The Dark Setting Unique to Kids' Cartoons

My name is Han Taeyang.

Right now I'm a sixth-grader at Seoul Beyond Elementary, and the future Beyond Battle Champion!

Every day, together with my friends and my partner, the Little Dragon Princess, I keep honing my skills and sending out messages of determination so we can make that dream come true. Mom always says the same thing, like a habit: "Even while you work hard for your dreams, you must never forget to enjoy yourself." And I try to live by that as much as I can.

Wait—did I already give this introduction last time?

Anyway, this was not long after Rina transferred into our class, after Seol-ah noona had come to work at our shop, and before Mom brought up the mushroom festival.

Princess and I had finished class and were about to head home with everyone as usual, but today none of the kids from the Beyond Battle Club were around—not even Manbok. Turns out everyone had been called in for further questioning over the factory incident, and their parents had already taken them away.

"Heading back just the two of us… it's been a while, huh~."

Princess said that, but it wasn't exactly true.

"Han Taeyang! Battle me! Come on, battle!"

A girl our age with tousled reddish-brown long hair came charging over, spoiling for a fight. Lion-yellow eyes and serrated teeth. It was Rina, the new friend I'd made through recent events.

Just like me, she loved Beyond Battle so much that ever since transferring here, she was practically dueling every single day.

"………."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing~."

I really liked Rina, but Princess always looked uncomfortable whenever Rina started talking to us. Like she was on guard, somehow. I couldn't figure out why—we were that close already.

What should I do? Everyone's gone today, so even if I go back to the shop there's nothing to do. Staying in the clubroom and battling Rina would be way more fun~!

"Battling Rina is fine, but call home first. If you get back too late, you're going to get scolded again."

I'm still fine, so later~!

"Hey. Taeyang!"

I grabbed Rina's arm right away.

"Then come on! I'll show you our clubroom!"

"Clubroom? Ohh, the place you guys hang out? Nice! I'm not gonna lose~!"

"That's my line! This time I'm winning~!!"

Naturally, once the battles started, we lost all sense of time. Even doing it every day never got old—if anything, there were plenty of days when it felt more fun than yesterday.

Before we knew it, the sky had turned a deep golden yellow, and my phone in my pocket was stacked with dozens of missed calls.

"Uegh."

"I told you. Call ahead."

"I was going to answer when Mom called~!"

"With your phone on silent? You did this last time too and got yelled at hard. Yumi-ajumma is probably furious right about now~."

"But we only played three matches!"

"What does that have to do with anything? Just call and apologize already. And get ready to leave."

"Uegh…."

If I called, I was one hundred percent getting scolded. Still, not calling now would only make it worse later, so I started wondering if there was any way to smooth this over.

"Heeh. So you get in trouble for going home late. But why, though?"

Rina genuinely seemed not to understand why I was so scared of calling my mom.

"Why? Because we're kids. If we don't go home when we're supposed to, of course our parents worry, right?"

"Really? Who cares. Even if you get home late, even if some bad guy shows up, you just beat them in Beyond Battle! Basically, the strongest Beyond Battler is the strongest person in the world! You don't need to listen to your parents~!!"

"Rina?"

There was no malice in her grinning face. She really seemed to believe it, and we were both pretty shaken.

"Where… are your parents, Rina?"

"Dunno. At some point they were just gone~."

"…What?"

The story ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠dropped heavy all of a sudden. But Rina just kept sipping her juice like it was nothing.

"As you can tell, Rina's not from this country. I lived in another one, and a huge war broke out there. And, uh, I got separated from my parents, and then some person rescued me and brought me to Korea~."

"Separated… you mean they died?"

"Dun~no. It was when I was littler than now. I remember it was super chaotic. Scary adults using scary cards came swarming in. It still shows up in my nightmares, it was that terrifying."

The conversation had gotten way too heavy, way too fast. What were you even supposed to say to something like this?

Princess. What do I do?

"Just listen for now. Don't go blurting out empty sympathy. I'll handle the response—you stay quiet."

Why?

"Shh. Just do as I say."

I didn't know why Princess was being like that, but there wasn't another option, so…

I shut my mouth and listened. Rina started preaching her worldview like she was giving a sermon.

"Back then I ran around looking for my parents. When I finally found them, they ran away and left me behind. They had some other kid in their arms. I saw that and cried, screaming for them not to go, and they said something to me, but I don't remember a single word of it. One thing I am sure of, though—my parents abandoned me. The second things got bad, without fail."

"And how did that turn into 'you don't need to listen to parents'?"

"I just told you. People who give birth to you and then ditch you the moment they don't need you—that's what parents are. Even if they're nice now, the second life gets hard, kids are the first ones they throw away. At least, that's what I was taught."

"By who?"

"The person who saved me said so. That if Rina's parents had really cherished and loved her, they wouldn't have left her and run."

Parents wouldn't abandon their kid and run. There had to be some other reason.

I muttered that to myself, but Princess blocked me from saying it out loud.

"From that day on, Rina hated the whole parent species. Kids grow up just fine without them anyway. Look at me, right?"

"Then… wait. Do you live alone?"

"Yep. Technically there's a legal guardian or whatever, but basically I'm on my own. I haven't even seen their face except when I enrolled here last time~."

Then Rina held her deck high.

"The person who saved Rina taught me how to survive. And that was Beyond Battle. With this, Rina got the power to stand on her own at this age. Meaning, unlike you or the other kids, Taeyang, I'm an adult who doesn't have to listen to anyone's nagging~!"

Why did that sting so much?

Rina seemed completely fine with her situation—proud of it, even—and yet watching from the side just made me feel sorry for her.

"Taeyang. You didn't do anything wrong."

I know. But still…

…Still, I was angry.

Why would the people who saved Rina tell her something like that?

"So? Rina's an adult!"

"I get that you can stay out late. And that you don't have to take anyone's nagging. But I still don't think that makes you an adult."

"Why not?"

I remembered a short conversation I'd had with Uncle Lee Baek last time.

—You're so lucky, Uncle. Grown-ups get to stay out and play late into the night. I wanna grow up already~.

—Being a grown-up isn't all good. When you get older, there will be times you miss being protected by someone and not having to take responsibility, just like now.

—Responsibility?

—An adult is someone who takes responsibility. I can walk around at night like this because if something happens, I can handle it myself. Someday you'll reach a day when you take responsibility for your own actions too, Taeyang.

—Uegh. You're talking like a teacher~.

—Hahaha.

"Uncle said so last time. An adult is someone who takes responsibility. But you, Rina—you don't look like someone who could take responsibility alone if you did something wrong."

"Oh-ho. That's just because you don't know. I can take responsibility for the things I do, okay~!?"

"Really~?"

"What are you doubting me for? You're the one still living tied to your mom, and you've got a lot of nerve saying that."

I shook my head.

"I don't think of myself as tied to my parents. I know how much Mom loves me. And there's no reason to leave my family's arms, is there?"

"Reasons? Well, if you leave, you get free like me, right? Stay out all night playing and nobody says a word~!"

"Is that kind of freedom something you need even if it means abandoning Mom? Sure, I'm a little jealous that you get to play late, but if you ask me whether I want to play so badly I'd hurt my family's feelings—then no."

"Hnn…."

I thought she might get mad, but Rina didn't say anything more. She just puffed out her cheeks and glared at me, sulking.

"That's enough. Your positions are too different—there's no need for one of you to be right. Rina, just like Taeyang respects you, don't talk like that about Yumi-ajumma."

"Yeah. Last time you even got free meat at our house! You took a bath with Mom and scrubbed her back and everything!"

"M-m-mm… that was just how things flowed~!"

Rina whipped her head to the side, playing dumb.

If she truly hated the idea of parents that much, she would have shown hostility toward my mom too—but she never did. So maybe she actually felt something else?

"The second you say that out loud, you'll end up fighting. So drop it."

Yeah.

Then the phone lit up again.

It was still on silent, so it didn't vibrate, but this time the caller was Uncle Lee Baek.

Uwaaa….

A brief silence hung between us.

Normally I'd have gotten an earful right away, so the fact that he didn't made ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠me relax—and then Uncle Lee Baek quietly said this:

He said he'd be waiting at the shop and hung up coolly.

Thanks to that, the heavy weight on my chest lightened a little.

"But how is he going to calm Mom down? I don't know about other things, but Mom is super strict about stuff like this."

"Taeyang. You don't need to know that yet."

"Do you know, Princess?"

"Hmm~."

Somehow being ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠treated like a little kid put me in a bad mood.

When Rina treated me like a kid I didn't get that mad, but when Princess did it, something in me flared up.

"Hey, Taeyang. Yesterday Yumi-ajumma asked you if you needed a new dad. Does that ring any bells?"

"Not at all?"

"Right. You really are that kind of kid…."

Ah, she's treating me like a kid again.

"If you're not gonna tell me, fine. More importantly—Uncle said to bring you too, Rina. Wanna come?"

"Hmph. I can just eat alone at home."

"It's shabu-shabu tonight."

"Then I'm coming~!"

As if the heavy conversation from a moment ago had never happened, we laughed and shrieked our way home.

Of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠course Mom scolded me—but just like Uncle said, once I started with an apology, she didn't blow up the way she usually did.

If anything, Mom's face went red and her mood improved almost immediately, and we all had a cheerful meal.