Crushing the Finals
A bit more time passed.
During that time, Lulu managed to pull off the legendary routine of off-stream / 3-hour broadcast / off-stream again, and I buckled down to study hard.
And after her weekend endless return stream wrapped up...
"...Finals, huh."
I was cramming like mad for finals. I'd finished editing all of Lulu's clips ahead of time.
To be precise, I didn't watch the streams all the way through—instead, I just used footage from the early and mid parts.
Sure, the quality and fun factor suffered a little because of it, but what could I do? Honestly, if these finals didn't meet my expectations, I'd be seriously disappointed in myself.
It hit 3 a.m., and with my eyelids growing heavy, I gave the last sections one final review before closing the book.
Yeah, I've done all I can. With that thought, I climbed into bed, pulled up the covers, and drifted off.
When I woke up again...
"...Fuck, I'm late."
I was on the verge of being late.
I barely made it to the exam room three minutes before it started and immediately bowed my head to the teacher.
"Sorry."
"Hey, how do you manage to be late on exam day?"
"I'm really sorry."
"Fine, just get in there. Phone?"
"Right away."
"Check your pockets too."
As the latecomer, I turned out my pockets, dumped my bag right at the front of the classroom, and showed everything.
"Hmph, nothing suspicious, huh?"
"Yeah, nothing at all."
"Okay, go take your seat and do the test."
"Got it."
I bowed again as I turned and headed back, grabbing just my laptop and a ballpoint pen to finish prepping.
My head was still stuffed with everything I'd studied until dawn the night before.
Maybe that's why—normally, I'd just bubble in one row and nap, but today, that didn't even cross my mind.
Instead, to keep from forgetting anything, I closed my eyes and endlessly repeated all the info bubbling up in my brain.
Once that was done, I opened my eyes, flipped the test booklet to the back, and finished prepping completely.
"Alright, let's do this... Hoooh..."
With the test booklet and OMR sheet right in front of me, I closed my eyes one more time.
To steel my resolve...
...But for some reason, Im Lua popped into my head.
The incredibly grateful Im Lua, who'd used up her own study time just to help a guy like me.
Thinking of her like that, I figured nailing this exam was the best way to repay her. I picked up my pen and started tackling the problems.
One by one.
Pulling info from my brain and plugging it in, solving as I went.
That period, and the next one too.
And just like that, the two exams on the first day wrapped up...
"...Whoa."
I couldn't help but marvel at myself.
Why? Because even I could hardly believe how well the problems had gone.
After heading downstairs for a quick homeroom, I started grading my answers against the answer key and test the teacher had handed out.
Mid-grading, Im Lua, who'd sat down next to me, glanced over.
"Did you do okay?"
I nodded at her quiet question.
"Pretty good."
"Glad to hear it."
"You?"
"Eh, decent enough."
That was the end of our chat—we didn't go any further.
Asking for specifics between students is basically taboo.
About three more days passed like that.
During those three days, I went with a routine of editing the front halves of Lulu's streams at night and the back halves after school.
I couldn't just skip editing altogether—the income from the Kirinuker views was too good to pass up.
Anyway, those hectic days all flew by...
And the last exam day arrived.
On the final exam day, as I grabbed my bag and shoes to head out, Mom called out to me.
"Son~ Ace those exams and come home safe, okay?"
"...Yeah, I'll do my best."
Honestly, her words caught me off guard a little.
Mom had never once told me to do well on a test. Not since middle school, at least.
I'd figured she'd given up expecting anything from me. But that wasn't it.
Now that I was studying hard, she was cheering me on again. She hadn't abandoned me—she'd just been holding back out of consideration.
Realizing that made me even more determined to crush these exams.
Of course, the fact that the last day's tests were my two weakest subjects—math and English—was a problem.
Who the hell decided to lump math and English on the final day?
If I could meet the teacher who came up with that schedule, I'd love to hear their reasoning. Seriously.
Still, thinking like that wasn't gonna change anything...
I wasn't about to just accept failing grades.
I'd grind it out and snag high scores, no matter what.
For Im Lua, who'd helped me study, and for Mom, who'd cheered me on.
The exams ended, and I finished rough-grading.
On the way home after grading, Im Lua tapped my shoulder.
Tok, tok, tok.
"Jinwoo-ya, how'd the exams go?"
Instead of my usual "good" or "bad," I just showed her my phone.
It had my rough score sheet from the exams.
Im Lua let out a little gasp when she saw it.
"Whoa... for real?"
"...Yeah, for real."
"That's amazing! Seriously, seriously amazing...!"
Her praise made me embarrassed.
"What's so amazing?"
"Your scores shot up! Like double—no, triple!"
Yeah, a bit over three times, actually.
Korean, social studies, and Korean history all hit the 70s.
Social Culture, the one I was most confident in, even reached 83.
Math and English didn't do quite as well, though.
"Math and English went up a ton too."
"...Still barely scraping a 5."
Math was in the 50s, English the 60s.
It was just a lack of study time, but Im Lua didn't see it that way.
"Three weeks ago, you were total noobs at those, and now this? That's huge!"
She had a point. With my math skills from a month ago, zero would've been generous. English at 30-40 would've been a win.
"Good job."
She stood on tiptoes to pat my head, and I gently pushed her hand away, feeling weirdly shy.
"If anyone's earned it, it's you."
"Me? What'd I do?"
"You busted your ass teaching me."
She shook her head at my words.
"Nah, it wasn't hard at all."
"Why not?"
"Why? 'Cause..."
She flashed a bright smile at my question.
"Helping someone who's putting in the effort? How could that be hard?"
Yeah. That's just who Im Lua was.
So upright, so purely good, so kind.
The kind of amazing person who still called a guy like me her friend and stuck by me.
"...Thanks, really."
"Aw, quit with the thanks already. You're embarrassing me now."
Only after she said that did I drop the thanks.
Instead, I wanted to do something small to celebrate with her.
"...Wanna grab pizza and head to your place?"
She shook her head no.
"Nah, I'll come to yours."
"Again?"
"We've been studying weekends there—it's comfier, right?"
She had a point, so I nodded.
"Yeah... fair enough."
"Cool, I'll order pizza and bring it over. Tell me what toppings you like. Oh, is Oppa there? Or auntie and uncle?"
"Probably... bro and my parents should all be home today."
They definitely would be.
Bro was a college kid on break, Mom hadn't mentioned any plans, and Dad was on extended leave after his business trip.
"Got it. Just tell me the toppings, and I'll handle the order."
"No way—you're the guest. We'll order."
"Still..."
"We've got it."
She nodded at that.
"...Okay, fine."
Watching her nod, we waved goodbye.
"See you soon."
"Catch you later."
We split off and headed home, but...
...trouble hit right away.
...My whole family had suddenly bailed from the house.
I immediately texted Im Lua: 'I'm home alone—is that cool?'
Meaning, 'I'll come to your place.'
She seemed totally fine with it—even offered to order the pizza herself.
I tried talking her out of it but ended up convinced, so I nodded and accepted.
Fine, whatever. Let's just roll with it.
If I can enjoy it, that is.