The Hideout I Need

Chapter 38: College Scholastic Ability Test

Ah, yes. The third Thursday in November. Time for the one day that every single person Hyeong-jun and Tae-young's age has been dreading. The CSAT. The College Scholastic Ability Test. The time had finally come... to get a panic attack.

Hyeong-jun stood outside the neighbor high school's gates pacing back and forth, reciting the order of Korean leaders since some ancient era. His stomach was churning and he kind of felt like he needed to use the bathroom. But to be fair, he always felt that way when he was very anxious about something. The anxiety poops, as he'd refer to them.

All of this relationship drama had overshadowed how hard these kids were working for the exams. Tae-young went to academies constantly and Hyeong-jun studied every night, a first in his entire life. A lot of their dates these past few weeks were just going to the library to study. Shit was getting tough.

Now, normally Hyeong-jun wouldn't be too nervous about a big exam. He was never really that anxious about grades. If you asked him a couple of months ago, he would've been fine with the lowest passing grade. But then he suddenly had an ambition.

Tae-young was known to get grades so good he could easily enter any of the SKY Universities. The two of them even talked about Yonsei University when Tae-young tried to look for college courses he could take after his gap year — which was what he decided to do after the whole aftermath of not knowing what his dream was — and in the middle of looking for possible courses, Hyeong-jun found the perfect solution to what he wanted to do. His dream photography major at a pretty prestigious university had a scholarship program you could apply for if you were tough on money. However, you need a pretty high score on your CSATs. Like, pretty high.

So funnily enough, most of the library dates had been Hyeong-jun's idea. Even Tae-young had to ask him to calm down a little. But Hyeong-jun got stressed because he had to absorb years' worth of knowledge in a couple of months. God, should he just move to Europe or something? Universities are free there regardless of grades, right? As he remembered his inability to speak English, he had to let that reality go.

Hyeong-jun had searched for an article online to calm his nerves. He was in the middle of some breathing exercise as he suddenly felt a presence approach him and tap him on the shoulder.

"Good morning," Tae-young held up a little insulated bag with lunch, "Ta-da! I made something for you."

"You made me a lunchbox?" Hyeong-jun chuckled as he put down his phone, happily receiving the bag. His heart that was previously full of anxiety felt calm for a second. He let out a soft smile, "Thank you."

"How are you feeling?" Tae-young smiled, linking his arm around Hyeong-jun's.

"Like I'm gonna shit my pants," Hyeong-jun laughed as he snuggled his head onto Tae-young's shoulder. He did it because he was cold, or at least that was his excuse.

"Well, in 12 hours, it'll all be over. We never have to do this again," Tae-young chuckled, trying to reassure Hyeong-jun, caressing his arm with his thumb.

The two of them stood and looked around for a second. They were surrounded by hundreds of students their age, and twice the amount of parents and siblings all there to cheer them on. Hyeon-ah had to work early sadly, but Hyeong-jun was fine with that. He was just happy she found a good workplace. And Tae-young's parents... well, the Kim family hadn't exactly been in contact.

But just standing and seeing all the families was quite heartwarming. This was probably the one day a year where all Koreans felt united. Hyeong-jun tried scanning the crowd for someone he knew or at least could recognize. His face fell to a smile as he saw Seong-min.

Seong-min stood happily and embraced his parents and a taller boy in glasses that Hyeong-jun almost couldn't recognize. But let out a smile as he realized that it was Ahn Seong-hoon. He looked so happy, even after what happened to him two years ago. He also looked much healthier. And seeing Seong-min so happily hug his older brother just made Hyeong-jun's heart warm.