Ch.4545. Preparing the Hidden Camera

Second Year, First Semester.

College students approached midterms with varying attitudes.

Some snapped back to reality with thoughts like, “I played enough during freshman year!”

While male students equipped with mindsets like “Sigh… what’s the point when I’ll be off to military service soon anyway…” were also easy to spot.

Suhyeok fell somewhere in the middle.

He was a modest B+ warrior aiming for all B+’s this semester.

“Ju… Juyeon.”

After finishing his last midterm exam, Suhyeok grabbed Juyeon who was about to get up from the adjacent seat.

“Hmm?”

“That… what was the answer to number 3?”

“Number 3? I don’t really remember.”

“You know, that one about the Prompt Corrective Action system.”

“That was in the PowerPoint slides.”

“…Who’s asking because they don’t know that?”

Suhyeok was startled by his own words.

His tone sounded too much like someone else’s.

No. Perhaps he had just repeated exactly what she had said before.

And Juyeon seemed to notice as she gave a slight smile.

“Suhyeok. Why are you imitating Hana?”

“…I wasn’t imitating her.”

It had just slipped out unconsciously.

Though he wasn’t aware of it himself, Suhyeok was someone easily influenced by those around him.

In that context, it wasn’t strange at all that he occasionally adopted the speech patterns of other members.

“To answer your question, the Prompt Corrective Action system is a measure taken to improve the management of financial institutions that may be at risk of insolvency…”

Elite loner Juyeon.

The PowerPoint content flowed effortlessly from her lips.

When Suhyeok shared his own answer, which seemed roughly similar, Juyeon crushed his hopes by pointing out that he had missed the key points and shouldn’t expect many partial credits.

The two arrived at the club room.

With the breathless rush of midterms behind them,

now an even more hectic schedule of postponed band practices awaited them.

Loud voices could be heard from outside the door.

It seemed Hana and Choegang were having another heated argument.

“Honestly, I probably did better than you.”

“Yoon Hana! How naive!”

“Hey! Don’t put me in the same category as you! I studied really hard this time!”

“So what score are you expecting?”

Excluding Suhyeok, the academic rankings among the Spirit Band’s 23rd generation members were fairly established.

1st place: Undisputed top student Park Juyeon.

2nd place: Seo Eun, the exemplary student who consistently maintained a GPA above 4.0.

From 3rd place down, things got ambiguous, as both Choegang and Hana were people who loved distractions too much.

Hana had never tried to become popular.

With her natural good looks, she was always surrounded by friends and received plenty of invitations to gatherings.

And that wasn’t all.

Hana had too many interests.

Her favorite bands and guitar, makeup, good restaurants, Instagram, sports, and so on.

That was Yoon Hana—never a dull moment in her 24 hours, even without planning.

Choegang, on the other hand, was a drummer with his own firmly established world of distractions that followed a strict routine.

His daily schedule was tightly packed in 10-minute intervals with exercise, watching internet broadcasts, clearing game stages, and more.

Among these, studying was at the very bottom of his priorities.

Exam preparation was something he did only with whatever time remained after enjoying all his leisure activities.

“Me? I’ll easily get a 3.5 this time!”

Noticing Juyeon and Suhyeok entering, Hana started to feel slightly embarrassed.

After all, she was showing off in front of Juyeon, who was at the top of the academic food chain.

“That’s rich coming from someone who had a 2.8 last year!”

When Choegang bluntly exposed her shortcoming, Hana felt her face flush.

Though Hana’s grades had already been revealed during the winter bet last year, the important point was that Suhyeok hadn’t been present then.

“S-Suhyeok!”

Embarrassed, Hana called out to Suhyeok who had been quietly listening.

“Huh? Me?”

“You. What was your GPA last semester?”

“Me… barely in the 3-point range…”

Hearing Suhyeok’s answer, Hana couldn’t hide her rising joy.

She had found a reliable comrade at the bottom, unlike the celestial-level grades of Juyeon and Seo Eun.

“Then come join our bet!”

“What kind of bet?”

“A grade ranking bet!”

Though initially lacking confidence, after hearing about Hana’s grades from last semester, Suhyeok thought he might have a chance.

“If I win… what do I get?”

“How about bingsu!”

Bingsu!

Indeed, it was one of those luxurious desserts one rarely buys alone.

“I-I’d like to join too…”

Juyeon’s eyes widened at the mention of bingsu as she slowly inched closer to Hana.

“Park Juyeon.”

Hana looked at Juyeon with half-closed eyes.

“Yes?”

“Are you that desperate to fleece us?”

Juyeon’s participation would be like a professional basketball player dominating kids on a neighborhood court.

“B-but… I like bingsu too…”

“Alright, alright.”

Seo Eun, who had been silently organizing the schedule, stood up from her chair.

“You three can do as you please, but Juyeon will come with me for bingsu! Let me go over the announcements first!”

The busiest period for Spirit, the band club, was between midterms and the school festival.

A band performance wasn’t just about rehearsals.

They had two performances scheduled.

First, a short performance of a few songs at the main field for the entire student body.

Second, their regular concert under the Spirit name, held in the school’s small auditorium.

Renting sound equipment, preparing stage costumes, recruiting audience members for the regular concert, calling alumni, and more—

The tasks were piling up like mountains.

After checking the list, Seo Eun diligently went through each task.

“By the way, we’re planning to do ‘that’ the day after tomorrow.”

That?

What’s “that”?

As Suhyeok looked around, each member had a different expression.

Choegang with a devilish grin.

Hana with a smirk.

Even Juyeon was covering her mouth and snickering.

Seeing that Suhyeok alone didn’t understand, Seo Eun kindly added an explanation.

“We have a long-standing tradition in Spirit.”

Seo Eun smiled brightly.

Her dimples reflected her enjoyment.

“Ah, but it seems a bit unfair that Suhyeok only gets to do it and not experience it himself.”

“He’s a sophomore now. We can’t just put him with the freshmen at this point.”

Suhyeok’s confusion was immediately resolved by Seo Eun’s next explanation.

“We’re going to prank the freshmen!”

“…What kind of prank?”

“Well… to create tension before the performance! And to get closer! We’ll call them out one by one and pretend to scold them!”

“So everyone here during their freshman year…”

That meant everyone standing before him had also been victims.

“Hana cried a lot, Juyeon cried too, and well, Choegang practically took a shower in his own sweat.”

“Hey, I didn’t cry that much, unnie!”

“What are you talking about? The moment the seniors said ‘This is a prank!’ you burst into tears.”

Honestly, Suhyeok could imagine Juyeon being scared, but hearing that the other members had similar reactions made him wonder just how intense it was.

“I’m. Going. To. Make. Them. Cry.”

Hana clenched her fist as if she had been waiting for this day.

“Na Hyejung. You’re dead!”

Hana recited the junior’s name with a face like a vengeful ghost.

“The point is usually to scold your direct junior in the same section!”

“So Suhyeok, if there’s anything you’ve wanted to point out to Taeho, you can use that as a starting point. Just exaggerate it a bit!”

Scold Taeho, even as a joke…?

Taeho’s face appeared in Suhyeok’s mind.

[I’ll do my best, hyung!]

[Suhyeok hyung, want to play games together?]

[Suhyeok hyung! Thank you for your hard work today!]

A junior who was eager for his seniors’ affection. Park Taeho.

No matter how Suhyeok looked at it, Taeho seemed like a better person than himself.

“Um… well…”

Though Suhyeok understood the general idea, he still couldn’t imagine himself genuinely scolding someone else.

“Don’t worry, Lee Suhyeok.”

Hana sensed it.

This was an opportunity.

A perfect chance to naturally call him out separately.

“I’ll show you exactly how I did it last year through a simulation.”

“Since Hana’s our discipline master, she’ll carry us this year! Suhyeok, learn well from her.”

The perceptive Seo Eun gave Hana an invisible push.

“Okay…”

Today’s meeting ended with just the schedule briefing.

Since they had activities and rehearsals planned almost every day from tomorrow, Seo Eun willingly dismissed the members.

Hana, telling Suhyeok to follow her, led him to a deserted emergency stairwell.

“Stand here.”

Following Hana’s instructions, Suhyeok stood on the landing between the 4th and 5th floors.

“Respectfully.”

Hana, sitting on the stairs, looked down at him with cold eyes.

“Just like this. In this setup, we’ll call out each junior and make them stand here. Our members will be sitting here permanently.”

It was an incredible pressure.

Even thinking about just one senior sitting up there was nerve-wracking.

Imagining all of them sitting there, Suhyeok felt like he had been summoned to a school bullying scene.

“And for the lines, well… if the 22nd generation president had confronted you here…”

One demonstration is more efficient than a hundred explanations!

Hana began to perform with all her might as if possessed by the former president.

With a fierce expression, she hurled plausible disses at Suhyeok.

She caught aspects of Suhyeok that might seem awkward to others and exaggerated them as much as possible.

But since this was acting, Hana naturally thought Suhyeok wouldn’t be hurt.

“So, Suhyeok.”

“Wake up! Huh?”

“Have you ever thought about how much you’re dragging down your class average?”

“Feel some remorse toward your classmates.”

“If you’re going to be like that, just leave! You punk!”

After about a minute of passionate acting, Hana caught her breath.

She felt this was enough to convey the nuance.

Suhyeok kept his head down without saying a word.

Even though it was acting, she thought he might not feel good about the harsh words…

“…Huh?”

Silver droplets fell one by one.

Their source was Suhyeok’s face.

She didn’t think sweat would flow so dramatically…

“L-Lee Suhyeok…?”

Flustered, Hana got up and approached him.

“Hey… hey. Why are you crying? This is just acting. You knew that, right?”

He was crying so sorrowfully.

Hana didn’t even know what words of comfort to offer.

“No. Hey. What’s wrong… this is all…”

“I… I know it’s acting… but when you say it like that… it’s just… hic…”

He was afraid.

Despite it being acting, he wondered if this was how Hana really saw him.

If this was the truth, and the faces the other members showed were just pretense.

His tears were evidence of how much he had come to care for them in that short time.

Hana awkwardly raised her arms.

Her arms slowly wrapped around Suhyeok’s waist.

“No, Lee Suhyeok.”

Rising slightly on her tiptoes, Hana whispered in his ear to reassure him.

“Y… no.”

That was dangerous.

She almost said it.

“How much do you think we like you?”

Suhyeok’s hands naturally pulled Hana’s back closer.