Schoolyard Memories
After parting ways with the S-class hunter figurine from the HHH Hunter Office, Mina and Seok-jun stepped out of the station. A cold wind swept across the road between them.
"By the way, what kind of request is this that it's fine for me to observe?" Mina asked as they crossed the overpass connected to the station with Seok-jun. Though she was now an A-class hunter, most B-class hunters with ambiguous abilities found entering gates too difficult, so they used their mana traits for other work instead. It had been no different when she herself was B-class.
"You'll understand faster once you see it for yourself."
With her curiosity only growing, the first thing that came into view was a long stretch of green fencing, a wide yard, and a gate glittering under the sunlight. Trees planted here and there, a row of cars in the parking lot, and a building that stretched sideways rather than upward.
"Don't tell me the 'observation' was literally just sightseeing…?"
The place they arrived at with him was a school. Mina was taken aback by the sight, then a question occurred to her.
"Isn't it winter break around now?"
As far as she remembered, it should have been deep in vacation season, so unless there were supplementary classes, there shouldn't have been any children around. Yet the playground was full of kids running and playing. She wondered if they were just visitors during break, but there were far too many for that.
"It is break period, but I believe they're still required to come to school these days."
"…Is that really considered a break?"
She had already noticed that vacation days kept shrinking as the grades went up, but had it really reached the point where breaks had disappeared altogether?
"They only have to show up. From what I hear, classes aren't really held."
That explained why so many children were already out on the playground even before lunch.
"I don't see why they have to come in at all."
"Parents don't have to watch their kids, and the school makes money. Wasn't it similar in our time?"
"I didn't want to know about adult circumstances like that!"
Mina looked at the still-closed main gate and thought it resembled a prison. Maybe it was because she remembered a poem that had been popular when she was young—comparing school to a prison, students to inmates, and uniforms to prison clothes—though she couldn't recall who wrote it.
"The person we arranged to meet doesn't seem to have arrived yet. Would you like to have lunch first?"
She happened to be hungry, so it worked out well. Near the school there was a stationery store, and beside it, instead of a tteokbokki place, a skewer shop whose savory aroma drifted out and tempted her.
"Welcome…?"
When they stepped inside, the owner stood up to greet them, then paused with a puzzled look. It made sense—most customers were probably students, and here were two oddly dressed adults showing up at an odd hour. She glanced at the menu written on paper. The first thing that caught her eye was the tornado potato, the kind usually sold at rest stops.
"Two cheese tornado potatoes, please. What about you, Seok-jun?"
"The same for me."
"All right."
Before long they received the crisply fried potatoes and sat side by side on the chairs.
"Still, not everything feels exactly the same as before. I thought there would at least be a snack shop near a school."
She was aware it was a prejudice, but somehow it felt like it ought to be that way. When she took a bite, the sweet-and-salty cheese powder soaked in oil mixed with the potato's texture—crispy like a chip at first, then soft and fluffy like steamed potato in places. Back then, even at 2,500 won, she would have hesitated to buy one. Now here they were, casually buying it as a substitute for lunch.
"Do you want tteokbokki?"
"I had it yesterday, so I can go without it for a while. Those kinds of things are best eaten as memories."
Even if the price was different from the memory.
"Not everything has changed, though."
"Hm?"
After finishing the tornado potatoes, they went into the stationery store next door.
"Whoa."
She marveled at the familiar snacks lined up inside. From colorful bead-shaped hard gum in long transparent bags to gum rolled up like Scotch tape in cases—snacks she recognized from her own childhood.
"Teachers used to call these 'unhealthy foods' and stop us from buying them."
"It was a meaningless rule. Especially since the standard for 'unhealthy' was anything under 500 won."
"Pfft, exactly."
By that standard, nothing in the store would have been edible. Even now, most of the snacks were priced between 100 and 300 won.
"Oh, these are Choco-myeon and Con-pang! Eating these wrong used to hurt your teeth so much."
"I remember them as Kkoedori and Batdureong, if I'm not mistaken."
"Ahaha! See, this stuff really shows your age."
Mina browsed the shelves with him, occasionally buying snacks that caught her curiosity.
"Mm, I expected it, but it tastes nothing like actual beer."
"Well, it's made for kids."
"Still, sometimes you just want to try something even if you know that."
Then something else caught her eye: many small folded papers hanging densely from a large sheet.
"Ah, this is…"
It was an old-style lottery where you paid 100 won to draw one slip. Back then the pictures had been gaudily drawn without any clear meaning. Now she could clearly tell what the drawings were meant to be. She knew hunters had become as popular among children as YouTubers, but she hadn't expected famous hunters to appear on an old lottery machine like this.
"First prize is a model weapon of Hunter Yu Seongjin… He's active even in places like this."
"Anywhere and anytime. Being an S-class hunter is quite the busy life."
"Pfft, you're right."
Since he was practically the strongest in Korea, it was only natural, yet in a way it made someone so distant feel strangely common. Up to third prize were replicas of some hunter's weapon or equipment, and only from fourth and fifth prize did things appear that were familiar to her—BB guns and giant carp-shaped dalgona. Everything below tenth prize was just random candy.
"Want to try it?"
"We'll just get nothing anyway."
As Seok-jun said, even at 100 won per draw, it looked like you'd easily spend over 10,000 won before getting anything decent.
"It's just for fun. We don't actually need to win anything, right?"
Even getting something small like candy would be fine.
"See? It's a dud, as expected."
They each paid 100 won, drew a slip, opened it, saw the word "dud," and tossed it into the trash without regret. A hundred won didn't feel like much anymore.
"What did you get, Seok-jun…?"
Something about the way he stood frozen with the paper made her grab his arm and pull it down. She blinked at the characters written there.
"Fourth prize?!"
The slip clearly said fourth prize.
"I don't think I've ever seen anything above fifth prize before."
"I never expected something I couldn't pull no matter how hard I tried as a student would come out now."
"Let's see, fourth prize is…"
Fourth prize turned out to be a BB gun.
"Pfft, you didn't aim for that on purpose, did you?"
He tried to casually throw the winning slip into the trash, but Mina snatched it mid-air and called out to the owner.
"Excuse me! We won!"
In the end, a BB gun the owner handed over ended up in Seok-jun's hands. Mina held back a laugh at the displeased look he gave it.
"What model is that gun, anyway? If it really exists, it wouldn't be bad for you to use something like this."
"Glock 17. It does exist, but it's illegal for hunters to use in Korea."
"It's much smaller than that Winchester you mentioned, though."
At a glance, she had thought its size wouldn't be a problem.
"It's not about size. The standard is rate of fire."
"Rate of fire? In what way?"
"A Winchester holds fourteen rounds but needs reloading time, and a revolver is limited to six or eight at most. An automatic pistol like the Glock can fire seventeen rounds without reloading. That's why."
"The standards are stricter than I thought."
Mina thought it would be more comfortable to just use hunter-specific weapons and walked with him toward the school gate. Just then—
"Seok-jun, what are you doing here?"
At the voice calling him, Mina turned to look as well. A man in a long coat leaning against a black sedan that hadn't been there earlier was smoking and watching them. She was about to ask if they knew each other when the man approached first.
"Why are you here?"
Seok-jun answered calmly while the man looked visibly flustered.
"I came because a request came in. Isn't that obvious?"
"Hey, even so, this is about kids. They called you? Something must be wrong."
"I confirmed it several times. It's certain."
The man frowned, dropped his cigarette on the ground, and crushed it out.
"Ha, what the hell is going on with this job."
"I'll handle it appropriately. Just appropriately."
"Yeah, right."
Then the man seemed to notice Mina for the first time and widened his eyes.
"And this person is…"
"She decided to observe for a bit."
"A new recruit? How'd you end up with such a beauty?"
"She's an A-class hunter."
"What?"
Surprised by Seok-jun's words, the man looked at her and bowed his head.
"Hello."
"Ah, hello."
Mina felt puzzled by his subtle reaction. People were often surprised to learn she was A-class, but his response seemed slightly different.
After standing outside for a moment, the man sighed and stepped aside.
"Well, it's cold. Go on in and work."
"Yes."
"Take it easy, all right? Take it easy."
Even as they passed through the side gate beside the main gate that he had cleared, Mina glanced back at him, but he was only lighting a new cigarette. She was curious what was going on, but the children's voices coming from the playground soon buried the question.
"Hey! Pass it this way! This way, I said!"
The path they walked was paved with sidewalk blocks, but just a step off to the side was the playground filled with yellow sand. When the wind blew, grains of sand brushed against their cheeks.
"Kids really run around even in this winter weather."
"It's far more pleasant than playing in the summer, isn't it?"
"Ugh, don't even mention summer. Once lunch break ends, the smell of sweat from the kids who come back in is no joke."
Winter wasn't great either, but summer was the worst. While having that conversation, they headed deeper into the school grounds behind him. Then—
—Whoosh!
At the sound of something flying through the air, she flinched and turned. Sure enough, a soccer ball was hurtling toward them at terrifying speed. Mina reached out first and caught it. The loud thwack surprised her.
"Wow, kids these days are strong."
"It's not uncommon for them to awaken young."
Indeed, most of the children on the playground had colorful hair.
"How roughly must they have played with it for the ball to end up like this?"
She was examining the soccer ball—its outer layer half-peeled, tattered, and deflated—when Seok-jun shook his head.
"It probably doesn't have an owner."
"You think so?"
Since holding on to it wouldn't help anyone, Mina tossed the ball toward the children who had been standing there blankly, unable to approach.
"Ah, it's a goal."
After confirming the ball had gone into the opposite goal on its own, they arrived at the school's main entrance. She looked up at the large pillars on either side of the gate.
"Back then they said the main gate was only for guests and teachers, so we weren't allowed to use it."
"I never understood why, but having to take a detour even when it was closer was inconvenient."
"Right? That was really annoying."
While changing into guest slippers at the shoe rack, she caught a glimpse of small heads peeking over the stairs at the main gate, staring this way. Knowing they were children, Mina waved, but they ducked out of sight in surprise.