Tatadadadang-!
The mouse gets busier and busier.
In a blink, the monitor spins around.
A character holding a sniper rifle points their gun at each other.
<<10 consecutive kills!>>
The kill count rose with the shot fired, but my screen turned gray alongside it.
<[Defeat]>
“Aww, I lost. So close…!”
Ma Ji-hye, leaning on her chair, murmured softly.
“Ugh, looking at the monitor makes me feel nauseous…”
Han Seori rubbed her red, bloodshot eyes and returned to her place.
“Hey guys, our time at the PC bang is over, do you want to keep playing or go for lunch? Yo, Seo Yu-na! Don’t just read webtoons, give your opinion.”
“Ouch, let’s go eat hot pot. I’m so hungry right now.”
“What do you want?”
“Huh? You asked!”
Lee Ha-ru and Seo Yu-na were bickering like children once again.
Even though it had been a while since we last met, nothing had changed, as if time had simply pulled the kids up and down.
“Na-me, get up. We have to go now.”
“I’m already up.”
“Huh? Does Na-me want to play longer?”
“I said I’m up.”
“Did Na-me come to the PC bang today?”
“Whoa, Seori, behind you…!”
I tickled Han Seori’s side, who kept poking fun, and she toppled over.
Hahaha! Why me! Stop! I’m sorry! Gurrrk…
“From now until we leave the PC bang, I’m going to cut off the legs of anyone taller than me.”
Eek!
The kids immediately bent their knees.
This is how the world should be.
[Me too…?]
“Of course, you’re included. Not bending?”
I was shocked to find that Ruri had outgrown me in just a month…
I had completely forgotten that a dragon’s early growth spurt is stair-step-like.
It seemed that recent training in China had yielded some results.
So, I planned to homeschool and socialize for about two years before monitoring her growth.
Then, when she reaches around middle school age, I could send her to the academy.
As our friends waddled up the stairs, they emerged from the curse of being underfoot.
“Whoa, this is crazy. It takes 1 hour and 30 minutes just to get to our neighborhood?”
“How? By taxi?”
“Yeah. The restaurant’s going to close.”
“It must be because it’s the Lunar New Year. Or maybe there was an accident. What about the subway?”
“The subway is… 42 minutes.”
“Then, of course, we should take the subway. Let’s go!”
An impromptu decision.
We walked through the narrow alley towards the subway station.
In the midst of it all, Lee Ha-ru surprised everyone by saying it was her first time taking the subway.
“You’ve never taken the subway before? You’ve ridden trains, right?”
“I’ve been on KTX and KTX-H. But the subway… um…”
“Well, it can’t be helped. Princess Ha-ru can’t take the subway with us commoners.”
“Hey, don’t exaggerate. It’s just a train ride sitting down.”
“If there’s no seat, you might have to stand, you know?”
“You mean you stand on the subway? Are you kidding me…?”
Lee Ha-ru raised her eyebrows.
Instantly, we formed a circle, linking arms and wearing serious expressions.
“Whoa, Lee Ha-ru isn’t joking; she’s serious.”
“Exactly. She must really have never taken the subway.”
“Is that even possible? Didn’t we all take the subway on the school trip?”
“No, Ha-ru came separately that time…!”
“Aaaah, I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s my fault!”
There was another near crisis after that.
Seeing the 40-meter long escalator, Ha-ru freaked out.
“What if I roll down?”
Yuna coolly replied, “Then you’d die, I guess.”
Ruri, who didn’t even know the concept of a subway, whispered to me.
[Sis… It’s not a gateway to the underworld, right?]
Pffft.
The typical medieval mindset.
They think everything that goes underground leads to the afterlife.
Patting Ruri’s head, I stepped onto the escalator.
*
The subway was bustling at every transfer station.
Since there wasn’t even room to sit, we fought for standing space for 40 minutes.
Conversations were minimal; mostly we chuckled at our friends’ faces sweating in front of the heater.
“Ah! There’s a seat!”
Swish-
An old lady popped out of nowhere, swiftly cutting through the crowd to grab the seat.
What was that?
That’s absurd.
The academy friends shot glaring looks at her, but sadly, the lady’s eye mask shielded her from our disdain.
Emerging from the subway, we reached our destination, the hot pot restaurant we aimed for.
Dropping vegetables and noodles into the bubbling broth, we stirred with ladles.
“Oh wow, your name is Cheon Luri! Still not good at Korean yet?”
“Just a little, I’m learning.”
“Hehe, Ruri, you’re so cute! Today at the PC bang was so much fun.”
“Yeah… me too.”
Ruri shyly covered her mouth with her hair, turning red.
“Really?”
[Yes, it was fun. Your friends seem nice too.]
That was an unexpected response.
Having rolled around in the battlefield with her for years, I thought I’d said goodbye to the childlike spirit.
I smiled warmly and dished vegetables and Chinese glass noodles onto Ruri’s plate.
“Since I’m treating, make sure to enjoy it.”
I also took a bite of meat, yum.
“More, more, more!”
“?”
“Seems like that picky-eater habit hasn’t changed, Na-me CEO.”
“I just took the first bite.”
“First bite? Hey, Na-me, how about looking at what you’ve got on your plate?”
I covered my plate with the ladle.
But the shabu-shabu meat slipped outside the ladle and floated up.
“This guy…! There’s no green on the plate! Isn’t that impressive?”
“What if you don’t grow anymore? Na-me must be stressed about her height as it is…”
Oof.
Ji-hye’s concern was the hardest hit among the words of advice.
How bitter the truth could be.
I took a bok choy and chewed on it.
“Honestly, I’ve pretty much given up on height. Even if I grow here, it’s only 20 cm at best.”
“Uh… 20 cm?!”
“Yuna, shhh.”
“So, it’s okay if you’re under 150 cm. I’m not such a horrible person to make my height a complex. I just want to enjoy every day, eating tasty food and living happily.”
[Sis, that’s such a cool thing to say. I, Ruri, am moved.]
See? Ruri agrees too.
For a moment, I suspected whether that was genuine or not.
“Little Na-me, you can’t disappear… Can’t you just stay as our little Na-me?”
Seori grabbed my hand tightly.
“Hehe. I can’t imagine Na-me growing up.”
“I think the same. This form is just perfect.”
At Ha-ru’s words, I gasped and dropped my chopsticks on the floor.
“This way? Right now I’m too small. I’m not even 130 cm yet…!”
“You are small.”
“Ji-hye, stop it… It’s been painful since earlier.”
After blocking Ma Ji-hye’s innocent attacks, I stared at my friends for a long time.
“?”
They all still looked like kids…
Maybe it’s because they were wearing boots, but I started questioning each one.
“Ma Ji-hye, how tall are you?”
“Me? I’m about 145 cm.”
“And you?”
“I think I’m similar to her. 147, 148?”
Lee Ha-ru, reaching out for the grabbing tool, was the same.
Big, at least 20 cm taller than me.
Today, her arms seemed especially long.
“Here’s the sauce refill! Peanut sauce 1, chili sauce 2.5, chopped green onion, sugar, chili oil, beef seasoning, garlic 0.5! An impeccable combination, taste it right away!”
Suddenly, a friend of Swedish mixed descent spoke in a rustic dialect.
I think Han Seori seemed equal in height when she was walking closely to Lee Ha-ru before.
“What about me? Why aren’t you asking me? Heehee.”
Yu-na’s beaming smile forced my expression to twist.
“How tall are you…?”
“152!”
“Oh my goodness.”
I remembered.
When we entered the PC bang, Yu-na had her chin resting on my head.
The once baby-faced Yu-na suddenly seemed infinitely huge.
“This feels like swimming in an indoor pool and seeing an instructor walking above on the corridor…”
Pfft. What’s that about?
“Oh, I know what you mean. From below, everyone looks like giants.”
“Swimming pool? Hey guys, speaking of that, Dad asked me to check if you all want to go to the water park.”
Lee Ha-ru brought up a new conversation.
Lee Ha-ru’s father is CEO Lee Hyun-do of Samyeon Link.
“When? During the upcoming holiday?”
“Yeah. We’re free until Tuesday. How about Water Haven tomorrow or the day after? Dad wants to take the family along and has plenty of tickets prepared. Oh, is there anyone in our group who has to go down to the countryside?”
“Do you know when he brought this up?”
“When was it again? Was it the day before yesterday? Anyway, Na-me, it was the day after you said we should all get together.”
“Is your dad coming too?”
“Yeah! I’m excited since it’s my first family trip.”
What a coincidence.
In other words, it meant CEO Lee Hyun-do must have something to discuss with me.
Given that he would relay the message through Ha-ru likely meant it wasn’t too important.
“I can go! I have no grandparents to worry about.”
“Nah, Seo Yu-na, you just have to…”
In an instant, the atmosphere turned chilly as Lee Ha-ru glanced around.
“I think it would be tough for me.”
Ji-hye mentioned she was going to Busan tomorrow, so her schedule didn’t align with ours.
“Ahhh, what to do, it’s troubling!”
Han Seori’s blue eyes were lost in thought.
“Why?”
“My family booked plane tickets to Sweden for tomorrow. Should I go a day or two later?”
“Just go.”
“Why?!”
And so again, only the three of us were left.
It couldn’t be helped since few families have free schedules during the Lunar New Year.
“Hmph, I really wanted to go to the water park with Na-me… slurp!”
Han Seori vented her frustrations while slurping up Chinese glass noodles.
The recoil caused the red broth of the spicy hot pot to splatter onto my hoodie.
“Whoa, you got it on me!”
“Oh.”
“Ugh…! Na-me, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry…! What do I do? I’ll clean it with wet wipes!”
“It’s fine. I can wash it when I get home. Hand it here.”
I shrugged it off like it was no big deal and pulled off my hoodie.
“Are you wearing a t-shirt underneath?”
“Yep. That’s why I can take it off like this.”
“Wow, you really got it everywhere. Han Seori, reflect on your actions.”
“I’ll commit seppuku!”
The beige furry outside of my hoodie meant no matter how much I wiped, the red stains just spread further.
I could clean it with magic, but that would damage the clothing, so I decided to do it when I got home.
“Tsk tsk. Na-me works hard. Han Seori always causes trouble, even at the academy. Last time she broke a gemstone, it cost 300,000 won.”
Lee Ha-ru patted my back with a pitying expression.
“Doesn’t that mean she’ll get suspended?”
“Not enough to warrant a suspension!”
“Huh? But Na-me…”
“Why?”
In a very ambiguous and complicated expression, Lee Ha-ru hesitated, then opened her mouth.
“I’m not sure if it’s okay to say this, but…”
“You can whisper it in my ear.”
“Ah, okay. Na-me, you know…”
Why is she blushing so much?
This isn’t like the usual Lee Ha-ru who always emphasizes her points with accents.
I waited slowly while twirling a spoon stained with red broth.
Thinking that it can’t really be anything major.
“Are you still not wearing a bra…?”
Chough, cough! Keke!
“Huh, Na-me, what’s wrong?!”
“S-someone heard…! Water, please…!”
Even though we’re in the fifth grade of elementary division… Those words echoed in my mind.
