Closed Beta That Only I Played

A brief silence fell in the office.

But Principal Jang continued, “If we have him retake the exam, why don’t we arrange for him to take the test in an open space? Then nobody will take any issue or complain about the results of his exams. Oh, it’s not a bad idea for some parents to also be present to observe.”

Actually, that’s what the teaching director and the other teachers had in mind, but they could not voice it because they would have to deal with Myongjin if they objected.

Above all, even asking Juyoung to retake the test would reveal their suspicion that they suspected he cheated on the test.

So the teaching director said cautiously, “Do you think it’s okay?”

“Hahaha, of course it’s okay. If Juyoung obtains perfect scores again, I will go and see his parents myself and sincerely apologize. If he doesn’t, I will give him a good scolding. Of course, I prefer the first option even if I lose my position as the principal here. Hahaha!”

Anyway, they decided to have him retake the test according to the principal’s suggestion.

In fact, angry parents kept calling the school office to complain about Juyoung.

In the school office the next day.

“Sure, I’ll retake the exams.”

I casually accepted it when my homeroom teacher cautiously made the suggestion to me. For I expected things like this would happen.

And the rumors about my retake spread quickly.

“Tut, tut. I wish he didn’t cheat.”

“You bet. How come he got perfect scores in all subjects?”

“I guess they should find out the teacher who gave him the answer sheets.”

“Absolutely! The Parent-Teacher Association is even preparing to send a petition to the prosecution office to investigate the matter.”

“By the way, he is a son of the Myongjin Group chairman. Is it okay?”

“Well, this can be a great chance for other business groups. Even though they pretend to have good relations with each other, they are looking for a chance to stab each other behind the scenes. So they will be very happy if Myongjin is in trouble because of this.”

“That’s right.”

In fact, there were lots of people who enjoyed watching this situation.

Of course, I was not upset with them because as the saying goes, an envious man waxes lean with the fatness of his neighbor.

Anyway, time passed, and the day came when I took the exams again.

In the school office of Kyungmoon High School. 𝐟𝙧ee𝔀e𝐛𝓃𝐨𝚟𝑒𝗹.c𝗼𝚖

“I’ve excluded all the teachers in charge of freshmen as test organizers. Instead, I’ve asked those in charge of the junior and senior students to write 100 questions. They wrote lots of questions on specific topics, so the exams will be fairly difficult.”

Principal Jang opened his mouth, looking at some parents who came to the school to see with their own eyes if the student in question would cheat.

He continued, “Okay, we’re going to randomly select 25 questions, and the order of the questions will be random too. Alright, can you choose the questions, too, since you have come here?”

Some parents who visited the school to expose the cheating just smacked their lips without expressing the opinion because the teachers prepared the questions very thoroughly in their eyes.

Anyway, some parents and teachers randomly selected the questions, and mixed the selected questions to make the order random.

Even if the answer sheets were leaked, it would be impossible for anybody to obtain a perfect score unless they knew all 100 questions and answers. Besides, he took tests on 11 subjects including Korean, math, and English, so the total number of questions was as many as 1,100.

Anyway, the five teachers took the test papers and moved to the classroom where Juyong was waiting.

Of course, the rest of the teachers and the parents were carefully observing through CCTV in the classroom.

***

The Strait of Hormuz is a very narrow strait with a width of about 52 nautical miles.

But it was very important geographically. 𝐟𝐫𝗲𝙚ｗ𝚎𝐛𝙣𝐨𝙫𝘦𝗹.c૦m

In terms of oil production, Iran was behind Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, but with the oil-producing Bahrain, Qatar, and Dubai combined, more than 30% of the world’s crude oil was aboard the ships going through this narrow strait.

In that respect, the world economy would inevitably stumble if the Strait of Hormuz was blocked. Despite that, Iran, which was under strong US economic sanctions, often played Russian roulette on the Strait of Hormuz.

“We are a Spanish tanker on our way to the Corba port in Valencia, Spain, carrying crude oil under a crude oil contract with the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation.”

Captain Meldova, aboard the Spanish tanker Kona, reported his situation to the Iranian destroyer blocking the Strait of Hormuz.

[We have found the Kona trying to escape without rescue efforts after colliding with a Iranian fishing boat. So turn off the engine, and stop right away!]

“Oh my God! What the heck?”

Captain Meldova was surprised to hear this absurd statement by the Iranian Commander, and was about to protest their unjust action when somebody stopped him.

It was Deputy Captain Javier.

He said, “Your protest will not work, Captain. They have already detained a British tanker for 60 days before.”

“Got it…”

Of course, Captain Meldova was also familiar with that episode.

There was not a single tanker among those that used the Strait of Hormuz here that had not experienced friction with the Iranian navy.

But Captain Meldova could not sit still even for a single day or even for hours, because he would suffer severe financial loss if his ship was detained here.

So even though he knew it would not work, he still protested.

Anyway, the Spanish Kona moved to the port of Bandar Abbas in southeastern Iran, escorted by the destroyer. Of course, that didn’t just happen to the Spanish Kona.

Tankers of Asian nationality also experienced such clashes with the Iranian navy.

In particular, Korean and Japanese oil tankers were forcibly escorted to Bandar Abbas port after they were captured by Iranian battleships and destroyers.

Texas crude oil, allegedly the best oil, had a big impact on the Americas, including the United States, Canada, and Mexico, while the North Sea Brent oil had a great influence on Europe and Africa, and Middle East oil had a great influence on the Middle East and Asia.

The situation was more acute in Korea and Japan where not even a drop of oil was produced.

In the Moyadi oil field in northeastern Saudi Arabia several days later.

Bang!

A huge fire broke out with a loud noise at the Moyadi oil field, one of the largest oil fields in Saudi Arabia. The flames were so huge that firefighters did not dare to approach the field. But black smoke was also rising from the Alafe oil complex not far from the Moyadi oil field.

Bang!

Huge flames soared with a big noise in the Alafe oil field, which was as big as the Moyadi oil field.

At the same time the flames were rising not only from this oil field but also the large oil complex nearby. No wonder Saudi Arabia was in big turmoil.

Hundreds of firefighter vehicles and dozens of firefighter helicopters were dispatched to the scenes immediately, but they could not put down the flames easily.