We were enjoying our snack time when Ban Eun-hyeol’s fingertip touched the corner of my mouth.
Startled, I looked at him, and he lifted one corner of his lips, teasingly saying, “Are you really a kid? How can you eat so messily, getting it all over your mouth?”
I pushed his hand away from my flushed cheek and leaned back slightly.
He then brushed the breadcrumbs off his hand onto the tray and chuckled, “I already wiped it all off.”
Saying that, he picked up a piece of toast and took a big bite.
A few breadcrumbs got on the corner of his mouth too.
I decided to observe him without saying anything for a moment.
Ban Eun-hyeol, completely unaware, began teaching me, with breadcrumbs still clinging to his mouth.
While he was seriously teaching, the breadcrumbs that wouldn’t fall off no matter how much his lips moved kept catching my eye.
Seeing his clumsy appearance, my previously stiff body gradually relaxed and became comfortable.
I was intentionally holding back my laughter, wondering when he would realize it.
He gave me a puzzled look and unconsciously ran a finger across his mouth.
Seeing the breadcrumbs on his finger, he licked his lips once, then burst out laughing in disbelief.
“Wow, I wiped yours off, but you’re so mean.”
“Don’t expect too much from me.”
He complained playfully, expressing his disappointment, and then let out a bitter laugh at my firm response.
But as if he had never shown such an expression, he returned to his neutral face and immediately turned his gaze to the textbook.
He then created a study atmosphere again.
***
The day flew by really fast.
There were moments in between when time seemed to drag, but now the sun was already setting.
When it was time to go home, Ban Eun-hyeol, who came out to see me off, said something terrible.
“Come again tomorrow.”
“Don’t you need to study for yourself?”
Come again tomorrow?
Even if he helps a friend study as if it were his own, shouldn’t he have time to study for his own exams?
It wasn’t because I absolutely didn’t want to come tomorrow.
Ban Eun-hyeol also needed to study to maintain his top grades, right?
But Ban Eun-hyeol’s answer to my earnest question was very simple.
“I’m done.”
Done studying? Wasn’t there no end to studying?
But Ban Eun-hyeol’s expression was so relaxed, as if he was stating an obvious fact.
In the end, I had to go to Ban Eun-hyeol’s house to study even on Sunday.
After a period that was productive in a way, but also hellish, the day of the final exam finally arrived.
***
From the morning, the TV was reporting news of a sudden gate appearance.
Starting the first morning of the final exam with news of a sudden gate felt different.
‘Before I was transmigrated, I would just go support sudden gates without any exam schedules.’
Now, I even study diligently for exams, don’t run away using gates as an excuse, and even go to school to take the prepared exams.
It felt especially poignant watching the sudden gate news, which was more familiar to me than school or exams.
“You’ve been studying hard lately, just do as well as you’ve studied.”
“I’ll do well on the exam this time!”
My dad, who had been sitting and watching the news with a serious expression, said something to me as I was about to leave.
I opened the front door, giving an answer that seemed directed at my dad but was actually more for myself.
‘Normally, on a morning like this, I would have thought, ‘I wish a sudden gate would open somewhere.”
And then I wouldn’t have gone to take the exam, using that as an excuse.
I pulled my clothes tighter against the weather, which felt even colder today, and hurried my steps towards school.
Because I had watched the news in the morning, I wondered if a sudden gate might appear on the way, but nothing happened.
Normally, I would have just gone to school without thinking.
This time, I felt like luck was on my side so that I could do well on the exam I had prepared so hard for.
Just as I had sat down in a different seat because we had to sit in order of our numbers, Ban Eun-hyeol, who had arrived at school earlier than me, placed his hand on my head and said, “Do well on your exam.”
“Oh, you too.”
Then, seeming to barely register my answer, he coolly returned to his seat.
My eyes, unconsciously watching his back, caught a frightening sight.
Yeon Ha-yeon, with bloodshot eyes from exhaustion, was continuously mumbling something,
God knows how much she had studied.
She was probably reviewing important content from the exam scope before taking the test, and it was quite a scary scene.
Eun Bada was not much different.
Once she got into a competition with Yeon Ha-yeon, she had studied with terrifying intensity, not taking her eyes off the textbook until the very end.
This was completely opposite to me, who had only briefly skimmed a small summary that I had put together, thinking I had learned enough from Ban Eun-hyeol’s teaching.
***
“Everyone, put your textbooks in your drawers. The test is starting.”
The teacher entered, announcing the start of the first exam, and the test papers were distributed.
I quickly skimmed the paper to see what kind of questions came out. I couldn’t help but be surprised.
‘What is he? He’s a complete psychic!’
Concepts that Ban Eun-hyeol had said would definitely appear on the test were visible everywhere.
Seeing the considerable number of problems, I felt a surge of confidence.
It was the confidence that I could somehow rise to at least a middle rank in this exam.
‘So, kids who are good at studying can pinpoint what will come out on the test like a psychic.’
Thinking that, I felt a renewed sense of awe for them.
The surprise continued in the next subject, and the one after that.
Every time I received a test paper, I saw so many concepts that Ban Eun-hyeol had taught me, and problems similar to ones I had solved before.
I spent the entire test time with a big smile on my face, working through the problems.
‘This time, I really have a good feeling.’
As soon as the last subject’s exam ended and the teacher collected the papers and left, the classroom became noisy.
The other students were busy talking about the problems they had just solved, trying to compare answers.
Amidst the boisterous students, there were some noticeably calm friends sitting: the Four Heavenly Kings and Yeon Ha-yeon.
Without anyone needing to say anything, we naturally gathered at the back of the classroom to talk.
“Oh, Dana’s expression is good! You must have done well on the test!”
“I did pretty well, thanks to someone’s diligent teaching.”
“That’s right. Who taught you?”
“Thanks.”
Yeon Ha-yeon, seeing my bright expression, was the first to bring up the test.
In response, I looked up at Ban Eun-hyeol, and he nodded with a satisfied expression, smiling and lifting his chin.
It could have seemed arrogant, but this time, I couldn’t help but acknowledge him.
“Guys, I’m going to call out the answers. Please be quiet.”
Meanwhile, Eun Bada, who had returned from the faculty office, quieted the students and slowly called out the answers.
My lips curved higher and higher with the increasing number of circles.
Looking at my score, I was excited about my rank for this exam.
I felt like I could proudly show my report card to my parents with this score.
“Dana, Dana, did you do well on the test?!”
“When the answers were being called out earlier, Dana’s face kept getting brighter.”
“Oh, what? You really only got three wrong?”
Ban Eun-hyeol, seeing my score in the rote-learning subjects where cramming is most effective, genuinely admired and praised me.
At that moment, Han Ji-bin, who knew my midterm exam score, stepped forward and shouted, “Then let’s go to karaoke to celebrate Dana doing well on her test!”
“Isn’t that just what you want to do?”
***
Han Ji-bin, who was celebrating my improved score and patting me on the back, looked a bit embarrassed at Ji Gang-han’s blunt remark.
Just as I was about to smile and say yes to karaoke.
Vibration
Simultaneously, the phones in Yeon Ha-yeon and the Four Heavenly Kings’ pockets vibrated.
They pulled out their phones and checked the messages, their expressions twisting at the same time, as if on cue.
“What’s all this about?”
“I don’t know. Sounds like something’s happening in Busan?”
“An unprecedented, unique type of large-scale gate has opened in Busan. All awakened individuals within the top 10 ranks are requested to participate in the investigation of this gate.”
As soon as Ji Gang-han read the message aloud, Ban Eun-hyeol said irritably, “How unique could it be to summon all of us?”
“I was planning to rest a bit after the exams. But now I have to go all the way to Busan.”
Eun Bada also sighed, not hiding his annoyed expression.
I became curious what kind of gate had opened to gather such high-ranking awakened individuals.
‘Could it be that a path to another dimension has been discovered?’
If so, it would have already been headline news, but there was no specific report about Busan in the news.
Even if I was curious, I didn’t have the qualification unless I went as a ‘nada’, so there was no particular reason for me to follow my friends to Busan.
“How can something happen right after the exams end?”
“I wanted to have some fun today… Dana, can you be alone?”
“I was going to have a cozy date with Dana after the exams, but what is this?!”
Ji Gang-han, scratching the back of his head with clear annoyance; Han Ji-bin, holding my hand with a tearful expression as he asked; and Yeon Ha-yeon, complaining about a date plan I didn’t even know about.
It was obvious that none of them wanted to go to Busan.
“I am curious about what kind of gate it is. Be sure to tell me all about it when you get back.”
“It would be great if you could come with us.”
“Right! Should I contact the Dungeon Management Bureau? If I ask, they’ll say yes!”
Even when I spoke in a soothing tone, asking them to tell me what the gate was like when they returned, my friends’ expressions didn’t lighten.
As soon as Yeon Ha-yeon said it would be good if I could come along, Han Ji-bin quickly pulled out his phone again from his pocket and exclaimed.
He made the call and brightly declared that he wanted to bring a friend along.