Ch.60Doyoung’s Favorite Random Game (7)

“Ah… Ugh… My back.”

“Oh, looks like he’s waking up.”

The blanket I had put over Do Hamin stirred, sending a signal.

The back of the guy who had been curled up inside was straightening, indicating he would soon wake from his sleep.

I quickly removed the blanket I had draped over his shoulders and returned it to the bed.

“Yaaawn…”

The gentle yawning sound of Do Hamin as his strength slightly drained.

Indeed, with his small frame, every sound and gesture from his body seemed equally insignificant.

“Ah… Sorry. I dozed off without realizing it.”

“It’s fine. You must have been tired from making problems all night. It happens. I’m actually more curious about how you managed to never fall asleep during class.”

“I guess staying awake in the morning has become a habit. That’s fortunate… hehe.”

Do Hamin smiled with his eyes half-open.

Without the anxious, meerkat-like gaze that was always tense and wary at school, his impression seemed somewhat different.

‘Usually people look their worst right after waking up…’

Maybe it’s because his face wasn’t particularly handsome to begin with,

but I thought that Do Hamin’s relaxed face after waking up actually looked better.

Or perhaps it’s because I knew that the fatigue and drowsiness weighing on his shoulders

were caused by none other than Ban Do-young.

“Oh, right. Hamin, look at this. I solved all the problems you made for me.”

“R-really…? Can I take a look?”

“Of course, please take care of my babies, Sensei.”

The problems created through Do Hamin’s hard work

returned to his arms, carrying Ban Do-young’s knowledge, touch, and a bit of eraser debris.

“Let’s see… Wow, it’s true. Regardless of whether the answers are correct, you really worked through everything from start to finish.”

“Hehe, I solved them diligently without looking at any answer key while you were sleeping.”

“T-then let me grade them.”

Do Hamin pressed the red color on his three-color pen from his writing case,

and checked the answers while looking at the answer sheet he had just been using as a pillow.

*Swish*

The pleasant sound of the pen drawing a circle with a slight tiptoe.

At least the first problem started with a correct answer.

“How is it? Can you tell I worked hard on them?”

“Yes… Your approach is correct, but you lost some points due to calculation errors at the end of a few problems… You definitely solved everything yourself. That’s really impressive.”

“Eh, I got problem 19 wrong? I was sure it was right… Damn! Math, I hate you!”

Of course, the journey wasn’t smooth all the way to the end.

But compared to getting the first problem marked with a slash, it was a much more stable start.

“S-still, your intermediate steps are almost perfect. If this were a free-response question, you could get about half the points.”

When the approach was correct but the final answer wasn’t,

Do Hamin marked the problem with a star instead of a circle or slash.

It couldn’t be called a sun-like circle shining with correctness,

but it meant that the path toward the stars wasn’t wrong.

The latter part of the problem sheet Do Hamin had made naturally became filled with such stars.

“Considering partial credit, it’s about 55 points. You’ve just barely reached the average score.”

“Ooh, Do Hamin, your problems are definitely effective.”

“I-I guess so…”

The math score from solving the problems was just enough to poke its head above the average line.

Although Do Hamin had helped with the solutions in the beginning, it was still an impressive result considering that my mock exam math score from not long ago was in the single digits.

“You seem to be learning much faster than I expected. At this pace, you’ll have no problem achieving your target score within the remaining time.”

“Hehe, do you see now? Ban Do-young’s sincerity.”

“D-don’t get overconfident just because today’s score is passing. Today I helped you with the beginning, which was a bit of a shortcut…”

“I know. In a real exam, they’d make it much harder and twist things to be incomprehensible. I understand that I got this score because you, Hamin, made the problems easy to understand.”

The problems that Hamin had carefully selected and adjusted all night, considering my current level.

No wonder they were easy to understand and not uncomfortable to look at.

“I-I didn’t come up with many problems entirely on my own. I mostly learned from other sources and adapted them a bit.”

“Aren’t other problem books the same? They’re all similar. I actually thought your problems were better.”

“R-really…?”

“I liked how just by reading the problem, it was clear how to solve it. It might be difficult if you don’t know the material, but it felt like it was saying ‘if you’ve studied, you can solve this.’ It made approaching the problems much easier.”

Familiar types of past exam questions that are easy to understand and read are always important.

Even if they don’t greatly improve learning ability, they train you not to be intimidated by reading problems.

It could be considered a kind of vaccine for studying.

“Haha… I’m a bit embarrassed. If real exams were like this, people would complain they were too easy.”

Do Hamin turned my test paper back to the first page,

and smiled with satisfaction as he looked at the traces of my solutions again.

“…I thought you might have slacked off or gotten distracted while I wasn’t watching… but you really worked hard on these.”

Do Hamin raised himself from the table where he had been lying down,

and put the test paper I had solved into his bag.

“Hey, Hamin, what are you doing?”

“I should get going. I need to make problems for you to solve next time.”

“Why so soon? It’s Friday. Let’s do it tomorrow on the weekend.”

“Seeing how you solved these, I feel motivated too. Now I have a better gauge of your skill level. I’ll make the next problems a bit more challenging, like what might appear on the midterm exam.”

Despite having just been so tired that he fell asleep with his face planted on the table.

The imprint of the workbook text was still visible on his face, yet he was already thinking about problems for our next meeting.

Saying he’d study on his own,

yet getting so exhausted preparing problems for me that he falls asleep.

“Hey, you’ll ruin your health. You need to get enough sleep. Getting up at dawn, going to school, attending classes, doing kendo, tutoring, and finally having a wank before bed.”

“T-that last part doesn’t apply to me!”

“Heheh. That’s too bad. The side dish I gave you went to waste.”

Maybe it was too fresh for his taste.

If he had a preferred age range, he could pick one from the photos in this room.

Fortunately, Ban Do-young’s room had quite a collection of photos from different periods.

“A-anyway… what time is it now? I want to catch the train.”

“Um… it’s 11:20.”

“What? W-what time…?”

As I turned on my phone to tell him the exact time,

the display that showed 20 minutes ticked over to 21.

“Oh, the last train to your house just left.”

Only then did Do Hamin realize that he had been asleep

at the table for nearly four hours.

.

.

.

“W-why didn’t you wake me up until now?!”

“You were sleeping so peacefully.”

“N-no…! Normally you’d wake someone up when it’s time for them to go home! I wasn’t just sleeping for an hour or two, but four hours…! And you even knew the last train to my house was just now!”

“You were that tired… to sleep so soundly in such an uncomfortable position.”

“Ahh… what should I do? Should I take a t-taxi? But it’s the end of the month and I don’t have any money… Walking… no, how could I find my way when I don’t even know the route properly… I didn’t tell my mom, and if she realizes I’m not home when I should be…”

“Ah, don’t worry. I messaged your mom. Told her you’re staying over at a friend’s house to study for exams.”

“…Huh?”

*Tok*

*Todok*

Do Hamin urgently opened his phone to check his messages.

The record of me pretending to be her son and having a friendly conversation with his mother hours ago reflected in his glasses.

“Your mother is very kind. I’d like to meet her in person someday.”

“T-that’s true, but… wait, how did you unlock this? I definitely set a password.”

“Oh, change your password. How could you use your birthday as a password? And January 1st at that.”

“Sigh… I never thought I’d be lectured about numbers by you…”

“What did you say? Getting cocky because you’re good at math?”

Do Hamin sighed deeply as he clutched at his non-existent chest.

Why is he pretending to be so proper?

Even Ban Do-young wouldn’t act like that.

“No, staying over here… that’s impossible. W-we’re a boy and a girl. And the master is on the second floor too.”

“What are you talking about? Who said we’d sleep in the same room? Is there anything that would need parental guidance?”

“…Huh?”

I tapped the wall connecting to the next room with the back of my hand.

“The room next to mine is empty. Ban Do-young’s brother is in the military. You can sleep there.”

“…Oh.”

“Kid, did you actually expect to sleep in the same room, same bed as me? With my dad right downstairs?”

“N-no… I didn’t know… I mean, if you had woken me up on time, I wouldn’t have had to ask about this!”

“That wouldn’t do. You see, there was something I really wanted to do with you today.”

“…W-what do you want to do?”

“Hehehe…”

*Tok*

“It’s exactly midnight now.”

“Already…?”

Do Hamin turned his head to look at the clock on the wall cabinet.

The wall clock showed 00:00, with both hands meeting at one point.

We who had been in the same room when the two hands were on opposite sides

were now spending time together as the two hands overlapped at the same spot.

“Happy April Fool’s Day, Hamin.”

“A-April Fool’s…”

March had ended, and April had arrived.

Today was now April 1st.

April Fool’s Day, a holiday created for playing light pranks on people.

In other words, a day made for Ban Do-young.

“Let’s play a game.”

*Thud*

I placed a bottle of Zero Lime that I had taken from the refrigerator on the table where Hamin and I were sitting.

“C-cola…?”

“Have you heard of the Zero Lime game?”