Ch.8278 – Playing with Stones

“Next is Seo Yu-na.”

“Yes.”

Monday’s first period is always Magic Infusion time.

And today, since we’re dedicating time to check the performance evaluation scores from last week, we’ve been given unexpected free time.

I’ve already finished checking my scores, ranking sixth in the class, so I returned to my seat early and started reading a book I brought from home.

“Next is Seol Ra-im.”

“Yes.”

Yu-na didn’t go straight back to her seat from the teacher’s desk, but deliberately took a detour to come to mine.

“What are you reading?”

“Ten Best Knife Fighting Techniques.”

“Why are you reading something like that?”

“I need it for something.”

After spending the past week exploring the area instead of going straight home, I discovered there’s no suitable place around here to learn dagger techniques.

So as a second-best option, I ordered a book from an overseas bookstore to learn the secrets of dagger master ‘Sammy Franco.’

Only after reading halfway through did I realize that the content probably wouldn’t be useful in the game at all.

“Next, Yoon Si-hoo.”

“Yes.”

As soon as Si-hoo left his seat, Yu-na rushed over and claimed the spot next to me.

I closed the boring book and rested my head on the desk, looking at Yu-na.

Yu-na followed suit, resting her face on the desk too.

I pinched her cheek, which was puffed out like a hamster’s. It really is squishy.

“Yu-na, don’t you hang out with the other kids?”

“How can I when I don’t understand what they’re talking about?”

“True. It’s all game talk anyway.”

Stories about getting first place in ‘Falling Guys’ or ‘Brawl Stars,’

How their favorite streamer accidentally pressed the wrong button while playing ‘Blockcraft’ during a stream and blew up their own castle with TNT,

How Zhuge Liang had a one-on-one duel with Lu Bu in ‘Roblox’ Tower Defense Edition Story Mode and proudly claimed victory… What’s that last one even about?

These were topics Yu-na couldn’t follow without a phone or VR capsule.

“Gamers are all childish. I’d rather spend that time studying more.”

“Really?”

“Oh right, you said you play games too…”

Yu-na said in a gloomy voice.

“Next, Lee Ji-hyuk.”

“Yes.”

Si-hoo returned to his seat, but Yu-na completely ignored him.

“Can you move?”

“No.”

“This is my seat.”

“Then go sit in mine.”

Seo Yu-na seemed to be in a particularly bad mood today.

And I think I knew why.

“Did you do well on the performance evaluation?”

“No…”

“Lost a point?”

“Yeah…”

Someone overhearing might think this is an exaggeration, but students with high standards tend to get upset over small mistakes.

As I patted her back, I wondered how to comfort this sulky girl.

“Let’s do something fun together.”

“I’m not in the mood…”

“It’s really fun though! Should I go play with Seo-ri instead?”

Are you really not going to join?

When I actually stood up from my chair, Yu-na finally grabbed my sleeve to stop me.

Such a greedy girl, seriously.

While other students gathered in groups around the classroom chatting away, we sat facing each other quietly on the floor at the back of the room.

“So what are we going to do?”

“Have you heard of gonggi?”

“No? I don’t think so.”

“You don’t know it?”

How is that possible?

How can she not know one of the most representative traditional games played by Korean elementary school students?

No matter how much of a loner she is, it’s hard to believe she doesn’t know this.

Incredulous, I searched on my phone just to be sure.

‘Gonggi.’

A colorless, transparent gas that makes up the lower layer of the atmosphere surrounding Earth.

There was no description anywhere about a game played with gonggi stones.

I’ve really fallen into a world without basics.

So Yu-na became the target of my first effort to change the world for the better.

Let’s start by making some gonggi stones?

[Creation: High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)]

First, I create appropriate plastic shells in various colors.

Originally, I should put steel balls inside, but since it’s just for weight, I roughly condensed mana into mass form and poured it into the plastic using a semi-permanent preservation method, and it was done.

“Ta-da.”

“…?”

“Watch, I’ll show you how to play.”

Hand games tap into the most primal stimulation for all humans.

A game that everyone, regardless of age or gender, can enjoy.

I’m about to teach you the addictive game of gonggi that would shock the Kaizen Imperial Family, astonish the Alpenheim Papal State, and make even the Demon King issue a bounty.

Clatter-

* * *

In Cephiron Academy’s Class 2-A, there were several groups.

Even with only 20 students total, it was inevitable that friends with similar interests would hang out together.

First, there was the boys’ group led by Kim Han-gyeol.

Han-gyeol, who was popular in his first year, naturally took the lead in setting the class atmosphere in his second year as well.

Because of this, while many girls in the class might dislike him, not a single boy did.

Next, there was the girls’ group centered around Lee Ha-ru and Jeon Nu-ri.

Usually, when they started a conversation, several other students would gather to join in, forming temporary groups that appeared and disappeared.

There were also other groups like Han Seo-ri’s group, which included both boys and girls who were always planning some kind of prank, and the Yoon Si-hoo and Go Kyung-won group that suddenly expanded during exam periods.

During this free time given in late March, far from midterms, most students chose their groups according to their preferences.

In that sense, Yu-na’s neighbor Bae Yo-han would rather be in Han-gyeol’s constantly laughing group than stay next to the quietly reading Si-hoo or the muttering Yu-na.

“The Groll buff is ridiculous. It was already tier 1, and now they buffed both the normal attack damage and projectile speed!”

“I wonder when Edgar will finally be usable in the league.”

Yo-han clearly had no idea what the boys were talking about.

They seemed to be discussing Brawl Stars patch notes, but for someone who didn’t play the game, it might as well have been an alien language.

Bored, he eventually wandered around the classroom and discovered Yu-na silently screaming and pulling her hair in a corner.

“……!!!!!!”

“So close. That was a five-year opportunity.”

“This is really the last one. I can really do it.”

The stormy transfer student No-Name, known to everyone in the second year, was there too.

Since when was Yu-na such an emotionally expressive person?

Yo-han recalled the beginning of the semester when Seo Yu-na happened to sit next to him.

The rumors about her bad personality were no exaggeration—he had been intimidated more than once when she glared at him during class, telling him not to shake his leg or cross the desk boundary.

Clatter-

Tap-

“…!”

Roll-

“Aaah…!”

“Ah, just one difference again. What a shame.”

While Yu-na lay on the floor writhing, NoName got up, dusted off her bottom, and came to pick up the gonggi stone that had rolled to Yo-han’s feet.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Playing gonggi. Want to try?”

“…?”

Gonggi? It was the first time Yo-han had heard this word in his life.

NoName, as if telling him not to refuse, grabbed his arm and sat him down directly on the cold classroom floor.

The coldness seemed to shoot up from his bottom to his head.

“What is this?”

“He’s a newbie. Yu-na, introduce the rules.”

“Do we have to play with him?”

“This game is more fun with more people. Just trust me.”

“Fine. Listen carefully, Bae Yo-han. I’m only explaining once.”

Yu-na held up her index finger with a scary expression.

Yo-han gulped and nodded slightly.

Clatter-

He could finally identify the source of the periodic sound he’d been hearing.

It was the sound of five colorful stone pieces falling to the floor.

Yu-na grinned and glanced at Yo-han.

“This is stage one. Watch carefully.”

The rules of gonggi were simple enough for beginners to understand at a glance.

In stage one, you throw one stone and pick up one at a time.

Similarly, in stage two, you throw one and pick up two at a time, and in stage three, you split them into groups of three and one.

“This is where it gets difficult.”

But there was confidence in her voice.

She threw one stone from her hand and put down the rest. Then she threw it again and quickly scooped up the scattered stones into her hand.

“Whew… Haah…”

“You look too serious, Yu-na.”

“NoName, don’t talk to me for a moment. I’m really concentrating.”

“She’s so dramatic when explaining the rules.”

Five pieces left Yu-na’s hand and floated in the air.

The different pieces collided and rotated, regaining their freedom.

But as gravity pulled them back to the ground, Yu-na quickly caught them on the back of her hand.

“…!”

Although he didn’t fully understand the rules, even to Yo-han’s eyes, what just happened was like a magic trick.

How could all the stone pieces land on her small hand without a single one missing?

But Yu-na was still facing the final step.

As the tension reached its peak, Yu-na held her breath, lifted the back of her hand, and left it to fate.

Swoosh!

A heavy sensation she had never felt before came from her palm.

Yu-na’s eyes gleamed.

“This is gonggi.”

It was like the gaze of a general who had led an army to victory.