Exam Period # 7
Exam Period # 7
The word 'orphanage' absolutely shocked me. I was fucking startled. But that's not the only thing.
—Shhhh.
I felt my heart suddenly turn cold.
"..."
A guy I don't know.
A guy I don't even have any memory of.
Yet this guy knows me one-sidedly. And not just that—he's known me since the orphanage that's set as my past. Facing a situation like this, an inexplicable anxiety started creeping over me.
What kind of person am I, really?
No, what kind of setup did I have when I entered this game? That was the source of the anxiety... I swallowed hard and looked at the guy in front of me.
"Huh? Kim Geun-cheol?"
"No, it's nothing."
I checked the time. About 30 minutes left until my meeting with Kitty. A short chat would be fine, then.
"Anyway. It's been ages since we met. Want to grab a quick chat over there?"
I said, pointing at a café.
"Oh? You remembered me? Alright. Let's go."
The guy nodded readily. He seemed a little pleased that I'd supposedly remembered him. So we were friends after all? He probably thinks we're friends, but I have no such memory.
Anyway, I went into the café with him.
"I feel like I should remember. What was your name again?"
I asked, casually fishing.
"Lee Cheol-min. You seriously don't remember? Even after all I did for you?"
"Heh heh heh, ah. Sorry. I'm terrible with names. Even if I memorize them, I forget right away. Anyway, good to see you, Cheol-min. Seeing an old buddy from the orphanage after so long... We were definitely at..."
"The Ancient Batista Orphanage."
There it fucking is.
Finally met someone from that place. What the hell is the Ancient Batista Orphanage? For now, this guy Lee Cheol-min seems normal enough. Doesn't seem like he came from some inhuman facility.
"What do you want to drink? It's been a long time, so I'll buy."
Starting with coffee.
"Ah, an Americano for me."
"Got it. One medium café latte and one medium Americano, please."
"M-Medium?"
"Yes. You know, the middle size."
"Uh... you'll have to specify more precisely."
Man, every time I see this size bullshit at a café, my blood boils. These bastards haven't standardized sizes, and the names are all over the place. It's like watching people use yards, pounds, and inches—I can't stand it.
What's the Sovereign Commander doing?
Not standardizing coffee sizes?
"What sizes do you have?"
"We only have Regular and Grande."
This place only has two sizes?
"Then give me a Regular."
"Sure."
So I ordered the coffee like that and sat down.
"Hey. Cheol-min."
"Hm? What?"
"I've been thinking this for ages. Isn't the name 'Ancient Batista' fucking weird?"
"Haha, yeah, it is. Super weird."
"What does it even mean?"
"Apparently, the orphanage was founded by a foreign Awakened. You know, Awakened people make a lot of money? They say they run places like orphanages for tax reasons."
Was that it?
"So a Mr. Batista founded it?"
"Probably?"
"Then what's 'Ancient'?"
"The Awakened's alias."
And here I was thinking there was some huge secret behind it.
"But why would a foreigner in Korea..."
"Maybe he set it up in Korea for business. There are a lot of entrepreneurs among the Awakened, right."
"Ahh, really?"
Even Leona's family is like that. Made sense right away. My question was solved just like that.
Anyway.
I could talk naturally with Lee Cheol-min. He seemed like a guy I'd been pretty close with.
"You haven't changed at all. Kim Geun-cheol."
Look at this?
No. Hold on.
"I haven't changed?"
"Yeah. The way you talk, the way you laugh, your whole vibe... it's all exactly like back then."
"You, on the other hand, seem like you've changed a bit..."
"Haha, have I?"
I'm exactly the same as back then.
Which means...
Does that mean the Kim Geun-cheol who existed before I entered this game had the exact same personality as me? This is confusing. What the hell is going on?
"Yeah. I guess so. You, Cheol-min, seem like you've changed. Anyway, what have you been up to lately? You're a high schooler, right?"
"Yeah. I moved on to the high school division. Ah, I can't wait to be an adult. This goddamn orphanage. I want to get out of there fast."
"Heh heh heh, yeah. It is a damn tiresome place."
"What about you, Kim Geun-cheol? You transferred out back then, right?"
"Uh. Yeah."
I'm a guy who's been bounced around orphanages.
"Just average. Same as you, pretty much."
No need to mention I'm a cadet.
"Anyway. What happened back in the day? As you know, I got bounced around a ton of orphanages for the same reason. I'm getting mixed up on which incident is which."
"Whoa. It was really like that? I mean, I figured it might be."
Figuring it might be, huh.
Lee Cheol-min nodded without much suspicion.
"There were rumors like that when you first came to our orphanage, Kim Geun-cheol. Word was that you were a violent guy who caused a beatdown incident at your last orphanage. So I was super scared of you."
"What could I do? When shitheads gang up and beat you, you've got to fight back."
"Ah, I heard that story back then too."
"..."
This is really something.
The more we talk, the more speechless I become.
"You really haven't changed. Anyway. You seriously don't remember?"
"I remember fighting like crazy. But there were so many incidents. It happened every time I switched orphanages. So just tell me. What was it?"
"You must have fought a ton... Anyway. You saved me, didn't you?"
Saved him?
"It's coming back now, right? At the Ancient Batista Orphanage, I was kind of, you know. A punching bag."
"A punching bag."
"I got beaten up by the delinquent kids every day. They took my allowance and meals. You know? Oh Sang-hyeon, Shin Dong-gwan, Jo Jae-yeol. You don't remember those guys?"
"I'm bad with names... but I know who you mean. It's coming back slowly. Tell me more."
I listened while sipping my café latte. The more I heard, the more bizarre it was. Because the actions of this world's Kim Geun-cheol matched mine perfectly.
He was me, through and through.
A past I don't know.
But it all makes sense, as if I'd done it myself.
So vivid that just listening made it feel real.
"Those guys did that to you. Told you to join their crew."
"Ahh, same old story."
I replied casually.
"And they said they had to do an initiation? They told me they had to beat me up."
"What a bunch of assholes."
"Right. Total assholes. And then you, Kim Geun-cheol, said no, didn't you?"
"Why the hell would I do that? Of course I refused."
"So the target switched from me to you."
The target switched to me.
"Ah, I remember now. So those little shits started giving me hell."
"Yeah. Five or six of them beat the crap out of you."
"It hurt like a bitch."
I'm literally just giving appropriate responses, but everything lined up perfectly. Every word clicked into place.
"So honestly, I felt so guilty. I thought you were getting hit because of me for no reason..."
"How is that your fault? It's those bastards' fault."
"Ah. It's been a long time since I've heard that."
"..."
Fuck.
Anyway, to summarize: when I arrived at the Ancient Batista Orphanage, I'd already been spreading bad rumors about myself from the start.
Because of that, I caught the eye of the delinquent circle that ran the orphanage. They wanted to bring me into their crew, and the initiation was beating the living shit out of Lee Cheol-min.
Would I do something like that?
When I refused, I became the target.
So I ended up getting gang-beaten every day at the orphanage. No one can win against being ganged up on.
"But then... you caused that incident, didn't you?"
"Right. That incident."
"How do you even think of attacking with a chair in the middle of the night?"
Attacking in the middle of the night, huh.
"Honestly, there's no other way to win otherwise."
If you want to beat guys who gang up on you, that's the only way. If you win a head-on fight against a group that jumps you, that's basically being a superhuman.
"Still, that was insane. I thought you were crazy. Suddenly in the middle of the night, I hear roaring and screaming. When I turned on the light and went over, there you were, Kim Geun-cheol, just pounding those guys with a chair."
"..."
"They were probably sleeping, and they were just taking hits and crying. And you were roaring, slamming the chair down. I seriously thought I was gonna piss myself... And then you said."
At this point, I spoke up.
"Heh heh heh, we're orphans and minors, so it's fine, right?"
"Yes! That's why it was so fucking terrifying! I thought you were a psycho!"
"..."
Even when I was in school, I used the shield of being a minor well. But the me in this world had the added armor of being an orphan on top of that.
Behavioral principles and ways of thinking. Execution.
All of it is identical to me.
If I'd been an orphan, I really would have used that.
"That's me."
The words slipped out on their own.
"Hm? What did you say?"
"Nothing."
"Anyway, after that incident. We started hanging out together and stuff. But you, Kim Geun-cheol, just kept fighting every single day and ended up transferring out. I always wanted to see you again sometime, and here we are."
"Heh heh heh, yeah, really. Wow. Maybe it's because I'm hearing middle-school stories, but this is fucking embarrassing."
"It's more of a scary story than an embarrassing one..."
"Is it? Hey. Give me your number."
"Ah, okay."
I immediately saved his name and number into my phone. Honestly, I don't feel any particular attachment, but it seems like I'll need to talk to him again sometime.
"Nice seeing you. Take care from now on."
I finished my coffee and came outside.
"Where are you going?"
"I actually had a prior appointment. I had some time, so I hung out for a bit."
"I see. Then you take care too, Kim Geun-cheol. Back then... I was really grateful you beat up the guys who were harassing me. After I started hanging out with you, I barely got hit anymore."
So I had saved a person.
"What's there to be grateful for. Take care."
"Alright."
I parted ways with Lee Cheol-min right there.
"Hoo."
Meeting Lee Cheol-min gave me an enormous sense of restlessness and a strange anxiety. This kind of present... it's nothing but unsettling.
"Kim Geun-cheol. What kind of guy were you?"
Why are you exactly like me?
"I have to go meet Kitty now, and you're shaking up my heart like this?"
Should I visit the Ancient Batista Orphanage at some point? Well, thinking that, I headed to the meeting spot.
* * *
"Oh, Geun-cheol! You made it?"
Kitty, prettily dressed up, approached with a slight smile. No, isn't she way too done up? A little kid wearing all this?
"Ghk...!"
She's definitely doing this to impress me!
A maiden's pure heart!
"Hm? What's wrong?"
"No, nothing. But Kitty, why are you so dressed up? What's the reason? The reason you're wearing clothes like that."
"Huh?"
Kitty tilted her head.
"Because I came to meet you?"
Oh my!!!
"Then let's go."
—Whoosh.
Smiling, Kitty stuck to my side and linked arms with me...!