* * *
“Yoo Jihak! Ha Dojae!”
At that moment, a shrill voice came from behind.
Park Hyemin had spotted the two and was running towards them with delight.
“Did you study well for the exams?”
“Why are you asking while looking at me?”
“It’s pointless to ask Dojae.”
“Oh… right.”
Anyway, there was no problem since Dojae always did well on his own.
If there was a problem…
‘Am I the problem?’
This was the first exam he was facing since returning from hell to reality.
And naturally, he was quite nervous about it.
Although Dojae had helped him, he still felt anxious and tense.
“But since I studied hard, I’ll get good grades.”
Jihak’s face turned gloomy at Dojae’s meaningless cheer.
Thus began the week of final exams.
It had been a long time since Jihak had taken an exam, and at first, he felt surrounded by tension.
But as time passed, he realized he knew the answers to many of the questions, and his confidence grew.
‘Dojae taught me well.’
He could tell how much effort Dojae had put into teaching him.
‘It feels like meeting Baal again.’
The more he looked at Dojae, the more he was reminded of Baal, whom he had taken as a lieutenant in hell.
Jihak had managed to endure the long years in hell and rise to the top not just because of his power, but also thanks to Baal’s wisdom.
And so the first exam began.
Coincidentally, the first exam was math, which caused groans to erupt from students all around, but Jihak was different.
‘It’s better this way. If you memorize a few formulas, the rest is easy.’
As long as he knew the basic formulas, the rest naturally fell into place.
Moreover, Jihak, who was well-versed in magical knowledge, found high school math to be a piece of cake.
Rustle— rustle
While some students started dozing off right after the exam began, Jihak easily solved the problems.
‘Great. Math is definitely my thing.’
Fifteen minutes into the exam, Jihak had solved all the problems and marked his answer sheet, then laid down on his desk.
Some students, who saw him trying to solve the problems earlier, sneered at him, not believing he could have solved them all in just fifteen minutes.
“Alright. Time’s up. Put down your pens and collect the answer sheets from the back.”
After the first exam ended smoothly, Dojae immediately approached Jihak.
“How did it go? Think you did well?”
“Yeah, it’s math. As long as you know the basic formulas, you can solve everything.”
“That’s true, but…”
Dojae felt a bit uneasy seeing Jihak’s overly confident demeanor and glanced at Jihak’s test paper.
“Huh…?”
Dojae had seen Jihak lay down on his desk after about fifteen minutes.
He worried that Jihak might have given up midway, but looking at the test paper, he realized it was just his misconception.
“Why, did I get everything wrong?”
“No, you got everything right…”
“Really? It wasn’t that hard.”
“Impressive. You finished it quickly.”
Dojae couldn’t hide his amazement at Jihak’s perfectly solved math problems.
It wasn’t a half-hearted effort but a flawless execution.
“I couldn’t finish it in fifteen minutes myself.”
Seeing Dojae’s astonished expression, Jihak thought,
‘If he saw the equations required for 4th or 5th circle magic, he’d be shocked.’
The math taught in high school was different from the math required for magic, so it just took some time to adjust.
With a good start, Jihak gained confidence and easily tackled the subsequent exams.
‘Since I know all the material, the exams are no big deal.’
Surprisingly, most of the exam questions were from the notes Dojae had organized for him.
Of course, there were one or two challenging questions that even Jihak couldn’t solve, but the rest were too easy.
“Finally, it’s over.”
After finishing the last exam, Jihak felt relieved and went to find Dojae with his last test paper.
Dojae was already surrounded by students who had come to compare answers with him, and he handed his test paper to Jihak as if it were routine.
Over the past few days, checking answers with Dojae right after the exams had become a sort of ritual.
The teachers would reveal the correct answers shortly after the exams anyway, but Dojae’s answers were always spot-on.
“Hey, hey. He’s calling out the answers.”
One student prepared to announce the answers written on Dojae’s test paper.
“Hold on! Mark with a red pen.”
“You should have brought it earlier. Just call them out!”
Ignoring the chaos, the student began calling out the answers from number one.
“Number one is three!”
“Aww!”
“Number two is four!”
“Yes!”
With each answer called out, sighs and cheers erupted from different parts of the room.
Jihak compared the answers with his own test paper.
Rustle—
Normally, his test paper would be marked with raindrops of incorrect answers, but this time, circles indicating correct answers kept appearing.
Finally, after calling out the last answer, Jihak’s continuous circles stopped, and for the first time, raindrops of an incorrect answer appeared on his test paper.
“Ah, I missed the last one.”
He muttered in disappointment.
Suddenly, many students were glaring at Jihak.
“What… only missed one?”
“Are you bragging?”
He hadn’t meant for anyone to hear him; it was just an expression of his own disappointment.
Feeling awkward under the envious and jealous stares of the other students, Jihak cleared his throat and approached Dojae.
“It’s over. Finally done with these tedious exams.”
Jihak had been nervous before the exams.
He worried about not being able to keep up with Dojae’s teaching.
“You did well in the exams. At this rate, I might have to catch up with you.”
Dojae was surprised to see Jihak scoring higher than he expected.
Jihak had scored a perfect 100 in math and mostly stayed in the 90s for the other exams.
“Who taught you? I think I know almost everything now that I’ve memorized what you organized for me.”
“You memorized all that?”
“Yeah. Wasn’t that the point?”
“…….”
Dojae was at a loss for words as he looked at Jihak.
The notes he had organized were just the basics and key points, but it was still a considerable amount. It was because Jihak had missed many parts, but memorizing all of it… even Dojae found it difficult.
“Thanks to you, I nailed the test.”
“No, if I knew it would be like this, I would have just told you to memorize the textbook.”
“Huh? Is that possible too?”
Seeing Jihak say he could memorize the textbook without hesitation, Dojae shook his head.
But unlike Dojae, Jihak was very satisfied with the results of the test so far.
‘It’s beyond my expectations.’
He thought an average score of 80 on the finals would be enough. But now, exceeding his target score, Jihak couldn’t help but smile.
“What do you want to eat?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Anything. Just say it. I’ll buy it for you.”
Jihak always made sure to return favors, whether it was revenge or gratitude.
“Let’s eat tteokbokki from the place nearby. The spicy one.”
“Spicy? Sounds good.”
When stressed, spicy food was just the thing. Especially the tteokbokki sold at the snack shop in front of the school was a favorite among the kids for its spicy flavor.
“I want to go too!”
At that moment, Hyemin ran up from behind and squeezed between Jihak and Dojae.
“Why are you here?”
When Jihak asked, Hyemin looked at him with sparkling eyes and replied.
‘Shampoo scent…’
The subtle scent of shampoo from Hyemin’s bobbed hair, who had come so close, wasn’t unpleasant.
As the class president, Hyemin was quite popular among the kids due to her friendly personality. She could get along with anyone without hesitation, so her actions never seemed malicious or annoying.
“Can’t I go with you?”
“I wanted to repay Dojae for helping me study this time.”
“And me? What about copying my notes? Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“…….”
Jihak had nothing to say. It was true that copying Hyemin’s notes had been a huge help to him.
In the end, Jihak decided to take Hyemin along.
Recently, as the three of them studied together, Hyemin had become quite close with Dojae and Jihak.
“Alright, let’s go.”
“Yay!”
“But did you do well on the test?”
At Jihak’s question, Hyemin nodded calmly.
“Not bad. I might not be first, but I can aim for second place.”
First place was already a given for Dojae. Later, they found out that Dojae was in the top 100 nationwide.
He had never missed the top spot in the school, and the teachers were eager to see which university he would attend.
Hyemin was also one of the top students, but she couldn’t surpass Dojae.
However, studying together this time had noticeably improved her grades.
“Then you shouldn’t stay still either.”
“No, I also benefited from studying together. It was good for review.”
Hyemin hadn’t helped Jihak study with any particular expectations. Dojae had become close to Jihak because he had helped him, and Hyemin just lent a hand.
“Next time, I’ll treat you. Deal?”
“Good.”
Deals should always be clear. If you give something, you should get something in return.
So the three of them headed to the snack shop in front of the school.
“Auntie, we’d like spicy tteokbokki, sundae, and two skewers of fish cake. Extra liver and lungs, please.”
Passing through the entrance, Hyemin placed the order and sat down in an empty spot, familiar with the routine.
‘Seriously… but it’s not annoying.’
Though Jihak could have complained about Hyemin ordering without consulting them, he didn’t bother. After all, tteokbokki, sundae, and fish cake were the standard combo at a snack shop.
And…
Jihak added the final touch by ordering some fried food.
“Two servings of mixed fried food, please.”
“I’ll get it ready quickly. Sit tight.”
They had ordered quite a lot for three people, but it wasn’t a problem since they were hungry high school students in their growth spurt.
“Here you go. Eat up.”
“Thank you.”
The food they had ordered came out before they knew it. The three hungry high schoolers began to devour everything as if they were possessed.
When Jihak saw Hyemin pick up a plump squid tempura for the second time, he shot her a sharp look and said,
“Hey, I had dibs on that.”
“There’s no such thing. Whoever eats it first gets it.”
But Hyemin didn’t back down either. She was not one to yield when it came to food.
Seeing that there wasn’t enough, the generous snack shop owner added an extra serving of squid tempura to defuse the situation.
“Ugh, I’m so full.”
“Yeah, that was great.”
Satisfied, Jihak smiled as he patted his belly. Hyemin and Dojae, also full, wiped the tteokbokki sauce from their mouths and finished off with the extra drinks they had ordered, marking the end of their feast.
“What should we do now?”
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