Chapter 171
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 171
“Pathetic.”
The word stabbed into his ear. Dokyun’s whole body flinched as he raised his head.
On the living room floor, Eun-chae, who was sitting across from him, spoke with one corner of her mouth twisted into a smirk.
“Pathetic. Pathetic.”
It was a clear taunt. And what’s more, it was a taunt Dokyun couldn’t possibly refute.
He squeezed his eyes shut and lowered his head.
Why is she so good at this?!
Why was she so good? Why was he the one losing?
To figure it out, Dokyun replayed the events that had transpired since the moment he’d gone out to buy the cards.
The mood had certainly been good when he bought them.
No, you could even say it was great. How could it not be? How could he not be in a good mood after indulging in the luxury of buying an entire box of card packs that cost 500 won each? Hadn’t he fulfilled a childhood dream?
So, yes, things were definitely good up to the point where he brought the box home and started ripping open the packs one by one.
Things were still good when he laid out the cards to explain the rules, and even when he beat Eun-chae during the practice games.
The moment Dokyun sensed something was wrong was when Eun-chae’s expression soured after losing the practice games and the first two real matches.
That must have been it. That was when Eun-chae had her awakening.
After getting beaten down, unable to get a feel for the game, Eun-chae had started to rally from the third match on. By the time they’d passed the fifth match, she had begun to mercilessly tear him to shreds.
And so, in a total of ten games, not including the practice rounds…
Dokyun had been utterly defeated by Eun-chae with a miserable record of three wins and seven losses.
“Pathetic.”
Flinch. Dokyun’s body shuddered again.
He narrowed his eyes and glared at Eun-chae, cursing his own big mouth.
After winning the first three matches, he had gotten excited and called her “pathetic.” Now, he was suffering the same taunt every time he lost, having proceeded to lose the next seven matches in a row.
“Pathetic. Pathetic. Pathetic.”
Grind—. He clenched his teeth.
You vicious little…!
This was blatant teabagging. The unsportsmanlike act of dancing on your opponent’s corpse. Dokyun glared at Eun-chae, his eyes brimming with a rising sense of sorrow.
Of course, glaring changed nothing.
“Honeybee. Meat now.”
“…Alright.”
Sigh. Dokyun let out a deep breath and pushed himself up. It was the bet they’d made on the card game: the winner gets whatever they want.
What Eun-chae wanted was to have meat for dinner, so Dokyun, like the loser he was, had to grant the winner’s request.
“Just wait a bit. I’ll have it ready in a minute.”
“Okay.”
Watching Eun-chae nod, her eyes sparkling, Dokyun let out a small, dry laugh before turning toward the kitchen.
I’m getting old.
It was a bitter feeling. Had Chae Dokyun, the Duel Master of Gangneung, finally been crushed under the weight of time?
Had his time passed, pushed aside by the new generation?
Feeling the transience of the years, Dokyun took the meat from the refrigerator and began to cook.
* * *
Eun-chae watched Dokyun’s back for a long while as he cooked, then shifted her gaze back to the pile of cards they had been playing with.
The glorious proof of her victory.
A sense of pride swelled within her.
The match. I won.
In the ruthless world of competition, she was the victor. All that was left was to fully exercise her rights as the winner and eat the delicious meat Honeybee was making for her.
As she thought of this, she let out another silly giggle, then began to gather the cards and sort them one by one.
She wasn’t putting them away. Eun-chae planned to play again after they ate.
How could she play such a fun game only once?
Eun-chae picked up the cards and carefully began to build a deck.
Hmm…
After pondering for a while, she nodded and then immediately broke the deck apart again.
She had made it too strong.
Honeybee was bad at the game. She had to build a pathetic deck that matched his level.
That way, Honeybee would have more fun playing, and she, in turn, could enjoy the game a little more.
Of course, she would still win even with this handicap.
Smirk. A sly grin crept onto Eun-chae’s lips.
Eun-chae the competitor was a cruel person who enjoyed giving her opponent a glimmer of hope before crushing it completely.
This one, and this one, and this one.
She was building her deck, her face flushed with excitement, when…
‘Not that one. Use that one over there.’
Eun-chae felt a voice ring out in her head.
It was another one of ‘us.’
Startled by the sudden appearance of ‘us,’ Eun-chae flinched, then tilted her head in confusion.
‘…But I’ll lose if I use that.’
The cards ‘we’ had pointed out were terrible.
More engrossed in building her deck than in the sudden voice, Eun-chae sent this thought, and ‘we’ replied with a chuckle.
‘No, a true competitor has to give themselves a penalty. It makes the victory that much more thrilling.’
Hearing this, Eun-chae tilted her head again, but then nodded in understanding. She followed our instructions and rebuilt the deck.
A deck where one small misstep could lead to immediate defeat.
Staring at the finished deck, Eun-chae swallowed nervously, her body tense.
‘We’ spoke to the nervous Eun-chae in a tone full of excitement.
‘How is it? Isn’t it thrilling?’
‘Yeah, it’s tingly.’
‘Good. Let’s try to win with this.’
‘Okay.’
After their brief exchange, a moment of silence fell. Only then did a question about ‘us’ surface in Eun-chae’s mind. She closed her eyes tightly and spoke to us.
‘What do you want to do?’
‘A match!’
‘We’ replied in a vibrant tone, then added more.
‘A great match. One where both sides observe each other, overcome their inner fears, and after a tense competition, shake hands with their opponent. Then you smile and say, ‘That was a fun match.’’
Tilt. Eun-chae’s head tilted again. She didn’t quite understand.
‘Matches. Are ruthless.’
Honeybee had told her that the world of competition was ruthless. How could you smile and talk with the loser?
Unable to comprehend it, Eun-chae voiced her confusion. ‘We’ giggled and replied.
‘That’s right. Matches are ruthless. But after the match is over, everyone becomes friends.’
‘Friends?’
‘Yes, friends. You have a great match, and you become friends who can share the memory of it.’
Hearing this, Eun-chae hummed thoughtfully. For some reason, the word ‘we’ had used, ‘memory,’ made her heart flutter, and she nodded.
‘Memory.’
‘Right. You know what a memory is, don’t you?’
‘Yeah. It’s something that helps you get through really hard times.’
Honeybee had told her about it, so Eun-chae remembered it clearly.
Something you could quietly think of when you were exhausted and struggling, when you wanted comfort, and it would give you strength and make you smile.
That was what a memory was to Eun-chae.
She mulled over the word ‘memory,’ and finally, understanding what ‘we’ meant, she replied with a bright expression.
‘I have to make a memory.’
‘That’s right. We’ll have a great match and turn it into a memory.’
The cheerful ‘us’ replied with a laugh and then fell dormant again.
Eun-chae sensed that ‘we’ had faded away. She savored the feeling for a moment before the smell of meat, which now filled the house, prompted her to get up.
Far off in the kitchen, Honeybee had finished cooking the meat and was arranging it on a plate.
His eyes met hers.
“Eun-chae, it’s ready. Let’s eat.”
“Okay.”
Eun-chae got up and went to the table.
The meat was served. Feeling her heart pound, Eun-chae picked up a fork, speared a piece, and popped it into her mouth.
She chewed it carefully and swallowed. A wave of happiness filled her.
Feeling her expression soften on its own, she looked at Honeybee, who was smiling at her, and spoke.
“Honeybee. Let’s play again after we finish eating.”
“Huh…?”
“A serious match.”
Dokyun blinked at Eun-chae’s determined expression, then let out a small chuckle and nodded.
“Alright, let’s play again when we’re done. But don’t rush your food.”
“Okay.”
Feeling a surge of joy at how readily Dokyun accepted her challenge, Eun-chae nodded.
She speared another piece of meat and put it in her mouth. As she thought, meat was delicious.
* * *
After the meal, the duel resumed.
This time, too, Dokyun had to suffer a crushing defeat.
It was a loss that made his stomach churn. Just when it seemed like he might have a chance to win, he was hit with a merciless barrage he couldn’t possibly counter and lost.
“I won.”
At Eun-chae’s words, Dokyun lifted his head. He saw her cheeks flushed red, celebrating her victory, and he let out a weak smile.
“You’re right. You won again.”
Well, as long as she’s this happy, I guess that’s all that matters.
As that thought crossed his mind, Dokyun chuckled. Eun-chae looked up at him and extended her hand.
“We had a match, so we shake hands.”
“Huh?”
“Handshake.”
Dokyun looked at the hand offered to him, then placed his own over it. “Like this?”
“Yeah.”
Eun-chae shook their joined hands up and down and recited the line ‘we’ had told her.
“It was a fun match.”
Words that would become a memory.
As she spoke the line ‘we’ had explained to her, she saw Honeybee chuckle and reply.
“Yeah, it was a good match.”
“It’s a memory now.”
“Hm?”
“‘We’ said that if we do this, the match becomes a memory.”
We. She must be talking about the personalities Eun-ah had absorbed.
Dokyun paused for a moment at the sudden mention of ‘we,’ then spoke.
“I guess ‘we’ wanted to have a memory.”
“Yeah. A precious memory with a friend.”
Dokyun’s gaze fell to their hands, still shaking up and down.
“…I see.”
So what ‘we’ wanted this time was a friend.
Realizing this, Dokyun let out a faint, dry laugh at having unintentionally solved another piece of the puzzle. He then asked Eun-chae a question.
“So, is ‘we’ okay now?”
At his question, Eun-chae closed her eyes tightly and sensed ‘us.’
‘We,’ who had been dormant inside her, was slowly fading away.
‘We’ disappeared, leaving behind a laugh and a single phrase.
‘Fighting!’
Tilt. Eun-chae’s head tilted. She didn’t understand what ‘we’ meant.
But even so, there was one thing she knew for sure.
“Yeah. ‘We’ is happy.”
As ‘we’ slowly faded, it looked truly happy, even to Eun-chae.
Dokyun fell silent, mulling over her words, before a bright smile spread across his face.
“I’m glad.”
He was truly glad that another one of young Eun-ah’s lingering regrets had been resolved like this.
That was the thought behind his words.