Chapter 170
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 170
In a cafe on the outskirts of the city, Dokyun looked up at Eun-byeol, who sat across from him.
Click. Click. She was taking pictures of the desserts on the table, a look of pure joy on her face.
Just like that other time, the table was completely covered, as if they had ordered one of everything on the menu.
Dokyun sighed, thinking, Just how much effort will it take to eat all of this?
“Hm? What’s wrong, honey?”
“…It’s nothing.”
Dokyun gave a vague answer. Once Eun-byeol finished her photoshoot and pushed a cake to the side, he picked it up and began to eat, his thoughts drifting.
He was thinking about the reason for Eun-byeol’s existence.
Extravagance?
…No, that wasn’t it. To call extravagance an unfulfilled desire or wish didn’t make sense. Didn’t they have more than enough money to be extravagant without needing to split off a whole new personality for it?
Dokyun quickly dismissed the thought and recalled the four personalities Eun-chae had swallowed.
According to Eun-seol, the clues were in there.
So far, I’ve seen…
Two of them. The child who wanted to draw, and the child who wanted to play with her dad all day.
As he remembered them, Dokyun felt a tightness in his chest and shoved another bite of cake into his mouth.
Just as he was lost in thought, Eun-byeol stopped taking pictures and turned her gaze to him.
“Oh, right.”
“Yes?”
“I hear you’ve been playing with those kids lately?”
Those kids. She must have been talking about the four personalities swallowed by Eun-chae that he had just been thinking about.
Dokyun simply gave a slight nod in response.
Eun-byeol grinned and continued her questioning.
“How is it?”
“What’s there to say? It’s not like I’ve seen them directly. I only know what they’re like through Eun-chae.”
“Not that. Do you think you know why I exist?”
Thump. Dokyun froze. He looked at Eun-byeol, then picked up another cake, stuffed it into his mouth, and shook his head.
Gulp. The cake slid down his throat. Dokyun narrowed his eyes and shot the words at her.
“I have no idea. Are you really not going to tell me?”
“Who knows? Depends on how you do.”
Eun-byeol smiled slyly. Dokyun let out a deep sigh at the sight and took another bite of cake.
Silence fell over the table.
A moment later, watching Dokyun devour the cake as if he were drinking it, Eun-byeol giggled.
“Whoa, honey. You’ll get sick if you eat like that. That’s your third piece already.”
“It’s a waste to leave it.”
“Jeez, still, eat in moderation. You’re going to get a potbelly.”
Flinch. Dokyun’s body jerked. A potbelly. It was his biggest concern these days. Her pointing it out made his body react on its own.
Dokyun narrowed his eyes and glared at Eun-byeol, firing back a retort.
In his head, of course.
It’s because of you…!
It’s because you ordered so much that we can’t possibly finish it! Dokyun tried to blame her, but he knew the truth.
His belly was a product of age. It was because Eun-ah took such good care of him, and because he scraped his plate clean every time she gave him a meal.
For some reason, he felt his eyes getting hot.
A diet…
He had to. He knew he had to, but his body wouldn’t listen.
Even as he was having these thoughts, his greedy mouth was slurping down cake. The serious thoughts were already flying far, far away.
Dokyun hated himself.
*
After leaving the cafe, they stopped at a place Dokyun could never have imagined.
“A stationery store?”
A stationery store. The place Eun-byeol had brought him to was a massive stationery store that took up an entire building.
Standing at the entrance, Eun-byeol saw Dokyun tilting his head in confusion and giggled.
“It seems like my honey has no clue, so I’m giving you a special hand.”
“At a stationery store?”
“Just follow me.”
Feeling his head tilt to the side again at the back of Eun-byeol, who had already headed inside, Dokyun followed.
Once inside, Dokyun let out a small gasp of awe at the sight before him.
“This place is huge.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. When I was a kid, stationery stores were just little corner shops in front of the school.”
He said, looking around at the items on display.
Eun-byeol replied with a slightly puckered expression.
“Wow, honey, you sounded like a real old-timer just now.”
Thump. Dokyun’s steps halted.
“…You didn’t have to put it like that.”
“Are you sulking?”
“I’m not sulking.”
Seeing Dokyun press his lips shut after his retort, Eun-byeol thought, Ah, he’s sulking again, and linked her arm through his.
“Hey, it was just a joke. Why are you being like this? Don’t be mad~”
“I’m not mad.”
Hee hee. Eun-byeol’s laughter trailed on after her words.
Dokyun let out a deep sigh at the sight of her laughing endlessly, then turned his head to scan the inside of the store.
And then.
“Oh.”
Dokyun’s eyes lit up when he saw something displayed in a corner of the store. It was a collection of items that felt quite familiar to him.
“What is it?”
At Eun-byeol’s question, Dokyun replied in a tone full of delight.
“They still sell these.”
With his fingertip, Dokyun pointed to the packs of [Duel Monsters] cards on the display shelf.
“Huh? What’s that?”
“A card game I was crazy about when I was a kid.”
Ah, the nostalgia hit him. It was the light and salt of his childhood, the joy of his life back then.
The very game he had given up after Geun-tae stole his SSR Blue-Eyes Black Dragon.
“Wow, it’s been twenty years, but it looks like they’re still selling them.”
Dokyun wore a wistful expression as he looked at the card packs, neatly arranged in their foil wrappers.
It was so much fun.
Dokyun picked up the pack at the very front of the display. He figured it wouldn’t hurt to buy one for old times’ sake.
Watching Dokyun pick up the card pack and turn it over and over in his hands, Eun-byeol couldn’t bring herself to say anything else and simply smiled quietly.
Hmm…
It was a little… strange.
*
What Eun-byeol bought at the stationery store was a recorder. Why a recorder? What did that have to do with Eun-byeol?
When he asked, Eun-byeol simply said—
—It’s not for me. It’s something one of those kids likes.
—and handed it to Dokyun.
All Dokyun could do was nod his head.
And so, a week passed, and it was Eun-chae’s turn again.
Eun-chae stared blankly at the recorder Dokyun handed her and tilted her head.
“Recorder.”
“Yep, a recorder. If you put it to your lips and blow, it makes a sound.”
Nod. Eun-chae nodded at his words, put the recorder to her lips, and blew with all her might.
And then.
SCREEEEECH—!
What followed was pure noise pollution. Startled, Eun-chae threw the recorder down and scrambled toward Dokyun.
Swoop. Hiding in Dokyun’s arms, Eun-chae trembled as she glared at the recorder.
“It’s a monster.”
“Uhm…”
Caught off guard by her reaction, Dokyun scratched his cheek with an awkward expression.
Could Ms. Eun-byeol have been mistaken?
The thought naturally came to mind. It was possible that the personality sleeping inside Eun-chae hadn’t woken up yet, but based on the current situation, wasn’t that the most likely conclusion?
She seemed to be showing more aversion to the recorder than interest.
An awkward smile formed on Dokyun’s lips at the thought. Just as Eun-chae’s trembling began to subside, she suddenly tilted her head and began to pat him down.
“What is it?”
“This.”
After fumbling around for a moment, Eun-chae pulled something out from Dokyun’s clothes: the foil-wrapped pack of [Duel Monsters] cards.
“Ah.”
A sound escaped Dokyun’s lips.
I bought it and forgot all about it.
He had put it in his inner pocket and completely forgotten. Seeing Eun-chae’s eyes sparkle as she fiddled with the card pack, Dokyun let out a small chuckle.
“Want it?”
“Yes.”
An answer without a hint of hesitation. After her reply, Eun-chae rubbed the card pack for a moment before looking up to ask a question.
“What do you do with this?”
“You use it for a card game.”
“Huh?”
Seeing Eun-chae tilt her head with wide, curious eyes, Dokyun smiled and tore open the pack to show her the contents.
“You collect the cards inside here and play a game.”
Eun-chae’s eyes began to sparkle even more at the five cards that came out of the pack.
“Game.”
Rub, rub. Eun-chae stroked the cards.
“I want to play the game.”
“Huh? You can’t play with just five cards.”
Eun-chae’s gaze turned back to Dokyun. When he made a troubled face, she craned her neck forward and continued in an excited tone.
“…Give me more.”
It was a rare, strong expression of her opinion.
Dokyun pondered her words.
Playing a card game. That required an opponent. And the only person who could be Eun-chae’s opponent was him.
Realizing this, Dokyun met Eun-chae’s eyes.
“Eun-chae.”
“Yes.”
“Do you want to play a card game?”
“Yes.”
Dokyun’s expression grew serious.
“Listen closely. Dueling is a ruthless world of battle. Are you prepared to bear the weight of that battle?”
Eun-chae’s expression also grew serious. She began to swallow nervously.
“Battle. Ruthless.”
Nod. Eun-chae nodded her head.
At her response, Dokyun stood up, still holding her in his arms, and declared in his most serious tone yet.
“Alright. Then let’s go buy some cards.”
“Okay…!”
The space was overflowing with determination.
In that moment, Dokyun realized the time had come to reawaken the ‘Gangneung Duel Master Chae Dokyun’ he had sealed away deep inside himself.