SDM 22

5. Production Announcement

Guess I’ll be stuck attending classes. 

Seong-woon was sitting on the cafeteria’s terrace, staring blankly at a hologram. He had planned to take a leave of absence right after the opening party, but that plan was completely ruined.

Get a score of 80 or higher on the Accounting Principles midterm…? Wasn’t this a quest with an astronomically high chance of failure?

They said he, Jeon Seong-woon, was chosen because he was suitable for granting Ryu Chae-yoon’s wish, but how on earth is he supposed to get an 80 in a Business Administration lecture?

While clutching his head and cursing C1012 and the Reincarnation Management Committee, Seong-woon suddenly realized someone was standing next to the table and quickly looked up.

“Hello, senior.”

It was Choi Dong-ho, the first-year representative of the Baekdu class, the one he had heard about from Lee Ye-won, who was the second-year Baekdu class representative. He was a male student wearing large, round glasses, with a peculiar hairstyle that looked like he was wearing a black helmet.

It felt strange to be called a “senior” when he was only a year ahead. Of course, the Arts School was much stricter about the hierarchy.

“Hi. Want some coffee?”

“What? Oh, I’ll go buy it.”

“I’ll treat you.”

As Seong-woon bought an iced Americano for Choi Dong-ho, he glumly ordered another chamomile tea for himself. There was nothing else he could drink here.

Caffeine and alcohol were available, so please let me at least drink some caffeine. 

He felt like he was going crazy from stress, and not being able to drink coffee made it even worse.

“Um, by the way, what brings you here…?”

“Oh, I don’t think I properly greeted you at the opening party.”

Seong-woon smiled and drank his hot tea. He’d been nagged that cold drinks were bad for his health, so lately he’d been drinking only hot tea, which was also a hardship.

“I behaved so shamefully then. Senior Sang-hyun too…”

“Ah, no worries. It was fun.”

“That’s a relief, then.”

After easing the tension a bit, Seong-woon got to the point.

“Accounting Principles is a bit difficult… Ye-won told me to talk to you if I needed a study group?”

“Ah, yes, the pace is quite fast so it’s challenging. I’ve roughly organized the study groups… There should be a place I can put you in.”

“…Is Baek Sang-hyun sunbae also in a study group?”

“I don’t think so. He seems too busy to set aside separate time for that. He didn’t sign up this time either.”

That’s a relief. Then if I can just somehow avoid him during lecture times, I won’t have to see his face much. Anyway, wherever Baek Sang-hyun goes, screams tend to follow, so I should be able to avoid him just by listening to the noise.

I thought it wouldn’t hurt, but unexpectedly, Baek Sang-hyun’s malicious words seemed to have stung a bit. The fact that I want to avoid Baek Sang-hyun altogether because I don’t want to hear any more shows my repulsion. 

Seong-woon absently rubbed the surgical scar on his chest a few times.

“I’ll tell the group leader to contact you. Is it okay if I give them your contact information?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

When Seong-woon first received the quest, he immediately thought about getting private tutoring, but he refrained because he didn’t know how to explain it to his family. They were already displeased about him going to school, and if they saw him getting tutoring to study, they might even ban him from going to school.

A study group could be explained as part of social activities, which they might be more accepting of. While this family would rather Chae-yoon not stress over his academics, they would enthusiastically approve of Chae-yoon trying to make friends since he could never have a formal education.

As a sort of bribe to get into a good group, he bought a few more cups of coffee to send along… However, a few days later, when Seong-woon received a call from the group leader and went to the seminar room, he almost bit his tongue.

“…”

Why are you here again?! 

For some reason, he had a hallucination-like vision of the class representative with the black helmet hair giving a thumbs up behind Baek Sang-hyun’s back.

…Don’t tell me my mention of Baek Sang-hyun was misinterpreted as me wanting to be in the same study group as him?!

“…Hello, senior.”

“Yeah, hi.”

I guess he’s finally decided to speak informally, huh? That’s actually better than the awkwardly twisted formal speech.

“You’re joining study groups too?”

“What about you, senior… I heard you don’t do these things.”

“It’s my last semester, so I’m trying some things I haven’t done before.”

“Ah, I see…”

Even though he joined the study group on his own accord, Seong-woon couldn’t hide his unease. He couldn’t help but suspect that this was a ploy by the Reincarnation Committee to orchestrate meetings with Baek Sang-hyun.

Seong-woon sat down as far away from Baek Sang-hyun as possible and took out his textbook. At first, he couldn’t understand how they were supposed to cover this thick book in just one semester, but after attending lectures for about a week, he started to get it. The professor only explained three or four pages, but there were thirty to forty pages of practice problems and case studies to solve on their own for each lecture.

“Hello.”

After greetings and introductions, the study group proceeded with explaining the assigned practice problems, asking questions, and pointing out mistakes. This was because no one had enough time to understand and solve all the problems on their own.

Seong-woon wasn’t unintelligent at all. Although he hadn’t studied much before, he was quite proficient in English for a domestic actor, given his potential overseas opportunities and memorization of scripts quickly. However, studying accounting for the first time was more than enough to break Seong-woon’s mental fortitude.

“So, basically, the balance sheet shows assets and liabilities like this…”

Suddenly, Baek Sang-hyun slid into the seat next to him, explaining the concept from the beginning and neatly summarizing the part where Seong-woon was stuck while sketching tables.

“How are you already struggling when we haven’t even started the difficult parts yet?”

“…It’s been a long time since I’ve studied.”

“I guess you really did get in through connections, huh?”

Seong-woon was grateful for the kind explanation, but he couldn’t understand why Sang-hyun had to bring up the “connections” issue again. He unconsciously glared at Sang-hyeon.

“Let’s just say that’s the case.”

Then why are you taking a freshman course in your graduation semester? 

Although grateful for the explanation, Seong-woon looked at him with slightly resentful eyes. Sang-hyeon twirled his pen on the back of his hand and smirked.

“I had something come up and couldn’t take the final exam. That’s why I’m retaking the course.”

As if reading his mind, Baek Sang-hyun explained exactly why he was taking this course now. Another retaking student chimed in. Come to think of it, not everyone in this group was a freshman. It seems the first-year Baekdu class representative had just lumped together the retaking students and older seniors. He was more careless than expected.

“Ah, right. So Sang-hyun sunbae, you attended all the lectures but couldn’t complete the course?”

“I attended right up to the last class.”

“That’s really unfortunate. What happened?”

“There was something I absolutely had to see.”

Something he absolutely had to see? 

Seong-woon was a bit curious about what it could be, but it wasn’t the right atmosphere for him to ask. He just felt sorry for holding up the group’s progress.

“We’re going to head out now. Chae-yoon, what about you?”

“…I’ll be staying a little longer.”

When a senior who had returned from military service asked, Seong-woon shook his head while gripping his pen tightly. There would be new material tomorrow, and he hadn’t finished the practice problem report yet, nor did he fully understand the concepts.

“What about you, Sang-hyun sunbae?”

“I’ll go first.”

“Okay, understood. See you tomorrow.”

After exchanging rather cordial goodbyes, Seong-woon started reading the book carefully again. Fortunately, Sang-hyun’s explanation wasn’t in vain, as he understood much better than before. It was faster to cram it into his head like a script and build understanding like stacking blocks.

“…Aren’t you leaving?”

“Just study.”

How annoying. I wondered why he didn’t participate in study groups, but it seems he’s just naturally smart. 

As Seong-woon was almost copying the textbook word for word when Baek Sang-hyun interrupted.

“No, don’t just memorize it. You need to understand it to make it easier. Your company makes and sells phones, right?”

“…Does it?”

“Yes. Your eldest brother’s company makes them.”

Ah, right. For a moment, Seong-woon had completely forgotten that he was Ryu Chae-yoon. As Seong-woon belatedly nodded, Baek Sang-hyun explained the income statement step by step with examples.

“Sales minus cost of goods sold equals gross profit, then subtract operating expenses to get operating income… Do you understand?”

“…I think so.”

After chewing on his lips and reading the book one more time, Seong-woon felt he had grasped the concepts well enough and closed the book. As he lifted his head after intense concentration, Seong-woon’s eyes met with Baek Sang-hyun, who was still sitting in the front seat.

Even as he blinked a couple of times, his eyes remained fixed, as if piercing through his mind.

Baek Sang-hyun, resting his chin on his hand, leaned in closer. His eyes were searching for something. Feeling uncomfortable, Seong-woon, who had been fidgeting with his fingertips, broke the silence first, implying that Sang-hyun should leave.

“…Aren’t you leaving?”

In response to Seong-woon’s question, Sang-hyun’s lips moved slightly, then he laughed as if in disbelief. He seemed to swallow something he was about to say only to leave abruptly.

“…What’s with him.”

Seong-woon watched Sang-hyun’s back as he left without even saying goodbye, and then tidied up the messy desk. He considered throwing away the A4 papers Sang-hyun had written on but ended up collecting them and putting them in a file before packing his bag and standing up.

…It felt nostalgic, similar to when they used to practice lines together, which was quite nice. Of course, back then, Seong-woon was the one explaining things to Sang-hyun, so the situation was completely reversed.

Why does he keep worn out? 

With each passing day, he seemed to become more gaunt, which was concerning.

Was he going to the hospital? 

If RBS fussed over their actors even half as much as Ryu Chae-yoon’s aunt did over Chae-yoon, Baek Sang-hyun would probably be dragged to the hospital at least three times a day.

Even though Seong-woon was confident that everyone at RBS was taking great care of him, given their reputation for excellent actor management and welfare, he couldn’t help but worry. Today’s sudden appearance of the kind senior persona was also unsettling.

Meeting with Sang-hyun… although it brought mixed feelings, his guidance was necessary for the quest’s success. Of course, others were helpful too, but they were also busy with their own urgent matters and couldn’t pay as much attention to Seong-woon as Sang-hyeon did.

Desperately hoping that Sang-hyun would show up at the next study group meeting as well, Seong-woon left the seminar room. The bodyguards who were guarding the surroundings appeared and quickly surrounded the area. It felt suffocating.