103. Entrance Ceremony, Afterparty, and…. (2)

Chatting about this and that with Noah, my unexpected companion, we arrived at the afterparty location before I knew it. The location was a little walk toward Naksongdae Park, at a Japanese-style pub and eatery that people often call an izakaya. The shop’s name was Igajip.

“Ah, this is it.”

Before going in, I glanced inside the shop. There were several sturdy male students, with a small number of female students mixed among them.

I stopped outside and gestured to Noah with my eyes. It was to signal her to go in first, and Noah understood, opening the door before hesitating slightly.

“Woo-ju, aren’t you going in?”

“I’m going to make a quick call first.”

“Ah, okay. I got it.”

*Ting-a-ling,* Noah went into the shop.

I watched Noah search for the physical education students’ seats, then took out my cellphone and called Aki. As the signal went through, I heard Aki’s ringtone. It was a song sung by a captivating female vocalist and her boyfriend. The title was HIM & I.

The lyrics were about, well, a common theme of a man and woman swearing eternal love to each other, but the funny thing was that the male singer, who was dating the female vocalist who made this song, cheated and got caught.

And that too, right before they were to get on a public duet stage, from an exposé article by some reporter.

[……Mm, my dear husband?]

The male singer’s part – something about, ‘If she ever catches me cheating, she’ll cut off my junk…’ – had barely ended when the call connected. I glanced into the restaurant and said, with forced cheer,

“Aki, where are you?”

[Atashi is at the after-party place now. Where is 서방님 (husband) ?]

“Outside the restaurant. But I’m about to go in. Just wanted to hear your voice before I did.”

[Ah, is that so? Atashi, too…. (Aki-yah, who are you talking to?) Huh? Ah, that’s…. (Sounds like she just called him ‘husband’, could it be a boyfriend~?!) Eeeh…?! (Ooh, she’s blushing! It’s definitely a boyfriend, isn’t it?!)

“……?”

The other end of the line was riotous. Instead of Aki’s voice, the voices of other girls were audible. Just as I was about to ask what was going on, there was a burst of static.

[Hello? Are you still there?]

When the static cleared, I heard a girl’s voice I’d never heard before. A little fl*stered, I answered,

“Who is this?”

[I’m Aki’s friend, Jiyoung. Are you perhaps Aki’s boyfriend?]

“Huh? Ah, yes. I am….”

Just as I was about to ask where Aki had gone, the other end exploded in a cacophony. It was as if a celebration was in full swing; gasps of admiration, whistles, and incomprehensible shouts of how awesome something was filled the line.

[Excuse me, boyfriend-ssi! Did you know? When she was introducing herself earlier, Aki…. (Ah, stop it…!) Aki said she had a boyfriend in the Physical Education department who was incredibly handsome. (Stop, stooop…!!) She even said there was probably no one better looking than her boyfriend. If you have time later, how about you hang out with our classmates……. (Agh, agh, kkeuaaak…!)]

“No, that….”

[Oh, what’s wrong? I’m not lying…. Ah! (……서방님 (husband), gotta go!)]

Click.

The call ended.

I stared blankly at my phone screen, which indicated the call had lasted for one minute and forty seconds.

“…….”

What in the world had just happened?

I had just wanted to hear Aki’s voice. Suddenly, some girl barged in and said whatever she wanted before vanishing.

To exaggerate slightly, it felt like I’d been smacked in the back of the head walking down the street, leaving me completely bewildered. And surprised.

But, what was even more surprising was that they had become close enough to pull pranks like that even though they had only met a day ago. I haven’t even had a chance to introduce myself to my classmates yet.

Do girls become friends that quickly? I began to wonder, and also thought, unintentionally I must have made Aki the center of attention at the political science and diplomacy afterparty…. There, they will be flooding Aki with all kinds of questions now.

“I certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest….”

I slipped my phone back into my pocket. I feel bad about bringing it up like that, but I can’t do anything about it. It’s not like I did it on purpose.

I smiled slightly and opened the door to the restaurant. As soon as I stepped inside, a boisterous chatter filled the air, and the aroma of grilled shrimp was intense. Looking around, I saw plates piled high with shrimp on the other tables. It seemed to be an all-you-can-eat shrimp place.

As expected of a department with so many athletic guys, they had chosen a restaurant with good value for money. I’m not a picky eater, so anything is fine by me. I sniffed the air and headed toward the group table.

“Excuse me….”

“Ah, here…!”

I was about to ask someone nearby if this was indeed the Department of Physical Education’s spot, when a girl way over there raised her hand high. It was Noah, the girl from my own department who’d come with me to the restaurant entrance.

“Yes?”

The guy I was about to ask turned around. I quietly asked him if this was the right place for the Phys Ed gathering, and he said it was, and that I could sit anywhere there was a free seat.

Relieved at last, I walked over to where Noah was. Even though it was a corner spot, the seat beside her was empty.

“Why are you sitting in the corner? Why not in the middle?”

“I get a little… shy, you know?”

“Shy? You?”

“Yeah, why?”

Why? Well, because I’m surprised, that’s why.

How could someone who laughs after hearing a guy’s name for the first time possibly be shy? I almost made a joking comment, but then decided against it.

Just then, a female student who’d been counting heads at a nearby table stood up.

“Professor. Looks like everyone’s here. Shall we get started?”

At the girl’s question, a middle-aged man who looked to be in his fifties nodded.

The girl looked around at everyone, cleared her throat, and then began to speak.

“Freshmen of the Department of Physical Education, hello! I’m Lee Soyoung, a sophomore and the student body president for the department. I’ll be hosting the party you guys will be enjoying today… Ah, and here is Professor Lee Yongho, the department head. Doesn’t he look like he’s really good at sports~?”

The professor and students laughed at the joke thrown out by the girl, no, the sophomore student body president. I laughed along with them from a little distance away, taking a quick glance at the department head.

To be honest, the department head looked like he was better at studying than sports. Of course, he was a university professor, so that was naturally to be expected, but what the student body president had said was kind of funny. So I chuckled a little, and when Noah saw me, she just burst out laughing, covering her mouth with her hand.

“Anyway! If you have any questions about department life, feel free to ask me, and today, just relax and have fun. So, now, feel free to…”

“Soyoung-ah. Introductions…!”

“Ah, right. ……Ahem. Okay, before you have fun, let’s do brief introductions. The order will be, uh, starting with the very front row!”

The sophomore student body president, Lee Soyoung, pointed at a male student in front of her.

The pointed-out student stood up from his seat, looked in our direction, and bowed lightly.

“Hello. I’m Kim Woojin, from Busan. I’m twenty-two this year, and I was a full-time Judo athlete. I retired due to an injury and then studied to get here.”

“Oh, you were a Judo athlete! Welcome to the department~”

“Thank you.”

The male student, having finished his brief introduction, sat down. His movements had a disciplined air befitting a former Judo athlete, and it wasn’t just me who felt that, as everyone naturally started clapping.

“Okay, next up is the woman behind him!”

“Hello! I’m Han Jieun, twenty-one years old, from Ulsan. I was a rhythmic gymnast, but things didn’t work out while I was preparing for the Olympics, so……”

After that, the self-introductions stretched on. Roughly ten minutes.

“Hello. I’m Ju Woo-joo, twenty years old. I’m not an athlete, just studied my way in. Please take care of me.”

I finished my introduction and took my seat.

It had gone full circle, I was last, so my turn was the end. As everyone’s introduction wrapped up, the second-year class president announced it was time to eat and drink comfortably, leading a toast. The toast was blandly “To our Physical Education Department!”

Well, whatever. I sipped my beer and mulled over several thoughts.

The first thought was that people came from quite diverse regions to our department. There were more people from other areas than Seoulites. If you break it down, roughly a 45 to 55 split.

The reasons, well, there could be many… but I reckoned it was because our department was Physical Education. Except for a few like me who came in through comprehensive admissions, everyone else would have had to take a practical exam. Only the best of the best athletes from across the country would have made it here, wouldn’t they?

And the second thing was, there were truly remarkably accomplished people in our department. There was a female student who came to university after failing to prepare for the Olympics, and a male student who was a professional athlete before coming here. And there was even a student who was an active shooter, winning gold in the National Sports Festival, but had high enough college entrance exam scores to come here.

The former two cases, well, I figured they must have studied like mad after their athletic paths were blocked… but the last one, I truly didn’t know what to make of. Was she one of those commonly called a genius? What was even more astonishing was that student was No-ah, right in front of me.

“…”

That naughty girl who snickered at people’s names was a national-level genius?

I felt a mix of envy and resentment, so I stared at her intently.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just, surprised?”

“Huh? What’s surprising?”

“Um, that the girl who won a gold medal in shooting is sitting next to me?”

“Ah, that’s nothing much… it’s not like it was the Olympics…”

“You’re going to the Olympics? Like, part of the shooting national team? Is that it?”

“Eung, roughly that kind of thing…?”

“Oh, that’s amazing…”

Hearing ‘shooting national team’ made her seem really cool. I looked at No-ah with genuine admiration, and No-ah, perhaps embarrassed by it, blushed slightly as she took a sip of her beer.

“There are so many different events in shooting, right? Rifle and pistol, and what was the other one? Ah, air pistol?”

“Yeah, air pistol. Pistol, rifle. If you break it down further, it’s also divided by distance. 10 meters, 25 meters, 50 meters. Like that. I usually shoot 25 meters. With a pistol.”

“Oh, pistol…!”

Maybe because the image of shooting conjures up holding a pistol with both hands. Hearing No-ah handle a pistol made her seem even cooler.

“I’ve always been curious about something. Gun ownership is illegal in our country, right? But then how do shooting athletes practice? You don’t go abroad to shoot, do you?”

“Um, well, first, you’re mistaken about something. Gun ownership isn’t unconditionally illegal. If you have a shooting athlete certificate issued by the Korea Shooting Federation, even a civilian can get a gun possession permit. Once you register as an athlete and get the athlete certificate, you can legally buy a gun.”

“Oh? Really?”

“Yeah, really. And about shooting practice, I don’t know how others do it… but in my case, I usually practice at the shooting range. It’s the Gangnam Shooting Range, established by the shooting academy that sponsors me.”

“Ah~ There’s a separate shooting academy?”

“Mmhmm, that’s right. A shooting academy. A place that specializes in training marksmen like me…. But that’s a long story, so let’s skip it. Anyway, in our country, anyone can shoot live ammunition. If they pay.”

“How much do you have to pay?”

“On a per-person basis, an air rifle is 3,000 won for 10 shots, and a live-ammo pistol is 20,000 won for 10 shots. Rifles are the same, 20,000 won for 10 shots.”

“20,000 won for 10 shots…!?”

“Yeah, but saying it’s 10 shots…they’re gone in a flash. A single magazine holds exactly 10 rounds, and if you’re really focused, you can empty it in less than a minute, you know?”

“…Wow.”

Burning through 20,000 won a minute. Now *that’s* a hobby for emperors. I can see why ordinary people don’t easily get into shooting. Simple math says it’s almost a million won for an hour of shooting. Who would do live-ammo shooting unless they were swimming in money?

“If it’s that expensive, do people even come to shoot?”

“They do come. But it’s pretty much just the regulars, you know? And most of them are middle-aged *ajeossi* my dad’s age.”

“Yeah. That sounds about right…”

Like Noah said, only middle-aged men with the wealth could afford to shoot to their heart’s content. Students like me couldn’t even dream of it. The cost of the bullets is too high.

I was excited at the thought of being able to shoot a real gun, but I became slightly dejected after hearing the price. Then, Noah looked at me carefully, and took a sip of his beer.

“A little pricey, huh?”

“A little? It’s *very* pricey. Someone like me might as well just go to the army and shoot for free…”

“Pfft…! Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh…!”

Noah, bursting into laughter, didn’t know what to do. I shook my head, indicating that he didn’t need to apologize.

“If it’s okay with just you, Woo-joo…. Maybe you’d like to come to our shooting range sometime?”

“To the shooting range?”

“Mmhmm, because I feel bad for laughing. If you come, I’ll talk to my dad…. No, the Instructor, and he’ll let you shoot.”

“…Really?!”

Without realizing it, I leaned forward. Noah, seemingly fl*stered by it, flinched, startled, and his face turned slightly red.

“Uh? Ah, yeah. Really…”

“Really? Really for real? I’m seriously going to visit, okay?”

“Mmhmm, you can come…”

“Okay…!”

“…Uhm, but.”

Noah glanced at me a couple times, then opened his mouth quietly.

“Uh, I’m not sure if it’s okay to ask this kind of question….”

“Why? What is it?”

“D, do you… uh, Woo-joo, do you… have a girlfriend…?”

Noa, as if embarrassed to speak, squirmed and glanced at my face.

My mood soaring at the mention of free shooting practice, I gulped down my share of beer and said,

“Yeah, I do.”

“…Huh?!”