Rivals
“Huh? What are you kids doing there?”
“Come sit down.”
“Waaah!”
Nuri, who had been chatting away with her friends and just returned from the bathroom.
“We're one short.”
“I'll go grab someone. Hey, Yoon Si-hu, you come too. Hurry up. We're doing 4-on-4 teams for gonggitdol.”
“What? Don't yank me—my clothes are stretching!”
Si-hu, who had been quietly sitting there reading a book.
Before long, eight kids had gathered in a circle to play gonggitdol. Just as sparrows can't pass by a mill without stopping, the children who spotted this intriguing game were drawn in like moths to a flame, joining our group.
The gonggitdol team battle began with Yuna and me on opposing teams. It was a game where if one player failed, the next teammate picked up from the exact same stage and continued.
The first round started easy at 30 years. I could've gone for a hundred or even a thousand if I'd gotten serious, but I kept it modest around five. Yuna, however, nailed nine years in a row right from the start, tilting the scales. In the end, her team won 31 to 26.
“Waaaaaah! We wiiiin!”
“Too easy for you, Nami?”
“Let's change the rules.”
“To 50 years then?”
“No. From now on, the opposing team can freely alter the gonggitdol's weight.”
It wasn't for nothing that I'd condensed mana inside the gonggitdol. This was all part of the grand plan I'd envisioned.
“This gonggitdol's weight changes based on the surrounding mana density. Watch—if I inject a bunch of mana here...”
“What? It's super heavy now!”
“The weight shifts moment to moment.”
Just ramping up the years would've made the game drag. Plus, in a team battle, it took a while for your turn to come around.
“Wanna try 'folding' too?”
Yuna scooped up all five gonggitdols and tossed them into the air.
“Whoa! What the—?”
Thrown with the same force, the light ones soared high while the heavy ones plummeted fast.
“This way, the other team can mess with each stone's weight to sabotage. Same start at 30 years?”
Now it was a true team gonggitdol where everyone could get involved. Nothing beats disrupting a hardworking opponent, right?
“Jeon Nuri, didn't you say you were going to the bathroom? What are you doing here?”
A shrill voice rang out from above me. I Ha-ru stood there with arms crossed, looking down at us.
“This is totally fun! Join us.”
“What's this?”
Ha-ru squatted down, pointing at the unimpressive plastic pieces.
Four versus four didn't quite match up. No choice—I stood and pulled Ha-ru into the game.
“Nami, where you going?”
“We're odd-numbered now. I'll sit this round out. Ha-ru joins your team instead.”
Yuna suddenly whispered in my ear, so I leaned in close.
“I hate her guts. Ha-ru's always badmouthing me behind my back.”
“Why not use this chance to get friendly?”
“...Dunno. Whatever.”
Ha-ru looked just as bewildered.
“I didn't say I was pla—”
“Sit next to Yuna.”
Squished between Yuna and Nuri, Ha-ru joined the gonggitdol circle, pulling a sour face. At least explain the rules, she seemed to plead.
“I have no idea how to play.”
“You'll pick it up~ while playing~ it's fun that way~.”
“Huh?”
“No booze, huh. Just copy the kids. It ain't that hard.”
Trying to hype things up with my cringey line backfired amid blank stares, leaving me embarrassed. I turned serious to Ha-ru.
Taking care of kids is no joke. Today, I was thirstier than ever for a drink. Time for the bathroom.
* * *
A rival could be seen as an evenly matched competitor—but only if both saw it that way.
To Si-hu, Yuna was just his sole competitor. But Yuna's true rival was undoubtedly I Ha-ru.
The two girls glared like sworn enemies, eyes blazing with fire. No matter what, they couldn't lose to this girl—that thought dominated them.
In this game, though, Yuna had the edge; she'd learned gonggitdol straight from Nami first.
“Yes! Three years! Just two left!”
Cheers erupted from one side, groans from the other.
“Hey, don't make them all heavy like that! Seo Yu-na grabs 'em too easy!”
“I didn't use any mana this time. You just messed up your strength control, Ha-ru.”
“Hehe, getting the hang of it? We might finish first at this rate.”
Yuna smirked cockily, but her words rang hollow as she fumbled the suddenly lightened stone in the next stage one, handing over the turn.
“Go Ha-ru!”
“Watch closely, Seo Yu-na. Won't even reach your turn.”
Ha-ru could say that because she'd grasped how the stones grew heavy—via surrounding mana density. Meaning she could counter by adjusting it in reverse.
Catching and tossing was tough enough; handling mana simultaneously was brutal. But to beat Seo Yu-na, she'd endure.
Ha-ru gritted her teeth, focusing every ounce of will on the stones.
'The yellow one's heavy, but the blue's too light.'
She'd strategized: disperse mana to lighten the heavy ones, condense it for the light. At last, she tossed them.
In that instant, Yuna's eyes flashed red. She whipped up a mini mana storm, instantly flipping light to heavy and heavy to light.
“Ah...!”
Like pedaling a bike with reversed handles—human brains can't adapt that fast to flipped concepts. One stone bounced from Ha-ru's fist to the floor.
Stunned, Ha-ru passed to Si-hu, who flawlessly snagged two stones in the fold without a single slip. The second team battle ended there.
“Kyaaah! Yoon Si-hu, you're the best. Knew I could count on you!”
“G-Get off me, Seo Yu-na!”
“We won, we won, we wooo on!”
Ha-ru couldn't stand seeing that annoying outcast so smug. She shot up from her seat.
“Where you going?”
“Bathroom break.”
“Want company?”
“Nah, I can go alone. Nuri, you already went.”
Ha-ru touched her cheeks. Burning hot. She'd splash water on her face to cool off before heading back.
Classes B through D were in session, so the halls were quiet. Ha-ru walked the corridor to the bathroom and pushed open the door.
“Never playing that kiddie game again.”
Her hand was red and swollen from the suddenly heavy stone. Soak it in cold water at the sink—should help.
But the girls' bathroom light was already on when she entered. Sensor lights meant someone was inside.
Thud—
'Someone there?'
From the last stall with the vent, came a door slam and rattling shakes. But Ha-ru remembered: no toilet in that stall.
No janitor this late afternoon. Who could it be?
Mid-handwash, curiosity pulled Ha-ru toward the back. The door wasn't locked.
“Anyone there?”
“...”
No answer. But the presence reached her ears clearly. Squirrel through the window? Mouse?!
After a brief hesitate, Ha-ru steeled herself and eased the door open.
Creeeak—
“Kyaaaaah! What the—NoName...?”
One of the kids from gonggitdol—when did NoName sneak to the bathroom? Come to think of it, she'd vanished partway through the game. Must've slipped out during her break.
But even so, NoName teetered precariously on a tiny stool in a ridiculous pose. The door swung wide, and a sweet apple scent flooded the bathroom.
“What's that smell...?”
“Cough! Oh, Ha-ru. Nearly jumped out of my skin.”
“What? Smoke from your mouth...?”
A faint cough from NoName, and dingy smoke curled from her lips. It swirled upward, sucked out by the vent.
Ha-ru recalled her high school sister mentioning bad kids sneaking smokes by the vent to avoid the smell on clothes.
But why was this transfer student doing it? Baffling.
“Ha-ru, come here a sec?”
“No...? Why me?”
“Since it's just us, wanna chat?”
“Nah, heading back to class.”
Ha-ru recoiled in shock, backing toward the exit. Any faint wish to befriend NoName evaporated.
NoName wasn't tall or bulky like Yuna—no scary vibes at all. So why was Ha-ru spooked? She couldn't say. Pure instinct: stay away from this kid.
Rotational Motion
Clunk—
Like a horror flick, the bathroom door's manual lock rotated 90 degrees. No way an eight-year-old's hand reached that high.