El Clasico
Today was the day of El Clasico.
On days like this, a strange tension filled the house from the moment we woke up.
Lee Taesan was the first to open his mouth.
"I feel kind of bad… Is it because Barcelona's going to lose again today?"
"Last time you only won because the ref made some weird calls and you got lucky, and you're talking like that?"
"Luck is a skill."
"When you lost last time, you said it was because you were unlucky."
"Well… that's…"
"Last time was the end."
"Of what?"
"Of Real winning. From today on, Barcelona is going to own El Clasico."
"Says the Cule?"
Ju Seohyun, needled by Lee Taesan's words, fired back.
"Aww~ Talk all you want, but that doesn't change the fact that Real is sitting sixth in the league right now."
Lee Taesan snorted at Ju Seohyun's jab.
"Still looks a whole lot better than a team that crashed out of the Champions League group stage."
After trading a round of digs, the two of them glared at each other, then turned their heads away at the exact same time.
Just like that, the fight was put on hold for now.
Well. They might be going at it like this now, but I already knew that not long after El Clasico ended they would be back to normal, so I just sat back and enjoyed the show.
As someone who believes the most entertaining thing in the world is watching other people fight, seeing their raw desires collide like this always put me in a good mood.
I arrived at Camp Nou.
"Who do you think's going to win El Clasico, Messi?"
"Hmm. Still, Barcelona has to win. What about you, Jorge?"
"I kind of lean toward Real Madrid because of the white kits, but since I play for Barcelona, I'm going to cheer for Barcelona."
Jorge and Messi were already deep in conversation about today's El Clasico.
"I'm with Barcelona too."
"Oh, you're here, Junho."
After a quick round of greetings with Jorge and Messi, we kept talking about El Clasico.
"But Barcelona lost last time. Today's not going to be any different, right?"
At Messi's words I tried to recall how this match had gone, but I had no idea what the El Clasico results had been around this time.
In my previous life I had been in kindergarten in the year 2000, after all.
On top of that I hadn't even been a Barcelona fan, so of course I wouldn't have known who won.
"Hmm…… Maybe?"
Something about Messi's words made me feel like Barcelona was going to lose today.
You couldn't ignore momentum in football, and after losing to Real last time, I just had this sense that they might drop it again today.
"Actually, maybe they'll win today because they lost the last El Clasico? If they lose again the manager gets sacked and the players have to face the fans' rage, so they'll probably dig in and fight for their lives, right?"
"Huh? They sack the manager just for losing El Clasico?"
"Fans will put up with a bad run of form, but they absolutely cannot stand losing El Clasico. Two losses in a row and it'd get pretty dangerous, don't you think?"
Listening to Jorge, I could feel just how seriously both sides took El Clasico. Sacking a manager over one of these matches… the passion these people had for football was something I could never hope to match.
The fighting was raging online as well.
Familiar comments. I hadn't rooted for any particular team in my previous life, but as someone who watched football I had seen plenty of people throw down in these flame wars. Watching them go at it again without fail this time made me smile.
Even if I can't watch the match, I have to watch the flame war.
I might miss the game itself, but I always made sure to catch both sets of fans going nuclear at each other.
Watching their raw desires explode into the open always made me laugh so hard I couldn't stop coming back for more.
After finishing training I came home.
Mom's bright expression told me Barcelona had probably won.
"Did we win?"
"Yeah, 2-0."
On the living room sofa sat Dad, looking shell-shocked with a terrible expression on his face.
"Ah…… This can't be right……"
"You win some, you lose some."
While I was consoling Dad, the sound of a door opening came from down the hall.
Click.
Lee Eunha stepped out of her room, took one look at the situation, and nodded as if she understood everything.
"Barcelona won, huh."
"2-0."
Mom said it with a huge grin.
"Oh, proper revenge. Last time you lost 2-0 to Real, right?"
"That's right, we got our revenge properly."
Mom answered her daughter's question with a smile and headed into the kitchen.
"Alright, let's eat."
Mom called out as she brought the dishes from the kitchen.
My sister and I helped set the side dishes on the table.
"Okay, dig in~ You too, honey."
"Yeah…… alright……"
Dad sat down at the table last with a gloomy face, and dinner began.
The whole time we ate, Mom kept smiling, while Dad kept that depressed look on his face.
After dinner I went to my room and turned on the computer.
I clicked the link Jieun sent me, and the place I landed was already a full-blown warzone.
The Cules had already banded together and driven the Lequis out.
Of course they had—Barcelona had won, so the Lequis had no choice but to flee.