Embracing The Memories | COMPLETED | KOREAN STAND ALONE #1 ✒

제28장: May the Best One Win

Note before reading: If the scenes feel rushed, that means that the book still needs to be revised after completion. As I said, feedbacks are highly appreciated if there are mistakes or anything that you want to let the author know. Lovelots! 💕

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As I stood in the middle of the gym, my hands couldn't stop shaking and sweating by themselves.

The gym was already filled with chairs and there were some microphones. I guess they would be used in the rounds just like Gunyeo had told me before. It wasn't going to be a written one since it would be like whoever gets the answer first correctly would win.

The only thing that was confusing was the mini-whiteboards on each chair. Heejun drank his strawberry shake next to me before looking at my reaction.

"What is it?" He immediately asked me as I only pointed at the chairs. In a few minutes, he already got what I was trying to say. "Oh, those. We changed the rules a bit."

"Since there had been a lot of participants who entered, we decided to get some whiteboards to keep track of their answers," Heejun explained before laughing a bit.

"Apparently, we can't have students to say their answers one at a time or scream them all at once." Even I couldn't hold back a chuckle once I heard that. It was true. Having to keep track of the other participants' answers should be well prepared so that the organizer would be able to see who got the correct answer.

I could see Gunyeo walking ahead, his eyes casting over the microphones before sighing and stopping a bit far from me. Though, I could still hear his voice in amusement to the set-up.

"Looks like this would be a great competition," I heard him say as I only smiled before all of it disappeared when I felt a pat on my back and a laugh came erupting behind me.

"Good luck on the quiz bee, Eysee!" Naehyun jumped right in front of me before smiling. I only returned the gesture and proceed to walk with him until we finally reached the center of the gym where Gunyeo had already sat on one of the chairs.

The other participants had already been there and some had already sat on the chairs, just waiting for the competition to start. Of course, I had to follow, taking the whiteboard in my hands before finally sitting down.

Though, I didn't expect Naehyun to sit right next to me in this one. My eyes widened when he took the whiteboard from the seat and immediately tried to doodle over it.

With a confused glance, I tried to engage in a conversation with him about the quiz bee. "Naehyun, this is for the participants only. I'm not sure if you're allowed here."

He then cheekily smiled before pointing at Heejun that was already talking to Yoonwoo. "I'm also going to compete. Heejun let me enter."

"I overheard your conversation with Gunyeo about it and since I saw how annoyed he was with you entering, I wanted to tease him a bit too," he explained before laughing. "I'm sure he'd be mad at me too."

"I can hear you too, you know." We were surprised to see Gunyeo looking back at us. Since he was a few rows ahead of us, he could still hear our conversation since Naehyun's voice was a bit loud. A frown on his face was evident and Naehyun had waved his hand.

"Oh? I didn't see you there, Yeo. Hehe, my bad," Naehyun answered as Gunyeo put his arm on the chairs and even stood up to approach us.

"There must be a reason why you joined." I could see how Gunyeo raised his eyebrows at Naehyun as the other one only gave him a wink before sitting comfortably in his chair. When I heard that, I could already tell that Gunyeo was annoyed just like how Naehyun expected him to be.

"Reason? Why? Are you worried I might beat you?" Naehyun asked with no hesitation and Gunyeo's cheeks immediately flushed and the only answer he gave was a shake of his head. As soon as Naehyun was about to tease him more, we were shocked to see Heejun and Yoonwoo up on the stage.

"To all the contestants, we'll start in five minutes," Yoonwoo started as Heejun then smiled before he continued Yoonwoo's remark.

"To all the contestants, there are whiteboards in each seat to be used for the quiz bee. This match would have three rounds. The easy and average round would use markers and whiteboards in order for our observer to keep track of all your answers."

Yoonwoo then suddenly explained soon after, slightly smiling, "The difficult round then requires a microphone for all the contestants left in the finale."

After a few minutes of waiting, I was shocked to see Jihun walking towards my seat and even giving me a bottle of coffee. He had three more so I assumed it was for the two. I immediately thanked him and he only gave me a slight smile before nodding and walking away.

Though, he only passed the two — who looked a bit awestruck at what happened. Wait, if the two of those bottles aren't for Gunyeo and Naehyun then I'm guessing it was for the other sunbaes. I guessed correctly once I saw him giving the coffee to Heejun and Yoonwoo, who were already on the tables as observers.

"Hyung!" Naehyun then called out, making me a bit shocked and even making Jihun turn around. "Where's our coffee?"

"Buy your own," Jihun teased as Naehyun only pouted as I looked at mine. Maybe I could give mine so that they wouldn't fight as much. Though, that thought already vanished when Jihun looked back at me and shook his head — as if knowing that I'd really give mine.

Not wanting to disrespect him, I decided to drink mine.

Wait, this is Vanilla Frappuccino.

I couldn't help but smile as I drank more. My eyes widened though when Jihun came back and asked me how it was.

"I heard coffee helps a lot before a match to boost critical thinking," Jihun explained as I sigh in satisfaction before putting down the bottle of coffee.

"Yes, but how did you know that I like Vanilla?" I asked with a raised eyebrow and he just laughed.

"I always see you drinking it at the school gate when you walk inside the campus." My eyes widened at this. Was it really that obvious? How many bottles do I keep on buying every day?

At this point, when I was going to answer, Heejun immediately called him and Yoonwoo started speaking.

"Contestants, please choose your seats, get your boards, and ready your markers. The match is about to begin."