Time passed quickly, without stopping.
A few days after the midterms ended, the October mock exam date was finally just one day away.
Today was National Foundation Day, so school was off.
However, I changed into outdoor clothes and planned to go to TT Academy.
It was to check the exam site in preparation for tomorrow’s test.
‘I thought I’d only scout the exam site beforehand for the CSAT.’
Since it’s an important exam, it required careful attention.
Before heading to the academy, I contacted Han Doa.
“Senior.”
[– I think I know why you called. Going out?]
“Yes.”
[– I’ll head to the front of the dorm right away.]
Waiting while reading, a message came from Han Doa.
It said she had arrived at my dorm.
Taking the elevator down, Han Doa was visible, waiting at the front door.
As the weather gradually cooled, the length of her clothes grew longer.
Her top was a white shirt, and her bottoms were jeans.
“Sorry.”
“Calling you out so early in the morning.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
The two of us walked quietly to the academy.
I was lost in my own thoughts, and Han Doa in hers.
Arriving at the academy, I stepped into the entrance of the classroom designated as the exam site.
Teaching assistants who had arrived early were doing simple cleaning.
They didn’t say anything particular upon seeing me.
Because there were always outside students coming for preliminary surveys.
Though it was a quiet classroom, the silence was broken by a voice from behind.
“Student Maru?”
Han Doa and I turned around.
It was the teacher who helped us register when we first came to this academy.
When we greeted him, the teacher also bowed his head.
“What a surprise?”
“You only came on the day of the exam until now.”
“…Tomorrow is an important exam.”
I answered the teacher’s question calmly.
The teacher, also roughly aware of the situation at Hakdo, quickly understood my words.
And he wore an amused expression.
“It feels like fate.”
“Did this happen because you were conscious of each other?”
“Conscious?”
As Han Doa tilted her head, the teacher continued.
“Haven’t you met?”
“Student Eun Yuri also came today.”
Han Doa’s expression hardened.
She glanced sideways at me.
From her perspective, my expression must have hardened too.
Leaving the exam site, we read the notice posted on the bulletin board.
3rd-year female science students take the exam one floor above.
“Is she still at the academy?”
“I don’t know.”
Just as our conversation ended, as if speaking of the devil, the sound of someone descending the stairs was heard.
Looking towards the stairs, Eun Yuri, wearing a beige cardigan, was coming down with a languid expression.
Her expression became varied upon making eye contact with me.
“Maru?”
“And… Han Doa.”
Eun Yuri narrowed her eyes seeing Han Doa.
She seemed puzzled as to why the two of us were together.
Lost in thought for a moment, she voiced the correct answer.
“Don’t tell me, a bodyguard?”
“Doing something meaningless.”
“Thanks to someone.”
Han Doa retorted to Eun Yuri’s ridicule.
Hearing Han Doa’s words, Eun Yuri’s eyebrows twitched.
“What are you talking about?”
“Who touched you?”
“Ridiculous.”
“I met Lee Jihye yesterday.”
Eun Yuri pressed her lips together firmly.
And she frowned.
“Meaning my opinion isn’t important.”
From Eun Yuri’s reaction, I grasped how the current situation was unfolding.
Eun Yuri probably had no intention of harming us at all.
But the thoughts of the organization called Ojakgyo were different.
Just because Eun Yuri didn’t want it didn’t mean they would leave us alone.
Lee Jihye planned to interfere with us with all her might.
“The Lee Jihye matter… haa…”
Eun Yuri, pressing a hand to her fine forehead, stayed still in that posture for a while, then looked back at us.
“Do you happen to have time?”
“If it’s okay, I’d like to talk.”
“Don’t try any funny business.”
“Han Doa, I didn’t ask you.”
Eun Yuri gazed only at me.
I examined Eun Yuri’s eyes.
Instead of her usual languid gaze, it felt clear.
“…If it’s just a little.”
“Maru?”
Han Doa was surprised by my answer.
“It’s okay.”
“It’s safe if we talk in a crowded place.”
“Still…”
“And Senior is beside me.”
“…”
Han Doa mulled over my words and smiled faintly.
“Okay, I trust you.”
Han Doa nodded, accepting my thought.
Eun Yuri saw our conversation and gave a bitter smile.
“What an enviable relationship.”
“I wish I had someone like that around too.”
“If you have something to say, let’s get it over with quickly.”
“…Let’s go to a nearby cafe.”
Leaving the academy building, we arrived at the cafe.
We each ordered drinks, and Han Doa waited at the counter.
“I’ll bring the drinks.”
“Sweet.”
Eun Yuri tossed a light joke and sat with me at a four-person table.
Eun Yuri unbuttoned her cardigan and sighed.
“The daily temperature range is severe lately.”
“It’s cold outside but hot inside, so I end up taking off clothes.”
“…We’re not exactly the type to exchange pleasantries about the weather.”
“It would be disappointing to get straight to the point.”
“Considering the relationship between us.”
As I frowned, Eun Yuri fiddled with her braided hair and smiled.
“Why make that face.”
“We’re rivals.”
I had now become accustomed to the abnormal way of thinking of the Ojakgyo executives.
Except for Seo Yoon, none were normal.
“I’ll try my best to block Ojakgyo’s interference.”
Eun Yuri threw out an unexpected proposal.
I didn’t answer her words immediately.
Perhaps taking my silence as suspicion, she added.
“Let me say this so you don’t misunderstand, I’m greatly looking forward to the match with you.”
“The opposite for me.”
“I just want to get it over with quickly.”
“You wouldn’t know.”
“An opponent I want to clash with using all my strength has appeared before my eyes, how can I not be excited.”
Eun Yuri rested her chin on her hand and observed me thoroughly.
That gaze traveled down my face, Adam’s apple, shoulders, and finally to my wrist.
“…You really resemble her.”
Curiosity arose at Eun Yuri’s mutter.
Who did she mean I resembled?
“When talking with Alice at the table, she takes a similar posture to yours.”
As the unexpected name popped out, my body flinched.
Seeing my reaction, a peculiar light entered Eun Yuri’s eyes.
“So you were acquaintances after all.”
“This is troublesome…”
“Was this the goal?”
“Flustering someone by bringing up their past?”
“No, rather, I hope you enter the exam site in the best condition.”
“This was just a means to turn my suspicion into certainty.”
After Eun Yuri’s words ended, silence lingered for a moment.
The two of us quietly listened to the song playing in the cafe.
While listening to the music, Han Doa brought the drinks.
I had iced tea, Han Doa had citron tea, and Eun Yuri had an iced americano.
“Actually, I wanted to talk with Maru alone, but seeing your eyes, that seems difficult.”
Eun Yuri sighed, looking at Han Doa glaring at her.
She stirred her iced americano with a straw and continued speaking.
“Want to hear my old story for a bit?”
“What?”
Han Doa asked back in an absurd tone.
But Eun Yuri’s expression was serious.
“Even if I say old days, how much past can I, a student, discuss.”
“Since enrolling in Hakdo… yes, let’s start from the freshman days.”
“Why should Maru spend time listening to your past?”
…Honestly, I also agreed with Han Doa.
I already knew Eun Yuri’s past well.
However, that thought vanished completely at Eun Yuri’s following words.
“It’s also related to Alice.”
There was a possibility that Eun Yuri’s and Alice’s paths had changed due to my intervention in this world.
“Since Ojakgyo troubled you, think of it as compensation for that.”
“Knowing the enemy well leads to invincibility, right?”
Eun Yuri’s intention in telling me that story as compensation was obvious.
Since she knew Alice and I had an unusual relationship, she intended to tell that story as compensation.
I couldn’t refuse.
Eun Yuri drank her coffee and opened her mouth again.
“There are many doctors in my family.”
“My parents themselves are hospital directors, and my relatives have all opened their own clinics.”
At first glance, it could sound like boasting, but looking at Eun Yuri’s face, it was clear that wasn’t her intention.
“It was an environment where they naturally had no choice but to care about their child’s academics.”
“Ah, don’t misunderstand.”
“I didn’t dislike that environment.”
“Because I picked up the pen by my own will.”
Eun Yuri half-closed her eyes as if recalling the past.
“Achieving goals consistently through academics like that… I became arrogant, not knowing how high the sky was.”
“My chuunibyou phase seemed to be like that.”
[TL Note: “Chuunibyou” is a Japanese slang term that literally means “middle school second-year syndrome.]
“The delusion that my brain was differentiated from others.”
“Isn’t that somewhat objective though.”
When I stated my honest impression, Eun Yuri’s eyes widened.
Her face showed she thought I was just saying empty words.
It wasn’t empty words.
I was able to step into the realm of perfect scores by dedicating this life to studying, combined with the knowledge from my past life.
In contrast, Eun Yuri was a natural genius.
Living only a single life, she stepped into that realm despite being granted less time than me.
If I solve problems based strictly on inevitable ways of thinking, Eun Yuri develops diverse solutions with various ideas.
“…I didn’t expect you to say that.”
Flustered, Eun Yuri blushed slightly and continued speaking.
“Anyway, full of conceit, I entered Hakdo and met a certain girl.”
“I think it was the turning point of my life.”
Both Han Doa and I intuited who that girl was.
“Blonde hair sparkling under the spring sunlight, a melancholic expression of someone who hasn’t found joy in life….”
“She was a woman so precarious she seemed like she would explode if touched wrongly.”
“…Alice.”
“Her path, as you might have expected, was unconventional.”
“She forcibly crushed the jealousy and envy directed towards her and built her own faction.”
Eun Yuri rubbed the coffee cup with her finger.
“When I asked for the reason later, it was absurd.”
“Her mother’s instructions… and the reason that Hakdo’s students were annoying.”
“…”
“After watching from afar like that, she finally approached me.”
“Said she wanted to build a system and asked for my cooperation.”
“In a way, she and I are the originators of Ojakgyo.”
Up to here, it was similar to the setting I knew.
The first executives of Ojakgyo were Alice and Eun Yuri.
Subsequent executives were incorporated by Alice subjugating them.
Only Eun Yuri was the executive whom Alice earnestly(?) requested to join.
“You must have accepted.”
Eun Yuri tilted her head when Han Doa spoke.
“I refused though?”
“What…”
“I wasn’t interested.”
“Power plays aren’t my taste.”
“So she asked me again.”
“How she could make me accept.”
Eun Yuri smiled as if amused.
“So I just threw it out without much thought.”
“That I would follow if it was someone worth following.”
Han Doa’s expression showed she didn’t quite understand Eun Yuri’s words.
But I grasped the meaning of Eun Yuri’s words.
“Did Alice show results through academics.”
“Right.”
“She took the mock exam held at TT Academy and handed me the report card.”
Eun Yuri added that she was surprised seeing that report card.
“Interest sparked.”
“The fact that a woman who went around beating up rebelling students without even time to study possessed that level of academic ability.”
Because Alice, like Kim Noeul, had the makings of an all-rounder.
“At the same time, I was excited about what kind of incidents this woman would cause.”
“So I got completely swept away.”
Listening to the story, I sipped my iced tea.
Even though I knew most of the setting, hearing it directly from Eun Yuri gave it an extraordinary sense of realism.
“Since then, Ojakgyo expanded its power without a hitch.”
“In the meantime, I also became interested in administration, so nurturing Ojakgyo was fun.”
Finishing her words, Eun Yuri erased her smile.
“But unlike me, who gradually found enjoyment, Alice always had a blank expression….”
“Rather than being interested in Ojakgyo itself… yes, it felt like she used Ojakgyo as a means to vent her resentment.”
My hand trembled at Eun Yuri’s words.
In the original story, Alice ruled Hakdo as pure evil.
But what Eun Yuri was saying now differed from the facts I knew.
The act of taking out her pain on Hakdo.
I know why she became like that, and who the cause was.
‘That incident must have hit you incredibly hard.’
After the orphanage fire, the face of Alice I saw in the hospital bed came to mind.
She had shed tears with the most sorrowful expression in the world.
“So I was curious.”
“Because that Alice changed after your appearance.”
“Even I, who was beside her, saw such an expression for the first time.”
The sound of ice clinking came from Eun Yuri’s coffee cup.
Enough time had passed for the ice to melt.
“Did you dislike that change?”
Eun Yuri shook her head at my question.
“Rather, I’m grateful to you?”
“A doll whose default was expressionless started getting angry, crying; of course, there’s fun in observing that.”
Eun Yuri smiled, perhaps imagining such an Alice.
“Just as I found fun through Ojakgyo, I hope she finds fun too.”
“After all, whether I like it or not, she was the person who became a turning point in my life.”
Eun Yuri stirred her straw and gazed at me.
“How about it, after hearing the story, did the desire to observe Alice together with me in Ojakgyo arise?”
“No.”
“Because I don’t want to associate with someone who finds enjoyment in running such an organization.”
In the end, Eun Yuri was the type who prioritized her own interests over good and evil.
“I just spoke honestly.”
“Because there’s nothing more pathetic than clumsily trying to whitewash things.”
“…Shameless.”
Han Doa, the apostle of justice, glared at Eun Yuri with contemptuous eyes.
Eun Yuri put the straw of her almost finished iced americano to her lips and continued speaking.
“How will the ending turn out?”
“Will you ultimately be devoured by Ojakgyo and become Alice’s puppet, or will you finally tear down Ojakgyo and reform Alice?”
“…”
I didn’t bother answering.
Even without speaking, Eun Yuri knew what answer I would give.
“Hearing this much, you’ve roughly grasped me, right?”
“I felt a similar shock from you as when I first saw Alice.”
“What an honor.”
“So I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s exam even more… and at the same time, I don’t want to be disturbed.”
Having finished the main point, Eun Yuri buttoned her cardigan again.
It seemed her business was done.
She stood up from her seat.
“Did you know?”
“I applied for Chem I + Bio I instead of Chem II + Bio II.
“What did you say?”
I thought I misheard.
As if telling me I didn’t mishear, Eun Yuri elaborated.
“Two-subject combinations have a high chance of explosive standard scores, so it’s disadvantageous for you, right?”
“So I applied for Chem l+Bio1 instead of Chem2+Bio2.”
“What on earth are you…”
Han Doa stared blankly at Eun Yuri with eyes that seemed to not see her as the same human species.
“Don’t worry.”
“I won’t use this as an excuse or insurance.”
“It’s just because I want to compete with you under equal conditions.”
My gaze and Eun Yuri’s clashed in the air for a while.
Eun Yuri stared at me, then turned her head first.
“If I hadn’t joined Ojakgyo…”
Eun Yuri trailed off.
“Could I have studied together with you?”
“Solving problems together, worrying about career paths together.”
“…”
“…No, forget what I just said.”
Murmuring calmly, she left the place, her braided hair swaying.
After parting with Han Doa, I returned to the dorm, my mind filled with thoughts about Eun Yuri for a while.
But I soon shook off the thoughts and started studying.
‘Like her, I’m also serious about this exam.’
If I lose my composure, Eun Yuri will be disappointed.
Thus, a day passed, and the day of the exam arrived.