# Chapter 15

Second year of middle school.

It’s a period where kids rebel against the world and waste their lives with alcohol, cigarettes, and motorcycles that they don’t even know much about.

And at the time, I was bullied by these delinquent bullies.

“HEY! Gyungho! Gyungho!”

“W-what is it? S-Sukhee?” I stuttered as he asked.

“Stop stuttering. Didn’t I say I want fat free milk? Didn’t I?” gnarled Sukhee.

“Uh- it was out of stock at the store. S-sorry.”

“Fuck. Then go out at lunch and get me an ice cream, got it? Then I’ll forgive you,” said Sukhee.

“O-okay. T-thanks,” said I.

I sighed inside, but it was best for me at the time to be grateful despite such bullying. I was timid, dull and didn’t have a father.

“I’m fucking frustrated, but letting this one slide because you’re a fatherless bitch, you mother fucker,” said Sukhee.

Every day at the school was like hell, but I got used to it. After the summer vacation, a pretty girl transferred to our school and was assigned to my class.

“Hello, I’m Dahyun. Kim, Dahyun. Good to meet you all. Let’s be friends!”

Kim, Dahyun. She was tall, slender, and light skinned. She was a very pretty girl. On top of that, she acted and talked so feminine, that she became a star of the school.

‘She’s so pretty,’ I thought. I secretly liked her.

That day, I was caught between Sukhee and his friend Junhyung behind the cafeteria, and was being bullied and insulted for no reason. It was then when my eyes met with Dahyun who was passing by. I felt a pathetic feeling she was having at my state.

“Hey! Dahyun! Come here!”

Choi, Sukhee, the strongest kid in our class, called her up.

“No. I’m going home,” said Dahyun and kept walking by. That’s when Junhyung, who had a cigarette in his mouth, cackled.

“Home, my ass. That’s an orphanage, you fucking orphan,” said Junhyung.

Dahyun stopped in her walk.

“Hey! Why don’t you have a drink with us? You don’t even have a parent to fuck with you if you go home late!” said Sukhee.

Dahyun then turned around and began walking towards us.

“D-Dahyun! Don’t c-come!” I brought up the best of my courage and shouted at her.

“Mother fucker! Who the fuck are you to tell her not to come, huh?” Sukhee punched me at my words. But Dahyun did not listen to the world that I barely spoke out. Instead, she asked Sukhee a weird question.

“Won’t there be any problem if you beat him up like that here? There must be surveillance cameras around,” said Dahyun.

“Oh? Are you worried about us? Well, this is the perfect spot actually. It’s a blind spot from those cameras,” said Sukhee.

“Is that so?”

At that moment, Dahyun moved.

“AARGH!”

Sukhee was thrown to the ground at once. Junhyung too, before he could even react, was grabbed by Dahyun. Then he was thrown over and got struck into the ground.

“Aaaaaaargh!”

This was a judo move that was dangerous even when done on a soft mat of a gym.

“You punks are so weak for a boy. Weak sauce,” said Dahyun. Her voice was not soft like the feminine voice I used to know.

“Aaaaaargh! You bitch! I will kill you!” screamed Sukhee.

“Bitch? You don’t understand, do you?”

Dahyun then kicked Sukhee’s face.

“You prick. How about you die by a bitch!”

She didn’t finish with just one kick. Only after Sukhee’s face was ruined, Dahyun’s kick stopped.

“P-please… stop…”

“If I ever hear about orphanages again, you’re all dead,” said Dahyun. That’s when Junhung opened his mouth without thinking.

“Kids already know, we can’t…”

Dahyun’s foot then went for Junhyun’s face this time.

“You can’t stop it? Then die!” She kicked Junhyun’s face again and again. Then she added,

“Will you stop it, or die?”

Sukhee and Junhyung quickly nodded.

“We’ll stop it from ever going into your ears!”

Dahyun then turned around to look at me and shook her head.

“Shame on you too,” said Dahyun. I was ashamed, but she was right.

“Let’s go.”

“Huh? Uuh- okay!”

I glanced over at Sukhe and Junhyun, took my backpack and followed Dahyun out. Only after I got out of the school, I let out my breath.

“Whew. Da-Dahyun. How did you do that?” I asked. Her fierce look was like she was a witch using magic.

“Judo.”

“Ju-Judo? Oh, that’s why…”

I still don’t know how I got the courage, but I felt the urge to be close with Dahyun, who was opposite of me.

“Dahyun, do you want to come over to my place and eat tteokbokki?”

“Tteokbokki?”

“Yeah,” I answered.

“What’s with that all of sudden?”

Actually, she loved tteokbokki.

“I’m really good at making it,” I said.

“Really?”

Even though Dahyun was fierce and strong, she was still a young middle school girl.

“I’ll smack you too if it doesn’t taste good,” said Dahyun.

“Don’t worry. Will you come then?”

From then on, tteokbokki had become my favorite food and Dahyun became my best friend.

***

“Why! Why are you telling me to close up the restaurant and hang outside with Snowball all of sudden?” asked Gyungho.

“I have something to do. You should go play outside. I’ll be back by lunch,” said Jisook.

“Why? Why? Why? What is it?”

Today was the bi-monthly cancer check up that Jisook had scheduled. Her appointment was at 9 o’clock in the morning, the first one. She had to get out of it, but Gyungho was clingy.

“Actually, I have a date with Dahyun today. I'll be back by lunchtime. Okay?”

After Gyungho went missing ten years ago, Jisook had become very close with Dahyun. Jisook was like a mother to Dahyun who had no parents, and Dahyun was like a daughter to Jisook who had lost her son, so they relied on each other until now.

As such, Dahyun always went to the hospital together after Jisook had got cancer.

“Dahyun? Are you talking about Kim, Dahyun? Is she still around?” asked Gyungho.

He thought of her once in a while at the Spiritual Realm, and did not expect her around. Gyungho was surprised and glad at the same time.

“Anyway, I have a date with her today. We had this scheduled before you returned,” said Jisook.

“What? Then you could’ve told me. I’ll go with you. She’s my friend,” said Gyungho.

“NO! You can’t! I have to meet her alone,” said Jisook in a slightly shaken tone. Snowball walked slowly out of the kitchen, looked at Jisook and told Gyungho.

[Her emotion had turned red. She’s startled, Gyungho. She’s lying,] said Snowball.

But there was no need to detect emotions to know she was lying. Jisook's meeting with Dahyun didn’t seem to be a lie however. Gyungho realized what was going on and nodded.

“Alright then. I’ll stay with Snowball, don’t get mad. It’s bad for you to get mad, mom,” said Gyungho.

“Oh, I didn’t get mad. I just didn’t want you to interrupt my date with Dahyun,” said Jisook.

“Bring Dahyun here for lunch. I’ll prepare something delicious. That should work, right?”

Jisook was okay with anything as long as Gyungho doesn’t find out about her chronic illness.

“Yeah, I’ll bring her home if she has time,” said Jisook.

“Alright, I’ll see you later then. Bring me with you next time! Let me join you guys,” said Gyungho.

“Alright, alright.”

Jisook nodded and left the restaurant with a handbag. Snowball barked at Gyungho.

[I’m sure it is not just an ordinary date,] said Snowball.

Gyungho sighed at Snowball. He wasn’t a human as he was a Guardian, but he really did not know much around things.

“Mir had a bad sense of humor and didn’t know a lot, but he wasn’t as bad as you. What’s wrong with you?”

[What is?]

Snowball looked innocently curious and Gyungho laughed.

“Of course it’s not just a date. I think she’s going to the hospital for a routine check up,” said Gyungho.

[Oh! That’s a possibility,] said Snowball as he looked at Gyungho with an astonished look. Gyungho looked back at him with a more astonished look.

“How can you be so unaware?”

[If you live thousands of years without needing to be aware, then this happens.]

“Oh.”

Snowball in his level 2 state can barely manage to know the emotion and take quest, but actual Guardians had power to know everything and anything. As such, it did not need to be aware of things around them.

“Good for you then,” said Gyungho.

[Thank you for the compliment,] Snowball answered.

Things like that made him seem bit retarded.

“Alright. I need to make tteokbokki,” said Gyungho.

[What are you talking about?]

A thread with a needle, sullungtang with a radish kimchi. For Dahyun, it was tteokbokki.

“Snowball, let’s go get some fish cake. Do you want to go to the East Sea? Or the West Sea?”

[Huh? You’re going to the ocean for an ingredient? Why aren’t you going to the marketplace?] said Snowball.

“Fish cakes changed a lot during these ten years. But there are very tasty ones out at the ocean right now,” said Gyungho.

After he returned, Gyungho went to the marketplace to buy ingredients for his favorite food, tteokbokki. There, he was genuinely shocked.

“What? Why is it so expensive?”

It was what Gyungho mumbled to himself, but the owner of the fish cake store overheard it and replied in disbelief.

“What are you talking about? This is so cheap compared to the quality,” said the owner.

Gyungho looked at the price tag again, but it was still hard to believe.

“50 thousand won for a pack? You call this cheap? What makes it so expensive? What’s it made of?”

The owner became a bit annoyed at Gyungho’s multiple questions but answered him anyway.

“It’s made of farmed catfish,” said the owner. All fish cake being sold at the market was made from farmed freshwater fish. It was because the ocean had turned into a sea of death, full of demonic beasts, after the Cataclysm.

[But why the sea?] asked Snowball in a lazy look as he laid across the floor.

“Ones made from freshwater fish aren’t too bad, but there’s much more tasty ones out at sea. Why should I waste money on something that’s not as good? Don’t you agree?” asked Gyungho.

Snowball, however, shouted ‘I don’t agree’ in his mind and shook his head.

[Gyungho, the sea is crowded with Sea Serpents or Krakens right now,]

“Yeah, they’re delicious,” said Gyungho.

[What?]

“Should we go now?”

[We’re going right now?]

Without a reply, Gyungho grabbed Snowball by the back of his neck.

[W-wait!]

“Let’s go to nearby Eurwangni Beach.”

Gyungho mumbled and got out of the restaurant with Snowball. That’s when he sensed strange energy.

“Huh? Isn’t this a Rupture?” said Gyungho.

[Rupture?]

Gyungho pointed to the sky with his finger while looking at Snowball.

“Yeah. About 2 miles up that way,” said Gyungho.

[Oh. The Sky Rupture,] said Snowball.

“Sky Rupture?”

Gyungho had studied what happened after the Cataclysm, but there were still many things unfamiliar to him. The Air Rupture was also the first thing Gyungho had heard.

“What is it?”

[Ruptures appearing in the sky are found by satellites and handled by fighter jets.]

“That’s a pretty good idea,” said Gyungho.

Of course, dungeons or Ruptures that bring Demon legions would be strong enough to withstand bombing, but these ones that only bring Demonic Beasts were certainly possible. Gyungho felt a vibration through the atmosphere with a faint, but clear sound of bombing. Then the faint energy of the Rupture disappeared.

“That’s pretty fast,” said Gyungho astonishingly.

[They’ve been doing that for the past three years. But I’m not sure how far they can last,] said Snowball.

“Yeah, so you should get strong quickly. Level up!”

[I’ll be able to get stronger soon with your help,] said Snowball.

“Ugh, we’ll see about that. Hold tight!”

[Huh? What are you… AAAAAH!]

Gyungho holding Snowball turned blurry and quickly soared through the sky.