Astronomy // Duty After School

Chapter Sixty-Four.

School had returned by March of 2024. Class 3-2 remained together, but found their school's third year really lacked in terms of how many third years were left. They respected their teacher as he was cool, but he was still no Ms. Park, so they still kept their distance. They remained in contact with Chun-ho as his required service ended in November of the previous year. In the back of each senior's classroom, there was still a cabinet containing the weapons specifically for the Cells in preparation for the day the inevitable happened: Then the large spheres would fall from the sky and the world would finally need to fight their biggest threat yet.
While it was a whole two years later, in November of that year, they finally got around to taking the CSAT. Eight hours and they would be done with the tests that had been on hold for two years. Given that everything was sorted by last name and they had to go to different schools to take their respective tests, they were scattered all over the city to take their tests. So-yeon, Yeon-ju, and So-chul shared a district but did not share the same room. Wu-taek and Jun-hi shared the same school. Yeong-hun, Jang-su, and Yeong-shin all shared the same school and classroom. The three Kims and Il-ha also shared a district but Il-ha was separated from Yu-jeong, Chi-yeol, and Deok-jung. Na-ra and Sun-yi shared a class and Ae-seol and So-yun were assigned the same school as the two.

"Do either of us share a class?" Tae-man wondered as he, (Y/n), Hui-rak, Bo-ra, and Ha-na headed to their testing site.

"We do, dumbass," Hui-rak said smacking Tae-man's arm.

"(Y/n)'s the only one who doesn't share a class with any of us," Bo-ra said. "Because she's an S and we're Ws and Ys."

"Damn right, we're Ws!" Tae-man said, pumping his fist. (Y/n)'s lips turned up.

"What's got you so excited for testing?" Hui-rak jeered. "I'm dipping out the second I'm done with the actual testing."

"You aren't even going to give the essay a try?" Ha-na asked.

"Are you?" Hui-rak retorted.

"You need it more than I do," Ha-na said defensively. The others looked at each other as though questioning if one of them was doing the optional fifty-minute essay.

"I am," (Y/n) said.

"Well, you do that," Hui-rak said, clapping the girl's shoulder.

"We'll wait for you," Bo-ra said.

"What? You're shitting me. I'm not waiting fifty minutes!"

"She's not the only one in our class doing the essay," Bo-ra said. "We'll be early, anyway. And that means we'd have to help our parents with setting up the tables and snacks and whatnot... Better to spend fifty minutes are your phone, don't you think?"

"Fuck..." Hui-rak grumbled. "You're right." The group headed uphill toward their testing site.

"Oh, gosh. These guys again," Ha-na muttered upon seeing the adults protesting the point system at the top of the hill. There was a news reporter reporting on the issue, much to the group's dismay. They had lost count of the times they had been harassed by protesters who seemed to invalidate the kids' efforts. Why it even was an issue when none of the adults had volunteered to fight in the first place was unbeknownst to (Y/n). What was more was the fact the government was even considering the protesters' opinions as it was now an issue where they were at risk of not getting their points.

"Fighting! Fighting!" the adults were exclaiming rather condescendingly.

"'Competence should get you into college, not shooting,'" (Y/n) read aloud, peering at the sign as though taking great interest.

"Are you students who have done the training?" the news reporter questioned, smiling as she held the microphone up to them.

"Not just the training. We fought Cells," Ha-na answered, taking her chance to be on TV. She smiled at the young cameraman and tucked her hair behind her ear.