha, what should we do?"
"If she likes us that much, letting her study with us can't hurt."
Perhaps they'd decided to acknowledge her tearful, visible effort.
The two club members besides Yeoncheong reached a quick consensus, and Suyeon nodded her assent.
Sitting down in the empty seat, Yeoncheong completed her first objective and pulled out her reference books. At the same time, she kept stealing glances at how Suyeon and Seoha studied.
Wow... that's intense.
Menacing, maybe. It was the first time simply turning pages and working through problems had ever felt frightening to watch.
At some point she started staring at them openly, but they were so deep in concentration they never spared her a single glance.
Seeing her two always-clingy friends like this felt less disappointing than genuinely terrifying.
Because it truly looked like those two alone would produce a perfect score.
The next day. The library at lunchtime.
"What now? Why are you back?"
Seobin waved in welcome, while Siyeon, just like the day before, looked puzzled to see her return. Seated beside them, Yeoncheong naturally reported on everything that had happened.
Blah, blah, and more blah. The conclusion of her grumbling was, in the end, that she hadn't managed a single proper act of interference.
Interference, she called it—as if it weren't finals season.
The three people she was betting against weren't going all-in on regular admissions like she was. What if her antics dragged their grades down and messed with their college admissions?
So she'd simply gone, studied, and gone home late that evening as usual.
"Do I call that well-behaved... or just hopelessly soft?"
Hearing this, Siyeon wondered how she was supposed to react.
She'd heard things from the twin who lived with her, and she'd seen plenty just from sharing a classroom. She'd expected Suyeon to go easy, but never imagined she wouldn't manage to do anything at all.
"In that case, I'll take it as a compliment and go with well-behaved."
"Hey, I didn't tell you to pick one."
"Oh, I didn't?"
Amid all this, her brazen back-and-forth drew the rebuttal right out of Siyeon—and Seobin, studying alongside them, burst into a laugh.
Clapping a hand over her mouth at the laughter that had escaped unbidden, she spoke in halting fragments.
"Then... how about... keep asking questions?"
When Yeoncheong asked her to explain in detail, Seobin caught her breath and nodded.
"So the idea is to keep firing questions and just slightly scatter their focus. Answering what someone asks is still studying, technically."
A scheme that counted as interference of a sort, with minimal guilt attached—Yeoncheong's eyes lit up.
"Oh! That's a really good idea. I'll go try it the second clubs start."
"O-oh? Glad I could help. Hehe..."
She looked as delighted as if she'd met a savior, and Seobin, scratching her cheek sheepishly, was happy too.
Meanwhile, whether the method would actually work remained an open question—but with finals looming, Siyeon's studying came first, so she couldn't have cared less.
"Done talking? Then, could you leave now?"
"Hm? I came to study too."
Yeoncheong continued as she pulled out the books she'd brought.
"I figured I'd study with you guys at lunch. Report in between, and all."
Neither she nor Seobin was on Suyeon's team, so why she had to come all the way here to "report" was beyond them—but dissecting it felt like more effort than it was worth.
At least once the books were open, she studied quietly and focused, so the other two got back to their own work.
After school. The club room.
"Um. How do you solve this one?"
Yeoncheong put Seobin's method into practice immediately.
"Hm? Which one?"
Even her two terrifyingly focused friends couldn't let that one slide. They turned their heads to look over the problem Yeoncheong held out.
Just as Yeoncheong had shied away from blatant sabotage out of respect for finals, Suyeon and Seoha answered every question about the material.
It was finals season, after all. Patiently, thoroughly—until she understood it for certain.
But give a long tail enough rope, and it gets caught.
Amid the relentless baptism of questions, Suyeon realized this was a form of sabotage.
"Yeoncheong~ Who put you up to this?"
Hit with a question of her own, Yeoncheong failed to keep her expression in check for a moment.
Suyeon didn't miss it, grinning widely as she pressed on.
"Siyeon? Or maybe Seobin?"
"Why... why would you think it's one of them?"
Dodging the question and beating around the bush already gave everything away—but this was the best defense she could mount on behalf of the two who'd given her the advice.
"You're always together. If she's a close friend of yours, of course we'd know her too."
Yeoncheong finally ran out of words and fell silent, and Suyeon's suspicion hardened into certainty.
"Well~ the bet's outcome rests entirely on us anyway, and sabotage is what makes it fun. I won't tell you to stop. In exchange..."
A smile brimming with mischief, Suyeon spread one hand wide and declared:
"Five questions per person, per day. Anything beyond that, study on your own."
"Okay..."
With her scheme laid completely bare, refusal wasn't an option.
She looked ready to throw her out on the spot if she said no. The one who wanted to stay had to comply.
A few days later. The library at lunchtime again.
"It didn't work..."
Trudge, trudge. Even watching Yeoncheong drag herself over and slump against Seobin's shoulder, the two of them weren't surprised.
She was in the same class, so they'd seen her deflated state since morning and had a fair idea what had happened.
They knew the fastest solution was to listen to her grumbling "report" and toss her the next method. Siyeon set down her pen and parted her lips.
"So? What went wrong this time?"
Seobin's question barrage had worked to a degree, but perceptive Suyeon had capped her daily question count, and it had failed.
After that came a series of small schemes that were half-interference, half-not, but every one of them accomplished nothing and got shut down.
"She says we're doing the birthday celebration after exams, so there's no need to plan it now."
Hasol's birthday fell in early July, right at the tail end of finals yet again.
She'd figured she could eat up a day or two gossiping about what they'd do to celebrate—but no dice.
She'd expected talk of fun plans to lure Suyeon right in. Instead, it was Seoha's knife-sharp line that cut her off.
"Well, if you've tried everything, what more is there?"
"No... I'll just try until today, then give up."
Pushing herself off Seobin's shoulder, Yeoncheong opened the books she'd brought.
"Exams are right around the corner, and I've got my own studying to do."
"Good call. Watching Baek Suyeon study at home lately, no ordinary interruption is going to faze her."
The girl who used to insist that studying hard happened at school and that home was for resting had now spent days pulling all-night study sessions with Yeoncheong past midnight.
When was the last time her twin had concentrated like this?
Back when she first declared she'd achieve a perfect score? Or when she'd bet her grades against their mom for something she wanted?
One thing was certain: whatever was riding on the bet, the odds of Yeoncheong losing were climbing by the day.
She didn't bother saying so out loud. She had no desire to rub salt in the wounds of a friend who'd tried every method and non-method of interference there was.
And so the day's final attempt at sabotage came to a close in failure.
Time slipped by, and it was July—the day before finals.
The twins' room, distinguished by its bunk bed and the stuffed animals scattered everywhere.
Unlike Yeoncheong's apartment, where she'd gone to bed early for tomorrow, the lamp in the room of the two near-identical girls burned past midnight yet again.
Siyeon glanced at her twin, a sight she hadn't seen in a long while, and spoke.
"You're not sleeping? Weren't you the one going on about condition management?"
"The first day matters most. I'll review a little more, then sleep."
Yawning as she turned a page, Suyeon answered without so much as a glance up.
"You're one to talk. Why aren't you asleep?"
"You're still awake, aren't you? This is my chance to beat you when you're actually studying. No way I'm just going to sleep."
So the two of them lay awake in rivalry long into the night before finally sinking into their beds—and the morning of the final exams dawned.