My Platinum-Blond Childhood Friend Is So Pretty

76 – 29. What to do after the CSAT – 2

“Hey, Dooyun! Good luck on the test!”

“Thanks. You too, get them all right.”

“Ha… then it’s Seoul National University…”

I exchanged words of encouragement with a friend I met in the middle, who was also taking the same test, and entered the classroom.

The atmosphere was a bit chaotic, but the students’ faces were filled with tension.

Among them, I thought to myself.

“Hmm, I’m not nervous at all.”

I didn’t feel any nervousness at all. I observed myself, who was no different from usual, and thought of Eli in my head.

Today’s CSAT was less nerve-wracking than when Eli called me “Dooyun” with a playful face.

-Heh-

I couldn’t help but laugh at the thought.

My childhood friend, Baekgeum, who had been taking care of me like a husband lately, had just broken up with me 10 minutes ago, and yet I already missed her.

The image of my girlfriend and future mother-in-law, who had been more concerned about my condition than my family, worrying about me this morning, made my heart flutter.

I recalled their encouraging words and took a deep breath, deciding to relax my body instead of using this break to study.

Even if I didn’t do well on the exam, my family and girlfriend wouldn’t scold me, but I wanted to repay their kindness and love that had been with me all this time.

And then, after a while…

The exam started.

I felt it.

“It’s easy.”

The problems seemed to be solved more easily today.

As I continued to solve the problems smoothly, it was already time for lunch, and I ate the kimchi rice that Eli had carefully prepared for me.

From the afternoon, I focused on the consecutive exams, and the 12 years of studying seemed to be just for this one moment, making it feel a bit empty.

The exam was over.

I felt the same sense of relief as when I first entered, and with that, I felt liberated, knowing that the exam was finally over.

In front of the school gate, there were many families who were more anxious than the examinees, and among them was Eli.

Like the others, she had a worried expression, biting her lips.

With her platinum hair fluttering in the cold winter wind, she waited for me, ignoring the glances of the people around her.

-Tap, tap… Thud, thud!

I walked towards her with a relaxed pace, but eventually, I couldn’t control my excitement and ran towards her.

The moment I found myself, I felt an overwhelming joy seeing Eli’s bright and lovely face.

-Woohoo!

We hugged each other tightly.

“I’m back.”

“Welcome back.”

It was the end of autumn, and the beginning of winter was getting colder.

But at this moment, holding Eli in my arms, my body and mind felt warm, like spring had arrived.

***

As we walked back home hand in hand, my mom and aunt welcomed me with open arms, making a big fuss.

“Was it cold outside? We’ve prepared a lot of delicious food, so change into some warm clothes and come eat. Ah… our son has grown up so much…”

“Doyoon-ah, you must have worked so hard…”

They didn’t ask about my exam results, but instead praised my efforts, showing they cared about my feelings.

I smiled brightly and took out my exam paper from my bag.

“Can I take a break, Mom? You can grade it for me. I’m pretty confident.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. It was easy. I guess I just got lucky with the questions this time.”

“What in the world… What in the world! Who’s this amazing son of mine! You’re a genius! Tell me, who’s the father of this handsome boy?”

“It’s your son, Mom. My boyfriend.”

“Ah, ah!”

“Mom, include me too! He’s my son-in-law, after all!”

Mom and Ye-rin’s faces brightened up. If I hadn’t done well on the test, they would’ve been worried, but since I did well, they were curious.

With my confident demeanor, the two of them happily received the college entrance exam papers.

“But isn’t the grading already done?”

“Apparently, it’s all done even before the test is over. I heard they get the scores from the academy somehow.”

“Hmm…”

The two of them sat in front of the computer in the living room and started checking the grades on my behalf.

As I watched them, I smiled, seeing Mom and Ye-rin, who were being very affectionate, sitting close together. Eli, who was clinging to me, was also beaming with a bright smile, looking proud and happy that I did well on the test.

“Eli.”

“Yes.”

“I want to receive an award from you… no.”

I was about to say that I worked hard to receive an award from her, but I changed my mind and spoke from a deeper place.

“I worked hard because I wanted to see you happy like this. Did I do well?”

“……”

Eli’s pale face turned red at my words. She looked a bit embarrassed, glancing at me, but her lips were still curved upwards.

Then, she slightly turned her head towards the living room.

“Wow, wow, wow! Is this all correct?”

“Next one, quickly!”

“Next is English… should we start with math? Doyun is good at English anyway.”

“Just open it quickly!”

Eli realized that Mom and Ye-rin, who were happily chattering and holding my test papers, weren’t paying attention to her at all.

“Shh…”

She stuck out her pink tongue between her red lips and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

The feeling of her tongue and the saliva she left behind sent shivers down my spine.

After the kiss, she whispered in my ear.

“You did well. I’ll choose an award for you to receive next year.”

“Can I really choose anything?”

“I said it’s okay, didn’t I? Are you going to ask again?”

It was true that seeing Eli happy was more delightful than receiving an award, but I still couldn’t help but look forward to the award she would give me.

What would be the best fit?

Like we discussed before, a reverse bunny?

A reverse bunny would be great. The bunny girl costume I bought before didn’t fit Eli’s improved figure… thanks to that, it’s no longer wearable. But if Eli wears a reverse bunny costume… it would be great. Really great.

Or a s*xy cat or dog?

This was also good. I didn’t want to tease Eli, but if she were a dog, it would be fun to play with her on a leash, and if she were a cat, she would wear a ridiculous cat ears and give me affection… it would be crazy. The best.

Or a maid costume?

She would definitely be embarrassed and frown, but she would also be flushed and… if she called me “master” in that state.

“……”

Is this really okay?

“My expression is weird. Pervert. What kind of clothes am I putting on in my head? Want to die?”

It seemed like my expression management had failed. I got scolded by Eli. Of course, Eli also didn’t like it when I imagined something about myself, but her smile remained the same.

“Eli.”

“What, pervert?”

“I love you. That’s good too, but let’s find a place to live together first.”

I was too embarrassed to honestly reveal the desires filling my head, so I changed the subject.

It was also something I needed to think about in reality.

Eli and I had promised to have our first time on a day that wasn’t January 1st, in our own small studio apartment.

It was an important matter.

If I had to retake the exam, it would be a different story.

“But we haven’t even decided on a university yet, what’s…”

“It seems like it’s already been decided?”

“How is that?”

“You said you were confident in your college entrance exam scores.”

“…Is that it?”

“I was half-convinced, but it seems like that’s the case.”

I realized I wouldn’t have to retake the exam when I was solving the language problem in the morning.

“What do I do, what do I do! We got three questions wrong!”

“This is our son… our Do-yun… it can’t be. I’ll never give him to that fox next door. I’ll only have my son for life… and I need to tell Oppa too!”

As soon as I finished checking my scores, my mom and aunt’s voices were shouting and making a fuss, holding my test paper.

I could also know my exact score, and Eli’s face showed surprise and excitement, as if she had taken the exam well herself.

“Eli.”

“Why?”

“Can I give you a reward tonight? Like I usually do. You deserve it for cosplaying and other things.”

“…No way.”

“What, no way?”

“No way. I don’t think I can hold back.”

“Ah… um… then there’s no choice. Instead, can I kiss you a lot?”

“That’s a given. Want to die?”

“Yeah. Sorry.”

My girlfriend is really cute.

And after that.

Just in case, Eli and I re-checked our scores, and it was confirmed that we got a total of three questions wrong across all subjects.

I had gotten 12 questions wrong on the mock exam, but I had broken through my limits on the actual college entrance exam.

And fortunately, my close friends didn’t do badly on the exam either.

[ Lee So-yeon : What the heck, Lee Do-yun! How can you get a better score than me?! Traitor!! You stole my score!! ]

[ Joo Hye-ryeong : Do-yun, you worked hard ^^ I’m happy you did well. Congratulations♡ ]

[ Lee So-yeon : ㅡㅡ ]

Lee So-yeon and Joo Hye-ryeong, who had studied well from the beginning, received scores similar to mine without any major issues.

And Min-jae, an otaku friend who had provided me with many practice questions from before, was really grateful.

[Min-jae: Do you think you did better than Moggo?]

[Min-jae: It seems like you barely made it to the external university.]

I was able to set a higher goal than my previous grades, aiming to get into a good university by studying hard during the CSAT period.

[Chae-hwan: F**k, life is so unfair.]

[Jin-woo: Ditto.]

[Chae-hwan: That Idoyun b*astard, not only does he have a good face, but he also got a high score on the CSAT.]

[Chae-hwan: The world is so unfair.]

[Jin-woo: Ditto, damn it.]

[Me: Want to play LoL after school tomorrow?]

[Chae-hwan: Yeah.]

[Jin-woo: Yeah.]

[Jin-woo: But can we really do it?]

[Chae-hwan: Aren’t we going to Alisa’s place?]

[Me: Eli said she’s going to slack off tomorrow.]

[Chae-hwan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.]

[Jin-woo: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.]

Jin-woo and Chae-hwan didn’t do exceptionally well, but they still got good grades, which would allow them to get into a decent university.

It was a relief that none of our friends had messed up the CSAT.

Everyone had worked hard, and if they had made a mistake, it would have been heartbreaking to have to spend another year studying.

***

A few days later.

In a situation where I had practically confirmed my university admission, without any major mistakes like marking errors.

Our homeroom teacher was smiling brightly, telling us to think about which department to apply to.

It was the weekend.

Eli had gathered both our families and brought up the topic.

“We’re going to look for a studio apartment now.”

We had already discussed our co-living plan with our families beforehand.