A Spat with the Dragon(?)
Sophomore year of high school — what you could call the peak of your high school days.
And right now, with midterms finally over.
At most of the high schools I knew, this particular event almost always rolled around at about this time. Timing could shift a little — sometimes during freshman year, sometimes early senior year — but it was a constant.
Our school, though, had started surveying the entire student body about it the moment we stepped into sophomore year.
Still, I had my complaints about how they were handling it.
If it had been overseas, fine. But the place everyone went — Jeju Island? That was it?
You could blame it on being a public school all you wanted, but the fact that this once-in-a-lifetime event was going to be spent on nothing more than Jeju left me a little unhappy. No — a lot unhappy.
So, as the CEO of a massive investment firm, I had every intention of sticking my hands into the school's plans.
"Don't. There's no reason to get involved. The school will handle it fine on its own. And overseas can wait — we can go later, just the two of us. I want to hang out with our friends. Besides, I've never even been to Jeju."
"…Really?"
That was what she said early in sophomore year, so I decided to leave the school's decision alone.
But did that mean I sat quietly with all that rotting money of mine?
Absolutely not.
"Seongsan Ilchulbong?"
"No way! The oreum! We've got to climb an oreum!! That place is way too touristy!"
"If you're going to Jeju, you have to see the horses! And if there's time, do a riding experience! See stuff! Eat stuff! Have fun!"
Once the details of this year's sophomore field trip started trickling out, every break and lunch period filled up with talk of Jeju Island — where they were going, what the schedule looked like, what people planned to do during free time, and on and on.
Even in the middle of all that noise and chaos, Ha-yan sat holding the field-trip handout in both hands, staring at it with a razor-sharp look. Then she lifted her head, fixed me with half-lidded eyes, and asked,
"Siu."
I flinched.
I knew exactly why she was glaring at me, so even after she called my name I pretended not to hear and deliberately turned my gaze toward the classroom window.
Choi Hoon, sitting right in front of me, and Do Ji-yeon, who had been clinging to Ha-yan from behind, both started reading the room off Ha-yan's face. Normally it might not have been so obvious, but right now anyone could tell her mood was off.
Choi Hoon started tapping my leg under the desk. Do Ji-yeon, still hugging Ha-yan, turned an even sharper glare on me than Ha-yan's.
Under the three-way assault, I finally let out a long sigh and spoke to her.
"What… what's wrong, Ha-yan?"
"You did it, didn't you?"
"Are we really saying this out loud here?"
"Yes or no. Just answer. Was it you, or wasn't it?"
"Yes, ma'am. Exactly as you suspected. I did it."
"Ugh…"
"What the hell are you two even talking about?"
"Yeah! Why'd you go and mess with our Ha-yan's mood? Hey, Cha Siu! Stop using code only the two of you understand and explain it so we can follow!"
"Ahem…"
"…"
Choi Hoon and Do Ji-yeon, completely lost, started whining and picking fights — but this was one thing I couldn't explain, not even to two people who had known us forever.
However long we'd been friends, there were limits.
The fact that every mode of transport on this Jeju field trip is either a plane or a VIP-only limousine bus… that the lodging is an entire five-star luxury hotel rented out completely… that nearly the whole itinerary is free for students to choose… that no matter what schedule a group picks, each group gets its own vehicle plus a professional driver who doubles as a security officer so they can go anywhere on the island… all of that exists because of the groundwork I laid beforehand~
…Yeah. Not exactly something you could just say out loud.
Ha-yan understood that perfectly well, so without another word to the other two she simply kept staring me down, slow and steady.
I had nothing to say and no excuse ready, so all I could do was take the full force of that sharp look. As a bonus, I also had to field the entire barrage of questions from the other two.
For almost every one of them, I exercised my right to remain silent.
Somehow, the school day finally ended.
"Hey! Cha Siu! You're seriously not gonna tell us anything, all the way to the end?! That's so cheap!!"
"Ha-yan? Our sweet, cute, pretty Ha-yan? Can't you just tell me? Just a little hint? I swear I won't say a word to anyone else!"
"…Sorry. See you tomorrow."
"Aaaaargh!! Ha-yaaan~~!!"
I never opened my mouth, not even when the final bell rang, so Choi Hoon and Do Ji-yeon made one last desperate grab for Ha-yan. She, however, slipped out of school at a brisk walk, and the two of them — still having learned nothing — vanished from sight blaming each other.
And from that point on, it was my time.
I hurried after Ha-yan, who was already well ahead of me with her quick stride.
Like a puppy with its ears drooping, watching its owner's face for cues, I dipped my head a little, carefully studied her expression, and spoke.
"…Are you mad?"
"…"
"You're mad…"
There was no need for a second question. She answered my words with complete silence, lips pressed tight, walking straight ahead.
Startled by that, I launched into a machine-gun spray of rambling excuses.
"No, wait, it's just… Originally I was thinking Hong Kong or Japan and having the company sponsor the whole thing, right? But then out of nowhere I thought of your mom. And you. Would you even be happy if I just switched the destination like that? You know how that goes. So I changed course a little… This is the first and last high school field trip for both of us, and I wanted the rest of the class to walk away with great memories too. I know you're sensitive about money, but you also know that this much money isn't even money to me, right? Hmm? So can't you just let this one slide a little? Honestly, if I'd followed my heart we would've gone to Europe, but that would've eaten too much time… So after compromise after compromise, I stretched what used to be a two-night, three-day trip into four nights and five days. Oh, and I absolutely did not threaten any teachers or anything like that, okay? I went through the proper channels — inquiries to the education office, official documents, the whole thing… So if you could just overlook it this once—"
"Pfft!"
"…maybe?"
I had unloaded excuses like this on Ha-yan before, rapid-fire style. But back then I had actually been in the wrong.
Without a second thought — Well, I've got money, so it's fine, right? I'm a dragon? — I had swapped our middle school picnic destination from Gyeongju to E-X Land, and booked the entire park exclusively for our school for the whole day.
When Ha-yan and her mother found out, they chewed me out harder than they ever had before or since. That woke me up for real.
After that, no matter how much money I had, I never again spent it in a way that completely flipped ordinary school life and everyday life on their heads. Company matters and magic-related equipment were the exceptions, of course.
So this time I had restrained myself, in my own way…
Whether she understood that or not, Ha-yan had been walking ahead without so much as a glance at me while I talked — and then, all of a sudden, she clutched her stomach and burst out laughing.
"Pwahahaha!!! Uwahahaha!! Heeheehee!! Ehehehe…"
Her whole body went soft with it; she staggered, and I hurriedly caught her. And then she leaned her entire weight into my arms and just kept laughing.
As that went on, people passing by started giving the two of us strange looks. I quickly steered her over to the plastic chairs outside a nearby convenience store.
Only then did Ha-yan seem to settle. She wiped away the tears that had gathered while she laughed, then looked straight at me with a smiling face.
Even though she was laughing, I was still wound tight, so I swallowed hard and watched her with a tense expression of my own.
"Were you that nervous? Nervous enough to spit excuses at me like you were freestyling a rap?"
"…Considering the stuff I've done before."
"Aww, is that so? So you were all tense because of the mess you made way back then~?"
As she said it, Ha-yan gently stroked my hair with her hand. It felt so good that, without thinking, a little pair of horns sprouted on top of my head.
She felt them under her palm and gave them a soft rub, then spoke to me with a smile still on her face.
"Don't worry. I'm not mad at all."
"…Really?"
"If I were actually mad, do you think I'd still be talking to you right now? If I were truly furious, I would've gone straight home and snitched on you to Mom."
"Well, that too, but…"
After what had happened before, I couldn't argue with a single word of that.
Looking at how completely deflated I was, Ha-yan smiled again, carefully took my hand, and spoke.
"I really wasn't mad. I did it on purpose. I wanted to hear how you actually felt."
"Instead of putting my heart through the wringer, couldn't you just ask for the real answer?"
"Tch. Then the real answer never would've come out."
"…Fair point."
"Exactly. That's why."
Ha-yan stood, shifted over, and sat right up against me, resting her head on my shoulder as she continued.
"For me, a comfortable, nice field trip is more than welcome. Who in the world hates money?"
"Then why did you react the way you did last time?"
"Back then? Back then… I was young, and so were you."
"Just because we were kids?"
"I don't really know myself. Mom told me to handle it that way, so I did."
"So it was your mother again this time, too."
The origin point of everything. The center of gravity between Ha-yan and me.
In the end, every thread led back to her mother.
"Anyway. I'm really not mad. If anything, I wish you'd spent even more. There's more than one or two things I want to do once we get to Jeju."
"Are you being serious right now?"
I stared at her with my eyes wide, asking again. Ha-yan grinned and answered,
"Mm-hmm! Please! I want to make the absolute best memories on this trip!"
"Is that so…"
And those final words of hers poured gunpowder straight onto the last smoldering fuse still burning in my heart.