Arena Chapter 30:
Chapter 30 girls (Part 2)
The next morning, I get up as soon as I open my eyes . My upper body bounces up like rubber and surprises even me .
‘Oh right . I am now a man with abs hahaha . ’
I pet my well chiseled 6 pack and and giggle . I may become a narcissist this way . I pick up my phone to check the time and there is a message on it
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Oppa, are you up?]
Oh, it’s Hyun-ji’s friend Min-jeong .
I send a reply .
[Me: I just woke up . ]
I wash my face and brush my teeth and come out to the hall . My phone vibrates again so I check it .
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Thanks to oppa, I got home safely last night . ]
I like her prompt replies . Girls nowadays always purposefully reply late .
I send her an immediate response .
[Me: Don’t mention it, it’s not like I paid your taxi fee]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Hahaha you must’ve been embarrassed]
[Me: A completely empty wallet and three girls giggling, it’ll remain a life-long trauma]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Hahaha I’m sorry . Anyway, as thanks for saving us last night, I’ll buy you a meal]
[Me: You’ll buy?]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Yes, yes]
[Me: Because you think I don’t have money…]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: No haha then oppa can buy . ]
[Me: I don’t have any money]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Hahahahahahahahaha]
We spent a good while giggling and chatting when it happened .
‘Murder?!’
I get a wave of chilly air and turn around Hyun-ji is glaring at me .
“You uh, didn’t go to school?”
“Today is a holiday . ”
“Yeah? Anyway, what’re you looking at?”
“Give it . ”
“…what?”
“Give me your phone . ”
“Let’s respect privacy amongst family members . ”
“Were you respecting my privacy when you barged into the club and dragged me out?”
“That was because noona made me and I had no choice . ”
“Oh whatever, hurry up and hand it over!”
Hyun-ji speedily snatches up my smartphone . She’s faster than a red ape!
Hyun-ji sees the chatting history on my smartphone screen and starts to shake in boiling rage . Then…
“Mom! Oppa’s been tripped by an evil wench!”
She goes and tattles on me to mom, who is getting ready to leave for the store .
Stop!
At Hyun-ji’s words, mom turns her head .
“Wench? What do you mean?”
“She’s my friend, but oppa is completely fallen for her . ”
She’s calling her own friend a wench . What kind of friendship is that?’
“Oh my . ”
Mom’s face is overcome in anticipation and claps her hands .
“Evil wench or whatnot, are you saying there’s a girl for my son? Can I expect a grandchild then?”
“What peaceful nonsense is that! If a romance newbie guy like oppa gets caught by a girl like her she’ll just dangle him up and down and play with him and **** up his entire soul!”
Don’t call me a romance newbie! I am not a newbie! Even though I’m pretty close to it!
“No matter how much he’s dangled, I’ll be happy as long as I get a grandchild . ”
My mom is definitely unusual .
“Wow, seriously mom!”
Hyun-ji kicks her feet in protest .
I use that moment to reclaim my smartphone from Hyun-ji’s hands .
And then I giggle again and restart the chat .
[Me: Hyun-ji is badmouthing . She says if it goes wrong I can even get my soul sucked up . ]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Haha so funny . But oppa, do you know?]
[Me: What?]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: It’s not entirely wrong . ]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Going stir crazy cuz of missing me, treading carefully in case I’m mad, getting so happy when I do a small thing, if you date me, that’s how it always goes . ]
[Me: ;;;]
(TN: ;;; is a sweating emoticon…I think . )
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: How much must I be liked for that to happen?]
How much…
At those words I flinch like a daggers been driven through my heart .
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Would oppa like to be like that?]
‘Ku huk!’
A direct hit . A dead center fastball strike . Aside from being so taken aback, I cannot get a sense of how to reply at all .
And then .
[Notice: Mr . /Ms . Hyun-ji has invited you to a chat room . ]
[Notice: Mr . /Ms . Hyun-ji has invited Mr . /Ms . ‘Yoo Min-jeong^^*’ to the chat room . ]
Hyun-ji has invited us to a group chat room .
[Hyun-ji: You, Min-jeong . ]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: What^^?]
[Hyun-ji: I have a video of you when you were freaking out at the club from last time, shall we all watch, okay?]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Gasp;;]
[Hyun-ji: You weren’t messing around then were you?]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Sorry T_T]
[Hyun-ji: With a top off and pole dancing]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: I’m so sorry! ;;;]
[Hyun-ji: stop behaving frivolously]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: T_T]
I wonder what kind of video it is . Just how crazy were they partying?
In my head all kinds of thoughts run through, and then the chatting is done . I wonder if this short something with Yoo Min-jeong is over .
Zing .
A short buzz .
I check my smartphone .
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Oppa, you know you haven’t replied yet? I’ll be waiting . Shh, it’s a secret from Hyun-ji!]
Woah, I can understand why Hyun-ji got all up in arms about it now .
I thought she might have surrendered at Hyun-ji’s warning, but she just brushed it off and immediately sent me a text . I can sense the attitude of this unhesitatingly forward carnivorous girl .
After a long while I send a reply .
[Me: I want to see]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Me?]
[Me: pole dance]
[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Hahaha]
[Me: Hahaha]
Ah, this is fun . Things like this . Thanks to it I started my day off enjoyably .
I got a great body in one morning but I don’t give in to laziness and go on a hike . I am of the mind that if my body is lazy, my mind will become lazy too, so I will exercise consistently .
‘There are people like Kang Chun-seong . ’
A martial artist who trained his body to an entry level 5 degree through pure effort .
My body now is impressive, but how much work did Kang Chun-seong do over all his life?
A person like that acknowledged me as his leader . And so as the leader, in front of him, I have to at least not show a pathetic me .
‘It is not a strength I got through work, so I should work even harder . ’
After my hike, my mood is lifted by quite a bit . Without any strain, I got to the peak and down . It felt like just a stroll .
‘But I should still work until it is hard . ’
I think in order to get past a difficult situation, I have to work out hard and lengthen my endurance .
I don’t really know any exercises so I just spent the time doing push-ups .
I get a phone call from Cha Ji-hye .
-Hello, this is Cha Ji-hye .
“Yes, hi . ”
-Are you getting used to your changed body?
“I’m going to try and find where the limit is . I finished a hike and now I’m exercising . ”
-That is a good idea . Resting is good but please consistently exercise .
“I will . Why did you call?”
-We have concluded on how we should use your remaining 200 karma .
“Oh right, you said you needed to experiment last time?”
-Yes . We succeeded in the experiment . With exactly 200 karma is a rifle item . ”
“Rifle? Item?”
-An itemized gun from our world has better performance and quality than the karma kind .
“I suppose so, the magic rifle I have only has a shot distance of 60 meters…”
-Would you like to come to the research center tomorrow and experiment with the rifles and make a decision?
“Yes, alright . Will I be picked up this time too?”
-Yes . We will **** you via car and helicopter . The research center is a secured facility so you cannot find it on your own .
“Okay . I will see you tomorrow . ”
-Yes .
I finish the call .
A rifle…
The muzzle loading magic rifle I currently have only has a shooting range of 60 meters, and every shot, I have to load a bullet into the chamber .
But if it’s a rifle from our world?
I have a 100% shot record through Sylph, and what if I am given a rifle with a shot range of 500 meters?
‘I could really be unstoppable . ’
I can scout the surrounding 1 kilometer with Sylph and every time something comes within range, I’ll shoot to kill!
Just thinking about it makes me feel stronger and gives me sense of security .
***
The next day, I arrive at the research center located on an isolated island off the western coast, via car and helicopter .
“Please come this way . ”
As soon as I arrive, Cha Ji-hye guides me . How shall I say, she seems a bit excited . It seems she really wants to show me the results .
We take the elevator to the 5th floor basement .
The place we arrive, five stories underground, is a shooting range .
‘Expansive!’
It’s a basement space bigger than the average school field! Along the lined up targets are marked 50 meters, 100 meters, 250 meters .
“It’s very large . ”
“It’s a gun range, expected to be used for training, so of course . ”
She speaks matter-of-factly . This woman’s speech is short, as usual . She may never shed her soldier demeanor .
“First, take a look at this gun . ”
Cha Ji-hye goes into a closet marked ‘weapons’ and comes out with two rifles . Of the two, she hands me one .
It’s a very classic rifle, with its **** done in wood .
“It’s a rifle I’ve seen a lot in war movies . ”
“Indeed . Made in 1891, it’s called a Mosin-Nagant, a rifle developed in the late 19th century . ”
“Mosin-Nagant?”
I take a close look at the Mosin-Nagant she handed to me .
The length looks to be just a bit over 1 . 2 meters, and I cannot see the magazine . Its classic style of its design makes me feel like the protagonist to a war movie .
(TN: Mosin-Nagant)
But this heavy weight . It can be an impressive blunt weapon on its own .
“And the magazine?”
“There is a five round magazine in the gun, and it fires with bolt action . ”
I’ve seen arms before and can tell by look at this .
With a bolt action, every time you shoot, the bolt gets pulled and an empty shell is removed .
“It’s better than a muzzle loading gun but do you have any semiautomatics? I think this will be difficult close range . ”
“We have no choice . Among the existing rifles, this one uses the least karma . ”
“Then I have no choice . So you’re saying this one is 200 karma?”
“No, it is 300 karma . ”
“What? Then why did you show this to me?”
“We experimented taking the 300 karma Mosin-Nagant and changing its worth into a 200 karma or lower . ”
“Is something like that possible?”
“Of course . We succeeded in our experiment, and this is the 200 karma Mosin-Nagant . ”
Cha Ji-hye shows me the other rifle that she was holding .
It’s the same Mosin-Nagant .
‘It doesn’t like particularly any different . ’
I put the **** of the rifle against my shoulder and get into shooting position . And then I am towards the target area from the 250-meter line…
‘Huh?’
I then realize that something is different .
“It cannot aim . ”
“That is true, since we got rid of the front sight and back sight . ”
Indeed .
There is no front sight and back sight . There is no way to properly shoot without these things . In normal circumstances .
“A rifle that cannot properly shoot loses a lot of its worth . Not that you, Kim Hyun-ho, need to aim . ”
“Oh! There was this possibility!”
I realize it now .
They don’t just call themselves a research center .
To think of an idea like this, I can tell they are really working for survival of the examinees .
“With that Mosin-Nagant, you can itemize it for 200 karma . Would you like to test its rifle performance?”
“Sure . ”
She hands me a clip with 5 bullets in it .
I take it and then don’t know what to do and shrug my shoulders .
“Teach me . I have no clue . ”
“It’s understandable since it was developed over 100 years ago . ”
I load the bullets and assume position as she teaches me .
“Sylph . ”
-Meow!
Sylph appears in a swish and gently sits down on my shoulder .
Cha Ji-hye sees the spirit for the first time and with an interested expression, is at a loss for words .