The midterm exams ended three days later.
“Thank you! Chilbok! You’re my lifesaver!”
“No, it’s just that I helped you study a bit… not that big of a deal.”
After all the exams wrapped up, Namgoong Ruby leaned in with excitement on her face.
I was about to push her face away in disbelief, but Namgoong Ruby didn’t care and shoved her test paper in front of me.
“Look! I graded it myself and I got over a 60 on average!”
Well, since I had taken it upon myself to teach her, I couldn’t just ignore it, so I checked the exam paper she held out.
“…”
Sure enough, her scores were much better than I expected.
While I had mostly drilled her on memorization-heavy subjects, her scores in subjects with lower emphasis on memorization weren’t bad either.
She must have really studied hard after going back to the dorm.
Considering Namgoong Ruby had been nearly at the bottom of our class, this was indeed a remarkable achievement.
“Good job.”
As I acknowledged her efforts, Namgoong Ruby beamed like a puppy that just got praised.
“Hehe. I got a compliment.”
At that moment, Dokgorin, who had been watching with her usual sour expression, interjected.
“So, does that mean Ruby doesn’t have to worry about being demoted to the second class anymore?”
“That’s right, unless this silly girl misgraded her own paper in the middle.”
As I said that and handed the test paper back, Namgoong Ruby chuckled.
“That won’t happen. I’ve graded it multiple times already.”
“Well, that’s a relief.”
Just then, Tang Sosu, who sat next to Namgoong Ruby, approached me and asked.
“Did everyone do well on the exams?”
“Not too bad.”
“Not bad.”
Those were Dokgorin’s and my replies in order.
Namgoong Ruby, hugging her exam paper as if it were precious, had seemingly excluded herself from this assessment, while Tang Sosu let out a small sigh.
“I think I made a lot of minor mistakes. If I’m already messing up now, the final exam is going to be a close call.”
Hearing this, Namgoong Ruby suddenly froze.
“Oh, wait, there’s still one more exam left…”
Seeing her mood sink that much made it clear studying had been pretty tough for her.
Tang Sosu quickly covered her slip of the tongue when she saw Namgoong Ruby’s reaction.
“Oh, don’t worry too much! We still have time! The final is two months away!”
“…Right? It’s still far off, right?”
As Namgoong Ruby listened to Tang Sosu’s words, her face brightened again.
The way her mood swung so drastically could almost be called a superpower.
“Now that the exams are over, how about we all go out and have some fun this weekend? We haven’t had a proper break in a while.”
As Namgoong Ruby took the lead in suggesting this, we exchanged looks and gauged each other’s reactions.
‘Are you going?’
‘What are we gonna do about it?’
‘Is it really happening?’
It seemed that everyone present wasn’t a big fan of outdoor activities, so Namgoong Ruby’s suggestion didn’t exactly excite anyone.
The three of us generally believed that weekends were best spent lounging around in bed, rolling around aimlessly.
“Are we going? Huh?”
But under Namgoong Ruby’s continued urging, we had no choice but to come to a decision, and in the end, I took the plunge and declared.
“Alright, let’s go out together this weekend.”
“What?!”
“Traitor!”
The reactions of my two friends were completely unexpected, their expressions read betrayal.
However, since this was a rare opportunity, it didn’t seem right to back out, so I brushed away their objections.
“When you take a break, you’ve got to really take a break so that studying can actually stick in your head. So we’ll meet this weekend.”
Once I made the weekend meeting announcement, Dokgorin and Tang Sosu begrudgingly nodded.
But at that moment, I had no idea that someone I didn’t expect had overheard our conversation.
*
Four more days passed.
On our day off, which comes just once a week, we decided to escape the dorm and enjoy the sights of the city.
The idea originated from Tang Sosu, who thought there would be plenty to see in a city with a rich history and tradition.
However, unlike when we initially planned, one more person had joined us—Samajak.
“Huh, where there’s Chilbok, how could I possibly not tag along?”
“You need to back off.”
“Hey, hey, let’s stop bickering.”
Thanks to Samajak following us around cluelessly, I started to feel a headache coming on.
Of course, it wasn’t that I had become uncomfortable with Samajak all of a sudden, but her presence inevitably led to fights with Dokgorin.
I had seen them clash several times, so I wasn’t surprised they would end up at odds again.
After that, I became wary of the two being in the same space together.
“Why don’t you just back off while I’m being nice? You’ve made the atmosphere weird.”
“Well? I think everyone else is fine. Are you overindulging in your own ego?”
It was truly a battle of wills.
Neither side seemed willing to back down easily.
I let out a small sigh at their bickering and said, “You guys aren’t kids, stop fighting already.”
The two glared at each other but fell silent with disgruntled expressions.
I turned to Samajak and asked, “But how did you hear about our plan to hang out this weekend?”
Samajak shyly avoided my gaze and replied, “Actually, I overheard you guys talking in the classroom.”
Ah, true. We had spoken pretty loudly back then.
“Usually, you wouldn’t plan to come along unless it’s explicitly arranged.”
“…True, but I’m your friend too, and I wanted to hang out with you.”
Looking up at me with the expression of a drenched cat, Samajak had given me the big eyes.
With her earnest gaze, I found it hard to turn her down.
At that point, Namgoong Ruby, who had been observing from the side, chimed in.
“We can’t just send her back now that she’s come all the way here, right? Although it might be a little uncomfortable for Rin, let’s just all hang out together.”
“Thank you!”
Before anyone else could object, Samajak jumped in with a preemptive strike.
“Fine, I guess.”
It must have been the atmosphere that would make me seem like a real villain if I had said to go home, because even Dokgorin reluctantly agreed.
*
“But wow, everyone really dressed up today.”
It suddenly struck me that everyone seemed to be dressed more colorfully than usual.
They were all pretty without the need for extra flare, but now they looked way better than usual?
I guessed they hadn’t expected I would suddenly offer compliments. The girls blushed and said,
“R-really?”
“What do you think?”
When Tang Sosu asked, I pondered for a moment and looked at each of them.
“You’re all super pretty!”
It was a genuine sentiment.
“Even if you praise us like that, it’s not bringing anything back.”
Tang Sosu seemed a bit embarrassed, sliding into her tsundere act.
“Look around at all the people who are glancing at you as they walk by. That just goes to show how beautiful you all are.”
“Stop it!”
In the end, Tang Sosu couldn’t handle the ongoing compliments and declared surrender.
I shrugged and turned to Namgoong Ruby, the organizer of this weekend outing.
“So where are we going now?”
Namgoong Ruby grinned at me and said.
“Chilbok, you better watch your back; it might get serious.”
“…What?”
“Nothing, never mind.”
After mumbling her way through that, Namgoong Ruby quickly returned to her usually lively self and said,
“Then let’s start off with the puppet show!”
“A puppet show?”
“Apparently, there’s a puppet show in town that’s all the rage about the love story of Xiang Yu and Yu Ji. I heard it’s become a hot topic among students.”
“Oh.”
That wasn’t a bad choice at all.
A puppet show means we don’t have to walk around and can just stand in one spot watching.
Seeing that everyone else didn’t seem to oppose the idea either, Namgoong Ruby’s grin widened as she confidently led the way.
The four of us, myself included, began to follow her around like ducks.
*
The puppet show was held in a square right in the middle of the market.
Since there weren’t many entertainment options in this era, a huge crowd had gathered around the square to watch the puppet show.
Especially families and couples were plentiful, probably because the puppet show was about the love story of Xiang Yu and Yu Ji.
It is akin to how nearly no one watches a romantic movie alone.
The five of us found a suitable spot to sit but couldn’t shake the feeling that the people around us were stealing glances at us.
‘It’s probably because all four of them are beauties.’
Not to mention Dokgorin and Namgoong Ruby, but even Tang Sosu and Samajak, while slightly less dazzling than the other two, were still beauties not easily found elsewhere.
However, whether they were accustomed to such glances or just didn’t care, they continued on without a fuss, so I felt awkward being the one to break the silence.
As this uncomfortable time passed, the puppet show finally began as a wooden puppet, clumsily resembling Xiang Yu and Yu Ji, took the stage.
