The long holiday weekend is over, and the midterm exams are finally set afoot.

Several incidents occurred one after another while we were preparing for the exams.

Inside the school, the Year Two Class Zero had a conflict with the broadcasting department.

Meanwhile, a “good incident” occurred outside caused by an open party of Eungwang High students.

Those who gathered and helped bring down Choi Pyeondeuk in the first semester got together again and started a party.

Sometimes a criminal hunting party and sometimes a study party, those people burned their will to find Choi Pyeondeuk.

And…

In the process, they caught another long-lost wanted player criminal.

They received commendations from the association and the police because the one they caught wasn’t an ordinary felon.

The guy had a similar crime pattern to Choi Pyeondeuk.

The incident became a topic of conversation in our class.

“But how in the world did they catch him…”

“They say the party will be organized until they catch Choi Pyeondeuk? At this rate maybe they’d catch a few more wanted criminals.”

Maeng Hyodon immediately glanced at me before turning his head when Choi Pyeondeuk’s name was mentioned.

I rescued Maeng Hyodon at Choi Pyeondeuk’s birthday party, and his whereabouts were revealed to the world.

And Maeng Hyodon knows I was there.

There must be some questions in his mind ever since Choi Pyeondeuk disappeared, but he never asked me anything.

“Guys, Miro’s here!”

Kim Yuri shouted brightly as she entered the classroom.

Next to her was the pink-haired Dokgo Miro, donned in a mask and a hat that covered her head.

She seemed to have covered her face to avoid drawing attention, especially since her performance on Playlist is increasingly making her well-known.

Dokgo Miro took off her hat and mask when she entered the room, and she greeted the kids in a friendly manner.

“Hey! Long time no see. How are you guys? I was planning on going to school earlier, but I didn’t have the time so…”

Dokgo Miro’s attitude was more natural now compared to the last time we saw her.

Among the 11 people who were scheduled to take the midterm exam at school, Dokgo Miro was the last one to join and yet she quickly got along well with the kids

Dokgo Miro talked with Hani a lot, but Hani’s expression looked subtle all throughout.

‘It’s like when she pretends to not hear what Hwang Jiho says.’

Hwang Jiho, the self-proclaimed best friend, seemed to laugh at Hani when she does that even though he knows she’s ignoring him on purpose.

Dokgo Miro talked with every kid in the class before hesitating a little and bringing up something.

“…If I survive this week, I can go perform at the final stage.”

The Playlist will continue to air during our exam period, and the cast gradually decreased as the show is about to reach its end.

Dokgo Miro survived safely and appeared on a special Chuseok broadcast, and she’s maintaining good scores.

The live performance gave a slight impression that she’s still a bit awkward, but the sales of her music and the views on her videos continue to rise.

Thanks to that, Dokgo Miro is considered to be a strong candidate for the winner alongside the Saint of Naejang Mountain.

“If it’s okay with you guys… Would you like to come to the final stage to watch live? It’s not decided yet, but PD-nim said it’s okay to invite family or friends.”

The kids were very happy with Dokgo Miro’s suggestion.

“I’ll go!”

“I want to go!”

Saeum and Min Geurin expressed their intention to attend.

Everyone listens to Dokgo Miro’s songs in their free time, but it seems like they want to hear her perform live again.

‘There’s going to be a lot of strangers at the broadcasting station, but she’s voluntarily saying she’d go. Hmm, I guess it’s okay if the majority of our class will come.’

It seems like Min Geurin is used to other people enough to go to places with an unspecified number of people.

She’s grown so much that she can go to sports stadiums where unfamiliar students would go, and she even had the chance to showcase her ability at one of the ice hockey games recently.

Even though the shooting for Playlist is done late at night, everyone said they’d gladly go.

Knock knock.

While everyone was excitedly making plans, I heard a knock.

I don’t think it’s Ham Geunhyung since there’s still time before the attendance check.

“Please come in.”

I spoke on behalf of the class since I was closest to the door, and the automatic door opened after a few moments.

In front of the door stood a female student wearing a Year Two nametag.

There’s a basket with a pink ribbon in her hand, and there were pictures of Dokgo Miro attached here and there.

‘I think I’ve seen her somewhere. Oh, is she the fansite who took Miro’s pictures during the opening ceremony of the sports event?’

The senior, who seemed to be a fan of Dokgo Miro, struggled to find her words as she saw her idol.

She looked very nervous.

“Uh, uhm…”

Dokgo Miro recognized her right away and pleasantly greeted her.

“Hello! Are you the one who took my pictures during last time’s filming?”

The senior looked touched when Dokgo Miro recognized her right away.

The camera-sensitive Dokgo Miro would surely remember the fansite that takes her pictures.

When Dokgo Miro thanked her for taking such good pictures, the senior looked shy but happy.

“…Good luck on the exams, Miro. Good luck with Playlist too. I’ll be cheering on you.”

“Ah, thank you! Good luck with your exams too, sunbaenim!”

After the senior handed the basket to Dokgo Miro, she ran away as fast as she could.

Her loud footsteps outside could be heard from the classroom, and I was worried that she might trip.

Shortly after the fansite sunbae left the classroom, the attendance check began and Ham Geunhyung appeared.

“Today is the start of your midterm exams. I hope everyone does well.”

Professor Ham Geunhyung encouraged us with brief words.

As if to give us a little more time to study, the professor did the attendance check earlier than usual.

Before it ended, Kim Yuri raised her hand and asked a question.

“Professor! Will the others who don’t come to school yet take the exams?”

“There are five students who will take the test remotely. All of them are freshmen Class Zero.”

There are a total of sixteen people in our class.

Today, there are eleven in the classroom who will take the exam.

In other words, the other five who are not here all seem to intend to still become sophomores next year.

‘I hope no one in our class falls behind.’

I regretted it right after the thought crossed my mind.

Min Geurin physically stepped back right when I thought it… and it felt ominous for some reason.

* * *

The midterm period flew by like an arrow.

For the General Enemy class, every student suffered the day before the test since Professor Gong Cheonghwon will cover the entirety of the syllabus.

Hwang Jiho was the most relaxed though.

“Are you double-checking your answers? Do it with me.”

While we were doing our group study session, this old man suddenly interrupted me and Hani while we were comparing answers.

I could see Hani thinking “you’re going to get good grades anyway so what’s the point?”

Hwang Jiho scored forty points as expected, while Hani got every question right except for a few ones.

Hani faithfully tried to analyze the item she got wrong.

“Listen to this question. There are more than three methods of attacking when a light-sensitive species of an enemy is in an SR-rank and above otherworld, and if that is the floor-master in a dungeon-type otherworld… How many did you write? I could only think of two.”

Before I could speak, Hwang Jiho suddenly answered.

“If you consider what would clear the “world” then there’s only one answer. If you focus on the word “specie” then there are three more answers. And if you think about a floor master in a dungeon-type otherworld, you can think of another answer. Which of the five did you write?”

“…One is using the fact that the specie of enemies is weak against light, and the other is taking advantage of the secret traps that usually appear in dungeon-type other worlds. Those are the two I wrote.”

“Then you need to find the answers for the keywords “world” and “specie”

Hwang Jiho spoke of the theory so well that there was no doubt at all that he can get a perfect score.

Hani asked additional questions and took notes while listening to Hwang Jiho’s explanation.

“…Thanks, but I’m angry for some reason.”

“Hahaha! I’m flattered!”

Hani and I looked at Hwang Jiho with a similar expression when he began to laugh heartily.

He’s essentially cheating on these exams, but everyone else in our class legitimately studied hard.

“I want to ask something about “Player’s Battle Theory 2” class. I don’t really understand how skills and light skills can increase and decrease according to the number of players in a party…”

“It’ll be easier if you look at the example first and then try studying the theory again.”

“I don’t think I saw any examples in the textbook though… Oh, should I be researching a famous player’s abilities?”

“That’s right. Unlike his nickname “Peerless Gukeon”, Sung Gukeon sunbaenim’s skill and light skill aren’t really suitable for solo fighting.”

* * *

The midterm exam is over.

The results were announced the very next day after the examination.

The top twenty students in each year level remained the same this time too.

‘Yeom Junyeol missed the top spot again…’

It’s impressive enough though that he managed to hold on to his spot even though he was busy with Playlist filming and the elections.

I felt like I should praise my student before he could feel down.

I contemplated long about how I should compliment him.

“I heard someone in our class failed.”

“Ahk!”

My thoughts were interrupted by Kim Yuri’s shocking remarks and Maeng Hyodon’s scream.

“Ah, Hyodon! Didn’t you say you got over forty points?”

“I’m sure I got at least 48 points…”

Maeng Hyodon was sweating profusely, perhaps because he was imagining the worst-case scenarios.

He could’ve checked the report card sent to his device to know for sure, but he doesn’t seem to plan to do that.

“Even if the name of the failed student doesn’t appear in the re-examination notice, the subject name would be highlighted if you really failed. I think we can immediately tell for sure if Hyodon failed or not.”

Min Geurin had experienced failing before because she ran away just before the exam started, so she seems to have a knowledge of how this thing works.

Kim Yuri checked the notice on the bulletin board with Min Geurin’s advice.

“It’s not Hyodon. He’s not scheduled in any re-examination.”

“Ah, I survived!”

Maeng Hyodon raised both fists in the fair.

The atmosphere in our class subsided a little.

“If it’s not him, then I bet it’s one of the kids who took the test remotely.”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Can they take the re-examination remotely too?”

“I heard that someone failed in a general education subject though.”

“Ah… That skill and light skill stuff was hard, yeah.”

Our class seemed to feel a little relieved at the thought that the kid who failed was someone among those who haven’t gone to school yet.

Drop.

At that moment, I heard a bag and a notebook fall to the floor.

When I looked at the source of the sound, I saw Kwon Lena sitting down.

Her face over the hologram looked blue.

‘Don’t tell me…’

I couldn’t see the contents of the hologram that Kwon Lena was looking at from where I sat, but when I glanced at the top of the page, it seems to be an academic report notice.

Kwon Lena must’ve been checking her report card on her device.