She was no different from a beast

Chapter 23

—–CROW—– 

DOUBLE KILL!! RED TEAM WINS!

“Easy~”

Along with the kill log showing the default knife, my nickname and the opponents’ nicknames appeared.  I stretched as the sound of our team’s victory played.

Despite my gentle voice, the ajeossis’ cries of despair echoed beside me. Ah, the cries of losers are truly music to my ears.

“No way! Throwing a flashbang in a best-of-three is a new one…”

“Isn’t a grenade the standard…rule?”

“Standard rule or not, there’s no such thing~ The winner defines justice~”

“My daughter’s right! Are the guys who got their heads chopped off by Yuna’s knife talking back?”

On the other hand, Dad was overjoyed, as if he was about to ascend to heaven, probably because he had won three out of five rounds.

Ah, this is what experience brings.

Back in the day, not many people could pull off tricks like air-burst grenades in Thunder Attack.

And knife fights were treated as honorable duels, all about the romance.

But by the time I became an adult, Thunder Attack had become a chaotic party of veterans, with grenades raining from the sky and players teabagging and assassinating gun-wielding opponents with dazzling footwork.

Well, it wasn’t a game I particularly enjoyed after elementary school, but my skills, honed from entertaining senior soldiers in the military when there was nothing else to do, haven’t gone anywhere.

The problem is that the “entertainment” involved chopping off their heads, flashbanging them, or putting bullet holes in their skulls.

“Tsk… Isn’t using a knife in a gunfight unsportsmanlike?”

“If I use a gun, it ends too quickly.”

“…”

“Man, I can’t even put up a fight.”

I considered carrying all five rounds, but wouldn’t that be too rude?

I pretended to make mistakes in about three rounds, giving them a glimmer of hope, and then in the end, I said, “Oh, I can’t do this anymore.  Time to get serious,” and annihilated them.

At least you were happy for a little while, right?

“Hey, Jeongwoo. Let’s get going.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Oh? You guys aren’t going to eat? We were going to treat you.”

Oh? Really? It’s a little tempting, but…hmm. I’ll pass.

Imagining the chewy sashimi dipped in sweet and spicy gochujang makes my mouth water, but it’s a day for the ajeossis to enjoy themselves. It wouldn’t be right for little kids to intrude.

They’ll probably drink, chuckle, and chat about this and that.

“Then, it was fun today~ Hehe. See you next time~”

“Yeah, okay. Go on home. …Wow, your daughter has really good manners.”

“I know, right? Look at my son just staring blankly. He could at least greet them with me.  Man, there’s a reason his wife is crazy about her.”

Huh? Why are you dissing your son out of nowhere?

Jeongwoo might feel bad that his dad is comparing him to me right in front of him, but he doesn’t show it and just sighs.

“Dad, should I tell Mom?”

“Wh-what?”

“Just kidding. Don’t drink too much.”

?? Wow.

What’s this?  His composure is unbelievable for an 8-year-old.  Not just me, but Dad and the other ajeossis were a little surprised too.

Jeongwoo chuckled, told me to hurry up and go, and led me outside, saying we’d be late for Taekwondo.

I knew he had become more mature than other kids his age, but I didn’t know it was to this extent.

As we walked down the street, I glanced at him and carefully asked,

“Don’t you usually get angry in situations like that?”

“Huh? Oh, are you talking about what Dad said earlier?”

“Yeah? I thought you might have felt a little bad.”

It’s not that I thought he’d be upset *because* he’s a kid.

Whether you’re a middle schooler, high schooler, or an adult, anyone would feel ashamed and angry if an older person compared them unfavorably to their peers right in front of them.

Especially when being compared to an elite elementary school student like, well, me, Han Yuna.

Jeongwoo seemed lost in thought for a moment, then shrugged as if it was nothing.

“Not really.  Dad probably didn’t mean anything by it. I’ve also experienced you getting angry at something I said thoughtlessly…and like our teacher said at school, we should try to see things from other people’s perspectives.”

He probably wasn’t trying to make me angry or upset me; he just said it casually.  If I got angry, it would just ruin our relationship, right?

Since Dad is close to me, I figured he just said it without thinking, so I didn’t get angry.

“…”

“That’s what I think…why aren’t you saying anything? Is it weird?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Wow. Did this kid always have such deep thoughts?

What the heck? This isn’t the kind of thinking I expect from an elementary school kid.

It was always Jeongwoo who was surprised by my every action.

I never imagined I’d be the one surprised by him.

“It’s just…I think you’re a kind and thoughtful kid.”

“?”

Is this the same kid who peed his pants when he first saw me?

The Jeongwoo who used to tremble and couldn’t even speak to me has become so mature.

My chest swelled with pride.

‘Hmm~ To make seaweed soup, I need seaweed and…what else?’

Honestly, the only seaweed soup I made in my past life was the stuff I made in college when I was short on cash, so I just put seaweed and water in a pot…well, it was more like seaweed water. After getting a job, it was chicken seaweed soup or beef seaweed soup, that’s all.

Since I celebrated their wedding anniversary lavishly last year, I wanted to keep it simple this year for my birthday and just make seaweed soup to help Mom and Dad with their sibling-making project. Hmm.

Should I add oysters, the natural aphrodisiac from the sea?

I don’t know about Mom, but Dad is getting older, so his lower body might not be what it used to be.

‘So I’ll go oyster picking on the weekend. Hmm~ Do we have seaweed at home?’

I roughly planned my upcoming birthday as I opened the front door and went inside.

“I’m ho…”

“Yes, Yuna just got home. Jeongwoo’s mother. Yes.”

“???”

Huh? Jeongwoo’s mother? What’s going on?

I was about to announce my return in my usual energetic way when I froze, seeing Mom glaring at me with a fierce look while holding the phone.

Uh oh. Is there a reason for Mom to look at me like that?

Lately, I haven’t been hitting kids or causing trouble. There shouldn’t be anything for Mom to be angry about.

“Yes. I’ll give him a good scolding when he gets home.”

‘Ah.’

Dad and the ajeossis…got caught drinking.

Grown men having a drink with some sashimi in the afternoon? That can happen.

Yeah, day drinking isn’t common, but it’s not like it’s forbidden or unheard of.

And Jeongwoo’s mom finding out and calling my mom? That can happen too. Yeah.

Since the Jeongwoo throwing incident, the two of them have become quite close and often contact each other.

Besides, if they were at a sashimi restaurant in Dodong, maybe Jeongwoo’s mom ran into them by chance, or maybe someone saw them and told her.

Even if it’s a town, in a small place like Ulleungdo, everyone knows each other, right?

But if not only Dad and the other ajeossi, but *I* am also mentioned, then something is seriously wrong.

It means someone broke the code of silence and told everything, not just about the drinks, but also about how they got their asses kicked by a little girl.  Crazy.

I’m screwed!!

Mom hung up the phone, her mouth smiling, but her eyes burning. She looked like a time bomb about to explode.  Oh boy. Haha.

“Um, Mom. About that…”

“I heard our daughter is a great shot.”

‘Damn it.’

I’m definitely busted!

Those grown-ass men!  Despite being “men,” they betrayed their loyalty and sold out a kid!!

“And that you stab people with knives?”

“I-it’s, it’s just a game? Hehe.”

It’s all a game~ I don’t actually go around shooting people or swinging knives in real life~

I tried to laugh it off and make excuses, sweating nervously, but is it just me?

‘Why do I feel like I’m being cornered?’

I’m trying to sound casual and tell her it’s no big deal, so she shouldn’t worry.

But for some reason, I feel like I’m confessing my crimes.

There’s no other way.

I didn’t want to do this, but!!

I squeezed my eyes shut, then carefully looked up at Mom with slightly teary eyes.

I hunched my shoulders, clasped my hands together over my chest, fidgeting, showing that I was admitting my wrongdoing and scared!

With a slightly trembling, weakened voice, as if I was afraid of Mom, I said,

“A-actually, Dad made me do it…”

I gotta do what I gotta do to survive. Sorry, ajeossis.

There’s no reason for me to protect those who betrayed me first.

How dare you sell me out? I can’t tolerate this. Grrr…

“Wh-what?!”

“H-he doesn’t have a game ID, so he said he’d let me use his…He told me to come to the PC bang after school this morning…”

It’s not a lie.

Dad told me to come to the PC bang we went to before by 2 p.m., and since Thunder Attack is an adults-only game, I had to use his ID, right?

“I’m sorry, Mom. I, I really didn’t know it was wrong…!! He said he had to win, so I couldn’t refuse!!”

I didn’t lie at all.

It’s true that he said he had to win because of the bet on the drinks.

I-I didn’t do anything wrong. …Probably?

—–CROW—– 

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