Do Sun-Woo (200/200)

I was easily first. Following me was Sung Ha-Yeon, in third place Bae Sung-Hyun, and the rest of the students in fourth to seventh were the remaining six members of the freshman representatives.

“Didn’t you say you didn’t study? I thought we agreed we were going to guess B for everything!”

“I told you that I was going to solve the questions. I was just really lucky, that’s all.”

“Wow. But still, perfect marks? Huh.” Koo Jun-Hyuk laughed as if he was dumbfounded.

Even though he said that, Koo Jun-Hyuk did pretty well, he was still at a relatively high place. It looked like he tried, even after all that commotion about marking B as all of his answers.

If Legba had not given me a hand, my score would be lower than Koo Jun-Hyuk's. I was ashamed that I had gotten first place with Legba’s help, or in other words, by cheating. I didn’t have the qualifications nor the skill to get first place.

“Ah, there you are. I was looking for you.”

Amongst my reflection and remorse, Jung In-Ah approached us. She had a big, happy smile on her face. As soon as Koo Jun-Hyuk saw her, he scowled.

“Why do you look so happy? It makes me uncomfortable.”

“Be quiet. How’d you guys do on the evaluations?” Jung In-Ah swiftly cut off Koo Jun-Hyuk’s remark and smiled. She seemed to be very happy.

Koo Jun-Hyuk continued to talk as if he was still uncomfortable. “I made it to twenty-ninth place.”

“Woah, not bad!”

“How about you? What place did you get?”

“Twelfth! I did better than I thought. I was fortunate.” Twelfth place was a top-tier grade.

“What about you, Do Sun-Woo?”

“Meh, nothing too fancy.”

“Ah, you didn’t know we had the evaluation till the day of, right?”

Although I had gotten first place, I wasn’t too proud of my methods. I tried to gloss over my marks, but Koo Jun-Hyuk scoffed as if he had heard something outrageous.

“Yo, this guy got first place when he said he didn’t study.”

“Wow, first place!... Wait, WHAT?” Jung In-Ah looked toward the poster as if she didn’t believe what she had just heard. The words ‘First Place—Do Sun-Woo’ were printed on the poster.

I felt embarrassed and hung my head. Jung In-Ah’s jaw dropped to the ground.

“You know what this guy had to say about his score? He was lucky.”

“Ah, luck getting you first place… Hm…” She was still staring at the poster. It seemed like her soul had left her body.

“H-how could you do this?” She looked back at me with a look of betrayal.

“You said you didn’t study! FIRST PLACE? Let alone PERFECT MARKS?”

“Wait, you don’t understand. I was just really lucky.”

“Ha, lucky my ass.” Jung In-Ah fumed jokingly. Koo Jun-Hyuk looked at us as if we were entertainment. Not only Koo Jun-Hyuk, but other students were looking as well. I could see their eyes filled with many different looks of adoration, envy, and jealousy.

“Let’s head back to our class first.”

I felt as if nothing good could happen if we stayed in the open. The attention made me self-conscious.

***

“How did the evaluations go? I saw that our class did exceptionally well. We have the first, third, and twelfth place, three top tier-ranked students in our class. I am proud of you all!”

Shortly after we returned to our classroom, Ha Ye-Jin started homeroom. She talked about the evaluations and announcements and quickly left the room.

The class erupted as soon as the homeroom teacher left the class. The reason for the eruption was, of course, Bae Sung-Hyun. Encircling him, Bae Sung-Hyun’s friends, or rather, his gang, screamed and laughed maniacally, disrupting the classroom atmosphere.

Everyone, including me, felt uncomfortable because of them, but no one raised any objections.

“Ugh, so loud.” Jung In-Ah looked up from her studies and glared at Bae Sung-Hyun’s gang. She seemed fed up. I barely stopped her from shouting to them after she abruptly got up.

“Just ignore them.”

It was not ideal to have any type of interaction with those people. Therefore, ignoring them and focusing on studying was the logical choice.

“Alright, ha.” Jung In-Ah let out a deep sigh and cooled off her anger.

***

After school, in a dark, creepy alley. 

A group of buff people were squatting with one hand in their pockets and another holding their cigarettes that they were smoking vigorously. Bae Sung-Hyun was in the middle of the group, sitting on an AC unit. He puffed out some smoke with a complicated expression on his face.

“Ha.” He seemed to be in a bad mood.

“Why, wassup? Things didn’t work out with that girl?”

“What do you mean? I already smashed her, and I’m done with her now.”

“Wait, it’s only been a week, though. Pass her my way. Let me hit that.”

“You think you can pull her with your face?”

His gang watched Bae Sung Hyun’s mood and made vulgar jokes.

Bae Sung-Hyun, who usually would have been snickering along in the vulgar conversation, was smoking with a dark face instead. He looked distraught.

The gang looked at Bae Sung-Hyun and thought, ‘We can’t get on his bad side today.’

“Bae Sung-Hyun, you like the punch machine right? You up for it?”

So, the gang racked their brains trying to lift his spirit. In the end, they came up with the solution of giving Bae Sung-Hyun the punch machine. To test it out, one of the gang members swung at the punch machine’s sternum.

Puk!

Following the dull sound, a gasp of air escaped the punch machine. Clutching their sternum, the punch machine fell to their knees, slipping down as if the floor had suddenly turned to ice.

“Hey, did this break? Why isn’t my score coming out?”

“Heek…! It’s eigh… eighty-nine points.”

“Yo, eighty-nine points isn’t bad.”

Hahaha–!

The gang maniacally laughed as they tapped the punch machine’s stomach.

The poor soul who had taken the role of a punch machine was on the floor, curled up into a ball. He was the only one not laughing in the noisy laughter-filled alleyway.

‘I hope this can stop here and now.’

The gang’s punches were nothing to be afraid of, as they paled in comparison to Bae Sung-Hyun’s punches. Bae Sung-Hyun was the problem. On the days Bae Sung-Hyun hit him, it hurt even to eat.

The student slowly got up, thinking about how Bae Sung-Hyun’s strikes would lead him to vomit all over the floor.

“Hey, get that out of my face. I’m not in the mood today.” Hearing Bae Sung-Hyun’s statement, the student’s face lit up. It seemed Bae Sung-Hyun’s mood was low enough not to want to hit the punch machine. This was great news. Oh, if only it was like this every day!

As that thought passed the student’s head, Bae Sung-Hyun abruptly got up from the air condition unit.

“Ah, uh, I-I’m sorry!” The student apologized reflexively. However, Bae Sung-Hyun didn’t seem to care.

Bae Sung-Hyun’s eyes were glued beyond the alleyway to the three students walking past with F.A. uniforms.

“Hey, you guys. Come here.” Bae Sung-Hyun called the students over with a cold and sinister smile.

Do Sun-Woo, Jung In-Ah, and Koo Jun-Hyuk, who had been walking back home, hesitantly made their way into the smoke-filled alleyway. Jung In-Ah started coughing because of the cigarette smoke.

Bae Sung-Hyun grinned as he saw them. He had one of those fake, hypocritical smiles that would make one gag just by looking.

“You guys are from my class, right?”

“Yeah. What do you want?” Jung In-Ah pinched her nose with her fingers. Her voice was muffled and nasally as it escaped her pinched nose. Koo Jun-Hyuk glared at Bae Sung-Hyun as he cautiously looked him up and down.

Do Sun-Woo was just watching the interaction, standing silent as if he had nothing to do with it.

Bae Sung-Hyun stuck his hand out for a handshake to the group of friends. To be exact, he offered his hand to Do Sun-Woo.

“Do Sun-Woo, right? I didn’t call you over to pick a fight. I just wanted to get to know you better.”

Bae Sung-Hyun’s favorite saying as a successful businessman’s son was ‘keep your friends close but your enemies closer.’

Do Sun-Woo had the potential to pose a threat to his position eventually. Do Sun-Woo’s physical skills showed that he was highly talented.

Although Bae Sung-Hyun had also been called a genius, his level of talent was incomparable to that of Do Sun-Woo. That meant there was no use in keeping him in check. Talented geniuses were called geniuses because they withstood numerous hardships and restraints and finally emerged at the top.

Bae Sung-Hyun wanted to befriend Do Sun-Woo rather than keep him in check. To be exact, he wanted to take him under his wing before Do Sun-Woo’s talent blossomed to its full extent.

“Oh yeah? Glad to hear that.”

Fortunately, Do Sun-Woo accepted the handshake. His grip was intense enough to overpower Bae Sung-Hyun, who had the blessing of superhuman strength.

“But what is he doing there? Is he okay?” Do Sun-Woo said after the handshake. He was looking at the student sprawled on the ground.

The student was still lying down, curled in a ball and shivering intensely. Bae Sung-Hyun tapped the student’s head with his shoe.

“He’s my buddy. Do you want to play with us? This guy has a mad talent.” As Bae Sung-Hyun gave the student a sign with his eyes, the student immediately started to walk on all fours and bark like a dog. It was an amazing mimicry and sounded just like a natural dog.

Jung In-Ah took two steps back in shock and Koo-Jun Hyuk frowned with displeasure.

“See? Isn’t he just like a dog?”

“Hmm, you're right, but…” Do Sun-Woo seemed unfazed by the situation that had folded out in front of him. “It’s so cringe that you still play like this. You look childish and pathetic. Just saying,” Do Sun-Woo said with a composed smile.

Bae Sung-Hyun’s face immediately turned to stone. ‘Childish? Pathetic? Me?’

Bae Sung-Hyun tried to smile, but his lips only quivered in the attempt. Then, noticing the change in his expression, Bae Sung-Hyun’s gang started to approach Do Sun-Woo with flared posture and menace.

“Pathetic? Are you crazy?”

“This guy is fucking trying to save face in front of his girl.”

It seemed a fight was inevitable. Yet, even in this volatile state, Do Sun-Woo’s calm smile never left his face.

“That’s enough.” Bae Sung-Hyun stopped the fight.

‘Even if I could take on Koo Jun-Hyuk, I can’t deal with Do Sun-Woo. Just by his handshake earlier…’

He could still feel his hand throbbing from shaking Do Sun Woo’s hand. On top of that, Do Sun-Woo’s smile meant he was confident in winning if a fight ever broke out.

“I’m sorry we stopped you guys on your way back home. I’ll see you at school.”

“I’m glad you realized your mistake. Oh, by the way, you know smoking is bad for you, right?”

“...Of course. I’m going to quit.”

Do Sun-Woo drove Bae Sung-Hyun crazy with his pure, innocent face. The fact that the comment sounded genuine added fuel to Bae Sung-Hyun’s anger and frustration.

As the three left the alleyway, Bae Sung-Hyun’s gang approached him.

“Who are those kids? Who are they calling childish? Fuck them for getting on my nerves.”

“What are they even on? They look so weak. I could knock them all out.”

Bae Sung-Hyun had been quietly listening to his gang talk until the vein on his forehead was twisting and bulging.

“Shut up.”

As Bae Sung-Hyun spoke, the gang fell silent. Finally, Bae Sung-Hyun let out a big sigh. “Ha… I want to kill that motherfucker…”

Not only had he intimidated Bae Sung-Hyun during the physical exam, but he had gotten first place during evaluations and showed a sense of justice and caring for others.

‘I’m jealous.’

Do Sun-Woo showed his confidence by courageously standing up to Bae Sung-Hyun without backing down and not succumbing to brute force. He was jealous that Do Sun-Woo had these traits, and he wished he would be able to become like him one day.