Inhuman Outing...! # 7
Inhuman Outing...! # 7
"..."
Arriving at the training ground, Woo Yu-ri felt an odd emptiness inside. Whenever she'd come with Kim Geun-cheol before, she'd never had this feeling, but today the training ground seemed enormous.
"The little bastard. Bailed on me."
A vague irritation made her scratch the back of her head. Kim Geun-cheol had totally flaked. Not even running a fever, and he'd gone all limp saying he was sick.
"Fuck."
Still, remembering how drained he'd looked earlier stirred a strange discomfort deep in her chest.
Just train hard while yelling like usual. What part of him hurt so bad he had to pull that fake sick act?
Unable to contain her irritation, Woo Yu-ri swung her sword. Still, the guy was built tough, so he'd probably shake it off by tomorrow and be up and about. She'd just tease him for it.
That was what she was thinking.
"Wait."
Suddenly, she recalled that she'd looked into Kim Geun-cheol's background a long time ago. That bastard was working hard to avenge his family too. Back then, going through his orphanage records, she'd definitely seen...
—Fwoosh!
Woo Yu-ri sheathed her sword and ran straight home. She turned on her computer and searched through the data she'd received back then.
"Oh, shit!"
Today was the anniversary of Kim Geun-cheol's parents' death.
"So that's why the dumbass had no energy, fuck!"
A belated realization.
"No, I seriously thought he was faking it...!"
Actually, she had wondered if he was really hurting somewhere, but with nobody around to hear, Woo Yu-ri scrambled to make excuses and sprang up from her seat.
* * *
Lying alone in the infirmary was seriously lonely.
I'm not the type to get all anxious over something like this, but getting kidnapped once and now I'm fucking terrified of every little thing. Was Kim Geun-cheol always this much of a coward?
Should I buy a stuffed animal to hug when I sleep from now on? No. If I bought one and Si-hoo found out, I'd get treated like a total idiot, so I'll just get a body pillow instead.
I can't calm down, fuck.
"Gate Gate Paragate Parasamgate Bodhi Svaha."
So I recited the Heart Sutra.
"Bodhisattva Leona, come come, Leona."
Conjuring up the image of Archangel Leona to soothe my mind seemed to have some effect. As expected, Leona. An angel descended upon this mortal world.
Just as I was doing that.
—Click.
The infirmary door opened.
I wondered who it was.
"Ryu? What? Ain't that the Ryu bastard?"
"...I came to the wrong place. Get lost."
"What?"
—Slam!
The door slammed shut hard.
"What's with that asshole?"
Did he come to attack me?
I was staring in disbelief when the door opened again shortly after.
"Geun-cheol. You okay?"
"Ah, Si-hoo? What about Ryu?"
"Huh? Why Cheon-hwi?"
Did Si-hoo not see him?
"No. It's nothing. So, you bastard. Did you come to get me?"
"Of course. Let's hurry and go. Feeling a little clearer?"
"My gut's still a bit off, but it's better than before. Oof. Time to get up, I guess."
I waved off Si-hoo's offer to help me up, stood, and gathered my stuff. My legs didn't have much strength. Still, walking wasn't a problem.
"Let's go."
"Yeah."
And so, I returned to the dorms with Si-hoo.
"Si-hoo. I don't have the energy to cook today. Let's just order something."
When I said that, Si-hoo followed me right into my room.
"You really are such a dumbass, Geun-cheol."
"What, why."
"Order something? What's there to order? A sick person eats porridge."
"Porridge?"
"I'll make it for you. It feels wrong to just make something for myself while you're sick, Geun-cheol."
"Hell yeah! This bastard's the best!"
No kidding, isn't he seriously the best friend ever!
"Si-hoo! Just say the word when you're sick later! I'll even make you fried chicken!"
"Just make me porridge... Speaking of food, seems like you've perked up a bit."
"I'm just so damn thankful."
"Then rest. I'll make it."
"Heh heh heh. Alright."
So Si-hoo started making the porridge. Porridge is quick to make anyway, so there wasn't really anything to help with. So I lay down and focused on recovering my stamina.
"Geun-cheol. But seriously, nothing's going on, right?"
"Huh?"
"The Kim Geun-cheol I know isn't the type to get like this just from being a little under the weather. Something's up. Right?"
Is this bastard Kitty?
Even if you interrogate me, I'll never talk!
Just kidding, of course. The Si-hoo here is definitely Si-hoo. But still, I can't say it. I swore to take it to the grave. There are some secrets you just can't tell even a friend.
"When your body's weak, you naturally lose energy. I'm just trying to rest up until my condition comes back."
"Mm, good idea."
"Can't be helped. Happens sometimes."
"Is that how it is? Anyway, Geun-cheol, turn on the news at least."
"Sure."
I turned on the news right away.
[Large-Scale Otherworldly Species Extermination Operation Underway.]
[Voices of Concern Raised Over Reserve Force Conscription.]
[Sovereign Commander: Reserve Conscription Unavoidable to Resolve the Situation.]
From the looks of it, they were conscripting the reserves to deal with this mass outbreak of otherworldly species.
"Whoa, the Sovereign Commander's just calling up the reserves left and right."
"...Yeah, he is."
Si-hoo paused for a moment before answering.
"This isn't exactly a common thing, is it?"
"Nope. Even for the Sovereign Commander, they almost never call up the reserves. But apparently, they do it every now and then."
This is insane.
"With the entire street turned into a nest for otherworldly species, there's more than enough justification to call them up."
This is absolutely batshit crazy.
"Running us fucking ragged."
Conscripting the reserves for shit like this.
It's definitely a lot different from modern-day Korea.
"Here, let's eat. Geun-cheol."
"But Si-hoo, you're having porridge too?"
"What's wrong with that."
"Heh heh heh, alright, let's eat."
I sat down and ate the porridge with Si-hoo.
The taste was just, well, porridge flavor.
It was seasoned lightly with soy sauce, so it was good.
I especially liked the salty stir-fried anchovies on top.
"Damn, you make good porridge. You could run a porridge shop when you grow up."
"Cut the crap, Geun-cheol. What porridge shop, you're gonna be a hero."
"Can't heroes run a business?"
They totally could.
While I was chuckling and eating with Si-hoo like that.
—Knock knock.
"Huh?"
I heard a sound from the window and turned around.
"Aaaagh! It's a crazy woman's face!"
Some woman's face was outside the window!!!
"No! It's Yu-ri!"
"What?!"
Yu-ri?
"It's really her?"
I looked and it really was Yu-ri. What the hell? Did she climb up the wall? Doing something that dangerous!
—Click!
I went right over and opened the door for her.
"Whoa. Yu-ri in the glass window."
"Shut your mouth and move."
"Yessum."
The instant I stepped aside, Yu-ri hopped lightly inside. But now's not the time to be watching that!
"Hold on, what the fuck is this! Yu-ri, you're invading the guys' dorm!"
Barging into a guys' dorm!
And by climbing the wall to do it!
"I came without being seen, so relax."
Averting her eyes from me, Yu-ri spoke brusquely as if it was no big deal.
—Rustle.
"Hey. You eat this."
She held out a bag to me.
"What's this?"
"Samgyetang."
"No way!"
Samgyetang!
"What the! Where'd this samgyetang come from?!"
"Shut up a sec...! Hey, Lee Si-hoo, I got some for you too. Let's eat together."
"Oh, uh. Thanks, Yu-ri."
"What's this? You two made porridge and were eating?"
Yu-ri walked over to the table naturally, opened the samgyetang bag, and sat down like she owned the place.
"Come sit down, you idiot. It's takeout, so eat up."
Yu-ri gestured for me to eat.
Wow.
The sheer gratitude was so overwhelming it almost brought tears to my eyes. Hearing I was sick and immediately packing up samgyetang to bring me...!
She really is like an older sister and a teacher!
"Seriously, Yu-ri, thank you so much...!"
"But look at this bastard perking up at the sound of samgyetang. You're faking it, aren't you? Huh?"
When I went over and sat next to her, Yu-ri grabbed my ear and tugged gently while interrogating me.
"Ack. Ack. No, that's not it."
I was really sick.
It's just a sickness of the heart.
"Anyway, shut the hell up and just eat. This place is good. Lee Si-hoo, you pick up your spoon too."
"Thanks. But we already ate porridge."
"How many calories does porridge even have? Eat up."
Yu-ri picked up her spoon, so I picked up mine too.
"Oh. You eat the jujubes."
But then Yu-ri scooped up every single jujube from her samgyetang and dumped them into my bowl.
"No, Yu-ri. I hate jujubes."
"A sick person's picking out jujubes right now? If you don't want to die, eat them all."
"That's too harsh!"
"Let's eat the ginseng too."
And just like that, Yu-ri handed off all the jujubes and ginseng to me.
"Can't be helped, I guess. I hate jujubes and ginseng too, but the warm heart inside them—I'll accept it gladly."
"Ah, fuck. You really are faking it, you bastard? Wanna die? Cut the shit and eat, you little punk."
"Heh heh heh. Yeah. I will."
Whatever, I gotta eat.
I tore into the chicken right away and ate.
"Wow. This place makes good samgyetang, huh."
The meat was tender and the seasoning was perfect. When was the last time I even had samgyetang? Probably in the army. I'd never had it after getting discharged so I hadn't even thought about it, but damn, samgyetang is pretty delicious food.
"But how'd you even think of climbing up the wall?"
Si-hoo said while picking meat off a chicken bone.
"It's not exactly hard for us, is it? Something like this is total baby shit."
"Yu-ri. Don't use such harsh language."
"Bullshit."
Anyway, me, Si-hoo, and Yu-ri all sat together, listening to the news with one ear while we ate the samgyetang happily. This place really is decent. I'll have to treat them next time.
"Kim Geun-cheol, since you ate this. Starting tomorrow, we're grinding swordsmanship training hard again, got it?"
"So that was your goal."
"What're you doing lying flat on your back when time's this tight? If you eat this and still can't recover, you better brace yourself, dipshit."
Her tone was sharp, but this was exactly the kind of moment where you could tell how genuinely kind Yu-ri was.
"Heh heh heh, I absolutely have to recover then."
Yeah.
Sitting here, talking and eating with my friends, I could feel my mind and body settling down and my mental state recovering. Kitty, you bitch... shattering my heart to pieces.
But that's not enough to break me.
"Right, you punk. Quit faking it and get up—"
That moment.
—Whoosh!
Something flew in through the open window.
"Huh?"
"Uh-oh?"
A bizarre situation. Me, Si-hoo, and Yu-ri all made dumb sounds staring at the window. While we were at it, we tried to figure out what had come in. Looking at it... it was sort of transparent and crinkly.
It was something extremely weird.
—Rustle!
Suddenly something peeled away, and Leona appeared from within a transparent veil!
"Kim Geun-cheol!"
"Leona?!"
"Oh, Lee Si-hoo and... Woo Yu-ri?! Why are you here?! This is the boys' dorm?!"
"I broke in through the window just like you... Um, Class Pres? Did the Class Pres just unlawfully enter the boys' dorm?"
"No, I mean."
When Yu-ri pointed it out teasingly, Leona shut her mouth.
"Let's make a sort of plea bargain. We'll keep quiet about each other. Okay?"
"Whoa. She's using English again 'cause she's a foreigner."
"Plea bargain, okay! Please!"
"Heh heh, fine. Whatever. We'll do that. But."
"I was just worried about Kim Geun-cheol, you see."
—Whip.
After saying those touching words, Leona held out a bag.
"Kim Geun-cheol! I packed up some grilled eel!"
Grilled eel?!