Arena

Chapter 56 Yoo Min-jeong (Part I)

“Are we rich now?”

“What are you doing, trying to sneak in a we?”

“Ah, oppa!”

“Hold up!”

I use the side step I learned from Choi Hyuk to avoid Hyun-ji’s lunge at me. Who would have thought that the effects of training would be used here this way.

“You are assuming incorrectly because this money isn’t my money.”

“Huh? Then what?”

“Company funds! The foundation of a corporate body is funds. So don’t think that this money is my money.”

“Are you sure you didn’t just pull that out of your ass?”

How is she so sharp randomly?

“You think it’s easy becoming a millionaire? With what method would I have just casually made a million bucks?”

“Aw, darn.”

Thankfully, dim-witted Hyun-ji believes what I say. Thank goodness.

“Anyway, what kind of shopping mall is it?”

“Parts, you know, a computer parts shopping mall.”

I almost said fashion. If I had said that, Hyun-ji would definitely have showed interest and spewed some nonsense like asking me to use her as a model.

“Yeah? Does that shopping mall need models?”

…of course. This is Hyun-ji.

“Why would computer parts need a model? We don’t need them.”

“And the shopping mall is doing well?”

“It’s okay, just enough for a little spending money. I don’t have a lot of stake.”

“Then oppa, with the salary you get from working at Jinseong Group and this from the mall, wow! Oppa, you must really make a lot of money.”

“Well, it’s good enough for eating and living.”

“Aw, don’t be modest.”

Hyun-ji is out of the million-dollar shock and returned to her old self and starting with the aegyo again.

There is a reason Hyun-ji is only flattering me like this.

Who is the person that gives an allowance to Hyun-ji? It’s noona, bloodless and tearless, the cold old maid, miss Kim Hyun-joo. No matter how flattering and cute Hyun-ji is to her, there won’t even be any soup.

Compared to that, I am a far easier adversary. When we were young, there are many things I forfeited because I couldn’t stand her constant nagging…

“Oppa, don’t be like that, just tell me. I can tell unni is hiding something, its unsettling.”

“Huh?”

“She’s probably thinking of stopping my allowance once I graduate college.”

She’s good at catching the drift.

“Don’t you think unni was just too mean to me from the get go? I get in trouble for partying out late, and she tells me not to eat your chips.”

Seriously, stop eating my chips!

“She has no love for her younger sister, really. We have such a big age difference, shouldn’t she find me cute and adorable?”

“The fact that you think like that is the problem.”

“Anyway, oppa, give me some money, huh? I’ll be really good to you. You want me to introduce you to some girls? Amongst my school friends, not anyone like Min-jeong who just parties, but there are girls who do well in school and are demure. When you dropped me off in your car, they all begged me to introduce you to them.”

Meh. Even if they do really well in school, if it’s a student from Hyun-ji’s school, I can tell that class without even looking.

“Oh and be careful about Min-jeong. She’s really hitting on you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah, last time I said let’s go to the club and now she said she doesn’t do that anymore.”

“You should stop going too.”

Hyun-ji completely ignore what I say and just continues on with what she has to say.

“She said she’s going to live now as a good girl or something? Oh my gosh, a while ago she even started studying for traditional Korean cooking? She said she’s going to get the western and Chinese ones too!”

“So, what about it? Those are good things.”

“I’m telling you, this is all her wagging her tail at you. She’s past girlfriend, she’s eyeing your wife position.”

“That’s some speculation.”

“Well, just be careful of that foxy bitch.”

“I don’t know. Right now, I’m not interested in girls.”

The problem is whether I’ll live or die, girls are not in the equation.

“…”

“…”

“What, why aren’t you getting out? Are you not done in here?”

At my question, Hyun-ji abruptly sits in my lap.

“Oppa, allowance! Please?”

“Why are you asking me for it? Pretty soon, you’ll be making more than me.”

Hyun-ji looks suspiciously at me and I smile and add.

“Fried chicken.”

“Gyak! Seriously! You’re so dead!”

Hyun-ji blows up.

Hyun-ji actually just lays down on my bed and starts to say she won’t leave until I give her some money.

When I try to shoo her out, she crawls under the blankets like a snail and then barbarically throws off her pants and shirt. I can’t force her out of my room now, I have no options.

“If you don’t give it to me, I’m going to tattle on mom and unni that you are doing business!”

“I lose, I lose.”

I put $500 into Hyun-ji’s bank account. Hyun-ji verifies it on her mobile banking and then giggles in happiness.

“Oppa, thank you! I love you!”

“Put your clothes back on and get out!”

“Okay!”

Hyun-ji fumbles under the blankets putting her clothes back on and then leaves my room.

After the storm passes, only then do I look again at my mobile banking screen.

One million.

The $500 I gave to Hyun-ji can’t even be seen.

“Hahaha.”

I laugh.

I think to myself that I can at least set aside enough money for Hyun-ji’s future before I die. Mom and noona will live well on their own but I worry about Hyun-ji.

But then.

Ring.

My smartphone vibrates. A message from Min-jeong.

[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Doesn’t it look tasty?]

With that message came a picture of a delicious looking Pollack fish with a red pepper paste sauce.

[Me: oo* it looks so tasty. I heard you studying traditional Korean cooking lately?]

(TN: Korean quick way of texting ‘en’ which means ‘yup’. ? is the actual word)

[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: haha did you hear that from Hyun-ji?]

[Me: oo]

[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Would you like to come over and eat some? I’ll show you my skills]

‘Woah.’

Hyun-ji’s words were right.

Min-jeong is hitting on me, and maybe she’s changed her tactic because she’s not being subtle about it anymore.

I can’t turn her down directly so I answer in a circle.

[Me: I’m going to Denmark on a business trip and I don’t know when I’ll be back. I’ll call you when I get back though^^]

[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: Denmark?]

[Me: oo for work]

[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: You’re so cool! I want to go to Denmark too @[email protected]]

[Me: keke* anyway, I’ll call you when I get back]

(TN: Korean way of laughing)

[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: When are you going?]

Oi, I’m pretty sure she knows I just rejected her and she’s just ignoring it. She wasn’t normally like this, why is she like this now? Is it cause of the Porsche?!

[Me: Wednesday]

[Yoo Min-jeong^^*: okay! Got it]

The conversation ends like that. I don’t know what she’s saying she’s got, but I have a bad feeling about it.

The next day, a day before going to Denmark, I go to the mountain house again and meet with the chairman and learn some boxing. He says I learned it all too fast so today we’re going to train by repeating all the points in sparring. I can properly block so I can much more easily go against Choi Hyuk.

If I was in a boxing square I might have been able to corner Choi Hyuk into a corner and beat him up but there is no ring so it ends in a tie. But I did get beat on less.

“Whew, your whole body is so fit, you’re overpowering me.”

“It’s all thanks to your good teaching.”

“But to think that if you’re beating me you can stop training, that’s wrong. You are still far behind in skills.”

“Of course.”

It’s only been a few days since learning, I would never think that.

“The first problem we have to overcome is in regards to the opponent’s attack, not losing your rhythm. You have to halt your attack with stopping or you have to dodge with weaving, but since you only know blocking, you end up matching your rhythm to the opponent’s attack.”

I nod my head. Then again, when I kept going in with sheer physicality, the general atmosphere of the sparring was from Choi Hyuk.

“Today, let’s do some stopping.”

Stopping is a skill using a fist or arm to halt the opponent’s attack movement while looking for an opportunity to attack.

I spend the day blocking or stopping Choi Hyuk’s offense. I wanted to practice all day but Choi Hyuk got tired too fast (since he’s human) so we couldn’t practice for very long.

I think maybe it’s all pointless, but today I can gauge how much I’ve improved in my fighting skill.

Schwick- bbuk!

“Gwek!”

I use Sylph to scour the mountainside and find a boar to fight against with my boxing.

A sharp punch.

With the proper motions I extend my fist and a sharp punch, and surprisingly, a very powerful gust of wind. I only used the divine protection of wind and it was enough to knock about the boar.

‘It wasn’t weak because the level is low, it was because my form was terrible.’

Of course, I’m sure some of it has to do with it being entry level 1.

When the boar rushes at me, I quickly jab and even have the sense to knock it off its front feet. It is because I learned the importance of using stopping to halt the opponent’s rhythm.

“Divine protection of fire.”

My attack with the wind and flame makes it all the more dangerous.

Kwa lu lung!

As I throw a powerful straight, the formidable sized boar faltered.

Stricken with fear, the boar turned around and raceed off and I use that chance to run.

I use the divine protection of wind to leap forward and shorten the distance between us and then I kick the boar in the side.

Buk!

Kwang-!

“Gwek!”

I can feel from my foot the feeling of something shattering inside the boar.

The boar falls over and pants its breath in misery.

‘I’m sorry.’

After I express my condolences I use Sylph to use the wind daggers to finish it off.

‘I’ve definitely grown stronger!’

I gain confidence.

I don’t even feel nervous because I was thinking that learning these things now wouldn’t have an immediate effect.

But through the boar, I was able to verify that my attacks have improved from before. I am sure of it. If I continue to learn until the end of this rest period, I know I can keep getting stronger.

I didn’t realize the time passing by as I put all my energy into practice and the day grows dark and I decide to slowly make my way back home.

‘Tomorrow I go to Denmark.’

As for foreign travel, all I ever did was go to Beijing once after I was done in the army.

To think, I’m finally going to Europe, I’m full of excitement. Even more so, it’s not just any old plane. It’s chairman Park Jin-seong’s private jet!

Will the inside of the plane be like a hotel?

I have to hurry and pack my bags so I hurry back home to Cheonan. I’ve become used to driving and I slowly get immersed in driving my Porsche around everywhere.

For some odd reason, Hyun-ji is home early today but she’s not alone.

“Hi, oppa!”

“Hello!”

An energetic greeting from two girls.

One of them is Min-jeong. And the other is the girl that was with them at the club last time. Hyun-ji’s club friends have all gathered here.

“Hey 400 pointer, you going out partying again?”

At my question, Hyun-ji’s face turns into the biggest frown. Min-jeong and her friend are laughing hysterically.

“Min-jeong said she’ll make dinner.”

“Dinner?”

Min-jeong shines a bright smile and says.

“Oppa, you said you’re going to Denmark tomorrow. So, I wanted to see you before you left.”

“Oppa, I really wanted to see you. I heard you got a job at a really nice place, that’s so cool! Oppa, I want to ride in your car too.”

What the fuck situation is this.

I just stare head on at Hyun-ji. Hyun-ji just sweats a cold sweat and pretends to be doing something else.

I mean, she kept going on about how I can’t date Min-jeong, but now she’s brought her over to our house?

“Just wait a little bit. The rice is all done.”

Min-jeong heads into the kitchen, singing to herself.

The other friend is asking me how I came to be employed at Jinseong Group, how much is my salary, is the car nice, a continuous barrage of materialistic questions. Ah, disillusionment.

I feel tired and get up from my seat.

“I have to get ready for my business trip tomorrow.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

I go into my room and pack the things I need tomorrow, my passport and clothes, when Hyun-ji sneaks in.

“Oppa~”

“Not long ago, you told me to be careful about Min-jeong.”

“Aw, well you see. Min-jeong and even Ji-hyun were throwing a fit saying they want to come hang out at our house. Ji-hyun was nagging too about how she wanted to see you. And Min-jeong kept insisting she wanted to show me what she learned from cooking school and I couldn’t keep saying no…”

I look at Hyun-ji pathetically, and Hyun-ji hangs her head in shame.

I don’t know anymore.

Whatever happens, will happen.