Chapter 155
Granbwa's request was quite trivial.
"Any flower will do, right?"
[Yes. Any flower will do, but you must invest time and effort.]
"That shouldn't be very difficult."
It wasn’t an animal but a plant. It didn’t seem too hard of a task, since it should grow fine on its own if I place it in a spot with enough sunlight and water it regularly. It might not go as easy as I thought, but if it would soothe Granbwa's heart, I was willing to do it.
[It won't be that easy,] Granbwa said with a small laugh.
***
The temporary report cards were immediately released the day after the written exams. The grading didn’t take that long since all the subjects were multiple-choice questions. We were told to check if the scores matched the scores I had obtained from preliminary grading, and if they didn't, we were supposed to go to the teacher's office to request a correction. With that, Ye-Jin’s homeroom came to an end.
The rankings were also listed on the correction sheet. I was in the highest bracket and got first place for both Understanding the Holy Books and Romanican Sacred Science. Two students received first place. In other words, another student also got the same score as me. Anyway, if I was in first place, that meant I did well.
The problem was with sacred dynamics and sacred material science.
"Oof..."
I did study, so my scores were better than the average, but they were still low. My overall ranking, calculated by combining the grades of all subjects, was sixty-first out of a total of seven hundred students. I was considered to be in the top ranks, but it wasn't a definite victory over Ha-Yeon.
"Did you do well on the exam?"
At that moment, In-Ah suddenly leaned over my shoulder and shoved her face at me. Come to think of it, she seemed to have studied quite hard as well. Perhaps she even did better than me on this exam. She looked at the report card in my hands.
"Oh, you were the other person with the same score as me. I had a feeling it would be you."
"Same score... Same score?" I asked, doubting what I heard.
Without saying a word, In-Ah handed me her report card.
We tied in Understanding the Holy Books and Romanican Sacred Science for first place. She had also gotten first place in sacred dynamics, and second place in sacred material science, but her overall ranking was still first place. She had placed first among a total of seven hundred students.
"...Is this some kind of error?"
In-Ah snapped at me and pouted.
"What do you mean, error? I told you I worked hard."
It looked as if it wasn’t an error. Her grades were already pretty good, and she seemed to study hard, but I didn't expect such a drastic improvement.
"You did well... Much better than I did."
"So? Are you jealous or something?"
"Not really? You did well because you worked hard, so..."
It would have been a lie to say that I wasn’t jealous. But I didn't study as hard as In-Ah, nor did I study more efficiently than her. It was only natural that In-Ah's grades were significantly higher than mine. I was a little jealous but not resentful.
In-Ah smiled mischievously and tapped my shoulder.
"Well, you have jealousy written all over your face."
"I'm not jealous, just..."
"Just what?"
When In-Ah asked, I heard Legba coughing in my head.
[Sorry to interrupt, but there's an error on the provisional report card. Sacred dynamics question 15. Go and apply for a correction.]
Looking at the temporary report card, there was indeed an error, just as Legba had said. The question had been marked as wrong even though it was correct. I thought my score would increase by about three points if I applied for a correction. There might be a significant change in my rank.
I stood up from my seat and answered In-Ah's question. "If you’ve gotten first place, then you’ve achieved your goal. You’re so lucky."
"Huh? What goal?"
"Didn't you say last time that getting first place was your goal?"
She had said so when I briefly talked to her at the school library. I remembered it clearly: the guilt I felt when I saw her bright smile, and even the coffee I vomited on the way back.
In-Ah rolled her eyes as if searching for her memory, then suddenly exclaimed, "Ah! That's right. I did say that. I forgot."
"Did I really score worse on the exams than someone like this..."
"Hey! Someone like this? Why do you always say things like that?." In-Ah pouted, sticking her lips out.
She hit my shoulder with her palm repeatedly as if to show that she was bummed. It didn't hurt much. After she was satisfied with hitting my back, she had a satisfied smile on her face.
"But how do you remember something like that? I even forgot myself."
"How could I forget? It's something you said."
"Huh...? What do you mean by that?"
In-Ah tilted her head with a mischievous smile.
Every time I visited the underground chapel, I made sure to see Yoon-Ah's face at least once, and I used spells to prevent her condition from worsening. As I repeated those spells, Yoon-Ah's condition noticeably improved. Eventually, she could express simple forms of communication, such as nodding or sometimes uttering meaningless sounds like a whimper.
However, she couldn't do more than the simple modes of communication. Even after I focused on this for several days and weeks, even after I used all the spells I could, her language ability did not recover any further. It felt like pouring water into a leaking bucket.
"...I have a good memory, after all."
I shied away from the real answer and quickly left the classroom, making my way to the teacher's office. Every time I did that, I recalled the words In-Ah had said to me.
When she talked about her younger sister, I would try and gather myself by thinking of the happy face she would make once in a while. That was why I couldn’t forget what she said. If I ever did, it would be after Yoon-Ah turned back into a human.
After the practical exam, I would go on the religious experiential learning trip. Then, I might be able to find the Staff of Reversal. In that case, it should be possible to turn Yoon-Ah back into a human. Even if it was not possible, I had to make it possible, no matter the circumstances.
This was the only method to dispel the deathly fog clinging to her.
***
The teacher's office was bustling with students who had come to request corrections and point out errors on the exam. Because the test was difficult, many students seemed dissatisfied with their grades. I pushed through the crowd and approached Ye-Jin, informing her that there was an issue with the temporary grade report.
"Sacred Dynamics question 15? Oh... I see. I'll fix it. Are there any other errors?"
"No."
"By the way, you got full marks on Understanding the Holy Books, right?" Ye-Jin asked with a faint smile.
I nodded. "Yes."
"You seem to joke around, yet you do well on exams. Truly amazing."
It sounded like a joke, so I just laughed. We were having a cheerful conversation when...
"Who are you? Are you doing this on purpose?"
A threatening voice echoed from somewhere, causing Ye-Jin and I to turn our heads simultaneously. There was a confrontation taking place in the teacher’s office between the teacher nicknamed Baldy, who had conducted the bag inspections, and Yu-Hyun.
The voice belonged to Baldy. Yu-Hyun's smiling expression turned rigid and serious.
"Who would do this on purpose? Is it my fault that the machine didn’t pick up the pen marks?"
"Ha...! You bastard, you intentionally brought a pen that wouldn’t be recognized, didn’t you?"
"What kind of crazy person would do such a thing on purpose? And I’m telling you, I borrowed this pen from the teacher’s office.”
"Teacher's office? Well, which teacher did you borrow it from?"
"Do I have to remember the names of all the teachers? I'll start with memorizing your name today."
"What? This bastard...!"
As the voices of the two people grew louder, the silence in the teacher's office deepened. The teachers came to a late realization and sent the students gathered in the teacher’s office back to their classrooms. Sensing that something was off in the atmosphere, the students returned to the classrooms quietly.
Meanwhile, the argument between Yu-Hyun and Baldy continued.
"Will you come back later? Maybe during the next break? Or perhaps during lunchtime?" Ye-Jin cautiously suggested that I should go back to the classroom.
I shook my head. "Is it okay if I stay and watch a bit?"
"What do you think?"
"Then I'll come back later."
I nodded, pretending to leave the teacher's office, but I secretly turned back, avoiding Ye-Jin's watch. I wanted to observe the argument between Yu-Hyun and Baldy.
There was a saying that the most interesting spectacle in the world was a fight, and I was also curious about what they were fighting about with their voices raised.
"And what? There's an error in the problem? What audacity do you have to say such things?"
"There was an error, and I merely pointed it out. Do I need the audacity to state the truth?"
"You haven't shown your face for a month since entering. What do you know to say whether there's an error in the problem or not? Has the constant praise from others about your intelligence gone to your head and made you think you're smarter than your teachers?”
"At least I seem to be smarter than you," Yu-Hyun said with a smile.
As always, he had an unpleasant and slimy smile.
Baldy was the teacher that I disliked the most. He had shown a particularly aggressive attitude toward me during bag inspections, and he hadn’t hesitated to make derogatory remarks toward students during class.
He had the following reputation among students: “Although he can’t even teach properly, he’s got a crappy personality. On top of that, he has no hair.”
But I also disliked Yu-Hyun. In other words, I didn’t care who won the fight. I watched their fight, more excited than I’d ever been before. As the argument escalated and reached a climax, Ye-Jin intervened between the two to mediate the fight.
"What are you doing? With all the students here..."
"Hey, Yu-Hyun. Who taught you to speak like that?"
"My grandfather. You want me to bring him here? Or should I make a phone call?"
However, there was no sign of the argument coming to an end. Baldy and Yu-Hyun ignored Ye-Jin and said what they wanted to say.
While the two shouted vivid, raw accusations at each other, I looked at Ye-Jin. Her face had turned cold.
Bang!
"Ah, ah...!"
The fight stopped when Ye-Jin hit Baldy's shin with the tip of her foot. Baldy glared at Ye-Jin, his face distorted in shades of red and blue. However, she didn't show any signs of fear. She only looked down at Baldy with her lips pursed. There was contempt in her eyes.
"Why do you keep acting like this?"
"...What are you doing?" Baldy shouted at Ye-Jin, rubbing his shin.
The teachers looked at Ye-Jin with widened eyes. The situation was getting more and more interesting.
In the cold silence that settled, Ye-Jin said harshly, "That's what I wanted to say... Why didn’t you listen when I told you to stop?"
"No, it's just..."
"My words don’t seem like words to you, do they? Priest Jeon Myeong-Hwan." Ye-Jin emphasized the word priest.
It seemed like she wanted to remind him of her elevated position as a clergyman despite their status as colleagues. Upon hearing her words, Baldy looked at Ye-Jin, his face white with fear.
After blatantly realizing the scope of the situation, Baldy bowed his head down.
"...My apologies."
Ye-Jin finally smiled.
"It's okay, just don't do it again next time. And Yu-Hyun?”
“Yes?”
“You come to the consulting room after you’re done,” Ye-Jin announced. Then she approached me, who was hiding in the corner and observing the situation.
I couldn’t believe I had gotten caught.
With narrowed eyes, she stared at me fiercely and gestured for me to follow her. Sensing that I was going to be given a speech, I quickly bowed and escaped from the teacher's office.
We'll probably see each other again later, but I’ll think about that when the time comes. For now, it didn't seem like talking with Ye-Jin in her current state would be a good idea.
That was that, but why did Yu-Hyun and Baldy fight? They only exchanged harsh criticisms and sarcasm, so it wasn't easy to deduce anything through their conversation.
Anyway, it was entertaining to watch, so I tried to brush it off.
The next day, the temporary report cards were distributed again. My rank went down from 61st to 62nd, and I naturally found out the reason for the fight between the bald man and Yu-Hyun at the same time.
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