Soondol starts getting worried about the two he left behind. He gets up, but sits back down, remembering the pretty sunbinim’s words. Afraid that the spot will get taken, he gets up and sits back down repeatedly. But soon he sees the two arrive, and he stands up to wave his large arms at them. The two, exhausted, sit down.
“Doryunnim, are you alright? How about you, sunbinim?”
“I’m okay. Hm! I’ve never experienced such chaos. How can one even call this an exam site? It’s more a battleground. I’m already so exhausted, before even the 시제 shijae (the subject that they are supposed to write on) is put up–it must be hard for you, when you’re fighting an illness.”
Yoonhee smiles at him. She’s so tired that she can’t even thank him or tell him she’s okay. If her brother was here instead, he might have really died. She sees Soondol looking up at the sky.
“What are you doing?”
“You told me that I would know why we should sit under the second tree if I look up at the sky. But I can’t even see it–there are so many leaves… Is it because I saved the spot a little too much to the side?”
The man looks up along with Soondol and smiles knowingly. It’s a good spot exactly because the sky is covered. The first tree has too few leaves and when the sun rises high up, they’ll be protected by the shade. And the trees on the left side would cast a shadow the wrong direction of the exam site, so this was indeed the best spot.
His eyes turn to Yoonhee. Yoonhee’s eyes go to him as well. She notes his sharp features–his thick eyebrows and eyes, nose, and lips all come together to make a flawless face, and she can’t help but evade his gaze.
She also observes his clothes. She can tell by his face and presence that he must be from a rich background, but he’s not dressed that way at all. It’s not as old or ratty as her own, but his clothes, hat, and even the fan he carries look inexpensive. If anyone were to look at him passingly, they would probably think he was from a common family. Because of this, Yoonhee feels more at ease with him.
He tidies his clothes and smiles in thanks to Yoonhee. Soondol asks Yoonhee, “I thought it was your first time taking the exam, but you look very used to all this.”
Soondol is the one to ask the question, but Yoonhee answers for the man to hear.
“Ah, since it’s my first time, and since I couldn’t even bring a mat, I thought I should prepare by asking other experienced people. I don’t have a seonjupkun or anything, so I’m very lucky to be able to sit here. It’s all thanks to you.”
It’s an excuse, so Yoonhee looks to the man nervously, only to find that the man seems like he doesn’t seem suspicious at all. And if she thinks about it, he’s believed everything she’s said since they met, and therefore even Yoonhee feels that what she has been saying could be the truth.
The test starts and Soondol leaves. As soon as the shijae is put up, everyone runs up to the scroll to see closely what they are supposed to write on, but the two stay seated calmly, looking at the shijae from where they’re sitting.
Yoonhee copies the shijae down onto her own scroll, and starts jotting down what comes to her mind on extra blank pieces of paper she’s prepared. Then her eyes go to the man, and she sees that he is already writing on his exam scroll. Even the most intelligent examinees practice on another sheet beforehand, but he starts right away on the final sheet. And even without having practiced, he is writing line by line calmly at a steady pace. There’s only one scroll sheet, and it would be disastrous to make a mistake.
As she is about to tell him to be careful, she’s silenced by what she reads on his scroll. His writing is flawless, almost as if he had written a rough draft. He is definitely not of the norm. Her heart beats, and she becomes even more nervous before. She feels that her writing, compared to his, is hopeless. What if everyone else in here are just as good as he is? And she has to take a second exam, and she becomes worried that she’ll have to compete with people as intelligent as him during that, too. Even though she had built her confidence because the people she helped at the bookstore were always buying her help to do their writing, there is no telling that the men in the exam site are of the same kind. The anxiety she felt when she left her home this morning doubles, and she starts shaking.
