Next, Please Give Me the Next One
These days, every day felt happy. In the mornings my cute little brother came to wake me, and when I came home he would be waiting at the door to tell me I’d worked hard.
I finally understood why Mom always looked so glad when Dad came out to greet her. The guy loitering near our house was a nuisance, but it didn’t matter.
Our family only needed to live happily among ourselves. That was why, all through last summer vacation, Seol-hwa and I had trained so hard under Mom.
Protecting our family was something we had to do ourselves. It was no longer something we could leave to other people the way we once had.
I stirred at the soft sound of my little brother opening my door, felt him pad closer and give me a few light pokes.
Still pretending to sleep, I pulled him into my arms and chuckled under my breath. Last time we’d rough-housed he’d looked genuinely worn out, so I simply held him tight.
I felt him jabbing furiously at my side. Whether it was the bare-handed exercise book I’d given him or just natural talent for poking ribs, he was faster than before.
The five cute poses I’d made him strike just to hand over that book were cuter than anything else I’d ever seen in my life. The last one—the little cat-paw hands—had nearly made me lunge forward and mash his cheeks; I’d barely held myself back.
When he’d been kidnapped the world had felt like it was collapsing. When he came back badly hurt I’d bawled as if I were the one who’d been injured.
But if mornings like this—him waking me, him waiting for me when I came home—could just keep repeating, then, sorry little brother, I almost wished he would never go back to school.
“Ah!! Noona!!! I still have to go wake Seol-hwa too!!!”
I laughed and finally let Harang go. He huffed softly, grabbed both my hands, and started dragging me toward the table.
“Harang…”
“Hm? What is it? Are you sick today? Should I call the school?”
I’d been about to ask if he could just… not go to school anymore, but the way he turned to look at me while still holding my hands made the rest of the words die in my throat.
I couldn’t lock him up at home just because of my own greed. Harang was a boy, yes, but he was far too precious and far too remarkable to keep cooped up indoors forever.
When he came closer, worried about me, I scooped him clean off the floor and nuzzled my face into his chest, laughing. He startled and patted my head, but there was no strength in it at all—nothing like the rib-pokes earlier.
If I could just become strong enough to protect him no matter where he was, then he would be able to live safely even outside.
“What’s for breakfast?”
“Haa, is that all you wanted to ask? You could’ve just said so… I made the bungeoppang Noona likes. It’s September already—getting chilly. Take the leftovers with you if you want.”
So for now, I decided to simply enjoy this happiness.
These days, every day felt like agony. I was so pathetic for failing to protect my precious friend. Being strong among kids my own age meant nothing.
Bang!!! Bang!!! Bang!!!!
Down in the training room beneath the villa I sparred endlessly with the maids who also served as my bodyguards. It wasn’t enough. They weren’t weak, but it still wasn’t enough.
I’d begged Mother to bring in extra instructors on top of the maids, and they all praised me—said a ten-year-old had already reached high-school level—but it still wasn’t enough.
Something hollow and sharp sat clearly in my chest. No matter how many punches I threw, how many spars I won, how many records I broke, it was never enough.
The old story about growing stronger on water couldn’t help me in sudden crises like before. So I asked Mother for tools made just for me.
A mask that covered the lower half of my face and joint guards mixed with metal let me open and close my mouth to release thin streams of water.
I’d sworn I would grow strong without relying on tools, but what good was that vow when I couldn’t even protect one precious friend?
I’d moved the opal from the necklace to a bracelet. A necklace swung too wildly during hard training; it might fall off.
Mother offered gauntlet-type weapons as well, holding nothing back, but I refused. Gauntlets that covered the wrists would keep me from wearing the bracelet with the opal.
Bang!!!! Crack… Thud!!
“Magnificent, Young Lady! Of all the young ladies I’ve instructed, you are the first to shatter this board at only ten years old!!”
“…Next. Please give me the next one.”
The wooden board taller than I was finally split under my fist, cracks racing across it before it toppled backward. A board that absorbed superpowers, they’d said.
I had no idea who made them or how, only that once they absorbed a certain amount of power they cracked and broke like this.
I glanced at the number 17 written at the bottom, then asked for the next board. Maids rushed over and grabbed my arms, insisting I rest, but my eyes stayed locked on that 17.
At first it had been 10—because I was ten. The 17 I’d just broken must mean seventeen. Still not enough. The people who kidnapped Harang had been adults; they looked at least twenty-five.
The instructors kept telling me the numbers weren’t ages, but no matter how I looked at them, they only felt like ages to me.
When I kept demanding the next board, the maids simply lifted me off my feet and carried me toward my room. I tried to resist, but I was dragged away all the same.
See? I couldn’t even beat my own maids. How could I possibly be satisfied with my current level? I shouted at them to let go at once, but—
“Young Master Harang wouldn’t want you training until you hurt yourself either.”
The moment Harang’s name left their mouths I bit down hard and headed for the shower. Inside, the mirror showed me a face completely hidden behind a mechanical lower mask, joints of both arms and legs covered in machinery—nothing pretty about it.
I slowly removed the mask and wondered whether this version of me even belonged at Harang’s side. Seol-hee unnie and Seol-hwa were beautiful and cute; even that Kang Se-ah had a pretty face.
My brown hair always frizzed back into a mess no matter how I tried to tame it, and my eyes and features looked fierce rather than pretty even if I was being generous.
Would simply becoming stronger let me stand beside Harang again? He himself wouldn’t care, but the people around him—and I myself—might not be able to ignore it.
I eased into the bath and sank until the water covered the top of my head. Curled up underwater, the memory of last summer vacation—holding Harang and leaping into the sea—drifted past.
The thought that it might be a memory I could never return to made me cry underwater, but tears shed in water left no trace; they were simply swept away by the greater water around them.
It was already October… I wondered whether I would be able to see Harang again before the year ended, then gently opened my eyes. The cold water that had swallowed my tears still filled everything around me, yet—
the opal on my wrist continued to glitter beautifully.
November. With the sports festival approaching, I was preparing lunch boxes with Father. It was the first outing I’d been allowed since the incident.
I’d gotten up before dawn and was mass-producing the bungeoppang Seol-hee noona loved. A hundred might have been enough, but Seol-hwa would eat them too, so I decided on a comfortable three hundred.
Waking this early could have been tiring, yet the thought of a long-awaited outing had me humming as I started baking.
Seol-hee noona’s expression had grown much brighter lately. Around this time last year her face had been dark, and while I was in the hospital she’d looked so empty you could have said her soul had left her body.
Recently her face had lightened; she was still languid, but the playful streak had returned and she even teased Seol-hwa and me. Seol-hwa puffed her cheeks and ran away from the teasing; I usually played along.
Of course the difference in intensity between the teasing aimed at me and at Seol-hwa was huge, so I understood why Seol-hwa hated it. Being scooped up or given piggyback rides was fine with me, but—
the image of Seol-hee noona beaming as she opened the front door, snatching Seol-hwa up and bowling her straight outside like a ball while yelling “Strike!” was still burned into my mind.
I’d freaked out and scolded her for doing that to a kid, but Seol-hwa had just stormed back in furious and charged at Noona; she didn’t seem badly hurt, so I’d been relieved.
More than three years had passed since I returned to my original world, and it still felt unfamiliar.
Seol-hee noona, already awake before I could wake her, came up behind me half-asleep, wrapped her arms around me, and started chuckling.
“Noona, I’m cooking right now. It’s dangerous—move. I’m making bungeoppang for today’s sports-festival lunch. That okay?”
“Mm… the bungeoppang Harang makes is the best in the world.”
“Dad might get hurt if he hears that.”
At my answer she laughed again, muttered something about bears being good at catching salmon, and drifted away. Who’s the bear supposed to be…
One by one the rest of the family woke and the morning began. The same peaceful start as always.
While I kept baking I looked forward to the sports festival. The last time I’d seen Ryu-yeong was when she came with her mother; I hadn’t met her since.
According to Father, starting last month it was no longer Ryu-yeong herself who visited—only maids delivering boxes. Father looked regretful, as if he’d largely forgiven her, but Seol-hee noona and Seol-hwa still scowled whenever her name came up.
Hoping to see Ryu-yeong after so long, I glanced out the window. There were a few more clouds than usual. Better weather for moving around than a blazing sun.
Even if it rained the sports festival would go on, so it shouldn’t matter—yet those clouds somehow bothered me.