Author: Wanbi	Original Source: Novelpia
Translator: Saloi	English Source: Re:Library

While I was writing my name on the attendance sheet at work, Team Leader-nim called me over.

“Dohee, come here.”

What could it be? I don’t think I’ve done anything wrong.

“Dohee, you have a midterm exam tomorrow, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Since it’s the day before the exam, you should go home and study.”

Our company was so concerned about the trainees’ school grades that they set guidelines and would make trainees stop practicing and focus on their studies if they didn’t meet a certain percentage.

“Hey, when have I ever missed practice just for an exam?”

“I know. You handle it well on your own. But this is your first exam since you entered middle school.”

“I pay attention in class, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Really? Then can I expect you to be first in the whole school again this time as well?”

It seems like the company cares more about my grades than my Mom.

“I’ll do my best!”

“Okay. I trust you’ll do well Dohee. But if you need more time, let me know anytime.”

“Yes~”

The next morning,
When I entered the classroom, the desks had been rearranged in rows for the exam.
The students who were in charge of cleaning yesterday must have moved the desks.

‘Where’s my desk?’

As I looked around to find my desk, I spotted the back of Sohee’s head.
Since Sohee is number 25 and I am number 26, my desk is right behind Sohee’s.
I approached Sohee, placed my bag down on my seat, and pulled Sohee’s cheek while she worked on her workbook solving problems.

“Why are you studying only now? Didn’t I tell you to study in advance?”

Sohee slapped my arm as if it hurt, and said.

“I already did. I’m just reviewing now…”

“Ah, really?”

I thought it was obvious Sohee hadn’t studied, because well it’s Sohee.
Sohee, now freed from me, looked at me with a tearful expression.

“Sob…”

“Heh, sorry.”

I should probably review as well.
I sat down and started skimming through the textbook when, not long after, the homeroom Teacher-nim entered the classroom.

“Hey kids, did everyone study a lot?”

“””“No~”””

The Teacher-nim sighed and said.

“That’s not something to brag about.”
“Remember that today is the exam day, so you need to turn in your phones. Everyone submit them quickly.”

“”“Yes~”””

“And as I mentioned yesterday, students from number 16 to 31 will take the exam in Class 1 Grade 2, so when the bell rings, students from 16 to 31 will go up to that room.”

Starting from middle school, to prevent cheating, exams are administered with a mix of people in different grades, so I also had to move upstairs.

The bell rings.
I packed my bag and headed to Class 1 Grade 2 with Sohee.
When I arrived at the classroom, I sat down and began reviewing again.

Five minutes later, the pre-exam bell rang, and the supervising teacher came in.

“Okay, everyone, put away what you’re doing and make sure only writing utensils are on your desks.”

Once all the students were ready to take the test, Teacher-nim distributed the OMR sheets and exam papers.

“Alright, the person in front, pass the papers to the person behind you.”

The exam start bell rang.

The first period exam was Korean.

I started solving the problems.
After finishing and reviewing all the questions, I noticed I still had 30 minutes left.

I have been tired lately, so I guess I should take a nap.

I lay down on my desk and closed my eyes.
Just as I was about to doze off, someone tapped my head.

Ah.
I was about to fall asleep…

I had no choice but to lift my head.
In front of me stood the exam proctor.
Teacher-nim spoke to me in a hushed whisper.

“Student, please wake up.”

I pointed at my completed exam paper and OMR card and whispered.

“I’ve finished all of it…”

Teacher-nim cleared their throat awkwardly and said.

“Uh, still, double check it.”

Even though I had already reviewed everything.

I’ll pretend to review it a bit and then go back to napping.

I open my eyelids to the sound of the exam bell ringing.

“Okay, everyone, place your hands above your heads, pass the OMR sheets forward, and the people at the back please collect them.”

Wow, I feel rejuvenated after a 20 minute nap.

The next exam was history.
Since there might be questions about specific years, I should look at the timeline.

As I took out the history textbook to review the timeline, Sohee handed me her exam papers and asked.

“Dohee, what’s the correct answer for question 14?”

“That’s number 4. The rest are metaphors, but only number 4 is personification.”

“Ah… I got it wrong. Sob…”

“Did you solve the rest well?”

“Probably…?”

“Let me take a look.”

I took Sohee’s exam paper and compared her answers with mine.

What’s this?
It’s almost identical to mine.

“There’s only two differences in the multiple-choice questions, but you did well in all the short answer questions.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

I thought Sohee was kind of dumb, but…

“Hehe, I’ll get praised by my mom.”

After finishing the first day of exams and returning to the class, I was waiting for the answer key to be announced to grade my papers.

Soon, the class representative came into the classroom holding the answer key they received from the Teacher’s office, shouting.

“Everyone, I’m going to call out the scores starting from Korean!”

“”“Yes~”””

“Okay starting with number one, it’s one, number two is three, number three is…”

“Number twenty is four. The multiple-choice section is over, and now I’ll call out the short answer questions! Short answer question 1: Only pursuing monetary gains…”

“… Short answer question 4: A is a work that compares spring to a cat, and B compares the heart to a river ferry.”

For now, I got all the Korean questions correct.

“Now, I’ll announce the history exam answers!”

Although some partial points might be deducted in short answer questions, I got all the questions correct in today’s exams.
Since I was challenging myself to see how long I could maintain a perfect score, I was anxious about even getting one question wrong.

How did Sohee do?

When I looked at Sohee, she was grinning while holding her exam paper.
I approached Sohee, giving her a bear hug, and asked.

“Did you do well?”

Sohee replied with a bright smile.

“Yes!”

“How many did you get wrong?”

“Four in total!”

Wow…

“Sohee may have the personality of an airhead, but her brain isn’t half-bad, huh?”

“Is that a compliment?”

Maybe not.
It seems like both might be dimwitted.

“Of course it’s a compliment.”

“Hehe. How many did Dohee get wrong?”

“I got perfect marks.”

“Really?”

I showed Sohee my exam paper on my desk.

“Aren’t I cool?”

Sohee nodded.

“Then say, thank you for being my friend.”
“Thank you for being my friend!”

Just as I told her to do it, she did.

Day 2 of the midterms.
Previously, subjects like ethics, technology, home economics, physical education, and art were also part of the exams, but now they have all become performance evaluations. So today’s exams were only on two subjects, English and science.

There’s no need to review English, so I should review science.

I took out the science textbook and started reviewing the concepts when a second-year boy from the seat next to me tapped on my desk.

“Yes?”

“Could you lend me a pencil?”

“A pencil?”

“Yes, I left mine at home.”

Does he really have to borrow from me?

I took out an extra pencil from my pencil case and handed it to the boy.

“Please return it after you’re done.”

“Yes, thank you.”

After the boy received the pencil and returned to his seat, his friend, who was sitting in front of him, poked him and made a vulgar sound.

“Ooooo~”

So irritating.

The second period bell rang, and the midterm exams ended.
There was an atmosphere of liberation in the classroom now that the exams were over.

Sohee was also jumping up and down, saying that the exam was over.

“Exams are over~”

Sohee came up to me and said,

“Dohee! What are you doing after school today?”

“I have to go to the company and practice.”

Sohee immediately became gloomy again.
Is this kid bipolar?

“So, we can’t hang out like this today…?”

“Yeah. You should hang out with Sujin.”

“Sob… I want to hang out with Dohee…”

Sigh, what am I going to do with this loner?

“Want me to hang out with you?”

Sohee’s face brightened up again.

“Really?”

“Yeah, since the exam ended early, I’ll hang out with you for about 2 hours before I have to go to the company.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really. So hurry up and finish grading, then let’s go.”

“Okay!”

After we returned to the classroom and finished grading, I got 100 points in both English and Science.

Phew.

As I was packing up, Hyeju came over and asked me.

“Dohee, did you do well on this exam?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Really? Then how many did you get wrong?”

“Well, I got everything right… but I’m not sure how the short answer questions will turn out.”

Hyeju shouted in surprise.

“Really!? You got everything right?”

Kids who were attracted by Haeju’s voice started gathering one by one.

“Someone got a perfect score on the exam? Who?”
“I think someone said Dohee?”
“Really? Was Dohee always good at studying?”
“Didn’t you know? Dohee was always first in the whole school back in elementary.”
“I wasn’t at the same school, so how would I know?”
“There were a lot of rumors about it.”
“So, is that true for other things too?”
“What stuff?”
“That she’s an idol trainee.”
“That’s probably true too.”
“Oh really? I thought people were saying that just because she’s pretty.”
“There is a video of Dohee dancing from her 6th-grade school trip. I’ll send it to you when I get home.”

F̲u̲c̲k̲, why do you have that?

Anyway, it seemed like I’d successfully drawn everyone’s attention, because my classmates surrounded me and started asking questions.

“Dohee? Are you an idol trainee?”
“Dohee, which celebrities have you met?”
“Which company are you with?”
“Are you debuting in a girl group?”
“Do you have a boyfriend?”
“Hey, trainee’s aren’t allowed to have one?”
“Why not? It’s possible.”
“Even if there isn’t, it’s not you.”
“Shut up.”

Ah.
My head hurts.

It was only after Teacher-nim came in to conclude the class, and had the kids seated, that I was finally able to escape.

After the class was over.
Before the kids could catch me, I quickly took Sohee out of the classroom.

But then someone else grabs my arm.

‘Ah, who is it now?’

Turning around, I saw the second-year student who borrowed the pencil standing there.
I had forgotten to get the pencil back.

The second-year student returned the pencil and said.

“Thanks for lending me the pencil. I used it well.”

“Yes.”

I was about to take the pencil and leave, but the student wouldn’t let go.

“I’m grateful, so could you give me your number? I want to send you a gifticon¹.”

Ah.
Seriously, I knew this would happen to me.