Weekend morning.
Stars could be seen outside the window.
Below the window, Kim Yuri was sitting, holding an ice-melted cafe latte.
‘I have to prepare brunch for my friends.’
Her classmates, who noticed that Kim Yuri would be lonely due to her dad’s hospitalization, visited her house often.
All the girls in her class came to her house and had a sleepover yesterday. Although Kwon Lena left for her lesson and Han Yi also left for training, Min Green was still in her house oversleeping.
Dingdong. With a messenger alarm, An Da-in’s message appeared on the hologram.
[Da-in >△< ♡] (Picture)
[Da-in >△< ♡] It’s cute, right?
[Da-in >△< ♡] He has his tongue out when he sleeps. It’s a picture that Eui-shin sent me. He’s so cute….!
In the picture that An Da-in sent, a cotton-like dog was sleeping with his tongue out. Although it was a heartwarming picture, there were other things on her mind.
‘Shouldn’t I tell Da-in about Gwanglim?’
An Da-in was her friend with who she has spent the longest time together.
Recently, An Da-in has been sending more messages than usual. She was worried if Da-in noticed that she became insecure after the final exam.
‘Da-in won’t avoid me. She will stay with me even if she’s scared.’
She knew that An Da-in would always be on her side no matter what. But she didn’t want An Da-in to withstand the fear to remain beside her nor be exposed to danger. Kim Yuri pulled the sleeve of her pajama and took off her wristwatch. Seeing nothing on her wrist made her depressed.
‘….I hope there’s no such thing as Gwanglim.’
Kim Yuri impulsively grabbed a quill which she placed on the table as decor. Despite knowing nothing would work, she started drawing the Gwanglim seal formula on her wrist. It was hard to grip the pen and besides, the ink wasn’t getting on her wrist properly that she had to trace the shape several times.
Her skin became red as it got scratched by the sharp tip of the pen. But still, Kim Yuri didn’t stop drawing Gwamglim seal formula and hurt herself as if she was captivated by something.
“….What are you doing?”
Dulkuk.
The quill dropped on the table, spreading its ink.
Min Green, who was wearing Yuri’s pajama, looked at the quill and Yuri back and forth with a serious face.
“Ah, so it’s…..”
Yuri always covered her wrist by wearing a long-sleeve uniform even during summer and now, Min Green saw her drawing something on her wrist. She didn’t know what to say.
“It looks similar to Gwanglim seal formula. Were you trying to draw that?”
“…..”
The living room was hot as the sun was up high.
The silence felt even heavier.
‘What should I do? What if she asks me why I was trying to do such a thing?’
Jo Eui-shin and Hwang Jiho already knew about this. At night when the seal completely disappeared from her wrist, two of them spotted the presence of her Gwanglim. Nevertheless, they still told her it was okay.
The two were considered to be bizarre even at Eungwang High where only unique players were present.
“….Do you want me to draw it for you? I remember the shape.”
Min Green said something she didn’t expect.
“I also feel secure wearing my AR glass and hoodie. Just like me, you also need that drawing, right?”
Min Green’s voice was filled with surprise when she first found Yuri doing something strange, but her voice became calm as usual.
Seeing Kim Yuri, who didn’t know how to react, Min Green turned around.
“If you draw with an ink and quill, it gets erased quickly and your hand gets hurt. I will bring a permanent marker. Wait.”
Min Green went to the guestroom, dragging slippers that were too big for her feet.
Her wrist scratched with a quill hurt but seeing Min Green’s back warmed her heart.
‘I’m glad I came to Eungwang High… ‘
Kim Yuri grabbed her wrist and recalled what the friendly Black Tortoise Clan, who gave her the blessing, told her.
On January 1st, not so long after she awakened her Gwanglim.
When her parents finally fell asleep after staying up all night, she visited me.
The Black Tortoise Clan, who suggested her the blessing, spoke with a soft voice.
-Do you want to receive my blessing?
-I was impressed to see you remaining courageous and embracing your parents, even after receiving heavy Gwanglim.
-The words of my blessing aren’t that significant. I just want to help you if your courage disappears one day.
-When your courage disappears, I will come and see you again.
The words of the blessing that Kim Yuri received from the Black Tortoise Clan was ‘Be more courageous.’
Since her friends are still beside her, she felt like she could be more courageous than before.
* * *
TC Knights, recently lost 9 games in a row, becoming the team with the longest losing streak in baseball.
Losing 10 games in a row was said to be harder than winning 10 games in a row.
With that difficult record in front of their eyes, three consecutive weekend derby matches between TC Knights and Juo Dragons were being held. There were even rumors of TC Knights manager replacement during the season.
TC Knights, who already lost on the Friday match, was about to lose again.
Their fans’ patience was about to explode.
“They will win today, for sure! I mean, there’s no way that they lose 10 games in a row.”
I could hear Ok To-yeon murmuring in impatience.
It seemed that she didn’t notice my presence, perhaps because the match happening in front of her was about to determine whether TC Knights lose 10 games in a row or escape from a losing streak.
‘Every word has power, though.’
Whenever new stories were uploaded in PMH, I always thought to myself ‘There’s no way that he’ll die.’, ‘There’s no way that there can be any more downfall.’, ‘There’s no way.’.
And those words turned into reality.
“Wait, that’s the Black Tortoise Clan I saw at Jamsil Baseball Stadium last time. She must like baseball since she came here again.”
“Who is she?”
“She’s the CEO of Moon Rabbit Rice Cake.”
“Ah, that rice cake said to be sold by rabbits? We also had it for our school lunch once.”
“Eungwaung High spare no expense when it comes to school welfare. I also had expensive menus for lunch once in a while when I was at the military academy, but they didn’t serve the moon rabbit rice cake.”
“Si-hoo, can you take out the bacon cheese hotdog? For drinks, take out the ones with ice first.”
“Okay.”
Today, Do Shi-hoo has a role as a banker, carrier, and delivery man.
Chicken, sausage, hot dog, and carbonated drinks were placed all over the table, so there wasn’t enough space for a lot of other unopened foods.
The game that started not so long after has gone to the dogs.
‘Is this how TC Knights play.’
People don’t say TC Knights play baseball like trash, but instead, they say how they play trash like baseball.
Jang Nam-wook, a fan of Juo Dragons, also said that ‘Although my team managed to score, I think TC Knights are playing really messy.’.
When the game reached the point that it was hard to know whether they are playing baseball or handball,
Dingdong.
I received a device message from Hwang Jiho.
[Hwang Jiho] Why are you at the baseball stadium with Ok To-yeon?
How did he know?
My question was answered by the following message.
[Ok To-yoon] Hello.
[Ok To-yoon] I came to know that you’re at the baseball stadium through a news article. To-yeon is also there, right?
[Ok To-yoon] (Link)
The link that Ok To-yoon sent was a news article with pictures of people sitting at the baseball stadium. I could see pictures of Ok To-yeon screaming, and four of us eating. They must’ve taken pictures of us since we were known as the high school players who helped solve the happening at Jamsil Baseball Stadium on Children’s day.
[Ok To-yoon] Can you please talk to her after the game ends? I want to catch her right at where she is right now.
I accepted his request as I could feel Ok To-yoon.
[Me] Okay. But I’m with my friends so I don’t think I’ll be able to keep her for that long.
[Ok To-yoon] I will be there within 5 minutes after the game. I’m sorry for having bothered you.
Ok To-yoon stopped messaging me. He seemed like he was already on his way to Jamsil.
In the meantime, Ok To-yeon was almost crying seeing Juo Dragons’ score that was more than 10 points ahead of them.
Ok To-yeon was following the five steps to accepting death.
The first is denial.
“Are we really losing like this? No way! Losing 10 games in a row? Is it even possible?!”
The second is anger.
“Stop hitting Juos! Are you guys at the coin baseball stadium? Pay if you’re going to hit! …..Ah, they missed again! Ah! Aaaa!!! This fake baseball team! Stop being comedians and play baseball!”
The third is horror.
“……Will I be counting tragic numbers before August?”
The fourth is negotiation.
“I hope they lose by 1 score at least. Behind by 10 scores is just too much!”
The last is acceptance.
“…..Um, um. The biggest losing streak in Korea is 18 games! So it’s okay if we lose 10 games in a row.”
Eventually, when the game ended, confirming TC Knights lost, Ok To-yeon chuckled.
The way she walked helplessly to return home looked pity but for Ok To-yoon who was even more pity, I decided to walk up to her.
“Hello.”
“What, I’m not really in the mood for a talk…. Huh? Why are you here?”
Although we met at Jamsil Baseball Stadium, she could’ve still found us strange for unnecessarily walking up to her to say hello. But as high school students living in Korea, the country of courtesy, we were just greeting an older adult.
“You didn’t join me last time when I asked you about watching the baseball game! Let’s go with me next…. Huh?”
Ok To-yeon’s red eyes stopped moving when she saw Do Shi-hoo.
Ok To-yeon, who only seemed like a fan of a doomed team, suddenly looked like the leader of the Rabbit Clan.
* * *
Na Bi-ryeong was walking down a dark hallway.
The only lights there were the ones on top of the frames displayed on the wall of the hallway.
She’s been coming here every day she met ‘him’.
Whenever she looked at the numerous frames, she could calm down herself from feeling overwhelmed.
‘Things aren’t going as I thought….’
She took a look at each of the frames as she moved forward. Butterflies pinned with their wings spread wide were in the frame. She stood in front of a fixed butterfly on a painting of magnolia.
‘Magnolia girl should collapse soon…But why isn’t she calling me? I thought she would call me on the day the seal formula disappears.’
Even after forcibly forming a relationship with God at a young age, Avatar of Magnolia acted resolutely.
Na Bi-ryeong, who kept an eye on her, had no doubts that her mighty power would be a useful weapon.
Avatar of Magnolia was hiding her true power and her family, who knew the presence of her true power, was in fear.
‘Everything was perfect until then.’
Na Bi-ryeong sweet-talked to her and managed to exchange blessings.
Her father happened to get sick and she was left alone.
Until then, everything was going as Na Bi-ryeong planned but soon, things began to get tilted.
‘At the beginning of summer, the leader of the Tiger Clan visited her house often, and ever since then, she stopped calling me.’
By the time the seal was gone, she thought that all the courage that a teenage human could have would be gone and the girl would depend on her.
‘But since the blessing is still connected, there’s still a way to use her.’
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