episode_0029

Today, as usual, I opened the door and went in.

I greeted the children and sat down.

Kyungmin came to me, as if my endless efforts had paid off.

“Jaehoon, what do you do after school?”

“Me? I don’t exercise?”

“What kind of exercise?”

“Kickboxing.”

“Ah, so that’s why you tore his head off!”

“Kyungmin, I didn’t tear it. I fell over and tore the desk.”

“Anyway, I tore it!”

“Kyungmin-ah. It’s different, but it’s not like I tore it.”

“Anyway, dodging with a swipe was cool.”

“Hehehe. Really? What do you do after school?”

“Should I go to school or the arcade?”

“Arcade? Is it fun? What’s there?”

I finally found something that piqued my interest.

An arcade? When I was in elementary school in my previous life, I didn’t have any money so I just looked around. But after hearing about it, I really want to go there sometime.

“There’s also the slug and the furball and the Znou Brothers, so there’s a lot, right?”

“Where is the arcade?”

“Do you want to go together after school today?”

“Okay, Kyungmin. Let’s go together.”

An arcade? I never thought of it since it’s 2002 and there aren’t any computer games to play.

If you call me on the way home and tell me you’ll be late, I’m sure your mom will be happy that you made a friend, not dislike you.

With my heart fluttering, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th periods flew by and it was lunchtime. Today was Saturday, so after the 4th period, I would eat and go home.

Today, the food tasted good, so I was eating it deliciously, but my partner was staring at me.

“Why are you doing this again?”

“Why are you suddenly becoming friends with those kids?”

“Why? I can’t be friends with you?”

“You’re not close with me.”

“You can’t do it. It’s dangerous.”

“What?”

“Which book do you like the most?”

“Book?”

“Yeah, tell me any book.”

“Snow White?”

“No, that’s not good. Now be quiet. I’m going to eat.”

“What does Snow White have to do with it?”

“I’m allergic to Snow White.”

“Where is that!”

“It’s a rare disease. It exists.”

“See you.”

I ate my meal deliciously, pretending not to know Shin Yu-ri who was glaring at me from the side.

After finishing my meal and quietly waiting with an excited heart, the assembly time finally came and it was time to go home.

“Kyungmin. Let’s go!”

“Okay. Let’s go!”

I left school with Kyungmin and headed to the arcade.

“Jaehoon, have you never been to an arcade?”

“Yeah. You’ve only been there in the past and haven’t been there before?”

“Back in the old days?”

“No. Not in the past, I just looked at it”

“Then I’ll tell you.”

“Yeah.”

On the way, I saw a public phone and went in to make a quick call.

“I’ll just make a quick phone call home.”

“Yeah.”

When I got to the pay phone and thought about it, I realized I didn’t have a penny in my pocket.

I never imagined that I, a regular student who just went to school and came home every day, would ever have a reason to spend money.

Come to think of it, arcades require money too?

“Kyungmin, I’m sorry, but can you lend me some money?”

“Jaehoon. Don’t you have money?”

“Yeah, I thought about it and I didn’t bring any money.”

“Okay, I’ll lend it to you. Do you have to give it back on Monday?”

“Okay, I’ll pay you back right away.”

I borrowed money from Kyungmin and called home.

-hello?

“Mom, I’m Jaehoon.”

-Hey, son, why are you calling? What’s going on?

“I’m going to go play with my friends for a bit.”

-Oh, you have a friend? A boy or a girl?

“Boy. I’ll go home and tell him that it’s Kyungmin.”

-Hehehe, I got it. Have fun.~

“Yeah, I’m going to play for a bit and then go in. See you later.”

“Let’s go, Kyungmin.”

“Yeah.”

As Kyungmin and I opened the door to the arcade and went in, we could smell the smell of cigarettes. Fortunately, it wasn’t too bad because it was daytime and no one was smoking.

“Let’s do that slug.”

“Yeah.”

The game that started when Kyungmin put money into the game machine.

It was a simple game of shooting while moving forward, but perhaps because I had been so quiet for 8 years, it was more fun than I thought.

Kyungmin must have lived in an arcade, because he’s much better at it than I am. I died a long time ago and was just watching Kyungmin do it.

“Good job.”

“Hehe. If you just work a little harder, you’ll be able to do as well as me, right?”

After the stomach slug, Kyungmin taught us how to get hair.

“This is a punch, this is a kick, if you press this at the same time, you grab, and this is a special move combo, but that’s different for each character, so I don’t know all of them”

As Kyungmin was teaching me how to use the hair clipper, the screen suddenly turned black and Kyungmin suddenly got up and swapped seats with me.

“I’ll do it!”

“What is this?”

“If someone is playing a game on the game console across from here, you’ll fight that person.”

“Then you’re saying it’s between people?”

“Yeah. Jaehoon, since this is your first time. I have to win.”

“Yeah.”

As I was watching with interest because it was something between people, Kyungmin was literally getting ripped off. Once he attacked, the attacks didn’t stop, and the opponent’s character died.

“This game is really dirty.”

Looking at the person on the other side praising him, it seems that Kyungmin is indeed doing well.

“Okay! Now it’s a computer, so Jaehoon, you do it.”

“Yeah.”

I switched places with Kyungmin again and we were playing the game as we had learned.

-puck

I looked back at the feeling of a hand on the back of my head after a long time.

“This game is really fucking fun.”

The one who hit me on the back of the head was Park Si-woo, who looked a little older than before and who I hadn’t seen in two years.

They say enemies meet on a single-log bridge.

As expected, he looks 10cm taller than me.

Can we win?

The first strike is a sure win.

The moment I clench my fist and am about to strike, I hear a voice from behind.

“Siwoo, what’s wrong?”

When I looked back, I saw two people approaching, who seemed to be Park Si-woo’s friends.

Three to one? This is a bit difficult, isn’t it?

Next to him, Kyungmin is trembling, looking around, as if he is scared.

It’s not that I’m avoiding it because I’m scared, it’s that I’m avoiding it because I’m afraid Kyungmin might get hurt.

Kyungmin tried to console himself and left the arcade, holding her hand.

I could hear Park Si-woo and his friends laughing behind me, but I couldn’t help it.

“Jaehoon. Are you okay?”

“It’s okay. Is this how it usually is when you play games?”

“Sometimes it happens, but rarely. Sorry about me.”

“No. What did you do? It’s the kid who hit you who’s at fault. Let’s go home now.”

“Okay. See you on Monday, Jaehoon!”

I said goodbye to Kyungmin and headed home, trying to calm my boiling stomach.

As expected, my ten-year dissatisfaction with the gentleman’s book was not wrong. The past me must have read this.

If you work hard like you are now, you will definitely be able to win the three major battles.

Now, I ran away because I was afraid that Kyungmin would get hurt, but I headed home, looking forward to the future. I ran away because I was afraid that Kyungmin would get hurt.

My pride was more important than anything else.

***

“It’s out~”

“Son, what did you play?”

“I just went to the arcade.”

“Arcade? Playing games?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Is the game fun?”

I felt the need to lay the groundwork for my mother, anticipating a future that would be shorter than the two years she had anticipated.

I didn’t want to do something that would make my mom worry later.

“Mom.”

“Yeah. Why?”

“If my son was just sitting there and got hit in the back of the head.”

“Did you get hit in the back of your son’s head??”

“No, no. That’s not it. If, just really if. Later, when I was still, my son got hit in the back of the head.”

“Yeah. But?”

“Then can I hit you too?”

“The back of your head?”

“If you get hit in the back of the head, you’ll turn around and hit the front of the head, right?”

“Hmm. Can’t you hold it in?”

“Getting hit in the back of the head?”

“Honestly, Mom, I don’t mind hitting the person who hit you first, but what if your son hits you for no reason and you get hit more?”

“So your son is learning kickboxing diligently?”

“Oh, do whatever you want, but who hit you in the back of the head?”

“No. I just had a feeling that something like that would happen.”

“It’s really weird when you see your son? What kind of feeling does that make?”

“I feel like the back of my head is ticklish.”

“Is my son starting to resemble his father these days? That’s not good, is it?”

“Why do I resemble my dad? That will never happen, but anyway, if I get hit in the back of the head first, I’ll hit you in the front. If I get a call saying I hit someone, you shouldn’t be surprised, right?”

“Oh, okay. Just don’t hit me too hard.”

“Okay. I’ll just change my clothes and go work out.”

“Yeah~”

As expected, Mom has known for a long time, but as long as she doesn’t hit first and doesn’t get hit back, it seems like it’s okay.

If I get hit once and then win without getting hit again, that’ll be fine.

If I get hit in the back of the head with this later, I won’t have to endure it. I guess I’ll have to work out harder at the gym today.

***

I left home and ran hard to get to the gym.

I opened the door and went in, and there was my positive older sister studying on the ring again today.

“Sister, I’m here.”

“Hey kid~”

I guess I should let you know that my ten-year complaint about the gentleman was not wrong.

“Today, I got hit in the back of the head again by the same person who hit me in the back of the head three years ago.”

“Heh heh. Did you win?”

“I held back because I had a friend next to me.”

“What? You can’t stand it?”

“There are still 2 years left. My friend was shaking so I couldn’t help it.”

“Is it really real? At school?”

“No. In the arcade.”

“Heh heh. How many people were there?”

“…..”

How did you know? I told you not to say anything.

“Kid. Are you scared because you lost in numbers?”

“…..”

“How many people were there?”

“There were three of us, but I couldn’t fight because my friend next to me was shivering.”

“If it were me, I would cut it for 10 seconds regardless of my friend?”

“That’s my sister.”

“Tell me clearly. Are you holding back or are you scared?”

“I held it in, if it was one-on-one I wouldn’t have held it in.”

“Heh heh. If you held it in because there were three of you, then you were scared?”

“It’s not that I was scared, I just didn’t have the confidence to protect my friend.”

“Why? Are you afraid they’ll catch your friend and threaten you?”

“…..”

“You and Seth are fighting, why is he getting hurt?”

“…..”

“Ugh. You should just try harder from today.”

“…..”

I just shouldn’t have said that.

From the day I spoke wrongly, my hellish training began.