The next morning, Eun-Jeoung rose early, announcing, "I'm heading out; you should get up."
"Leaving already?" Seong inquired, his voice filled with sleep.
"Yeah, we don't want to waste a single second in the section after the second location has been revealed. So, bye," Eun-Jeoung replied briskly.
"Bye," Seong mumbled as he reluctantly left the comfort of his bed. Afterward, he refreshed himself and prepared a quick sandwich.
As he was savoring his makeshift breakfast, the doorbell rang. Seong opened the door to find Minjun standing there. "Welcome, Minjun. It's already 9," Seong greeted him with a friendly smile.
Minjun inquired, "Did I come too early?"
"No, you're fine. Have you eaten?" Seong asked.
"Yeah, I ate. So, where do you want to study?" Minjun replied.
Seong gestured towards a desk that he rarely used. Minjun took a seat on the chair at the designated desk, while Seong grabbed Eun-Jeoung's chair and brought it over to his own table.
"So, what specific challenges are you facing with this topic?" Seong inquired, initiating the beginning of Minjun and Seong's first tutoring session. Seong did his best to explain the topic thoroughly, and Minjun absorbed as much information as possible.
After the session, Minjun expressed his gratitude, saying, "Thank you for your help."
"No problem. It also enhances my English proficiency, so it's a win-win," Seong replied.
Minjun then asked, "Would you like to do it again tomorrow?"
"Sure," Seong agreed. "What are your plans for now?"
"Probably nothing, just heading back to the apartment," Minjun replied.
Just then, the doorbell rang, taking Seong by surprise as he wasn't expecting any visitors. When he opened the door, Amelie stood there, asking, "What took you so long to open the door?"
Seong retorted, "It was like 5 seconds."
Amelie inquired, "Where is Minjun?" "He's right here,"
Seong replied, ushering her inside.
"Why are you here, Amelie?" Minjun inquired.
Amelie responded, "I was bored, so I decided to visit."
"I was about to come back to the apartment, but it seems there's no point while you're here," Minjun remarked.
Amelie questioned, "What are the both of you doing?"
"Seong was helping me with English since I'm not quite good at it," Minjun explained.
Amelie added, "You could have asked me; I'm quite good at English."
"Yes, you are, Miss Amelie, ranked 271 out of 300," Minjun commented.
Amelie retorted, "It's still better than you, who's at 290, so I don't know why you're speaking."
"Whoa, you're that bad?" Seong exclaimed, surprised.
Amelie retorted, “You're acting like you're so good; what's your rank?”
Seong questioned, “Where can you see that?”
Amelie replied, “You don’t even know that it will be on the school app.”
Seong opened the school app and found out he was ranked in the top fifty. He exclaimed, “Top fifty.”
Amelie replied, “So you are good, what about math?” She inquired because she was in the top fifty in math and knew he was struggling with it, as he had mentioned at dinner two days prior.
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Seong reluctantly checked the math ranking and discovered he was ranked 300th. “We don’t need to talk about that,” Seong said, hoping to avoid the subject.
Amelie, trying to tease him, said, “Are you shy to share your rank?” attempting to goad him into revealing his math ranking.
“No, I'm not,” Seong responded in a low voice, almost a murmur, audible only to them. Amelie, pushing further, remarked, “Come on, what happened to your voice?”
Seong finally admitted, “Okay, I got ranked 300th.”
Amelie exclaimed, “Woah, you're the worst student in the entire level! Gosh, I would be disappointed in myself.”
Seong defended, “I can't do anything about starting ranks, but I won’t end up as rank three hundred. And you’re not top fifty in anything.”
Amelie countered, “I am in math, science, and humanities. It's just English that I am bad at, and not even the worst, at least.”
Seong fell silent after Amelie's comment, and Minjun sensed his friend's unease. “I can tutor you in math if you want,” Minjun offered.
"Really?" Seong's eyes lit up with hope.
Minjun affirmed, “Yeah, you’re helping me with English, so it would be only fair to help you with math.”
"Thank you, Minjun," Seong expressed his gratitude.
“Same time tomorrow; the first hour will be English, then an hour of math,” Minjun suggested.
Seong agreed, “Okay.”
For five consecutive days, this tutoring routine continued. During this time, Mister Williams' group secured victory in section five, while our group triumphed in section four which Alejandro was a part of. Now, Section 2 remained the only one undecided for the assignment, holding the key to determining the winner was this section – the very section Eun-Jeoung was part of. This situation added a considerable amount of stress to Seong. He feared that if Eun-Jeoung's group lost, she might place the blame on herself, and he would have to console her, a prospect he found to be quite a hassle.
On the thirteenth day, a notification popped up. Seong sat there, torn between clicking it and allowing his fear to consume him. The question lingered in his mind: Did all his hard work pay off, or did it just go down the drain?
"I did it," Seong exclaimed, clicking the notification. 'Congratulations to Miss Hwa Young's group for winning the first assignment. Grades will be given tomorrow.' Seong couldn't contain his happiness; his hard work hadn't gone down the drain. Inspired by Eun-Jeoung's success, he decided to do something special for her.
Seong headed to the store to gather ingredients for her favorite Bibimbap. While shopping, he noticed a flyer advertising job opportunity. "Maybe I should take up the job; it might kill some time and give me work experience," Seong pondered as he left the store.
Back in his dorm, Seong started preparing the Bibimbap. After 20 minutes, Eun-Jeoung burst into the room, shouting, "We won, we actually won!"
"Congrats," Seong replied with a smile.
Eun-Jeoung asked, “Where is the celebration? What are you doing all the way over there?” in a cold tone.
Seong responded, “Cooking for you.”
Eun-Jeoung remarked, “That's nice of you, but I expected a bit more.”
Seong, puzzled, asked, “Can you explain to me what you did for me?”
Eun-Jeoung softened her tone and said, “Thank you so much. I am really grateful.
"That's what I thought," Seong said.
Eun-Jeoung freshened up and then enjoyed Seong's cooking. “How is it?” Seong asked.
“Amazing as always,” Eun-Jeoung replied, then added, “What grade do you want?”
“Anything above a 6 is good for me. What about you?” Seong responded.
Eun-Jeoung said, “Same, but I am still stressed about the possibility of getting expelled.”
“I don’t think you have to worry. The ones who are probably going to get expelled are the ones who didn’t win their section," Seong assured Eun-Jeoung.
Eun-Jeoung questioned, “Don’t you have a lecture now?”
Seong, realizing the time, checked the clock, dashed out of the dorm, and ran to the lecture room. 'Mr. Ryunosuke is going to kill me for being late to his class.'
He made it to the lecture late, but luckily for him, Mr. Ryunosuke was also late that day. “Sorry for being late to class. I shall begin the class now, but before that I would also like to congratulate you on winning the first assignment,” Ryunosuke said.
After the lecture, Seong headed back to his dorm and spent the evening studying to improve his math skills.
The next day, Seong and Eun-Jeoung woke up late, relieved that they had no assignment to attend and no lectures until 1 PM. At 8 AM, Seong got freshened up and said, “Get up, Minjun is coming over.”
"Why is Minjun coming over?" Eun-Jeoung asked, curious.
Seong explained, “I teach him English, and in return, he helps me with math.”
“You know you can ask me to help you in math,” Eun-Jeoung offered.
Seong inquired, “What's your rank?”
“I am ranked seventy-fourth in math,” Eun-Jeoung said proudly.
Seong remarked, “Minjun is in the top fifty.”
“Never mind,” Eun-Jeoung replied, “but what about Alejandro? Doesn't he also teach you math?”
Seong explained, “Two is better than one.”
“True,” Eun-Jeoung agreed and freshened up.
Seong asked, “What are you going to do while Minjun and I study?”
“I don’t know, probably be on my phone,” Eun-Jeoung replied
At that moment, the doorbell rang. Seong opened the door to see Minjun, but behind him, Amelie was there. “Welcome, Minjun.”
“Are you blind? I am also here,” Amelie said.
Seong replied, “Oh, I didn’t see you.”
Both of them entered the room. "Congrats, Eun-Jeoung, on passing the assignment," Amelie and Minjun said.
Eun-Jeoung expressed her gratitude, saying, “Thanks, both of you.”
“Let’s study,” Seong suggested.
Amelie proposed, “Take a break for today. Let's wait for results, and if you get a good result, I'll buy you dinner.”
“You better not take back your words,” Seong warned with a grin.
Amelie reassured, “I won’t.”
“What are we going to do in the meantime?” Minjun asked.
Eun-Jeoung suggested, “Let’s play truth or dare.”