TRPM 426

chapter 426

Time passed, and the final exam period arrived.

I tried not to pay much attention, focusing on preparing for the finals, but the adults seemed to be busy with various incidents even while I was taking the exams.

Mostly, it was exhausting because of hostage situations that anyone could see were clearly intended to stall time.

Woo Ji-min, who regularly teaches me marksmanship, complained that it was exhausting.

“There’s nothing better than Woo Ji-min’s skills… or more precisely, her personal weapon—the gun—for subduing hostiles.”

Ji-min’s gun has a non-lethal function to subdue targets without killing them. Moreover, if she shoots a bomb with her gun, it temporarily neutralizes it.

Apparently, she had been told by Chairman Shin Han-ji why bombs could be neutralized by her gun, but she hadn’t fully understood the explanation, so it hadn’t been properly conveyed to me.

Anyway, because her gun was effective in the current situation, Ji-min had been deployed almost nonstop to handle the hostages.

“They even send me out at night just because I don’t need to sleep… But even if I don’t need sleep, I still want to sleep…”
“If it’s so tough, why not lend the gun to the police?”
“No! That’s my gun!”

Because of this, Ji-min dragged me to a bar to vent for a long time until Chloe Greenwood, who had received my message, came and took her away.

Ah, and…

“Geon-woo? Did you drink too?”
“…Ah…”

Thanks to Ji-min dragging me to the bar, I naturally drank. Partly because I got caught up in the atmosphere, but also because I thought it would be awkward to leave without drinking when we had already come to a bar.

Of course, Chloe, who had come to pick up Ji-min, immediately noticed that I had been drinking.

“Geon-woo… You’re still a minor physically, right? No matter how much of an Aura Master you are and how resistant you are to poisons or alcohol, drinking at your age…”

Chloe scolded me, saying I shouldn’t drink until I became an adult.

“Ji-min, you too! I know you’re not drunk! You’re a doll, so you can hear everything!”
“Eek…!”
“Even if Geon-woo is easygoing, what were you thinking bringing a kid to a bar?”

On top of that, Ji-min, who was pretending to be sober and holding her breath, was caught and had to listen to a scolding for a while. Moreover, since Chloe had transcended the elemental barrier, if Ji-min tried to do anything even slightly mischievous, she immediately pointed it out, so by the time the scolding ended, the light had gone out of Ji-min’s eyes.

“Ugh… It’s over….”
“Not yet. Geon-woo, go home. Ji-min, you’ll go with me to the dorm and get an additional scolding…”
“Eek?!”

…Not over yet.

I decided to pray for Ji-min’s endurance and went straight home.

Ah, I’ve only talked about Ji-min so far, but she wasn’t the only one who suffered because of this incident.

“Let’s call it a day.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
“Phew…! Good work, everyone!”
“Thank you.”
“Ah… I can’t move at all.”

After the second semester midterms, six students had been chosen.

…Even though there were six, a boy named Taiwoo was learning from Sir Sergei, not me. The Grand Elementalist, being an awakened who had transcended the elemental barrier, had been quite busy and had never come to learn anything from me.

On the other hand, the other four were staying in Korea long-term and learning what they wanted from me whenever I had time.

“…These four are all skilled, and they get called out frequently, right?”

While staying in Korea, if a crime occurred nearby or monsters appeared in a dungeon, they actively helped solve the situation. Apparently, Ivan, Sergei’s grandson, and the mercenary Ines were well-known and relied upon.

“…Ivan is probably my age.”

In other words, he was a minor. Yet he seemed to be busier than most adults. I heard that Sir Sergei told him to help the police to gain experience.

Anyway.

“Our next lesson… will have to wait until after my finals.”
“I see. Then we’ll see you then.”

With that, the four went to work. …Not to rest, but to work.

As mentioned, Ivan and Ines went to assist the police, the spear-wielding man from Chicago went to the Association. Apparently, he was helping with Association tasks under the sponsorship of Chairman Richard.

Finally, Linda, trained as an assassin like Sophia and also sponsored by Chairman Richard, went to the Iron-Blood Guild. She helped Sophia because she was Sophia’s acquaintance.

“Everyone’s living busy lives.”

Given the circumstances, it couldn’t be helped.

“Hey, Geon-woo. What are you thinking about?”

I, lost in thought about events from a few days ago, gave a vague answer when Lee Doo-min touched me and spoke.

“Thinking about Jin Cheon-ha. Do you think he’ll do well this time?”
“Ah, yeah. Earlier, when we checked our answers together, his matched ours exactly.”
“Oh, really? Did you get a perfect score too?”
“If you got a perfect score, I probably did too. Not just us, but Kang Garam, Elena, and Lee Ha-eun probably did as well.”

Our class was excellent, but more than half scoring perfect… and one of them was Jin Cheon-ha…

“…The teachers will probably suspect cheating, right?”
“Most likely. Besides, there were five other perfect scorers in our class. It’d be easy to glance at one of their papers to cheat.”

As we spoke, we saw Jin Cheon-ha, dressed in a hanbok as usual, opening his textbook and preparing for the next exam. At a glance, he really did look like someone who studied well.

“Actually, there’s no problem, right? He didn’t take the medicine during the exam, he took it while studying. Taking medicine during studying isn’t cheating, right? If that were the case, kids who take calming pills would also be cheating.”
“That’s true, but….”

The problem arose after it was confirmed that it wasn’t cheating.

Jin Cheon-ha was famous in many ways at school. Naturally, wearing a hanbok made him stand out, and it was also known that his grades were generally low. Suddenly achieving near-perfect or perfect scores—without cheating?

‘Of course, others will try to find out why his grades improved and use the same method.’

Meaning the medicine made by Kim Eun-yeon and Grandma Bok-ja.

Of course, Kim Eun-yeon had some sense, and Grandma Bok-ja, with her experience, wouldn’t easily give the medicine to children…

“You worry too much. That’s your problem.”
“?”

As I thought this, Lee Doo-min seemed to read my mind and spoke.

“I know you think a lot because you care about the aftermath, unlike us who don’t, but sometimes you have to trust others.”
“What are you trying to say?”
“You’ve already been thinking a lot about the medicine anyway.”

Why are you worrying about that?

“Kim Eun-yeon and Grandma Bok-ja made the medicine and gave it to Jin Cheon-ha. So they’ll take responsibility.”

Even if something happened that they couldn’t handle…

“They have capable sisters assisting them.”
“…Ah.”

I understood what Lee Doo-min meant. Even if a problem arose from the potion, the Association staff assisting them would handle it. Especially the one responsible for Kim Eun-yeon seemed extremely competent. The one assisting Grandma Bok-ja was simply a relative, so competence was unclear.

“So you don’t really need to worry.”
“……”

That’s true. Why did I feel I had to handle this myself…

‘Maybe because everyone else is busy with recent incidents, and I’m the only one living comfortably.’

As I thought this…

Click.

“Everyone, put your books away and take your seats.”

The teacher entered the classroom, announcing it was time for the next exam. Lee Doo-min hurried back to his seat, while the children reviewing their notes put away their books.

A few days later, after the finals ended, the feared event occurred.

“Everyone, watch the movie. Jin Cheon-ha, come to the staff room for a moment.”

Since the finals had just ended, it wasn’t really time for a class, and everyone was busy with preparations for the school festival. A teacher played a movie related to their subject and took Jin Cheon-ha to the staff room.

The reason was obvious. Even though only a few hours had passed since the finals, the teachers would have already graded the exams. They would have noticed that Jin Cheon-ha’s scores suddenly improved.

‘He should be back soon.’

We could ask a student like Jin Cheon-ha what he did, but the teachers couldn’t directly interrogate him. They couldn’t harshly question him just because his grades suddenly improved. However, they would likely have him solve a problem in front of them to verify his knowledge. After this check, they could be assured he hadn’t cheated and send him back.

Thunk.

“Hm?”

Just then, Ryu Ah-young came forward, turning off the TV playing the movie.

“This movie plays every holiday anyway, nobody wants to watch it, right?”
“That’s true….”
“More importantly, the festival! Let’s decide what we’ll do at our festival!”

She was very excited, and most of the other kids agreed.

“School festival… what do schools do these days?”

Grandma Bok-ja seemed interested in the festival as well.

“It varies by class. Some open cafes or clubs, or create spaces for light games…”
“We won’t do something boring like that. Let’s do something special!”

As Kim Eun-yeon explained current festivals to Grandma Bok-ja, an excited Ryu Ah-young interrupted.

“Special? What do you mean?”
“I’ve prepared something for today!”

…Today was still finals day, and instead of preparing for the exam, she had prepared for the upcoming festival?

“Don’t worry about the details! Our class will open a booth that only our class can do!”

Ryu Ah-young said this while pointing at Lee Ha-eun.

“…Me?”
“Yes. Ha-eun, I need your help.”

Ryu Ah-young smiled mischievously.