Chapter 158
“A draw?”
Ha-Yeon bowed her head deeply, hearing Sun-Woo repeat her words back. Familiar and unpleasant emotions churned inside of her. Her pride was hurt, she felt ashamed, and she felt wronged. She felt the same way when she had a one-on-one with her father.
"So... what I mean is... We shouldn’t just count only our written exam marks, but also include the practical test scores and look at the overall grade... Or we could postpone the next written exam." Ha-Yeon tried her best to persuade him by using her hands.
When Ha-Yeon received her report card in the morning, she felt her heart stop, and it felt like her blood was refluxing through her veins, going in the opposite direction.
The reason for this was that she had made a mistake in marking the answers for her sacred dynamics test and had received a score she had never seen before. Needless to say, her marks for Understanding the Holy Books and Romanican Sacred Science were complete failures as well.
Ha-Yeon checked the scores for each subject and immediately folded her report card in half. She didn't have the courage to check her ranking. She had made out that the first digit was 3, but she couldn't bring herself to check the rest of the number.
If the first digit was 3, this meant that her rank was between 30th and 39th. Whether her ranking was 30th or 39th, one thing was certain: she wouldn’t be able to beat Sun-Woo with this score.
So, she decided to observe Sun-Woo's reaction after suggesting a draw. If he immediately accepted the proposal, it was highly likely that Sun-Woo also did poorly on the exam. On the other hand, if he refused to accept the proposal, then he most likely did well on the exam. In that case, she just needed to push him into accepting the proposal.
Ha-Yeon was racking her brain to try to play mind games.
"Why?" Sun-Woo tilted his head as if he couldn't understand Ha-Yeon's intentions and wiggled his eyebrows.
His cold and piercing gaze swept across her face. Ha-Yeon, determined not to be swayed, met Sun-Woo's eyes.
"You see, this is a form of forbearance."
"Forbearance?" Sun-Woo furrowed his brow, repeating Ha-Yeon's words.
She nodded.
"I have too significant of an advantage if we only consider the written scores. The more I thought of it, the more unfair it seemed, so I suggest we calculate the overall scores, including the practical exam."
"Ah, I see."
"I am confident in my scores during the practical exams, but so are you, right? So, for a fairer bet..." Ha-Yeon trailed off, her gaze fixated on Sun-Woo's face.
He looked down at her and smiled. It was easy to see that he was making fun of her through his smile.
Ha-Yeon swallowed nervously.
"...Why are you laughing?"
"Is there a need to drag this out? Let's just open the report card and be done with it."
"Huh? No, wait."
"Where's your report card? Is it inside your desk?"
"Please, just listen to me for a little longer. Wait, wait..."
Ha-Yeon grabbed Sun-Woo's wrist as he tried to enter the classroom. But she couldn't stop him with a mere hand, so she had to use both to pull him back. It was only then that Sun-Woo stopped walking and turned to look at Ha-Yeon, letting out a chuckle as if he found the situation ridiculous.
"Why are you being so stubborn? Just open the report card."
"Well, um... Right, we can't agree on it being a draw after we see the report card."
"I’m telling you, I have no intention of having a tie with you. Let's just finish it right here, right now."
"W-why not? It'll benefit both of us if we agree on a tie!”
"A benefit?" Sun-Woo repeated her words, lowering his head.
Then, he stared intently at Ha-Yeon's face from a close distance, no less than the distance of a palm separating them. Ha-Yeon was taken aback by the sudden closeness, nervously bit her lip, and turned her head to the right.
"What will I gain from this?" Sun-Woo asked aggressively.
Ha-Yeon sighed deeply, cooling the rising heat from her face.
"I explained that earlier. It's because I have an advantage with the written exams—"
"You keep spouting nonsense," Sun-Woo interrupted with a hollow laugh. "If you did well on the test, there's no need to suggest a draw. You’re arguing for one because you failed the test, right?"
"I didn't do that bad..."
"You probably did worse than me."
Ha-Yeon swallowed her response. His voice was brimming with confidence. Judging from his eagerness to check the grades and his desire to quickly conclude the bet was evidence that Sun-Woo had done well on the test.
Seeing how he said he had been lucky when he had gotten first place during examinations, his confident mannerisms must mean he had placed in the highest bracket in school and had gotten at least 20th place. Was he telling the truth when he said he had gotten full marks in sacred material science?
If she had known this was how things would go down, she wouldn't have done something as foolish as making a bet. Ha-Yeon's mind was filled with regret and despair.
At that moment, Sun-Woo spoke as if he was being generous.
"How about we do this instead?"
Ha-Yeon felt doubtful and cautiously looked up at him. There was a glint of mischievousness in his expression.
"I feel like it’s too big of a loss for me if we suddenly call it a draw. So—"
"It's not a loss for you," Ha-Yeon interjected, cutting off his words.
Sun-Woo furrowed his eyebrows as if he was displeased and continued, "It is a loss. I did better on the test than you did."
"You don't know yet."
"Don't know? Then bring your report card. Let's check."
"...You were saying?" Ha-Yeon timidly said, lowering her gaze to the floor.
Sun-Woo smiled brightly.
"I can agree to a draw... but in return, I have one request."
"A request..."
"Yeah. Listen to what I have to say before deciding to agree or not."
Sun-Woo pretended to ponder. By telling Ha-Yeon to hear him out before she made a decision, he was essentially saying that it was up to Ha-Yeon’s decision to grant his request. In reality, she had no real power to decide, but the fact that she had the authority to make the decision gave her some peace of mind.
Sun-Woo silently nodded as if he had made up his mind.
"How about you go bald?"
"What? Absolutely not!" Ha-Yeon exclaimed in surprise.
She was willing to consider an easy request, but shaving her head was definitely not an easy request. As if he had expected that reaction, Sun-Woo casually laughed it off and pointed to his shoes.
"Then can you lick my shoes? They got dirty, and I need to do some laundry."
"Th-that... that's... no way..."
"Why are there so many things that can't be done?" Sun-Woo said irritably. "Then introduce me to your father. That should be possible, right?”
"Uh, hm. something like that..."
Compared to shaving her head or licking shoes, this was definitely a more feasible request. Her father even mentioned previously that he wanted to meet Sun-Woo. She didn't know what he wanted to do once they met, but arranging a meeting seemed possible.
Ha-Yeon nodded.
"Yes, that offer is possible."
It might not work out, but it seemed better to say it was possible now. If she kept saying things like, “My father is too busy to meet you,” or “There hasn't been a good opportunity to bring it up,” she could push it back indefinitely by making excuses.
"Swear by it,” Sun-Woo shot back sharply as if he had seen through Ha-Yeon's true intentions.
Ha-Yeon gasped in surprise.
“...Alright, I swear."
"You're being too carefree about it. What was it called again? Oh, swear in the name of Adonai."
"What?" Ha-Yeon asked, wondering if she had misheard.
There was nothing about swearing in the name of Adonai in the Romanican doctrine. There was something similar called the “oath of promise,” but it was not the correct term to use in this situation. The oath of promise was conducted in a more severe and solemn atmosphere. It also had many tricky and strict procedures.
Sun-Woo realized his mistake belatedly and covered his mouth before speaking.
"No... No, it's fine if you swore."
"..."
Ha-Yeon stared at Sun-Woo's face intently. It was clear from his facial expressions that he was confused. Although he made a mistake regarding the doctrine, it wasn't something to be so flustered about, as many clergymen often couldn't distinguish between oaths and promises and mixed them up.
"Alright, just keep your promise. Choose any time convenient for your father. I can adjust my time to his."
"Okay. But my father is busy—"
"And this. Submit it on Miss Ye-Jin's desk by tomorrow. I’m out,” Sun-Woo said, taking out a paper from his embrace and roughly handing it over.
Then, he quickly walked away as if fleeing from the scene, disappearing down the corridor.
Ha-Yeon unfolded the paper that she had hurriedly received. It was an additional consent form for the missionary trip. She thought he was here to talk about the bet, but it seemed like he came to distribute consent forms instead. Aside from that, Sun-Woo seemed different today compared to usual. She didn't expect him to be so flustered over a minor slip of the tongue when he hadn’t blinked an eye during life-threatening situations.
"What's going on?"
She had no idea why he had been so flustered and why he wanted to meet her father. He was such a confusing young man.
No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn't come to a conclusion. She considered herself lucky that she could postpone the bet and tried to go back to the classroom. At that moment, she saw a head peeking through the back door.
"Ugh, gosh...! Wha-what are you doing?" Ha-Yeon yelped in surprise.
The shock was evident on her face when she saw Ra-Hee’s face. The girl had been secretly eavesdropping on their conversation with her head poking through the crack in the door.
*
[I noticed you referred to him as father multiple times,] Legba said as I walked to the teacher’s office from the Class of Chastity.
I looked around. Luckily, there was no one, so I could afford to respond.
"It's a matter of courtesy."
[You have respect to show to your enemies?]
"I do for now. Now, don't talk to me anymore."
[You're being overly sensitive for no reason, even with no one around. Is it because of your slip of the tongue earlier?]
I didn't answer Legba's question and just kept walking. When Voodooists made a solemn oath or a promise, they swore on iron. By swearing in front of Ogun, the Loa of iron and truth, one would show that they had not one bit of deception in their oaths.
But the Romanican Church made an oath of promise, which was a slightly different concept from swearing. I suspected Jun-Hyuk of being a Satanist because he made several slip-ups in his daily life. In other words, my own slip-ups could be evidence that others could use to start suspecting me.
"Am I really an idiot...?"
Strangely, whenever I stood in front of Ha-Yeon, my emotions grew unnecessarily intense. I couldn’t even control my facial expressions. Apart from Ha-Yeon, I was beginning to think that my mindset had become too complacent lately.
Fortunately, it had only been with Ha-Yeon. If I had been next to Joseph, then I would have ceased to exist. I was not in great shape, so I decided to keep my mouth shut for the day.
I arrived at the teacher's office to report that I couldn’t deliver the paper to Min-Seo and Jin-Seo because they were absent.
"Ah, you're here."
A familiar but not at all welcoming face greeted me. The teachers, including Ye-Jin, stood around him, exchanging glances.
"...What brings you here?" I asked.
"Just thought I'd drop by. Can't you at least pretend to be happy to see me? I'm not asking for enthusiasm, but it would be nice if you didn't look disgusted. You didn't even answer my calls," Joseph said, chuckling.
No one else laughed along. I found myself unable to laugh as well.
Joseph was the last person I should be meeting right now.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢