Chapter XL – Nabi’s Decision

The squeaking sound of the rusty swing within the park echoed as Don quietly rocked back and forth. Max leaned against the railing as he sat on the ground. Meanwhile, Arthur rested on the bench holding his phone while they waited for Tjay to return from the bathroom.

You sure? – Arthur

Irene – Yeah...

Irene – She went to meet up with him, so I’m guessing I’ll know soon

Keep me posted. – Arthur

Irene – Sure

Irene – Whatcha up to anyway?

Just hanging out at the park for now. You still with Iseul? – Arthur

The boys decided to hang out after school.

Irene – Yup

Irene – Promised I’d help her...

Say hi for me. – Arthur

“Much better. . .” Tjay returned with a smile on his face, jumping onto the swing next to Don’s. “Why is everyone so quiet?”

“Well. . . I was gonna talk about the upcoming trip, but these guys won’t get off their phones,” Max explained, rubbing his eyes gently as he almost fell asleep after a long day of school.

“I’m just browsing, hoping to see the announcement for season two of-” Don stopped himself and sighed. “Just some random anime.”

“Right. . .” Tjay shook his head before turning towards Arthur. “Guess the day he’s glued to his phone has finally come. Next up, end of the world.”

“He’s probably chatting with Irene again,” Max said before checking his watch.

Putting away his phone, Arthur looked towards Max. “What’s this about a trip?”

“Well, they haven’t announced it yet. But I got inside scoop from Noona.”

“Since when do you call her Noona?” Tjay chuckled.

“Sometimes I guess. . .”

“Yes!” Don jumped up. “They announced it!” he realized how loud he was and immediately hid his phone, averting his gaze.

Everyone kept staring at him but based on his reaction they abstained from asking.

“Right. . .” Tjay repeated again warily.

Looking back at his phone to check for more details, Don sighed disappointedly. “Of course, it’s coming out late 2023.”

“You okay there buddy?” Max asked.

“Yeah. . . Just gotta be patient,” he said dropping back down onto the swing.

“So. . . The school trip?” Arthur asked again.

“I don’t know the details, but it’ll be soon announced. Gonna rock though!”

“I might actually go this year,” Tjay said confidently. “Now that I have you weirdos around me, it might not be that bad.”

“Just don’t expect us to sit together. . .” Max chuckled.

“Who’d wanna sit with you anyway?” Tjay poked back smilingly.

Arthur didn’t show much excitement, mostly because he was unsure if they could even afford to go in the first place.

“It’s also gonna be a combined trip, so everyone from first to third year will be going together. Though they won’t mix us up when it comes to seating.”

“Guess we’ll just have to wait for more details,” Don said. “I wonder where they’re taking us this year.”

“Where did you go last year?” Arthur asked curiously.

“We went to Incheon,” Don answered. “It’s close by, but you’d be surprised how many students never went there. We mostly went sightseeing. You know. . . Chinatown, The Memorial Hall, Ganghwa Peace Observatory, a few temples, and so on.”

“Why’d you skip out?” Arthur looked at Tjay as he spaced out.

“Eh. . .” he mumbled averting his gaze. “Would’ve been a hassle. Besides, I’m from Incheon anyway.”

“Really?” Arthur asked surprised then glanced towards the rest. “I thought all of you were from Seoul.”

“Actually, I was born in Daejeon,” Don mentioned.

“Noona and I are from Seoul, and Nabi is also from Incheon as well,” Max explained. “Which reminds me. . .” he looked towards Tjay. “You and Nabi gotta sort your shit out. You’ve been friends since you were little, don’t throw it all away like that.”

“Are you really gonna lecture me now?” he sighed in annoyance.

“Well someone has to. It’s been a while now and you two are still avoiding each other,” Max slowly stood up and approached the bench. “It’s weird seeing your friends fight like that. Just admit you said something stupid, and move on. . .”

“It ain’t that easy. . .” Tjay mumbled.

Max sat down next to Arthur, leaning back as if it were a couch. “It’s as easy as you make it. I’m sure she’ll forgive you.”

“I don’t think that’s the issue here. . .” Arthur cut in.

“What? If you’re gonna tell me that Tjay likes her then he has a piss poor way of showing it.”

“It’s not about liking her,” Tjay defended himself, but didn’t deny it either.

“Then if it’s not, is it really that hard to imagine her getting a boyfriend?” as he asked that, Arthur’s phone received another text message. “Don’t even let me get started on the two of you. . .”

Max was the one most exposed to Tjay’s outbursts since the love letter. It was safe to say he was getting somewhat sick of it, and it was beginning to show. He still wanted to be supportive, but there was only so much one could do for a friend who refuses to admit anything.

“Leave me out of this,” Arthur sighed checking his phone.

Irene – Good luck. . .

Arthur wondered what she meant by that, but then by mere chance, Arthur glanced towards Don who looked to be hiding something.

“What’s wrong Don?” Arthur asked.

“Ah! Nothing!” he yelled out pulling his phone in.

“Alright, what do you keep looking at that you have to keep it a secret? Is it porn?” Max smiled while slowly approaching him with the intention of taking away his phone.

“Nothing like that. . .” Don said shyly as he hid his phone.

“You gotta share with your friends,” Max grinned.

Tjay and Arthur were just glad that the subject changed.

“You really don’t have to look at this. . .” Don protested but got his phone taken anyway.

This piqued Tjay’s interest as well. “Alright weirdo. Let’s see what you’ve been looking at.”

In the meantime, Irene sent a picture to Arthur. Opening it up, no longer paying attention to the rest of the guys, he saw a screenshot. It was of a public post that Wang Hyun made, Nabi’s new boyfriend. It said “Watch out boys, this one’s mine now.” with a selfie of the two standing next to each other and his arm wrapped around her.

Arthur looked up towards Tjay who was holding Don’s phone. He could tell that he was looking at the same post as him. Max looked at him compassionately, while Don seemed stressed. Tjay on the other hand looked impassive.

Giving the phone back, Tjay turned his back to the rest and started walking towards the monkey bars.

“You okay?” Max asked while Arthur sighed.

Well, he found out. . . – Arthur

Has Nabi messaged you? – Arthur

Silently approaching the bars, he jumped and grabbed on. With a small swing of his legs, he muscled himself up and stood atop them as he looked into the distance. It almost felt like a movie scene. The lighting from the sun that was setting was also perfectly fitting.

He didn’t seem surprised, but he looked as if he was exasperated, yet at the same time exhausted.

Arthur knew that look all too well. The look of loss.

Irene – Not yet, I’m assuming she’ll message me tonight. How are things there?

He still held his phone, but after reading the message he didn’t know how to respond.

The guys observed Tjay for a bit before he turned to them after letting out a deep sigh. Looking down at the ground, he jumped off the monkey bars. Considering the height, Arthur assumed he felt the landing.

“Sorry about that,” he said calmly. “Needed a moment.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Max said, placing his hand on Tjay’s shoulder. “All good.”

“Not just about that. . . I’ve been acting like a dick lately.”

“Lately?” Arthur tried to lighten up the mood.

It managed to get Tjay to chuckle at least. “I guess you’re right. . .”

“Nah. . . You’re all good,” Arthur gave him a soft smile while brushing off his comment with his hand.

“You guys wanna hang out some more?” Tjay asked.

“I’m free all night,” Arthur said checking the time.

“Where’d you expect us to go when one of our own is feeling down?” Max asked tapping him on the back.

“I’m free as well,” Don said. “We could go to my place. If you guys want, I don’t mind you crashing the night.”

“That’s a good idea,” Max cut in.

“Let’s do something in the city before we go to your place,” Tjay suggested. “Know any good places we could game?”

“I know a perfect PC bang that I used to go to. Haven’t been there in a while though.”

After spending a few more minutes weighing their options, eventually, the group agreed and went to the PC bang downtown which Don suggested.

Reaching an underground tunnel that connected to the Korean subway station, Arthur looked down the long staircase. To him, underground areas that were for the public usually meant shelter at times of war. It was strange to see it so heavily decorated with ads and posters, not to mention spray tags.

Walking down the stairs felt as if the group had entered an entirely different dimension. From things being busted, flickering light, a bunch of people that drank and hung around, to a random shoe shop that seemed out of place. There weren’t that many who’d fit their age group, and some were even openly covered in tattoos that were seemingly intended to be intimidating.

Arthur was having a hard time imagining Don coming here on his own, yet every time he glanced towards him, Don looked excited.

They finally reached their destination as Korean rap music played in the background. The place was called Cyber Shark.

It appeared a bit rundown from the outside. The windows were covered in gaming posters, none of which Arthur recognized. Entering, he was surprised to see dozens of gaming PCs that were sorted in multiple rows, while to his right, there were gaming consoles connected to large TVs, adding variety to the place.

The air was thick and in need of freshening. The twenty or so guys that were gaming and screaming didn’t help with the whole situation. To no surprise, there were no girls down here, apart from one.

Don slowly approached her as the rest followed. She sat behind a bar with a laptop set up.

“Hi,” Don said nervously.

“What’s up,” she said grinningly, looking towards the rest of the group. “PC or Console?”

It was hard to estimate her height due to the fact that she was sitting on a barstool behind the actual bar. She had long navy blue-dyed hair which matched her eyes. Wearing a crop top black hoodie and booty shorts left little for the imagination. However, it perfectly showed off her fit figure which was covered by tattoos. The most eye-catching was the dragon tattoo which was covered the left side of her stomach and ribs, and the flowery skull that spelled death and freedom on her right thigh. Her gaze looked a bit intimidating, but one couldn’t deny that she was one of the hottest women Arthur had ever seen, and she hardly looked older than Iseul, at best a year older or two older.

“PC for the four of us,” Don specified.

“Want a blockchain? Four hours discounted to 3.500 KRW each.”

It wasn’t exactly what Arthur thought he’d be spending money on, but he also didn’t spend often so it was alright once in a while.

“Are we gonna go with that?” Don turned to the group.

“Fuck it, get drinks as well,” Tjay said taking out his wallet. “It’s on me.”

“Fuck yeah!” Max yelled out shaking him from behind.

The girl turned to the laptop and after sorting stuff out, she began copying the codes to small pieces of paper. Don and the rest took them one by one while choosing the drinks for everyone.

Arthur was the last to approach the bar and take the code, but he noticed her looking at him intensely.

“Everything OK?” he asked curiously.

“First time in a place like this?” she asked, her voice was strong and captivating, alluring even.

“That easy to tell?”

“You stick out like a sore thumb,” she chuckled giving him a small wink. “Don’t seem like an indoors type either?”

“You seem to have me all figured out,” he grinned.

“I’d like to say I’m good at reading people.”

“What’s your take then?” he asked while glancing at the rest who were still browsing drinks and where to sit.

“Hmmm,” she leaned against the bar. “You seem hard-working, caring, observant, and lastly. . . Dangerous.”

Her last statement made him look at her in confusion. “What makes you say that?”

“Your posture. . . Your eyes. . . I recognize the type,” she said confidently. “You know how it feels, the darkness. Could’ve fooled me with that cute face of yours, but my intuition doesn’t lie.”

Arthur chuckled and kept smiling, pretending to be unfazed by her comment. “Maybe you should avoid talking to me then.”

“Nah,” she said sitting back up straight with a playful grin. “I like dangerous.”

“Come on Art, let’s go to the back!” Max yelled out.

“Name’s Moon,” she said with a playful smile. “I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Arthur,” he introduced himself quietly out of politeness before turning his back to her and beginning to make his way towards the group.

“Crushing on another girl when you already have Irene?” Max teased but glanced back at her himself.

“I don’t blame him,” Tjay said. “She’s fucking hot. . .”

“She used to work here when I came here in the past as well,” Don mentioned. “Pretty much any guy that comes here tries to get her number, but nobody ever did.”

“Don’t misunderstand things,” Arthur answered as they proceed through the door.

Entering the back room, the group entered an even larger area sorted with nearly a hundred PCs.

Arthur found out right away just how intense it can get, as one of the guys that was playing League of Legends slammed his fist onto the table and kept yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs.

Most of the seats were taken, but there was still a few connected ones they could sit at.

Taking their seats, Arthur felt weird as he put on a foreign headset on his head. He wasn’t used to wearing them in the first place, even though he owned a pair in his room.

The gaming experience was horrendous. Arthur sucked at PC games, much like he did at console. The group kept losing team games but still had a good laugh over it. Don tried teaching him as much as possible, and he strongly believed that with enough practice, Arthur could get a hang of it. However, Arthur didn’t show much interest in the first place. Fighting games were a lot more appealing to him than games like League. There was also the fact that on occasion he’d need to look down at the keyboard to find a specific button, while the console was much simpler.

Don on the other hand was a master of the game and kept carrying from time to time all on his own. Max and Tjay eventually started begging him to carry them to higher standings. Being who he is, he accepted, saying he’ll make an alt account to be able to play with them ranked matches.

Between games, Arthur chatted with Irene. She was on her way to meet up with Nabi and discuss her new boyfriend, so the two stopped texting after that.

Finishing up the four-hour mark, Arthur realized just how tiring gaming could be. Especially when you’re bad at it.

“Man, we need to get Art to practice more!” Tjay yelled out, stretching his wrists.

“There’s no helping him. . .” Max dreaded the losing streak.

“I’m sure he’ll get it,” Don said optimistically.

Arthur chuckled, not having much to say to that.

On their way out, Moon winked at Arthur once more and gestured him to come over. Overall, she left a weird impression on him. He didn’t know what to think of her just yet.

“Fuck sake, why is she into you as well?” Max complained smilingly as he noticed Moon eyeing him from time to time when she walked around.

“Stop being jealous,” Tjay said slapping his back. “I’ll be right back, just need to use the bathroom.”

“Again? Alright then. . . I’ll wait outside,” Max said.

“I’m right behind you,” Don added.

Arthur sighed as the group split up, so he decided to slowly approach Moon.

“Dreading to see me again?” she teased.

“Nothing like that,” he answered, but he could feel a few eyes glaring at him from behind the screens.

“Good, cuz I certainly enjoy seeing you again. So, Arthur. . . Plan to come here again?”

“Maybe,” he said looking at her hair and eyes.

“Something wrong?” she asked grabbing a few strings of hair.

“No, just finding the colors unique,” he commented. “Your eyes. . . You’re not from around here, are you?”

She chuckled at his remark. “Born and raised here. These are just colored contact lenses. Why? You don’t like blue?”

“Don’t think my opinion matters that much,” he commented while looking towards the bathroom.

“True, I do my own thing,” she commented while glancing towards the direction of his gaze. “Don’t worry so much, I only called you here to properly say goodbye. I won’t nag you.”

Arthur chuckled but refrained from denying anything.

“Playing hard to get, huh?” she kept teasing. “Seems your friend is back, so I’ll be seeing you around.”

Tjay left the bathroom and approached Arthur.

“Ready to go?” he asked.

“Yeah,” he said but then turned towards Moon. “Cya later. Maybe. . .”

The two walked away, but Arthur was left with the impression that he’d be seeing Moon in the future.

On their way out, the two noticed that Max and Don were next to three guys around their age, maybe a year older. They looked aggressive and smug, as one of them was in Max’s face while Don stepped to the side.

“Back off. . .” Max said quietly, forming a fist in his right hand.

Typically, Max would’ve already taken a swing at him, but knowing that Don might get hurt left him hesitant.

“What’s going on here?” Tjay asked with his hands pocketed.

The three guys were from West High, the same school that Arthur initially saw Max fighting with.

“Woah, I never guessed I’d see Tjay around these parts,” the guy in Max’s face said, glancing over towards Arthur and him. “What are you doing here? Is that a school uniform?” he chuckled.

“I asked, what’s going on here,” Tjay said on edge, as he stood next to Max.

“These dickheads were pestering us, just like they did before,” he told Tjay before looking at the West High students. “Didn’t I already tell you all to fuck off?”

Arthur glanced towards Don who began feeling safer knowing that Tjay and he arrived.

“What? Are you friends with him or something?” the West High student asked Tjay, he looked genuinely confused.

“You assholes threatening my friend?” Tjay said coldly.

“We were just talking. . .” he looked wary, especially because he thought it would be a three on one situation and not a three on three.

“These are just the same pests that kept harassing Iseul. So Art and I beat a few of their friends up, and now they were looking for a quick payback when they saw me,” Max explained, which to the West High students seemed as if he was edging Tjay to beat them up, not knowing that Max would’ve done the same had the two not arrived.

“Oh yeah?” Tjay asked turning towards Max, but then suddenly grabbed the guy who was in Max’s face by the collar of his shirt, before head-butting him in the nose using full force.

The blow knocked him down to the ground and by the sound of it, broke his nose as well. His friends quickly got behind him and picked him up while staying alert.

Tjay and Max gazed menacingly towards them, while Arthur stayed quiet in the back. This wasn’t something he needed to get involved in, or so it seemed.

“You little cunt! You think you can just hit me like that out of nowhere?” he said holding his bloody nose, which made Max and Tjay sadistically chuckle. “You’ll regret this.”

“Yeah, yeah. . . Run along now,” Tjay said waving them away.

“Pussies,” Max taunted.

The three left without causing further trouble. Seeing as one of them was injured and the fact that the two remaining can’t handle even one of the three alone, let alone all three at once, it was simply the best solution.

“That felt great,” Tjay said while looking at them running away.

“Thanks for that,” Max whispered.

“Don’t worry about it, I hate those West High assholes.”

“What’s up with them anyway?” Arthur asked.

“Recently, West High and J High have been a lot more competitive than usual, but overall we have a history of conflict with them. They’re just too close to our school, so it was bound to happen,” Max explained.

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter. If those assholes wish to come at us, let them,” Tjay said excitedly.

“Hold your horses. There’s no need to provoke even more fighting,” Arthur sighed. “Right Don?”

“Huh?” he acted surprised. “I don’t think I should be the one getting asked that. Compared to you guys, I ain’t really a fighter. . .”

“I’m sure you have a fighting spirit in you!” Max yelled wrapping his arm around him. “If it came down to it, I know you’d fight to help save one of us.”

“I’m not sure I have that in me. . .” he sighed averting his gaze.

“In the time of need, that’s when true men act,” Max said confidently.

Arthur was always impressed with how Max had a way with words. He truly knew what to say to make people feel better at times.

“Alright, let’s get some snacks and we are having an all-nighter at Don’s!” Tjay yelled out excitedly.

“Let’s go!” Max yelled out, matching Tjay’s energy.

Eventually, the group reached Don’s place and partied all night long, playing video games and even catching an action movie before passing out.

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.