Outsmarted [Hwang Hyunjin]

Chapter 23

"AS PUNISHMENT, YOU TWO MUST CLEAN ALL 4 BATHROOMS IN THE SCHOOL!" Mr. Hon screamed at us. "GOT IT?"

"Yes, sir," I said.

He nodded and left us.

It was after school hours, so the school was pretty quiet since it was empty.

I sighed and turned to face Hyunjin.

"Welp, I guess we should start now," I said and turned around to walk to the bathrooms.

I marched up the stairs and saw all the cleaning supplies placed in front of the bathrooms, ready for us to use. I looked behind me and saw Hyunjin eyeing the supplies, probably deciding what he was going to do.

I picked up a mop and bucket and walked into the girls' bathroom, ready to get to work. Grudgingly, I soaked the mop in the bucket of water and brought it back out, onto the floor. I mopped, starting with the corner of the bathroom, watching the grime and muck be washed away.

Hyunjin came in after a few minutes. I rolled my eyes at his lack of ambition.

He walked up to the mirror with a rag in his hand, and a spray bottle in the other. I heard him sigh as he wiped down the mirrors as thoroughly as possible.

- - -

We silently cleaned the bathroom for the next half hour. Neither of us spoke a word as we tried our best to finish cleaning this gross bathroom as fast as we could.

I noticed my mind wandering as I cleaned. The silence in the room allowed for my thoughts to be loud and clear.

This sucks.

I frowned and thought about how nice it would be to be at home, relaxing on my couch with a bag of popcorn in my hand.

Fooddddd.

I want to eat to bad right now. I haven't had my daily after-school snack. Thinking about food makes my stomach rumble.

I want teokbokki.

My mind quickly wandered over to a thought about the food across the school. Recently, there were food stands set up really close to Seoul High School. Students usually stop by the stands before they go home; I was planning on doing that one day too, but I kept forgetting.

Suddenly, an idea clicked in my head and I smiled to myself thinking of it.

"Hyunjin," I said, breaking the silence.

He turned his head around and looked at me, "Ya?"

"Are you hungry?" I asked.

"Ya."

I pondered for a moment wondering how to word my idea.

"I bet I could clean faster and better than you," I said with a mischievous smile on my face.

He cocked an eyebrow, "Huh?"

"How about we each clean two bathrooms; I'll clean the girls' and you'll clean the boy's washroom. Whoever cleans the fastest wins, and the loser has to buy the winner teokbokki from the food stands across the street."

He pondered the bet for a second, then flashed me a cocky grin.

"Deal," he said and held out his hand.

I took his hand and shook it.

"You better clean thoroughly, because I'll be checking to see if you actually did a good job," I said.

"Got it," he said and walked out, over to the boys' washroom.

- - -

For the next hour, I worked my ass off and tried my best to clean as best, and as fast I could. I had a mental list of all the steps I had to do in order to finish cleaning a bathroom. I was already halfway finished my list and I already finished cleaning the first washroom, so I was almost done cleaning overall.