Episode 14: Studying for the Exam
The weekend passed by quickly.
“Alright, everyone, wake up and pay attention.”
The students, suffering from Monday blues, were sprawled over their desks like corpses.
The homeroom teacher shook his head and tapped the podium at the front of the classroom.
“You all know there’s an exam on Wednesday, right?”
A wave of murmurs spread across the room.
“Oh, we’re screwed.”
“I haven’t studied at all.”
The teacher chuckled as if he had expected this reaction.
“Cut the whining. First, I’ll tell you the exam syllabus, so take notes.”
One by one, the test topics appeared on the board.
The students grumbled as they reluctantly started writing them down in their notebooks.
“And one more important thing.”
At the teacher’s words, all eyes turned to him.
“Anyone who scores below 70 will have to attend remedial classes. So if you don’t want to study, go ahead and slack off.”
“What?! No way!”
The classroom instantly erupted into chaos.
“Teacher, this is too much!”
“Yeah! The test covers way too much material!”
The students all voiced their complaints, but the teacher remained unfazed.
“Quiet down. This is a school policy, not something I decided.”
He lightly tapped the podium again to regain their attention.
“Besides, if you prepare properly, you’ll pass. I’ve given you the syllabus, and you have enough time to study. So relax and do your best.”
After class, Jinyoung approached me.
“Hey, have you studied? A 70-point cutoff is pretty tough.”
“Nope.”
Jinyoung shook his head in disbelief.
“Man, remedial classes are a pain. You won’t even be able to go to the PC café after school.”
Ah, so this guy is worried about missing his bus to the gaming world.
“Well, at least I know someone who’s even less worried than I am.”
I glanced over at Yuna, who was sitting next to me.
Noticing my gaze, she closed her textbook with an annoyed expression.
“Hey, Kim Dohyun! You’re talking about me, aren’t you?!”
Yep. That’s right.
“And what if I am?”
“I was planning to study, okay?!”
Jinyoung smirked and teased her.
“Seo Yuna? Studying? Yeah, right.”
“And what about you?! I could totally score at least 70 if I really tried…!”
Yuna looked angry, but her voice trailed off at the end.
‘Anyone can see she’s not confident.’
I shrugged and opened my notebook.
“Anyway, aren’t you going to study?”
“…Huh?”
Jinyoung scoffed at my question, then suddenly returned to his seat.
He rummaged through his bag, pulled something out, and dramatically slapped a white sheet of paper onto his desk.
What is this? Did he make a cheat sheet or something?
“You dare to lecture me about studying? How arrogant, Kim Dohyun.”
Curious, I picked up the paper.
“Ah, ah! That, my friend, is my entrance exam report card.”
Printed on it were his subject scores and class ranking.
97, 100, 94…
I blinked and looked over the report card again.
This guy… what a surprise. Every subject was over 90?
No wonder he’s so quick-witted.
Wait a minute… if I play this right…
“Hey, why have you been hiding the fact that you’re this good at studying?”
Hearing my praise, he smirked proudly and shrugged.
“I wasn’t hiding it. You just never cared about my grades.”
Lee Jinyoung had always been just another background character—a classmate, nothing more. I never knew he had this hidden side to him.
“So, you see? I’m different from you guys.”
He waved his report card in the air, showing it off.
“Enjoy your remedial classes. I’ll be having the time of my life while you guys suffer.”
I sighed and spun my pen between my fingers.
Honestly, I hadn’t studied in ages, so I wasn’t sure if I’d pass this test.
Looks like there’s only one way…
I slung an arm over Jinyoung’s shoulder.
“Hey, Jinyoung. You know you’re my favorite friend, right? You even helped me out during that courage training exercise.”
“Yeah, I appreciate that.”
“And you always save me a seat on the bus?”
“Of course. Thanks to that, my game rank has skyrocketed.”
I grinned and gave his shoulder a light pat.
“See? You really are my one and only best friend.”
He gave me an awkward look but then smiled, touched.
“Obviously! We’re best friends forever!”
As expected, this guy is too easy.
“Then, as my best friend, you wouldn’t mind doing me a tiny favor, right?”
“What favor? What could you possibly need from me?”
Smirking, I pointed at Yuna.
“Teach us how to study. Her too.”
“What?! Me?!”
Yuna, who had been silently listening, shot up from her seat in protest.
“Why am I suddenly included?!”
“Well, do you want to spend three days in remedial classes while all your friends are posting on Instagram?”
“That… that’s true, but…”
I nodded at her.
“It’s easier if we study together.”
Jinyoung let out a deep sigh, rubbing his temples.
“And you’re not even going to ask for my opinion?”
“I believe you’re not the kind of heartless guy who would turn his back on his friends.”
“…Ugh, fine. I don’t have a choice, do I?”
And just like that, an unlikely study group was formed.
*
“Hey, Dohyun.”
“What.”
“I don’t think I can turn this monkey into a human.”
Jinyoung groaned, clutching his forehead as he sat at the café table.
It seemed teaching Yuna was proving to be a challenge.
Damn, I was hoping to slack off and take it easy.
Is his patience already running out?
“Every time I teach her something, she forgets what I explained earlier. Is she even human? She’s more like a monkey.”
“Hey! Watch how you talk!”
Yuna slammed the table, fuming.
Just how bad is she…?
Jinyoung let out a sigh deep enough to shake the earth and opened his workbook again before pointing at Yuna.
“Alright, Seo Yuna. Solve the problem I just explained.”
“Uh… the molecular formula for water was… what was it again?”
Sigh…
I could feel the resentment in her gaze. Somehow, I even started to feel guilty toward her.
I stepped between the two and tried to mediate the situation.
“Hey, take a break for a bit. I’ll try explaining it to her.”
“Be careful. You might go from a non-smoker to a smoker. For the first time in my life, I feel like I need a cigarette.”
With that, Jinyoung immediately stepped outside the café for some fresh air.
With a sulky expression, Yuna crossed her arms and let out a deep sigh.
“What the hell? So what if someone doesn’t know something? Does he have to be that harsh?”
I glanced at the open workbook and chuckled.
“You just don’t have a habit of studying. But let me ask you one thing—what did you just say was the molecular formula of water?”
Yuna hesitated for a moment, avoiding my gaze. Then, cautiously, she answered.
“…H… H₃O?”
Yep. Definitely a monkey.
“It’s H₂O. Jinyoung told you that at least ten times just now, and you already forgot?”
Yuna’s face turned red as she gripped the workbook tightly and shouted.
“Hey! I’m trying my best, okay?! Why is this stuff so damn hard?!”
I let out a deep sigh, leaning back in my chair.
“Alright, one more question. What’s the molecular formula for carbon dioxide?”
Yuna bit her lip, her face full of uncertainty.
“CO₂…? No, wait, CO₃…? Is that right?”
“Ugh… I need a cigarette.”
“Not you too! I’m only doing this stupid studying because of you….”
Wait. Is that… because of me? That’s kind of touching.
Yuna looked at me with an aggrieved expression. She did look a little cute, but unfortunately, this was a problem that couldn’t be solved by cuteness alone.
“Seo Yuna, I’ll be honest with you. The problem here… is your brain.”
“So you’re saying I’m stupid?”
“Not stupid… just, uh, a bit of a blockhead?”
“HEY!”
Yuna slammed the table in frustration before opening the workbook again.
“Fine! This time, I’ll get it right. Ask me anything!”
I picked out an easy question from the workbook.
“Alright, what’s the atomic symbol for oxygen?”
“…O.”
“Correct. Now, what about hydrogen?”
“…H.”
“Good. Now, if you put those two together, what do you get?”
Yuna thought for a moment, then confidently declared:
“OH!”
“…Hah.”
I clutched my head in despair. Her confidence crumbled so easily.
“Why the hell would you combine them into OH?! You literally just said H₂O is water a second ago!”
Yuna rolled her eyes and grumbled in frustration.
“How am I supposed to remember all this? It’s way too complicated.”
At that moment, Jinyoung returned from outside. The moment he saw my face, he nodded knowingly.
“So? It wasn’t just me, right? Now you understand the greatness of this monkey?”
Yeah. You were right.
I raised my hand toward him in a gesture of resignation.
“I get it now. This isn’t something we can fix.”
Yuna, seeing us talking like this, clenched her fists and shouted.
“This is so annoying…! I’m trying my hardest, okay?!”
But to us, even her efforts no longer seemed like a glimmer of hope.
Jinyoung sat back down, trying to suppress his laughter.
“Seo Yuna, we get it. We truly do. But please, for the sake of our sanity, stop breaking our spirits.”
I nodded in agreement and made the final decision.
“Just take the remedial classes. This isn’t your fault—it’s just how the heavens willed it. Call it fate.”
“…What?”
“The outcome is too natural, too logical. We can’t fight it.”
Yuna looked between the two of us, then finally closed her workbook.
“…Fine. Whatever. I’ll just take the damn remedial classes.”
And just like that, my plan—and our study group—came to a pitiful end.