Incidents and Accidents...! # 3
Incidents and Accidents...! # 3
"Seriously, this Kim Geun-cheol bastard is so goddamn annoying! Ah, Brian! I told you not to call him—why the hell did you?!"
"Then should I not call the guy who's supposed to mess with you?"
"You crazy bastard!"
"Hahaha! Looks like calling Scream Man was a good call!"
This is a very good development.
"Yeah. Mun Min, you punk. You got to see my face over break. How great is that? This bastard... I'm pretty sure you spent the whole vacation thinking about me."
"Bullshit!"
"Don't even pretend. You punk, I bet you trained like a demon to beat me, but no matter what you do, you're never gonna reach me, you asshole."
"You fucking bastard...!"
Mun Min's face turned as red as a ripe persimmon in a flash. Guy's still an open book.
"Just as I thought! I knew this would happen! That's the vibe between you two!"
Just then, Ken folded his arms and hollered.
"Well, this is a good opportunity, Scream Man. We were planning to meet up today to hang out, spar, and do some group training."
"Training?"
"Now that there are four of us, we could do two-on-two or three-on-one. How about squaring off against Mun Min while we're at it?"
"Hell yeah!"
Yeah. This was exactly what I'd been looking for. I accepted Ken's sparring invitation on the spot.
"I'm seriously gonna wipe the floor with you this time."
Mun Min's fighting spirit is burning too.
Gonna crush him again today.
"Hahaha! This is gonna be fun! Then first we eat food! Play some games, and then we'll head to the training hall!"
"Sounds good. Let's go."
"Follow me, Scream Man!"
"Heh heh heh, let's do just that."
And so I walked the streets behind the three most peculiar and eccentric characters in the whole class.
"Hey, Brian. Do you three meet up often?"
"Oh, no. We've seen each other two at a time, but the three of us together is a first today."
"It's not even three, actually. Today we're four."
Ken adjusted his glasses as he spoke.
"Is that so?"
So they haven't had many chances to get together as a trio. Guess their schedules never lined up.
"Anyway, hey. What're we gonna stuff ourselves with? You know any good place around here? If you do, let's head there."
"Me no know."
"Hmm... I'm fine with anything, honestly."
"Just eat whatever."
Uh, these bastards?
There are three people besides me and literally no one's giving an opinion. At times like this, the universal rule is to follow the first person who pitches something actively.
"Ah, screw it—let's go get Chinese, then."
"What? Jjajangmyeon is a little..."
"Ugh, this Mun Min bastard just said 'whatever' a second ago and now he's pulling this."
"Huh? No, I mean, just anything other than jjajangmyeon..."
Unforgivable!
"GO!!"
"Aaaagh!"
"Let's hit that place!"
I immediately dragged the group straight into the jjajangmyeon place right in front of us. Just a standard Chinese spot. Order some tangsuyuk and jjajangmyeon and that oughta do it.
"No, no. Mun Min. You said anything was fine, and now you're refusing? Are you in your right mind? 'Anything' literally means anything. Exceptions are impossible."
Brian and Ken, now seated, each threw a remark at Mun Min.
"Normally, when you have no opinion, you're supposed to follow the person who did offer one."
"Ah, shit. If I'd known it'd go like this, I would've said let's go eat gopchang."
"Wha—what? This bastard wants gopchang first thing in the morning?"
Is this Mun Min guy an absolute psycho?
Gopchang is already brutally divisive to begin with, and suggesting it for breakfast is not the act of a sane person. As expected, you can tell a tree by its early leaves—Mun Min is Mun Min through and through.
"No! Greasy, greasy! I am absolutely not eating it!"
"Gopchang...! The level is way too high! I can't eat it!"
Brian and Ken were equally horrified. We really see eye to eye, I tell you.
"Why not? What's wrong with gopchang, you freaks."
The thoroughly deflated Mun Min protested, but there wasn't a single concession coming his way.
"Gopchang Man, you bastard. No way, punk. Who the hell eats that in the morning?"
"What's time got to do with eating, you damn Kim Geun-cheol? Then how about loach soup or blood sausage, those are fine too."
"You crazy bastard!"
Naturally, the other friends were equally horrified.
Anyway, we ordered jjajangmyeon, tangsuyuk, and even kkanpunggi, and the moment the food hit the table we devoured it like a pack of starving animals.
When four superhuman high schoolers get together, every last dish ends up annihilated.
"Hm... Geun-cheol? Kkanpunggi? What's different from chicken?"
"The seasoning."
"Oh, I see. Kkanpunggi is good."
What year's Korean textbook is this guy working from?
"Phew, that was a good meal. Korean-style Chinese food is always satisfying. Now that we've eaten, I'd like to go do something. Any bright ideas?"
"What's there? PC café? Pool hall? Bowling alley?"
When friends meet up casually, those are about the only options. So we can just pick one of those.
"Hey. How about a shooting range?"
Mun Min spoke up.
Shooting range?
"Hahaha! A shooting range? That's excellent! I'm confident in shooting! I'd love to go there!"
"Ken, you're into shooting?"
"I'm quite good!"
"Hey! Then let's hit the shooting range!"
We settled on the shooting range just like that. Even that Mun Min can be useful sometimes.
"Oh, shooting is great! But just doing it is boring, so let's make a bet! A bet!"
"What kinda bet?"
"The loser covers the range fee and drinks for everyone!"
"Deal!"
A bet like this is an automatic yes!
"Ha, these clowns don't know my shooting skills. Let's do it! Anyone can see that Kim Geun-cheol bastard is gonna come last! Get your money ready!"
"Hey, Mun Min. No matter what, you really think I'd do worse than you?"
"I've been learning to shoot since I was a kid, you bastard Kim Geun-cheol."
Huh?
"Hehehe, I'm still gonna win, punk. Hey, Brian. Can you shoot?"
"Oh, don't you know I'm from the US?"
"You're from the US? I could've sworn you were Japanese-American..."
"Other way around!"
"But what's the US got to do with it?"
So it was the other way around.
"Americans are good at shooting guns. Don't you know cowboys, cowboys? Cow-boy. Short for 'boy.' A shoot boy? A good shot boy?"
"You goddamn psychopath...!"
I never imagined Brian would bust out this kind of advanced wordplay!
"Anyway, let's head to the shooting range!"
The world being what it is, just about every neighborhood has a halfway decent live-fire range. We looked up the location on our phones and headed over.
* * *
"Automatic rifles, huh?"
We went into the shooting range, selected our guns, and paid for the magazines. All the same model. You had to rack up a high score with one set—one magazine.
"Hey, Kim Geun-cheol. Ken. Brian. Take your positions. The rules are simple. See that line up ahead? Holographic balls with scores are gonna pop up there. You've got a ten-second time limit, one magazine, and you just score as many points as you can."
The higher the score, the smaller the ball, and since the settings were matched, all four of us would be dealing with the exact same conditions for the hologram balls.
All you gotta do is drill nothing but tiny balls for ten seconds and rack up a monster score.
"Excellent! Let's start right away!"
"Hahaha! This is my specialty!"
"Hey, Kim Geun-cheol. I've been doing this since I was a kid. You're dead."
"How the hell does this country let minors do live-fire? Anyway, you're dead, Mun Min."
My mindset: I will absolutely beat Mun Min.
ㅡClick.
I grabbed the rifle, shouldered it, and sighted straight ahead. Then—
ㅡStart!
The mechanical chime signaled the start, and at the same instant the electronic clock above the firing line kicked in. With a soft zap, blue holographic balls began popping up all over the place.
[100 points]
[5 points]
[10 points]
[150 points]
Every score imaginable.
The 150-point one is damn tiny, like a Harry Potter Snitch. Not that my superhuman senses couldn't pick it up, of course.
ㅡBang!
I started by nailing a 100-pointer with my first shot.
ㅡTa-ta-ta-ta-ta-tang!
I roughly zeroed in by feel and then squeezed off semi-auto fire at nearly full-auto speed, picking off nothing but the 100-point range targets.
"Hell yeah!"
The muzzle spat flame. The kick coming through the trigger was no joke. Live-fire shooting is crazy fun, I tell you.
ㅡDing.
Just like that, ten seconds were up, and the scores were tallied.
[Ken: 4030 points]
[Kim Geun-cheol: 3915 points]
[Brian: 3725 points]
[Mun Min: 3275 points]
"As you can see, Mun Min is completely screwed!"
God, what a relief!
Honestly, I was shitting myself thinking I'd lose!
"No! No, no! Why! Why are you bastards all so good at this!"
Mun Min wailed, but that sure as hell doesn't change his garbage-tier shooting.
"Hahaha! Did I not tell you? I'm quite good at shooting!"
"You talked such a big game, and then Mun Min takes the L yet again!"
"Heh heh heh, ugh! Mun Min's shooting is absolute dogshit!"
"Shut up, it's embarrassing!"
His face went completely scarlet. This guy's fun to mess with in a totally different direction from the Ryu guy. Actually, wait—is this just bullying?
"Oh, Mun Min! You know your place!"
"You can only improve after you learn shame! Gopchang Man!"
"Why am I already Gopchang Man?!"
"Already Gopchang Man?"
Anyway, after getting smashed in the face by cold hard facts, Mun Min coughed up the full range fee, and we grabbed a drink from the machine and walked out.
What now?
"Hey. Want to head over to the training ground, then?"
We ate lunch. We shot.
Only one thing left to do: hit the training ground, warm up, and train.
"Sounds good. Let's do it. Ah, Scream Man. My thought is, first, everyone goes one-on-one to size each other up. Then two-on-one or three-on-one, we try it all. What do you think?"
"Let's do it. So the star of the three-on-one is me, yeah?"
"Ha-ha-ha! If you're proven to be the strongest, then maybe! Personally, I think it'll be me, not Scream Man!"
"Whoa, Ken, you bastard. Made any progress with the sword lately?"
"Ah, of course!"
—Flash!
The moment Ken pushed up his glasses, light blazed from the lenses.
"I've grown over the break! I lost last time, but it won't be easy this time, Scream Man!"
"Even your growth will become my sacrifice. Hey. Anyway, you got that letter thing sorted?"
Come to think of it, he said he was sending a letter to Japan through a broker. Dunno how that went.
"That's also sorted. Honestly, I was kind of terrified when I met the broker. Ha-ha-ha!"
"Good grief, seriously. This bastard has no fear, I swear. Well, I guess that's why you escaped Japan in the first place."
"Something like that, yeah."
Ken nodded.
"The Neo-Daimyo's iron-fisted rule is too harsh. An absolute monarch almost seems charming by comparison. In a place like that, escape is the only answer..."
"Enough with the depressing stuff. Let's go to the training ground."
Let me look it up, then.
"Whoa, Geun-cheol. Ken. Mun Min. Looks like the training ground is a bit outside the city, sirs."
"Take a taxi?"
We're in a different part of town from our usual spot. Looking at Brian's phone, the training facility appears to be over in the hills by the highway.
Looks like we'll have to bus or taxi it to the vicinity and then hike up.
"Takushi? No. How about a light run instead? It's only 10km, sirs."
"A run? Nice. Hey. Let's run. 10km is perfect for a warm-up."
We jog to warm up, then go spar. Works for me.
"Ugh, hey. Are you nuts? Who wants to tire themselves out running? I just want to get there fast and spar. Just take a taxi."
"Gopchang Man. Basic conditioning, like running, is also essential. Instructor Lee So-ra said so."
"I know that."
Mun Min keeps grumbling, but I know what's up. This is nervousness manifesting.
He's clearly acting up because he knows he's about to get wrecked by me.
"Hey, Mun Min."
"I hear Kim Geun-cheol's voice."
"Scared?"
"What?"
"Scared of coming in last?"
"...Let's go."
His eyes change the instant I say that.
"Hey, so what's the loser do this time?"
"Why! Why does everything have to be a bet!"
"Ah, jeez. Why are you yelling? Hey. Four guys hanging out, what the hell else are we supposed to do without a bet?"
In male society, a friend group without betting does not exist.
"Exactly, sirs! Mr. Mun Min! Do you not know this world is a competition-driven society!"
"Ha-ha-ha! Truly! Still, let's keep it light this time. How about the loser buys drinks after training?"
"Perfect. Let's do that."
"Ha. You're all insane, seriously. Fine. Let's do it. Let's bet."
In the end, Mun Min agreed to the running bet, too. Nothing's more fun than dragging in the guy who doesn't want to.
"Heh-heh-heh, guys. Actually, I honestly don't see myself losing. This Kim Geun-cheol here is taking first."
And so I made my proud, dignified declaration of victory.
"Don't see yourself... losing?"
Mun Min tilted his head for a second, looked at me, and then—
"Oh! Hey! Kim Geun-cheol here is wearing something underneath!"
—he suddenly yelled that out!
"Nani?!"
"Strip him!"
"Scream Man! You're not cheating, are you!"
"Whoa! I'll get it off you, sir!"
Whoa! You bastards!
"Hey!"
—Grabbed!
All three of them immediately jumped me and started tearing my jacket off...! And that's how my underarmor top was exposed!
"Wow! This bastard cheated! He was pulling this crap to try to win! You lunatic!"
Mun Min yelled, making a huge show of being shocked. So childish I could die, seriously. How is this cheating?
"Hey. How is this cheating? It's underarmor, jackass."
"Geun-cheol! I know perfectly well that's an item! State the specs, sir! The product name!"
"Look it up. It's Maximum Kraken Under Armor."
"Maximum Kraken Under Armor... Nani?!"
Brian, who had been searching, let out a scream.
"Th-this thing costs tens of millions of won, sir!"
It is pricey.
"N-no body enhancement, but high defense...! Scream Man! What exactly is this!"
"What do you mean, what? It's protective gear. This thing has no body enhancement function. It's just a pure defense item. If anything, the weight adds a penalty, so isn't that the opposite of cheating?"
When I explained it like that.
"I... have no choice but to concede. Where did you get your hands on something like that? Scream Man?"
Ken said, sounding dazed. Brian and Mun Min just nodded, equally dumbfounded.
Because, superhuman or not, by student standards, it is expensive.
"Hey. It's a damn long story, but. So I went to the beach with some people during the break, right?"
"What? The beach? With who? Lee Si-hoo?"
Mun Min cocked his head.
"Yeah. Leona, Yu-ri, Si-hoo, and me."
"Wh-what did you say?!"
"Huh?"
"This son of a...!"
Why's he freaking out?
"Anyway, whatever. So while we were playing there, suddenly a gate—"
"Ah! Scream Man! Could it be! The West Sea! The incident in the West Sea!"
"Yeah. That's it. Saw the news, I guess?"
"So that was you!"
Ken nodded vigorously. It did become a famous incident. Of course it did, since villains attacked.
"Right! I'd totally forgotten, sir! Geun-cheol! Wasn't there a scandal with Instructor Yu, too!"
"Ha! Right! Kim Geun-cheol, you bastard!"
"That was a thing, too...! I meant to ask, but I got distracted having fun and forgot! Scream Man!"
Brian, Mun Min, Ken—all of them are just losing their minds. But seriously, how the hell do I explain this?
I need to lay it out for them as clearly as I can.
"Hey, hey. I'll tell you everything, so stop freaking out. Let's walk to the training ground and talk."
"Yes! Go go sing!"
"Kim Geun-cheol, what the hell kind of guy are you?"
I don't know either.
* * *
—Thud-thud-thud!
And so the four men began their morning run. As I ran, I gave them a quick, boiled-down summary of what happened.
"Good heavens...! It's a terrible! Super odoroita!"
"You fought real villains in actual combat...!"
Brian and Ken said, trembling.
"Isn't that freaking insane? So, yeah, I got called in for questioning and that's basically how it all happened."
"Crazy... And with an instructor over break, that kind of..."
"I got lucky."
We were jogging along, shooting the breeze.
"Hey. We're at the mountain."
Before we knew it, we'd run 10km and arrived at the base of the mountain.
"Looks like it's just over that ridge up there and then back down. Let's walk from here. If we run, we'll kick up a ton of dirt."
"Yes. Sand clouds are absolutely disgusting, sir. Let's head up. You'll tell us the rest, yes?"
"Sure."
So we got on the hiking trail to reach the training ground. Once we're there, first, I'll smash Mun Min. Then I'll break Ken, and after that, easily cook Brian.
And doing multi-on-one sparring should help a lot.
"Still, that's really incredible, Scream Man. To face an agent like that and—"
That was when we were climbing and chatting about this and that.
Suddenly.
—Bzzzz!
Right before our eyes.
—Fwoosh!
An intensely bright flash exploded outward.
"Ack! Shit!"
In that urgent moment, I immediately shielded my head with a Magic Helmet and searched for an escape route. I had to dodge or run. Fast judgment. I tried to assess and move precisely, but.
Nothing burst forth.
—Whoooom!
All that happened was that a very bright, radiant gate appeared right in front of us.
"Holy shit...!"
The world moves in slow motion. The gate that appeared seemed to expand... no. It stretched out like a cast net and swallowed the area, us included—
—Boom!
A bizarre sensation slammed my whole body at the same time.
—Fwump.
"Huh...?"
The scenery around us had changed.
"Huh?!"
And what I saw was a dense jungle.
An unidentifiable space overgrown with all sorts of bizarre, grotesque, alien things—I couldn't tell if they were plants or animals.
—Ding.
[Main Quest updated.]
[Main Quest - #$%]
[Escape from the otherworld.]
The otherworld?