KyungHee Private High School.

A school built by and for the elite. A school for the sons and daughters of ambassadors, governors, the most successful CEO's... The list went on and on. "Cultivating talent and promoting intellect" was the motto of the school. There were students who attended the school, but didn't really try to keep up their grades, relying on the power and money of their families. But there were also the students who strived to reach perfection. The students who spent countless hours of their lives dedicated to studying.

But there was only one student who stood out most among everyone else.

Shim ChangMin was the perfect student with perfect grades and a perfectionist lifestyle. He was number one in his entire class, and the student in second place was nowhere near the perfection ChangMin had achieved, let alone held for all sixteen years of his life. No one could compare to him.

That is, until she came along.

"Good morning! My name is Choi EunMi. I know I'm arriving late in the school year, but I hope we can all be friends," the girl politely stated, smiling lightly.

"Thank you, EunMi. Now...where will you sit?" The homeroom teacher scanned the classroom and later said, "Ah, you can sit with ChangMin, since he doesn't have a desk partner."

EunMi bowed to the teacher and thanked him, and then made her way to the designated desk. Sitting down, she glanced at ChangMin and waved to him, whispering,

"Hi, I'm EunMi."

But ChangMin said nothing back, nor did he even glance back. It wasn't that he hadn't heard her, because he did. It was just that he didn't want to talk to her. Since the fifth grade, ChangMin had never had a desk partner, and he liked it that way. But unless this "Choi EunMi" mysteriously disappeared this instant, ChangMin now had himself a desk partner.

It was only her first day here. ChangMin knew that.

But he already disliked her.

For the entire morning, ChangMin completely blocked out the girl's existence. And when lunch hour rolled around, he immediately took his books and his bag and left to the library.

EunMi, who was confused by her desk partner's behaviour, was now left to eat lunch by herself. Only five other students chose to remain in the classroom for lunch; everyone else had gone elsewhere. In the front of the class, EunMi spotted a girl eating alone. She stood up, taking her lunch, and carefully approached the other student, asking,

"Can I eat with you?"

Surprised, the other girl looked up at EunMi, stuttering, "Y-You want to eat w-with me?"

"Sure," EunMi replied, smiling. "May I?"

"O-of course..!" the girl squeaked, motioning to the seat beside her, which EunMi gladly took.

"I'm Choi EunMi, by the way."

"I'm Jang SoonLi."

"Do you usually eat alone, SoonLi-sshi?" EunMi asked, hoping she wasn't being rude. SoonLi quietly responded,

"Yes... But it's okay. I hardly know anyone here well, besides their names and family businesses."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore, SoonLi-sshi," EunMi mused, grinning. "Oh, SoonLi-sshi, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Go ahead, EunMi-sshi," SoonLi replied, starting to eat her lunch.

"What do you know about ChangMin?"

Unexpectedly, SoonLi choked on her food, but quickly recovered. Coughing, she timidly asked, "W-why..?"

EunMi shrugged and answered, "He's weird."

Slightly taken aback at the other's blunt reply, SoonLi lowered her voice as if the mentioned person were present and said, "Well, he doesn't really like people talking about him, but..."

EunMi nodded, letting SoonLi continue.

"He's not really...friendly. I've known him since elementary school because our parents are close business partners, but he's been this way for as long as I can remember. He's a perfectionist, and well... Let's just say people would rather not talk to him."

"Hm..." EunMi pondered on this information for a while, but put it aside to talk to SoonLi about the school clubs.

When lunch was over, the two had become good friends, and they had even exchanged cell phone numbers. When ChangMin entered the classroom and silently sat at his desk, EunMi and SoonLi exchanged glances, grins playing on both of their faces, and the former returned to her desk before the bell rang. A few moments later, the English teacher arrived and called for everyone's attention.

"Okay, everyone. You know what today is... Mid-term exams."

A majourity of the class groaned, clearly not wanting to take a test on this Thursday afternoon. The teacher continued, "Remember, this grade will count for 20% of your mid-term grades. But Choi EunMi, I understand you've just transferred, so you can skip it."

"That's okay, Mr. Park. I'll take the exam," EunMi politely said aloud, shocking some students, as well as the teacher.

"Are you sure..?" Mr. Park asked, knowing he would have skipped the test if he were in her position. EunMi only smiled and replied,

"Yes, sir."

"All right then," Mr. Park sighed, and began passing out the test papers. 

Before he started his own test, ChangMin looked at EunMi, wondering how she hoped to pass this test.

'She just got here. Who does she think she is to even attempt it?'

EunMi looked up and caught ChangMin looking at her. When she gave him a smile, he deliberately turned to his own test and ignored her very existence. He had a perfect score to earn.

Twenty minutes into the testing period, ChangMin was done with all one hundred questions and the short response section, and he stood up to turn his test in. However, just as he stood up, someone else did as well.

Choi EunMi.

Never, in his entire life, did anyone finish a test at the same time as him, and seeing it happen now was quite unsettling. When they gave their tests to Mr. Park, ChangMin made sure his test touched the teacher's desk first, and that made him feel much better. And to add to that, he even quickened his pace by half a second so that he would be the first at his desk.

For the remainder of the class, ChangMin studied for his next exam, which was music composition--his chosen elective. EunMi wasted her time (as ChangMin put it) folding paper turtles.

As the bell rang for the next class, Shim ChangMin gathered his belongings quickly and left the room faster than the teacher. Choi EunMi took her time, and even gave one of her origami turtles to SoonLi. 

In the music room, ChangMin sat in a chair furthest away from the other students. But, of course, today was not a normal day. And so someone sat in the chair beside him, asking,

"You're in this class, too?"

ChangMin grudgingly met EunMi's gaze, thinking he should be the one asking that question. He was hoping that this would be the one class he wouldn't have to share with his "desk partner," but that was impossible now. The teacher stepped out of her office and called for the students' attention.

"Good afternoon, everyone! I know you're all eager to take the mid-term exam."

Every student except ChangMin and EunMi groaned, but the teacher went on.

"Unfortunately, the copier machine in the teacher's lounge short-circuited from some spilled coffee. So your test is postponed until tomorrow."

Many students quietly rejoiced, but ChangMin was quite dejected.

He had studied for this test. He was prepared to earn perfect scores again. He gave up three hours of sleep the previous night to study for this particular test.

But all of that was put to waste because of some idiot teacher who spilled coffee on the copier machine.

"So what are we doing now, Ms. Kim?" a student asked. Ms. Kim tapped her chin thoughtfully and said,

"Well, I guess you all have a free period. I didn't plan anything else except for the test."

Once again, the students cheered--with the exception of ChangMin, of course. Sighing heavily, he pulled out his notes on ancient Korean history, since that exam was on Friday as well, due to their teacher's procrastination to actually make their test. As he reviewed the events of the Three Kingdoms Era, he felt that he couldn't completely focus. It didn't take long for him to realize the girl beside him was also scanning the notes in his hands. Quickly annoyed by the invasion of personal space, ChangMin half-heartedly asked,

"Can I help you?"

EunMi looked up at the irritated boy and said, with no malice what-so-ever,

"Oh. You spelled a word incorrectly."

ChangMin glared at the innocent girl, refusing to believe she was right. He was Shim ChangMin. He didn't make mistakes. Ever.

So who was this girl to say ChangMin had spelled something incorrectly?

"Excuse me?" ChangMin dully replied, his eyes narrowing at EunMi.

"Right here," she said, pointing to a word on ChangMin's notes.

ChangMin silently took note that he would have to burn that specific sheet of paper and rewrite everything later.

EunMi continued, "You accidentally wrote 'Kogeuryo' instead of 'Koguryo.' It's not that big a deal. You just forgot a there."

ChangMin released a breath he wasn't aware he was holding and looked at his paper.

He did, in fact, spell the kingdom's name incorrectly.

Hastily adding the "misplaced" (he refused to admit it was forgotten) , ChangMin glared at EunMi and asked through gritted teeth,

"Is that better?"

"Mmhm," EunMi hummed, smiling in satisfaction, and turned to continue reading volume three of Goong. ChangMin glowered at her for a few more moments before returning to his notes, triple-checking to make sure he hadn't spelled anything else wrong.

By the time class was over ChangMin had gotten all the way to Korea's independence from Japan, while EunMi had managed to finish volume seven of the popular manhwa.

Gathering his belongings, ChangMin rolled his eyes at EunMi, who was taking her sweet time to pack up, and swiftly left the room, ready to have some time away from her.

Even if it was only for three minutes.

Did you like it? I'm not so sure, but yeah... I find this story funny, but I'm not sure about outside readers, so... Haha.  Oh, and if you didn't already know Goong is a manwha (Korean comic book). Hahaha. There's a drama based on it (starring Yoon Eun Hye!!! ♥), so I highly recommend you watch it!

I'm sorry if the point-of-view changes too much or in an inconvenient way...

For those of you who aren't too familiar with Korean hangul (the writing system), the character for "u" (also recognized as "oo") is a straight horizontal line with a small vertical line attached to the underside. And the character for "eu" is just a straight horizontal line. So it's easy to make that mistake like ChangMin did. I've done it before.

Please look forward to chapter two! ♥