Bobby struggles to keep his eyes open.

“Hey, hey. Wake up already.”, Hanbin said as he stands beside Bobby.

Bobby doesn’t answer directly, instead leaning his head on Hanbin’s shoulder. “So sleepy…”

“I told you not to stay up late, didn’t I?”

“But I couldn’t sleep when you sleep next to me…”, Bobby whined cutely.

“That’s why I told you to go home.”, Hanbin replied bluntly.

“But I didn’t want to go home…”, Bobby whined again. “Besides, who would set up an exam 6 AM in the morning!?”, Bobby protested.

“Don’t say something like that or he will show up.”

“I certainly will.”, Junhoe said, making the two students flinch at the sudden voice of their teacher. Junhoe continues, “Anyway, your exam will be in the barn.”, he said to all students as he leaves the classroom.

“Did he come here just to say that?”, Hanbin lowkey complained. “Well, let’s go.”, he said, pulling Bobby with him.

“Slow down a bit… I’m still sleepy…”

The students chat among themselves while walking to the barn.

“Having an exam in the barn… That means the exam can be about anything!”, one of the students said.

“Well, he did tell us to learn everything.”, another student added.

Hanbin looks at Bobby, “Did you prepare?”.

Bobby shakes his head, making Hanbin sighs. “I’m not helping you.”, Hanbin declared.

“Eh? Why?”

“Just because.”, Hanbin simply said.

“But I’m going to fail…”

“Good. You deserve it.”

“You are mean…”

They arrive in the barn shortly. Inside, they can see Chanwoo is isolating a forest area with a magical barrier. “Go inside there.”, Junhoe instructed, pointing at the area inside the barrier.

Once everyone enters the barrier, Junhoe leads them to the center, and explains the exam. “For this exam, you’ll have to catch Pixies.”

“Eh…!?”

“Catching Pixies 6 AM in the morning? That’s impossible!”, one of the students said, referring to the fact that Pixies are invisible under the morning sun.

“Wait, there are Pixies here? I didn’t even notice!”, Bobby said.

“It is eerily quiet…”, Hanbin whispered in response.

Junhoe continues explaining the rule, “For every Pixie that you catch, you’ll get two marks; so, you’ll need to catch five Pixies to get the perfect mark.”

“Now, there are twenty of you and there are exactly a hundred Pixies here. However, you’re allowed to catch more than five. You won’t get extra mark for it, but you can prevent someone else from getting their marks.”, Junhoe said, making Chanwoo sighs. Why is he trying to pit them against each other?

Before Junhoe leaves, he adds some final words, “One more thing. If you make any of them injured, you’ll fail regardless of how many Pixies you catch.”. He then exits the barrier to wait outside, with Chanwoo following soon after.

“Why are you pitting them against each other?”, Chanwoo asked as soon as they get out.

“I’m not.”, Junhoe said.

“What? But you just…”

“Think about it like this. If I told them they could only catch five, they'd leave as soon as they catch five. But, since I told them they could catch as many, students that are good at this can catch more and use them to trade for favor.”, Junhoe explained his thought process.

“That’s…”, Chanwoo didn’t know what to say; he doesn’t know whether that is a good or a bad thing.

“I’m teaching them to be opportunistic.”, Junhoe said nonchalantly.

At that moment, someone approaches them; a stranger that none of them know.

“Mister… Junhoe? Yes?”, the man asked.

“Yes?”, Junhoe asked back.

“Can we please talk outside for a while? I have something important to discuss.”, the man requested.

Junhoe looks at the man for a while, then at Chanwoo. “Oversee the exam for me. If I’m not back until the exam ends, you can mark them; you know what to do.”

“Are you going to take that long?”, Chanwoo asked, worry slightly apparent in his eyes. But Junhoe can only shrug.

Inside the barrier, Bobby gently rubs his eyes as he walks slowly; Hanbin is walking ahead of him. All the other students have gone their own way; after all, it’s hard to catch small, speedy creatures when you are in a big group.

“So, to catch a Pixie, first you need to reveal them.”, Hanbin explained although he sounds more like talking to himself. “And we cannot hurt them… That makes it trickier.”, he continued.

“Reveal them, eh?”, Bobby said as he looks at a tree.

Hanbin suddenly starts hearing some kind of insect’s noise from behind him. He turns around and, to his horror, Bobby is conjuring some praying mantises; one of Pixie’s natural predator.

“What are you doing!?”, Hanbin shrieked. “They’re going to get eaten!”

Bobby simply says, “Exactly.”.

“Did you hear him? We cannot hurt them!”, Hanbin protested.

“I know, I know…”, Bobby said. He then casts another spell, this time creating a sphere of pure darkness on his hand.

Soon enough, they can see a Pixie flying in panic, frantically avoiding the mantises. Once the Pixie sees Bobby’s sphere of darkness, it plunges right into it; Pixie hides in the dark when scared.

“That’s… genius!”, Hanbin praised, mentally admonishes himself for underestimating Bobby. He then takes a jar from his bag and gently put the Pixie inside the jar, while Bobby is bewildered by the fact that Hanbin carries spare jars around.

“We’ll take you with us just for a few minutes, and then we will release you.”, Hanbin kindly explained to the Pixie. The Pixie probably doesn’t understand, but maybe it can make it feels better.

However, the next problem comes soon after. Bobby conjured the mantises, yes. But that doesn’t mean the mantises belong to Bobby; they just do whatever they want. Hence, after losing their prey, the mantises simply move on to the next tree. To make it worse, they move in all direction.

“Oh, no…”, Hanbin said as he looks at the mantises. “We need to be quick!”, he exclaimed, handing Bobby another jar. “Catch five, then kill all the mantises.”, he instructed, before running away to follow the mantises.

“Hey, wait…”, Bobby tried to stop Hanbin. But Hanbin already left, with his Pixie! Bobby smirks when he realizes Hanbin just steals his first catch. Sly fox.

But, he needs to focus on the task at hand; he starts running to the other direction.

Catching the five Pixies was swift, but hunting down all the mantises take much longer. By that time, Hanbin and Bobby have regrouped.

“Is that everything?”, Hanbin asked.

“I don’t know.”, Bobby said with a shrug.

“But you’re the one that conjured them!”

“Yeah, but I’m not counting.”

Then, they hear some little shriek from one of the trees. A mantis is attacking one of the Pixies!

Bobby is quick to act; he immediately casts a tiny fireball that accurately hits the mantis, burning it.  But the damage has been done. The Pixie falls to the ground; its wings are broken.

They approach the injured Pixie and crouch down to inspect it.

“We cannot just leave it like this.”, Hanbin said.

“What should we do?”, Bobby asked.

“Hmm… I can try something.”, Hanbin replied as he hands Bobby his jar of Pixies. He then takes the Pixie from the ground and casts a healing spell.

“If I recall correctly, healing spells that are meant for insect can still work on Pixie, albeit less effective.”, Hanbin explained. And it’s working! The Pixie’s wings are gradually recovering. A bit slow, but they have spare time.

Bobby just waits there; watching Hanbin’s focused face.

“You know, you’ll make a good wife.”, Bobby said out of the blue.

The sudden compliment makes Hanbin feels uncomfortable. He loses focus on his spell, although he quickly resumes it.

“Did you just blush?”, Bobby bluntly said, touching Hanbin’s cheek with his index finger.

“Shut up!”, Hanbin protested while looking away, trying to hide his blush.

“Don’t be shy…”

“I’m not!”, Hanbin pouted, making Bobby giggles.

They let the Pixie go as soon as it recovers. “C’mon, let’s get our mark.”, Hanbin said.

Junhoe is not back yet even when all the students have finished. Chanwoo paces back and forth worriedly; not knowing whether to stay and wait or leave and find him. In the end, he decides to search for him.

He first goes to the outhouse, then the whole school; but Junhoe is nowhere to be found. Finally, he stops by the principal’s office, and watch as the principal talks to a few teachers outside her office. He gathers his courage and interrupts them.

“Umm… sorry to interrupt, miss principal. But, did you see Junhoe?”

The principal lets out a slight gasp, “Oh, you didn’t hear?”

Chanwoo looks confused. “Hear what?”

“Junhoe has been apprehended. By the police.”, she explained, slight worry evident in her voice.

“What!? For what?”

One of the teachers comes forward, “I don’t know if I heard it correctly, and hopefully I didn’t hear it correctly, but... I heard it’s for… murder.”