Chapter 32. College Entrance Exam

- Ah, I'm sorry. I was so busy that I forgot to contact you first.

- Jung Soo-yeon: No, it's okay! You must be busy with your studies these days. I heard from the staff that you're doing well.

- Haha, no, I'm not. Have you finished all the filming?

In this way, Yeon-woo exchanged trivial messages while walking home.

It had been quite a while since Yeon-woo started tutoring his friends.

Surprisingly, Yeon-woo had a talent for teaching, and Seong-sik and Jun-su's grades improved dramatically every month.

Yeon-woo could also solidify his understanding of vague concepts by explaining them to the children, and he found teaching unexpectedly enjoyable, as he had felt when giving acting lessons at Chul-min's academy.

Now, to Jun-su and Seong-sik's parents, Yeon-woo was like a god.

Guiding the game addicts onto the right path and boosting their grades, whenever Yeon-woo visited Jun-su or Seong-sik's house, the parents would exclaim, "Ryu God!"

***

Prosecutor Han Hae-woon, with his tenacity, finally found the woman named Jung Hye-min.

She was the owner of a Pilates studio in Incheon.

"Without job hunting or using social media, it was hard to find her."

Still, unlike Tae-soo-hwan, who was already recorded as deceased, he found a person living a normal life.

This was the first time he found someone from his dreams who he could actually meet.

However, his heart became more complicated.

Without any investigation content, trailing a civilian was practically stalking.

If this fact were revealed and someone asked why he was investigating a woman who seemed to have no issues, what would he answer?

"Because she appeared in my dream? I'd be considered a lunatic. Sigh."

If he were to investigate directly, he would have to do it secretly.

Incheon and Busan were far apart, and he couldn't do it during work hours, so he would have to investigate during his vacation.

Realizing that the person he had been searching for was an ordinary woman with no apparent connection to any case, Prosecutor Han Hae-woon became more cautious.

***

While Han Hae-woon was investigating, time flew by for Ryu Yeon-woo, and the college entrance exam was just around the corner.

Over the past few months, he focused on his studies, only occasionally handling one-day schedules like photo shoots.

Tomorrow would be the end of his high school life and the beginning of his serious entertainment career.

As if by appointment, the calls started pouring in as evening approached.

"Yes, Jin-wook hyung."

- Bastard. You have the college entrance exam tomorrow, right? I called because I saw it on the news.

"Thank you. I heard you're starting a new project."

- Yeah. It looks like I'll be working hard. There's a Southeast Asian location shoot.

"At least it's winter, so that's a relief."

- Yeah, think of it as a vacation.

After hearing various words of encouragement and hanging up, another call came in as if waiting for the previous one to end.

"Seo-hyun noona."

- Yeon-woo, did you study a lot?

"I studied as usual. Haha."

- I have a younger sister taking the exam! It makes me realize how young you are.

"I don't usually seem like a student, do I?"

- Not at all! You're like Captain Ryu. What high school student can clean a squid like that?

"Hahaha."

After chatting with Han Seo-hyun, as if by appointment, calls from An Jun-ho, Jung Chul-min, and Director Kim Han-soo, who he had worked with on his first project, came one after another.

Beep—

Thinking it was another call, he picked up his phone, but this time it was a message.

- Jung Soo-yeon: Finally, it's tomorrow. Take care of your condition and do well on the exam!

Soo-yeon, whom he hadn't met in a while but had occasionally communicated with, had developed a sort of online friendship.

- Yeah. You do well too! Fighting.

Yeon-woo, who went to bed early, greeted his mother and younger brother, who were seeing him off, and went down to the parking lot to get into his father's car the next morning.

"Actor Ryu!"

Min-soo, who had been waiting in the van in the parking lot, got out.

"Ah? Min-soo hyung!"

"It's been a few months."

Yeon-woo's manager, whom he hadn't seen for three months due to a photo shoot schedule.

"Did you come all the way from Daejeon?"

"It's my actor, so I have to take care of these things. Hello, sir. Please get in."

Ryu Chul-woong shook hands with Min-soo and thanked him before getting into the car.

Min-soo's van arrived smoothly at the exam site, and he naturally escorted Yeon-woo and Chul-woong.

Wearing a cap and mask, Yeon-woo was fortunately not recognized by the students at the entrance.

Yeon-woo looked at his father and Manager Kim Min-soo.

"I'll go take the exam now."

"Good luck, son!"

"Good luck, actor!"

The two cheered Yeon-woo on until he entered.

"I'll take you back home, sir. Please get in."

"Thank you, Manager."

Thus, the 2019 College Entrance Exam began.

There was a bit of a commotion when some examinees recognized Yeon-woo upon his arrival, but everyone was tense, and without phones to take selfies, no major disturbance occurred.

Of course, with students from the same exam site, Dongun High School, surrounding Yeon-woo like bodyguards, students who tried to get autographs turned back.

The difficulty of this year's exam was relatively easy.

Yeon-woo solved the problems without mistakes as he had prepared.

The final bell signaling the end of the exam rang, and the students around him let out various sighs of relief.

After finishing the exam and leaving the exam site, Yeon-woo saw Min-soo waiting.

"Actor!"

Min-soo called, and Yeon-woo, who had been escorted by his school friends, ran over.

"Min-soo hyung! Didn't you come in?"

"How can a manager leave an actor alone when the schedule isn't over?"

Min-soo said with a smile, and Yeon-woo laughed.

"Thank you so much."

Min-soo and Yeon-woo got into the car.

"Did you do well on the exam?"

"Yes, I did well."

Yeon-woo answered with a smile.

Manager Kim Min-soo was impressed.

"Wow, I've never seen a student come back from the exam and say they did well."

"Hehe. I studied hard."

Min-soo nodded at Yeon-woo's words.

Despite receiving casting offers by the truckload, Yeon-woo had focused on his school life.

At this age, if a star rises, they usually neglect their studies, but Min-soo had never seen any arrogance or laziness from this perfect actor he was in charge of.

After having various conversations, Yeon-woo arrived home and bowed sincerely to Min-soo before going upstairs.

Saying that they should eat pork belly on such a day, the family had a pork belly party at home and went to school on Monday for the preliminary grading after the weekend.

Creak!

As the classroom door opened, students who had already arrived were lounging around, enjoying the free atmosphere of the now-finished third-year students.

"Yeon-woo, how many did you get wrong? Did you get them all right?"

As Yeon-woo entered, the children gathered around. Their interest was whether he had scored a perfect score.

"Well, I didn't do a preliminary grading, so I doubt I got them all right. There were quite a few confusing questions."

Since he had never gotten a perfect score on practice exams, he probably didn't this time either.

In fact, Yeon-woo had encountered several ambiguous questions while solving the exam.

However, even if not a perfect score, he was sure to get a score good enough to enter a university like Korea University.

Not only the students but also the teachers were interested in Yeon-woo's score, who had become the best output of Dongun High School.

At that moment, the classroom door opened with a loud noise.

"Hey, you're in the next class, why are you here?"

"Since the exam is over, does it matter which class? I'm just glad to be here."

As always, Jun-su and Seong-sik entered bickering.

Then, Seong-sik noticed Yeon-woo standing at the back of the classroom and ran over, kneeling on one knee.

"Oh, Lord Ryu. Your disciple has arrived."

"Did you do well on the exam, disciple?"

Yeon-woo playfully responded to Seong-sik's joke.

"I did my best, so I have no regrets."

"Good. You've achieved enlightenment."

Hahaha.

Yeon-woo's high-quality acting skills added to the talent waste comedy, and the watching friends burst into laughter.

"Jun-su, how about you?"

"I have a good feeling. According to the preliminary grading, I think I achieved my goal."

Jun-su's goal was only to get into Yonsei University, one of the top three universities in Korea, so it was a good result.

Creak.

The front door opened, and the homeroom teacher entered.

Lee Jung-tae, who had been Yeon-woo's homeroom teacher for two consecutive years.

"Alright, everyone, take your seats. Seong-sik, go back to your class."

With a brief morning roll call, the homeroom teacher praised everyone's efforts, and the students applauded.

"Since there are other grades, don't make too much noise. Enjoy your free time. Yeon-woo, come to the office for a moment."

"Okay."

As the students answered, Lee Jung-tae left through the front door, and Yeon-woo followed.

While walking to the office, the teacher asked Yeon-woo.

"Yeon-woo, how was it? Did you do a preliminary grading?"

"No, I wrote down my answers, but I haven't graded them yet."

Yeon-woo handed over his exam ticket with his answers written on the back.

"Good. Let's go to the office and input them."

Yeon-woo and the teacher arrived at the office.

Yeon-woo went to Lee Jung-tae's desk and input the numbers from his exam ticket into the computer.

The teachers, who were highly interested, gathered around.

"I've finished inputting, sir."

"Let's grade it once."

Click!

The screen showed that Yeon-woo had only two wrong answers out of all the subjects.

"Wow, Mr. Lee. Two wrong answers means first place in the school, right?"

"According to what I know, Ji-seon from the science class got four wrong, so in terms of total score, you're right."

Although the college entrance exam scores vary depending on the reflection ratio of each university's admission criteria and the standard scores of each subject, the teachers generally thought in terms of the number of wrong answers.

The teachers patted Yeon-woo on the back, congratulating him, and he bowed before returning to the classroom.

The classroom, which had turned into a playground with some students playing with unknown toys and others playing games, passed the regular class time quickly, and it was lunchtime.

While eating lunch, Seong-sik choked on his phone.

"Choke. Cough. Look at this! Did you see it?"

"What is it?"

Jun-su looked at Seong-sik's phone screen, which was filled with news articles.