Ch.5049. Midterm Exams (3)

# 49. Midterm Exams (3)

I arrived at that building after a very long time.

That building where I took the written exam for the Imperial Academy entrance test.

Of course, besides me, all the students from the Imperial Academy’s middle school 3rd year and high school 1st and 2nd years were here too.

Middle school 3rd year and high school 1st and 2nd years had written exams today, Wednesday, and practical and survival tests on Thursday, while middle school 1st and 2nd years and high school 3rd years had the opposite schedule.

And on the final day, Friday, all students would participate in close combat tests on the same day, at the same place.

Right now, we were just about to take the written exam.

‘Everyone’s working hard.’

Other students were desperately memorizing notes they had brought before the written exam started.

However, a few people including myself weren’t doing that, and Rachel was also in the same category as me.

“Hello?”

When I approached Rachel and greeted her, she responded with a considerably different atmosphere than before.

“Um… hello…”

Rachel spoke with a somewhat awkward tone.

“Are you prepared for the exam?”

“Of course, what about you?”

“I’m a bit nervous…”

Honestly, Rachel, like her and Leo, didn’t care much about these exams either way.

Still, unlike them, Rachel was putting effort into the exams.

Unlike them, she actively participated in classes, and it was noticeable how much effort she put in, such as rereading textbooks to review during her free time.

“I hope it goes well for you. You worked really hard.”

“Did I?”

I nodded as I spoke.

“Good luck on your exam.”

“You too… good luck.”

We exchanged warm wishes and headed to our assigned classrooms.

When I went to my assigned classroom, number 23, many students were already waiting outside.

And I spoke to a familiar face visible among those students.

“Looks like you’re here too?”

“Why are you here?”

“How would I know? Anyway… good luck on the exam.”

Leo spoke shyly, as if he wasn’t used to this kind of thing.

“You… fill in the OMR sheet carefully.”

“Thanks to you, I won’t make that mistake.”

While chatting with Leo, the exam time approached, and we finally entered classroom 23, which had just opened.

I went to my seat as indicated on the blackboard.

‘Looks like they’re all first-years.’

The name tags on everyone’s uniforms, identical to the one I was wearing, informed me that everyone in this classroom was a high school first-year.

Still, judging by all the unfamiliar faces, these students seemed to be from different classes than mine.

Those students were still sitting in their seats, diligently reviewing their organized notes.

However, even they reluctantly put their notes away in their bags when the exam proctor entered the classroom.

When the classroom clock struck 9 o’clock sharp, the proctor distributed the exam papers to the students.

I received my exam paper and began solving the problems one by one.

‘This one is number 3.’

Since the first period was a history exam, the answers came to me immediately.

There were essay questions like ‘Who was the first king of the Babylonian Kingdom, and what achievements did he accomplish?’

And of course, there were multiple-choice questions like ‘Which of the following statements about Orca Ignite, the 13th king of the Orion Kingdom, is correct?’

‘I’ve finished them all…’

I solved all 60 problems and showed thoroughness by checking them once more.

Then, as usual, I put my head down on the desk and tried to get some sleep.

‘I’ll probably get them all right anyway.’

I was quite confident since I had double-checked everything.

I wanted to conserve some energy for the next period’s language arts exam.

***

After finishing exams in seven subjects, I went to the bathroom and found those students from the classroom there.

They were passionately discussing their thoughts.

“Hey, for history question 13, it’s 2, right?”

“How could it be 2? It’s 4.”

“Isn’t it 1? That war wasn’t started by the king.”

“It says ‘correct statement,’ didn’t you read the question?”

I watched this curious scene and quietly marveled from the side.

‘Wow…. they’re all wrong..’

Unfortunately, the correct answer to that question was 3.

I gave a hollow laugh looking at these poor friends.

‘If they got such an easy question wrong…’

I gave them a look of sympathy.

I wanted to tell them the answer was 3, but there was no need to be that meddlesome.

I left the bathroom, leaving them behind.

-Ding!-

As soon as I left the bathroom, my phone suddenly rang.

It seemed like I had received a message.

I took out my phone to check the message.

The person who sent me the message was Chris.

-Come to the first floor, let’s go eat together.-

After seeing the word “food,” I checked the time.

My phone provided me with the useful information that it was now 6 o’clock.

‘Time flies so fast, feels like I just had lunch…’

I hadn’t noticed the time passing while taking exams in seven subjects.

Realizing I was already hungry, I quickly headed to the first floor.

When I came down the stairs to the first floor, my party members who had also taken the exam today were waiting by the staircase.

Since more than half of our party members were high school first-years, and Ellin was a middle school third-year, quite a lot of people were there.

However, it was a bit disappointing that she wasn’t there.

I asked them about today’s exams.

“How did your exams go?”

Those who heard my question had different expressions.

Some, like Briton, Reina, and Rachel, confidently said they did well, while others like Chris, Eve, and Ellin just showed dark expressions without saying anything.

‘Looks like they failed…’

I couldn’t say anything to those who looked as if they had lost their country.

Instead, Reina, who seemed to have done well on the exam, asked me.

“What about you? Did you do well?”

“Of course I did well.”

Chris, who had been listening to our conversation, spoke in a voice lower than usual.

“How can you be like that? Are we even friends? I totally failed…”

“That’s because you didn’t study.”

Chris retorted in an aggrieved voice.

“Did you study? You didn’t study either, just like me, so why did you do well…”

“Did you fail that badly?”

“I might have more wrong answers than correct ones…”

Chris’s voice carried a despair that someone like me couldn’t possibly understand.

“But you still don’t know for sure.”

“You can say that because it’s not your problem.”

“This feels like déjà vu?”

It was exactly the same situation as when we left the library.

I marveled at this strange and curious déjà vu.

However, that feeling quickly disappeared due to hunger.

“I’m hungry.”

“Let’s go eat.”

“Where are we going?”

Reina asked us.

“What do you want to eat?”

But no one answered that question.

I awkwardly responded first.

“I want jajangmyeon.”

“Jajangmyeon?”

Ellin, a Chinese food enthusiast, excitedly spoke up upon hearing the word “jajangmyeon.”

“There’s a really delicious restaurant near here.”

“Oh… really?”

Ellin, who had been gloomy about failing the exam until just now, brightened up so much it was hard to believe she was the same person.

Ellin went into her phone gallery and showed me several photos that appeared to have been taken at that restaurant.

“What do you think? Looks delicious, right?”

“Wow….”

I was captivated by the visuals that made my mouth water just from looking at the photos.

“Looks delicious… is this okay with everyone?”

Everyone showed positive reactions about the restaurant.

“Jajangmyeon sounds good.”

“I want jjamppong… do they have it?”

“Order some sweet and sour pork.”

Seeing these reactions, Ellin excitedly began leading the party members toward the restaurant.

“Then let’s go right now! Everyone follow me!”

When I stared at Ellin with a blank expression, she asked me aggressively.

“What? What’s with that look? Do you have a problem?”

“Do you have bipolar disorder or something?”

I marveled again at Ellin’s emotional fluctuations that indeed seemed like bipolar disorder.

Thanks to Ellin, we quickly arrived at the restaurant.

Ellin spoke with her heightened tension again.

“Here it is! Let’s go in quickly.”

We entered the restaurant, which had a very classical atmosphere.

Inside the restaurant, many customers had already taken seats besides us.

It was definitely crowded because it was dinner time.

Still, it wasn’t completely full, so we managed to find a table for seven and sat down.

“What does everyone want to eat?”

The choices for jajangmyeon and jjamppong were evenly split, 3 to 3.

While everyone seemed to be ordering either jajangmyeon or jjamppong, Rachel was different.

“I’ll have udon.”

Rachel ordered her food confidently.

And seeing that reminded me of something.

“People don’t recognize you? Even though you’re a princess of an allied country…”

“How many royals do you think our country has… how could they recognize all of us? Just my siblings alone number 23.”

“Wow…”

While I was marveling at this fact, an unfamiliar voice spoke from behind me.

“With you, that makes 24. Really… unnecessarily many.”