Friends? (1)
I took her hesitant hand and led her inside the trampoline arena. A few moments later she followed me in, gave a small experimental bounce, then looked at me with a completely bewildered face.
“How… how exactly do you play this?”
“Like this.”
“Kyaaak!!”
One jump was all it took for her to lose her balance and tumble across the floor. I shouted to the kids around us.
“Hey everyone! Jump!!”
“Kyaaaak! Kyak! Stop! Stop!! Ahahahaha!!”
She kept yelling for it to stop, but her body was clearly having the time of its life, bursting into laughter. As she rolled around the trampoline floor with the children, I could plainly see her confusion at this raw, primal kind of fun.
“Just jump however you want.”
“…I have used a trampoline a few times before.”
“Oh? Really? Where?”
“It was called trampoline dieting.”
“That’s not playing, that’s just exercising for weight loss.”
They weren’t the same thing at all. I caught her as she wobbled and showed her how the kids were doing it. They were having a blast—jumping with everything they had, rolling with wild abandon.
Even as sweat poured down their faces, their laughter never stopped. These were expressions I had never once seen in her past.
“Do those kids look like they’re thinking about anything while they jump?”
“That… doesn’t seem to be the case.”
“Then let’s try playing like that.”
“…I don’t know how to play…”
“If you don’t know, then roll!!”
“Kyaaaaak!!”
I dodged Han Yu-na as she tried to grab me and kicked off the floor. She lost her balance and went tumbling. The always-immaculate Han Yu-na’s hair came undone. The woman who always held herself with perfect posture couldn’t even stand straight anymore.
“Kids!! Help!!”
“Waaaaah!!”
“Pretty noona attack!!”
“Take down the pretty unnie!!”
About five children started jumping near Han Yu-na. Every time they did, she rolled across the floor, but instead of annoyance, her face was filled with laughter born from the unexpected situation and the sheer awkwardness of it all.
After about an hour of bouncing, we finally climbed out. Since this was her first time experiencing this kind of play, Han Yu-na’s face was flushed with a mixture of confusion and excitement.
“Here, drink this.”
“What… is this?”
“A slushie. You’ve never had one of these either, right?”
“…No.”
After jumping around for an hour, she needed something cold. I turned to the kids.
“Hey kids, you guys have some too. The pretty unnie is treating everyone.”
“…Me?”
“At least treat them to this much.”
“Yes.”
“Wow!!”
“Thank you!”
Han Yu-na opened her wallet for the children who had been playing so energetically. While the kids, beaming with innocent joy, sat beside us sipping their slushies and resting, she stared down at her own legs.
“The sensation of standing feels strange.”
“That’s normal after getting off the trampoline.”
“By the way, you keep calling it ‘bang-bang’… isn’t it a trampoline?”
“When I was little, we called it bang-bang.”
She looked like she found it difficult to understand. But things like this were meant to be felt with the heart, not analyzed.
“Hyung! Noona! Thanks for the food!”
“Let’s play again next time!!”
The kids said it was time for their academy classes and left. Watching them go, Han Yu-na smiled softly.
“I never imagined I would end up rolling around like that.”
“I didn’t think you’d be this bad at it either.”
“…I took a gymnastics class in school once. I managed to do three full aerial somersaults on the trampoline back then.”
“Oh, really?”
“But… this is different.”
The elasticity was lower than competition trampolines. It was also unnecessarily wide. In school, you weren’t allowed to approach the trampoline while someone else was on it. It was dangerous.
And besides, she added quietly, there had never been anyone who would approach her in the first place.
“Still…”
“It was fun, right?”
“…Yes.”
At least she couldn’t deny that it had been fun.
“I don’t know much about it, but I’ve heard that once you become an adult, there’s this thing called dignity that stops you from playing like this.”
“Yes. It certainly doesn’t suit one’s dignity.”
“But who cares?”
“Pardon?”
“This is pretty far from the world you normally live in, isn’t it, Miss Yu-na?”
“That… is true.”
Han Yu-na was a chaebol heiress. Who would ever imagine someone like her rolling around on a trampoline in a neighborhood like this?
“In places where no one knows you, isn’t it okay to loosen up a little?”
Our NC.A. Seo Yu-rim. Even IWantToSuckMerlesBoobs does it. How does a female idol end up with a game ID like that…
“I’ve heard that everyone has their own way of loosening up.”
Especially our director. Outside he acted like a good, kind person, but the moment he sat down for a round of Old Maid Go-Stop, he turned into a completely different man, swearing up a storm.
“Let’s find yours together.”
Han Yu-na, who had been staring at me blankly, narrowed her eyes slightly. It looked a little awkward compared to the smile she usually wore, but somehow I felt like this was her real smile.
The next day, around lunchtime, I got a call. It was Han Yu-na. When I went out to meet her, instead of her usual sharp, rigid business suit, she was wearing comfortable-looking casual clothes.
“What are we doing today?”
“Today we’re going to a PC bang.”
She followed me without complaint, and we headed to the neighborhood PC bang.
“Let’s take a couple’s seat.”
“C-couple…”
She hesitated for a moment but eventually sat down with me. Han Yu-na looked around curiously, as if everything was new to her.
“Have you ever played games before?”
“No.”
“Then let’s play Dungeon & Saga together. They’re doing a 7th anniversary event and giving out tons of stuff for new players.”
From transparent avatars to legendary equipment. Every time you leveled up, they showered you with potions, gear, armor, and even pets. That’s right—newbies were always welcome.
“I’ve never played a game like this before…”
I knew that. The only games she had any experience with were chess and baduk, and even then it was for competitions rather than fun.
“This is a good chance to try. Oh, and healers are great. Healers. In games like this, healers are basically treated like nobility.”
And I was going to raise a new character too. Looking slightly puzzled, Han Yu-na quietly followed my instructions and picked a character. And so it began.
One hour in.
“Heal, please.”
“Yes.”
Two hours in.
“Can you do your damage a little better?”
“…….”
Three hours in.
“Why are you fighting somewhere else after I put down the healing zone?”
“No, why did you put the zone there…”
“That was the optimal position.”
Four hours in.
“Do you think we have time to rest? We need to kill even one more monster.”
“…Let’s at least eat something first.”
With that perfectly upright posture, her healer in the monitor moved as if it were an extension of herself, calculating cooldowns and delivering heals and buffs with precision.
She even applied debuffs to monsters whenever there was a spare moment. She didn’t play like someone who had just started gaming. I wondered what she would be like in a raid.
“What do you want to eat?”
“…I don’t know what they have…”
“Then I’ll order for you.”
A little later, an employee brought our food. Katsudon and cola for her. I ordered jjajangmyeon with cheese. She stared silently at the plate placed in front of her.
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“I didn’t know PC bangs offered this kind of service.”
“It’s pretty standard these days.”
This particular PC bang had outstanding food quality. She quietly picked up the wooden chopsticks and took a very delicate, refined bite.
“…It’s delicious.”
“It’s the taste of dopamine. Eat up quickly so we can go back to hunting.”
And so, we spent a full twelve hours playing hard at the PC bang.
“Whew. Let’s call it a day here.”
“Let’s play just a little more.”
This woman. She was more serious about games than I expected.
The day after that.
“Today let’s go to a comic book café.”
“Understood.”
“Have you ever read comics before?”
“I’ve read one or two webtoons that the employees recommended.”
“Then you’ll enjoy this.”
The comic book café near the station was cleaner than I expected. After we settled in, I recommended a few titles to her.
“JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure? Is this… fun?”
“It was fun for me.”
I had read it back at the orphanage when one of the older boys in my room recommended it. It really was good. After hesitating for a while, she started reading the first volume. Soon she was completely absorbed, devouring the pages.
“…Huu.”
It was about time to leave. She glanced at the timer, stood up, paid at the counter, and came back.
“I… stopped time.”
She must have been really impressed. Quoting one of JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure’s famous lines, she gave her characteristic faint smile.
“It was much more fun than I expected.”
“Right?”
“Is there anything else?”
“Romance comics are apparently pretty entertaining in their own way. I don’t really get them, but women seem to like them.”
That was a lie. In truth, I had read plenty of romance comics. Many of the older girls at the orphanage had recommended them.
“Yumeiro Patissiere. People say this one’s good.”
I had actually cried reading this one. It was genuinely touching.
“…Why are this girl’s eyes so big?”
“Let’s just call it artistic license and move on.”
She seemed a bit put off by the art style at first, but she read it obediently. Then she said,
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“I’m getting a little peckish. Maybe some ramen…”
“Let’s have bread instead.”
This woman. She was being influenced by the comics more than I thought.
In the end, we spent nearly ten hours at the comic book café. A few people stared in amazement at the sight of her reading manga in such an elegant posture, but we ignored them and kept enjoying ourselves.
“Mm. That was fun.”
“Indeed… it really was fun.”
“When do you start working again?”
“In two days.”
“Then we only have tomorrow left to play.”
“…Yes. It’s a shame.”
“What’s there to feel sorry about?”
I said it casually.
“We can just play on the weekends.”
“On weekends I…”
“What do you usually do on weekends?”
“I usually go to work on weekends too.”
“…Excuse me?”
Why would she do something so crazy?
“There’s nothing to do when I’m home alone anyway.”
So she went to work. Even though she didn’t get special weekend overtime pay, she used to go in on weekends when she worked at the hotel.
“Why waste time like that…”
“…I thought it was somewhat meaningful.”
She answered a bit awkwardly, but after having fun like this, it seemed she was starting to feel some regret.
“I should have tried doing things by myself sometimes. Maybe I’ve been carrying some sense of guilt about the very idea of playing.”
“People can’t stay tense all the time. Sometimes you have to let loose.”
“The last time I let loose… I got attacked because of it.”
Ah. Aaaah…
“Anyway, it was enjoyable.”
She smiled brightly. Then she gave a small bow.
“From now on, I will try to play like this.”
“If you ever feel bored, just call me.”
Not just for work requests, of course.
Back to work. The new tasks weren’t particularly difficult. I had spent time alone at home thinking about my father’s hotel management problems, and I had studied and researched them thoroughly. But there was one big difference now.
I was looking forward to the weekend.
Should I go to the PC bang this weekend?
The game I played with Kang Noah had been fun. He said games could be enjoyable even when playing alone, so maybe I could have fun by myself too. Or I could go to the comic book café.
There were still so many titles I hadn’t read yet. Or maybe I could go bounce on the trampoline again? Or look for some other activity?
Anticipation filled my heart.
When the weekend Han Yu-na had been looking forward to finally arrived…
“…….”
Something was different. Whether it was the comic book café, the PC bang, or even the trampoline, the fun from before just wasn’t there.
She hesitated. It felt like she had become a useless person who couldn’t even enjoy things by herself anymore. That was probably why she found herself reaching for the phone without thinking.
But it was such a waste to let this golden weekend slip away like this. She picked up her phone.
"Hello?"
Just hearing his voice made her heart flutter. Simply talking to him seemed like it would be enough to make her happy.
“This is Han Yu-na.”
"Yes."
“Tomorrow is Sunday… Would you like to go play together?”
He would agree. He was… the only person she could play with like a friend.
"What should I do? I already have plans tomorrow."
She had always been alone. Rejection was something she was used to. Even so, without realizing it, she found herself slightly puffing out her plump lips in a small pout.