Decieve || Hyunlix

Part 18. Chain of Misfortune

. . . ⇢ ˗ˏˋ chain of misfortune ࿐ྂ

When I first met Haerin, I was nineteen years old while she was eighteen. It was my second year in university since I started off in Australia. I transferred from one law school to another because I just felt a calling to Korea. When I started my sophomore year in this country, Haerin was just starting her university journey as a freshman. The moment I entered the room, there was an immediate glance of tension between the two of us. She saw me as a threat instantly, in which I was, and her friends nearby whispered to her about "the new kid" and ask why Haerin was suddenly so unfocused.
It didn't take long to prove that I was a threat to her class rank when I soon began getting the same scores as her on exams or small assignments. Because of this, everyone in that class elective, not just our group of students who had the same time of class as us, began to talk about who would get the higher score next. It became a silent battle of who was smarter.

—

"Alright, I'm gonna pass out your semester exams now that they're graded. Remember, this is an important test, so if you've failed, you're going to have to retake it." Our professor announced as she grabbed a pile of paper and began walking around the room.

As she passed each row of the lecture hall, there were mostly frowning faces after seeing their grade and I only panicked for what I made because of the difficulty of this exam. She came across the row Haerin sat in, just a row below myself, and like before, continued to place the papers on the table in front of each student.
Of course, I paid attention as I was curious what Haerin made on this exam being one of the smartest people in the room.

"Kang Haerin, not your best, my dear." Professor Cho said quietly enough for people close by to hear.
Being nosy, I looked over and was genuinely shocked by the number that laid on the paper in front of the freshman girl.

She scored a 72 out of 100.

I instantly began to worry about what on Earth my score would look like after seeing her results. No one said anything, but we all knew that this was incredibly out of the ordinary. Though it was still a passing grade, she'd never scored so low before.
The closer Profesor Cho came to my seat, the my anxious I grew.

"Mr. Lee, spectacular work." She spoke with a smile and placed my exam on my table.

I looked down to the white sheet and my eyes widened while she smiled at me as she walked away.
I scored a 94.

Was I the highest score?
Everyone around myself gave me shocked expressions, asking how in the world I managed to score so well. That is, except for one person whose eyes burned into me from meters away.

That's when I knew; this is the start of an entirely new rivalry than what we had before. Because now, I officially took her title as top student. This was war.

—

Thinking of the past I had with Haerin, it always made me chuckle to myself slightly at how dumb and immature it really was. Two geniuses with nothing better to do than hate each other, when we could've been a power duo the whole time. I suppose it was the thrill and competitive nature of it all that made me refuse to be cordial with her. When I started working with Haerin, the competition didn't stop.

Who could work faster, better, smarter— it was
always a battle with each other simply about who was more resilient.
But beyond that, beyond the rivalry, I never saw Kang Haerin as a bad person. I knew that she was just young with high expectations for herself. I could only imagine how much she studied and mentally beat herself up when she saw I had surpassed her in Forensics. She did all of this to prove something to herself. It was never out of malice or to see me fail— she just wanted to feel proud of herself. I had come to that realization because of Dani. She had mentioned how much pressure Haerin had on herself because of her parents. And after finding out she had lost them, it struck me that this was all in their legacy.