The exam day

Hani was thinking of running away as Lee Wan was not agreeing to her. Suddenly a man came forward; offered him the money and told him to tell Baek Chun not to bother her again. Lee Wan nodded and walked away from there. Hani turned back to look at the man as it was a familiar voice to her.

Do Yeong was smiling looking at her. Hani lowered her eyes and thanked him. "I will repay your money in the evening," said Hani. Sunwo, Sung Tae and Chan Sul were looking at them.

"It is fine. Whenever you will have money you can give me," said Do Yeong with a tiny smile on his lips.

"Then tomorrow," murmured Hani with a gentle smile. Yeong shook his head in refusal. Hani then raised her brow asking then when to return it. "After a week," stated Yeong. Hani nodded and again thanked him before leaving the restaurant.

Yeong came back to his seat when Sung Tae asked him. "You know that girl?" Yeong lied and said, "I thought I should help her." Sunwo looked at Yeong because he was sensing something else.

"Well, after 5 days there is the exam. I hope we all will clear this and meet in the academy," stated Chan Sul with a smile. Yeong was thinking about Yoon Shik while eating his dumpling.

"The only one whom I desperately want to see in the academy is Yoon Shik. He must have grown so much. I don't even know how much difficulties he must have faced in all these nine years. Yoon Shik, your friend is waiting for you," thought Yeong in his mind. Sunwo was observing Yeong as he was feeling something going on with him.

~~~~~~~~~~

The week was finally passed and the day of the examination had come. Yoon Shik was a little bit nervous but his confidence has already overpowered his nervousness. He put the important things in his bag and came out of the room. Jang Shiwo gave him the blessings while Hani gave her best wishes to Yoon.

"I will see you later then," murmured Yoon and left for the ground where the civil services exam was going to take place. There were mainly Yangbans and Chungins present in the ground. He went to the table there where he was provided his registration detail and seat number. He thanked them and went inside the ground.

He took his seat and put the brushes and ink set on the ground. Many other aspirants already have taken their seats. After half an hour ten invigilators came there and one of them explained the rules to the candidates.

"There will be two sets of papers. Both are important sets and who will qualify both papers will be able to meet the criteria for selection. No one should cheat in the exam and if anybody found cheating he would be debarred not only from this exam but also from the future exams. Time for each set is one hour, that is, one hour for classical Chinese and one hour for literature. Apart from this there will be questions on some other subjects too," said the exam coordinator with a loud voice.

Everyone was provided with two white sheets and question papers were also distributed. Everyone started writing. Yoon tried to understand the questions first because the questions were not easy. After thinking for 15 minutes he picked up his brush, immersed it in the ink and started writing.

The two hours passed really quick and exam coordinators started taking sheets from the candidates. The coordinator came in front of Yoon Shik to take the sheets and he immediately handed him the sheets.

Yoon Shik started putting his ink pot and brushes in the wooden box when an examiner asked, "were you cheating?" Yoon Shik got confused and got up from his seat.

"Then what is this?" asked the examiner, showing him the crumbled paper sheet with answers in it.

"It is not mine," stated Yoon.

"What is the commotion there?" asked the chief coordinator.

"Sir, this candidate was cheating," said the examiner. The other examiners came there and asked about the commotion. Everybody looked at him with suspicious eyes and candidates started whispering.

The chief coordinator came near him and looked at the paper.

"What is your name?" asked the chief coordinator politely.

"Kim Yoon Shik."

The chief coordinator looked at him with a surprised look and then after a pause said, "we will examine after checking the sheets if he has cheated or not."

Suddenly a voice among the candidates said, "a low class will certainly cheat. What can we expect from such people." Hearing such a comment everybody started laughing but Yoon Shik felt bad. "Silent," shouted the chief coordinator.

The examiners then told the candidates to leave the exam ground and wait for the result till next day. All the candidates stood up from the respective seats from the ground and started leaving from there.

"Don't know who threw that paper beside me," murmured Yoon. He was walking when a Yangban class man stopped him and said, "a Sangmin giving an exam of civil services. Not bad. But he should know how lowly he is." His other friends started laughing and smirking at Yoon Shik.

Yoon glared at them but did not say anything to them when two among them stopped him. Chan Sul stepped ahead and told him to bow before them.

"Why? Are you the king or a bureaucrat?" Yoon inquired glaring at him. Chan Sul was going to hit him when Sung Tae stopped him.

"Chan Sul, how many times did I tell you? Do not get angry at a person who is many levels below us. He cannot even reach this place even if he takes lakhs of birth," Sung Tae asserted glaring at Yoon and gave an evil smile to him.

Yoon Shik slightly smiled. "One birth is enough for me to reach that level. Who knows you will work under me in this birth," muttered Yoon Shik with a smile. Ro Sang was not able to stop himself and threw a punch at him but Yoon caught his hand and pushed him away. He then stepped towards Sung Tae and said, "stop acting like you own this world. Even if you own this world then also I will not bow my head in front of you people." Saying this Yoon Shik walked away from there. Sung Tae gritted his teeth and walked towards the opposite direction.

Yoon Shik went to Yeong's house but the guard did not let him in. He became sad and sat outside the house on a bench there. "I think he has forgotten about me. We were kids then so it is obvious that he might have forgotten me," murmured Yoon and after some time left for his home.

~~~~~~~~~~

Hani was waiting for Yeong in Baek's restaurant since morning but did not get his sight there. "Tell me who are you looking for?," asked Bon Hwa with excitement.

"To whom I made drink that spicy tea," answered Hani. "Because of oldie I was embarrassed in front of everyone. I will teach him a good lesson today," Hani further added.

There were many people coming here to eat and drink in the restaurant. "We should leave now. Maybe that person will not come here today." Stated Bon Hwa when Hani recalled that he told her that he would meet her on the sixth day.

"Ahh, I almost forgot. He told me that he will come tomorrow," said Hani. Bon Hwa shook her head in disbelief and they left from there. As they were leaving Hani thought something mischievous in her mind. She went towards the wall and took out the brush from her cloth bag. Bon Hwa went near her.

"Do not come to this restaurant, OLDIE BAEK CHUN." Hani wrote this in big letters. Bon Hwa laughed seeing this. "Let's go before oldie will catch us," stated Hani and they both ran away from there.

Do Yeong and Sunwo were coming to that direction and saw them running away. "Don't know whom Bon Hwa is hanging with," said Sunwo and fanned himself. They walked towards the restaurant when they saw the message written on the wall. "Haha, whoever has written this is quite bold. Oldie Baek Chun," murmured Sunwo and walked inside the restaurant followed by Yeong.