Perfect Crown in Royal Academy of Korea - Chapter 5

Chapter Five: The Virtuous Man and the Small Man

"That bitch again, you mean."
   
Minseok, who checked the name written on the scroll, shuddered with rage. It was because of Sung Heejoo, who had claimed the top spot once again despite entering the exam room as much as 30 minutes late. In the first place, the very fact that she escaped from that elevator was an annoying thing.
   
'Should I just lock her away somewhere for good?'
   
Although it was something that started from a joke, it was a regrettable thing for Minseok, who had poured his heart and soul into making it a perfect crime in his own way. From the security guards' shift times to Sung Heejoo's movement lines, and even down to deleting the elevator CCTV footage, there was no corner he hadn't touched... but Min Jungwoo intervening was an unexpected thing.
   
Whether she was lucky or vicious.
   
If one gets trapped in an elevator on an exam day, it would be normal for one's mental state to go to pieces. That bitch Sung Heejoo persistently appeared in the exam room and took the exam anyway. No, even if she wasn't trapped in an elevator, if she blew away as much as 30 minutes of the exam time, shouldn't she be out of her mind? Exactly what kind of mind must one have to claim the top spot in the midst of that, he meant.
   
At that moment, Sung Heejoo clad in a red robe appeared. The way she was wearing a smile from all the way at the end of the hallway made her look like a person who already knew the results.
   
"You said you'd win, but you lost again?"
   
"They say foolish things rejoice and despair over small things. Isn't it hard struggling and scraping along?"
   
Minseok, who smiled while pretending not to know his turned stomach, looked down at Heejoo. Minseok, who belonged to a side that was quite large in frame compared to most boys of his age, waited for Heejoo to shrivel up, but such a thing did not happen. Rather, she was only snorting a laugh as if it were ridiculous.
   
"Was it hard?"
   
"What?"
   
"This exam, I mean. It wasn't hard for me though?"
   
While a flustered Minseok was at a loss for words, Heejoo leisurely narrowed the distance between herself and Minseok. Then, with a very sweet voice—
   
"If you lost, accept the defeat. Don't flap your mouth embarrassingly."
   
She trampled all over Minseok's pride. The voice of Minseok, who couldn't do anything about his scratched inside, turned menacing.
   
"Not even being an aristocrat, so arrogantly...."
   
Minseok thought status was Heejoo's weakness, but.
   
"Watch your mouth, you aristocrat bastard. Do you want to receive disciplinary action that badly?"
   
Heejoo was a person who knew how to use her weakness as a weapon. Because while it was a school where the difference in status was clear, it was simultaneously a school that taught that discrimination was a sin. The moment one made a discriminatory remark using status as the reason, Minseok had much more to lose.
   
"This girl, seriously...."
   
Therefore, even if he growled with the momentum to land a blow, it was obvious he wouldn't be able to do any action beyond that. It was the same even when given time as if telling him to try more.
   
Heejoo, who enjoyed the loser's humiliation with a leisurely smile, let out a laugh.
   
"Try using some power. How can you not win a single time? Despite being an aristocrat and all."
   
Heejoo, who stepped onto the shooting stand, took her stance. Although it was a time when everyone would be asleep, she couldn't practice if it wasn't now. In the daytime she had no time because of doing assignments, and even if she barely made time to practice by chance, her place was frequently snatched away by seniors.
   
The traditional archery match that happened once a year was a friendly match only in name; the competition between dormitories was extreme. Because the academic style that considered openly revealing a competitive spirit to be vulgar was an exception as far as traditional archery was concerned. Perhaps because of that, the cheering heat between dormitories was no joke either.
   
Particularly, Vermilion Bird Palace and Azure Dragon Palace, and Hyunmoo Palace and White Tiger Palace, which were famous for their rival relationships, were anxious to tear each other apart.
   
Consequently, Heejoo, who was of Vermilion Bird Palace, had no choice but to care about the showdown with Azure Dragon Palace, but of all things, Ryu Minseok was among the player roster of Azure Dragon Palace. Despite hanging around with bad guys every single day, it was a mysterious thing how he maintained a high rank whether in studies or traditional archery.
   
Since there was no way that idiot was born with it, she thought there might be some secret, and—
   
'Because I have the key to the archery range.'
   
Ryu Minseok's voice had been heard. In the cafeteria where she was eating dinner. The way he bragged as if proud of that dirty privilege was ridiculous. If he knew that she was nearby, it would have been better to shut his mouth.
   
Heejoo rose from her seat that very moment and headed to the lecture building. If Ryu Minseok had the key to the archery range. If he was doing more practice than herself because of that. She also had to possess that key and the practice time that key guaranteed. Because only then would it be fair.
   
Passing through the empty lecture building hallway, Heejoo, who headed to the Azure Dragon Palace classroom, succeeded in finding Ryu Minseok's seat and stealing the key. She didn't feel anything like a pang of conscience. Rather, she felt a certainty at the situation unfolding without any difficulty. A certainty that even heaven was helping her victory.
   
Therefore, practice also had to be done without any interruption, but—
   
"Who is it."
   
Someone's voice was heard from behind her back. Wearing a blue cheolik, it was Grand Prince Leean. She had never mixed words closely with him, but it was certain. He, who was very tall and possessed a beautiful face, could not be confused with any other student.
   
It was a fiasco. If it were a teacher instead, she would have even appealed to human feelings. If it were Ryu Minseok instead, she would have even thrown fists. That would have been better.
   
Grand Prince Leean was the worst person among the people Heejoo could meet. She heard Grand Prince Leean did not use the dormitory, so why at this hour…. Why of all things...
   
"Name."
   
She tried to run away from him who asked for her name, but his calm voice tightly bound her two running legs.
   
"If you have committed a sin, it is enough to receive the corresponding punishment; do not get caught while running away and defile your honor."
   
Heejoo, who had no choice but to stop and stand, looked at Wan. The gaze looking up was full of a rebellious spirit, but Wan passed it over while pretending not to notice. He knew that even so, the stopped steps and the approaching steps were a surrender.
   
"Name."
   
"...It's Sung Heejoo."
   
"Affiliation."
   
"Vermilion Bird Palace, 9th grade."
   
"You would be aware that you broke the school regulations."
   
"It was because practice time was insufficient. The friendly match is right in front of our noses...."
   
"Are you a virtuous man, or a small man."
   
Wan, who spat out a stern voice, knitted his brows. Whether practice time was insufficient or not, he had no intention of listening to excuses. Because if one committed a sin, it was enough to receive the corresponding punishment, and not making excuses when acknowledging a sin was the way of a virtuous man.
   
"Students in the 10th grade and below are prohibited from entering or exiting outside the dormitory after the Hour of the Boar. In the case of violating this school regulation, 20 demerit points. When using sports facilities outside of training hours, the school principal's approval must precede. In the case of violating this school regulation, 10 demerit points. In total, you are...."
   
"What about you, Your Highness?"
   
Once again, a rebellious spirit gathered in the girl's eyes.
   
"Your Highness is here as well, aren't you. Do you receive demerit points too, Your Highness?"
   
Wan, who became dumbfounded at the blatant suspicion, let out a hollow laugh. Whether she believed he would have broken the school regulations just like her, there was certainty in the glaring eyes.
   
"Would I have come without approval."
   
When he pulled out an approval form from his breast pocket and showed it, the glaring eyes lost power and loosened.
   
"H-How did you receive it? They said, 'I am concerned that the students' heat will overheat ahead of the friendly match. The archery range is not a place that exists for individual training.' Saying so...."
   
At the voice slurring the end of her words as if upset, Wan maintained silence for a moment. Every single time she spoke a word, her changing expression caught his gaze. Everything from the eyebrows dropping as if treated unfairly and the eyes growing large in disappointment, to the lips biting out of distress and the cheeks turning red out of anger.
   
The huffing girl pulled out a key with a blue tassel attached and showed it.
   
"It's the key of Ryu Minseok, Azure Dragon Palace 9th grade."
   
"Ryu Minseok?"
   
"Yes, because he was bragging that he had a key without even knowing what shame was, I stole it."
   
To think that on top of doing stolen practice, she stole a key. If one wished to make an issue out of it, even expulsion was a possible thing.
   
"I do not know why an individual possesses the key to the archery range, which is not a place existing for individual training, but... seeing that Your Highness also received an approval form this easily, it seems the threshold was high only for me."
   
Only then did Wan realize that this girl was that famous 'Sung Heejoo.' The one who was called the extramarital child of Castle Group and the mad dog of Vermilion Bird Palace, that girl.
   
"Therefore, do not lecture me about demerit points or whatever. Because I am going to enjoy every opportunity that my enemy enjoys, exactly the same."
   
"You mean you will become dirty exactly the same?"
   
"It means I will win dirtily. Because that is better than losing cleanly."
   
The girl, who shot words like a hedgehog with its quills raised sharp, moved with long strides toward the door. It was a step where confidence was felt to call it running away. Then, the girl came back again and bowed her waist deeply. As if she were a virtuous man. As if the one who was dirty and petty was not herself. It was a stiff protest.