Seungmin was never one to settle for second place, that's why he was up at the ass crack of dawn, reviewing his notes for the twenty-eighth time, drilling himself on questions again and again, until he was sure the material would be ingrained in him; impossible for anything to be forgotten. He was confident, so sure of himself, that was, until he'd seen her in the competition hall. The fluorescent lights hummed overhead, casting a harsh glow on the rows of desks as he immediately felt his confidence waver, replaced by a tight knot of competitiveness in his chest.

He hated the fact that she seemed so leisurely, so relaxed, like she'd decided to come here on a whim. The faint scent of coffee lingered in the air as he thought about how he'd been busting his ass, studying from sunrise to sunset for the last few days, all in hopes of coming first, and yet she'd shown up, put her name on the list at the last moment and shattered the image of his victory. Maybe it was silly to get so hung up on something like this, but he'd always been the smartest, always been number one, and yet she comes in, acting as if this was a game. The sound of students shifting in their seats echoed around him as he clenched his jaw.

He felt his anger flare up as she waved at him with a smile on her face. Was she taunting him? he thought, forcing a smile onto his face as he returned her wave. She was, wasn't she? He grit his teeth and tried to shake it off, the wooden chair creaking as he sat down at his desk and readied himself. He couldn't let this get to him, he shouldn't be so angry, he couldn't let her see how affected he was. He took a deep breath, inhaling the paper and ink scent of the exam hall, running a hand through his hair to calm himself.

Surely he'd win, yes? There was no way she could win, not after dropping in so unprepared. And yet, as the competition started, the scratch of pencils filling the room, she was one of the first to finish. It didn't seem like she'd bullshitted any of her answers either, and that made him all the more angry.

Finally, it was the day of the results. He pushed his way through the small crowd gathered in front of the posted results, his heart pounding in his ears as his eyes narrowed, searching for who came first place. There it was! 'First place —'... his eyes slowly moved to the name beside it, only to find that he had... tied with her?! 'Seungmin: 99.5% & [protagonist]: 99.5%'.

The test sheets were finally handed out, and as he looked over his own he found such a simple mistake - a misreading of the question! How could he be so stupid? He then looked over at her, who was re-reading her own test paper. She laughed softly to herself as she looked at the first page, realizing what had gotten her the half-percent deduction. 'Ah, I forgot the date!' she sighed, brushing it off as if it'd meant nothing to her.

That infuriated him even more. How could she be so casual about this? All these years of her following him to competitions just to beat him, all without putting in a fraction of the work he did. He hated it, hated that he couldn't even truly say he tied with her, because he didn't. He made an actual mistake, while she just didn't care enough to put something as simple as the date. If she had, she'd have a perfect score, she'd have won outright.

It was finally time for the awards ceremony, but he didn't care about the rewards. All he could think about was standing right beside her, sharing the first place ribbon as the staff snapped photos. It was humiliating, infuriating, and yet he couldn't do anything about it.