4 Hours Until Debut!

Crash!

The ball came roaring down the lane and smashed dead center into the pins, dropping the whole rack in a single sweep.

"Holy crap... you've done this before, haven't you?"

"Well. Something like this."

Kim Woojin's shoulders crept up a little, his face glowing with pride.

"Except we've got a beginner on our side. Opening with a strike is... kind of crossing a line, don't you think?"

"...Huh? Is it?"

"You crazy bastard! Don't you dare fall for that! We're betting the lane fees! I already got cleaned out last time — I don't have money to cover the games!"

"Yeah, but she's a beginner. Shouldn't we at least give them a handicap?"

"Haaah... Woojin. Listen carefully."

Choi Wooseok planted a hand on Kim Woojin's shoulder and let out a long-suffering sigh.

"I am broke. If we give them a handicap and we lose, are you paying? My share too?"

"That's... no."

"Right? So blame the idiot who split us boys versus girls from the start! The world of competition is ruthless!"

Wow. The person he's calling an idiot is standing right here.

"Says the Grade 8."

"I'm a Grade 7, thank you."

"Same difference. I'm a Grade 2. I even studied while working as an actor and I still landed there — so tell me, who's the real idiot? Right, everyone?"

"See? Everyone says you're the idiot. And everyone — you can't just judge people by their looks. He may look a little shady!"

"Uh... Jiwoo?"

"He may have enough foundation on to look like he'd be puffing cigarettes in some alley!"

"I... I don't even smoke?"

"It may look like he's got a tattooed pig of a boyfriend standing right next to him in neon pants with a designer clutch!"

"I've... never even dated..."

"And even if he's got a mouth sharp enough to whip up a mob and turn a few students into social outcasts!"

"..."

Huh?

The chat had taken a very strange turn.

"Did that actually happen? I was joking."

"Th-that's not... I misunderstood a little, so I-I'll apologize, of course!"

"Everyone, you're still kids. And it looks like she's genuinely sorry, so let's let it go this once. If it happens again... I won't be so forgiving. That's fair, right?"

Lee Mihye nodded so hard her head might have come off. Then she turned to me.

"I... I'm sorry."

"Huh?"

I was right there with the viewers screaming that they didn't get it. I had no idea what she meant either. A few people in chat had clearly already figured it out.

"What are you talking about?"

"The truth is... I had you all wrong, Jiwoo. You barely come to school. You're pretty. Everything you carry around is designer. I figured people that well-off can live just fine without ever showing up to class, so... I guess I was a little jealous."

Listening to Lee Mihye, the way the kids in class looked at me finally made sense. She couldn't have been the only one who thought that. That was why they always got so awkward around me.

To them, I was already flying down the highway of success. Meanwhile they were still stuck at school, studying hard, no dream in sight, convinced they were wasting their lives. I'd felt that exact thing once myself. I knew that heart too well.

"It's fine. I didn't even know anything had happened. All right — the person involved says it's over, so it's over! If this comes up again, you're getting banned, and don't you dare write some weird article about it. Our company lawyer is on standby around the clock."

If I didn't drive that nail in now, some scoop-hungry rag would be cackling oh-ho, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what a story and slapping up some garbage piece before the day was out. Better to lock it down from the start if I didn't want trouble later.

That paper disappeared?

I'd figured they'd taken a hit. I hadn't thought they'd vanish. Had someone's grudge slipped the knife in while they were down?

I had no idea.

"All right, enough. Your turn."

"Huh? Already?"

I checked the scoreboard hanging from the ceiling.

Both of them had X's up there. They were taking this bet dead seriously.

"You lunatics! You're supposed to go easy on the beginner!"

"The world of competition is ruthless. You let your guard down because she's a beginner, and then beginner luck hits, and—"

"Scared?"

"...What?"

"What's with the long tongue all of a sudden, the great Choi Wooseok? If you're chicken, drop dead!"

Choi Wooseok just stared at me. Kim Woojin, standing beside him, started to open his mouth — and that was when Wooseok cut in.

"Ha. Fine. I'll make you regret ever coming at us! Start getting ready to get cleaned out!"

Choi Wooseok gave us a fifty-point beginner handicap.

"Fifty points? That's cheap. You should give us at least seventy... or go chop your dick off."

Ah. So Hoyeon was watching the stream.

A mutter I'd meant to keep small had gone out over the broadcast completely intact, which was... extremely...

"Haaah... fine. Seventy points. Just start already!"

Huge win for me, then?

"Watch close. I'll go first, so copy my form exactly."

I picked up the ball and moved through it slowly, making sure Lee Mihye — total beginner — could lock in everything from the stance to the angle of the arm.

Thud. Rumble...

The ball left my hand and ran dead straight down the boards.

Crash!

It slammed into the pins and they started going over one after another, like dominoes.

Seven... eight... nine.

Please... please, just one more!

The viewers ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠started cheering right along with me. One heart, one voice...

"Go down!!"

The ninth pin tipped backward and gave the tenth the faintest tap.

And the tenth pin went all the way over.

The scoreboard lit up with a splash of color to announce it.

"Nice!!"

"Hey, everyone! I just threw a strike, so can we drop the other games? Well? Starting to regret it? Feeling the squeeze yet?"

"You lucked into one strike and you're already talking. You've still got nine frames left. And then there's her."

Choi Wooseok jerked his chin toward Lee Mihye.

Her stance was a mess, and whether it was nerves or something else, cold sweat was running down her face. In that condition she wouldn't even be able to throw a ball. Injury risk, too.

This wouldn't do.

I stepped up beside her, set my hands on her shoulders, and gave them a gentle knead.

"You don't have to be tense. It's just a game. Just a bit of fun. Roll it however feels good."

"You said we were betting the lane fees."

"Don't worry about that. I was planning to pay anyway. So just throw it easy. One condition! Aim for that first pin you can see right there."

"The first one... okay."

Lee Mihye's eyes sharpened.

"I'll try."

She drew the ball back and rolled it slowly forward.

Thump... rumble...

She'd concentrated so hard the ball barely had any power on it.

Tap.

Just like I'd told her, it did hit the first pin.

"Ah, no..."

"Not enough on it. Next time, put a little more into it and roll it just like that."

"...I'll try."

Second attempt.

She set up the same way and threw — rumble... — but at the last second her wrist tightened, and the ball started to drift off to the side.

Uh.... if it keeps going like that.

Tap.

It clipped the first ball she'd left sitting there and split left and right like the parting of the Red Sea, failed to knock down a single pin, and died in the gutter.

"Ah..."

"It's okay! For a beginner to hit a pin at all instead of guttering from the start is already good. Mihye! You've got talent! We'll try again next time!"

I patted her slumped shoulders and tried to put some life back into her. I wasn't asking a beginner for much. If she could just pick up the fun of it and the basics here, I'd be satisfied.

"All right... now that the beginner's out of the way."

"Shall we go collect ourselves a perfect game?"

Kim Woojin and Choi Wooseok stood, each grabbing a ball.

"I'll split it with you."

"It's fine. Like I said, I've got it."

Lee Mihye looked guilty watching me try to pay alone.

It really was fine. We'd only played one game, so it hadn't even come to much. Weekday, students — thirty-five hundred won a head. Four of us was only fourteen thousand, and with drinks it came to thirty thousand won. I'd personally put away five cans, so me paying was the only fair outcome.

That score, though. That was another story.

"Still two twenty-eight. How is that more than double?"

You shameless bastards.

"What? You said the world of competition is ruthless. More importantly — you okay? You've got somewhere to be, don't you?"

"I know. Unnie said she'd come pick me up. Any second now... there she is."

The schedule that was supposed to start at four had gotten pulled forward thanks to some unexpected problem. Hoyeon had heard and started moving in a hurry; I had to be at the company by three.

"Jiwoo! Get in!"

"Okay. I'm heading out, then. See you after break. I'll try to... make it to school."

I couldn't promise I would definitely be there. I didn't even know what was going to happen today — how was I supposed to know the future?

Still.

"Something fun happening today?"

"Well... I think I can say this much. Today's shoot is going to be one for the ages."