That One... Let's Think It Over
Underground Fighting Arena office.
I scrolled straight down the challenger list glowing on the tablet, top to bottom.
It just kept going. No matter how far I dragged my finger, the list showed no sign of ending.
Every single one of them was a female fighter who wanted a shot at me.
"…These are all challenge applications?"
"Yeah. And that's just what came in today."
Yoon Arin, handing the tablet over beside me, answered with a sour look on her face.
Ever since she'd handed the championship over to me, Arin had naturally slipped into the role of my manager. She knew this scene better than anyone, so it made sense.
Schedules, challenger management—every last detail went through her hands.
But for a while now, that expression of hers had been anything but good.
"…Why are there so many. Everyone's lost their minds."
Arin grumbled as she flicked through the list.
With every challenger story she read, her brow knitted tighter.
"…'My one wish is to fight Champion Kang Hyunwoo just once'? 'If I lose, please go out with me'? Ha. These girls have actually gone insane."
Arin set the tablet down with a sharp tak and shot me a look. She was openly sulking.
"You jealous?"
"…No."
"You are, though."
"I said I'm not!"
The way she snapped back with her face gone bright red, anyone could see it was jealousy.
Honestly, I understood how she felt.
Female fighters from all over the world were currently lighting up at the sight of me and charging in. It had only gotten worse after that cup tteokbokki photo blew up.
But me? I couldn't have cared less.
As far as my eyes were concerned, there was only the one girl sulking right next to me.
"…And don't get the wrong idea."
"About what."
"This whole thing where I'm playing manager for you? It's temporary. I'm still an active fighter, you know."
Arin jabbed a finger at the challenger list on the tablet.
"Don't put me on the same level as those girls lined up out there. I'm different from them."
"That so?"
"Obviously… I'm challenging you again soon."
Arin thumped her own chest and declared it with genuine gravity.
"Last time I lost because I let my guard down. Next time I won't. I'm taking that championship belt back for sure. So until then… I'm just holding onto it for a bit."
Fighting spirit blazed in both her eyes. Hard to believe this was the same person who'd been sulking with jealousy a second ago.
But me—
"…Why are you laughing."
"No reason. Just."
I couldn't hold the smile back.
My girlfriend, temporary manager, and at the same time a challenger gunning for me.
On top of that, she'd been sulking jealous over other women's challenge stories one moment, then suddenly lighting up about reclaiming the belt the next. That back-and-forth somehow didn't annoy me in the slightest.
If anything, it was cute.
"Alright. I'll be waiting."
I ruffled Arin's hair roughly.
"For you to come challenge me again."
"…!"
Arin's face went pink all over again. She looked ready to snap something back, then couldn't get a single word out and just pouted. The fierce competitive fire in her eyes had vanished somewhere, replaced by a face that didn't know what to do with its own embarrassment.
…Honestly. This girl. I never had any idea which beat I was supposed to match.
But that, too, was something I liked.
Barely keeping the smile down, I turned my eyes back to the list.
"…Just pick anyone. You're gonna win anyway."
Arin muttered under her breath even as she pushed the list back toward me. The bare minimum of manager professionalism.
I was flipping through the names when my finger stopped dead on one of them.
"…Huh?"
A familiar face.
Red hair and pink eyes.
Even in the profile photo, she gave off a sharp, aggressive vibe.
Kang Seoyeon
"…This girl."
I studied the profile quietly. I knew the name. More precisely, I knew the character from the game.
Kang Seoyeon, the infighter.
The type who ate punches while closing distance and answered with counters.
Not flashy, but grit for days—a fighter with real guts.
One of the characters I'd been pretty fond of back when I played.
But looking at the profile photo, something felt off.
…Her hair's short.
The Kang Seoyeon I knew had worn her red hair long, cascading down.
The girl in the photo had chopped that vivid red into a messy short cut.
I tilted my head for a second at the difference from the game.
Then, suddenly, a memory from a few days ago surfaced.
There'd been a woman I'd locked eyes with in passing at the arena.
Red hair, short cut. The one who'd frozen staring at me.
At the time she'd seemed strangely familiar so I'd looked, then just walked on by.
…So that girl back then was Kang Seoyeon.
The pieces finally clicked into place.
A character I'd only ever seen on a screen had, at some point, brushed right past me in the real world.
I'd just failed to recognize her because the hair was different.
I casually turned the profile toward Arin.
"…For the next opponent, maybe I should fight this one."
"Huh?"
Arin startled and snatched the tablet to look, almost yanking it.
"Kang Seoyeon? Why her of all people…?"
"Just liked her style."
"Style?"
"Yeah. Caught one of her match videos a while back. She eats the hits while she closes in, then answers with counters. Tough as hell. Fighters like that are the most fun to go up against."
Of course, the match video was an excuse.
The real reason was that I'd seen the character plenty of times in the game and knew her well—but I couldn't exactly say that straight, so I papered over it reasonably enough.
At those words, though, Arin's expression hardened in a strange way.
"…Hmm."
"What."
"Nothing. Just… hearing you went and looked up some other girl's match videos, it's a little."
"It just came up. I watched it."
"I know. I know, but."
Arin pouted her lips. She knew and she was still sulking. Seriously, what was I supposed to do with this jealous little thing.
But soon something more complicated settled over that sulky face. Not simple jealousy—something that snagged somewhere deeper.
"…But of all people, Kang Seoyeon."
"Why. You know her?"
"…Yeah. Well, kind of."
Arin trailed off vaguely. Definitely some history there. But she didn't offer what it was.
It was all over her face anyway. Those three syllables—Kang Seoyeon—were anything but light to Arin.
"…That one… let's think about it and decide."
Arin set the tablet down and changed the subject. But her voice had a different texture from when she'd been griping about the other challengers earlier.
I nodded for now. Inside, though, I was starting to get a little curious.
Kang Seoyeon.
That infighter who was exactly my type—what kind of relationship did she have with Arin to get a reaction like this?
When Kang Hyunwoo pointed to Kang Seoyeon's profile, Yoon Arin's insides twisted into a knot.
Of all people, Kang Seoyeon.
Honestly, her first impulse had been to shut it down cold.
Kang Seoyeon wasn't just any fighter.
She was the childhood friend Arin had grown up with since they were little. And at the same time, the rival she'd been locked with her entire life.
Putting someone like that up against Kang Hyunwoo snagged somehow in her chest.
…I don't really want them getting tangled up for no reason.
Noticing her face had darkened, Kang Hyunwoo glanced over carefully.
"…Well, if she's a problem. I can just pick a different fighter."
Then, as if it were nothing, he turned his eyes back to the tablet. He started scrolling down through the other challengers on the list.
But watching those eyes examine other female fighters' profiles one by one—
…Where do you think you're looking.
Yoon Arin's brow knitted tight before she even realized it.
Kang Hyunwoo was just choosing an opponent. Arin knew that.
But the mere fact that his gaze was sweeping across the faces of the women on that list made something in her gut start to boil.
It was worse knowing every last one of those girls lined up had their eyes fixed greedily on Kang Hyunwoo.
…No.
In that instant, Yoon Arin snapped back to herself.
Kang Hyunwoo was about to drop Kang Seoyeon and turn his attention to some other woman on the list.
Toward those endless strangers queued up at the end of it.
That was worse.
Yoon Arin called the challenger list back to mind.
Girls writing that if they lost they wanted him to date them, that they just wanted to be held once…
…Women who'd scrawled out one deranged story after another.
Put Kang Hyunwoo in the ring with something like that? Have them go body-to-body, tangled up for round after round?
Just imagining it made her insides churn and seethe.
Better to…
Yoon Arin chewed her lip hard.
Better Seoyeon, isn't it.
The thought slipped through her mind. Rather than hand Kang Hyunwoo off to some total stranger—better someone she knew.
And if that someone she knew was Kang Seoyeon, maybe she could trust her with it.
Kang Seoyeon was the oldest friend Yoon Arin had.
Back when they were kids, sweating it out together in the same corner of the gym.
Sparring until they bloodied each other's noses, splitting cup tteokbokki behind the coach's back.
An exhausting rival, and at the same time the childhood friend who was always the first one at her side when things got hard.
That was Kang Seoyeon.
Looking back, Kang Seoyeon had never once let Yoon Arin down.
Always fought fair. Never pulled a single dirty move behind anyone's back.
She might grind her teeth as a rival, but as a friend she was someone you could always count on.
…Yeah. If it's Seoyeon.
Yoon Arin's heart began to tip, little by little.
If it was Kang Seoyeon, at least she wouldn't pull any weird stunts on Kang Hyunwoo.
She wouldn't light up and charge at him the way the women on that list would.
She'd meet him fair and square, fighter to fighter, and walk away clean.
Having watched her her whole life, Yoon Arin knew that better than anyone.
If I can't trust Seoyeon, who am I supposed to trust.
Yoon Arin talked herself into it that way.
Kang Seoyeon had never given a damn about guys to begin with.
Living their whole lives knowing nothing but fighting—Yoon Arin and Kang Seoyeon were the same that way. So there was nothing to worry about.
"…Hey."
Yoon Arin called out to Kang Hyunwoo, who was flipping through the list ready to switch opponents.
"Yeah?"
"…Just go with Kang Seoyeon."
"…Huh? A second ago you said she was a problem."
"What problem."
Yoon Arin shrugged, putting on a show of indifference.
"Thinking about it, she's better. Compared to those weirdos lined up over there… Seoyeon's… at least someone I can trust."
Even as she said it, a strange certainty settled in Yoon Arin's chest.
Yeah. This was the best call.
Rather than hand Kang Hyunwoo off to just any woman—to a trustworthy childhood friend. What safer choice was there?
…Good thinking. If it's Seoyeon, nothing to worry about.
Yoon Arin nodded to herself, satisfied.