Chapter 157
Chapter 157
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: Suryeon's Precious Game Console (2)
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Nintendo.
It was a handheld game console that started gaining explosive popularity in the early 2000s.
Back then, pretty much every kid's house had at least one, or so they say.
The next-gen models were popular with kids too, and they stayed trendy right up until the dimensional gates appeared.
After that, the factories all shut down, and production stopped.
Ha-jun looked at Suryeon, who was handling the game console so preciously, and said,
“That thing was really hard to get. My bank account's still hurting because of it, you know? You have to take good care of it.”
“Okay, Dad. Don't you trust me?”
“What have you done so far, Suryeon?”
“…I dunno.”
Huff—
Unable to argue back against her dad, Suryeon turned her gaze away.
Even she knew her track record wasn't great.
“Anyway, if it breaks, you can't get it fixed, and if you lose it, good luck buying another one. Handle it with care.”
“…I was gonna take good care of it even if you didn't tell me.”
Because the game console was precious.
Especially since Dad had gotten it for her.
With that thought, Suryeon pressed the power button on the console.
Click—
Not long after, a welcome message appeared on the screen for her.
Suryeon lifted the corner of her mouth at the sight.
“Yeah, I'm here. It's welcoming me because I'm a dragon, after all.”
Hee hee—
Suryeon giggled to herself as she went through the initial setup.
“Birthday… name… age… Gotta write an intro too, huh.”
She wondered if she really had to introduce herself to humans.
But Suryeon tapped the screen and decided to write one anyway.
-Keh heh heh, tremble in fear, humans. Lee Suryeon has arrived.
Suryeon wrote that and flashed a satisfied smile.
“There, that'll let everyone know who I am. Bow down, keh heh heh.”
Suryeon grinned contentedly at her own intro text.
Hwaryeon watched from the side and recoiled in horror.
“W-What the heck? Why's she acting like that!?”
Chicken skin popped up all over her body for real.
It was hard to believe that came out of a dragon's mouth.
“Ugh, Lee Suryeon is dragging down the dragon average! What's the difference between her and a black dragon!?”
Hwaryeon sighed, her view of the dragon average lowered.
She was putting that 'average' word she'd learned in school to good use.
Anyway.
Suryeon finished the initial setup and checked the screen.
“…No games. Oh right, I forgot to put in a cartridge.”
Suryeon turned to check the box where the cartridges were.
“Mang-mang-! Mang-mang-!”
“Huh? Mungmung. What are you doing right now?”
Zap—
Suryeon glared at Mungmung.
Mungmung had mistaken the box for trash and was in the middle of cleaning it up.
“Hmm, daring to touch my stuff?”
Daring to mess with a dragon's precious belonging.
Suryeon immediately got up from the sofa and walked toward Mungmung.
“…”
“Mang…?”
Swish—
Startled by the sudden shadow, Mungmung looked up.
There stood Suryeon, arms crossed, glaring coldly down at it.
“M-Mang-mang…!!”
“Mungmung.”
“Mang-mang…!”
“At attention.”
Tremble tremble—!
Terrified by Suryeon's icy gaze, Mungmung stood up on its two legs.
And promptly assumed an at-attention stance.
“Mungmung.”
“Mang-mang…!”
“Why were you taking my stuff without permission?”
“Mamang…! Mang-mang…!”
“Hmm, you thought it wasn't mine and was just trash?”
“Mang-mang…!”
Nod nod—
Mungmung nodded desperately.
Suryeon pondered the sight for a moment.
‘Hmm, Mungmung is smarter than Hwaryeon unnie, but even it thought that was trash? Now that I think about it, it's pretty plausible.’
A box on the floor was easy to mistake for garbage.
‘Judging by my brilliant and sharp mind, this incident is…’
Not guilty.
Suryeon pointed forward with her finger and delivered her verdict.
“You're innocent this time, Mungmung.”
“Maaang…!”
“Be more careful from now on. If you're gonna throw something away, ask first.”
“Mang-mang!”
Mungmung nodded vigorously to show it understood.
Satisfied, Suryeon smiled and took a cartridge out of the box.
The first game she would play was…
“Creatures of the Ocean.”
A game where fish live together in a village under the sea.
Suryeon slipped the cartridge onto her finger and held it up high.
Then shoved it in hard.
“Game on!”
Click—!
That was the moment Suryeon's time began to vanish.
***
Creatures of the Ocean.
It's a game where the protagonist moves to a village and lives there.
The protagonist develops the village and decorates their house nicely.
“Hmm, interesting game. I get to rule the village however I want.”
She quite liked it.
Suryeon gripped the Nintendo in her small hands and played on.
“The house is shabby.”
She started with a tiny house.
As soon as she got home, a platypus came over and talked to her.
-This is your house-guri! We spent a ton building it-guri! Pay back the loan-guri!
“…I never asked you to build it for me.”
-Anyway, pay back the loan-guri! Fish or collect seaweed to make money-guri!
“…This game's pretty ridiculous.”
Still.
She had no choice but to pay it back, it seemed.
Suryeon decided to adapt to reality.
“Well, someone like me can pay it off quick. Dad paid his off fast too, right?”
Her dad, who had paid off his loan in no time.
Seeing that, Suryeon thought she could do the same.
“…I'll catch up to Dad someday.”
With that resolve, Suryeon gripped the Nintendo tightly.
Not even imagining how deeply she'd get hooked on this game.
***
A few days later.
Clink clink—
Dinner time, with the sound of utensils clinking.
The kids ate their favorite foods, enjoying their meals.
But one spot had utensils that weren't moving.
“…Lee Suryeon.”
“…”
“Lee Suryeon.”
“…”
“Lee Suryeon!”
Startle—
It took calling her name three times.
Suryeon finally jumped and tore her eyes from the screen.
“Why're you calling me, Dad? And why yell?”
“I called you, but you didn't answer.”
“…Did I?”
She hadn't noticed at all.
Ha-jun pointed at Suryeon's utensils and said,
“You're not eating, just playing that game, aren't you?”
“…I finished.”
“That's finished? You only ate half!”
“…Yeah.”
Suryeon, who hadn't eaten properly because of the game.
Hwaryeon looked at Suryeon's bowl and said,
“Then can I have this?”
“Yeah, go ahead, Hwaryeon unnie.”
“Score!”
Nom nom—
Hwaryeon happily ate Suryeon's leftovers with a smile.
“…Skipping proper meals for games, huh?”
Oblivious to Dad glaring at her.
Suryeon clutched the game console and stood from the table.
“Then I'm heading to my room. Thanks for the food.”
Scrape—
She didn't even push in her chair, just took the console and went to her room.
There, in the dark room, she kept playing.
“Keh heh heh. You guys can't survive without me. Missed me, huh? You idiots.”
The fish in Creatures of the Ocean were all idiots.
Some forgot their own birthdays, others forgot how to talk and needed new phrases.
But what made it fun was that they were always smiling.
“What's so funny that they're always grinning? You idiots.”
Smirk—
Even as she said that, a smile bloomed on Suryeon's lips.
For all her words, she actually cared for the little guys.
“Hmm, I've saved up a good amount now. Wonder if it's enough to pay off the loan.”
After skipping meals and grinding hard.
Suryeon had gathered enough to pay it off in a relatively short time.
“My fingers hurt a bit from all the fishing, though…”
Still.
It had been tough in its own way.
But Suryeon felt a strange sense of pride at having collected it all.
“Guess now I just go to the platypus guy.”
Dash dash dash—!
Suryeon quickly moved her character to the platypus shop.
She handed over the piled-up money to the pot-bellied platypus.
-Finally saved it all up-guri!?
“Yeah, all done. I'm Lee Suryeon, after all. Only natural.”
-Now the loan's paid-guri! No more debt-guri!
“Right, I'm debt-free now. Unlike Dad.”
Suryeon already thought she'd beaten Dad in her mind.
Until the platypus spoke again.
-Time to upgrade from that shack to a nice house-guri!
“…What? When did I ever want—”
-Your loan's bigger now-guri! Collect 100,000 gold this time-guri! You got this-guri!
“…”
She'd paid off the loan.
But upgrading the house piled on more debt.
Suryeon gaped at becoming a debtor again.
“I-Is this right…? How could this happen…?”
After all the money I'd saved!
Suryeon struggled to recover from the shock.
But after sighing and returning to her bigger house.
The shock gradually faded.
“The bigger house is nice. Was this how Dad felt?”
Pay off debt.
Take a new loan, move to a new house, rack up more debt.
Suryeon realized the weight of that 100,000 gold on her shoulders.
“This is just a game, and it's this heavy. Wonder how much heavier it was for Dad.”
For some reason, her character looked like Dad.
Working hard outside, saving money to pay loans.
“…Maybe I should be nicer to Dad starting tomorrow.”
Suryeon mulled over that cute little thought.
Through the game, she'd gotten just a taste of the family breadwinner's burden.