A Peaceful Day (5)
A Peaceful Day (5)
The number of people we were playing with kept growing until there were eight of us total.
"Hey, Jong-su, you got two more friends? Come on, invite 'em, let's do a 5v5."
"Betting dinner?"
Right then, Park Ji-hoon must've felt something, because he narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
"Call one of them in as Iron..."
Jong-su roped in two more, so after the last bell we all gathered in the classroom to split up teams.
Before we divided up by rock-paper-scissors, I stepped forward confidently as the representative, and Park Ji-hoon stared at me again.
"Not you. Someone else do it."
"Why?"
"Just... a bad feeling."
Sharp as hell, Park Ji-hoon...
Seems like hanging around me did nothing but sharpen his instincts.
Here's something I'd kept hidden up to now: if I focus, I'm confident I won't lose a single round of rock-paper-scissors.
I can visually track the movement of the opponent's finger muscles, and with reaction speed beyond the human realm, I can deduce the correct answer almost like prescience.
"Where's the sense in that? The Irons should do rock-paper-scissors so it's fair. If Diamond over there takes Da-yeon, you guys just straight-up win, right?"
"Ah... something's off... Then rock-paper-scissors with me."
In his own way, it seemed like he was challenging me because he didn't want to be on the same team as me, but it was all within my predictions.
I won easily from the first round and claimed Da-yeon.
Then, just as Park Ji-hoon was about to pick his team, I held out my palm.
"Hey, we gotta do rock-paper-scissors again."
"What? What country's rule is that?"
"Bullshit? Then why the hell even do rock-paper-scissors? Let's just yell 'watashi no turn' and take whoever we want."
"......"
In the end, we did rock-paper-scissors again. Park Ji-hoon must've sensed something was off, because his fingers twitched.
That was the first time I'd seen someone throw a fake like that, but he seriously underestimated me.
I'd achieved a kind of awakening once, during an exam when I desperately had to hold in a fart.
I'd experienced a state of oneness where my eyes and body acted without going through the brain's commands.
Park Ji-hoon tried to throw rock, but I saw it with my own two eyes. The twitch of his index and middle fingers.
Right before I processed that fake, my brain told me to throw paper, but my instincts went with rock.
"".....""
"Bullshit..."
"Won again~"
I took Da-yeon, Jong-su, Ju-won, and In-su onto my team.
"Don't give me that crap! Hey, everyone except you is Diamond! And Da-yeon is a Master, for god's sake!"
"Yeah, screw off~ Honestly, we decided by rock-paper-scissors, so what's the big deal~"
We headed to a PC bang and played some hardcore ROL. Riding on my teammates' coattails, I racked up win after win.
The gap was so brutal that Park Ji-hoon got solo-killed by me.
"Park Ji-hoon, total scrub, right? Even dying to me, right? Got solo-killed by a support, right?"
"FUCK!!!"
"So sensitive~ You ma~d~ It's just a game, why you gotta be like that?"
I imitated a meme from a broadcast I'd been watching lately just to piss off Park Ji-hoon, and my condition improved.
For three games straight, with my team's help, I started wrecking Park Ji-hoon's day.
"Scrub cut!"
Sweet Da-yeon, glancing at Ji-hoon's mood, tried to hold me back, but I paid no attention.
If I don't mess with him now, when else would I?
Honestly, if it came down to a fistfight, I'd win.
More than anything, since Park Ji-hoon was the best on the other team, if I just wrecked him, the game would get a lot easier.
"Kim Tae-oh cut! Bronze bitch cut-cut!"
And then, as if Park Ji-hoon had decided to focus solely on hunting me, the minimap showed the enemy team's movements were unusual.
I swapped to mobility boots, planted wards by the truckload, and started playing solely for my own survival, using our ADC Jong-su as bait.
Park Ji-hoon chased me to the end with a character named Vine, as if his only mission was to kill me.
I clicked on the fountain and started dealing emotional damage through chat.
- Yeah, can't catch me, can ya? Missed all your CS, didn't ya? Wanna catch me so bad, but you're slow as Park Ji-hoon, right?
- Pissed off? 'Cause things are going my way? But you're holding it in 'cause you don't want things to keep going my way to the very end, right?
Along with Park Ji-hoon slamming his desk in rage, we moved on to another game.
ROL really is a god-tier game. I was happy.
My birthday drew near. Two weeks beforehand, I got in touch with Hanseong's marketing department.
Inside the building Lee Gi-seok had given me, a bright, cheerful party room had been prepared.
I got my makeup done for the first time in a while and was running around all excited, so Dad took pictures.
How many acquaintances do I really even have?
So I didn't think many people would come, but way more people than I expected showed up.
The first to arrive, aside from Dad and me, were Park Ji-hoon and his friends Min-jun and Ju-won.
I thought we'd gotten close through ROL, but maybe they had crushes on me. They wished me a happy birthday awkwardly, and no matter what I said, they stayed stiff and nervous.
Seeing that, Ji-hoon came over and started up a conversation with them.
Mostly it was sweaty guy-talk about sports, but...
Starting with Park Ji-hoon's crew, people began arriving one by one when Jong-su, In-su, and their friends came in.
"Whoa... what is this, a palace? Left your present at the entrance."
"Oh, thanks. I gotta greet the guests, you see that room over there? Ji-hoon's in there. Go hang out with him."
"Got it~"
Then Min-ji, Jun-su, and Ji-yeong arrived.
"Whoa, whoa~"
Ji-yeong, whom I hadn't seen in a long time, looked around with sparkling eyes, and so did Min-ji and Jun-su.
"Si-yoon! Long time no see!"
"Hey~ Oh... started wearing makeup, huh?"
"How is it? Pretty?"
"I'll teach you how to do your makeup nicely later."
"That's not a roundabout way of saying it's bad, right?"
"Ahaha."
"Hey!"
She'd always had pale skin that took makeup well, but Ji-yeong, who'd started putting effort into her appearance after the CSAT was over, looked way better than I'd expected.
Though, if I lent her a hand, I could make it way easier and better suited for her.
"We go to the same school now~"
"You bet~ I really busted my ass studying to get into Hanguk University. Wow~ same school!"
Ji-yeong had gotten into the law department, and it looked like she intended to follow in her parents' footsteps after all.
The next to enter were Sheen and Dubu.
"Oh~ Sheen, hi~"
Sheen greeted me awkwardly and couldn't stop fidgeting, like a dog that needed to do its business.
"Bathroom?"
"No, it's just my first time in a place like this... ahem..."
Just as Sheen said, the atmosphere around us looked exactly like a medieval banquet hall, but the walls were entirely aquariums, glowing in every imaginable color.
This grandeur didn't lose out to the chaebol parties the government throws twice a year.
Dubu had her stream on, so I made a quick guest appearance and said hi.
She'd said she'd split the hosting with Sheen, but Dubu was lugging around a HaiPro setup all by herself, with no manager in sight.
Once they'd said hello to Dad, I pointed them to the room where Park Ji-hoon was.
Curious to see Park Ji-hoon, whose voice they'd often heard but never met in person, Sheen and Dubu approached with expectant eyes.
Once they found Park Ji-hoon's face, which they'd only known indirectly through my SNS, the two of them started getting flustered.
As if he'd only just now filled out into his full height, Park Ji-hoon had slowly reached 193 cm, with an overwhelming frame weighing 106 kg.
"Whoa... you're Ji-hoon? Whoa..."
The red-haired Park Ji-hoon, if you saw him in person, gave off an aura that made you not want to talk to him, like getting tangled up with him would be dreadfully dangerous.
But since Park Ji-hoon hadn't lost his characteristically juvenile way of talking, Sheen started getting comfortable fast.
But... Dubu's expression was weird.
It was exactly like Ji-su's signature expression when she looked at actor Yoo Su-a...
Could it be, Park Ji-hoon...?
However, with the entrance of Da-yeon and Tae-oh, that expression redirected itself toward Tae-oh.
"Whoa... shit... he's so goddamn handsome..."
Dubu muttered it quietly enough that only I, standing right next to her, could hear.
Everyone coming to the party today had given prior permission to appear on Dubu's stream.
When Grandfather and Grandmother entered, I let myself be swept up neatly into their arms.
Maybe it was because of my height, but the two of them still called me their widdle baby.
At my age, back in the old days, I'd already be married off, but in the 21st century, if you said something like that, you'd get beaten to a pulp.
The two of them never quite knew what to do when they saw me.
They say a grandparent's love is unrequited, so what can you do.
I'll just have to make sure I don't leave their love unrequited.
I stuck by Grandfather and Grandmother for a long while, and once they seemed satisfied, they returned to Dad's side.
Next to appear were Professor Ahn Jun-tae, Teacher Go Min-su, his wife Ju Seo-hyeon, and their little ones, Hyeon-min and Hyeon-ji.
"Kyaa~ Si-yoon~"
"Teacher~"
As I was embracing Ju Seo-hyeon and chatting, Hyeon-min kept sneaking glances at me.
Looking at that, it seemed like his crush on me was still very much alive.
Professor Ahn Jun-tae smiled at me.
"I heard you got accepted to Hanguk University."
"Yep."
"Well done. It would've been even better if you'd come to the College of Arts... such a shame..."
"Ahaha."
And then the Dreaming members made their entrance.
Dreaming, the group that had once been the number-one girl idol group in the world, not just in Korea.
The little ones, Sheen, and Dubu were seeing the Dreaming members in person for the first time, and all their eyes started sparkling.
A parade of idols I knew personally entered one after another, first rushing over to greet Dad respectfully, then greeting me in turn and taking pictures together.
Idols who just showed their faces and then left because of their schedules.
In the end, only the Dreaming members stayed behind to hang out with me, and they even appeared on Sheen and Dubu's stream.
Almost the last JSM-affiliated person to enter was Jang Seong-man.
It felt like I'd seen him not too long ago, but at the same time, it felt like it had been ages.
"Si-yoon~!"
"Oh, hello, Grandfather."
"......"
Jang Seong-man, having rushed toward me, stopped short and his expression went stiff.
He was genuinely old enough to be called a grandfather now, his face lined with wrinkles, but because of his industry he took meticulous care of his appearance and looked young for his age.
"Ahaha, I was kidding~ I can expect a good present, right?"
"Hahaha! Of course~"
And then, the actors made their entrance...
Led by actor Kim Ha-neul, they began filing in one after another.
Looking around, actor Kim Ha-neul let out a continuous string of admiration.
"Wow~ look at this party room, how much does it cost to rent a place like this?"
"It's mine, actually?"
"Huh?"
Actor Kwak In-cheol, whom I hadn't seen in a while... he was scheduled to appear with me on Next-Door Hyungnim this time.
We'd been chatting for a while when the Lee Jin-seok family arrived, and the moment they did, everyone started to quiet down.
The Lee Gi-seok family, exuding that signature chaebol aura.
Faced with an aura that screamed 'we hold some serious power' no matter who you were, like a pack of nobility, those without immunity to such things audibly swallowed.
After them, the team leaders from Teams 1 and 2 took their seats.
Once everyone who was going to gather had gathered, I stood up from my seat.
"Yo! Park Ji!"
"What."
"Bet your paycheck."
"...Hah, bring it."
The billiards match we played with Park Ji-hoon's paycheck on the line grew to a bigger deal than I'd expected, and I started chalking my cue while drinking my orange juice.
Only Dad, watching with a smile, knew my actual billiards skill.
I'd even had a pool table installed at home and trained with Dad almost every day.
Park Ji-hoon started things off, hitting first without holding back.
Having racked up 30 points right from the start, he started smirking, but I showed off my honed acting skills and played like I was absolutely terrible.
Park Ji-hoon was getting increasingly smug, which was obnoxious to watch, but knowing his face would soon crumple made it delightful.
"Double paycheck buff, sweet as hell~ nearly Maple Leaf Burning Event tier, right?"
Park Ji-hoon kept running his mouth excitedly every time he took points.
"Wow, there's a spot where you touch it and your paycheck doubles?"
Park Ji-hoon, ramping up the bullshit, maybe because he wanted to get back at me for losing that last bet...
When I didn't get all twitchy and riled up like usual, he slowly started getting suspicious.
Sensing that the time had come, I started properly showing off my polished skills.
I grabbed the cue rest neatly, stuck my hips way out to set my stance, and I spotted Dad laughing from a distance.
Dad had been taking after me more and more, and apparently he'd started enjoying this kind of thing too.
To teach him a proper lesson, I didn't even let him have another turn.
I started with basic techniques like ura-mashi and oo-mashi, and then when I showed the vinku dish, Park Ji-hoon's pupils began to waver.
Thwack!
As I closed it out by sinking the huang-oshi, Park Ji-hoon quietly set down his cue in the face of my overwhelming artistic billiards.
"Ah... shit. Haah... Isn't this a bit too far? How much do you even pay me, and you're skimming that too!?"
"Yeah, screw off. Your paycheck, sweet as hell~ basically a honey pot, I just went *slurp* and gulped it right down!"
Park Ji-hoon got his paycheck swiped right from under his nose, but he only jokingly griped about it; he didn't say a single word about taking it back.
Even after losing his paycheck, Park Ji-hoon was still cool as hell about it.
Just what I'd expect from Ji-hoon after he'd lost several buildings with me at the gambling tables.