78 - Jacks
“Next up, Seo Yu-na.”
“Yes.”
Monday's first period was always mana injection time. But today, they were setting aside time to review last week's performance evaluation scores, which gave us an unexpected free period.
I'd already checked my score—sixth in the class—so I headed back to my seat early and pulled out the book I'd brought from home to read.
“Next, Seol Ra-im.”
“Yes.”
Yu-na didn't go straight back to her seat from the teacher's desk. Instead, she took a deliberately wide detour and stopped by mine.
“Whatcha reading?”
10 Best Knife Fighting Techniques.
“Why the hell are you reading that?”
“Need it for something.”
After spending the past week scouting around after school instead of heading straight home, I'd found no decent places nearby to learn dagger techniques. So, as a fallback, I'd ordered a book from an overseas bookstore to learn the secrets of the dagger master, Sammy Franco.
It wasn't until I'd read halfway through that I realized none of this would be remotely useful in games.
“Next, Yoon Si-hu.”
“Yes.”
The moment Si-hu left his seat, Yu-na bolted over and claimed the spot next to me. I slammed the boring book shut and slumped over my desk to look at her. She mimicked me, resting her face on the desk too. I pinched her cheek, which was all floppy like a hamster's. So damn squishy.
“Yu-na, don't you hang out with the other kids?”
“How'm I supposed to when I don't even know what they're talking about?”
“Fair point. It's all just game talk.”
Bragging about getting first place in Fall Guys or Brawl Stars, or how their favorite streamer was playing Block Craft and accidentally blew up their own castle with TNT by hitting the wrong button, or how in Roblox Tower Defense Edition's story mode, Zhuge Liang went one-on-one with Lü Bu and claimed a glorious victory... What the hell was that last one?
Topics Yu-na, who didn't have a phone or capsule, couldn't follow.
“Kids who play games are all so childish. I'd rather study more in that time.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, right, you said you play games too...”
Yu-na's voice turned glum.
“Next, Lee Ji-hyuk.”
“Yes.”
Si-hu returned to his seat, but Yu-na ignored him completely.
“Mind giving up the seat?”
“Nope.”
“This is my seat.”
“Then go sit in mine.”
Seo Yu-na seemed extra grumpy today. And I had a pretty good idea why.
“How'd the performance eval go?”
“Not great...”
“Docked a point?”
“Yeah...”
Anyone overhearing might think it was some huge scandal, but kids with sky-high standards always got worked up over tiny mistakes.
I patted her back soothingly, pondering how to cheer up this pouty little brat.
“Wanna do something fun with me?”
“Not really in the mood...”
“It's seriously fun, though. Guess I'll go do it with Se-ri then?”
Still no? I stood up from my chair, and that's when Yu-na finally grabbed my sleeve to stop me. Total greedy guts.
While other students clustered around the classroom chatting away, we quietly sat facing each other on the floor at the back of the room.
“So, what're we doing?”
“You know jacks?”
“Nope?”
“You don't?”
How was that possible? The quintessential Korean playground game for elementary kids—and she didn't know it? Even for a total loner, that was hard to believe. Just to check, I searched on my phone.
Air: The colorless, transparent gas making up Earth's lower atmosphere.
No mention anywhere of playing with pebble-like jacks. What a rootless world this was.
So, my first effort to set things right would start with Yu-na as the target.
Let's start simple—make some jacks first.
High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE)
First, craft shells from colorful plastic in the right sizes. Normally, you'd fill them with metal balls, but since it's just for weight, I condensed mana into mass form and sealed it semi-permanently inside the plastic. Done.
“Ta-da.”
“...?”
“Lemme show you how it works.”
Hand games tap into humanity's most primal instincts. Fun for everyone, regardless of age or gender. The game that would shock the Kaizen Empire, horrify the Alpenheim Holy Kingdom, and even earn a wanted poster from the Demon King himself—jacks. Time to spread the gospel.
Clatter—
* * *
Class 2-A at Seferon Academy had its share of cliques. Even with only twenty kids total, it was inevitable they'd group up with like-minded friends.
First up: the boys led by Kim Hangeol. He'd been popular in first grade, and now in second, he naturally took charge of the class vibe. Plenty of girls disliked him, but not a single boy did.
Then there were the girls around I Ha-ru and Jeon Nuri. They'd start chatting, others would join, and the groups would form and dissolve repeatedly.
Others included Han Se-ri's mixed-gender crew scheming pranks on weird topics, or the Yoon Si-hu–Go Kyung-won study group that ballooned during exam season.
Free time at the end of March, with midterms far off. Most kids picked their preferred playmates accordingly.
That left Bae Yo-han, Yu-na's neighbor, who would've rather joined Hangeol's nonstop giggling gang than sit near the quietly reading Si-hu or the muttering Yu-na.
“That Groll buff this patch is insane. Already top-tier, and now they buffed basic attack damage and projectile speed?”
“When the hell are we gonna see Ed in competitive?”
Yo-han had no clue what the boys were on about. Sounded like Brawl Stars patch notes, but to a non-player, it was alien gibberish.
Bored, he wandered the room and spotted Yu-na in the corner, silently freaking out and tearing at her hair.
“......!!!!!!”
“So close. That was a solid five-year grip.”
“Last one for real. I can do it.”
There was also NoName, the transfer student every second-grader knew as the storm incarnate.
Since when was Yu-na this expressive, though? Yo-han recalled the start of term, when she'd ended up next to him. Rumors of her bad temper weren't exaggerated—she'd glared at him during class to stop shaking his leg or crossing the desk boundary. He'd been scared plenty.
Clatter—
Thud—
“...!”
Roll—
“Aaaah...!”
“One off again. So close.”
As Yu-na writhed on the floor, NoName brushed off her butt, stood, and came over to pick up the jack that had rolled to Yo-han's feet.
“What're you guys doing?”
“Playing jacks. Wanna try?”
“...?”
Jacks? First time Yo-han had ever heard of it.
NoName grabbed his arm like he had no choice and plopped him raw onto the cold classroom floor. A chill shot up from his butt to his skull.
“What the—?”
“Newbie, right? Yu-na, explain the rules.”
“Do I have to?”
“The more players, the better. Trust me.”
“Fine. Listen up, Bae Yo-han—I'm explaining once, so pay attention.”
Yu-na raised her index finger with a scary glare. Yo-han gulped and nodded slightly.
Clatter—
Now he knew the source of that periodic sound. Five colorful pebble-like pieces hitting the floor.
Yu-na grinned and glanced at him.
“This is stage one. Watch close.”
Jacks' rules were simple enough for even a newbie to grasp instantly.
Stage one: Toss one, pick up one by one.
Stage two: Toss one, pick up two at a time.
Stage three: Toss one, split the rest into threes and ones.
“This is where it gets tough.”
But her voice brimmed with confidence. She tossed one jack, laying the rest flat. Then tossed again, sucking the scattered ones swiftly into her hand.
“Whew... haah...”
“You're way too intense, Yu-na.”
“NoName, shut up for a sec. I'm super focused.”
“You're supposed to explain.”
The five pieces left her hand, floating midair. They collided and spun, regaining freedom—only for gravity to pull them down. Yu-na snapped them onto the back of her hand.
“...!”
Yo-han didn't know the rules well, but even he saw it as a feat. How did every single piece land perfectly on her tiny hand?
But Yu-na had one last step. Tension peaked; her breath stopped as she lifted her hand, leaving it to fate.
Scraaape—!
A heavy aura unlike any he'd felt pulsed from her palm. Light sparked in Yu-na's eyes.
“This is jacks.”
It was the gaze of a general who'd led her army to victory.