The Riddle

The second part of the test quickly followed. The students were asked to cover their eyes using their hands.

"Once I count to three, you will all open your eyes. Do you understand?" Mr. Red looked at his students before glancing over at the 6 cups in his front.

He carefully looked at the cups before placing a small red ball on one of them. When he was done, he made sure that the cups were aligned perfectly before counting up to three.

"1… 2… 3… Open up your eyes everyone!" the man declared loudly.

Hugo slowly took away his hands from his face. He tilted his head, adjusting his sight from the sudden brightness. When he was done, he stared intently at the cups on top of the table.

'Where could the ball be?' that was the question forming in his head. His brows formed a straight line as his gaze shifted to his teacher.

'The ball is in the 3rd cup,' Mr. Red reminded himself.

Hugo's mouth twisted after knowing the answer. He just read Mr. Red's thoughts.

He quickly grabbed the pen from his table and wrote the number on a piece of paper. After a minute, they were tasked to raise their papers.

To Mr. Red's surprise, Hugo got the correct answer again. He already doubted Hugo's capability. 'If this student got the right answer once again, then I would need to call out him.' the man thought.

Mr. Red was already suspecting Hugo of cheating. The man's eyes surveyed Hugo. He shook his head and murmured. 'He seems too relaxed when this test is 50% of their final exam.'

He didn't waste any seconds and began the second round. The students were asked to cover their eyes once again. And just like what Mr. Red did earlier, he chooses one cup among six.

"Open your eyes, everyone!" The man declared for the second time.

Hugo chuckled as he placed the wrong number on his paper. He was reading Red's thoughts since earlier. He was actually amazed that he could use his powers this long without getting any tired.

'I must have gotten used to my powers already.'

The 2nd round quickly summed up. Mr. Red was quite shocked to know that Hugo had got the wrong answer. But that made him relieved. 'Maybe I was just getting delusional. There's no way they can cheat here,' the man muttered to himself.

The 3rd round quickly passed by. Just like what Hugo planned, he made his answers purposely wrong. Even though he got the two answers wrong in the second part, he has still the highest mark out of all of them.

"You're very lucky!" Abigail unbelievably looked at the man as Mr. Red announced their scores. She only got 6 points while Hugo already has 8 points.

Hugo chuckled and shook his head. "I was just guessing the whole time."

"That made you even luckier! You didn't have to try, unlike me, who would take time so that I can get the real answer." Abigail blurted out. She was mesmerized by the man's luck.

She was looking at Hugo since earlier. She saw that it would not even take Hugo a minute before writing down his answers.

"Now for the 3rd Part of the Test…" Mr. Red took out his pen and paper. He carefully wrote down a number before placing them on the table.

"The number will be from 1 to 50… but there will be a twist." Mr. Red grinned as he wrote something on the board. "I will give you a riddle. A riddle that will point out to the correct answer."

Hugo's face turned confused. He was planning on just reading Red's mind to find the correct answer. 'What If I just stopped the time?' he questioned himself.

When he thought that it was a good idea, he immediately stopped the time. Hugo stood up from his seat and turned the paper on the table.

'Fuck,' he cursed out loud when he didn't see any number written on the paper. Instead, there was just a random drawing. Disappointed, he quickly came back from his seat and bring back everyone to normal.

"I will just give you 10 minutes to solve this riddle. If you feel like you are lucky enough, then you can just write a random number." Mr. Red smiled widely before sitting in his chair.

His eyes roam around as he saw how his students' expressions quickly changed.

"There are many books inside the Library of Lunaria Academia. How many letters are there in those books?"

Reading the question carefully, Hugo thought that the question was nearly impossible to be answered. With all those books inside the library, how the heck can he even answer the question?

Tilting his head, Hugo looked at Mr. Red. 'There are only 50 possible answers…' the man sighed deeply. 'How many letters are there in those books?' Hugo can feel that there was something unusual with the question.

Mr. Red opened his mouth after a few minutes. "You only have 5 minutes left to answer." the man announced that made everyone feel anxious.

Hugo ignored his classmates' reactions. It was obvious that no one had gotten the correct answer yet after a few minutes. Even Abigail on his side was having a hard time solving the riddle.

He kept repeating the question in his head. "How many letters are there in those books? Those books…"

Hugo's eyes widened as he just realized what the riddle meant.

"Times up!" Mr. Red stood up. "Do you have your answer now? If so, raise your hand," the man questioned.

But no one bothered to raise their hands. All of them were clueless about the right answer, except for one.

"It is bold of you to raise your hand, Mr. Hugo." Mr. Red blurted out. "But if you are confident, then may I know what is your answer?"

"10! The answer is 10." Hugo responded.

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Author's Note- If you are confused about Hugo's answer, then here is an explanation. The question basically means "How many letters are there in 'those books'?" So if you will count the letters in the word 'those books', then it would give you 10.

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