The Bet (3)
The name Min Soyeon lit up on the screen. A reply had finally arrived. I snatched up my phone at once and opened the messenger app. How long had it been since I last got a text from her? After the landlord gave me those side dishes, I hadn’t touched the app even once…
My heart fluttered for no good reason as I carefully opened the message she’d sent.
“…Huh?”
The completely unexpected answer left me a little flustered. Still, the fact that she’d bothered to reply at all was something to be grateful for. I comforted myself with that thought and wondered how to keep the conversation going.
“Hmm…”
Did you eat something good?
I hit send and left the chat window open, waiting for her answer.
“…”
How long did I wait? Another reply finally popped up.
Another single syllable. This time it was a refusal. It wasn’t exactly a heartfelt response, but at least she’d answered. I told myself again that being ignored would have been worse.
From her message, it seemed tonight’s dinner hadn’t been to her liking. There was no way my wife had cooked, so maybe the housekeeper’s food hadn’t suited her…? I typed and deleted several pointless messages before deciding to change the subject.
I see… What are you doing right now?
This time the reply came faster than I expected.
She was deep in a match.
“Ah.”
I felt a little embarrassed for picking the wrong moment to message her. But if I thought about it differently, it meant she was taking the time to reply even while she was busy. Yeah… deep down she really is a good kid.
Since she was in the middle of a game, I sent a quick apology for bothering her along with a message saying I’d see her tomorrow. A little while later, her reply came back.
It was faster than I’d expected.
The next day, during combat training, Min Soyeon approached me with a dead-serious expression.
“Let’s do what we did yesterday again.”
She was suggesting another bet so she could get revenge. I had actually been planning to propose it first, but I never imagined she would bring it up herself. She must have been really upset about losing yesterday.
Well, a good thing is a good thing. Seeing her motivated for training made me feel warm inside. Since it had come to this, it wouldn’t hurt to fan that flame a little.
I didn’t accept right away. Instead I pretended to think it over.
“Do it again? I was planning to take it easy today…”
The moment my lukewarm reaction left my lips, she started glaring at me.
“What?”
When our eyes met, my heart stuttered like it had malfunctioned. It felt exactly like facing a furious wife.
“…F-fine, I’ll do it…”
That chilly gaze was identical to her mother’s. She really didn’t have to inherit that too…
“Then follow me quietly.”
I obediently trailed after her, and we immediately began preparing for another round of tag. The rules were the same as before—five-minute time limit, rock-paper-scissors to decide who was it. I’d wanted to add a few new conditions, but at Min Soyeon’s insistence we stuck to the original ones.
Right before we played rock-paper-scissors, I started to hesitate. Should I win or lose on purpose?
The outcome of today’s match wouldn’t really change anything. Unless I held back, I was still overwhelmingly likely to win. But if I beat her again today, would she be able to handle it?
A well-timed loss could motivate someone. A one-sided defeat, however, could completely crush their will. I could try to make it a close call on purpose, but would she be satisfied with that? Since we’d already fought once, she would probably notice immediately if I was going easy on her. That would only make her feel looked down on, producing the opposite effect.
I wanted to stimulate her, not hammer her into the ground.
…What should I do?
While I was lost in thought, Min Soyeon urged me.
“…What are you doing? Aren’t you going to decide who’s it?”
I decided to just play it out and threw my hand.
“Rock… paper… scissors!”
I won with scissors against rock. Once again, Min Soyeon was it.
She stared at her two extended fingers with a subtle look, then slowly shifted her gaze to me.
“…I’m it.”
The corner of her mouth twitched upward. She was wearing a faintly satisfied smile, as if she were already looking forward to getting her revenge. Watching her, my earlier indecision suddenly tilted sharply in one direction, and certainty settled in my chest.
Min Soyeon wasn’t someone who would break easily.
I could be sure of it because the smile she wore now resembled the one my wife used to show when she was young. With the roles decided, all that remained was to begin.
We put some distance between us just like yesterday, drew our weapons, held our breath, and waited for the timer.
A moment later—
Riiiiing~
The moment the starting alarm sounded, Min Soyeon, weapon already drawn, rushed in fast. She swung in the same wide arc as yesterday. I quickly gathered my magic power and blocked her blade.
CLANG!!!!
The metallic ring that filled the training hall drew every student’s attention at once.
“Ugh…”
Even though I had blocked it perfectly, a heavy impact still sank into my skin. It was the same pattern and same motion, but the weight behind the sword was completely different. She had poured magic power into the strike from the very first move.
When I showed a flicker of surprise, the corner of her mouth lifted again as she flowed into the next motion. With an odd twist of her body she redirected the tip of her blade and swung at me once more.
CLANG!!!!
Another deafening crash echoed through the hall. It was still early, so my magic reserves were plenty. Blocking her wasn’t too difficult yet. But Min Soyeon’s assault didn’t end with a single blow.
She kept hammering me with that monstrous amount of magic power, as if trying to crush me beneath it. No matter how sturdy an egg is, a giant rock will eventually shatter it. Each powerful strike began to shake my own smaller pool of magic.
Roughly a minute in, my magic was already cut in half. I had no choice but to compress it even smaller to keep blocking. Her sword crashed down on the thin layer I’d shaped—about half the size of a fist, no thicker than a finger.
CRACK!!!!
I managed to stop it, but if I had wavered even slightly the blade might have slipped through. In just a few exchanges, huge chunks of my magic had been carved away. At this rate I was going to lose.
Watching me begin to falter, the smile on her lips grew wider and more confident. A smile that said victory was certain. The sight of it stirred a complicated mix of emotions in my chest.
She could smile this beautifully… so why had she worn such a lonely expression before?
During the three years I was gone, I had assumed Min Soyeon had completely changed. Growth and change go hand in hand, so I’d simply accepted it. But that had been my mistake.
After only a few training sessions and a single night, she had already grown. The girl who had never once smiled at me was now laughing with genuine joy. I felt pathetic for having decided so easily that she had changed.
The moment I was captivated by my daughter’s long-missed smile—
“Haaht!”
She attacked again.
CLANG!!!!
She must have used up quite a bit of magic power too; her sword speed had noticeably dropped, making it easier to block. As if she had predicted I would stop it, she smoothly redirected the tip toward me.
The blade rushed toward my chest. This one I couldn’t block head-on. Sensing defeat, I spread a thin film of magic power across my palm like a veil and gently deflected her sword.
Ting—
The blade lost its strength and trembled. If you can’t block it, you deflect it. I never imagined I would use a technique I learned from my wife to stop my daughter’s sword.
Caught off guard by the unexpected defense, Min Soyeon’s smile stiffened for a split second. I used that opening to create distance and flashed her a small smile.
Apparently that smile lit a fire under her. She bit her lip hard and charged again. Just as her sword and my hand were about to clash—
Riiiiing~ Riiiiing~
The timer announcing the end of the match went off.
The sharp killing intent radiating from the blade stopped right in front of my palm. When I glanced up, my eyes met Min Soyeon’s. She was biting her lip so hard it looked painful. In that locked gaze I could feel every ounce of her frustration.
In the end, no matter how you looked at it, I had won again.
Min Soyeon slowly lowered her sword, glared at me, and muttered in a tiny voice.
“…You bad bastard.”
She’d gone from “crazy bastard” to just “bad bastard.” That was progress, right? I gave her a bright, triumphant grin full of the winner’s leisure. In response she narrowed her eyes into axe-blades and stared daggers at me.
Don’t look at me like that. It reminds me of your mother.
While I slowly caught my breath and savored the lingering aftertaste of the fight, murmurs from the surrounding students reached my ears.
“What the hell are those two…? Are they really in the same year as us?”
“Was that supposed to be a friendly match?”
“No way, they were seriously trying to kill each other…”
When I looked around, I realized a huge crowd of students was watching us. We had made so much noise that we’d drawn every eye in the hall.
Doing my best to ignore their stares, I handed Min Soyeon the water bottle I had prepared in advance.
“…”
She snatched it like she was stealing it, roughly twisted the cap off, and chugged the contents.
“Puha…”
After swallowing that enormous amount in one go, she let out a satisfied breath and handed the bottle back to me.
Hm? She didn’t finish it?
Quite a bit of water was still left. Without thinking, I brought the bottle to my lips. The moment I did, Min Soyeon’s eyes widened in panic and she snatched it away again.
“…What? I haven’t finished drinking yet.”
“You crazy bastard! Why are you using my water bottle?!”
“Wait, what do you mean ‘your’ water or ‘my’ water…”
Her face was flushed—probably from the lingering effects of magic power—and she hurled curses at me before spinning on her heel and storming off.
I never imagined I’d get cursed just for trying to drink some water. When she was little, Min Soyeon had been such a filial daughter that she would even share a single bean with me. Now she had become a fiery filial daughter who wouldn’t even let me drink from her bottle.
…She really has changed. Though some parts of her still seem different.
After all the classes ended, I walked up to Min Soyeon and claimed my “winner’s rights.”
“…What do you want?”
She looked at me like I was ridiculous. I explained again.
“Let’s work out together.”
“…Do it by yourself.”
She rejected me coldly. I hurriedly grabbed her arm as she tried to walk away.
“Hey, wait! I won, didn’t I? You have to do whatever I say!”
I could feel the stinging gazes of passing students.
“Get lost. I’m not doing it.”
Min Soyeon shook me off with a frigid expression and started to leave. I quickly followed after her and kept talking.
“I’ll contact you after dinner, so you’d better come out. Got it?”
“Whatever.”
“If you don’t train, you’ll never beat me. I’m basically giving you a water shuttle service!”
“Please, just shut up already…”
After persistently sticking to her and ignoring all the surrounding stares, I finally managed to get Min Soyeon to agree to the workout promise.