Alex’s grades jumped from 6s and 7s (on the Finnish scale) to consistent 10s within just one grading period.

Teachers notice Alex using rare words like “serendipity,” “ubiquitous,” and “juxtaposition”—far beyond typical classroom learning.

His writing style changes dramatically, moving from simple, direct sentences to complex, flowing essays with perfect cohesion.

On in-class essays, his handwriting seems rushed, and the flow doesn’t match his neat homework submissions.

Alex’s laptop battery is always drained by the time he gets to English class, though he never seems to use it during the lesson.

Alex always finishes exams unusually fast, handing them in before many of the top students.

In spoken classroom activities, Alex still makes grammar mistakes and struggles with pronunciation—unlike in his written work.

IT staff notice someone connecting repeatedly to the school Wi-Fi during exams with a device that is not officially registered.

Alex recently started wearing a new smartwatch that he fiddles with constantly.

One English teacher recalls Alex asking oddly specific questions weeks before an exam—almost as if he already knew what would be on it.

Classmates claim Alex has been spending time with Lina, a known computer whiz who has helped hack the school Wi-Fi before.

A custodian finds crumpled printouts of past exams in the recycling bin behind the staff room. The dates match exams Alex scored highest on.

Some of Alex’s essays contain phrasing almost identical to texts on the free version of ChatGPT, which Lina has been caught using in other classes.

Rumours swirl that one younger teacher, Mr. Järvi, has been too “friendly” with certain students, providing “extra resources.”

Students saw Alex and Lina in the library after hours, but the cameras curiously had missing footage that night.

A staff member reports that a teacher’s school account was recently accessed from a student device.

On one in-class writing test, faint impressions on Alex’s desk surface suggest he had crib notes written in disappearing ink.

The smartwatch is discovered to be linked to a hidden earpiece—Alex was receiving real-time help during exams.

It turns out Lina hacked into the teacher’s school account, obtained advance access to the exam drafts, and used AI tools to “translate” the answers into Alex’s style.

But the real twist: Alex never knew. Lina, secretly in love with him, had been feeding him answers through the smartwatch without his knowledge, making him think he was suddenly improving thanks to “study tips” she gave him.

The unusual exam success wasn’t due to Alex’s own cheating. Instead, it was a misguided act of secret academic sabotage disguised as help:

• Lina, the hacker friend, wanted Alex to shine and gain confidence.
• She hacked teachers’ accounts, got the exams in advance, and used AI to prep model answers.
• During tests, she fed him subtle hints through the smartwatch.
• Alex thought he was simply “studying better” thanks to Lina’s advice—but in reality, he was unknowingly part of a cheating scheme.

The mystery resolves with a moral dilemma: Alex is both guilty and innocent—he didn’t plan to cheat, but he still benefited from it.