POISONED YOUTH: TWISTED

CHAPTER 31

A week had passed since Chanwoo began appearing everywhere Yeoreum went.

At first, she thought he was simply being annoying. He would greet her in the hallway, wait near her locker, appear at the cafeteria, and somehow always manage to find her whenever she was alone. But after days of the same behavior, it stopped feeling like a harmless joke. No matter where she went, Chanwoo was there, repeating the same strange words that she couldn't understand.

Na Yeoreum, be ready, aye?

She didn't know what she was supposed to be ready for. She only knew that she didn't like the way he said it.

Today was supposed to be different, though.

It was the final day of exams, and with only one subject left, the entire class sat in complete silence. Every student was focused on the test in front of them, their heads lowered as their hands moved across the pages. The room felt unusually tense, filled only with the quiet scratching of pencils and the occasional movement of someone shifting in their seat.

Yeoreum stared at the last question before writing down her final answer. She checked her paper one more time, making sure she hadn't missed anything. Then she placed her pencil beside the test sheet and leaned back slightly.

She was done. A small sense of relief washed over her, although the nervous feeling about her results remained.

"I'm done!"

A familiar voice answered inside her head almost immediately.

"Really? Did you do alright?"

"I don't know."

"Don't worry. You'll pass."

"Easy for you to say."

Yeoreum could practically imagine Haechan's smug expression.

Before she could continue their conversation, the proctor looked at the clock.

"Five minutes."

A collective groan filled the classroom.

Yeoreum smiled to herself. At least she wasn't the only one who had had enough.

A few minutes later, the proctor stood at the front of the room.

"Pass your test sheets forward. Once you're done, you may leave."

The moment the instructions were given, the students quickly gathered their things and made their way toward the door.

Yeoreum was among the first to leave. Exams were finally over. She felt like she could breathe again.

Outside the classroom, Yeji immediately threw her head back with a miserable expression.

"I'm going to die back there." She ran both hands through her hair, clearly traumatized by the exam.

Yeoreum couldn't help but laugh. "At least you didn't."

"Argh! Why did I even slack in biology?"

"Me too."

Yeji suddenly stopped and stared at her. "You? Wow, girl. You literally topped everything."