Chapter 8
Chapter 8
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 8
Chapter Title: Na-young Han
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A lot of time had passed since the day Na-young showed up at our house without a word.
In contrast to her hidden beauty, which I had no idea when it might shine through, FX Margin Trading let me see results right away. Plus, before regressing, I'd lived a desperate, grueling life without a dime to my name. So during the entire break, I went absolutely insane with trading.
At the start of break, I'd carve out time here and there to meet Na-young and work out. But gradually, even those moments dwindled, until eventually I was holed up at home without exercising with her at all.
Even when I had enough money to quit my job and Mom started nagging me for playing games all day while she was stuck at home too, nothing could break my resolve.
By the time break was nearly over, my virtual wallet balance showed an amount completely detached from reality.
It was wealth no kid my age could possibly have—not even most adults. With a solid foundation finally in place, I could breathe easy.
To give my exhausted body a rest from the nonstop trading, I decided to go on a date with Na-young, whom I hadn't seen in a while.
So there I was, waiting at the meeting spot ahead of time, scanning the area with a puzzled look.
Na-young had definitely said to meet here. Had she gotten the location wrong?
It made sense to wonder, since the last time I'd taken her downtown, it had planted a serious trauma in her, making her rely on me even more.
She still hated and felt uncomfortable under people's stares, yet today she'd picked a spot in the bustling downtown crowds. It left me confused.
Just in case—no, with a pretty high chance I'd gotten it wrong—I reached into my pocket for my thick smartphone to call her.
"Oh, have you been waiting long?"
A girl came running up, panting hard with sweat beading perfectly on her forehead.
"Na-young?"
"Hehe."
It was none other than Na-young, but something about her had changed a lot.
The first thing that caught my eye was her clean face.
The last time I'd seen her face, the blemishes had faded some but were still scattered around like always, making it look pretty dirty. Now, unless you stared really close, you couldn't even tell.
On top of that, she'd clearly been working out hard on her own while I was gone, because she'd lost a ton of weight. Not empty flattery—she was genuinely pretty now.
She still had a plump figure, but the fact that someone could transform into such a beauty was astonishing. I'd known it was possible, but seeing it for real hit different.
"Did I... get a lot prettier?"
She blushed faintly and grinned broadly as I stared blankly at her face.
"Yeah... you really have, Na-young."
"Heehee."
Her face lit up even brighter.
She didn't seem to care about the stares around us anymore.
If anything, they were starting to feel a bit burdensome to her.
Na-young ignored the whispers of admiration and comments about how insanely pretty she'd be with just a little more weight loss, and took my hand firmly.
"Ji-hoon. I wanna go to a PC cafe."
"A PC cafe?"
"Yeah!"
Out of nowhere, a PC cafe... I recalled that in the future, Na-young had said in an interview she wasn't into games at all.
No reason that should've changed now. Yet here she was, suddenly telling me she wanted to go.
She must've decided to give games a try because I'd loved them when I was a kid, all to impress me.
Purely to look good for me.
"Should we?"
Since regressing, I hadn't touched a single game.
I had zero desire to play any, so I'd never even launched the games on my computer once.
I didn't really feel like it now either, but I couldn't bring myself to betray her effort just because of me.
And so we ended up at a PC cafe—a place I'd frequented like it was a restaurant back when I was younger, hanging with friends.
The moment we stepped in, the stale cigarette smoke hit us like a wall.
At this time, there was no law forcing PC cafes to have dedicated smoking booths where you had to smoke. They just split seats into smoking and non-smoking.
Even then, it was just a seating divide—the smoke from smoking areas wafted straight into non-smoking ones.
Students, for whom smoking was totally off-limits anyway, didn't care. They took over most non-smoking seats, yelling at ear-splitting volumes and causing a ruckus.
Large groups couldn't find enough spots together in smoking areas either, so they invaded non-smoking ones, much to the annoyance of the quiet uncles playing pay-to-win games solo.
"Whoa, whoaaa..."
Na-young marveled at the unfamiliar space, even as the bad smells made her uncomfortable.
Unlike the bright outside, the dim interior, piles of snacks, and sheer density of people were bound to seem novel to a first-timer.
"Two hours each."
"......"
I couldn't remember if I had a PC cafe ID, so I just went to the counter, set down two cards and a 10,000-won bill.
The part-timer looked annoyed for some reason and handed back 8,000 won with a sour face.
"Sigh. Kids these days even bring girlfriends to PC cafes. What am I doing with my life?"
As we walked off with our two-hour cards to find seats, a lament drifted from behind.
"G-Girlfriend...!"
Na-young reacted to the word, a smile tugging at her lips.
No need for her to respond, so I pretended not to hear and led her to look for two adjacent non-smoking seats.
If none were available, we'd have to head to the roomier smoking area—but I didn't want her breathing in smoke directly, so I'd just find another PC cafe or hit a karaoke spot instead.
Not like it'd make a huge difference in the same chain anyway.
Somehow, we found two seats side by side.
Powered on the computers, entered the card numbers, and the locks unlocked.
"Whoaaa..."
With the lock off, the big monitor was packed with game icons.
Like an indigenous person discovering something new, Na-young grabbed the mouse and started clicking everything.
"What game do you wanna play?"
"Uh, uh... well... y'know..."
"Know any games?"
Honestly, I didn't even need to ask.
She probably didn't know a single one, let alone want to play any specific.
She'd just planned to follow whatever I did.
Maybe embarrassed to admit it, her pupils trembled nonstop.
Her cute lips quivered as she racked her brain for one game name.
"Sudden Attack...?"
It was the game so popular kids made secret accounts using parents' social security numbers. Over 70% of PC cafe users were playing it back then.
And I'd enjoyed it too.
Gunfire blared nonstop around us even now.
"Sudden Attack...? Got an ID?"
"You need an ID for it?"
"Yeah. Can't play without one."
"Oh... what do I do? I don't have one."
She fidgeted like the thought had never crossed her mind.
"It's fine. I have two IDs."
Even before regressing, I'd play it now and then when I had nothing better to do, so I remembered the IDs and passwords.
Hell, I hadn't been satisfied with one—made a couple extras.
Back then, normal match records mattered so much I'd never lend an ID to anyone and played them like my life depended on it. Now, I didn't care what happened...
"Whoa... I was really bad back then, huh?"
Checking my stats once in-game, the pathetic average records made me doubt my eyes for a second.
"Bad...?"
"Nah, nothing."
I brushed off Na-young's confused look from my mutter and started the game with her.
As expected for a newbie, she died nonstop and just spectated others' plays.
Unlike me, reliving nostalgic old-school gameplay after so long, her face was full of boredom.
"Not that fun. Wanna go somewhere else?"
"Uh, y-yeah...? Not fun? Then let's go somewhere else...!"
She nodded eagerly, like she'd been waiting for those exact words.
Truth was, it was pretty fun.
I wanted to try other games too, but saved that for home later and got up.
We still had nearly an hour left.
Right then, two kids whose time had just run out and whose computers shut down overheard us. They whined about wanting to play more despite having money, eyes sparkling as they approached.
"You really not gonna play?! You got a whole hour left!"
The kid had no manners. I wanted to return the cards, but their eager puppy eyes made me relent.
"If you wanna, go ahead."
"Yay! Thanks a ton!"
In the end, we gave up our seats to them and left the PC cafe.
"Anywhere else you wanna go?"
"Karaoke... room?"
"Wanna hit karaoke?"
"Yeah..."
That was a first from her.
Made sense. From what she'd told me, her parents barely fed her, let alone gave pocket money or looked after her.
And at school, bullied and isolated—when would karaoke even register?
Anyway, coin-operated karaoke wasn't big yet, as far as I knew.
Even if it existed, it was tucked in arcades and still drew crowds.
But that was none of my business.
With money overflowing and ways to make multiples more soon, skipping a simple karaoke room? No chance.
Not some sleazy adult spot, but a clean place where kids could sing and have fun.
"Got it. Let's go."
"Okay...!"
I held out my hand with a ready nod, and Na-young beamed, face flushed red, grabbing it tight.