Playing the Game I'd Been Waiting For.
Playing the Game I'd Been Waiting For.
The day after I disciplined 'Passing Bystander.'
During class, Ji-hoon was watching the video of me on Next-Door Hyungnim on his phone.
"Whoa... this is seriously unfair..."
I was sketching in my sketchbook, and at Ji-hoon's words I glanced over at the video.
In the frame, me sitting on top of the lectern.
"What?"
"So I wanted to know exactly, and I did some investigating, you know?"
Hearing the word “investigating” come out of Park Ji-hoon’s mouth made me smirk.
At best, it couldn't have been anything more than a search on Green Window.
"What?"
"How much money your dad makes, Boss."
Listening to Ji-hoon, I was drawing the face of the teacher giving the lesson.
The drawing was already almost finished.
"Why do you want to know? The more you know, the more you realize life was unfair from the start..."
"....."
My eyes met the teacher's as he wrote on the board, but my hand didn't stop.
The teachers all seemed to share information about me,
and they knew I remembered everything after seeing it a single time,
so even though they knew I was drawing, they didn't stop me.
I tore the finished page from my sketchbook, wrote the date at the very bottom, and signed it.
Satisfied with how the drawing had turned out, I nodded and opened my book.
"Whoa... it's a photo, a photo..."
When class ended, I gave the drawing to the teacher.
"Here, this is for you."
The teacher glanced at my drawing for a moment, then her eyes went wide.
"Ooh... is this me? Thank you~ I'll treasure it~"
"Yep."
The teachers who taught the lower elementary grades each had one of my drawings hung up in the office.
I'd spent nearly six hours drawing almost every day for the four years since I was four. My speed and precision had become exceptional, and my work could now stand beside that of students preparing for art school.
I murmured as I looked over everything I'd drawn so far.
"This... I could genuinely go into art, couldn't I?"
"... Whatever happened to the person who said they'd tear down S Company?"
At Ji-hoon's words, I propped my chin on my hand, gazed at the blue sky outside the window, thought for a moment, then changed the subject.
"... If you want to be in the same class next year, study."
A private elementary school in Seoul — this school started dividing classes by the kids' grades.
"Isn’t it embarrassing to be outsmarted by eight-year-olds?"
Park Ji-hoon found it humiliating to lose to little brats in a battle of knowledge,
so he was making an effort, but...
even compared with Da-yeon alone, he was far behind.
Honestly, if the top-tier kids took a test on the material we learn,
even adults would struggle to beat them.
When class ended and lunchtime came, I headed to the cafeteria with Ji-hoon.
We went into the cafeteria used by grades 1 through 3, picked up trays, and loaded food onto them.
Ji-hoon piled his tray as high as a mountain.
I took only as much as I'd eat and found a seat, and a little later Ji-hoon sat down opposite me.
"That’s it? Will that give you any strength? Why aren’t you eating more?"
My portion was never small compared to other kids my age, but next to Ji-hoon's it looked pathetic.
"Dunno. I get full even on just this."
I put a spoonful of rice in my mouth and started reading a novel.
Ji-hoon watched as I sat primly and turned the pages one by one.
"....."
Ji-hoon had stuffed so much food into his mouth that his cheeks looked ready to burst, and he stared at me while chewing noisily.
"...?"
Ji-hoon gave the food a few careless chews, swallowed, and spoke.
"Wow... you’re trying so fucking hard to look pretty."
"What, you wanna fight?"
When I spoke while sweeping back my hair, Ji-hoon rubbed both arms like my reaction gave him goosebumps.
"Huh? What are you doing? That doesn’t suit you!"
"I try to be nice and... fuck... haaah. Just eat your damn food unless you want to start losing teeth at your age."
"...Yep."
I supposed it was true that people changed with their circumstances.
Maybe being treated like a princess by Dad lately had changed my behavior too. The thought gave me chills.
I caught myself sitting with my legs primly together out of habit.
'Ah...?'
A sudden shiver ran through me. I snapped the book shut and focused on eating.
When PE time approached, I grabbed my gym clothes bag and headed toward the changing room.
The girls who noticed me began whispering loudly enough to make sure I heard.
"Isn't she trying way too hard to act pretty?"
"Did you see her earlier? The way she acted all cute while giving the teacher that drawing was fucking disgusting..."
"So fucking obnoxious."
How my image got to this state, honestly... I missed Da-yeon.
Without paying any mind, I pulled my gym clothes out of the locker and changed.
The gym uniform was white with green stripes.
I hung my school uniform on a hanger and closed the locker.
The little brats watched my every move with close attention.
What could I do about little brats giving me those looks and talking shit — they were eight years old, after all.
I left the brats behind and headed for the gymnasium.
As I walked toward where the PE teacher was, slowly tying my waist-length hair back with a headband, every gaze in the gymnasium locked onto me.
'Talk about uncomfortable...'
I liked being physically active.
So far, though, the only serious physical activity I had done was swimming.
Before I knew it, the burly PE teacher stood in front of us. We had lined up in arrival order, but Ji-hoon left the front row and moved behind me.
"Today we're going to play dodgeball."
They usually had us walk around the school grounds, but it looked like today’s class would involve more movement.
A ball game I had never heard of: dodgeball.
'What's dodgeball?'
Once the teacher explained the game and I understood the rules, I went to my team’s side.
When I looked at Ji-hoon on the opposing team, the glare he was aiming at me was anything but ordinary.
Dodgeball began with the sound of a whistle.
I had expected it, but the soft, light ball came flying at me right from the start.
Not particularly wanting to try hard, I just tilted my head lightly to dodge, and the PE teacher stared at me intently.
'Am I supposed to make my dodges look more dramatic...?'
The opposing-team brats all targeted only me.
'These little shits are annoying.'
I was thinking I'd just get hit and head out to the sidelines,
but in an instant, a dodgeball came flying at my face with overwhelming speed.
At that moment, the ball started to look slow.
I tilted my head to avoid the ball that had closed in right before my eyes and stared at Park Ji-hoon, who had thrown it.
The ball flew out of bounds, and a boy who was already out threw another ball at me.
Keeping my gaze fixed on Park Ji-hoon, I caught the ball flying at me with one hand.
Thwump.
At my stare, Ji-hoon flinched hard.
'... You wanna go?'
Reading my lips, Park Ji-hoon suddenly ducked behind the other kids.
He was daring me to throw and risk hitting them.
I aimed at the brats' legs so they couldn't catch it and rapidly thinned out the numbers.
"".......""
"You're dead."
Facing Ji-hoon, left all alone, I took a stance like I was throwing a baseball and put my full weight into hurling the ball.
The limits of a child’s body kept the ball from flying very fast.
Ji-hoon dodged it easily, and the ball flew far away.
Ji-hoon watched the ball sail away, then smirked.
"What was that? It was slow."
"....."
"Got all tense for nothing."
That one remark from Ji-hoon made a vein throb in my forehead for the first time in ages.
Ji-hoon got possession of the ball.
The ball he threw to hit me came flying at high speed,
but as if receiving a pass, I caught the incoming ball lightly.
As things heated up, we began taunting each other, trying to get under the other’s skin.
"If that's how you throw, why the hell did you stuff your face with so much food?"
At my taunt, a vein began throbbing in Ji-hoon’s forehead too.
"Yeah~ I can catch what you throw with my eyes closed~"
With no end to the contest in sight, the PE teacher watched us with his mouth hanging open,
keeping a wary eye on us so he could step in if anything happened.
I threw the ball again with full force, and Ji-hoon checked the direction it was coming, then closed his eyes.
"Whoa? I really caught it with my eyes closed."
The ball was moving more slowly than expected, and neither of us could bring the match to an end. We were both getting frustrated.
Watching Ji-hoon taunt me even then...
I heard something snap inside my head.
"Fuck this, I'm done! Hey! Let's just settle this here and now."
Ji-hoon clearly thought that sounded great and slammed the ball onto the floor.
"Come on, then! Fuck!! You think I’ll back down?"
Ah... this fucking bastard had gotten so worked up that he seemed to have forgotten who I was,
and in my eyes, he stopped looking like my subordinate Lee Jae-hyeong and started looking like a feral animal that was not even housebroken.
Watching Ji-hoon genuinely pissed off made my blood boil, too.
At some point, Park Ji-hoon had become top dog among the boys.
Maybe that had made him cocky, because he sometimes crossed the line.
I had already thought he needed a lesson in the pecking order eventually.
The date had merely been moved forward. Today was the day.
"...? What did you say?"
I gave him a dead-serious warning look, but Ji-hoon only smirked at me.
No, he clearly thought I was a joke now. He was laughing at me.
'Ah... fine... this is it...'
The moment I shot forward as if flying at Ji-hoon, the PE teacher, grasping the situation, tried to hold me back with his whole body.
"Si-yoon, you're way too worked up!!!"
"Let go!"
From behind the teacher restraining me, Park Ji-hoon looked at me and flipped the bird.
'Oh, got it... I'll rip that finger off.'
I slipped free of the PE teacher’s hold.
I easily evaded his attempt to grab me again, used his massive body as a foothold, and broke away.
The PE teacher's face was sheer shock at my movement,
Using the speed I gained with every step, I launched myself at Park Ji-hoon.
Park Ji-hoon dodged while aiming for a counterpunch, but...
Was it because it was a child’s fist, or had something truly changed in me?
That fist started to look far too slow.
I followed the direction of Park Ji-hoon’s dodge and drove a knee into his face. Blood burst from both nostrils as he went flying.
"".......""
While I was admiring my picture-perfect flying knee, the stunned PE teacher behind me finally came to his senses and shouted.
"Kim Si-yoon!!!"
"...?"
Seeing the PE teacher's expression, I realized something had gone wrong,
and I started looking for an excuse to get out of the situation.
"Si-yoon, what the hell did you do!!!"
I clasped my hands politely in front of my abdomen and spoke.
"No, but he flipped me off..."
'Have I lost my mind? That’s the excuse I came up with...?'
The PE teacher stared at me as though I were a lunatic: I had just wrecked a friend and was now spouting complete nonsense.
The PE teacher sighed, checked the condition of the unconscious Ji-hoon, and slowly hoisted Ji-hoon onto his back.
I thought of another excuse and was about to speak to the PE teacher.
The PE teacher was firm.
"Shut up and follow me!"
Without a word, I followed the PE teacher heading for the nurse's office.