Accumulate Experience by Reading Books - Chapter 15

Lee Jong-Suk was reading when the teacher who would be supervising them entered the class. He put down the book and looked up.

“Today, I will be in charge of supervising you,” their homeroom teacher, Choi Hyun-Soo said to the class.

 “You know the rules. Do not cheat. If you are caught cheating, I will tear your answer booklet and you would not be allowed to finish the exam.”

 He was watching Lee Jong-Suk the entire time he was speaking. Lee Jong-Suk was confused. Was the teacher suspecting him? Why was he looking at him? He shrugged and decided to stop worrying about it when the teacher started handing out the question papers. The exam they had that day was English. He wasn’t that good in English before, but now, he was confident he’d ace the exam. Lee Jong-Suk opened his question paper and read the questions. He smiled and immediately began to answer them.

Choi Hyun-Soo glanced at Lee Jong-Suk from time to time while supervising the exam. He saw him write something down while looking at the question paper and quickly moved towards him. He stopped at some students’ desks first before he got to Lee Jong-Suk. He didn’t want it to seem like he was singling Lee Jong-Suk out of the whole class and paying special attention to him.

“Erase what you wrote here,” he told one student that had an English word written on his desk. The student pulled out an eraser and started erasing.

Choi Hyun-Soo slowly approached Lee Jong-Suk and glanced at his answer booklet. He looked at the answers he had filled in and was surprised he got them all right. Before he entered their class, Choi Hyun-Soo had gone to meet the English teacher and asked for the answers to the questions. He had read the questions and memorized the answers. All fifteen questions Lee Jong-Suk had answered so far were correct.  Was he really cheating? Choi Hyun-Soo lifted his answer booklet and looked at his desk. It was clean, nothing was written on it.

“Open your hands.”

Lee Jong-Suk opened his hands and showed the teacher his palm.

“Turn them over.”

 Lee Jong-Suk turned his palm over. Choi Hyun-Soo studied Lee Jong-Suk’s face. He didn’t look like he had something to hide. He looked at his shirt. The sleeves were rolled up, so he wasn’t hiding a cheat sheet in his sleeves. How then did he get all the questions right?

 Lee Jong-Suk continued answering the questions in front of him while Choi Hyun-Soo watched. After watching Lee Jong-Suk for a while, he moved on and walked around. If he stayed glued to Lee Jong-Suk’s side, people would wonder. But while moving, he still kept a close eye on Lee Jong-Suk.

When the exam was over, the students submitted their answer booklets and left the classroom. Choi Hyun-Soo immediately looked for Lee Jong-Suk’s booklet and checked his answers. How was this possible? How could he have a perfect score in yet another subject? He thoroughly monitored him and was sure he didn’t cheat. He didn’t understand what was going on.

From the pagan poetry examination to the social poetry examination, Choi Hyun-soo thoroughly monitored Lee Jong-Suk. However, his desk was always clean and there was no sign of foul play anywhere. Lee Jong-Suk answered most of his questions while Choi Hyun-Soo was standing in front of him. To see if there was something he missed, he changed their seating pattern and moved those who sat in front to the back and those at the back to the front. But Lee Jong-Suk didn’t appear to care. He answered the questions the way he normally did.

Choi Hyun-Soo was worried. He suspected Lee Jong-Suk of cheating, but it was also possible that he wasn’t cheating and was answering the questions on his own. When the exam was over and the results were out, some people would suspect Lee Jong-Suk of cheating, that he was sure of. He really hoped he wasn’t cheating. That way he’d be able to defend his results.

The next day, Lee Jong-Suk dutifully revised what he had previously read. He was worried and he was trying not to be too confident.

“Let’s have a perfect score again today,” he whispered to himself.

Choi Hyun-Soo entered and the students immediately closed their books and put them away.  He looked at the students with a tired face and began handing out the question papers.  He looked over to where Lee Jong-Suk sat and saw him answering his questions without breaking a sweat. Choi Hyun-Soo smiled and nodded.

The exam they were taking was science, which was Choi’s subject. In case the questions he set had leaked, Choi Hyun-Soo had set new questions and that was what the students were answering. He walked over to Lee Jong-Suk’s desk and nodded when he saw that all his answers were correct. He was relieved that Lee Jong-Suk wasn’t cheating. He patted his shoulder and moved away from his desk.

 ***

After the final exam was over, the temporary report card Lee Jong-Suk was looking forward to, was pasted at the back of the classroom.

“What is this?”

“OMG! Lee Jong-Suk ranked first in the whole school?

“He had a perfect score? Wow!”

“This isn’t making any sense.”

His classmates were surprised at the interesting turn of events. Lee Jong-Suk, who was anticipating when the results would be released, smiled when he saw the report card.

 ‘Oh, yeah!

Everybody turned towards him and stared at him when he shouted.

“Hey, Jong-Suk Lee,” Kim So-Woo who was a big boy in their class called him.

“Huh?” Lee Jong-Suk looked at Kim So-Woo.

“Did you cheat?”

“Cheat? What are you talking about?”

“What do you mean, look at the report card here. How are you the best in the whole school?”

Lee Jong-Suk shrugged, “I studied hard and I got a perfect score.”

“Oh, really?” So-woo Kim approached Lee Jong-Suk. “I’m sure you cheated.”

Kim So-Woo pushed the kids back with his big body. Although, not every kid their age could fight, there were still one or two in their class who could.  Kim So-Woo himself was a good fighter.

“I didn’t,” Lee Jong-Suk replied calmly.

“And you want me to believe that? I’m sure you wouldn’t get a perfect score when you’re asked to defend this result and you take the book defendant exam,” Kim So-Woo had almost reached him by then.

“Lee Jong-Suk took this exam and got a perfect score by studying hard. Does that make sense?”

Kim Young-woo flinched at Kim So-woo’s words and said hurriedly, “It makes sense to me.”

 “Confess, you cheating bastard!” Kim So-Woo shouted.

 “I told you, I didn’t cheat!” Lee Jong-Suk shouted back at him.

 “Horseshit.” Kim So-Woo spat out as he raised his fist and tried to connect with Lee Jong-Suk’s chin. Lee Jong-Suk blocked the incoming fist and forcefully pushed his attacker back. Kim. So-Woo’s back hit the wall and he looked livid.

“I did not cheat,” Lee Jong-Suk said again.

“Motherfucker!” Kim So-Woo cursed as he rushed towards Lee Jong-Suk.

Lee Jong-Suk defended himself and pushed him back, this time with so much force that Kim So-Woo fell and grabbed his head while shouting in pain.

“I didn’t cheat,” Lee Jong-Suk said again while looking down at him.