Ch.53Tutoring a Peer (10)

I returned home after thoroughly bombing the first mock exam in Ban Do-young’s body.

I don’t know for sure, but I probably set a new record low compared to any score I ever received during my own school days.

It was technically my first event as Ban Do-young since the entrance ceremony,

but nothing particularly special happened.

Well, even if I hadn’t possessed her body,

Do-young didn’t seem to have much interest in studying to begin with.

Failing one mock exam that doesn’t even count toward school grades

probably won’t cause any major changes to this world.

“I’m home.”

“Oh, yes… Just a moment. Ah, sorry about that. My daughter just came home.”

Thanks to the mock exam, I arrived home a bit later than usual.

When I entered, Dad was speaking quietly on the phone with someone.

Since he wasn’t using speakerphone, there was no way to know who was on the other end.

“Do-ha-min is skipping kendo lessons today. I felt bad making him go to kendo practice between finishing exams and evening self-study.”

“Oh, I see. Sorry, Do-young. Dad’s on a call right now.”

“Mm-hmm, I’ll head up to my room first.”

“Yes, go ahead. You worked hard today.”

“…Worked hard? Oh, yeah.”

Dad gestured for me to go upstairs.

After seeing his signal, I quietly went to my room, making sure my footsteps didn’t make any noise.

“Ah, yes… Do-young just came in. Yes, where were we…? Oh, I understand. Let’s do that. Her mother will agree too. We don’t want her to completely give up on studying…”

With Dad’s voice fading behind me,

I threw my bag down and flopped onto the bed.

“I wonder if I need to mention there was an exam today.”

No, the original Ban Do-young from the story didn’t care about studying,

so she probably wouldn’t bother reporting something like a mock exam.

Do-ha-min decided to skip lessons today,

and Sahyang and Hyerang said they had other plans, so we parted ways early.

It feels like it’s been a while.

Just lying on the bed spacing out without Do-ha-min, Sahyang, or Hyerang around.

“What time is it now?”

Normally I would have checked my phone that I’d tossed aside, but

today it happened to be farther away from where I was lying.

Since I didn’t want to get up again after having already lain down,

instead of reaching for my phone, I turned my head toward the analog clock hanging on the closet.

“What? It’s already 5:15? Where did my time go? I only lay down for a moment.”

The strangely fast-moving clock hands

made me immediately get up from the bed to find my phone.

When I checked my phone,

it showed exactly 4:55 PM.

For some reason, the clock on the closet was running 20 minutes ahead.

“That’s more like it. I’ve only been lying down for 5 minutes. No way that much time passed.”

Digital is definitely better than analog.

Relieved, I put down my phone and leaned back onto the bed.

About an hour until dinner time. Though brief, I decided to spend this afternoon

in complete rest just for myself, without meeting or interacting with anyone. I pulled the blanket I’d tossed aside this morning close to me.

“Hmm, maybe I’ll just close my eyes for a bit…”

“Ban Do-young, it’s already 10 o’clock. If you’re going to sleep, brush your teeth and wash your feet first.”

“…What?”

And that’s how Do-young’s day ended.

.

.

.

“Everyone, during homeroom this morning, I have one piece of good news and one piece of bad news to share.”

On a morning like any other,

Teacher Miso stood at the podium with a somewhat gloomy face.

Her usually neat and tidy appearance was somehow different;

the teacher standing at the podium that day looked somewhat disheveled.

Her beige shirt was wrinkled as if she was anxious and stressed.

The numerous creases formed steep ridges all over, as if proudly declaring “I teach Korean geography,” but that wasn’t even the worst part.

The state of her shirt’s edges was serious.

The button near her neck was undone as if it had been too tight, and if you looked down from the podium, you could probably see not only her collarbone but also what color bra she was wearing if you looked carefully.

The sleeves were even worse.

Coffee droplets, presumably from her morning drink, were scattered here and there, creating a polka dot pattern on her sleeves.

“Teacher Miso seems down today.”

“Did she get dumped? Wait, did she even have a boyfriend?”

“Right. She didn’t really mention anything on the first day. But why is she like that?”

“Look at her face. She obviously drank last night and just woke up.”

Her face was flushed and puffy, as if she was still clinging to her youth despite being well into marriageable age.

Combined with her disheveled appearance, there was a high probability she had been drinking the night before.

“That’s the face you get when you drink, cry yourself to sleep without removing your makeup.”

“How would you know? You’ve never even drunk alcohol and slept.”

“Oops.”

“Don’t tell me you’ve been drinking behind our backs?”

“As expected of our natural-born delinquent, Do-young.”

“Sigh, don’t do this kind of thing, Miss Goody-Two-Shoes.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“That’s right, this is advice from someone who’s experienced it all.”

“What are you saying, September baby?”

It seemed that Ban Do-young, along with Sahyang and Hyerang, had never properly tasted alcohol during middle school.

Looking at Do-young and the other kids’ faces,

I would have thought they’d already experienced it during elementary school field trips.

Whether it was because they were naturally good kids or because this was an all-ages webtoon…

Well, it’s a good thing anyway.

Alcohol, cigarettes, sex, gambling, and drugs are too early for kids without self-control.

Better to wait until they’re adults.

Of course, adults without self-control are the same, but at least they won’t shift responsibility to their parents.

Oh, and of course, cubes and drugs should be avoided even as adults.

“I’m not the important one here. Just listen to what the teacher is saying.”

Right, whether Teacher Miso broke up with her boyfriend yesterday,

or whether she drank out of spite and fell asleep, isn’t important.

The point of the story is

the good news and bad news that Teacher Miso has to tell us.

“Um, what would you all prefer? The good news or the bad news first?”

“The bad news!”

“Better to start small and end big!”

The students’ opinions leaned toward hearing the bad news first.

I agreed with them.

It’s better to take the beating first.

If the ending is good, everything is good.

Joy comes after hardship… and so on.

People preferring a good ending over a good beginning

has been proven by countless sayings from our ancestors.

People ultimately focus more on how things end rather than how they begin.

If you had to watch either a story that starts well but ends poorly or one that starts poorly but ends well, wouldn’t anyone choose the latter?

It’s better to endure frustrating developments and then be moved by an exciting ending

than to enjoy the beginning only to be disappointed by the end.

In fact, most works remembered as good

tend to be the latter.

So most of the students chose to hear the bad news first, entrusting their fate to a story that improves over time.

“The results from the mock exam we took recently came in… and… unfortunately, our school ranked among the lowest in the nation.”

“Ah….”

Unlike Teacher Miso, who looked like she might burst into tears at any moment,

the students’ expressions were surprisingly calm.

That made sense since most students hadn’t placed much importance on this exam.

While Bulsa High School was an academic school aimed at university entrance, it wasn’t one that was obsessively focused on studies.

Most students hadn’t prepared for this first college entrance exam-style mock test,

and the majority had scored far below their usual averages.

If it were midterms or finals that counted toward their school records, it might be different.

But this nationwide mock exam didn’t even affect their school grades.

So unless they were honor students who cared about academics,

not many students had taken the exam seriously.

“Sob… Isn’t this terrible news? The results of all your hard work in studying weren’t properly reflected… it’s truly sad and bad news.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Especially… Korean Geography! I thought I had taught you all to the best of my ability, but even those scores were far below the national average…! Why did this happen?”

“So that’s why you drank yesterday…”

“Yes… I had a drink. It’s okay if your grades aren’t good. But please, everyone, just remember one thing about your attitude toward studying.”

“…She’s intense.”

I had momentarily forgotten.

How much our homeroom teacher valued the students’ academic performance.

For Teacher Miso, the fact that we ranked last in a nationwide exam

could only be bad news, even if it didn’t count toward school grades.

“Whew, I was worried for nothing. I thought it was something really serious when she mentioned good news and bad news.”

“Right. Fortunately, it was only bad news for the teacher.”

“That mock exam doesn’t matter even if we do poorly, so why make such a fuss?”

“Wait, does this mean we basically only have good news then?”

After hearing Teacher Miso’s explanation, the students sighed with relief and relaxed their tense expressions.

The bad news wasn’t as serious as they had feared.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t teach you better, everyone…! I’ll work harder! So you can all get higher scores on the next midterm exam!”

“Wow! Our teacher is so cool!”

“Don’t be too sad, we’re fine!”

“So! What’s the good news? Have they decided where we’re going for our school trip?”

“Ah, yes. Now I should share the good news!”

Teacher Miso, moved by the students’ response, wiped her moist eyes and returned to a bright expression.

“Thanks to the principal’s approval, students who scored poorly on this mock exam will have the opportunity to join the evening self-study sessions they couldn’t sign up for!”

“…What?”

The students couldn’t believe their ears when they heard Teacher Miso’s words.

“Among students who particularly underperformed on this mock exam, those whose midterm scores are below average will be supported by the school with mandatory evening self-study sessions until the end of the first semester! Isn’t that wonderful news? The school is helping you study so diligently!”

“…”

“I already finished discussing this with the parents of the eligible students yesterday! Now it’s all about studying!”

I had momentarily forgotten.

How much our homeroom teacher valued the students’ academic performance.

If the bad news was only bad for Teacher Miso,

then naturally, the good news was only good for Teacher Miso as well.

While she phrased it as “giving an opportunity” for special classes,

the reality was a threat: if you perform poorly on the midterms that actually count toward your grades and make us look bad nationally, we’ll force you into evening study sessions, human rights be damned.

“Ban Do-young, fighting!”

“Fuck.”

“Hehe, congratulations on your mandatory evening study duty.”

That was the moment I received my first official shoutout from Teacher Miso

as our class’s number one blockhead.

“…Hey, model student.”

*tap*

With nowhere else to turn, little Ban Do-young’s hand naturally grabbed

the sleeve of Do-ha-min’s uniform, which was tailored larger than his actual size.

“Huh…?”

“…Please save me.”

It was approaching the last day of March.

The day we became each other’s tutors.