Yu-ri and the Dojang People # 1
Yu-ri and the Dojang People # 1
Finally reassured, I straightened my shoulders and fixed my posture with total confidence. I didn't fully get it, but if Yu-ri said so, it must be true.
"Where'd that sudden confidence come from?"
"I felt relieved, so my confidence overflowed."
"Heh heh. You really are a funny bastard. You're like a lunatic."
"What's with the swearing again?"
—Vrrr.
The bell rang.
"Oh. I'll get the burgers."
"Bring 'em back fast as hell. I'm starving to death."
Yu-ri's voice was sharp, probably because she really was crazy hungry. I'd thought I was getting used to her since we'd been hanging out pretty often, but her terrifying aura was still impossible to adjust to.
She just radiates way too much force.
It gave off a shrinking-into-yourself kind of vibe. Woo Yu-ri was a woman who naturally scattered that kind of energy wherever she went. Even her eyes were far too sharp to begin with.
"Yu-ri, please!"
So I said it like I was begging.
"What?"
"Don't use such harsh words! You're scary!"
"What kind of bullshit are you on about!"
"I'm saying you're scary when you talk that intensely!"
"You fuck, everyone's staring...! Shut it! Seriously!"
"So scawwy...!"
In front of a Yu-ri who was practically dying of hunger, I deliberately laid on the exaggerated cutesy whining to stall for time.
"Ah, fuck! For real, just drop dead!"
Enraged, Yu-ri spoke while mimicking a hit.
"Just hurry up and bring the food, you bastard!"
"Yep."
"What the hell is 'yep'!"
"Eep!"
I nimbly shot my body over to the counter and dashed! Almost got smacked there!
When I ran up, the part-timer had an unsatisfied look, so I grabbed the tray immediately and went up to the second floor.
"Hey! Where are you going!"
"Let's go up, let's go up. Eating on the second floor is the proper move."
"Hah, you little shit. Seriously, you're impossible to figure out."
—Scritch.
Yu-ri got up while scratching the back of her head. Yeah. That's what makes teasing Yu-ri so fun. Leona, Si-hoo, even Ryu—teasing my friends is the most entertaining thing in the world.
Anyway, we went up to the second floor and sat facing each other at a two-seater by the window.
"Every time I see you, you're like a goddamn nutjob."
Yu-ri said that with her chin propped on one hand and fries in the other.
"What the hell? Why are you such a maniac?"
"No, hey. You're really gonna make a big deal over a little joking around? You said you were gonna starve to death, so I cracked a joke, and you call me a nutjob—what does that make me?"
"What does it make you? It makes you a nutjob. But the nutjobs usually fight well, anyway. Heh heh."
"Aww, you're embarrassing me. Heh heh heh."
"Bullshit, ugh. There you go doing that 'I'm so embarrassed' crap again."
Yu-ri chuckled, giggling at whatever was so funny, and unwrapped her burger.
"But it's not just something I'm saying. Lately, while teaching you, I've actually been feeling it. Your skills are improving fast."
"Have you finally recognized my talent?"
"Shut up for a second and listen."
"Okay."
If I got any more cheeky, I'd probably get hit.
"Anyway, I still don't know if this is because I'm teaching well or because you're learning well."
Yu-ri said as she ate fries.
"Oh, so is that also part of why you're taking me to the dojo?"
"Yeah. Honestly, to figure out someone's talent, that place is better suited than me."
She had a point. Yu-ri might be strong, but she's still a minor. The instructors who've been teaching at the dojo for a long time would definitely be more precise about this kind of thing.
"So you're taking me there to have my talent evaluated?"
"That's part of it."
"Seriously."
I put my burger down and shot up from my seat.
"Huh?"
And then.
—Whoosh.
I bowed ninety degrees and expressed my gratitude with the utmost courtesy.
"Thank you."
"Wha, what? What's this bastard doing? Why are you bowing?"
Yu-ri's flustered voice. With my back still bent at ninety degrees, I kept talking while staring at my burger. This is a deliberate thank-you method that piles on the pressure.
"Just. Thank you for looking out for me so well."
I looked at Yu-ri as I said it.
"L-looking out for you, what's that... It's just something I'm doing while teaching you anyway..."
Maybe embarrassed by my sincere thanks, Yu-ri scratched her cheek with a finger and looked out the window. Her face seemed to have gotten a bit hot, too.
"Why the fuck are you bowing your head like that. What a pain-in-the-ass bastard. Aren't you getting up? Five. Four. Three."
"Hey. Woo Yu-ri."
"What?"
"I want to bow a little to my master—are you against it?!"
"Wha, whaaat?!"
—Swoosh!
I straightened my back instantly, then bent forward ninety degrees again while shouting! Flustered, Yu-ri's eyes went wide, and she clutched her burger like a hamster hugging an almond!
"I said, are you against it?! Can I not bow a little to my master!"
"Hey, hey! Hey! Cut the bullshit!"
"Are you against iiiiit!"
When I repeated it.
"Alright, alright! It's fine, so just sit down, you bastard! Please!"
Only then did Yu-ri speak as if conceding defeat and wave her hands in refusal.
"Heh heh heh, okay."
Guess I'll stop then.
"Anyway, Woo Yu-ri, I'm watching you. Huh? Won't even let a guy bow. You're just a total tyrant, a tyrant."
"Kch...! Seriously, enough with the bullshit."
Seeing her grit her teeth, it felt like one more round of bullshit would get me beaten for real.
"One more word and I'll seriously beat the hell out of you."
"I told you not to use such harsh words."
"Come here. You, come here. Kim Geun-cheol, you fucker, come here!"
"Ack!"
Like a ghost, Yu-ri covered the distance in an instant with slick footwork, grabbed me by the scruff of the neck, and started jabbing Finger Strikes into my waist and ribs!
—Pok pok pok!
"Hrk! Huck! Aack! Hoohk! Save me! Aaack!"
"You gonna keep up the bullshit or not? But seriously, what's with your screaming!"
"I won't! I won't! It was a joke! A joke, I said! Yooooou!"
"Bastard."
—Swoosh.
Only after I begged and begged again did Yu-ri let me go...!
"Haah... No, really... Are you seriously like this over a little joke. My side has a hole in it, for real. Look. See the blood gushing out of my side here? What am I supposed to do about this."
"I really want to kill you."
She said that with a smirk, like jabbing Finger Strikes into a person was so much fun she was sprawled out. Whatever. I rubbed my sore side and went back to eating my burger.
"That's pretty much why I'm taking you to the dojo, so just know that. What's with the thank you. I'm taking you because I want to find out for myself, so quit going overboard, you bastard."
—Sllurp.
Yu-ri said that and took a sip of cola.
"Okay. I'll stop the bullshit now."
"Do you even know it's bullshit?"
"Because it was a joke. No, but the gratitude is a fact. Honestly, last year after I awakened, I was totally lost, but thanks to you I got this much stronger. Without you, I'd still be at 'Mun-Min' level."
"Well, that's..."
That's a true statement.
At this point, Mun Min is a symbol of small-fry.
If I hadn't been taught by my friends, I'd still be stuck singing the "below-Mun-Min damage, below-Mun-Min damage, what a happy little song" tune.
For reference, "below-Mun-Min damage" meant dealing even less damage than Mun Min. Pretty humiliating. Honestly, I could maybe let it slide for Brian, but I didn't want to hear that kind of talk from Mun Min. Brian was kind of a gimmick character, so if his luck popped off, he might pull out some burst damage.
"Anyway, if you get stronger, you can properly do the things you want to do. Right? That bowing just now was just an overly intense expression of my gratitude. I was a little embarrassed so I said it in a roundabout way, and you poked a hole in my side..."
"If you go intense a second time, I'm seriously gonna end up in a mental hospital. Heh heh. Embarrassed, my ass. It doesn't even seem like you know the concept of embarrassment."
I do have a sense of shame.
"Hoo. Anyway, that's pretty much it."
Yu-ri let out a sigh.
"For a hero to properly do the things they want, the only way is to get stronger."
"So I just have to work hard, Yu-ri."
"Yeah."
Yu-ri leaned back in her chair and took a sip of cola.
We finished all our burgers in that kind of mood, and I left the restaurant with Yu-ri.
"Yu-ri. So are we going to the dojo now?"
"Mm."
Yu-ri, hands in her pockets, stuck close to my side and said,
"Ah, hey."
"What."
"Let's watch a movie."
What?
A movie, all of a sudden?
"What about the dojo?"
"It's the weekend, why would we rush off to some sweaty place already. We can go a bit late."
"Then let's watch a movie first. What should we see, though? What's playing?"
I took out my phone right away and looked up movies.
Since this world's setting is different from where I used to live, the movie franchises are pretty different. The music is identical or similar, but the movies are totally different. They were made in a world with superhumans from the start, so no matter what you watch it all looks like sci-fi.
"Kim Geun-cheol, what do you want to see?"
"Anything's fine as long as it's not a horror movie."
"You don't like horror?"
"No kidding, if I watch a horror movie I literally can't sleep at night."
I even have to shower with the door open.
"You lunatic. That something a seventeen-year-old guy should say? At your age, you can't sleep because you're scared of ghosts?"
"What does being a guy have to do with ghosts? No joke, even our Sovereign Commander Kim Ik-su would probably slump to the floor and cry for his mom if he saw a ghost. Like, Mom, Mommm! he'd scream."
"Why would the Sovereign Commander be screaming, you crazy bastard. Heh heh. Hey. Let's watch a horror movie."
"What?!"
No, why!
"You don't want to?"
"No, why watch a horror movie! I don't want to!"
"This little shit... Your master says she wants to watch one and you say no? Noooo? Shut it, we're doing horror!"
"No, hey!"
I'm going crazy, fuck!
* * *
"Very well."
She dressed in military-style clothes with an urban-combat pattern, donned a beret and sunglasses. And over it all, she draped a Camouflage Cloak.
"No. The beret is overkill."
—Fwoop.
She tossed the beret aside and picked up a set of Precision Monster-Observation Binoculars. Her figure reflected in the mirror. She looked every bit the hunter.
This was by no means a flashy or strange outfit. Hunters usually like to wear quasi-military fashion or techwear. Or sometimes they just walk around in full protective gear or powered suits.
So going around like this wasn't strange at all.
"Kim Geun-cheol. To dare go out and have fun with a girl without reporting to me. I've no particular intention of stalking, but I must verify."
—Tight.
She finished her preparations by putting on black gloves.
"As Geun-cheol's mom."
Having completed her preparations, Leona immediately went down to the first floor and got into a car. While the driver drove, she received reports on where Kim Geun-cheol was going.
He hadn't come out of the dorm yet, so they couldn't tell.
"Tch."
After waiting a little, she heard the report that Kim Geun-cheol had come out, and finally received word that he had met up with Woo Yu-ri and headed to a fast-food restaurant.
—Screech.
Leona got out a short distance away, immediately scaled the exterior wall of a building, and sprinted up to the rooftop. Then she moved to a good sniping point and lay prone.
"Camouflage on."
—Swoosh.
Leona's form vanished via Optical Camouflage. She immediately took out her binoculars. At first she grew anxious when the two targets were out of sight, but soon she observed them sitting by the window.
'Burgers from the morning...! I'd love to say something, but then I'd get caught watching them in secret!'
Leona muttered internally and continued her observation.
"...Tch."
The two seemed to be talking very merrily. They've apparently gotten quite close. Did they grow that close while learning swordsmanship...? But then, suddenly. Kim Geun-cheol shot up from his seat and started doing something crazy.
"A balloon doll?"
For some unknown reason, Kim Geun-cheol repeated a high-speed bow like some kind of mascot doll, and not long after—Flash! Woo Yu-ri sprang over, grabbed Kim Geun-cheol by the scruff of the neck, and attempted physical contact!
"No! Why are you there looking like you're having so much fun?!"
Leona bit down on her handkerchief.
"Yipe!"