The Mist Side Story 6, In Heat - (d)

#Side Story, In Heat - 4

Mu-heon knew how to win with just one sword. His victories had never been cowardly. All the children had challenged him and lost, but no one had ever resented or hated Mu-heon. Fighting and losing to someone overwhelmingly strong evoked emotions closer to admiration and respect rather than resentment or envy.

But Seung-jo was different. Seung-jo always lost to Mu-heon by a hair's breadth. After each match ended, he always felt regret and a hunger-like emptiness about the limits of his own abilities.

Seung-jo liked Mu-heon so much that he never wanted to be apart from him, but at the same time, he hated the sense of defeat he had to feel every time to the point of disgust. He disliked losing to others too, but nothing gave him as much despair as losing to Mu-heon.

So Seung-jo had always tried to work as hard as Mu-heon.

Mu-heon was a universally acknowledged training maniac. No matter what happened, he never parted from his sword bag, and he voluntarily undertook an enormous amount of training, starting from dawn and ending with practice before bed.

He thought that since Mu-heon was doing such training that bordered on self-abuse, he couldn't help but be stronger than other children who trained normally. Therefore, he thought that if he trained even more than Mu-heon, he could beat him.

The result was failure. He secretly endured sleepiness to do dawn training an hour earlier than Mu-heon, and trained later than Mu-heon before sleeping, but Seung-jo couldn't beat Mu-heon.

Just when it seemed he might win, Mu-heon would show capabilities that far surpassed his own skills, already standing far above. Only then did Seung-jo have to recognize, with terrible deflation, that true genius really did exist separately.

No matter how much Mu-heon mixed with other ordinary children, he shone like a diamond among pebbles. Adults couldn't fail to notice his value, visible even to young Seung-jo's eyes. Mu-heon always received words of admiration and envious gazes, and what was always compared at those times was Seung-jo's name.

"Is that boy the genius? I hear he wins even against kids five years older? It's incredible. How can such strength come from someone so much smaller? What? The boy next to him is amazing too? Haha, I guess he must be quite something if even such a child has never beaten that genius boy."

"Did you see how that Jeong Seung-jo bastard acts so smug? It's really annoying. Everyone knows that no matter how great he thinks he is, he always gets beaten by Kang Mu-heon, what's he so proud of, that ill-mannered brat."

"Let's try recommending someone for sports captain. Teacher thinks Seung-jo might be good since he does well in studies and sports... What? He's famous for getting beaten by Mu-heon? Hahaha. I didn't know Mu-heon was that amazing. Hm? Well, Kang Mu-heon does have a very upright personality. Are you embarrassed that I'm saying this? Alright, kids. Since you all like Mu-heon so much, I'll trust him and give it a try. Kang Mu-heon, you can do it, right?"

It was terrible. Seung-jo was happy that his only close friend was being praised, but the anger he felt towards himself as the object of comparison each time was indescribable. Joy and anger would alternate, resentment would surge, but when he saw the face reaching out to play together, he would instantly become happy again.

Though it was hard to endure the emotional drain, Seung-jo always tried to suppress his emotions and not show them on his face. It was partly because he didn't want to shatter Mu-heon's smiling face that trusted him, but more because his meager pride was stronger than anyone else's. Even if it was Mu-heon, he didn't want to show anyone that he was shaken or wavering.

In fact, Seung-jo knew that if he just acknowledged Mu-heon as someone a level above him in skill, he wouldn't need to obsess over impossible matches and suffer alone from a sense of defeat. If it weren't for kendo, what reason would there be to worry because of Mu-heon? He was no less than Mu-heon in studies or wealth.

However, no matter how much he tried to give up, he couldn't be indifferent to winning or losing against Mu-heon. He didn't understand himself, but it couldn't be helped. If he couldn't give up, the only option was to nurture his determination to win.

After training ended, everyone cheered and rushed to the warm meal that was served.

As he watched Mu-heon sitting across from him, eating without a word of small talk, Seung-jo slowly picked up side dishes and put them in his mouth. The words of comparison he had heard earlier still seemed to be rolling around in his head, making him lose his appetite as if he were chewing stones instead of rice grains.

Even while knowing it was nothing new, it was hard to get used to being compared every time.

After roughly pushing down a bowl of plain rice, he went outside, where the mountain air, feeling chilly as his sweat cooled, brushed against the skin beneath his uniform. He felt goosebumps rising but didn't want to go back inside. At that moment, he suddenly sensed a presence behind him.

"...You're Jeong Seung-jo, right?"

Realizing it wasn't Mu-heon's familiar voice, Seung-jo turned around with a frown. There stood a boy he seemed to have seen a few times but had never spoken to.

"What is it."

Though he was too annoyed to even open his mouth, he spat out gruffly, meaning to tell the boy to state his business quickly and get lost. The boy softened his eyes, smiled, and spoke.

"Hello. I've wanted to talk to you for a long time."

"What?"

"I finally got the chance now that we're at the training camp. You know you're called an outcast because you're always alone, right?"

What nonsense. Seung-jo decided to ignore him and turned his head back. The boy slowly walked over and stood beside him.

"Honestly, I've been watching you for about a year, and you never talk to anyone except one person, always alone. When other kids try to talk to you, you act rude. That's why you look like an outcast to the other guys. You know?"

"Get lost."

"But I actually like you quite a bit. Honestly, even if your personality isn't great, your face is not just handsome but pretty. I can forgive anything if the face is handsome. Plus, you're smart, and your kendo skills are top-notch except for Kang Mu-heon. You're perfect, really."