Chapter XXI – Fated Encounter

Coffee House Cafe, Seoul Southwest Area.

“Yes mom, I’ve arrived in Seoul. Just finishing up my cup of coffee and I’ll be on my way to meet uncle,” spoke a teenage girl over the phone. “No, I didn't do that yet. . . Mom, relax already! I said I’ll get it done by the end of the week. It’s just a few classes anyway, I won’t miss much.”

Switching the phone over to her left side, she gave the waitress her credit card.

“Mom, seriously. . . I’m not dad, I don’t forget things like him.”

The waitress returned the card moments later, walking away as to not listen in.

“Alright, thank you. . . And mom, I love you.”

She was softly spoken. Turning off her phone the girl slowly left.

Walking through the streets, she realized it has been a year since her last visit to Seoul. Finally, she could enjoy her well-earned freedom again.

“Maybe I could drop by a store or two?” she asked herself out loud. “No. . . If she gets a call from my uncle about me not arriving yet, I’m sure I’ll be in even more trouble. Why are parents so hard to deal with sometimes? Well, at least I got an apartment to myself.”

She preferred walking over driving around in a cab.

There were plenty of people around, some of which were students returning from school. Their gazes would follow her as she passed by them. Safe to say it creeped her out. It didn’t take a lot for one to find an opening to approach her, using the fact that she stopped in front of a store to look at a leather jacket she found enthralling.

“Hey there beautiful. What are you doing here by yourself?” said a college student, most likely a freshman. “Your boyfriend must be quite irresponsible.”

She turned to him. He was a fair bit taller than her, average-looking with a smug look on his face.

“I don’t have one,” she answered uninterestedly.

“You’re a foreigner, right? Where are you from?”

“England.”

“Ah, you’re from the UK?” he switched to speaking English to show off.

“Yes, England is part of the UK. . .” she answered without switching to English herself. “Just speak Korean.”

“Alright. . .” he mumbled. “Anyway, need someone to show you around?”

“No, thank you. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get going.”

“Wait, wait. . . What’s the rush? I’m sure you’re just judging me harshly since I’ve approached you on the street like that, but trust me once you get to know me-”

“Not interested.”

“Hey, listen here. . . I don’t know how you guys do it over in England, but here you should show respect to your Sunbae.”

Sunbae being a name for those who are older and more experienced, showing a sign of respect.

“Could you please just leave me alone?” she mumbled annoyed.

“Hey listen here!” he yelled out grabbing her wrist. “You better show me some respect bitch.”

“Let go of my hand,” she demanded with a cold tone.

Her words made him furious, itching him to raise his hand to strike her. Her eyes widened, preparing herself, but before his palm could strike her cheek someone caught it from behind.

“What the?” the guy asked before letting go of her hand to turn to the culprit.

His view suddenly shifted from her to the sky as he fell prone having his legs swept from under him. Arthur stood above him, all while holding bags full of snacks and drinks in his other hand.

Her focus shifted on Arthur, a stranger that came to her rescue. He too was fairly taller than him, as she stood roughly around 164cm in height the last time she measured herself. Before being given the chance to speak up, the annoying guy got up and swiped away at his clothes.

“Who the fuck are you?”

“Arthur, now fuck off.”

“You little shithead. You only dared attack me because you were behind me.”

“Want to try me?”

The guy sighed before turning to the girl.

“And you-” he began talking, but only used the moment as a distraction to attack Arthur who was focused on his words to her.

Throwing a sucker punch, Arthur found himself too relaxed at the time, didn’t help that he was tired as well from sitting in school all day listening to lectures. The guy wasn’t exactly what he’d call threatening. The punch barely landed, but it still managed to cut his lip slightly, forcing him to drop his bags on the ground.

The girl was shocked, but before she knew it Arthur retaliated with a power punch to the sternum, knocking him prone and breathless.

“Fuck. . .” he whispered breathily.

“Get lost,” Arthur commanded.

Out of fear of being struck again, the guy got up and wobbly ran away.

“Are you okay?” the girl asked worriedly.

Having a look at her, she too was half Korean. He didn’t know who he was saving, but he refused to stay idle. Turned out that she was around his age, with a fit and slender figure. Her almond minty-colored eyes complemented her beautiful face, along with her long blonde hair. She stuck out for sure with her appearance. Her clothing was casual, seemed as if she went for a stroll that got interrupted.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about it.”

“But your lip. . .”

Swiping away with his hand, he noticed a small drop of blood.

“It wasn’t a hard punch, he just cut it by accident. It’ll heal,” he explained. “I was a bit careless I guess.”

He leaned down to pick up his bags.

“Let me help you,” she spoke up flustered, grabbing some of the soda cans that escaped.

“Thanks,” he said as they filled the bags back up. His phone began to ring. “Hello?”

She just observed him with a smile.

“I wouldn’t have to do this in the first place if you didn’t demand I go so far away!” he yelled over the phone, but the tone he spoke in was friendly and not one of anger. “I know I lost the bet, don’t rub it in. I’ll be there soon.”

Arthur waved the girl goodbye as he was still on the phone. He seemed in a rush.

Waving him off, she found herself standing in place for a bit before sighing.

“Hmm, what’s this?” she said to herself, spotting a wallet on the ground.

Opening it, she realized it was Arthur’s.

He must have dropped it when we were collecting things. I wonder. . . Ah, here it is!

She rummaged through it only to find his Student ID.

J High School, Park Arthur. How lucky. . .

Entering Don’s apartment, Arthur saw the others rummaging through it. After school, the group agreed to hang out at Don’s place for the first time.

“Ah Art, you’re here. Come check this out!” Tjay yelled out. “It’s a PS5! Double D, what games do you have?”

“Loads, but for the most part I tend to play fighting games.”

“No way! Game on,” he challenged Don to a match.

“What took you so long?” Max asked.

“I told you already, you and your stupid snacks.”

Max took over the bags before having a good look at him.

“What happened to your lip?”

“Ah, I got sucker-punched by some dickhead.”

“You got hit?”

“I wouldn’t have, had I not dropped my guard.”

Max took the bags into the living room. Nabi was looking through the bookshelf. To her surprise, he had a lot more than just manga present. There were a couple of books she quite liked.

“Hey Art,” she welcomed him.

“Having fun?”

“Yeah, I didn’t expect him to have such a collection.”

“Most of those are books I took from my parents. Half of them are yet to be read,” Don explained while playing Mortal Kombat.

“Pay attention!” Tjay yelled out while getting his ass beat badly.

“I don’t need it to beat you apparently,” Don poked fun at him.

While the typically shy Don would never dare speak like that to someone who could hit him, he gained quite a bit of confidence destroying Tjay in games. It also helped that the people around him were quite chill.

“Alright, let’s get some music going!” Max yelled out to others, before playing a song on the laptop.

The surround system in Don’s house was killer, making it feel as if they were in a club.

“Oh right, here’s your-” Arthur spoke up before realizing that his wallet was gone.

Checking each pocket, he sighed.

“Everything OK?” Nabi asked.

“I seem to have lost my wallet,” he explained.

“Should we go look for it?”

“Nah, I didn’t have much in it anyway apart from the Student ID. . . Unlucky. I’ll give you guys’ money tomorrow to make up for the lost change.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Max interrupted, placing his hand on Arthur’s shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s all cool. Sorry about your wallet,” Tjay commented.

“Yeah, and I’m sorry for your health bar Tjay!”

“Dammit, not again!”

That was his fifth loss in a row.

“Want to switch to a different game?”

“No way, I’ll beat you eventually!”

“I guess we’ll be here a while,” Max teased.

“You want to have a go at it?” Tjay challenged him.

“No way, I suck at games.”

Everybody was doing their own thing for a while but kept on chatting about school stuff and such. They got a complaint about the music but chose to ignore it. Don wasn't too happy about it, but he liked the fact that he had friends over. After a while, Sophie and Ari arrived. The two went to Ari’s place first to walk her dog.

“What happened to your lip Oppa?”

“Oh, it’s nothing.”

“He got sucker-punched,” Max interrupted offering up two soda cans to Sophie and Ari.

“Thanks,” Ari said taking the orange one.

“Well come on in!” Max invited them as if it were his place.

“It’s just a scratch,” Arthur explained to Sophie ignoring Max.

Sophie sighed and let it go, not wishing to ruin the mood with pointless worry.

With the two joining in, the gathering turned into quite the party. Sophie and Ari joined Nabi in looting the bookshelves, but surprisingly Ari was quite interested in Don’s manga collection. Meanwhile, it was finally Arthur’s turn to have a go at games.

He was struggling to hold the controller properly, and the controls themselves were a bit confusing. He didn’t understand any of the sequences Don explained. Luckily, his opponent was Tjay.

“Stop that!” Tjay yelled at Arthur after a few minutes of play. “All you’re doing is spamming the same button over and over again. . .”

He got Tjay in the corner and kept on performing kicks that he didn’t know how to counter. The typical button masher strategy worked wonders.

“Wow, I’ve never seen someone lose so hard after claiming to be good at the game to a single button,” Max commented. “Keep going Art, he deserves a beating.”

With his character KO’d, Tjay dropped the controller.

“Fuck sake, that was annoying. So unrealistic,” he kept complaining. “Real-life fighting is nothing like that.”

“Obviously,” Don agreed picking up the controller. “It’s just a game meant for fun. Stop throwing stuff around, or you won’t get to play again.”

“Sorry. . .”

“Seems like your Oppa just doesn’t know how to lose a fight,” Ari praised Arthur to Sophie. “Regardless if in-game or out.”

“It would totally be different if it were out of the game,” Tjay defended his honor.

“No way dude. . .” Max interrupted, placing his hand on Tjay’s shoulder. “You’d get rolled. Don’t even try it.”

“By Arthur?”

“You wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it.”

“Where is the bathroom?” Sophie asked Don.

He pointed it out to her before she left.

“I could show you. . . But I’m not sure Sophie should see it,” Ari pointed out holding out her phone.

“You have a recording?” Max asked.

“Yeah, but only if Arthur is OK with it.”

“Who cares about his opinion, just show us!” Tjay yelled out exited.

“It’s fine, I guess.”

Ari unlocked her phone, but as soon as she was about to show the footage, Sophie left the bathroom. Panicked, Tjay grabbed her phone trying to lock it but ended up dropping it.

“What are you guys doing?”

“Nothing!” Tjay yelled out, while others shook their heads in disbelief.

Sophie approached.

“Show me.”

“No way, it’s my phone. . .”

“Your phone happens to be the same model as Ari’s and has a puppy sticker on it?”

“Yes?”

One thing was clear to everyone, Tjay was a terrible liar.

“It’s fine,” Arthur interrupted, taking away the phone from Tjay. “Ari recorded my fight against U-Jin and the other guy on the day we had the movie night. I haven’t seen the footage yet.”

“Oh? Show me.”

Arthur extended the phone, as the rest started gathering.

“Sophie. . .” Ari spoke up worried.

“It’s fine Ari, I want to see how Oppa fights.”

Playing the footage, Arthur had a unique experience. Never before did he see himself fighting. The camera was shaky, it was obvious that Ari was trembling, presumably worried for Arthur. The words were unable to be heard, but everyone was for the most part impressed with Arthur’s skill except for Max who witnessed something far more unbelievable. When comparing the two fights, the one Ari recorded was hardly something one would consider unnatural.

“Woah, you’re good,” Tjay praised him. “But I bet I could take you on.”

“We can spar whenever you want.”

“Cool!”

“I want to watch that,” Nabi added.

“Me too Oppa,” Sophie said with a smile on her face.

The video ended and Arthur returned the phone to Ari.

My footwork needs some work it seems. Guess I’m not used to my body being so different yet.

While the rest praised him, he analyzed his flaws.

Ari kept on looking at Sophie and her expressions, trying to figure out if she had a negative reaction to seeing the footage. It was clear that Arthur was cold in the video and full of rage. She couldn’t imagine that being easy to see.

“Ari,” Sophie spoke quietly. “It’s fine. Truly. If anything, I’m happy that he is both strong and capable of defending me. I feel much safer after seeing that. Besides, he got angry for my sake. . .”

Ari sighed in relief. Had she known that it would have a positive effect, she’d show Sophie the footage earlier. Even though they were friends for so long, it truly showed her just how much there was still to learn about one another.

The fun continued for a few more hours before the group scattered to their own homes. It was still a school day tomorrow, so they couldn’t afford to stay all night.

“That was fun,” Sophie commented as the two were getting ready for bed.

“Yeah, I hope we get to do that again.”

“I’m sure we will. Night, night.”

“Good night Sophie.”

Chapter End.

Thank you for reading.