Chapter 145
"...What? Huh. Wh-what did you say?"
Ha-Yeon scrunched up her face. Something snapped in her head.
Sun-Woo glared at Ha-Yeon with cold eyes. “I’m better than you at studying."
"That's nonsense...! I don't know what delusion you're having, but I'm much better than you at studying."
"What place were you in evaluations?"
“Second... but so what? Why are you bringing up something from the past?"
"I was first."
"Ha! Excuse me, I'm better at Sacred Dynamics and Material Science. Understanding the Holy Books just happens to be my worst subject. And it doesn’t make sense that they tested only one subject for the evaluations. It’s completely unfair..."
"Excuses."
"It's not an excuse!" Ha-Yeon raised her voice and looked up at Sun-Woo.
After turning her head, she realized that they were closer than she thought, and as a result, she turned her head back. Then she took a deep breath and calmed down her aggravated emotions. She was fine when she talked about anything else, but when the topic of the conversation involved her grades, strange emotions bubbled up inside her.
After a few seconds of deep breaths, Ha-Yeon increased the distance between them.
"...It's not an excuse, it's the truth. The evaluations were too biased toward those specialized in the one subject they were testing. This upcoming written test will be a fair one."
"You talk as if you would have won if the evaluations were fair."
"Isn't that obvious? You can’t beat me in an overall subject evaluation. It’s impossible. You seem to be delusional just because you got first place during the evaluations. Prideful, much?"
Sun-Woo's body trembled at the word “prideful.” He then spoke with a sterner expression.
A slur suddenly rushed out of Sun-Woo's mouth.
"Really? Then, should we make a bet? You bitch."
"Wh-what did you just call me?"
Although Ha-Yeon felt surprised, the emotion that came before her surprise was rage.
He was in a position where he should have been crawling and begging her to help him, but he swore at her instead. Ha-Yeon’s face flushed bright red.
"Ha, okay. Let's make a bet. What should we wager?"
"Beats me. The winner gets to slap the loser?"
“Just one slap? I could go for ten slaps to your face."
"Yeah? Well, I can do a hundred slaps."
"I could do it all day."
In the midst of the meaningless scuffle, Sun-Woo let out a sigh of frustration.
"Let's stop. This is childish."
“Why? Are you scared?"
Ha-Yeon twisted the ends of her mouth as if mocking him.
"...Fine, let's see who wins. I don’t think I’m going to lose anyway."
"Likewise, I feel the same way. How about the winner grants the loser's wish?"
"Don't regret after losing."
"I could say the same for you. I won't go easy on you even if you cry."
"Whatever," Sun-Woo replied casually.
Seeing his relaxed expression, it felt like she had just been playing along with his game. This infuriated her even more.
"...Phone!" Ha-Yeon suddenly shouted as if she had just remembered something.
"I told you to call. Why didn't you?"
"Was that you? I thought it was a scam call."
"Scam call...? Haven't you saved my number yet?"
"How would I know and save your number?"
"When you were re-elected, didn't they send the contact information of all the members of the student council through text message? What have you been doing all this time without saving it?" Ha-Yeon asked, clearly finding his words unbelievable.
Sun-Woo furrowed his eyebrows as if he were searching his memory.
"I don't remember receiving such a message."
"What? You must have missed it. Or maybe you didn't see it."
"Why did you even ask me to call in the first place? What would you even want to talk about?"
Ha-Yeon briefly closed her mouth and blinked her eyes in response to Sun-Woo's question.
Come to think of it, what did she want to talk to him about over the phone? Maybe she wanted to ask if he was okay, express gratitude for helping her, or apologize for what happened in the past. They were all reasons she didn't want to say out loud. No, she absolutely couldn't say them. Her pride wouldn't allow it. Even though it pricked her conscience a little, she had no choice but to lie.
"I don't remember. It's been too long."
"You can’t remember something from a few months ago?" Sun-Woo said sarcastically.
Ha-Yeon let out a short laugh, not because it was funny, but because she was dumbfounded.
"I have a better memory than you, you know."
"Yeah, sure."
Sun-Woo nodded half-heartedly, barely listening to Ha-Yeon's words.
How could all of his actions be so annoying?
After that, they continued their childish war of nerves about the bet. Soon, perhaps because Sun-Woo was tired, he got up from the bench and said he had to study.
Ha-Yeon remained on the bench. She didn’t think she would be able to study even if she went back to the classroom right now. She needed to sit on the bench and calm herself down a little.
"Ha."
After taking a deep breath to calm her agitated heart, she slowly pondered over her conversation with Sun-Woo.
No matter how she looked at it, she couldn't help but think he liked her. It was reasonable to assume that Sun-Woo had feelings for her because he saved her back then and suddenly started talking to her today.
However, there was one thing that she found puzzling.
When other people developed feelings for someone, they would usually make an effort to treat them well in various ways. They would give them gifts or say sweet things to win over their hearts.
On the contrary, Sun-Woo seemed to do nothing but provoke or insult her, causing dislike instead of affection. Ha-Yeon pondered over the reason, and she finally came to a conclusion.
"...Is it to hide his real feelings?"
It seemed like he intentionally hid his feelings behind rough behavior because he didn't want to reveal his true emotions. Many boys who were shy and embarrassed would often act like that.
Thinking about it, he seemed to have a cute side.
***
There was only one reason why I approached Ha-Yeon and struck up a conversation when we coincidentally met. I had a question I wanted to ask Ha-Yeon, or more precisely, Sung Yu-Da and Ha-Yeon.
Sung Yu-Da had helped me behind the scenes on various occasions, including the re-election of the Holy Name of Charity under the name of the International Theological Association. I was curious about why he had done such a thing.
It was too excessive to say that it was solely an effort to recruit me into the Theological Association. There must have been another reason. Perhaps Sung Yu-Da knew or suspected I was the Cult Leader of the Voodooists.
Everything would make sense if that were the case. Sung Yu-Da used the name of the International Theological Association to help me in order to observe my reaction.
"Sigh..."
Therefore, I approached Ha-Yeon to strike up a conversation. At first, the atmosphere between us was okay. But as we continued the conversation, the jerk suddenly interrupted me and crossed the line. It seemed like she saw me as an idiot after I tried to be nice in order to dig up information about Sung Yu-Da.
In the end, I ended up not even asking the question and got into an argument instead, and I ended up betting on test scores that I couldn't win.
I vowed never to be swayed by emotions again, but it didn't work well in front of Ha-Yeon.
"..."
Come to think of it, Ha-Yeon interrupted me at a strange time. She cut me off and changed the subject just as I was about to ask about Sung Yu-Da. It was too fishy to pass off as a coincidence. Perhaps Ha-Yeon knew something. From now on, I will pay more attention to her.
As I was thinking about such things while walking, I heard a voice.
[You seem to be very angry.]
Out of nowhere, Baron Samedi was walking beside me. I wasn’t sure if he knew we were inside a school because he had a cigar in his mouth.
I looked around in surprise. Luckily, there was no one around.
[Don't worry. Those who are not close to death can't see me or hear my voice,] Baron Samedi said.
It sounded like he wanted to reassure me, but I still hesitated to respond. Even if others couldn't see Baron Samedi, if they saw or heard this conversation, I would be at risk of coming off as suspicious.
If I were lucky, I would be treated as a crazy person muttering to myself, and if I was unlucky, I could be exposed as the leader of the Voodoo Cult or be accused of being a Satanist. In sensitive times like these, I had to be careful with every word and action I took.
Baron Samedi continued to casually speak while exhaling smoke from his cigar.
[For the next twelve minutes or so, no one will be listening or watching us. You can answer comfortably.]
"..."
[Ha, I’m telling you, there’s no need to be on edge... Alright, answer when you feel comfortable. I'll wait.]
While Baron Samedi kept his mouth shut and smoked his cigar, I looked around. Apart from the occasional rustling of leaves in the hot summer breeze, I could not hear anything. At least, it seemed that there was no one nearby.
Still feeling uneasy, I walked toward a bench tucked away in a corner of the walking path. The bench was covered in dust from not being used by anyone for a while. After removing a bit of the dust, I took a seat.
Finally, I responded to Baron Samedi.
"Smoking is not allowed on campus."
The smell of the cigar smoke was starting to bother me. Baron Samedi continued to smoke his pipe silently as if he hadn't heard me.
[Those who are not close to death cannot even smell the scent of my cigar. Why should I bother?]
"Who cares? It’s bothering me."
[You have quite the attitude when speaking... Fine.]
He extinguished his cigar by rubbing it on the bench. A scorch mark was left on the bench briefly before it disappeared. The cigar he had in his hand also vanished.
Baron Samedi sat next to me with his legs crossed.
[So, how is the preparation for the exam?]
"If I were doing well, would I be here right now?"
[I heard this exam is more important than the others. Can you afford to be so carefree? Of course, it’s not like I’ll be affected by it.]
"I shouldn’t be... But with all the good deeds I've accumulated, maybe Bongdiye will choose the right answers for me."
[There's a saying that goes, 'Heaven helps those who help themselves.' If I were in charge of heaven, I wouldn't help you.]
"True."
I'd been neglecting my studies lately. I admitted what was obviously true.
"Honestly, I couldn't help it."
[Couldn't help it? Couldn’t help what?]
"I’m not trying to make an excuse, but there were just too many things to worry about... I didn't even know the exam schedule had changed."
[I don’t know about you, but we call that an excuse in English.]
"Hmm. Now that I think about it, you're right."
Even if many things were going on in my life, I still would have had time to study. If I had just been a little more interested in the exams, I would have found out quickly about the schedule change. I could have checked the school website or asked when I had visited the teacher's office for dormitory applications.
Upon reflection, I realized that it was all my fault. I didn't want to deny it, but it made me angry for no reason.
"Why are you here all of a sudden? To ruin my day?"
[That's one of the reasons. It's not the only reason, though,] Baron Samedi said while chuckling.
[For you, oh worried one, I've prepared something to help you with the exams,] Baron Samedi said, handing me a die.
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