Arsenal Guy and Tottenham Girl
Today was a day I’d been looking forward to for more reasons than one.
There were two things that had me counting down the hours until this Sunday.
The first was my lunch date with Ajeong. The menu was a little disappointing, sure, but it still counted as a proper date, didn’t it? I’d tried to keep my expectations in check, yet I couldn’t stop myself from waiting for it.
The second was the benefit KokoaTalk had promised. All I’d done was pick one of those balance-game options you see floating around everywhere, and not only had this transcendent being—or organization—handed over a billion won without a single hitch, it had completely rewritten my face overnight. That alone was already perfect. On top of that, there was a bonus reward, and if I played my cards right I could keep joining the Balance Game from here on out. Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Ajeong, I would’ve just stayed holed up at home.
I’d waited up just in case something changed the second the clock hit midnight, but the KokoaTalk chat room stayed dead silent.
Thanks to that, I woke up two hours later than usual—nine o’clock. I’d only gone to bed an hour late, but the extra two hours of sleep left me in peak condition.
I left a thumbs-up on her last message, then opened the closet to pick out what to wear.
Thud—
Ah.
The pants were fine enough. The problem was the tops. All I had were digital tees and ROKA tees—two categories, period.
No, wait. Not just two kinds.
ROKA tees came in plenty of varieties, strictly speaking. The usual black ones, then green, white… even the commemorative shirt they’d handed out at the unit-founding ceremony…
“Haha…”
I had to leave for the meeting spot in two hours, so I was stuck choosing from this pile.
Hmm… this one’s collar is stretched to hell…
This one looks way too military…
To anyone else they all looked the same, but I still put serious thought into it. One of them even had a rip across the stomach; that one went straight into the trash.
Five minutes later. Short as it was, it was the longest I’d ever spent picking clothes in my entire life. And my final choice was nothing short of revolutionary.
While I was fretting, a jersey shoved in the far corner caught my eye. Instant search time.
Soccer jersey fashion…
I’d definitely seen it on Instagram before. A quick search turned up something called “blockcore.” Nothing complicated—just the look of wearing a soccer jersey in everyday life. This was the absolute maximum effort I could show right now.
Once I confirmed the style actually existed, I didn’t hesitate. I pulled the jersey on.
An Arsenal kit with Bergkamp printed on the back. I grabbed a random pair of black pants, headed to the bathroom, and checked the mirror.
Oh…
Arsenal kits were famous for looking good to begin with, and with my new face and body backing it up, it didn’t look half bad.
Clothes: solved. I’d take the windbreaker off once we got inside, so wearing the jersey out didn’t feel too awkward either.
I carefully put the rest of the clothes away and spent three times longer than usual scrubbing myself clean.
“Whew…”
When I finished getting ready and checked the time, I still had an hour and a half until we were supposed to meet. Even giving myself a generous thirty minutes for travel left a full hour of free time.
I flopped onto the bed and started savoring that hour. Of course I still checked KokoaTalk every five minutes, but the channel stayed silent.
Bang—!
Click-click—
I left the house right at eleven, perfectly on time. The moment I stepped outside the building, that familiar scent hit me again.
I’d sworn I’d give them a sharp word this time, so I turned toward the source of the smell.
“Um…”
Whoosh—
What I saw when I turned around wasn’t what I’d expected. Two of them. The yellow-haired girl I’d seen before, plus another one with purple hair.
If I’d opened my mouth in that situation, the humiliation would’ve been guaranteed, so I casually stepped right back inside. Even I couldn’t handle a two-on-one. We weren’t fighting, so numbers shouldn’t have mattered—but the courage required to approach was a completely different story.
Fuck… just wait three minutes.
That way it would look like I’d forgotten something and come back for it, right? I checked the time on my phone and loitered near the entrance. I’d left with plenty of buffer, so I wouldn’t be late.
About a minute passed. Voices drifted over from the alley on the other side of the wall.
“Hmm… is that the guy?”
“Y-yeah!”
“He’s pretty cute, actually.”
“Hehe…”
That alley was where the two delinquents always smoked. So the conversation I was hearing belonged to them.
Which one’s which?
I’d never even heard the regular one’s voice before, so I couldn’t tell who was speaking.
“You wanna hit that, don’t you?”
“Eek…! Wh-what…! It’s not like that…”
“Aww, why~ Then can I go after him?”
“No way…”
I was pretty sure I’d just overheard something I wasn’t supposed to. And I was pretty sure the person they were talking about was me.
“Just go for it already. I fixed you up all nice and pretty, huh? What are you saving that for?”
“Ahh—stop it~ And quit talking… what if he comes back out…”
I got so absorbed in listening that time slipped by. Not the three minutes I’d planned—five. The conversation showed no signs of stopping, so I had no choice but to edge closer to the entrance and clear my throat.
Luckily they noticed I’d come out; the voices from behind the wall cut off. I pretended I hadn’t heard a thing, left the building grounds completely, and headed for the meeting spot. I could feel eyes on the back of my head the whole way, but there was no way I was turning around.
“Woohyun~!”
I finally managed to shake the little demons out of my head and arrived at the meeting spot to find Ajeong greeting me with a bright smile. I’d gotten there a solid five minutes early, yet she was already waiting.
“You’re early?”
“No way! I just got here. Come on, let’s go!”
She took my hand like it was the most natural thing in the world and started leading me. I froze for a second, but I didn’t make a big deal out of it in case she’d get embarrassed.
Even the cheerful Ajeong who’d just said hello had gone quiet and was now walking ahead of me in silence.
“…”
Still, the hand holding mine gripped tight.
“Wow…~”
We arrived at the salad place Ajeong had chosen, but she still hadn’t recovered her usual energy. That was when I realized she was normally the one who started almost every conversation. I wasn’t usually this quiet—only when it was just me and a girl did I turn into a mute.
I racked my brain for something to break the ice while hanging my outer jacket on the chair.
“Huh?!”
“Hm?”
“Arsenal…”
She spotted the jersey I was wearing and recognized it instantly. She loved working out, so it made sense she’d be into soccer too.
“You’re an Arsenal fan…?”
“Yeah. Are you one too?”
I preferred playing soccer over watching it, so I didn’t follow matches religiously, but if I had to pick a side, Arsenal was mine. This was the only jersey I owned, and I only checked results every now and then. Still, running into another fan of the same team was always a welcome surprise.
“…”
I’d hoped that would melt the awkward atmosphere, but her expression looked… complicated.
“I’m Tottenham…”
“What?”
“I’m a Tottenham fan! Why did it have to be Arsenal…”
She held up her phone as she said it. On the screen was a photo of her at an actual Tottenham match—live, in person. Unlike me, she was a hardcore fan who’d flown all the way to another country just to watch. And of all teams, it had to be Tottenham, Arsenal’s bitterest rivals.
“If you’re Korean, support Tottenham, please!”
The awkwardness was gone, just not in the way I’d expected.
“Arsenal had Korean players too…”
“We’re living in the era of world-class Son Heung-min!”
Ajeong fired off every classic soccer-fan line I’d ever heard. She shoveled down the salad she’d been so excited about without a single comment on the taste, talking nothing but soccer the entire time.
“So… you don’t even watch the matches properly?”
“Well… I do catch them sometimes, but the time slots…”
If the kickoff times had been decent I would’ve watched more often, but most of them lined up perfectly with my bedtime. Every once in a while there was an eight-o’clock game, but the less I watched, the less I cared, until all I knew was whether we’d won or lost against whoever.
“Then let’s both be Tottenham fans!”
“Yeah, no.”
“Aww… why not?”
“They’re the team that always loses. Ah.”
The suggestion that I ditch my team for their rivals made me blurt out my real thoughts without thinking. Ajeong looked thoroughly scratched; she went quiet and just sat there chewing over what I’d said.
Bam—!
“Uh… where are you going?”
“Follow me!!”
She shot up from her seat and started gathering her things. At least she wasn’t abandoning me—she waited at the entrance. The second I got close she grabbed my hand again and dragged me off somewhere else. Her grip was even stronger than before.
The place she took me to was a snack bar.
Ding-a-ling—
“Welcome~”
A middle-aged woman wearing a very familiar logo apron greeted us cheerfully.
“One cheese pork cutlet, please! Woohyun, what about you?”
“Huh? I’ll…”
Bzzzzzt—
The second I started scanning the menu, the vibration I’d been waiting for buzzed in my pocket.
“Ah, I’m gonna hit the bathroom real quick.”
“Hurry back~”
She said it like she was giving me permission. Her eyes were smiling, but her mouth was stiff.
“Ugh…”
Ajeong was still on my mind a little, but it didn’t seem that serious. If she’d really been furious she wouldn’t have dragged me to another restaurant.
What mattered more was that the KokoaTalk message I’d been waiting for had finally arrived. I’d muted every other notification, so there was no mistaking it.
I knew it…
Current time: 12:02. The message had come through at exactly noon. I made a mental note that it would probably keep arriving at this hour from now on, then opened it right away.
Hello! Thank you for your diligent participation in the survey!
It seems you were quite satisfied with this game, so we’ll be providing it regularly so you can keep joining from now on!
Of course, the benefit we promised is separate.
And that is…!
Rewards will now appear in addition to the results of your Balance Game choices!
Wooooah!!! ˃̵⸝⸝> ·̫ <⸝⸝˂̵
Exciting, right?
Then let’s get right to the new game!
“Ah…”
After days of waiting, the result was the absolute worst.