Baeksan Middle School Friends
It was a crisp, refreshing morning.
Everything about it seemed thanks to Jia noona, snuggled in my arms and breathing softly in her sleep.
It's only six o'clock?
It felt like I'd slept until one in the afternoon.
Finding the answer to last night's mistake had probably helped, too.
I've grown a little taller.
It might sound ridiculous, but I was seventeen—still growing.
Even if I'd gotten taller than two weeks ago, there wasn't much to say about it. Adapting to being eight centimeters shorter was hard enough; growing just a bit more on top of that made everything feel off.
I'd never run around when I was over 180 cm, so the dissonance wasn't too bad, but every time I walked, I still felt the reality of having returned to the past.
I hope I grow up soon.
No more, no less—just 183 cm, like in my previous life. I needed to grow up quick so I could tease Jia noona properly.
I was grinning at her when she woke up.
"Mmm..."
"Ah, Noona. You're awake?"
I hadn't moved, but I still felt bad for maybe waking her.
A peck.
A morning kiss.
That would make up for it.
"...Yujin."
"Yeah?"
"You're such a little devil... Where did you learn something like this...?"
"...?"
Jia noona mumbled something as she rolled over and flopped right on top of me. At the same time, she wrapped her arms around my neck.
Her breath felt so vividly clear against my collarbone and the nape of my neck.
"Let's just stay like this. Hehe."
"Okay, Noona."
It was Saturday. I stayed glued to noona until lunchtime.
I wished every day could be like this.
"Yujin, I should get going now."
"Okay, Noona. Call me later."
Reluctantly, I had no choice but to see Jia noona off. She had a lot to do to maintain her top ranking at school, so I understood completely.
Just walking home with me every day and hanging out is more than enough to be grateful for.
With my Saturday afternoon suddenly empty, I somehow managed to make plans with my middle school friends.
How will it go?
It had been a long time since we'd last met. Even counting the time we hadn't seen each other in my previous life, it was about a month.
We had a group chat for the close ones, but it had been silent for two weeks without a single word, then suddenly someone suggested meeting up, so I headed out to the busy downtown area.
"I wonder how they've been doing?"
Han Seonwoo, walking beside me, asked.
"Living like people obsessed with soccer, probably."
"Like you?"
"They're worse than me."
"Hmm. True. How can anyone suggest doing nothing but sports for five hours a day?"
The three we were about to meet were all sports-crazy. Not just soccer—they loved basketball, baseball, volleyball, all of it. Their daily lives were basically rest, exercise, rest, exercise.
If Han Seonwoo and I had been good at basketball and liked it, the five of us might have been playing basketball instead. Of course, soccer was still their favorite.
"Hey! Yujin!"
As we walked and talked, someone called my name.
Standing in front of the café entrance—our meeting spot—was a guy with a side part. A classic handsome face that anyone would call good-looking.
Even though it was still cold, he was in shorts and a comfortable zip-up for working out, with a sports bag slung over his shoulder, and even that looked charming on him.
"Whoa, being a noble and all, it's hard to get a look at your face."
It was Seong Yumin, the winger from our middle school days. His bright, smiling face was no different from my previous life.
"Hey. I'm here too."
"Oh. Seonwoo's here too. You're so short I didn't see you."
"I'm over 170 cm. I grew."
"Did you grow 0.1 cm? I'm 180. Plus, to my eyes, 170 and 160 look the same. You need to be at least Yujin's height."
Han Seonwoo had tried to argue back and got hit with a four-hit combo in one go. The way he teased felt like an older cousin playing with a younger one. Though in reality, Seong Yumin, who looked like the older brother on the outside, was the one doing the teasing.
"Long time no see. Where are the others?"
"They haven't shown up yet. Let's go inside. I'll message them."
"Sure."
We followed Seong Yumin into the café. Having the handsome one leading the way made the stares a little prickly.
"The usual?"
"Yeah."
"Me too."
"They'll want the same, right?"
"Just order. If they complain, say we ordered because they were late."
"Alright. Sit in the corner. I'll order and come."
"Thanks."
Seong Yumin went to order for everyone, and Han Seonwoo and I sat in a corner seat. Then Seonwoo, glancing around, leaned in close and whispered to me.
"Why does he only do that to me?"
"What?"
"He only teases me."
"..."
Maybe he regressed too.
I almost said it but held back. That was something only I knew.
The reason I felt this way was because I remembered how the two of them used to jokingly call each other brother-in-law. In my previous life, the person Han Seonwoo married was Seong Yumin's younger sister.
"Heh heh."
"Why are you laughing?"
"Just. It's funny."
Knowing about the previous life made it entertaining.
"Oh. Yujin, can you see ghosts too?"
"What?"
Seong Yumin, back from ordering, sat next to me and said something weird again.
"Nah~ Just. You were talking to yourself when no one was there."
It was a dig at Han Seonwoo's height. Being able to keep teasing like that was a skill in itself, if you could call it one.
This is hard even for me to hold back.
I was barely suppressing my laughter, my lips trembling. I hadn't felt like joining in because it seemed like kids fighting, but now I wanted to tease a little.
"I'm about to exorcise him. He's too noisy."
"Baek Yujin! Even you, who I trusted...!"
"Hurry up. Or he'll stick to you completely."
"...Yumin, Yujin. I think this is as far as our friendship goes."
Even saying that, I knew he wouldn't mean it, so I smiled easily and continued.
"Huh? What did you say?"
"..."
When Han Seonwoo couldn't take it and face-planted on the table, Seong Yumin laughed until his belly ached.
"Pfft, haha! At this rate, isn't he a punching bag?"
"Don't go too far. He's good at soccer, at least."
At the mention of soccer, Han Seonwoo lifted his head just a little, peeking out with his eyes.
"He is good at passing. Come to think of it, how's Seongil High?"
"Seongil High? Not bad."
"Compared to middle school?"
"Well. I still don't really..."
Just as he was about to say he still didn't know, two large shadows fell over Han Seonwoo from behind. Thankfully, they were familiar faces.
"Oh, Minjun, Juwon. You got here fast?"
"So this is where you were."
"Seonwoo. Did they tease you again?"
The one worrying about Seonwoo was Kim Minjun, the 189 cm monster center-back. He must have been hitting the gym hard—his muscles were visible even through his clothes.
"Yeah. Those bastar—"
"Haha. No swearing."
"...Fine. At least they didn't tease me too much."
Kim Minjun had a younger brother, so maybe that was why he often looked out for Han Seonwoo.
"..."
Next to him, the one a centimeter taller, was goalkeeper Lee Juwon. Being in the terminal stage of chunibyo, he didn't talk much.
It gets fixed later, though.
Was that in second year of high school? Until then, I should enjoy watching his antics.
These two had also, as expected, brought their sports bags.
Buzz—
As the two sat down, the bell rang signaling the drinks were ready.
"I'll go get them."
"Thanks."
I got up first and went to fetch the drinks. By the time I returned with them, the soccer talk was already back in full swing.
"How's Seowon High?"
"The soccer's good."
"Just the soccer? What about the personalities?"
"Well, they're not bad people. Just strong personalities."
"Talk while you drink."
"Oh. You're back."
Clearly, not seeing each other for two weeks meant there was a lot to talk about.
"I'm a starter."
"Minjun and Juwon too?"
"Probably starters."
"The coach thinks highly of us. What about you guys?"
"Hmm. There's no one with scoring ability like mine, so I'll be a starter, I guess?"
"No one passes like me either."
"There's Senior Do Woojun."
"...That guy's an exception."
From talk about being starters on the soccer team, to middle school stories, it eventually came down to which high school was better at soccer.
"Come on, Seowon High over Seongil High."
Seowon High School was a prestigious pro-affiliated high school. If your performance was good, you got picked up straight as a pro player. It was also where these three, excluding me and Han Seonwoo, had gone.
If we hadn't chosen Seongil High, we probably all would have been at Seowon High together.
"Seongil High never won the national tournament, right?"
"Hmm."
When it came to results, there wasn't much I could say. Seowon High had already won the national tournament last year, after all.
We'll have to beat them.
My pride wouldn't allow me to lose to Seong Yumin. Even playful dismissals like this.
"Want to go play futsal right now?"
"Futsal all of a sudden? Can we even play?"
"If we just post on our Baeksan Middle soccer club SNS, inquiries should come in, right?"
Considering the name value of our middle school, it wouldn't take long. I remembered we'd done it a few times before. And since Seong Yumin managed the SNS, it wouldn't be a problem.
"How about it?"
"Let's do it. We met up planning for this in the first place, didn't we?"
Kim Minjun said, pointing at everyone's sports bags.
Indeed. Not just the three who went to Seowon High, but all five of us, including me and Han Seonwoo, seemed obsessed with soccer. Even though no one had mentioned soccer, everyone had brought their sports bags.
"Sounds good."
"I'm in too."
Everyone reacted positively.
"Yumin, let's make a bet while we're at it. Goal-scoring contest—loser buys drinks. How about it?"
"Let's go right now."
I had to win this one at least.
With that, we stood up from our seats.
Ding!
Just as expected, the futsal match was arranged quickly, and against all odds—or rather, exactly as Seong Yumin had predicted—we played against an adult team. And not just any team: lower-league but former pro players.
Fortunately, we won the match by one point, and the bet too—me with four goals, Seong Yumin with three. I won by one goal.
"Losing to Seongil High... this is a bit embarrassing."
"Haha."
Seong Yumin seemed to have developed school pride already, even though he'd only been a high schooler for a short while.
It didn't feel bad. Hearing that from a friend didn't make me feel bad. How long had I known these guys?
Don't they do practice matches with Seowon High or something?
It really didn't feel bad. I just wanted to play a match to see the difference with the prestigious Seowon High School. I just wanted to play soccer again with the guys whose spirits completely changed the moment a soccer match started.
After eating dinner together for the first time in a while, before we parted ways, Seong Yumin stood at the fork in the road and asked.
"Is soccer fun?"
"Soccer is always fun. Well, it's even more fun when I play with you guys."
"Same for me."
The reason we, who first met at Baeksan Middle, started playing soccer was because doing it together was fun. From the start, our chemistry clicked as if we already knew each other's thoughts, and it was a team where we could play trusting each other on offense and defense.
"It's a shame we ended up at different high schools."
We hadn't applied to different high schools because of a fight. It was just that Han Seonwoo and I thought Seongil High was good, and the other three thought Seowon High was good.
"Yeah, it is."
As the atmosphere suddenly turned serious, I let out a small laugh and turned away.
"See you next time."
I declined the seriousness from my end. Because it brought back the expressions of those guys who had visited me in the hospital with serious faces in my previous life.
This time, I only wanted to fill my head with happy memories.