Chapter 30: The Student Council Assembles!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 30: The Student Council Assembles!
Ding-a-ling! Ding-a-ling!
"Oh, you're finally here—"
Saionji Kumiko turned her head at the sound of the shop door opening, only to find herself involuntarily gasping in shock.
And for good reason—the two people who were supposed to be secretly supporting her from behind were standing right next to Kim Yoo-Sung.
The pair avoided her gaze as if they were criminals caught in the act.
Meanwhile, Kim Yoo-Sung, oblivious to the situation, explained how he'd met them.
"I ran into the Vice President on my way to the restroom. It seems he and Minami came out to Nakano to hang out today. I owe them a lot, so I wanted to treat them to a meal and brought them along."
Thankfully, it seemed he hadn't realized they were tailing them.
With them naturally joining the group, the four of them ended up sitting in a row at the counter. Minami, who sat right next to Kumiko, whispered a report of the situation.
'My apologies. My idiot brother went to the restroom and bumped into Kim Yoo-Sung, and I was discovered in the process.'
'What's done is done. For now, let's just act together. We can always part ways naturally later.'
'Yes.'
After a short wait, Kim Yoo-Sung's and her bowls of ramen were placed before them.
She had seen it many times on TV, but this was her first time eating it like this.
As she hesitated, unsure of how to eat it, Minami came to her aid.
"Excuse me."
She took a pair of wooden chopsticks from the container, split them in half, and placed both a spoon for the broth and the chopsticks for the noodles into Kumiko's hands.
"My lady, ramen is a dish where you enjoy the broth and noodles together. The order of eating varies from person to person, but typically, you taste the broth first, then eat the noodles."
"...I think I understand, more or less."
In other words, the broth was just as important as the noodles.
Recalling how she ate soba, Kumiko carefully scooped up a spoonful of broth and brought it to her lips.
"Mm!"
It was clean, yet rich.
The slightly savory flavor of the chicken-based broth spread through her mouth, sending a pleasant warmth all the way down to her stomach.
Next, she took a bite of the noodles, just as Minami had instructed.
The springy noodles, having absorbed the broth, slurped into her mouth, creating the ultimate harmony.
"Hahh."
A Möbius strip completed by repeating this series of actions.
She couldn't stop eating!
As she became engrossed in the taste of ramen, a flavor she was experiencing for the first time in her life, the three student council members watching her couldn't help but smile warmly.
*
After the four of us finished our ramen, the mood shifted to 'since we're all here, let's hang out together,' so we headed to the arcade on the first floor.
Nakano Broadway has three arcades in total. The one on the fourth floor specializes in fighting games, so most people usually go to the other two on the first floor.
The first-floor arcades were filled with all sorts of rhythm and shooting games, as well as various other arcade machines, sticker photo booths, and UFO catchers—in other words, all the classic games you'd expect to find.
The President seemed to be captivated by the UFO catchers, which she was seeing for the first time, and burned through a thousand yen in ten minutes trying to get the doll she wanted.
Honestly, if Minami hadn't won it for her, there's no telling how much more she would have spent.
The Vice President, who seemed to have a strange sense of pride when it came to fighting games, boldly threw down the gauntlet.
And after winning one match, he declared,
"Hmph, Kim Yoo-Sung! Is that all you've got? I guess the rumor that Koreans are good at games was just a load of nonsense!"
The Vice President boasted of his dazzling control skills while T-bagging my defeated character.
I didn't really care at first, but I couldn't just stand by and let him say that I, a Korean, was bad at games.
For the sake of a fair game, I had sealed them away, but now I unleashed my main character and all my cheap moves, completely turning the tables on the Vice President and shutting him down so hard he couldn't do a thing.
"Ugh! I-I just let my guard down! One more round!"
After that, the Vice President challenged me twice more, switching characters each time, but he still couldn't win a single match.
Back in college, whenever I had a drink with my friends, we'd always hit the arcade and play this game.
I returned to where the President was with the dejected Vice President, who had been thoroughly crushed after his confident challenge. The President, who was playing Spot the Difference with Minami, asked,
"Is it over now?"
"Yes. Though I won all the matches."
"Hehe, it seems Shinjiro needs a little more training. And to think he loves games so much."
While waiting for the President to finish her game of Spot the Difference, I was wondering what to do next when a punching machine near the arcade entrance caught my eye.
The Vice President must have spotted it too, because his eyes suddenly lit up as he was trailing behind me, shoulders slumped in defeat from the game.
"Kim Yoo-Sung! Let's have another match with that!"
"Huh? With the punching machine?"
"That's right! Real men should compete with their bodies, not with games!"
"I don't really want to—"
As I tried to refuse, the Vice President's glasses glinted as he spoke.
"Hehe, are you scared? Scared of losing to me?"
His words irked me a little, but I just nodded.
"I just don't want to break the machine."
"In that case, I'll go first."
With that, the Vice President trudged over to the punching machine.
The punching machine—a hot spot that no group of male students can ever just walk past.
Standing before it, the Vice President chuckled and began unbuttoning his dress shirt.
"Kim Yoo-Sung. I never told you this, but the truth is..."
As he took off his shirt, the Vice President's massive muscles, which had been tightly hidden beneath his clothes, were revealed.
"I'm the type who looks skinny with clothes on."
Huh?
I couldn't help but stare blankly at the Vice President's muscles, which seemed to completely defy the laws of physics.
I knew he was surprisingly strong for his slender frame, but I never expected a twist like this.
More importantly, can that much muscle really be completely hidden just by putting on a shirt? It's like his entire physique changed.
As I blinked at this truly manga-like development, the Vice President, having evolved from a regular glasses-wearer to an end-of-the-century one, assumed a perfect punching stance.
He threw a straight punch carrying his full body weight, and it slammed into the machine's red target!
KWAAANG!!!!
An extraordinary roar echoed as the punching machine's score shot up.
Drrrrrrr- Ding!
960 points.
Having shattered the machine's high score with a single blow, the Vice President flexed his massive arm muscles and said to me,
"Now it's your turn, Kim Yoo-Sung."
Startled by the incredible noise, even passersby stopped to watch us with interest.
The atmosphere was turning into one where I couldn't refuse the challenge.
I looked to the President and Minami for help, but they were also staring at the punching machine with fascination.
"I've been curious for a while now. I wonder what kind of power you'd unleash if you went all out, Yoo-Sung-kun."
"If you're worried about it breaking, please don't be. Should it be destroyed, we will compensate for the full amount."
As she said this, Minami produced a card from her pocket.
'Seriously, they're setting the stage for me like this?'
An unstoppable current seemed to be forcing me into this duel, leaving no room for escape.
Everyone's expectant gazes were fixed on me.
I had no choice but to make a decision.
"...Fine. I'll do it."
I rolled my wrists and stepped up to the punching machine.
I'd realized this while trying out different sports clubs, but my body, blessed with the 'Gag Character Buff' for muscles, had already reached a level beyond common sense.
They say that, typically, your legs are three times stronger than your arms.
That means punching power is naturally weaker than kicking power, but somehow, I felt like I could probably shatter that machine in a single blow.
But that would draw too much attention, so I'd have to break it in a slightly different way.
"Hoooo..."
Raising my fist to my waist, I took a short, deep breath, twisted my hips, and threw a straight punch.
KWANG!!
The moment my outstretched fist collided with the punching machine's pad, the steel frame supporting it bent backward with a loud crack, then snapped and fell to the arcade floor.
Drrrrrrr- Ding!
0 points.
It seemed the score was nullified due to machine damage, but the crowd, which had been watching with bated breath, belatedly erupted in cheers.
"Woooooah!"
"I knew you had it in you, damn it!"
Apparently, breaking the machine like this had a much bigger impact than simply getting a high score like the Vice President did.
As I breathed an inward sigh of relief, the Vice President, who had been watching from the side, clicked his tongue and said to me,
"I'll call it a draw for today, Kim Yoo-Sung. But I won't lose next time."
"Ah, okay."
Hearing the Vice President's words, which seemed to show he was strangely conscious of me, I nodded with a bewildered expression.
Was he really that upset about losing the game?