Midterm Mayhem
The classroom was littered with students slumped over their desks, abandoning one question after another on their midterm exams. I loved this sight more than anything. It felt like everyone was bowing their heads before my overwhelming presence.
I’d already finished every single problem on the test sheet with time to spare. I glanced sideways toward the supervisor’s desk where Lee Yena sat. The exam was almost over, yet she was still clutching her head with one hand, frantically scribbling away with her pen.
She’s probably screwed already.
Yena and I had been in the same class back in first year too, but she was never particularly good at studying. She looked like she was working hard on the problems, but no matter how much she struggled, the results would still be garbage. Don’t worry, Yena. I normally can’t stand brainless girls, but I’ll make a special exception for you.
Your head might be empty, but I actually like how you charge forward with nothing but raw passion. It’s pretty cute.
Ding—dong! Dang—dong!
“Exam’s over. Everyone put your pens down and stay seated until all the test sheets are collected. Anyone who moves will be marked as cheating and given a zero.”
At the sound of the bell, the students who had been sleeping began to stir one by one. Once the supervisor gathered the papers and left the room, the kids exploded into groans and complaints—how the test was impossible, how they were screwed, the usual nonsense.
I stood up, thinking I’d hit the bathroom then swing by the school store. That’s when a group of study-obsessed classmates who normally kept their distance suddenly swarmed around me, test sheets in hand.
“What do you want?”
My lazy, arrogant tone made them flinch, but they quickly gave small nods.
“Ijin, can we look at your test sheet? We want to do a quick score check.”
Ever since I became vice president, I’d mellowed out a bit. These were the same kids who used to avoid me out of fear. Now they actually dared to talk to me. Perfect. The number of people gathered was just right.
With an annoyed look on my face, I shoved one hand into my pocket.
“Anyone who wants to see my sheet has to pay me a hundred won each. I need to buy some bread at the store.”
“A hundred won? That’s all?”
“I’ve got some change right here.”
They acted like a hundred won was nothing worth calling extortion and eagerly dug into their pockets to hand over the coins. Free bread? What a steal. A few kids didn’t even have a hundred won, but since I’d already collected enough to cover a thousand won’s worth of snacks, I didn’t bother squeezing them for more.
“Don’t wrinkle the sheet. Share it nicely.”
I’ve memorized all your faces. If you crease it, I’ll crease your faces too.
“Yena, let’s go.”
Lee Yena had been hiding among the nerds like a coward. I walked over and casually draped an arm around her shoulders. Instantly, every eye in the classroom snapped toward us.
“W-what…? Why are you suddenly—hey, get off me!”
She was panicking hard. Was she worried the class would misunderstand our relationship? Well, we do make a pretty good-looking pair. Look, we even have the same hair color.
Fake rumors spreading around school were perfect for triggering events. Since romance-comedy tropes always needed this kind of thing, I welcomed it with open arms.
“You don’t need to check your score anyway. There’s nothing to see. Stop hoping for miracles and just come to the store with me.”
“I’m actually confident this time!”
“More confident than me?”
“Ugh… I didn’t mean it like that…”
The way she instantly deflated the moment I reminded her of the gap in our intelligence was adorable. Of course she’d feel that way. If she were actually more confident than me, she wouldn’t have come looking for my test sheet. And yet she still wanted to check her score but was too embarrassed to look at mine in front of everyone, so she hid among the nerds. Are you trying to transition from maid to comedian?
That won’t do. You’re going to spend your entire life as my personal toilet maid.
“I’ll give you my test sheet later, just for you. That works, right? There are too many people looking at it right now anyway. You wouldn’t be able to check properly.”
“Okay… if you’re going that far…”
She was being unusually obedient today. I thought she’d hate the idea.
As the two of us walked toward the school store together, she kept stealing glances at me, clearly reading my mood. Finally, she spoke carefully.
“Thank you… for saving the president…”
“Huh? Out of nowhere?”
“I realized after thinking about it that I never actually said thank you…”
Why was she making things awkward all of a sudden? By “that time,” she meant the incident where Cha Yeri had acted strangely and Yena had suddenly suspected me. It seemed she’d asked Yeri afterward and learned the full story. That explained why she looked a little sorry toward me, while at the same time her gaze had grown much friendlier.
Just saving Cha Yeri was enough to drag Lee Yena along too? This was pure luck!
“It’s fine. I already received plenty of thanks from the president that day. I didn’t even save you, so why are you acting like this? It’s embarrassing…”
I scratched the back of my head awkwardly, pretending I wasn’t used to compliments.
“Are you feeling shy right now?”
“Am I not allowed to feel shy?”
“No… I didn’t mean it like that. I was just… surprised.”
“Whatever. After exams, things are going to get really busy, so keep that in mind.”
“What do you mean?”
That I’ll be fucking you like a dog soon enough.
…is what I wanted to say, but this wasn’t the time for jokes. I really would be busy.
I had to pick the right moments for teasing.
“You know there’s a school festival coming up right after exams, right? The student council has to manage everything.”
“Don’t tell me I have to help too?”
“Obviously. You’re part of the student council, aren’t you?”
Where did she get the idea she could just skip out? When I scolded her, she glared at me with resentment.
“You’re the one who forced me into it…”
“Did I?”
I guess I did feel a little bad about that part. But what could I do? If you hated it so much, you should’ve become vice president yourself. Besides, student council work was essentially helping Cha Yeri. As far as I knew, Yena hadn’t strongly objected to joining. Realistically, we couldn’t force someone who truly refused to stay in the council.
“Hey, Kang Ijin.”
“Yeah?”
“Now that I think about it, did you do well on the test?”
“Just average? I think I did about as usual.”
It wasn’t particularly hard or easy. Unless something weird happened, I’d probably stay in the top ranks again.
“So you did well… It’s always amazing watching you. You act like a delinquent but you still study so well.”
If you knew your future was set to end up in prison, you’d desperately do anything too, wouldn’t you? I didn’t want to change either. I just made sure the situation forced me to.
“The fact that my grades are good is proof that I’m not really a delinquent.”
“Pfft. That’s the funniest joke I’ve heard all year.”
She laughed at that? At me, who was living more desperately than anyone? Sure, I might look like a delinquent, but that’s all prejudice. Doesn’t it occur to any of you that I’m deliberately acting like a delinquent? I’m doing it on purpose to seduce all of you, you idiots.
More importantly, she seemed a lot more comfortable with me lately. To think she could tease me like this. Other girls could get away with joking around with me, but not her. Teasing people isn’t your kink, is it?
“I went ahead and ordered it in red since you didn’t say anything.”
“Ordered what?”
“Did you already forget? Your collar. I ordered a bunch of things I thought you’d like along with it. Just wait for them.”
She flinched as she suddenly remembered her current situation. She must have thought I’d forgotten because she hadn’t brought it up lately. The reason Yena had been quiet after agreeing to become my partner was simply because I’d been too busy. Even I had to study during exam season. Maintaining top ranks wasn’t easy, you know.
“I’m looking forward to it. Don’t worry. I’m as good at this as I am at studying.”
“Ugh…”
Her face turned bright red. This was how it should be. Who did she think she was, trying to compete with me?
The whip seemed like enough for now. Maybe I should give her some carrot?
“Oh, and can you send me more of those comics? I finished everything you sent.”
“You read all of them? There was quite a lot…”
“I was going to use them as fap material, but the stories were surprisingly good so I ended up reading them all quickly.”
“Of course. I carefully selected every single one.”
“No wonder they were all so entertaining. Then I’ll ask for the next batch too.”
“I don’t really like sharing my collection with you… but if you want them… fine. I’ll send more.”
“Thanks.”
Yena looked slightly happy. Just the fact that she was sharing her secret hobby with someone seemed to excite her. If I kept sharing the same interests with her like this, some kind of event was bound to happen. It was also nice to learn more about her tastes in detail. Most importantly, it wasn’t good to earn too much of her hatred. It was better to make her comfortable showing her hobbies in front of me. Forcing a reluctant girl down and raping her was one thing, but seeing her secretly desire it herself was far more arousing.
* * *
“Suho, was the answer for this number three?”
“Isn’t it three?”
“Can you explain why it’s three?”
“I don’t know the correct answer either, but if you look here…”
When I came out of the shower, Kang Suho and Jeong Sua were sitting in the living room chatting quietly. It seemed they had promised to check their answers together at our house. It was much more comfortable to do it at home than at school. A very good choice.
But Sua? Aren’t you sitting a little too close to Suho?
Both Suho and Sua were decent at studying. But overall, Suho was slightly better. She had no choice but to listen to his explanations, but the way they were practically glued together didn’t sit well with me at all.
I started walking over to separate them when—
“Ijin oppa. Don’t come over here with wet hair. You’ll damage your scalp.”
Sua noticed me immediately and turned around to scold me.
“Do I really have to?”
“Doesn’t it feel gross and uncomfortable if you don’t dry it?”
“Guys with short hair dry quickly even if we leave it. Right, Suho?”
I sat down right between them as if to split them apart and jerked my chin at Suho. He gave an awkward smile.
“Uh, yeah? I’ve waited for it to dry naturally like hyung many times too.”
He’s taking my side? In a situation where he should be desperately trying to score points with Sua? As expected, you really shouldn’t date anyone. Any girl who ends up with you is committing a sin.
When even Suho took my side, Sua pressed her lips tightly together and glared at both of us. Then she pinched my forearm.
“Ow! Why are you only pinching me? He said the same thing!”
“Obviously you’re the one who acts like that, so Suho learned it from watching you.”
“Hey, that’s too much of a stretch. Just say you felt like pinching me.”
“If I say I feel like pinching you, can I pinch you again?”
“Go ahead. But I’ll pinch you back?”
My gaze blatantly drifted down to her chest. Should I just grab her nipples and twist them? Want to see who gives up first? I’m confident I’d win.
“A-are you crazy?!”
Even though I hadn’t said it out loud, Sua instantly understood my intention. She crossed her arms over her chest to block my view and raised her voice.
“What’s wrong all of a sudden, Sua?”
From Suho’s angle, he couldn’t see where my eyes had been, so he seemed confused by her sudden reaction. Sua finally regained her composure, smiled at Suho, and tried to brush it off as nothing.
“I-it’s nothing, Suho.”
“Yeah, it’s nothing. Stop making such a fuss.”
“Oppa… just wait until later…”
Sua whispered so only I could hear. Kicking this guy out and bickering with Sua like this felt way too good.
Enough with the jokes. I pulled both of their answer sheets toward me.
“You were trying to check your scores, right? I’ll help you.”
“Really? Suho and I have similar scores, so I was worried we’d both get the same questions wrong. This is perfect, right Suho?”
“We’d be really grateful if hyung helps.”
What an idiot, Kang Suho. I’m only helping because I don’t want to see the two of you sticking together like that. How dense can you be? I’ll help them quickly, send Sua home, and then take her out for a walk together tonight.
“Alright, both of you pay attention. I’ll explain everything perfectly, including the solutions.”
“Okay!”
I put on my glasses, picked up a pen, and began explaining every single mistake to these two morons one by one.