Time passed slowly yet quickly. Days seemed to pass slowly, but weeks and months felt fleeting. Time seemed to slow down after the CSAT, but the CSAT itself seemed to arrive quickly.
“Aren’t you going to write an essay anyway?”
“Lowest score.”
"ah."
For students preparing for the CSAT, a significant burden is lifted from their minds after the exam. It's hard to say which is more important: the CSAT itself or the essay-based exam itself. Even for Woo-seok, who hasn't spent the past year focused solely on the CSAT, that day, which feels like the final hurdle in his life, is fast approaching.
In truth, Woo-seok didn't want to greet this day with much fanfare. He wanted to treat the CSAT as just another exam, like all the other mock exams he'd taken, but the school wouldn't allow that. He was okay with calling the third-year students to the auditorium the day before the CSAT. It felt a bit odd for third-year students to hear the principal's lecture, but there was nothing wrong with receiving a thorough explanation of the CSAT's key points. Being able to leave school much earlier than usual was a welcome relief. Even if they stayed at school for a long time, the only thing they could do was study. The problem was that the walk from the auditorium to the school gate wasn't always smooth.
"The CSAT departure ceremony is a mental strengthening project, right? It teaches you to stay calm even in frustrating situations."
“Think positively. Even strangers are cheering me on.”
"I don't want to receive insincere support from people I don't even know. It's burdensome."
As I grumbled and exited the auditorium, I saw a line of first- and second-year students standing there, each holding a balloon or a slogan. Was the entire student body there? Judging by the number of students on the playground and on the skybridge, it seemed like the entire student body was there. What's this CSAT thing?
He wanted to hurry home, but the path surrounded by his juniors was too narrow to rush through. The ground wasn't covered, but the CSAT departure ceremony felt like a celebrity red carpet. He realized he'd have to walk that path himself soon, so he wondered if he could take a different route. It wasn't the official dismissal time, so the only open gate was the main gate. Woo-seok looked around, seriously considering climbing over the wall, when he spotted Han-gyeol in a corner with his friends. Han-gyeol seemed to be having fun at the CSAT departure ceremony, waving balloons and occasionally shouting, "Fighting!" Woo-seok found that cute sight and a brief chuckle escaped his lips.
“Why are you laughing all of a sudden? Oh, because of Lee Han-gyeol?”
"It's kind of weird seeing a celebrity doing that here. It's like I'm a celebrity and she's a fan."
“So, Kim Woo-seok has the celebrity disease?”
“What conclusion did you reach?”
Perhaps because he'd been waiting so long in front of the auditorium, almost all the third-year students had already left the main gate. Only then did Woo-seok begin to walk toward the main gate, and he inadvertently turned to look in Han-gyeol's direction. It was a thought he didn't realize he had.
-
“Did you enjoy the CSAT departure ceremony? They were waving balloons around a lot.”
"It wasn't so much fun as it was exciting. I never imagined I'd be waving balloons at the CSAT departure ceremony."
Han-gyeol, who became a trainee right before graduating from middle school and debuted last year, couldn't attend the CSAT departure ceremony last year due to his busy schedule. So, he didn't really know what it was. He'd only heard the kids grumbling about how they hoped it wouldn't happen next year. It certainly wasn't a fun event, but it was meaningful to Han-gyeol. Squeezed into the crowd of students, cheering on his seniors, he felt like a normal student again. He didn't necessarily like it, but he didn't hate it either.
"But I guess I can be touched by things like this. I heard a senior of mine start crying."
“Wow. Really?”
“There was a senior I didn’t like. He showed a strong dislike for me, but then reluctantly walked away.”
Because of the college entrance exam departure ceremony and the impending written exam, afternoon classes were completely devoted to self-study. They were told they were "you're all high school seniors" once the exam was over, but it seemed the realization hadn't sunk in yet. For them, study time became recess. The teacher's scolding to "keep quiet" didn't help much. Because of this class atmosphere, they couldn't focus on their studies at all. Resolving to focus on their studies, they put down their textbooks, but couldn't focus on a single word.
Han-gyeol simply gave up studying for the day and thought about Woo-seok, who had glanced at him several times at the CSAT departure ceremony earlier. Thinking about Woo-seok staring specifically in his direction, rather than just by chance, brought up a number of thoughts. He couldn't be certain that Woo-seok was actually looking at Han-gyeol when he glanced at him. But Han-gyeol had already concluded that Woo-seok was looking at him, like a fan who claims their favorite singer smiled at them. That thought even led him to imagine Woo-seok watching him from somewhere during his idol career. Thinking about it that way, it felt like their roles had been reversed today: a fan looking at their own idol, and an idol who didn't know their own fan.
“...Why do you assume you’re my fan?”
He might not be a fan, right? The thought made Han-gyeol sullen for no reason. Even if he wasn't a fan, he might have recognized him, and if he had, he might have continued to stare, curious. Last semester, when he'd gone to the third-year teachers' office to find the history teacher, someone had recognized him, drawing stares from everyone in the room. Perhaps they'd recognized Han-gyeol once, and because they'd seen him so often, they'd instantly recognize him every time. With that thought in mind, Han-gyeol put aside his thoughts about Woo-seok for a moment. What mattered to him now was how he should live his life from now on. With just over a year left until high school graduation, he felt lost.
-
Time that had been approaching quickly was passing slowly, and time that had been approaching slowly was passing quickly.
The CSAT was over, and the results were out. Now, all that remained for Woo-seok was preparing for university admission. And to a school he never thought he could get into.
“Honestly, I never thought you’d end up here...”
“I always cheered you on, saying that you would stick with me wherever you went.”
“Hey. That’s what I meant. And is this place somewhere?”
Somehow, I ended up going to the same school as Seungyeon. It's amazing to see a friend I met in high school in college.
“I hate it so much.”
Wooseok's joke after seeing Seungyeon's acceptance letter made Seungyeon slap Wooseok's back so hard it didn't hurt. Honestly, it wasn't anything to hate or anything to be offended by. Even if she hadn't passed and was retaking the exam, she would have felt the same way at this point, but having received the acceptance letter, it would have been even more so. She now had the luxury of teasing her friends who had been pushing for only regular admission.
“Then why don’t you try doing an interview, an essay, a personal statement, or something like that? Okay?”
I teased a friend whose grades had dropped slightly since the mock exam, but all he got in return was a swear word. The only real downside was getting two questions wrong, so I wondered if it was something to be so sullen about. Honestly, the kid Wooseok had just teased was the best at the CSAT in our school. That's why I teased him, but you shouldn't tease a friend who's still taking the exam. Wooseok shook his head slightly and went into the classroom where his friends who had turned the school into a PC room were. He hadn't expected to see his classmates playing games with their homeroom teacher in a classroom. This was a high school senior's classroom after the CSAT, which he'd only heard about.
“Is Kim Woo-seok here... Oh, could you come to the teacher’s office?”