Looking at the test paper in front of me, I started sweating.
I was pretty nervous, even though I had reviewed quite a lot yesterday with Tyler as my tutor.
But looking at the paper now, it was radiating an extremely threatening aura.
This subject… is Ethics...
Ethics in this world is pretty weird compared to the real world—because it's actually hard.
If you answer in a hypocritical way, you lose points. If you answer honestly, you also lose points.
This damn subject is trying to teach us how to answer half-true, half-false!
"What is the meaning of stealing someone's lover? What the fuck? And… Why is cheating something you should do? Oh come on, give me a break..."
Haha, this world really is fucked up—just two questions in and they're already this messed up.
I looked over at Baron's desk. He was doing it quickly like it was no big deal.
"Does he actually know how to answer these two fucked up questions…?"
I don't really know what he's like in the original book because he was barely ever mentioned.
I have a pretty good impression of him so far, but seeing how fluently he's answering the test kind of makes me... I don't know how to feel.
"You there, what are you looking at?"
The teacher's voice boomed loudly, making me jump.
He was bald with deep, dark eye bags—definitely looked aged.
Like one of those cranky uncles.
Oh right, forgot to mention… Baron and I stayed back to do this short 15-minute test.
All the other students had gone home already—I'm so jealous...
"Only five minutes left, hurry up and finish."
"Ah, yes sir..."
I gritted my teeth and scribbled a few lazy sentences for the first two questions.
Then I looked at the last one.
"..."
Youth is the most beautiful time in a person's life—what do you think about this statement?
"Youth, huh..."
This is rough. I've never really experienced it, so I don't feel much about this quote.
Or maybe... I kind of have.
'Back when my parents were alive… before my little brother was born.'
Back then, we were poor, but our family bond was incredibly warm.
My parents loved each other and worked tirelessly to earn every little penny to support us.
Well, school fees were too expensive, so they couldn't afford to send me to school, but I was okay with that.
I didn't want to be a burden, so I worked as a house helper and waited for my parents to come home.
We didn't get to eat together much because they were always busy, but that didn't stop those moments from being joyful.
Yeah, just a little bit of joy like that was enough for me—I didn't need anything more.
Should I call that youth? Feels more like childhood...
Whatever, my mom died giving birth to my little brother, and after that, my dad became a drunk mess.
Honestly, I thought he would start abusing me or my brother after turning to alcohol, but no—he didn't do anything.
He just looked at us and cried like crazy.
Then one day, he drank even more than usual, stood up with a bottle in his hand, walked out of the house.
Before leaving, he turned to look at us for a long moment… then disappeared.
Later, a neighbor came and told me he had jumped off a bridge and drowned.
What a tragedy. I was angry at my dad for abandoning us, but I couldn't bring myself to really hate him.
He was a bad father after mom died, but I still loved him.
After that, some relatives took us in.
Unfortunately, they didn't give a shit about the two of us. They even took all the little inheritance our parents left behind.
So I left and decided to live temporarily in an orphanage.
"One minute left!!"
Ah shit, I got lost in my memories.
I quickly wrote something on the paper—just one simple, concise (maybe?) sentence:
[Youth isn't beautiful because it's bright—it's beautiful because it's fragile. The more you try to hold onto it, the more it slips through your fingers, until it becomes a dream you endlessly long for.]
'...That sounds a bit philosophical, huh.'
Whatever, I don't think I got it right anyway (huh?)
Time's up. The teacher grabbed both my and Baron's papers and left without a word.
"Baron, did you manage to answer it?"
"Nope."
"Huh? But you looked like you were writing really fast?"
"I was just scribbling. The first two questions were bullshit, like a joke. For question one, I wrote 'go die', and for question two, I put 'go kill yourself—I support it.'"
"..."
Dude, I will never regret becoming friends with you and I definitely underestimated you.
"And question three… Ugh."
"What, couldn't answer it?"
"Yeah. You think throwing money around like rain would make it fun? Even though I can, honestly, it just makes me feel empty and annoyed," Baron said, slumping back in his chair with a frustrated face.
"..."
I looked at Baron, and suddenly my big brother instincts flared up like a volcano.
"Then why don't we make our academy years into our youth? We're only 15, after all."
"Huh? Why?"
"Don't ask why. Just do random, dumb stuff. Maybe it'll turn into good memories," I smiled awkwardly.
I mean, I've never had a youth before—so why not give it a try?
"Yeah yeah, but before we get to those youth things of yours, we've still got a few more tests to take."
"…sigh."
School is mentally draining, man—it's so easy to lose the will to live.
***
The Ethics teacher, Gilles, was a rather strict man.
Maybe it was because he had witnessed too much deceit in life, which gave him those intimidating eyes.
He was the reason Ethics had become such a difficult subject.
To him, life had to be lived in the middle ground—leaning too far to either side would do more harm than good.
Living hypocritically meant one day your mask would be torn off, and the filth beneath could never be cleansed.
Living honestly meant you were easy to take advantage of—betrayal was normal in this world, and one day you'd be stained and become someone else.
In short, Gilles wanted his students to live on that safe borderline—for their own future.
After all, he was still a good man. He did all this for the sake of his students.
And now, he was staring at two test papers—those of two students.
Kai and Baron—both had a lot of absences, which made Gilles assume they were just some delinquent slackers, so truth be told, he didn't have a very high opinion of them.
Until he read their tests.
Kai:
Question 1: It means my body will be bathed in the blood of the person who stole my lover.
Question 2: I don't even have the mood to do something that stupid.
Baron:
Question 1: Go die.
Question 2: Go kill yourself. I support it.
"Alright… both of them answered well."
Yes—those two questions were traps.
This was Ethics class, and cheating is one of the most immoral things in this world.
"Good, good," he thought to himself, then looked at the last question.
Baron's answer:
Youth? I didn't even have a childhood, so what makes you think youth would bring me anything? I'd rather give money to the poor.
"...A kid with problems, huh."
He hadn't expected this student to answer so honestly—just wrote it down without hesitation.
Then he looked at Kai's answer.
"...Wow, is everyone this pessimistic nowadays?"
Kai's answer… was the most concerning.
It was honest—but from an intensely negative perspective.
"..."
He sighed, set the papers on the table, and leaned back in his chair.
Those two... what on earth had they gone through to think like that?
This wasn't good at all...
So Gilles decided to remember the names Baron and Kai very clearly.
"If I leave them like this, their future's going to be bleak. I can't just let them walk that path alone.
Youth is meant to be enjoyed—full of fun and laughter."
Gilles might be strict, with a life philosophy rooted in staying within the gray area...
But deep down, he was still a good man.